ULA's Atlas V Celebrates Success x 2 NASA's Twin Probes Soar ...

[SatNews]..."The excitement of seeing the spacecraft in orbit and beginning to perform science measurements is like no other thrill..."

Most spacecraft try to avoid the Van Allen Belts, two doughnut-shaped regions around Earth filled with "killer electrons." This morning a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket carrying the Radiation Belt Storm Probes (RBSP), the first twin-spacecraft for NASA, lifted off from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral at 4:05 a.m. EDT today.

NASA?s two heavily-shielded spacecraft were launched directly into the belts. The Radiation Belt Storm Probes are on a two-year mission to study the Van Allen Belts and to unravel the mystery of their unpredictability. This is ULA?s 7th launch of the year, the 32nd Atlas V launch and marked the 63rd launch since ULA was formed in December 2006.

"The ULA team and our many mission partners are very proud of our role in delivering the twin RBPS spacecraft to orbit to conduct research about our space weather and gather important data that impacts our everyday life on Earth,? said Jim Sponnick, ULA vice president, Mission Operations. ?The successful launch of this mission is a tribute to the partnerships with the highly skilled and professional teams from NASA?s Launch Services Program and The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory.?

This mission was launched aboard an Atlas V EELV 401 configuration vehicle, which includes a 4-meter diameter payload fairing. The Atlas booster for this mission was powered by the RD AMROSS RD-180 engine and the Centaur upper stage was powered by a single Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne RL10A-4 engine.

RBSP will explore space weather?changes in Earth's space environment caused by the sun?that can disable satellites, create power grid failures, and disrupt GPS service. The mission also will allow researchers to understand fundamental radiation and particle acceleration processes throughout the universe.

"Scientists will learn in unprecedented detail how the radiation belts are populated with charged particles, what causes them to change and how these processes affect the upper reaches of the atmosphere around Earth," said John Grunsfeld, associate administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate at Headquarters in Washington. "The information collected from these probes will benefit the public by allowing us to better protect our satellites and understand how space weather affects communications and technology on Earth."

The two satellites, each weighing just less than 1,500 pounds, comprise the first dual-spacecraft mission specifically created to investigate this hazardous regions of near-Earth space, known as the radiation belts.

These two belts, named for their discoverer, James Van Allen, encircle the planet and are filled with highly charged particles. The belts are affected by solar storms and coronal mass ejections and sometimes swell dramatically. When this occurs, they can pose dangers to communications, GPS satellites and human spaceflight.

"We have never before sent such comprehensive and high-quality instruments to study high radiation regions of space," said Barry Mauk, RBSP project scientist at the Johns Hopkins University's Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland. "RBSP was crafted to help us learn more about, and ultimately predict, the response of the radiation belts to solar inputs."

The hardy RBSP satellites will spend the next 2 years looping through every part of both Van Allen belts. By having two spacecraft in different regions of the belts at the same time, scientists finally will be able to gather data from within the belts themselves, learning how they change over space and time. Designers fortified RBSP with special protective plating and rugged electronics to operate and survive within this punishing region of space that other spacecraft avoid. In addition, a space weather broadcast will transmit selected data from those instruments around the clock, giving researchers a check on current conditions near Earth.

"The excitement of seeing the spacecraft in orbit and beginning to perform science measurements is like no other thrill," said Richard Fitzgerald, RBSP project manager at APL. "The entire RBSP team, from across every organization, worked together to produce an amazing pair of spacecraft."

During the next 60 days, operators will power up all flight systems and science instruments and deploy long antenna booms, two of which are more than 54 yards long. Data about the particles that swirl through the belts, and the fields and waves that transport them, will be gathered by five instrument suites designed and operated by teams at the New Jersey Institute of Technology in Newark; the University of Iowa in Iowa City; University of Minnesota in Minneapolis; and the University of New Hampshire in Durham; and the National Reconnaissance Office in Chantilly, Va. The data will be analyzed by scientists across the nation almost immediately.

LWS is managed by the agency's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. APL built the RBSP spacecraft and will manage the mission for NASA. NASA's Launch Services Program at Kennedy is responsible for launch management. United Launch Alliance provided the Atlas V launch service.

Since the inaugural flights in 2002, Atlas V and Delta IV launch vehicles have delivered more than 50 critical capabilities including vital national security missions for the U.S. Air Force and National Reconnaissance Office, science and exploration payloads for NASA and commercial imaging and communications satellites.? ?Just last week the ULA team celebrated the 10th anniversary of the first Atlas V launch,? said Sponnick. ?In the last decade, the Atlas V and Delta IV EELV systems have demonstrated outstanding success in launching our customer?s missions.??

ULA?s Atlas V and Delta IV launch vehicles provide a 33 percent cost savings over heritage launch systems and are the most commercially developed vehicles flying today with Lockheed Martin and The Boeing Company having funded 80 percent of their development.

Developed by the United States Air Force to provide assured access to space for Department of Defense and other government payloads, the commercially developed EELV Program supports the full range of government mission requirements, while delivering on schedule and providing significant cost savings over the heritage launch systems.

ULA's next launch is the Atlas V NROL-36 mission for the National Reconnaissance Office planned for September 13 from Space Launch Complex-3 at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California.

ULA program management, engineering, test, and mission support functions are headquartered in Denver, Colorado.? Manufacturing, assembly and integration operations are located at Decatur, Alabama, and Harlingen, Texas. Launch operations are located at Cape Canaveral AFS, Florida, and Vandenberg AFB, California.

Since 1998, NASA?s Launch Services Program has been based at Kennedy Space Center, Florida, and provides oversight as the designs of the rocket and mission are integrated with each other.

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Source: http://www.satnews.com/cgi-bin/story.cgi?number=1606376427

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Facebook ad targeting to use e-mails, phone numbers

A new tool for advertisers lets them target ads to customers who have already used their services.

Facebook plans to roll out a new advertising tool that will let companies target their ads to existing customers based on their phone numbers and e-mail addresses.

The social network is launching the new tool next week and touts it as a way for businesses to reengage with customers who have already used their services, according to a Facebook spokesperson.

For those who may have privacy concerns over this exchange of personal information, the social network said the process is secure.

What this means is Facebook isn't giving any of your data away, it's taking existing numbers and addresses from businesses and letting those businesses use the information to target its ads.

On the flip side, Facebook won't be gaining any new data from businesses. When advertisers give Facebook your data, it is hashed -- a security technique that scrambles your data -- before it is fed into the advertising machine. Once the ads are placed, Facebook dumps the hashed data, so that if an advertiser wants to do another ad, the process starts over again.

