Helpful Tips For Keeping Yourself Healthy | Articles Squad

Getting match is much more than your outward visual appeal. It also encompasses the quality of life, and also long life. You should express the frame of mind that permits you to implement the adaptations necessary to enable you to proper care correctly yourself. Several types of workouts are for sale to make your workout routines new and exciting.

It might be solid motivator to put goals for your personal exercise regimen. Attempting to make an ambition can help you get past obstructions, instead of turning into fixated to them. A target gives you one thing definite to pay attention to. You will be unlikely to stop on hitting the gym for those who have set up an objective yourself and possess managed to get recognized to others.

It is wise to make sure you are prepared to produce a work out strategy a consistent component in your lifetime. While it is great to put targets, you must make sure that you are creating workout a top concern.

Support your body?s normal therapeutic process soon after a powerful workout by ongoing to exercising a similar muscle tissue over the up coming couple of days. Working out muscles will get far more blood working to them, which implies a lot more blood vessels and a lot more nutrition that they need to restore.

Volunteer work is an excellent weight to boost your action levels in addition to help you individuals close to you. Volunteers are important for the various kinds of bodily labour that need to be carried out. This will get you suit and give assist to clingy businesses.

Developing more powerful abs is a superb approach to maximize your health and fitness initiatives. You can achieve this by carrying out morning hours stay-ups with weight loads or perhaps not. Your abdominal muscles work as an anchor for several of the other muscle tissue and in addition decide your torso?s range of motion.

Sometimes seeing a specialist for guidance on your fitness goals is the easiest method to construct one of the most doable and healthful targets. In many cases it is actually beneficial to talk with a nutritionist. They will help you realize how to make healthy choices, and provide you with a game title program to start.

You don?t need to feel all of that shame about watching television in the event you exercise as well. Each time a professional is available on, perform some swift workouts. This method for you to watch your favored demonstrates and function toward increasingly match.

Leg extensions are a simple way to build muscle your quads. A nice, simple workout you could find an equipment for generally in most gyms is lower leg extensions. Press your legs up when you find yourself seated.

You should take time from your working day to workout. Simple changes in your program like, utilizing the staircases at the office instead of the elevator, will prove to add up into exceptional exercise with time.

In case you have decided it is actually time for you start an exercise routine, don?t shed inspiration when you are stuck with boring routines. A variety of routines are present that will help keep you occupied and healthful at the same time. You must take pleasure in your process if you would like continue to be encouraged.

The proper stability of healthy proteins, carbohydrates and healthful fatty acids is required from your physique to ensure you to work out effectively and increase your level of fitness. Your daily diet need to comprise of a bit less than fifty percent premium quality protein, regarding a third complicated carbs and also the remainder ought to be consisting of healthy fatty acids. Each meal you take in ought to have a minumum of one way to obtain healthy proteins, since it is the principal building block for muscle.

When you are performing abdominal crunches, breathe out forcefully at the top of the movement. This causes your ab muscle tissue to function more challenging and burns up an increased level of unhealthy calories. Try this technique to raise the strength of your stomach crunches.

Since the article represents, it?s very easy to obtain fitness effects you will be pleased with in the event you give your very best. Don?t be embarrassed of the body anymore. In the event you keep to the details which has been provided on this page, you should certainly have the results you wish.

There is more information available about how to lose back fat take a look at Dalene S. Massoud?s site there is a lot of details not detailed on this page, visit Author?s blog to uncover more.

Source: http://www.articlessquad.com/helpful-tips-for-keeping-yourself-healthy-3/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=helpful-tips-for-keeping-yourself-healthy-3

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Porphysomes may enable a radically different approach to treating ...

