Members of the Rockford Chamber Commerce gathered at Franchesco's Wednesday to honor local small businesses.
Local architecture firm Larson & Darby Group took home the 2013 Small Business of the Year Award for its successes in energy efficient projects like FHN's multi-boiler system.
Along with lunch, local small business owners also got some tips on how to handle business in today's economy.
"Obviously we've been in some challenging economic times as of late, and so we want to stimulate some thinking amongst our small business owners as ways to think outside of the box for their business," Rockford Chamber of Commerce President Einar Forsman said.
Feb. 27, 2013 ? Two X-ray space observatories, NASA's Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) and the European Space Agency's XMM-Newton, have teamed up to measure definitively, for the first time, the spin rate of a black hole with a mass 2 million times that of our sun.
The supermassive black hole lies at the dust- and gas-filled heart of a galaxy called NGC 1365, and it is spinning almost as fast as Einstein's theory of gravity will allow. The findings, which appear in a new study in the journal Nature, resolve a long-standing debate about similar measurements in other black holes and will lead to a better understanding of how black holes and galaxies evolve.
"This is hugely important to the field of black hole science," said Lou Kaluzienski, a NuSTAR program scientist at NASA Headquarters in Washington.
The observations also are a powerful test of Einstein's theory of general relativity, which says gravity can bend space-time, the fabric that shapes our universe, and the light that travels through it.
"We can trace matter as it swirls into a black hole using X-rays emitted from regions very close to the black hole," said the coauthor of a new study, NuSTAR principal investigator Fiona Harrison of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. "The radiation we see is warped and distorted by the motions of particles and the black hole's incredibly strong gravity."
NuSTAR, an Explorer-class mission launched in June 2012, is designed to detect the highest-energy X-ray light in great detail. It complements telescopes that observe lower-energy X-ray light, such as XMM-Newton and NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory. Scientists use these and other telescopes to estimate the rates at which black holes spin.
Until now, these measurements were not certain because clouds of gas could have been obscuring the black holes and confusing the results. With help from XMM-Newton, NuSTAR was able to see a broader range of X-ray energies and penetrate deeper into the region around the black hole. The new data demonstrate that X-rays are not being warped by the clouds, but by the tremendous gravity of the black hole. This proves that spin rates of supermassive black holes can be determined conclusively.
"If I could have added one instrument to XMM-Newton, it would have been a telescope like NuSTAR," said Norbert Schartel, XMM-Newton Project Scientist at the European Space Astronomy Center in Madrid. "The high-energy X-rays provided an essential missing puzzle piece for solving this problem."
Measuring the spin of a supermassive black hole is fundamental to understanding its past history and that of its host galaxy.
"These monsters, with masses from millions to billions of times that of the sun, are formed as small seeds in the early universe and grow by swallowing stars and gas in their host galaxies, merging with other giant black holes when galaxies collide, or both," said the study's lead author, Guido Risaliti of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Mass., and the Italian National Institute for Astrophysics.
Supermassive black holes are surrounded by pancake-like accretion disks, formed as their gravity pulls matter inward. Einstein's theory predicts the faster a black hole spins, the closer the accretion disk lies to the black hole. The closer the accretion disk is, the more gravity from the black hole will warp X-ray light streaming off the disk.
Astronomers look for these warping effects by analyzing X-ray light emitted by iron circulating in the accretion disk. In the new study, they used both XMM-Newton and NuSTAR to simultaneously observe the black hole in NGC 1365. While XMM-Newton revealed that light from the iron was being warped, NuSTAR proved that this distortion was coming from the gravity of the black hole and not gas clouds in the vicinity. NuSTAR's higher-energy X-ray data showed that the iron was so close to the black hole that its gravity must be causing the warping effects.
With the possibility of obscuring clouds ruled out, scientists can now use the distortions in the iron signature to measure the black hole's spin rate. The findings apply to several other black holes as well, removing the uncertainty in the previously measured spin rates.