The new method was available briefly in the Facebook Power Editor, a virtual toolbox used by advertisers to create ads, according to InsideFacebook.

Facebook continues to figure out how to improve its advertising service amid revenue reports and forecasts that have not been up to par.

Of course, it's not the only company expanding its targeted advertising efforts. Twitter launched a feature today that puts tweets in the streams of a broader audience than before.

Related stories

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/facebook-ad-targeting-to-use-e-mails--phone-numbers.html

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Lindsay Lohan Photos Reflect Glamorous Elizabeth Taylor

Lifetime's promotional pictures show actress with "Liz and Dick" onscreen husband Grant Bowler.
By Kara Warner

Lindsay Lohan and Grand Bowler in "Liz & Dick"
Photo: Jack Zeman/ Lifetime

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1692956/lindsay-lohan-elizabeth-taylor-liz-and-dick-photos.jhtml

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JAMA Forum ? The Tax Treatment of Health Insurance: Obama vs ...

By Austin Frakt, PhD

Outside of elite health policy circles, the tax treatment of health insurance receives less attention than it deserves. It is therefore worth considering how the 2 presidential candidates view this important issue.

First a few facts. Contributions toward health insurance premiums paid directly by employers are not subject to payroll, federal, or state income taxes. For most workers?close to 80% of those with employer-based coverage?the contributions they make toward their premiums (the amounts they see deducted from their paychecks) also avoid all taxation.

Economists agree on theoretical grounds and have shown empirically that all contributions toward premiums?those made by employers and workers alike?are forgone wages. In other words, wages are lower by exactly the amount of the premium, even when the employer seems to pay it. What?s going on here is that employers are shifting compensation from wages to premiums. The preferential tax treatment of the latter encourages this.

Because wages are taxed, compensation in the form of health insurance in lieu of wages reduces government revenue. In fact, it reduces it a lot: $250 billion per year. Just to put that figure in perspective, $250 billion is almost half the Medicare budget. It is more than 3? times the average annual cost of the Affordable Care Act?s low-income health insurance subsidies. Employer-sponsored health insurance is among the most subsidized types of health insurance in America, almost as subsidized as Medicaid.

The preferential tax treatment of employer-sponsored health insurance also encourages more generous coverage and higher health care spending. By one estimate, health spending among insured workers is 26% higher than it otherwise would be if not for the tax break.

None of the above applies to health insurance purchased individually rather than through an employer. If you purchase health insurance outside of work, you pay taxes on the money you use to pay for it. If you buy it through work, it?s tax-free. I am aware of no justifying principle for that distinction.

Both President Obama and Mitt Romney seem to want to end that distinction, but possibly in different ways.

President Obama?s Approach

The President?s approach is clear. It?s codified in Title IX, section 9001, of the Affordable Care Act as an ?excise tax on high cost employer-sponsored health insurance.? Beginning in 2018, it would impose a 40% tax on the amount of health insurance premiums above $10 200 for individual coverage and $27 500 for family coverage. Those thresholds are to be indexed to overall inflation?not medical or insurance premium inflation, which is typically much higher. Hence, over time, this so-called ?Cadillac tax? will become a ?Chevy tax,? as it applies to plans of lower and lower generosity.

Imposing a flat 40% tax above a threshold is not the same thing as subjecting employer-sponsored health insurance premiums to taxation. For one thing, the entire 40% tax would be general federal revenue, not split among Social Security, Medicare, and federal and state governments as would be the case if payroll and income taxation were applied to premiums. For another, it is not progressive, as income taxes are. The excise tax hits every dollar above the threshold equally, independent of income. In his book Inside National Health Reform, John McDonough notes that President Obama opposed the more progressive approach of reducing or eliminating the degree to which employer-sponsored health insurance was shielded from payroll and income taxes.

However, the effect of the excise tax is expected to be very similar to applying payroll and income taxes to health insurance. The expectation by experts is that it will encourage employers to avoid the tax by reducing the generosity, and therefore premiums, of the plans they offer. In turn, over time, the economics of the labor force dictate that dollars not spent on premiums would be spent on wages (as many economics studies have shown), which will be hit with the progressive mix of payroll and income taxes. Consequently, the excise tax is a cap on the tax excludability of employer-sponsored health insurance.

Mitt Romney?s Approach

Romney?s approach to addressing the favorable tax treatment of employer-sponsored health insurance and its effects is, to date, vague. Although he has recognized this as an important issue, to my knowledge, the candidate has expressed his intent in this realm only twice, once on his website and once in a speech. His website says he wants to ?end tax discrimination against the individual purchase of insurance.? In a June speech in Florida, he said,

Well, right now, most people get their insurance through their employer, and the reason they do that is because their employer gets a tax deduction when they buy insurance for you. But if you?re a very small-business person?let?s say a one-person business?you don?t get a tax deduction for buying insurance. And if you?re an individual that?s not employed, you don?t get a tax deduction for buying your own insurance. What I would do is level the playing field and say individuals can buy insurance on the same tax advantage basis that businesses can buy insurance.

This sounds like Romney is predisposed to expand the favorable tax treatment of health insurance, not reduce it. Doing so would not help address the (too low) government revenue and (too high and growing) health care spending problems the nation faces. Let?s be clear: expanding the preferential tax treatment of insurance purchase would cost a fortune.

Now, it is possible that by acting to ?end tax discrimination? and ?level the playing field,? the candidate means to reduce the favorable treatment of employer-sponsored plans. Or perhaps he means something else entirely, such as offering tax credits for purchase of health insurance on the individual market. From his communications, we just can?t tell.

Grading the Work

For passing legislation to address the issue, I give President Obama a grade of A. For doing so in an indirect and very delayed way?although compelled by politics, to be sure?I give him a C. Likewise, I grant Romney an A for recognition of the issue but an incomplete for not yet providing enough detail for us to fully apprehend his intent. As an economist, I give the idea of excluding individually purchased products from taxation an F.

***

About the author: Austin B. Frakt, PhD, is a health economist and an assistant professor at Boston University?s School of Medicine and School of Public Health. He blogs about health economics and policy at The Incidental Economist?and tweets at?@afrakt. The views expressed in this post are that of the author and do not necessarily reflect the position of Boston University.?

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About The?JAMA?Forum:?To provide ongoing coverage throughout this election year,?JAMA?has assembled a team of leading scholars, including health economists, health policy experts, and legal scholars, to provide insight about the political aspects of health care. Each?JAMA?Forum entry expresses the opinions of the author but does not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of?JAMA, the editorial staff, or the American Medical Association. More information is available?here?and?here.