Posted: Apr 29th, 2013 (Nanowerk Spotlight) Men diagnosed with prostate cancer are often treated with a ?radical? prostatectomy, a procedure that involves removing the entire prostate gland. While this treatment is usually effective at preventing the spread of the disease, it can lead to complications. For many men, radical therapy ?over-treats? prostate cancer since only a small part of the prostate contains cancerous cells. ?Focal therapy?, in contrast to radical therapy, involves removing or ablating only the part of the prostate that is cancerous. However, it is often difficult for doctors to distinguish cancerous tissue from surrounding healthy tissue. Reporting in ACS Nano ("Inherently Multimodal Nanoparticle-Driven Tracking and Real-Time Delineation of Orthotopic Prostate Tumors and Micrometastases"), a team of researchers at the University of Toronto and the University Health Network used a new type of biocompatible nanoparticle known as a ?porphysome? to detect and demarcate prostate tumors as small as 2mm in size. The tumors were imaged using a combination of positron emission tomography (PET) and optical imaging. PET allows doctors to detect, localize, and characterize prostate tumors non-invasively, while optical imaging allows them to find the edges of the tumor(s) during treatment. The porphysomes were also able to detect cancerous cells that had metastasized (spread) to the bone. This may allow doctors to find and treat cancer that has spread from the prostate to other parts of the body. Radio-labeled porphysomes for combined positron emission tomography (PET) and optical (fluorescence) imaging of cancer. (Figure adapted with permission. ?2013, American Chemical Society) Focal therapy creates fewer side effects than radical therapy, yet it comes with an attendant risk. If some of the cancerous cells are left behind, the tumor may grow back, or worse, metastasize (spread) to other parts of the body. For effective focal therapy, doctors need a way to ?see? the tumor(s) within the prostate gland using clinical imaging techniques, so that they can be removed completely. Ideally, prostate tumors would be first imaged ?non-invasively?. Non-invasive imaging allows the tumor to be seen from outside of the body without having to perform surgery. This initial imaging step would allow doctors to find the location of the tumor(s) within the prostate, their size, and whether the disease has spread to surrounding tissues. Then, a complementary imaging technique would allow visualization of the boundaries of the tumor (known as the ?margins?) during surgery. Identifying the margins of the tumors helps surgeons to remove all of the cancerous cells, ensuring that none are left behind. As a step towards addressing this need, Dr. Gang Zheng and his colleagues developed a radio-isotope-labeled porphysome nanoparticle that could simultaneously image prostate cancer using two different clinical imaging techniques: positron emission tomography (PET) and optical imaging. Porphysomes, which were pioneered by Dr. Zheng?s group, are formed by the self-assembly of ?porpholipids? into spherical nanostructures. Porpholipids are formed by chemically-fusing porphyrin molecules with phospholipids. When the porpholipid is suspended in water and heated, it spontaneously assembles into bilayers, or sheets of the lipids. These bilayers can then be extruded through a tiny perforated membrane to form balloon-like nanoparticles that are ~100nm in diameter (see schematic). Schematic showing the structure of porphysomes formed by the self-assembly of porpholipids. Porphyrin in the porpholipids in naturally fluorescent. Porphyrin can also chelate radioisotopes so they can be detected by positron emission tomography (PET). (Figure adapted with permission. ?2013, American Chemical Society) Zheng explains that porphysomes are fundamentally different from porphyrin-loaded liposomes in at least three ways: loading capacity, stability, and optical properties. ?Porphyrins are bulky molecules. You can?t load them in liposomes beyond about 5-10% until the structure is disrupted. But, you can pack about 80,000 porphyrin molecules in a single porphysome... On top of that, porphysomes are more stable than liposomes. Porphyrins within the porphysome can interact with each other through their aromatic rings. This leads to more structural stability... Finally, porphysomes also be used as photothermal agents. By combining so many porphyrin molecules together, porphysomes have extinction coefficients on the order of 1010, which rivals gold nanoparticles. This property gives porphysomes a photothermal effect that can be used for therapy and for photoacoustic imaging.? Porphyrin molecules are naturally fluorescent. Exciting them with light at one wavelength (~410nm) leads to the re-emission of light of a higher wavelength (~600nm). The emitted light can be detected using a charge-coupled device, similar to those in digital cameras. By accumulating selectively in prostate tumors, porphysomes create an optical signal that surgeons can use to see tumor margins during surgery. Seeing the margins allows them to either remove or ablate the tumors, while sparing the surrounding tissue. In addition to their natural fluorescence properties, porphyrin molecules also have a small chemical ?cavity? in its center that can ?chelate? radioactive metal ions, like 64Cu. As it decays, 64Cu emits gamma radiation that can be detected by a PET scanner. By ?doping? some of the porpholipids with 64Cu2+, Zheng and his team created porphysomes that could be visualized simultaneously using both PET and optical imaging (see schematic). Zheng explains that the strength of the porphysome for imaging prostate tumors lies in its ability to combine both PET and optical imaging modalities together into a single nanoparticle. ?The beauty of PET and fluorescence is that they are complementary techniques providing different kinds of information. The sensitivity of PET is so high, and there?s almost no attenuation in tissues. Fluorescence, on the other hand, is sensitive and easy to detect, but it doesn?t penetrate deep into tissues. It?s great for imaging during surgery because it?s fast and simple.? He goes on to explain that within a porphysome, it is vital that only a small fraction of the porpholipids are modified with 64Cu2+. ? Chelating 64Cu2+ quenches the porphyrin fluorescence. By only modifying a fraction of the porpholipids, you still retain the overall fluorescence of the construct.? The researchers tested how well the radiolabeled porphysomes could detect prostate tumors grown ?orthotopically? in mice. Orthotopic tumors are human prostate cancer cells that are grown within the prostate glands of mice, and are relevant to human prostate cancer. In the first 4 hours after injecting porphysomes into the blood of these mice, the tumors showed little contrast by PET (see image). At this time-point, porphysomes were still present in the blood and surrounding healthy tissues. However, after 24 hours, the tumor could be clearly distinguished from surrounding healthy tissues (see image). When the researchers performed a mock surgery, they could clearly see the areas of the prostate that had been invaded by cancerous cells by using optical imaging (see image). The researchers found that they could detect tumors as small as 2mm in diameter, showing that porphysomes could potentially be used to detect prostate cancer at the earliest stages of its onset. Positron emission tomography (PET) and optical imaging of prostate cancer tumors in mice. PET imaging of tumors (A) 0h, and (B) 4h after injection of porphysomes. Arrows show location of the prostate. Fluorescence imaging of mice with (C) or without (D) prostate tumors. (Figure adapted with permission. ?2013, American Chemical Society) Emboldened by the sensitivity with which porphysomes could detect prostate cancer tumors, Zheng and his team examined whether the particles could also detect metastases. Metastases are small ?pockets? of cancer cells that have spread beyond the organ where they originated (in this case the prostate) and invaded other parts of the body. Metastases are small and widely-distributed in the body, making them hard to detect by conventional imaging, and even harder to treat. They are one of the major causes of cancer-related death. Prostate cancer, if left untreated, often spreads to surrounding organs like the lymph nodes, bones, and spinal cord. At that point, even radical prostatectomy does not cure the disease. Using a metastatic model for cancer established in mice, Zheng and his colleagues observed metastases as small as 2mm in diameter in the bones and spinal column of mice. This is one of the first demonstrations of a nanomaterial that is able to selectively detect bone metastases. One of the advantages of porphysomes over other nanoparticle types is their versatility. In addition to modifying porphysomes with 64Cu2+, Zheng and his colleagues believe that they could also load them with therapeutic radioisotopes. Therapeutic radioisotopes emit a type of radiation known as ?beta particles?, which can damage tissues. If porphysomes loaded with these radioisotopes accumulate selectively in prostate cancer tumors, they would be able to deliver radiation specifically to the cancerous tissues, while avoiding healthy tissues. ?The beauty of the porphysome is that we?re not limited to using a radiotracer. If we switch the imaging radioisotope to another therapeutic radioisotope, we can actually start to think about not just imaging tumors but also treating them.? Zheng goes on to explain the advantage of the radioisotope strategy over alternatives like photodynamic therapy and photothermal therapy. ?If we wanted to use photodynamic therapy or photothermal therapy, we could only treat a location that is accessible to light. Light can?t be delivered anywhere you want it to be. There are issues with tissue penetration. If you loaded them with a therapeutic radioisotope like 67Cu or 177Lu, you could use the porphysome to treat the tumors directly. The advantage of this type of treatment is that there is no need for surgery.? While the authors focused their efforts in this study on prostate cancer, Zheng believes that porphysomes have the potential to treat many different types of cancer. ?The general principle could be adapted to treating a number of different cancer types, including ovarian, lung, or even pancreatic cancer.? To help direct porphysomes to other tumor types Zheng points out that they could be modified with ?targeting ligands? that helps direct them to different cancer types. ?By swapping targeting ligands, the same basic porphysome structure could be made specific for multiple different types of cancers.? The encouraging results shown by Zheng and his team in this study suggest that porphysomes may be a viable in human patients. On top of the modularity in their design, another advantage that porphysomes have over other nanoparticle platforms is that they are naturally-derived and biocompatible. Porphyrin itself is harvested from algae. Porphysomes can be completely degraded and cleared within the body, so there is little risk of toxicity. In a previous study, Zheng and his colleagues showed that porphysomes did not produce any adverse effects in mice. In contrast, inorganic nanomaterials made from metals, semiconductors, and silica tend to accumulate in the body, raising the potential for long-term toxicity, and creating a barrier to their clinical translation. Porphysomes can also take advantage of the manufacturing platform that is already in place for producing liposomes for clinical applications. Although porphysomes are not ready for use in human patients quite yet, their impressive performance, biocompatibility, and manufacturing advantages means that they could be one of the newest of the next generation of medical nanomaterials to enter clinical use. Far from being just an incremental improvement over existing technologies, it is likely that porphysomes will be revolutionary in the fight against not just prostate cancer, but cancers in general. By Carl Walkey, Integrated Nanotechnology & Biomedical Sciences Laboratory, University of Toronto, Canada.