For more information on NASA's NuSTAR mission, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/nustar .
For more information on ESA's XMM-Newton mission, visit: http://go.nasa.gov/YUYpI6 .
The California Institute of Technology in Pasadena manages JPL for NASA.
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A federal judge in Pennsylvania has dismissed an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission challenge to U.S. Steel Corporation's random alcohol testing of probationary employees at one of the company's most safety sensitive facilities.?The Court's ruling in this carefully watched suit is significant for employers because it represents a forceful rejection of one of the more extreme positions the EEOC has taken in interpreting how the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) regulates workplaces.
EEOC's Restrictive Interpretation of Employer Rights
The EEOC has adopted a very restrictive view of an employer's right to conduct across-the-board medical examinations or inquiries of current employees even when the examination or inquiry is plainly motivated by workplace safety concerns. According to the EEOC, employers are prohibited in most circumstances from conducting generalized medical examinations, including random alcohol testing or periodic physical examinations of current employees.?
The EEOC has pointed to a provision of the ADA that provides that an employer may not "require a medical examination and shall not make inquiries of an employee as to whether such employee is an individual with a disability or as to the nature or severity of the disability, unless such examination or inquiry is shown to be job-related and consistent with business necessity." 42 U.S.C. ? 12112(d)(4)(A). Conducting random testing for the unlawful use of drugs, as opposed to testing for the use of alcohol, does not create the same legal impediments because a test for the unlawful use of drugs is generally not regarded as a "medical examination" under the ADA.?
The very limited exceptions to this prohibition on across-the-board medical examinations or inquiries of current employees that the EEOC has recognized include examinations of certain public safety employees in police and firefighter positions as well as, of course, examinations or inquiries that are required by other federal agencies, such as the Department of Transportation.
EEOC Lawsuit Against U.S. Steel
In the U.S. Steel suit, the EEOC argued that across-the-board medical examination or inquiries, including random or other generalized alcohol testing, could not be justified by the business necessity defense even in a highly safety sensitive work environment. Rather, the EEOC has taken the position that alcohol testing can only be justified based upon individualized suspicion that the particular employee to be tested was under the influence of alcohol at work.?
U.S. Steel argued in a motion for summary judgment that given the highly safety sensitive nature of the plant at issue, where employees work with materials that are at temperatures of more than 2,100 degrees, random testing was justified as a matter of business necessity.
The judge in the case granted U.S. Steel's motion and dismissed the EEOC's claims finding that the random alcohol testing of probationary employees was justified by the business necessity defense. The Court first pointed out that there was no disputing that safety in and of itself can be a matter of business necessity. As a result, according to the Court, the only question remaining was whether the policy of random alcohol testing served that asserted business necessity.?After analyzing the facts at issue, the judge found that the alcohol testing policy plainly served the business necessity of workplace safety.?
In doing so, the Court specifically rejected the EEOC's position that across-the-board medical examinations or inquiries of current employees could only be justified in the case of law enforcement or firefighting employees.?The Court explained that there was no legitimate basis for not extending the same rationale to employees in other highly safety sensitive positions.?Also, the Court noted that in this instance selecting employees for testing based on individualized suspicion would not work effectively because personal protective equipment obscures the U.S. Steel employees' faces and speech.
Additionally, the Court concluded that the random alcohol testing approach was not inconsistent with the ADA's goal of preventing employers from targeting specific employees with disabilities based upon stereotypes and misconceptions. The Court pointed out that, after all, random testing, as opposed to individualized suspicion testing, was not potentially based upon conclusions about particular individuals with disabilities.?
The Court also noted that the testing program at issue was the product of negotiations with the union representing plant employees and not a process unilaterally imposed by the employer.?