Source: http://newsatjama.jama.com/2012/08/30/jama-forum-the-tax-treatment-of-health-insurance-obama-vs-romney/

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#51: Eczema, psoriasis, fuel for running, and Chuck Norris 08/30 by ...

Star of the hit TV show Spin City,hit films Speed, Twister and maybe most famously known as best friend Cameron Frye in Ferris Bueller's Day Off- ALAN RUCK joins us!

Host Adilah Barnes of the Adilah Show brings actor Ted Lange on board. Many of you recall him as the loveable Isaac Washington on the famed Love Boat Show. Mr Lange has appeared on That's My MaMa, Half & Half" Jay Leno, Oprah Winfrey and Family Matters.

Please join us as we chat with Justin Wilczynski from Nick at Nite's new primetime drama, Hollywood Heights, as Tyler, and lead singer of the band, Bonnie Dune (with Cory Monteith "Finn" from Glee) - Check out their new ep, "The Lost EP" now out on iTunes.

Teen Hosts Jackie, Leah, McMillen, and Sarah discuss the the important role self-expression plays in the teen years, as well as healthy means of self-expression. They are joined by guest Autumn Burns, Tattoo Artist at Tymeless Tattoo & Piercing.

Music has been the focal point of Grammy-award winning producer Focus?since his childhood. Focus has produced artist such has Beyonce,Christina Aguilera,Pink,Marsha Ambrosius,Busta Rhymes,Jennifer Lopez, The Game, Al Gator, Kida the list goes on. Join him tonight.

Just what was Marilyn Monroe saying in her 1956 interviews? By then, Marilyn Monroe had earned a national reputation for being a ?star,? a ?celebrity,? a ?sex symbol,? and? a ?dumb blonde.? But, MM was anything but "dumb."

Tinsel Korey joins Artists On Demand to talk about her debut EP "Seize the Day" and where she is hoping her music career goes from here.

LOTL Welcomes SPEECH From two-time Grammy award winning hip-hop group Arrested Development, true trailblazers in hip-hop.

James M. Tate's guest will be actress SUSAN BLAKELY, who won a Golden Globe for RICH MAN POOR MAN, co-starred in THE TOWERING INFERNO and OVER THE TOP, and appeared several times on TWO AND A HALF MEN.

Randy Berler is the founder of The South Bay Film Society. Originally from Mineola, NY, Randy attended the University of Wisconsin at Madison and received as MS in Urban and Regional Planning and during that time ran a film society.

Join us as we gear up for college football! Nathan Walters, author with Bleacher Report will join us to discuss the Big 10 conference!

Guests from England call the show and talk about paranormal events in their personal lives

Source: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/balancedbites/2012/08/30/51-eczema-psoriasis-fuel-for-running-and-chuck-norris-1

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Source: http://small-business.ezinemark.com/our-own-etail-own-site-surely-fresh-new-internet-marketing-blog-7d35f60fe26c.html

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Meet Richard Byrne, a neurosurgeon at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, who talks to the Chicago Tribune about the challenges of working with patients who have brain tumors.
Video Rating: 5 / 5

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Source: http://jobs.only-the-news.com/paid-surveys-online-dont-work-but-this-does-see-real-proof/

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Love..... And let go - Adoption.com Forums

Sorry, Readability was unable to parse this page for content.

Source: http://forums.adoption.com/foster-parent-support/407287-love-let-go.html

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Hands-On Math Graph Cubes (Education) | Speak iPad

Hands-On Math Graph Cubes 1.0

Device: iOS iPad Only
Category: Education
Price: $1.99, Version: 1.0 ()

Description:

Hands-On Math Graph Cubes simulates the use of a set of cubes to build bar graphs. While using the cubes students are given feedback so that they can see logical relationships. Visualization is an effective way to help students understand mathematical reasoning and logic. A benefit derived from using the Graph Cubes is that the cubes can be easily manipulated and therefore good problem solving strategies spontaneously evolve. The concepts studied in this curriculum are the foundations of mathematical development especially in areas that are a part of the data analysis, probability and discrete mathematics curriculum strand. The app proivdes an interactive Playground where graphs and tables can be created and explored. Student interaction with the device is augmented by the artificially intelligent feedback provided by the software. The instructional approaches that result from creating an open-ended area for free exloration and discovery are exciting. On the Playground students manipulate a supply of virtual cubes to create graphs representing data collected through surveys.When using Graph Cubes simple gestures are used to drag and drop blocks, placing them in columns to build bar graphs. The author and designer coined the term, ?artificially intelligent math manipulative? to describe how using the Hands-On Math apps differs from the concrete manipulative devices traditionally used in classrooms. For example, this appprovides intelligent mathematical feedback as the student manipulates the cubes. Immediately associating feedback with a behavior is an effective way to reinforce behavior and facilitate learning.Hands-On Math Graph Cubes focuses on these curriculum areas:Collecting, Organizing, and Describing Data Based on Real-life SituationsStudents may be expected to demonstrate such skills as:? Analyze and describe data in terms of absolute or relative frequency of occurrence, range (highest/lowest), etc.? Summarize information and relationships revealed by a graph.? Add new data to a given chart, graph, or set of organized data.? Extrapolate from obvious trends revealed by graphs in order to make predictions.Using Graph Cubes students become involved in constructing, reading, and interpreting data in charts, graphs, tables, etc.What students should know and be able to do includes:? Obtain information from a bar graph by reading a graph to accurately to answer a question.? Analyze, interpret, or draw conclusions based on data given in a bar graph.? Match a graph to a described situation? Match a data set to a graph and a graph to a data set (including matching data presented in a table/chart with a corresponding bar graph)? Plot data onto a bar graph when the axes labels and scales have already been provided? Draw a bar graph showing data given in a chart/, table or wordsFormulating and solving problems that involve the use of data.What students should know and be able to do includes:? Generate questions that can be answered by collecting and analyzing data.? Collect data to answer survey questions. (i.e., What is your favorite sport?)? Solve problems using data from tables and graphs.??Solve problems involving simple deductive reasoning. (e.g., ?How many students chose ?dog? as their favorite pet?)

Hands-On Math Graph Cubes

Posted on Aug 27th, 2012 by admin in Education, iPad Apps | No Comments

Tags: Education

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Socato ? Blog Archive ? Australia ? The children who know too much

Posted: August 27th, 2012 | Author: admin | Filed under: Child Development | Comments Off

A PROGRAM to rebuild relationships between mothers and their children aims to stop young victims of domestic violence from becoming perpetrators.