Source: http://www.nanowerk.com/spotlight/spotid=30228.php

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Chrysler says second-quarter vehicle shipments to rise at least 13 percent

DETROIT (Reuters) - Chrysler Group LLC says that it will increase its vehicle shipments in the second quarter by at least 13 percent from the previous quarter.

Shipments from April through June will be at least 650,000, up from 574,000 in the first quarter, Chrysler said in a slide presentation after it issued quarterly earnings on Monday.

Of the vehicles the company shipped in the first quarter, 73 percent went to the U.S. market, up from 69 percent a year earlier.

(Reporting by Bernie Woodall; Editing by Gerald E. McCormick)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/chrysler-says-second-quarter-vehicle-shipments-rise-least-132821547.html

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Early dialogue between parents, children stems teen smoking

Apr. 24, 2013 ? Early, substantive dialogue between parents and their grade-school age children about the ills of tobacco and alcohol use can be more powerful in shaping teen behavior than advertising, marketing or peer pressure, a University of Texas at Arlington marketing researcher has shown.

The findings of Zhiyong Yang, an associate professor of marketing in the UT Arlington College of Business, are published in a recent edition of the Journal of Business Research. Similar findings were part of a 2010 study he published in the Journal of Public Policy & Marketing of the American Marketing Association.

Yang's current work, "Demarketing teen tobacco and alcohol use: Negative peer influence and longitudinal roles of parenting and self-esteem," argues that parental influence is a powerful tool in dissuading children from smoking and drinking in their later teen years.

His 2010 article, "The Impact of Parenting Strategies on Child Smoking Behavior: The Role of Child Self-Esteem Trajectory," shows that dialogue between parents and teens is effective in combating risky behavior, such as tobacco and alcohol use, and that parental influences buffer the impact of other external factors such as social media and peer pressure.

"First, our conclusion is that parenting styles can be changed, and that's good news for the parents and the teens," said Yang, who joined the UT Arlington in 2007 and specializes in "consumer misbehavior," a branch of marketing that attempts to change undesirable or risky behavior.

Yang further elaborated, "Second, our study shows that parental influence is not only profound in its magnitude, but also persistent and long-lasting over the course of a child's entire life. Effective parenting plays the critical role as a transition belt to pass normative values of society from one generation to another."

Rachel Croson, Dean of the UT Arlington College of Business, said Yang's research sheds important light on what drives behaviors and misbehaviors.

"Marketers often study how to sell more products," Croson said. "Dr. Yang's work answers some important and thorny questions about how to sell less, and what parents may be able to do to help improve their children's health and well-being."

Each day about 3,900 people under the age of 18 begin smoking in the United States, according to the U.S. Center for Disease Control. An estimated 1,000 youth will become daily cigarette smokers. About 30 percent of youth smokers will continue to use tobacco and will die early from a smoking-related disease, the agency says.

Yang earned his doctorate from Concordia University in Montreal, Quebec, and has based his research on national Canadian surveys of residents from childhood to 25 years old. Because the sampling was so large, comparable results would occur in the United States, Yang said. Canadian teen smoking statistics practically mirror those of the United States, he noted.

Yang said his findings are counter to common perceptions that parents have little influence on children's behavior after they enter adolescence. Conventional wisdom suggests that peer pressure and targeted marketing and advertising are of paramount influence on teen decisions to use tobacco and alcohol or engage in other risky behaviors.

"What our research determined is that parental influence is a far greater factor than those," Yang said. "Parenting starts from birth. What could have a greater impact than that?"

Less effective, Yang said, are parenting strategies that employ negative reinforcement, such as belittling a teenager, threats, physical discipline or using negative consequences if the teenager's behavior does not meet parental expectations.

"In fact, our research shows those negative strategies, like withholding affection, drive a teen toward smoking," Yang said.

The research also shows that parents could have a positive impact on discouraging their teen from using tobacco by sharing their own experiences.

"There's something to be said in telling a teen how you've suffered if you've smoked or engaged in a bad behavior when you were a teen," Yang said.

He said the ideal next step in the research would be to partner with local school districts to teach parents a battery of parenting strategies that can be used to curtail teen misbehaviors.

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Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/~3/svoFzdr2ZxA/130425091623.htm

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Peace at Home Family Shelter benefit 'Dine Out For Peace' set for ...

Event poster

Nine local restaurants will donate a portion of their sales to Peace at Home Family Shelter today (April 25) as part of the organization?s annual fundraiser, Dine Out For Peace.

Rogers-based restaurant Green Bean will donate a portion of their lunch sales, and the other restaurants, including Fayetteville-based eateries Bordinos, Lucky Luke?s, and Fresco Cafe will donate proceeds from dinner sales.

Peace at Home Family Shelter operates a 24-hour, 7 days a week shelter in Northwest Arkansas for women and children who are victims of family violence. Funds raised during the event will help support the organization?s mission to end family violence in Northwest Arkansas through education, outreach, and advocacy.

For more information about Peace at Home Family Shelter, visit peaceathomeshelter.org.

• Bordinos Restaurant and Wine Bar (Dinner)
• Lucky Luke?s BBQ (Dinner)
• Fresco Cafe & Pub (Dinner)
• Green Bean (Lunch)
• Crabbys Seafood Bar & Grill (Dinner)
• Geraldi?s
• MAD Pizza (Dinner)
• Springdale Acambaro Mexican Restaurant (Dinner)
• Vetro 1925 Ristorante (Dinner)

Source: http://www.fayettevilleflyer.com/2013/04/25/peace-at-home-family-shelter-benefit-dine-out-for-peace-set-for-april-25/

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92% The Gatekeepers

All Critics (88) | Top Critics (30) | Fresh (81) | Rotten (7)

The film and its talking head participants paint the picture in both broad strokes and fine detail.

Whatever one's political stripe regarding Israel, it's hard to dispute the impressions and perspective of the film's six eyewitnesses.

The level of candor here may not satisfy hard-liners of either stripe, but it can help viewers begin to formulate new questions about the philosophical, strategic and moral challenges of conflict, in particular "wars on terror."

Ultimately the movie feels evasive, and its flashy, digitally animated re-creations of military surveillance footage unpleasantly evoke the Call of Duty video games.

It offers startlingly honest insight into the Israeli-Palestinian conflict from some of those who called the shots.

As a political testament, the result is revealing and important.

[Moreh] asks just the right questions, never prodding these understandably private men too far but getting what he needs.

A riveting but depressing history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

It's a depressing movie, yet there is encouragement to be found in the manifest decency and reasonableness of these six honest, articulate men ...

The former heads of Israel's military anti-terrorism agency Shin Bet break their silence in this unnerving, eye-opening documentary.

The film, though based on the exploits of Shin Bet, gives us reason to think about the drones that take out more than just terrorists.

Makes for truly bracing viewing.

A fascinating film offering a startling look inside one of the most tightlipped intelligence agencies on the planet, and providing powerful resonances with the US and UK's "war on terror".