Takeaways
The decision in the U.S. Steel case offers employers new hope that more federal courts will reject the EEOC's very restrictive view of the right to conduct across-the-board medical examinations or inquiries, including, across-the-board random alcohol testing of employees in certain safety sensitive positions. While this decision is encouraging, employers need to recognize that the EEOC continues to adhere to its position regarding this issue and other federal courts may ultimately side with the EEOC.?Nonetheless, the Court's decision in the U.S. Steel suit is an encouraging sign for employers that courts, recognizing the importance of workplace safety, may adopt a far more reasonable and pragmatic view than the EEOC on this question of across-the-board medical examinations and inquiries of current employees.
VAN NUYS, Calif. ? A father is facing charges after he allegedly left his 2-year-old daughter in a truck while he went inside a strip club and got drunk.
24-year-old Santos Barillas, a Canoga Park resident, was charged with child endangerment among other charges.
911 dispatchers got a call just after midnight that the toddler was locked in the truck outside the 7557 Club on Woodley Avenue.
Officers arrived at the location to find the man asleep with the child in the back seat of the Toyota pickup.
The man was taken into custody and child services were called to assist with the care of the little girl.
Investigators interviewed several bar patrons and workers who confirmed the man was inside the club without the child.
The suspect was allegedly intoxicated at the time of his arrest.
The temperature had dropped into the 40s overnight in the area of the club.
Breakthrough camera to improve detection of blinding eye disease and diabetes Public release date: 26-Feb-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Stephen Davis s.davis@brienholdenvision.org 61-293-857-356 Brien Holden Vision Institute
The most advanced technology for use in real-time detection and assessment of common blinding eye disease and general health disorders will soon be available to the world
26 February 2013, Sydney, Australia: The most advanced technology for use in real-time detection and assessment of common blinding eye disease and general health disorders will soon be available to the world with stimulus funding provided for development by the Australian Government's CRC Program. The imaging technology of the breakthrough retinal camera is being developed by the Vision Cooperative Research Centre (Vision CRC) based in Sydney with international partners in Australia, US, China, India and Africa.
The world's first intelligent retinal camera will accurately and rapidly detect and eventually diagnose sight-threatening conditions such as diabetic retinopathy and glaucoma. The camera is being designed for ease of use in the most extreme environments so that it can be used by technical support staff and in the most remote and under-served locations, especially to close the gap in eye health in Australian Aboriginal communities.
CEO of Vision CRC and Brien Holden Vision Institute, Professor Brien Holden said today, "Medical devices of this nature are typically researched for use in affluent populations and aimed at high-end commercial returns. This Intelligent Retinal Camera (IRC) system will apply high resolution, multispectral imaging in an economic but high technology instrument that will be affordable and therefore accessible both in remote communities and in community health locations and professional offices throughout the world.
"Living in remote communities seriously disadvantages patients through lack of access to optometrists and ophthalmologists. The IRC will detect, measure and assess the potential for blinding disease thus preventing lengthy delay in getting treatment to those in need in marginalised communities. Aboriginal communities will be among the first to experience and benefit from this technology thanks to the funding from the Australian Government recently announced and the partnership with Aboriginal researchers and community health experts."
"Having spent the last 20 years researching and bringing to market and communities around the world, solutions for correcting refractive error, we are delighted that the Australian Government is backing our plan to piggyback onto the systems developed to deliver vision correction, the capacity to simply and effectively detect and manage blinding eye disease through retinal image analysis," Professor Holden said.
The imaging technology was first designed and developed by Professor Tom Cornsweet, a medical technology veteran and icon based in Arizona, US, in a social enterprise company Quantum Catch LLC that focuses on the design, manufacture, and sale of affordable, high-quality, user friendly automatic medical devices for detection and screening of diseases. At a crucial stage of development of the retinal camera the Fred Hollows Foundation provided funding grants.
"The Vision CRC program has done what CRCs do best bringing Australian and world leading scientists, technologists, engineers, social scientists and business people together to advance the social and economic benefit of Australia and the world," said Professor Holden.