In an old sandstone building on the outskirts of Sydney, six children are given pots of paint and asked to create a picture that represents their feelings.

This is no ordinary craft lesson. These children are all here because in their short lives they have seen, heard, and felt too much. As they set to work with their paints, some use dark colours to draw frightening monsters. Others have hope: colourful lovehearts and flowers. All are about domestic violence and how it has affected their lives. ?It helps children understand what has happened and find a non-violent way of relating that,? says Melina Isgro-Rarp, convener of the Kids Create Tomorrow program run by the Benevolent Society.

When we think of domestic violence, we often think of women who suffer at the brutal hands of their partners. But increasingly children ? as witnesses and victims ? are being deeply and detrimentally affected. ?What they learn at a young age not only damages them, it has implications for our society. They learn violence is acceptable,? says Isgro-Rarp. The main aim of her program is to repair the mother-child relationship after they leave a violent home. ?We try to help children and mothers communicate about what happened and restore the mother-child relationship. Often the mother has had her parenting undermined; she has been the subject of humiliation and ridicule in front of her children.?

Take the case of 11-year-old Jake, whose real name cannot be used for legal reasons. In April his step-father badly beat him with a wooden spoon and then locked him in a pet cage in the back yard. ?My daughter came in and screamed, ?Mummy, mummy, Bob put Jake in the cage?,? says Jake?s 35-year-old mother. Jake is now in foster care after bruises on his legs were reported by his school teachers.

Jake?s step-father has been charged with assault. His mother has left the abuser, who was violent to her as well. But this wasn?t the family?s first encounter with a violent man. Jake?s biological father used to beat his mother. She left him 10 years ago when Jake was a baby. When he was just two, Jake?s arm was broken during a court-order access visit with his father. ?It was his turn to have the children and when I picked them up I could see Jake?s arm was broken and he hadn?t even been taken to the hospital.?

Isgro-Rarp says many children end up blaming their mother for their broken family and damaged lives.

?Children are often angry at their mum; you know: Why did she let it happen?? Isgro-Rarp says.

That was the experience of June ? not her real name ? when she left the father of her three children after 16 years of abuse. ?The children witnessed instability, punching of walls, a lot of intimidation, my parenting was undermined and he put me down in front of the children. There is trauma there, they don?t know how to deal with it, they have to blame someone,? says June, 45.

Her eight-year-old son was especially angry at her. Enrolling in the Kids Create Tomorrow program has made an enormous difference to his behaviour and attitude, June says.

?He found he wasn?t the only kid and that it wasn?t my fault and a few weeks in, he just felt he was heard. I learned he was in a lot of pain.?

Domestic violence is so prevalent police across NSW attend up to 330 callouts a day. Children are often witnesses and in up to 70 per cent of cases, they are victims.

The effects on the child are only just starting to be understood. Child developmental psychiatrist Professor Louise Newman says it can often be the reason behind a raft of problems society struggles to deal with: homelessness, drug addiction, alcohol abuse, aggression and violence. Look behind the rise of shocking street violence, unprovoked king hits and stabbings and often violence is in the perpetrator?s background.

?You can pretty much predict in the majority of these violent acts that the young people come from disturbing backgrounds,? Professor Newman says.

?Children, especially very young children, are learning how to manage difficult feelings and aggressive impulses and children exposed to ongoing conflict and abuse of power develop distorted models of how relationships work,? she says.

It can also damage brain development. ?Little children under four, if they are witnessing attacks on their primary care giver, often the mother, it is as if they are being attacked themselves, they are as damaged as if it was an attack on themselves. It?s a high stress situation, it affects the steroid cortisol and high levels of cortisol can impact on brain development,? Newman says.

Dr Bruce Perry from the US-based Child Trauma Academy told Agenda that children who witness domestic violence from a young age often develop post-traumatic stress disorder. ?It?s the fight or flight response, they are over-reactive, have attention problems and behavioural issues ? that or they will withdraw, dissociate and tune out,? he says.

Disturbingly, these children with PTSD will invariably be misdiagnosed as having attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, because the symptoms are similar in a child.

?These kids get drugged with Ritalin,? Dr Perry says.

Assistant Commissioner Mark Murdoch is the police spokesperson on domestic violence.

He?s been in the force for more than 30 years and laments that children being violent at home is the fastest growing part of the domestic violence problem.

Kids aged between 10 and 17 now represent about eight per cent of all domestic violence assaults ? that?s kids hitting parents and siblings ? a 25 per cent increase in the past five years.

Alcohol and even violent video games have been central to the debate over what triggers young people to be violent, but Murdoch says violence is often learned at home. ?That?s the logical assumption to make, that kids are witnessing this stuff thinking this is the way people conduct themselves in relationships,? Murdoch says.

?I?m dealing with a woman at the moment who has been a long-term victim of domestic violence. She has four kids, a girl aged 12 and three boys aged nine, six and five, and these kids were part of the violence.

?Whilst the perpetrator focused the violence on her, the kids would scream and cry and then he would threaten them with a machete, hitting the bottom of their beds with the machete.

?He?s been charged but these kids have behavioural issues already. The school is calling every day with trouble and I?d put my house on it the kids will end up as perpetrators of domestic violence because they have seen how dad has treated mum.?

Father Chris Riley runs Youth Off The Street, a charitable outfit that tries to give homeless kids a second shot. He estimates between 80 and 90 per cent of his troubled kids have fled abusive homes.

?One of our current girls ran away from home at 15 because her mother allowed her to be beaten up by successive partners,? Riley says.

?She hates her mother. The other tragic outcome for these girls is they get into inappropriate relationships, they go from refuge to refuge and end up in inappropriate relationships and now this girl is pregnant.?

Prevention is the ideal, yet often elusive solution. But for the children who have endured too much too soon, programs like Kids Create Tomorrow help to patch up the damage in a safe environment.

At the painting session in Campbelltown, 10-year-old Brody, not his real name, has drawn two very different pictures. The first is a monster. ?This is my anger monster,? he says.

?He is a very evil monster and I can control him. He brings anger to me and my family.?

The other picture represents Brody?s hopes for the future.

?This is my peace monster, he wants to come out . He will bring peace to me and the whole world.?

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/national/the-children-who-know-too-much/story-fndo317g-1226458812959

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Source: http://socato.org/?p=13006

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New Milestone for Real Estate Investing with Enhanced Real Estate ...

Plano, TX, August 28, 2012 ?(PR.com)? A real estate investing firm that also develops real estate investor websites, www.RealEstateInvestorsWebsites.net, has rolled out upgraded features for the websites. Real estate investors now have more inbuilt marketing features for targeted marketing.