A compelling overview of a modern security agency - bred in a moral grey area, organising state-sanctioned violence, but uncertain of the strength of its political safety net.

While memorable in sometimes unexpected ways (1980 head Avraham Shalom's long unwashed nails), there is always the nagging feeling that any revelations are being pushed or sold a little too hard.

Dror Moreh's Oscar-nominated documentary is riveting, haunting and depressing in equal measure, offering a sobering assessment of the Israel-Palestine conflict from a unique perspective.

[T]he Oscar-nominated documentary in which the six living former heads of Shin Bet, the ultrasecretive Israeli domestic security agency, talk about their antiterrorism work...

Although The Gatekeepers may not be quite theatrical nor dramatic enough for it to be highly recommended as a cinematic experience, this does feel like a film that really should be seen.

Many secrets are revealed and examined in director Dror Moreh's mind-blowingly fine film. If I have a quibble, it's that he never reveals the most tantalizing secret of all: how the hell he pulled it off.

[An] absorbing documentary, which charts the Israeli-Palestinian conflict from the Six Day War to the presentday.

Insightful, revelatory and profound, Moreh's Oscar-nominated documentary combines riveting interviews, archive footage and - yes - state-of-the-art photographic effects to offer a unique perspective on the Israel-Palestine issue.

Both journalistic coup and unsettling confirmation of the idea that 'you can't make peace using military means.'

Much like Errol Morris' "The Fog of War," Dror Moreh's film is a sobering inside look inside history, at mistakes made and opportunities missed.

Moreh employs a direct interviewing style, reminiscent of Errol Morris' work, to get the men to talk about their days leading Shin Bet.

Moreh gets some startling confessions and insights from each man but also misses the opportunity to truly challenge his subjects on their regard for democracy, basic human rights and their own accountability.

Director Dror Moreh doesn't rest on his scoop

Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_gatekeepers_2012/

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Amy Winehouse Documentary In The Works

Movie will focus on singer's success and tragic death.
By Gil Kaufman

Amy Winehouse
Photo: John Shearer/ WireImage

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1706304/amy-winehouse-documentary.jhtml

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Capcom talks canceled games and its future on both consoles ...

Globalization has been the beat behind Capcom?s war drum over the past five years. With the Japanese developer relegating the majority of its internal Japanese studios to handheld projects like the PSP and Nintendo 3DS Monster Hunter games, the majority of its home console games were farmed out to North American and European houses like DmC studio Ninja Theory, Dead Rising 2?s Blue Castle, and Bionic Commando?s GRIN. In light of the past two years of earnings declines and high profile failures like Resident Evil 6?whose sprawling 600 person development staff spanned three countries?Capcom is hunkering down, refocusing on Japanese development and killing off projects in the process.

When Digital Trends reached out to Capcom earlier this month to illuminate just what games in development were getting axed, the company was predictably reticent to give us details. While it didn?t go into too many specifics during its Wednesday presentation to investors, it did explain how those cancelled games fit into its immediate future.

?There were a few titles scheduled for the current fiscal year, but most of the cancellations were for releases planned in the fiscal year ending March 2015 and subsequent fiscal years,? said Capcom, ?No titles that had already been announced were canceled.??

That means that games on the immediate horizon like French studio Dontnod?s promising Remember Me weren?t included in the corporate dust up at Capcom. However, this means that any Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 games Capcom had in reserve past March 2014 are likely dead in the water. This also means that Capcom is reassessing those games it had planned for the first full year of the PlayStation 4 and Next Xbox.?

Just because Capcom is re-strategizing, though, that doesn?t mean the company is abandoning the console space. Far from it.

?We believe that sales in the console and online category (downloadable content and other products) will continue to increase even if home video game packaged software sales decline,? said Capcom, ?Developing content for the home video game market will remain the core element of our strategy.?

For old fans that were disheartened by Capcom?s increased investment in mobile gaming, take heart: the company?s mobile work is slowing down ? but only for the moment while the smartphone market is still volatile.

?In Japan, growth of card battle-type social games has stagnated in the market. Overseas as well, the market is leveling off because of the ongoing diversification in users. However, smartphone sales are increasing repidly and so are areas of the world where these phones can be used. Therefore, we believe this market has enormous potential.?

Source: http://www.digitaltrends.com/gaming/capcom-talks-canceled-games-as-well-as-its-future-on-both-consoles-and-smartphones/

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Reuters: Verizon lining up $100 billion bid to buy out Vodafone's share of VZW

Word that Verizon would like to buy out Vodafone's 45 percent share of Verizon Wireless is hardly new, but Reuters reports it may finally be financially ready to take that step. According to unnamed sources, it's hired bank and legal advisers to prepare the bid, raising $50 billion in bank financing plus $50 billion in its own shares. Friendly discussions are said to start "soon", but if Vodafone is not interested it could take its bid public. It's probably no coincidence that the news is leaking just before Verizon's board meets to discuss a buyout before its regular shareholders meeting, but there are some potential complications. One holdup has been a potential hefty tax bill, but the Verizon CFO has been quoted saying he thinks that can be avoided, giving it more flexibility based on the cash generated by the wireless business.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Verizon

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Source: Reuters

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/04/24/reuters-verizon-lining-up-100-billion-bid-to-buy-out-vodafone/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget

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Troubling patterns of teacher assignments within schools

Apr. 23, 2013 ? Even within the same school, lower-achieving students often are taught by less-experienced teachers, as well as by teachers who received their degrees from less-competitive colleges, according to a new study by researchers from the Stanford Graduate School of Education and the World Bank. The study, using data from one of the nation's largest school districts, also shows that student class assignments vary within schools by a teacher's gender and race.

In a paper published in the April issue of Sociology of Education, the researchers present the results of a comprehensive analysis of teacher assignments in the nation's fourth-largest school district, Miami-Dade County Public Schools. Their findings identify trends that may contribute to teacher turnover and achievement gaps nationwide.

Previous research indicates that high-quality teachers can significantly improve education outcomes for students. However, not all students have equal access to the best teachers.

"It is well-known that teachers systematically sort across schools, disadvantaging low-income, minority, and low-achieving students," said Demetra Kalogrides, a research associate at the Graduate School of Education's Center for Education Policy Analysis and one of the study's three authors. "Our findings are novel because they address the assignment of teachers to classes within schools. We cannot assume that teacher sorting stops at the school doors."

The authors note that more research needs to be done to see whether such patterns exist within schools across the country.

The assignment of teachers to students is the result of a complex process, involving school leaders, teachers, and parents. While principals are constrained by teachers' qualifications -- not all high school teachers, for instance, can teach physics -- they also may use their authority to reward certain teachers with the more desirable assignments or to appease teachers who are instrumental to school operations.

Teachers with more power, due to experience or other factors, may be able to choose their preferred classes. Parents, particularly those with more resources, also may try to intervene in the process to ensure that their children are taught by certain teachers.