"In this case it is a real dream team. We have brought together Tom Cornsweet, CEO Peter Galen and the team at Quantum Catch; world leading vision technologist, Professor Ho from the Brien Holden Vision Institute; the Institute's Public Health Division led by Amanda Davis in Sydney and Professor Kovin Naidoo from Durban, South Africa; the immense database and clinical research genius of Professor Mingguang He, from China's leading ophthalmology research Institute, the Zhongshan Ophthalmic Centre; our long-standing colleagues at the LV Prasad Eye Institute in India; and the best Australia has to offer through the Centre for Eye Research Australia's Professor Jonathan Crowston; Aboriginal eye health expert Professor Hugh Taylor; Sandra Bailey, CEO the Aboriginal Health and Medical Research Council of NSW and new participant Ninti One; all in one team to help unlock the future of health diagnostics.
"This is especially exciting as it is intended that post-CRC the infrastructure and systems will be in place to develop further diagnostics for many of the most difficult and intractable general health and eye conditions," he added.
###
EDITORS' NOTES
Vision CRC is one of Australia's most successful research organisations at taking innovations to a world market and transforming lives; the CRC and its predecessors having generated over AU$1.25 billion in research funding and earned over AU$230 million in royalties. To learn more go to: www.visioncrc.org
The Brien Holden Vision Institute is a world leading science, technology, education and licensing not-for-profit organisation. To learn more go to: www.brienholdenvision.org
Quantum Catch LLC is a start-up limited liability company registered in Delaware with a research and prototyping laboratory located in Prescott, Arizona. Quantum Catch Corp. is a newly registered US organisation in which Brien Holden Vision Institute became the majority share holder to cement the company's on-going commitment to affordable, socially beneficial, high quality technology infrastructure for health care for all people.
Media Contact: Stephen Davis M: +61 450 661 695 E: s.davis@brienholdenvision.org
Hi res IMAGES available
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Breakthrough camera to improve detection of blinding eye disease and diabetes Public release date: 26-Feb-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Stephen Davis s.davis@brienholdenvision.org 61-293-857-356 Brien Holden Vision Institute
The most advanced technology for use in real-time detection and assessment of common blinding eye disease and general health disorders will soon be available to the world
26 February 2013, Sydney, Australia: The most advanced technology for use in real-time detection and assessment of common blinding eye disease and general health disorders will soon be available to the world with stimulus funding provided for development by the Australian Government's CRC Program. The imaging technology of the breakthrough retinal camera is being developed by the Vision Cooperative Research Centre (Vision CRC) based in Sydney with international partners in Australia, US, China, India and Africa.
The world's first intelligent retinal camera will accurately and rapidly detect and eventually diagnose sight-threatening conditions such as diabetic retinopathy and glaucoma. The camera is being designed for ease of use in the most extreme environments so that it can be used by technical support staff and in the most remote and under-served locations, especially to close the gap in eye health in Australian Aboriginal communities.
CEO of Vision CRC and Brien Holden Vision Institute, Professor Brien Holden said today, "Medical devices of this nature are typically researched for use in affluent populations and aimed at high-end commercial returns. This Intelligent Retinal Camera (IRC) system will apply high resolution, multispectral imaging in an economic but high technology instrument that will be affordable and therefore accessible both in remote communities and in community health locations and professional offices throughout the world.
"Living in remote communities seriously disadvantages patients through lack of access to optometrists and ophthalmologists. The IRC will detect, measure and assess the potential for blinding disease thus preventing lengthy delay in getting treatment to those in need in marginalised communities. Aboriginal communities will be among the first to experience and benefit from this technology thanks to the funding from the Australian Government recently announced and the partnership with Aboriginal researchers and community health experts."
"Having spent the last 20 years researching and bringing to market and communities around the world, solutions for correcting refractive error, we are delighted that the Australian Government is backing our plan to piggyback onto the systems developed to deliver vision correction, the capacity to simply and effectively detect and manage blinding eye disease through retinal image analysis," Professor Holden said.