Among the new features include re-designed landing pages, or squeeze pages that real estate investors can use for targeted marketing campaigns. Some squeeze pages have now been equipped with a life-like video speaking model that commands instant attention and communicates a down to earth message that appeals to visitors needs leading to more conversion.

The websites come equipped with Ebooks that are fully personalized with the real estate investors names addressing the prospects personal needs. This increases credibility and boosts conversion rates.

Once prospects sign up, the websites inbuilt follow-up autoresponders start sending carefully timed email messages written to convert leads into closed deals.

Each website comes equipped with numerous designs that can be fully personalized and branded to suit individual needs. All features are controlled from a simple back office, easy enough for real estate investors who are new to computers to run their business. The front end is free of maintenance.

Each website can be fully customized to suit individual business models whether they buy or sell houses on retail or terms, rent them, wholesale them, or even if they are seeking private money investors. They can even be customized for other business models to suit customized individual needs.

With advanced search engine optimization especially targeting local market, the websites are built to attract leads and convert them into closed deals.

An investor can get a a fully personalized real estate investor website ready for business within one hour.

For more information, please visit www.RealEstateInvestorsWebsites.net or call 214-227-8718.

Contact Information:
RealEstateInvestorsWebSites.net
Simon Macharia
214-227-8718
Contact via Email
www.RealEstateInvestorsWebSites.net

Click here to read the full story: New Milestone for Real Estate Investing with Enhanced Real Estate Investor Websites

Press Release Distributed by PR.com

Source: http://tech.rambergmedia.com/new-milestone-for-real-estate-investing-with-enhanced-real-estate-investor-websites/

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Report: One-Third Of U.S. Moms Own Connected Devices, 97% Of iPad Moms Shopped From Their Tablet Last Month

Remember when everyone in the tech industry sort of took a step back, looked at Pinterest, and said, whoa, this whole digital moms demographic might have some legs to it? Well, as it turns out, moms aren't just out there pinning recipes and home decor to their Pinterest boards - they're heavy-duty digital consumers across all channels, including not only social media, but also in e-commerce and on mobile. According to the findings of a new report released today by mobile ad network Mojiava?in conjunction with Distimo, moms are heavily engaged with their tablets and phones. One third own a connected device. They spend 6.1 hours per day on average on their smartphones - that's more than magazines, TV or radio, to put it in perspective. 62% use shopping apps and 46% took action after seeing a mobile ads. This an active, active group of users to target here.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/gsKwsc35ZFI/

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Twitter shakes up US election campaign

Will tweets make the difference in the 2012 US presidential election? Twitter and other social media are being used by candidates to energize supporters, raise funds and shift the focus of the public debate for what some call the nation's first "social election" in November.

Twitter has the potential "to sway the national narrative," said Zach Green, head of the media consultancy 140Elect, which advises candidates on how to use Twitter.

Because Twitter democratizes the delivery of information, tweets can help a candidate by getting out a message that might not be seen on traditional media like newspapers and television.

"Twitter is a way of injecting a message into the national conversation... before anyone writes the story you can get your side out there," Green told AFP.

"You can also go around the national discussion because Twitter allows candidates to reach their constituencies without a gatekeeper."

Tony Fratto, a former White House and US Treasury spokesman in the George W. Bush administration who is now a partner in the consulting firm Hamilton Place Strategies, said Twitter can be a game-changer.

"It has made it possible for campaigns to immediately communicate with large numbers of potential voters in about the cheapest way you can imagine," Fratto said.

"Not only can you impress a message on millions of people, but you can respond to charges quickly. In the old days, you would have someone put a television ad, and it would take time to write a press release or produce an ad" to counter that, he said.

"With Twitter, the moment the charge or a critical ad or news report hits you are in a position to respond in your own voice immediately and to generate responses from your supporters."

President Barack Obama has a huge head start on Republican rival Mitt Romney on Twitter. The incumbent has some 18.7 million Twitter followers to fewer than 900,000 for Romney.

Green's analysis shows Obama tweets 10 times more often as Romney, and gets additional support on Twitter from his campaign. But Romney's tweets are more often shared and retweeted, suggesting his supporters are more "engaged," said Green.

Jeanette Castillo, a Florida State University professor specializing in digital media, said Romney has more money and support from political action committees, "so I'm watching to see how much the social media capital is worth."

"The extent to which it mobilizes people and gets them out will be interesting to watch," Castillo said.

In the 2008 election, Twitter was just getting started and had a limited impact, Castillo noted, because it had fewer users -- mainly younger people -- and was not as important for news media.

Now, Twitter is a major driver of news and the so-called "national conversation."

This was highlighted, Castillo said, by the furor created by US Senate candidate Todd Akin's comments on "legitimate rape" and earlier this year by the shooting death of unarmed black teen Trayvon Martin.

"Twitter is a very democratic platform," she said.

"I think it's becoming part of a bigger landscape and to the extent that it influences the mainstream media, it will have power."

Fratto said Obama had a "huge advantage" in the 2008 campaign over Republican John McCain but that in 2012, the Romney campaign has "a very sophisticated digital communication strategy."

He noted that while Obama tweets more often, some tweets from @BarackObama are not directly from him, but written in the third person.

"You should tweet more often but do it in your own voice," Fratto said.

A study by the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism said the Obama campaign "holds a distinct advantage" in its use of digital technology to communicate with voters, particularly Twitter.

More crucially, the Obama campaign is using digital means to target key groups such as Hispanics and women voters.

PEJ director Tom Rosenstiel said an effective online strategy is now essential for a candidate.

"While more digital activity does not necessarily translate into more votes, historically, candidates who are first to exploit changing technology have an advantage," said Rosenstiel.

The Pew report said that candidates who use these technologies demonstrate they are keeping up with the times.

"From Franklin Roosevelt's use of radio, to John F. Kennedy's embrace of television, to Ronald Reagan's recognition of the potential for arranging the look and feel of campaign events in the age of satellites and video tape, candidates quicker to grasp the power of new technology have used that to convey a sense that they represented a new generation of leadership more in touch with where the country was heading," the report said.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/twitter-shakes-us-election-campaign-201846072.html

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Tiffany lowers outlook as shoppers remain cautious

NEW YORK (AP) ? Upscale jewelry chain Tiffany & Co. lowered its outlook for the year on Monday as the wealthy cut back on buying baubles in an uncertain economy.

Company shares rose more than 7 percent Monday, however, as revenue in established stores, a key measure for retailers, declined less than analysts had expected in the second quarter. Investors may also have been encouraged that Tiffany is planning stores in new cities despite its challenges.