"We wanted to understand which teachers are teaching which students," said Susanna Loeb, a Stanford professor of education, the director of the Center for Education Policy Analysis, and an author of the study. "In particular, are low-achieving students more likely to be assigned to certain teachers, and if so, why?"

Using extensive data from Miami-Dade, the authors compared the average achievement of teachers' students in the year before the students were assigned to them. They discovered that certain teachers -- those with less experience, those from less-competitive colleges, female teachers, and black and Hispanic teachers -- are more likely to work with lower-achieving students than are other teachers in the same school.

They found these patterns at both the elementary and middle/high school levels.

According to the researchers, teachers who have been at a school for a long time may be able to influence the assignment process in order to secure their preferred classes -- for instance, classes with higher-achieving students. The study found that teachers with 10 or more years of experience, as well as teachers who have held leadership positions, are assigned higher-achieving students on average.

Assigning lower-achieving students to inexperienced teachers could have significant repercussions. According to the researchers, it could increase turnover among new teachers, since novice teachers are more likely to quit when assigned more low-achieving students.

In addition, it could exacerbate within-school achievement gaps -- for example, the black-white gap. Since they are lower-achieving on average, minority and poor students are often assigned to less-experienced teachers than white and non-poor students. Less-experienced teachers tend to be less effective, so this pattern is likely to reinforce the relationships between race and achievement and poverty and achievement, the researchers said.

The study also found that lower-achieving students are taught by the teachers who graduated from less-competitive colleges, based on test scores for admission and acceptance rates. This trend is particularly evident at the middle school and high school levels, possibly due to the more varied demands of middle and high school courses. Teachers from more competitive colleges may have deeper subject knowledge than their colleagues from less-competitive colleges, leading principals to assign them to more advanced courses, the researchers said.

The researchers noted that assignment patterns vary across schools. Experienced teachers appear to have more power over the assignment process when there are more of them in a school; senior teachers are assigned even higher-achieving students when there is a larger contingent of experienced teachers in the school.

At the same time, schools under more accountability pressure are less likely to assign higher-achieving students to more-experienced teachers than schools that are not under accountability pressure.

Finally, according to the findings, class assignments vary depending on a teacher's gender and race. Since female teachers are more likely to teach special education than male teachers, on average they work with lower-achieving students than their male colleagues. Also, black and Hispanic teachers, when compared with white teachers in the same schools, work with more minority and poor students, who tend to be lower-achieving.

Unlike sorting based on experience, the authors said that teacher-student matching based on race could improve student achievement because previous research suggests that minority students may learn more when taught by minority teachers.

"Our analyses are a first step in describing within-school class assignments, an important, yet often overlooked, form of teacher sorting," said Kalogrides.

The other co-author is Tara B?teille of the World Bank. The research was supported by a grant from the Institute of Education Sciences.

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Journal Reference:

1. D. Kalogrides, S. Loeb, T. Beteille. Systematic Sorting: Teacher Characteristics and Class Assignments. Sociology of Education, 2012; 86 (2): 103 DOI: 10.1177/0038040712456555

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

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/living_well/~3/LKRtmDpAk4A/130423135724.htm

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The paradox of motherhood in seventeenth-century England

by Susanna Calkins

In early modern England, the idea prevailed that a disciplined family was at the heart of the social order. This notion forms much of the backdrop of my debut novel, A Murder at Rosamund?s Gate, a historical mystery set in seventeenth-century London.

In the most simplistic sense, wives were expected to obey their husbands, servants their masters, and children their parents. In return for this obedience and fidelity, the head of the household, more a benevolent patriarch than a tyrant, was expected to perform his duties as husband, father, or master properly and to maintain the family livelihood.

Women, idealized as "chaste, silent, and obedient," were expected to maintain their homes in a godly manner and to oversee the spiritual and physical nourishment of their husbands and children. Such ideas were derived from scripture, disseminated in household manuals, and affirmed in children's catechisms. Children were viewed as the reward of God, and husbands and wives were expected to follow the biblical injunction to go forth and multiply.

Within this context, there was a highly prescriptive understanding of what it meant to be a ?good? mother, found in sermons, advice manuals and other similar directives. Even before giving birth, the good mother was expected to ?take tender care of herself,? which included among other things, praying, consulting with almanacs (to assure an auspicious birth) and avoiding vigorous activities like dancing. After birth, mothers were expected to breastfeed their infants and otherwise stay close to them.

As William Gouge heartily admonished: "Be not so unnatural as to thrust away your own children" (Gouge, 1622, pp. 18-19)?which may well have been a warning to upper class women who sent their babies off with wet nurses.

Nor did injunctions for "good" motherhood seem to change for mothers of older children. Richard Baxter, a non-conformist, admonished parents to raise their children on a "temperate and healthful diet," and to keep them busy in order to avoid idleness of mind and body (Baxter, 1624, p. 5). Mothers were to be diligent, keeping their children from pursuing vices ("gaming for money, from cards, dice and stage plays, play books and love books and foolish wanton tales and ballads") or untoward familiarity with tempting persons of another sex" (Baxter, 1624, p. 5)

While, of course, women may not have achieved this ideal (or even wanted to, for that matter), the expectations for good motherhood were at least generally clear. What?s interesting, however, is that there was a newly emerging understanding of motherhood arising in the writings of Quaker women during the 1650s-1680s, indicating a renegotiation of the ideal mother.

On the one hand, Quaker mothers, like all mothers, were expected to teach their children the proper ideas about God, the right way to behave, the right way to carry themselves with each other and in society. William Penn advised parents to love their children wisely, to explain "the folly of their faults," and to use the rod sparingly and judiciously. The virtues extolled in this literature implicitly assumed that a good mother was physically present, corrective, and watchful of her child.

However, on the other hand, Quaker women as a group did not adhere to this ideal in practice.

First, Quaker mothers were not purified ritualistically after childbirth, nor did they have their babies baptized, two expectations of good motherhood held by the Anglican Church. Second, Quaker mothers often ignored the expectations for good motherhood established by the medical community. After all, there are examples of Quaker women?either pregnant or new mothers--withstanding long bouts in prisons, traveling long distances by foot or horseback, and even crossing the Atlantic.

Third, many wives and husbands stayed apart from one another in a deliberate attempt to minimize pregnancy, as the presence of young children impeded women's abilities to carry out their mission for God (Trevitt 2000).

Moreover, Quaker women who left their children to follow the will of God were clearly uneasy or anxious over their actions. For example, in 1670, Elizabeth Stirredge was allegedly stunned when God called her to leave her children:

??I did not think that the Lord would make of such a contemptible Instrument as I, to leave my habitation, and tender children?to go to King Charles which was an Hundred miles from my habitation, and with such a plain testimony as the Lord did require of me, which made me go bowed down many months?.(1810, p. 37)?

Quaker mothers seem to have navigated this tension by ultimately creating a new ideal of motherhood. Although they were separated from their children, many sought to become spiritual mothers of the community. Such "Mothers in Israel? offered solace, comfort, religious training and physical and spiritual nourishment to fellow Friends.