The imaging technology was first designed and developed by Professor Tom Cornsweet, a medical technology veteran and icon based in Arizona, US, in a social enterprise company Quantum Catch LLC that focuses on the design, manufacture, and sale of affordable, high-quality, user friendly automatic medical devices for detection and screening of diseases. At a crucial stage of development of the retinal camera the Fred Hollows Foundation provided funding grants.
"The Vision CRC program has done what CRCs do best bringing Australian and world leading scientists, technologists, engineers, social scientists and business people together to advance the social and economic benefit of Australia and the world," said Professor Holden.
"In this case it is a real dream team. We have brought together Tom Cornsweet, CEO Peter Galen and the team at Quantum Catch; world leading vision technologist, Professor Ho from the Brien Holden Vision Institute; the Institute's Public Health Division led by Amanda Davis in Sydney and Professor Kovin Naidoo from Durban, South Africa; the immense database and clinical research genius of Professor Mingguang He, from China's leading ophthalmology research Institute, the Zhongshan Ophthalmic Centre; our long-standing colleagues at the LV Prasad Eye Institute in India; and the best Australia has to offer through the Centre for Eye Research Australia's Professor Jonathan Crowston; Aboriginal eye health expert Professor Hugh Taylor; Sandra Bailey, CEO the Aboriginal Health and Medical Research Council of NSW and new participant Ninti One; all in one team to help unlock the future of health diagnostics.
"This is especially exciting as it is intended that post-CRC the infrastructure and systems will be in place to develop further diagnostics for many of the most difficult and intractable general health and eye conditions," he added.
###
EDITORS' NOTES
Vision CRC is one of Australia's most successful research organisations at taking innovations to a world market and transforming lives; the CRC and its predecessors having generated over AU$1.25 billion in research funding and earned over AU$230 million in royalties. To learn more go to: www.visioncrc.org
The Brien Holden Vision Institute is a world leading science, technology, education and licensing not-for-profit organisation. To learn more go to: www.brienholdenvision.org
Quantum Catch LLC is a start-up limited liability company registered in Delaware with a research and prototyping laboratory located in Prescott, Arizona. Quantum Catch Corp. is a newly registered US organisation in which Brien Holden Vision Institute became the majority share holder to cement the company's on-going commitment to affordable, socially beneficial, high quality technology infrastructure for health care for all people.
Media Contact: Stephen Davis M: +61 450 661 695 E: s.davis@brienholdenvision.org
Hi res IMAGES available
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
The history of Internet-based poker forums is as instructive as it is colorful, from its raw roots in the late 1980?s at?a forum dominated by zealous blackjack counters and systematic craps players to the latest debates by legal experts fueled by Howard Lederer?s storytelling about the rise and fall of his Full Tilt Poker site in interviews and follow-up full of fanfare.
Poker Forums: The world at large!
Today the lives and lifestyle of poker players and poker businesses are chronicled and?dissected.?They are subjected?to all manner of online scrutiny, chatter, and commentary?to the delight and chagrin of the industry?s inhabitants, part-time warriors, devoted enthusiasts, dedicated personnel and visionary entrepreneurs--around the world.
Increasingly poker forum participants are the first to shed light on a crisis or breaking news in the industry. Some ignite raging flame wars for sport, while others provide intellectual food for thought, and a few visionaries test their brainstorms and solicit feedback on their grand?plans at their favorite forums.???
The expanding breadth and depth of content has also attracted attention far beyond the community it was designed to serve, including investigators associated with federal and state government agencies, ?the judiciary in developing opinions for court decisions, and legislative bodies responsible for making laws to govern gambling activity. ?
These days, poker forums provide regular reading for Congressional staff and legislators across the country, according to a survey recently conducted by Eolis International Group which has submitted a white paper to a law firm that advises the executive branch of federal government on online, commercial and tribal gaming matters.