The affluent had been spending more since the Great Recession ended in mid-2009, recovering faster than other people. But starting late last year, Tiffany's customers trimmed their spending on jewelry amid stock market volatility and growing worry about the debt crisis in Europe.

"Not surprisingly, sales growth has been affected by economic weakness in a number of markets," said CEO Michael J. Kowalski. "We think it is only prudent to maintain a cautious near-term outlook about global economic conditions and the effects on customer spending."

Tiffany, known for its blue boxes, earned $91.8 million, or 72 cents per share, for the period ended July 31, up 2 percent from $90 million, or 69 cents per share, a year earlier.

Analysts expected earnings of 74 cents per share.

Revenue for the New York company rose 2 percent to $886.6 million from $872.7 million. Wall Street forecast $891.1 million.

Sales in the Americas edged down 1 percent to $434 million. Sales in the New York flagship stores fell 9 percent, after a 41 percent increase a year ago, because U.S. customers are spending less, said Tiffany spokesman Mark Aaron. Sales in U.S. stores to foreign tourists were roughly unchanged from the prior year as more Chinese visitors helped offset a decline in spending by European tourists in the U.S.

Japan's sales increased 11 percent to $159 million, while sales in the Asia-Pacific region, a once hot area, rose just 1 percent $174 million. European sales fell 1 percent to $100 million.

Overall, revenue at stores opened at least a year fell 1 percent. Analysts surveyed by FactSet had expected a 4 percent drop.

The company also continues to grapple with high costs for silver and gold, which have eroded its profitability. However, those costs have moderated a bit.

Still, Tiffany is determined to fortify its competitive edge.

It now plans to open 28 company-operated stores this year compared with the previously planned 24. In the second half, Tiffany plans a store in Manhattan's Soho neighborhood, a second store in San Francisco, a shop in La Jolla, Calif., a store in Rio de Janeiro and a third store in Toronto.

Tiffany said that it now expects 2012 earnings of $3.55 to $3.70 per share, down from $3.70 to $3.80 per share. Analysts predict $3.65 per share.

It also trimmed its revenue forecast to growth of 6 to 7 percent for the year, or about $3.86 billion to $3.89 billion. Its prior guidance was for a 7 to 8 percent increase. Analysts expect revenue of $3.87 billion.

Tiffany's stock gained $4.33, or 7.4 percent, to $62.83 in midday trading Monday.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/tiffany-lowers-outlook-shoppers-remain-cautious-164439293--finance.html

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Powerful typhoon approaches Japan's Okinawa island

A man walks down a lane of water damaged furniture from heavy rains brought by Typhoon Tembin in Pingtung county, Taiwan, Friday, Aug. 24, 2012. The typhoon crossed over southern Taiwan on Friday morning, causing flooding and wind damage but largely sparing the island's heavily populated areas. (AP Photo) TAIWAN OUT

A man walks down a lane of water damaged furniture from heavy rains brought by Typhoon Tembin in Pingtung county, Taiwan, Friday, Aug. 24, 2012. The typhoon crossed over southern Taiwan on Friday morning, causing flooding and wind damage but largely sparing the island's heavily populated areas. (AP Photo) TAIWAN OUT

A van is driven through trees fallen by strong winds from Typhoon Tembin in Pingtung county, Taiwan, Friday, Aug. 24, 2012. Powerful Typhoon Tembin struck southern Taiwan Friday, toppling trees, overturning vehicles, and dumping rains that swelled rivers and flooded homes and farmlands. No casualties were reported. (AP Photo) TAIWAN OUT

TOKYO (AP) ? The strongest typhoon to approach Okinawa in several years was bearing down on the southern Japanese island on Sunday as residents were told to stay indoors and warned its strong gusts could overturn cars and cause waves of up to 12 meters (40 feet).

Slow-moving Typhoon Bolaven was centered about 150 kilometers (93 miles) southeast of Okinawa and was expected to pass over the island Sunday evening, dumping as much as 500 millimeters (20 inches) of rain over a 24-hour period, weather officials said.

The Japan Meteorological Agency said wind speeds near the center of the typhoon were about 180 kph (112 mph), with extremely strong gusts reaching 252 kilometers per hour (155 mph).

Those gusts could knock over telephone poles and even overturn cars, while waves around the island could top 12 meters (40 feet), public broadcaster NHK warned.

NHK reported two injuries, including a 78-year-old man who was knocked over by winds and cut his forehead. There were no reports of major damage, but some 200 households were without electricity and some 300 people had taken shelter in public buildings, said disaster officials in Okinawa, which has a population of 1.4 million.

All domestic and international flights in and out of Naha Airport, serving the island's capital, were cancelled.

Gusts from the typhoon could equal or surpass the previous record for Naha of 265 kph (165 mph) winds in a 1956 typhoon, said Tsukasa Uezu, an official with the Okinawa Meteorological Observatory Weather Information Center.

The storm's relatively slow movement ? 15 kph (9 mph) to the northwest ? means "exposure to wind and rain will be that much longer," and raises the possibility of serious damage, said Shun Miygai, an official with the Okinawa Disaster Prevention and Crisis Management Center.

The Japan Meteorological Agency issued storm and storm surge warnings in Okinawa prefecture and for high waves in the waters around the island.

More than half the 50,000 U.S. troops based in Japan are stationed in Okinawa. At Kadena Air Base, one of the biggest bases on the island, all shops and service facilities were ordered closed and movement around the base was to be kept to a minimum. All entry into the ocean was prohibited.

The typhoon, the 15th of the season, was expected to continue into the East China Sea and then into the Yellow Sea, possibly affecting southern coastal areas of South Korea by Tuesday, Japanese weather officials said.

Bolaven comes on the heels of Typhoon Tembin, which soaked southern Taiwan on Friday, largely sparing populated areas before blowing out to sea again.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2012-08-26-Asia-Typhoon/id-cbca3b2bab69417fb829542610ccd06a

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App Wrap: Food and drink gift-giving apps - YNN - Your News Now

'); if(infobox=='True' && ShowInfoBox_l287673_1==false){ jQuery("#player_infobarl287673_1").trigger('click'); ShowInfoBox_l287673_1==true; } }; if (false) { $.setup_player(Play_Conf); } //info bar setup jQuery('#player_infobarl287673_1').click(function() { var $info =jQuery('#player_info_contentl287673_1'); if($info.text()!=''){ var $content = jQuery('div',$info); //min heigth var min = $content.css('min-height'); var max = $content.css('max-height'); $info.slideToggle(600); ShowInfoBox_l287673_1=!ShowInfoBox_l287673_1; } }); });

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It's never been easier to be a part of a party that you aren't actually part of.