In such ways, the Quaker women offered a fascinating reinvention of what it meant to be a ?good? mother; transcending expectations imposed on women, while still pursuing what mattered most to them.

Sources:
Baxter, R. (1624). The Poor Man's Family Book. London.
Gouge, W. (1622). Of Domesticall Duties. London.
Penn, W. (1771). Advice to Children. In J. Fothergill (Ed.), Select Works of William Penn, London.
Stirredge, E. (1810). Strength in Weakness Manifest: In the Life, Various Trials, an Christian Testimony of that Faithful and Servant of the Lord (2nd ed.). London.
Trevett, C. (2000). Quaker Women Prophets in England and Wales 1650-1700. Lampeter, Wales: Edwin Mellen Press.

~~~~~~~~~~
A longer version of this piece appeared in Calkins, S. (2005). Forsaking their children: Distance, community, and unbecoming Quaker mothers, 1650-1700. In Diana L. Gustafson (Ed.), Unbecoming Mothers: Women Living Apart From Their Children. New York: Haworth Press.

Source: http://englishhistoryauthors.blogspot.com/2013/04/the-paradox-of-motherhood-in.html

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Was Samsung caught fighting dirty in war against Apple?

Samsung

Samsung recently admitted fault ? to an extent ? after being accused of?false?advertising when a group of paid bloggers flooded the web with posts that attacked HTC and its devices. Samsung issued a statement saying that the posts were the result of a misunderstanding, but that might not mean these aggressive tactics are being cast aside. CNNMoney?s Phillip Elmer-DeWitt on Saturday published an article discussing a ?somewhat paranoid theory? that Samsung has quietly declared war on Apple after being called an iPhone copycat. The response to his article, as it turns out, suggests that the theory might not be so paranoid after all.

[More from BGR: iPhone sales projections are now so low it?s ridiculous]

Elmer-DeWitt?s initial post covered a theory being passed around among Apple investors that accuses Samsung of launching a multi-pronged attack against Apple using everything from anti-iPhone TV commercials to ?paying students and other heavy users of social media to post anonymous messages talking up the virtues of Samsung?s products and spreading fear, uncertainty and doubt about Apple and other competitors.?

[More from BGR: The cost of iPhone quality control: $1.2B in faulty phones returned by Apple in 2013 alone]

Seems a bit paranoid, no? But then,?Elmer-DeWitt?s article received more than 450 comments and, within the span of a few hours, more than a thousand votes were cast on the site?s commenting system up-voting anything positive about Samsung or negative about Apple (and about Elmer-DeWitt), and down-voting anything negative about Samsung.

A follow-up piece from the author on Sunday discussing the response to his first post was fairly damning:

The post drew more that the usual number of comments. Twenty six hours later, we?re up to 343 messages and counting. Some readers supported the thesis. Some ridiculed it. Some attacked Apple. Some attacked me.

That kind of thing comes with the territory, although not usually in such numbers or with such vehemence. But what happened at about 2 a.m. EST ? Sunday afternoon in Seoul, South Korea ? was new.

In the space of a few hours, more than a thousand votes were cast on the DISQUS feedback system, voting down any comment remotely anti-Samsung and voting up anything ? no matter how inane, in-artful or wrong ? that disparaged Apple, the thesis, or me.

This follow-up post had 373 comments as of the time of this writing, many of which sing Samsung various praises and accuse?Elmer-DeWitt of spreading pro-Apple?propaganda.

This article was originally published on BGR.com

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/samsung-caught-fighting-dirty-war-against-apple-145050429.html

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Arizona's Gov. Brewer say she needs border help

Power Players

As the Senate moves to consider the ?Gang of 8? immigration reform bill, Arizona Governor Jan Brewer is calling on the federal government to do more to secure her state?s border, which she refers to as ?the gateway for the criminal element."

Brewer says the federal government has given increased security resources, ranging from electronic surveillance to fencing, to other border states, while ignoring such requests for Arizona.

?We don't understand why the federal government will do that for other states, but they refuse to do it in Arizona,? Brewer says in an interview with ABC's Senior National Correspondent Jim Avila. ?I am not going to sit back and be the governor of the state of Arizona and not make a position for Arizona to the federal government that our border needs to be secured. It's as simple as that.?

The "Gang of 8" bill now before the Senate promises to provide more resources for border security, if passed, but Brewer says she won't be supportive of the legislation, which also provides a path to citizenship for the estimated 10-12 million people currently living in the United States illegally, until she and ranchers living along the border are convinced the border is secure.

?They had a good relationship with immigrants coming across working on their ranches and going back and um very comfortable?and things have changed,? Brewer says of the ranchers along the border. ?They don't feel safe, they feel very insecure. They don't believe that the border is secured, their wives, their children, they're very, very guarded.?

When asked how she would reply if a one of the ?Gang of 8? senators were to call her, Brewer replies: ?If they were to call me today, I would say our border is not secure, and I would not be in a position to support their measure.?

To hear more of the interview with the governor of Arizona, including her explanation on why she believes those people who came to the United States should be labeled as ?illegal immigrants,? check out this episode of Power Players.

ABC's Serena Marshall and Betsy Klein contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/power-players-abc-news/gov-brewer-federal-government-not-doing-enough-secure-112051545.html

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Virtuix hooks up Oculus Rift to its Omni treadmill, shows off 'True VR' (video)

Sure, Omni-directional treadmills are nothing new, but Virtuix's take is worth a mention now that it's been shown off working in conjunction with the Oculus Rift. The company's been posting videos of its Omni treadmill working with Kinect for months, but last Thursday it upped the ante by adding the Rift. All told, it makes for what looks to be an intense VR session of Team Fortress 2 -- officially one-upping SixSenses Razer Hydra demo for the VR headset. The company's been working on this unit as an affordable solution for households, aiming to eventually try for funding via Kickstarter. Catch the video demo after the break and try to resist throwing money at the screen in an attempt to get in on the action early.

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Via: Mashable

Source: Virtuix (YouTube)

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/Oz-Hz5pTljo/

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Fierce battles in Syria; US to raise aid to rebels

BEIRUT (AP) ? An artillery shell slammed into a pickup truck, killing nine members of a family during fierce fighting on Friday in Syria as U.S. officials said the Obama administration is poised to send millions more in non-lethal military aid to rebels trying to oust President Bashar Assad.

The attack that killed one woman, her four children and four nieces and nephews, who were all under 12, was the latest carnage to hit the northern town of Saraqeb. Just days earlier, a government airstrike killed at least 20 people, shattering store fronts and setting cars ablaze in the strategic town in Idlib province on the main highway from Syria's largest urban center of Aleppo.

Rebels have wrested much of the countryside of Idlib and other provinces in the north from regime forces, although government troops still control many military bases in the region from which they launch attacks ? including airstrikes ? on opposition-held areas.

Also on Friday, another 18 people were killed in heavy fighting in and around Homs, the country's third largest city near the Lebanese border, and a Syrian Army official was assassinated northeast of the capital, Damascus. The state-run SANA news agency said "terrorists" ? the government's word for opposition fighters ? shot and killed Syrian Army Col. Tamim Abdullah as he was driving home in Barzeh.