At the end of the day, however, no one is consistently more interested in or intrigued by online poker forums than the poker world itself. From the early years of Wild West acceptance of ?anything goes? to their emergence as hubs for research as well as sophisticated discourse and problem solving, these sites typically appeal to posters and lurkers?with a zest for gamesmanship, confidence in their gambling skills, and an insatiable thirst for information on? happenings inside the perimeter of the poker universe. Today?s poker forums showcase the power, peril, and evolution of free speech in an Internet driven world.
A Big Choice Awaits the Forum Enthusiast
In this two part article we look at the anatomy of poker forums and shine a light on a small sample of them. RGP is highlighted as an originator; BARGE is spotlighted for its expanded appeal; twoplustwo demonstrates the results of harnessing a significant audience through the use of moderators; Wednesday Poker Discussion Group showcases the ability? of a forum to be combined with live events to enhance communication within a city and beyond it; and finally we get insights from pocketfives.com which focused from the beginning on making?sense of? forum contributors as much as the contributions; chasing down? ?Who ?s Who? among the most avid anonymous posters around the globe. ? Who are the key players? Who are the moderators? Do moderated forums stymie free speech? Do they enhance civil discourse? Should anonymous posters be taken seriously? How do you follow a thread? How have poker forums affected industry movers and shakers?positively or negatively? Do flamers succeed in trouncing their prey? How does one counteract a smear campaign? Will the Internet veer toward lawlessness?or more conventional rules applied to libel in the foreseeable future? Who's posts should? you trust? ?And, most important of all---how can you figure out who and what is reliable when you find the information at an online poker forum. ?
These are questions that have been asked and answered across the country in a six month nationwide probe into the world of poker forums?including conversations with founders of sites, well-known posters, moderators and lesser known participants as well as a world of savvy lurkers that rarely express their views for public consumption.
Poker Forums: Poker Strategy
?Let us begin the journey with a tip of the hat to all of the forums that offer strategy discussions, coaching, and training and related videos as well as poker book reviews, general gambling advice, reliable referrals to accounting and legal services etc. All of the sites in our sample are known for these discussions, but for the most part we point the laser beam on participant involvement and commitment to inform, debate, advocate, and challenge poker businesses and poker?poker players.?As one sage poker forum poster quipped, "Beyond the insular community of my poker friends,?I am? caught up in daily discussions?about matters of money, reputation, and stature." And so it is on poker forums!?? ? The analysis of gossip and news on these forums is variably illuminating,??often transmitted from behind a curtain of hidden identity, rarely mistake-free, and too frequently?presented as gospel?at least until the first vociferous critic takes the stage. But there is no denying that?forums?present myriad opportunities and used artfully have an abundance of merit.
PokerStars Respects the Online Poker Community
PokerStars is a prime example of a company that has taken advantage of the benefits.?A uniquely enlightened small company, in its earliest days, Poker Stars saw the wisdom of following the conversations at the?emerging poker forums, taking note of articulate and sound thinkers for roles in their nascent operations, including the company's top executive in marketing.? ? Some ten years later,?in a splashy brochure for the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, the Company cited the importance of feedback it received over the years and personnel selections it made from the this community. And?even while in?the midst of its feud with the US Department of Justice last year,??the Company? green lighted (quietly) the sponsorship of a lavish banquet? for online forum enthusiasts who had taken to a land-based??casino to party and talk poker,?signaling its continued support of a vibrant interactive poker community far beyond its immediate market.?
History of Poker Forums
Now, let us turn back the clock of time to trace a bit of history in the world of online poker discussion groups.?? Rec.gambling. was established in 1989; it notably attracted?hard core gamblers fixated on the development of winning systems. In the early 90?s it attracted to its ranks card aficionados beyond blackjack counters and?gamers skillful at bankroll management.?The poker players?soon overtook part of the discussions, demanding?a sub-set? which came to be known?as rec.gambling.poker?around 1995.