Through virtual giving apps like bartab, you can buy drinks or bar food for your friends via your, and their mobile devices.

With bartab, you choose a friend and a place to buy a drink for them. Once you buy it, they just show a code on their mobile phone to the bartender and the drink is served.

But as more and more of these types of apps launch, they're coming up with more and more ways to be useful and practical.

Take, for example, NOOM! which stands for Next One On Me. Right now, it only works in Austin but it breaks the mold of locking your friends into visiting a particular establishment. Instead of the sender choosing a bar and then buying a drink from that bar, NOOM! allows you to send a drink or treat to a friend and then the friend/recipient gets to choose from a list of places nearby to redeem that gift.

There's also the new Text-Me-A-Drink app, which allows you to send a drink to a friend via a text message. But this one is specifically designed to buy a drink for a friend in Ireland. This one also requires you choose the pub where the drink will be received. Developers say it was designed so that Irish people living abroad could still have something of a presence back at celebrations in their homeland.

And though it may have started with more adult-oriented drinks, Dunkin' Donuts is getting in on the action. Users of the Dunkin' Donuts app can send Dunkin' credit, from $2 to $100 to anyone. The recipient then shows their mobile phone screen to the cashier to be scanned. It's effectively a gift card minus the actual card. The app also allows the user to fill up their own virtual account, place and pay for an order within the app itself and then, when the phone is scanned, the cashier hands off the food.

All these person-to-person gift-giving apps are free and usually require Facebook to login. And though the apps themselves may be just for IOS or Android phones, most also allow users on either end to make purchases through the phone's mobile browser.

Source: http://austin.ynn.com/content/living/app_wrap/287673/app-wrap--food-and-drink-gift-giving-apps

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Post Physical Therapy Benefits for Pilates | Balance Pilates

Injuries to knees, hip muscles, shoulders and elbows are increasingly common. As our baby boomer population grows older and athletes become more competitive visits to orthopedic surgeons, pain management doctors and physical therapist become an intricate part of our medical care.

Once patients are released from surgery and physical therapy many of them don?t know what to do, what?s safe, they aren?t motivated to continue their prescribed exercises.

The popularity of pilates and mind body exercises are becoming the next step in recovery and life after an injury. STOTT Pilates instructors are trained to work with patients after physical therapy. They give patients safe, challenging workouts that teach them correct posture and core engagement, proper alignment and techniques on correcting yourself throughout the day.

Many physical therapist are also learning STOTT Pilates techniques and are applying the benefits during therapy. This bridges the gap between physical therapy and going out on your own. STOTT Pilates instructors and physical therapist can speak the same language. Many times physical therapist can give your STOTT Pilates instructor direction and guidance on the best programs and exercises for you.

If you are interested in continuing care after physical therapy contact a Balance Pilates instructor. All of our instructors are STOTT Pilates trained and would be happy to speak to your physical therapist in regards to your health.

Source: http://pilatesrichmond.com/balance/post-physical-therapy-benefits-for-pilates

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Romney Steps into Energy Conversation

One of the most remarkable things about the U.S. energy revolution is how quickly it is changing the conversation.?On Wednesday, Mitt Romney released a 21-page policy paper outlining how he intends to encourage domestic energy (oil) production in order to reach partial energy independence (using only North American sources) by 2020.?The Financial Times reports:

The strategy picks up on the assessments of analysts at?Citigroup?and?Raymond James, among others, who have argued that the upturn in US production resulting from the?shale oil boom?makes it possible that by the end of the decade, the country could be importing crude only from Canada and Mexico.

Mr Romney said his vision was for the US to be an ?energy superpower, increasing our own production and partnering with our allies Canada and Mexico to achieve energy independence on this continent?.

The plan, naturally is not without its critics. In particular, many believe that 2020 is far too soon to contemplate full energy independence, while others question whether energy independence is a reasonable goal in the first place. In perhaps the best critique, Michael Levy argues in Foreign Policy?that America?s resource wealth is not sufficient to achieve independence from world energy markets:

In any case, energy independence requires more than impressive arithmetic. As long as the United States is fully integrated into the world oil market, U.S. fuel prices will rise and fall along with events on the other side of the globe ? say, a war with Iran. Greater domestic production will blunt the economic shock of rapidly rising prices ? better to suddenly be sending massive sums to North Dakota than to Saudi Arabia ? but because oil producers everywhere are relatively slow to spend their windfalls, skyrocketing prices could still knock the economy on its back.

Many of these critiques have merit, and we would be surprised if America is completely energy independent in only eight years. But if full independence isn?t quite in the offing, America does have the opportunity move a long way toward that goal in the coming years, and we will need a serious political discussion about what all this may mean for the future. The fact that Romney released this report means that this conversation has begun in earnest.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/WalterRussellMead/~3/B3paJijjQvw/

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Hockey Kicks Cancer Event | Aug2012

Great event here from High Heels and Hockey.

?

The Pittsburgh sports blogging community will be holding a charity kickball tournament on October 6th to celebrate Hockey Fights Cancer Month. Proceeds will be donated to our local chapter of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, which Hockey Fights Cancer benefits.

Please join?Crosby FTW,?High Heels & Hockey,??The Pensblog,?PensNation,?Faceoff Factor, and?Slewfooters?for a day of kickball, raffles, prizes, and more!

The tournament will be divided into teams of 10. When signing up, be sure to talk to your friends and family so that you are able to get onto the same teams. We will update the form when teams fill. ?If you want to represent a blog team, but it is indicated that the team is full, please let us know and we will create a B team for our blogs.?If you do not wish to play but would like to come out and support the teams, you may sign up to attend as a spectator.

Location:?South Hills Dek Hockey
1551 Worthington Avenue
Jefferson Hills, PA 15025

Time: 1:00pm ? 8:00pm ? A schedule of games will be posted prior to the event.

Admission: $20 per player/spectator
Cost includes a Hockey Kicks Cancer t-shirt and a plate of food

Other:
50/50 raffles
Prize Baskets

You can sign up here. We'll have more posts about this in the weeks ahead.

Source: http://www.thepensblog.com/tpb/aug2012/hockey-kicks-cancer-event.html

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Joining 'unjoinable' materials: New polymer linking technology based on nano crystals

ScienceDaily (Aug. 24, 2012) ? Ever tried to paint on top of silicone? After a few hours, the paint will peel off. Annoying. Silicone is a so-called low surface energy polymer, well known from flexible baking forms: A synthetic material that has an extremely low adhesion or "stickiness." Teflon is similarly non-sticky and well known from frying pans. Researchers of Kiel University (Germany) have now developed the first technology which is capable of joining these two "unjoinable" materials. The technology applies passive nano-scaled crystal linkers as internal staples.