The assassination was the latest in a series of killings of government and security officials and regime supporters in the capital. A day earlier, Ali Ballan, the head of public relations at the Ministry of Social Affairs and a member of Syria's relief agency, was killed by gunmen as he was dining in a restaurant in Mazzeh, a western Damascus neighborhood.

More than 70,000 people have been killed so far in the Syrian conflict, which began with largely peaceful protests against Assad's regime in March 2011 but eventually turned into a civil war. The U.N. Security Council has been deadlocked for months on the Syrian war, and even the most modest attempts to end the bloodshed have failed.

Western and Arab nations blame the conflict on Assad's government. Russia insists on assigning equal blame for the suffering to the Syrian opposition and rebels fighting on the ground, and has cast vetoes, along with China, to block draft council resolutions. A U.N. envoy on Friday gave the Security Council a grim assessment of the two-year war, saying that the Assad government had been uncooperative in negotiations.

In Washington, U.S. officials said Secretary of State John Kerry was expected to announce a significant expansion of non-lethal military aid to the Syrian opposition at an international conference on Syria he will attend Saturday in Turkey. The officials told The Associated Press that Kerry is expected to announce a contribution of between $120 million and $130 million in defensive military supplies, which could include body armor, armored vehicles, night vision goggles and advanced communications equipment.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to preview Kerry's announcement publicly.

Also, the European Union is looking for ways to bolster the forces fighting to oust Assad, and is set to ease its oil embargo on Syria, two diplomats said Friday. The decision would allow the import of oil production technology and the sale of crude from territory held by the Syrian opposition, in close coordination with the movement's leaders, they said. The diplomats spoke on condition of anonymity ahead of a formal decision by the bloc's 27 foreign ministers at a meeting Monday in Luxembourg.

For months, the joint U.N.-Arab League envoy to Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi, has been promoting a peace plan that would call for a transitional government in which Assad would step aside ? a demand the Syrian president has repeatedly dismissed. After briefing the Security Council behind closed doors, Brahimi told reporters: "With the Syrians, I got nowhere."

He said there had been some progress with the Americans and the Russians, "but it is too little."

"If they really believe that they are in charge of looking after peace and security, there is no time for them to lose to really take this question more seriously than they have until now," Brahimi said.

Elsewhere in Syria, heavy fighting was reported near the contested town of Qusair in the central Syrian province of Homs, a day after government forces captured a town in the province and rebels seized a military base in the area. The 18 people killed in central Syrian died during the shelling of Deir Baalba district on the eastern edge of the city of Homs, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an activist group.

The border region in Homs is strategic because it also links Damascus with the coastal enclave that is the heartland of Assad's minority Alawite sect, a Shiite offshoot. The coast also is home to the country's two main seaports, Latakia and Tartus. Assad's regime is dominated by his Alawites while the rebels are mostly from the country's Sunni majority.

Government forces on Thursday captured the town of Abel, cutting off the road between Homs and Qusair, according to Abdul-Rahman. He said the regime appeared to be trying to conduct a siege on Qusair.

The Local Coordination Committees, another activist group, said Syrian army warplanes bombarded the area around Qusair on Friday.

Both activist groups also reported heavy clashes in Damascus's southern suburb of Daraya, which the regime has been trying to recapture for months. They also reported clashes in Aleppo, Idlib and Raqqa in the north and in the southern province of Daraa, where the uprising against Assad began.

In the country's east, there were reports of heavy fighting in the oil-rich Deir el-Zour province, with clashes between government troops and rebels concentrated on the airport in the outskirts of the provincial capital. There were no immediate reports on the casualties in the fighting.

Since late 2012, rebels have been seizing fields in the eastern province of Deir el-Zour, one of two main centers of oil production. Most recently, they captured the Jbeysa oil field, one of the country's largest, after three days of fighting in February.

Before the uprising, the oil sector was a pillar of Syria's economy, with the country producing about 380,000 barrels a day and exports ? mostly to Europe ? bringing in more than $3 billion in 2010. Oil revenues provided around a quarter of the funds for the government budget.

Oil production now is likely about half that, according to estimates. The government has not released recent production figures.

The civil war continues to take a heavy toll on civilians.

More than 5 million Syrians have fled their homes because of the relentless fighting, seeking shelter in neighboring countries or in other parts of Syria where the violence has temporarily subsided.

In the past few weeks, U.N.'s humanitarian agencies have warned that they were running low on resources and that without additional funds they would be forced to scale back relief efforts.

On Thursday, U.N.'s Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Valerie Amos said children were starving to death in Syria and asked the Security Council to approve cross-border relief operations into Syria to deliver aid them and other civilians.

About half of the $1.5 billion needed to fund Syria's humanitarian needs through June has been collected, Amos said, noting a recent $300 million pledge from Kuwait.

Amos said 6.8 million Syrians were in need, with 4.25 million displaced within Syria and 1.3 million as refugees in neighboring countries.

___

AP writers Matthew Lee and Lara Jakes in Washington and Juergen Baetz in Brussels and Peter James Spielmann at the United Nations contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/fierce-battles-syria-us-raise-aid-rebels-171906099.html

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Japan will join Asia-Pacific free trade talks

Member countries of the?Trans-Pacific Partnership?will allow Japan to join talks on a US-led Asia Pacific free trade agreement. The pact would cover nearly 40 percent of global economic output.?

By By Kaori Kaneko,?Reuters / April 20, 2013

Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (c.) speaks to media after a meeting with cabinet ministers at his official residence in Tokyo, on April 12. Japan and the United States have agreed on a deal to allow Tokyo to join talks on a US-led Asia-Pacific free trade pact that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is making a keystone of his strategy to open Japan's economy and spur long-sought growth.

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Japan?won approval from participating countries to join talks on a US-led?Asia Pacific?free trade agreement, central to Prime Minister?Shinzo Abe's plans to open the economy to more competition and revive growth.

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The formal invitation for Tokyo to join the negotiations was extended at a meeting of members of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) on Saturday on the sidelines of the?Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation?gathering in?Surabaya,Indonesia, according to a joint statement.

Japan?will join 11 nations already in talks on the TPP: the?United States,?Canada,?Mexico,?Peru,?Chile,?Vietnam,?Malaysia,?Singapore,?Brunei,?Australia?and?New Zealand. Members hope to reach a deal by the end of this year.

With the world's third-largest economy on board, the final TPP pact would cover nearly 40 percent of global economic output and one-third of all world trade.