In 1991, however, the first BARGE event was established?before it became known either as the Big August (or Annual) Rec(reational) Gambling Excursion. The excursions of? online forum members?to brick and mortar casinos?were an immediate success. BARGE has not only survived to become the poker forum with perhaps the broadest intellectual exchanges, but also it has spawned many regional members to plan special live events around the country with other ?ARG? gatherings?annually over the years.
By most accounts, however, it was poker author and theorist, Mason Malmuth who most effectively harnessed broqad scale interest?in moderated online poker discussions. He has grown the twoplustwo poker forum into a must read site for movers and shakers of the poker world, devotees of the game, mainstream media focused on the business of poker, and? government officials tasked with poker-based investigations. While ?RGP? posters may have gotten ?their biggest publicity boost from a trio of cheaters who long monopolized the forum with criticism of casinos and players they themselves had taken to the cleaners, other forums gained steam with less volatile fare. Some emerged as great strategy discussion sites,others served special interests of an online poker gaming site to build a customer base.?Others? have had more pointed appeal?such as the Wednesday Poker Discussion Group which got its start in Atlantic City but later?took up?residence in the City of Las Vegas with a welcoming forum and land-based- events for its cultivated membership and guests from around the world.? ?
And?the initiative of a couple of other curious poker players interested in learning who was who?among their forum??brethren on poker forums, opened up pocketfives.com? with a dogged determination to?build a loyal client base not just with interesting topics for discussion , but with more knowledge as to?identity of? major contributors in the online poker forum world.
Next PPN Tips Off Readers on the Ins and Outs of Poker Forums
The value in a poker?forum ?lies in understanding its mission, its population, its most prolific speakers,??its controls and the quality of a given contribution. The devil is in the details!? Part 2 of this article? addresses these issues in the next edition of? PPN.
Editor?s Note: Wendeen H. Eolis is CEO of Eolis International Group, an internationally recognized legal consultancy?legal consultancy. Ms. Eolis has?also?served as first assistant/ senior advisor to NY Governor George E. Pataki. Her responsibilities included gaming affairs and an initiative to legalize gambling. A proponent of poker as a game of skill, Ms. Eolis has to her credit 10 record-setting performances for a woman in major tournament competition including? first woman to cash at the WSOP main event? (and first to do so twice) and winner?of the European Open. This article and related research is part of material planned for use in connection with other writings of the author. She can be reached at?eolis@eolis.com?and at the website?www.eolis.com?you can also find her on?Facebook?and?LinkedIn.
The online ordering market for restaurants has a new competitor today. A startup called EatStreet has made it to Series A by targeting the secondary markets across the U.S. for its expansion. The $2 million round was led by Cornerstone Opportunity Partners, and includes participation from Great Oaks VC, Independence Equity, and the Wisconsin-based accelerator gener8tor.
Identifying the mysterious mechanism underlying high-temperature superconductivity (HTS) remains one of the most important and tantalizing puzzles in physics. This remarkable phenomenon allows electric current to pass with perfect efficiency through materials chilled to subzero temperatures, and it may play an essential role in revolutionizing the entire electricity chain, from generation to transmission and grid-scale storage. Pinning down one of the possible explanations for HTS?fleeting fluctuations called charge-density waves (CDWs)?could help solve the mystery and pave the way for rapid technological advances.
Now, researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory have combined two state-of-the-art experimental techniques to study those electron waves with unprecedented precision in two-dimensional, custom-grown materials. The surprising results, published online February 24, 2013, in the journalNature Materials, reveal that CDWs cannot be the root cause of the unparalleled power conveyance in HTS materials. In fact, CDW formation is an independent and likely competing instability.
"It has been difficult to determine whether or not dynamic or fluctuating CDWs even exist in HTS materials, much less identify their role," said Brookhaven Lab physicist and study coauthor Ivan Bozovic. "Do they compete with the HTS state, or are they perhaps the very essence of the phenomenon? That question has now been answered by targeted experimentation."
Custom-grown Superconductors
Electricity travels imperfectly through traditional metallic conductors, losing energy as heat due to a kind of atomic-scale friction. Impurities in these materials also cause electrons to scatter and stumble, but superconductors can overcome this hurdle?assuming the synthesis process is precise.