The nano staples open up solutions to a large number of technical challenges, for example in medical engineering. The work carried out within the DFG-funded Collaborative Research Center 677 "Function by Switching" was published August 24^th in the scientific journal Advanced Materials.

A new piece of technology

"If the nano staples make even extreme polymers like Teflon and silicone stick to each other, they can join all kinds of other plastic materials," says Professor Rainer Adelung. Adelung is leading the functional nano materials group at the Institute of Materials Science in Kiel and lead the research project from the materials science side. The new technology of joining materials without chemical modifications can be used, according to Adelung, in a variety of everyday life and high tech applications. The technique is easy to use and does not need expensive equipment or material.

Microscopic staples

The linkers are micro and nano scaled crystals made of zinc oxide. They are shaped like tetrapods, where four legs protrude from the point of origin. Large-scale tetrapods are known for their ability to interlock and form strong bonds, for example in coastal protection.

Stapling from the inside

During the joining process, the zinc oxide crystals are sprinkled evenly onto a heated layer of Teflon. Then, a layer of silicone is poured on top. In order to join the materials firmly, they are then heated to 100?Celsius for less than an hour. "It's like stapling two non-sticky materials from the inside with the crystals: When they are heated up, the nano tetrapods in between the polymer layers pierce the materials, sink into them, and get anchored," explains Xin Jin, the first author of the publication, who is currently working on her PhD thesis. Her colleague and supervisor, Dr. Yogendra Kumar Mishra, explains the adhesive principle: "If you try to pull out a tetrapod on one arm from a polymer layer, the shape of the tetrapod will simply cause three arms to dig in deeper and to hold on even firmer."

Stapling is better than gluing

In high technology businesses such as medical engineering, there is a strong demand for innovative ways to make polymers, particularly silicone, stick to other materials, for example to further develop breathing masks, implants or sensors. Medical applications require materials that are absolutely non-harmful, i.e. biocompatible. Many joining methods involve chemical reactions, which may change the polymers' properties and can cause injurious or even toxic effects on organisms. The tetrapod stapling, on the contrary, is a purely mechanical process. Therefore the Kiel team assumes it to be biocompatible.

As strong as sticky tape

With the tetrapod staples, the scientists have achieved a stickiness -- the so-called peel strength -- of 200 Newtons per meter, which is similar to peeling sticky tape off glass. "The stickiness we have achieved with the nano tetrapods is remarkable, because as far as we could verify, no one has ever made silicone and Teflon stick to each other at all," says co-author Lars Heepe, PhD student from the Zoological Institute of Kiel University, who precisely measured the adhesion and described what the stapled material looks like on the microscopic scale. "Measuring adhesion quantitatively is not as easy as it looks, precise experiments have to be carried out in order to prove the function of the linkers and rule out all errors," says Professor Stanislav Gorb, leading the group Functional Morphology and Biomechanics.

Three research groups from different backgrounds combined their expertise in material science, chemistry and biomechanics in this study within the Collaborative Research Center 677 "Function by Switching" (CRC 677). For Rainer Adelung and his colleagues, this study is not the end of the project: "We are feeding our results directly into both practical applications as well as further fundamental research." The scientists' local business partner nanoproofed GmbH is currently developing a product for paintings on top of silicone. In the framework of CRC 677, the staples are the basis for developing biomimetic adhesives, for which adhesion can be switched on and off by light of different colours.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Christian-Albrechts-Universitaet zu Kiel.

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Journal Reference:

1. X. Jin, J. Strueben, L. Heepe, A. Kovalev, Y.K. Mishra, R. Adelung, S.N. Gorb, A. Staubitz. Joining the un-joinable: Adhesion between low surface energy polymers using tetrapodal ZnO linkers. Advances Materials, 2012 DOI: 10.1002/adma201201780

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_technology/~3/6H-EZXZpZww/120824082513.htm

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MPs seek British version of U.S. tax disclosure rules

LONDON (Reuters) - A cross-party committee of MPs has called on the government to introduce U.S.-style automatic disclosure of information on UK citizens by foreign institutions and tax authorities to help stem global cross-border tax evasion.

In a report published on Thursday, the International Development Committee said that if tax authorities are required to share information on UK individual taxpayers or corporations, it would help stop international tax evasion.

The proposed legislation takes as inspiration the new U.S. Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), which is designed to stop Americans from hiding money from the taxman offshore, the report says.

FATCA places the burden of automatic disclosure to U.S. tax authorities on foreign financial institutions, with U.S. taxpayers as clients.

In Europe, under the EU's Savings Directive, if an EU resident holds an account in another member state, the home tax authorities must be notified.

The UK parliamentary committee suggested that if the UK required tax authorities to exchange information related to British citizens or corporations with overseas interests, it would establish a standard of transparency.

"We recommend that the government introduce legislation similar to the relevant section of the U.S. ... FATCA, requiring tax authorities automatically to exchange information relating to UK citizens or corporations," the report said.

The committee also recommended the UK government use its influence "to persuade other governments to follow suit".

Such a move could enhance the ability of developing countries to increase their tax take, the report said.

"The capacity of a developing country tax authority to obtain information on the offshore activities of its citizens or corporations is critical to its ability to curtail illicit capital flight."

FINANCIAL INDUSTRY HEADACHES

Adoption of U.S.-style automatic disclosure rules by other developed countries would add to a long list of regulatory headaches currently afflicting the global financial services industry.

Rules on enforcing FATCA have yet to be finalised, but they have already caused ripples across the banking industry, which has had to absorb the administrative and financial burden of meeting the disclosure obligations.

Another reform mooted by the committee is the introduction of new accounting standards that would require corporations to report information on a country-by-country basis.

This would aim to prevent multinationals from shifting profits to subsidiaries set up in tax havens, thus reducing the tax take in the countries where they actually operate.

UK charity Christian Aid, which has campaigned for country-by-country reporting and provided written evidence to the Committee, welcomed the proposals.

"We're ... really pleased that MPs are calling on the UK government to lead the global fight against tax dodging, rather than waiting for other countries to agree on what to do about it," said Joseph Stead, senior economic justice adviser at Christian Aid.

(Reporting by Chris Vellacott; editing by Jane Baird)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/mps-seek-british-version-u-tax-disclosure-rules-000505989--finance.html

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