Abe has prescribed a three-part economic plan of hyper-easy monetary policy, big fiscal spending and steps to spur longer-term growth, including deregulation and government backing to beat deflation and engineer lasting recovery. Joining the TPP talks is seen as the first, key element of that growth strategy.

"Japan's participation in the negotiation will underscore the economic significance of TPP and its promise as a pathway toward a Free Trade Area of the?Asia Pacific," said the joint statement by trade ministers of the TPP member nations.

Japan?hopes to participate in the July round of negotiations, which would require the?White House?to quickly giveCongress?90-day notice of its intention to begin trade talks with Tokyo.

A 17th round of talks is currently scheduled for May in?Peru. The dates and location of the 18th round in July have not yet been announced.

Last week,?Japan?struck a deal with the?United States?to get Washington's support to join the TPP talks.

The TPP talks are officially slated to conclude this year, although many trade experts expect them to stretch into 2014.

Japan?is hoping to protect key agriculture goods such as rice, wheat and dairy products to appease its politically powerful farm lobby.

"Japan?will aim to secure tariffs on agricultural products after entering the TPP talks. The situation is quite tough but we have not given up," a senior government official said.

Kazuhito Yamashita, research director at the?Canon Institute?for Global Studies, said?Japan?should be looking beyond the TPP to boost broader trade ties.

"Japan?can have bargaining power as the nation is the only one involved in trade talks such as the TPP,?Japan-EU,?Japan-China-Korea, and the RCEP," he said.

Talks on a?Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership trade?block include the 10-nation Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) along with?Japan,?China,?South Korea,?Australia,?New Zealand?and?India, but not the?United States.

"Japan?is in a very interesting strategic position.?Japan?could become a hub in?South East Asia?and a bridge between the region and the West if the authorities clearly understand this."?

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/NY_rIEbv_jU/Japan-will-join-Asia-Pacific-free-trade-talks

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Provo, the city of 'Silicon Slopes,' named as third Google fiber site

Google will acquire an existing network called iProvo in order to build out Google Fiber in the Utah city.?

By Matthew Shaer / April 19, 2013

A Google sign is seen at a Best Buy electronics store in this April 11 photo. Google has announced that it will build a fiber network in Provo, Utah.

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First it was Kansas City. Then it was Austin. Now Google has identified the third city to get high-speed fiber service: Provo, Utah ? a town that Google has nicknamed the "Silicon Slopes."?

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"Utah is already home to?hundreds of tech companies and startups, and many of them are based in Provo," Google's Kevin Lo wrote in a blog post earlier this week. "In fact, the Provo area?ranks second in the nation?in patent growth, and is consistently ranked as?one of the top places to live and do business?in the US. We believe the future of the Internet will be built on gigabit speeds, and we?re sure the businesses and residents of Provo already have some good ideas for what they?d build with a gig."?

Google will not be building the Provo fiber network from scratch. Instead, it will attempt to purchase iProvo, the city's existing fiber network. We say "attempt" because the City Council has yet to approval the proposal; a vote is scheduled for April 23. But already, the Google fiber network has plenty of support in Provo, a city of 112,000.?

"In return for the investment, [Google] will become owners of the network," Provo?Mayor John Curtis told the Daily Herald, a Utah newspaper. "One of the things I'm excited about is Provo not owning the network. The burden is not on the city to maintain it. Technology is changing every day. I am glad the stewardship isn't ours to keep it upgraded."

Google claims that fiber is up to 100 times as fast as regular broadband. The Mountain View giant charges $70 a month for Internet service alone; for $120, consumers can upgrade to a package that includes digital TV.?

Google has already begun installing the Kansas City fiber network, and the Austin roll-out is expected to occur in the next year.?

For?more tech news, follow us on?Twitter @venturenaut.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/67SF4HUi8Nc/Provo-the-city-of-Silicon-Slopes-named-as-third-Google-fiber-site

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Women?s gymnastics energized for the NCAA Championships

For the 20th time in program history, the No. 7 Michigan women?s gymnastics team, invigorated after vindicating themselves at Regionals on April 6, has qualified for the NCAA Championships.

The Wolverines (12-2 Big Ten, 23-2 overall) wrap up their season this weekend at Pauley Pavilion in Los Angeles. They will take on Oklahoma, Alabama, UCLA, Utah and Arkansas in the evening semifinal session on Friday, when the all-around champion will be determined. Their rotation order will advance from uneven bars to balance beam, a bye, floor exercise, vault and a second bye. If Michigan places among the top three teams in its session, it will advance to the Super Six to vie for the national team title on Saturday. Individually, the top four competitors on each event from each semifinal ? ties included ? will be invited to the event finals on Sunday.

With a long weekend ahead, the team simulated back-to-back mock meets in practice to mirror the short amount of rest time between the semifinals and the Super Six. Because sticking the landing can decide who wins a national championship, Michigan coach Bev Plocki assigned a task which the team successfully accomplished; each time a gymnast stuck a dismount or landing, she put her name on a letter to spell out both of the verses of ?The Victors.?

?Let?s try to put up the whole fight song,? Plocki said. ?Because if we can do this at nationals, then that?s what we?re going to be singing when we?re up on the podium.?

After just missing qualifications for the NCAA Championships in 2012, the Wolverines have a renewed focus on the quality of their gymnastics. Collectively, the upperclassmen are excited to return to nationals while the freshmen and sophomores are ready for the new experience.

?This season has really shown me what college gymnastics is about, especially how fun it is and just how exciting it is to compete with a full team that has such a deep lineup on every event,? said sophomore Sachi Sugiyama. ?It?s definitely put a different kind of pressure on me in comparison to last year, where I was just put in the lineup because I was one of the only ones ready to go.?

Seniors Natalie Beilstein, Brittnee Martinez and Katie Zurales ? three former NCAA All-Americans ? lead the squad. Along with junior Joanna Sampson, the NCAA Northeast Region Gymnast of the Year, Michigan certainly has the talent and ability to reach the Super Six for only the 11th time in history.

?We?re there, but we still have work to do,? Plocki said. ?We haven?t had our best meet of the season yet. Everyone has to dig a little bit deeper. We?re referring to these days as ?practice opportunities.? During that two-day intrasquad, we did a great job of being focused, paying attention to details and had a much bigger sense of urgency. There?s a quality to what we?re doing.?

Michigan has an advantage over some of its competitors, having already competed at Pauley Pavilion in a quad meet, where it scored its season-best 197.550 on March 10, defeating No. 6 UCLA, California and Iowa State.

?You can come into the gym and visualize yourself at the venue,? Zurales said. ?As you?re going through your routines, you know what it feels like.?

Plocki has a new quote each week. Her final one reads, ?Success is the sum of small efforts repeated day in and day out.?

By continuing to do what they?ve been doing in practice and competition from week to week, the Wolverines, who have been ranked No. 1 in the country twice this season, look to qualify for finals.

?They?re certainly not overconfident, but they?re confident enough to believe that they?re going to be competing on Saturday at four o?clock in the Super Six,? Plocki said.

Source: http://content.michigandaily.com/sports/womens-gymnastics-energized-ncaa-championships

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