For this experiment, Bozovic used a custom-built molecular beam epitaxy system at Brookhaven Lab to grow thin films of LaSrCuO, an HTS cuprate (copper-oxide) compound. The metallic cuprates, assembled one atomic layer at a time, are separated by insulating planes of lanthanum and strontium oxides, resulting in what's called a quasi-two-dimensional conductor. When cooled down to a low enough temperature?less than 100 degrees Kelvin?strange electron waves began to ripple through that 2D matrix. At even lower temperatures, these films became superconducting.
Electron Sea
"In quasi-two-dimensional metals, low temperatures frequently bring about interesting collective states called charge-density waves," Bozovic said. "They resemble waves rolling across the surface of a lake under a breeze, except that instead of water, here we actually have a sea of mobile electrons."
Once a CDW forms, the electron density loses uniformity as the ripples rise and fall. These waves can be described by familiar parameters: amplitude (height of the waves), wavelength (distance between waves), and phase (the wave's position on the material). Detecting CDWs typically requires high-intensity x-rays, such as those provided by synchrotron light sources like Brookhaven's NSLS and, soon, NSLS-II. And even then, the technique only works if the waves are essentially frozen upon formation. However, if CDWs actually fluctuate rapidly, they may escape detection by x-ray diffraction, which typically requires a long exposure time that blurs fast motion.
Measuring Rolling Waves
To catch CDWs in action, a research group at MIT led by physicist Nuh Gedik used an advanced ultrafast spectroscopy technique. Intense laser pulses called "pumps" cause excitations in the superconducting films, which are then probed by measuring the film reflectance with a second light pulse?this is called a pump-probe process. The second pulse is delayed by precise time intervals, and the series of measurements allow the lifetime of the excitation to be determined.
In a more sophisticated variant of the technique, largely pioneered by Gedik, the standard single pump beam is replaced by two beams hitting the surface from different sides simultaneously. This generates a standing wave of controlled wavelength in the film, but it disappears rapidly as the electrons relax back into their original state.
This technique was applied to the atomically perfect LaSrCuO films synthesized at Brookhaven Lab. In films with a critical temperature of 26 degrees Kelvin (the threshold beyond which the superconductivity breaks down), the researchers discovered two new short-lived excitations?both caused by fluctuating CDWs.
Gedik's technique even allowed the researchers to record the lifetime of CDW fluctuations?just 2 picoseconds (a millionth of a millionth of a second) under the coldest conditions and becoming briefer as the temperatures rose. These waves then vanished entirely at about 100 Kelvin, actually surviving at much higher temperatures than superconductivity.
Ruling out a Suspect
The researchers then hunted for those same signatures in cuprate films with slightly different chemical compositions and a greater density of mobile electrons. The results were both unexpected and significant for the future of HTS research.
"Interestingly, the superconducting sample with the highest critical temperature, about 39 Kelvin, showed no CDW signatures at all," Gedik said.
The consistent emergence of CDWs would have bolstered the conjecture that they play an essential role in high-temperature superconductivity. Instead, the new technique's successful detection of such electron waves in one sample but not in another (with even higher critical temperature) indicates that another mechanism must be driving the emergence of HTS.
"Results like this bring us closer to understanding the mystery of HTS, considered by many to be one of the greatest problems in physics today," Bozovic said. "The source of this extraordinary phenomenon is slowly but surely running out of places to hide."
###
DOE/Brookhaven National Laboratory: http://www.bnl.gov
Thanks to DOE/Brookhaven National Laboratory for this article.
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NEW DELHI/BANGALORE (Reuters) - As BlackBerry launches the first smartphone from its make-or-break BB10 line in India, one of its most loyal markets, the company faces new competition from a formidable rival that has long had a minimal presence in the country.
More than four years after it started selling iPhones in India, Apple Inc is now aggressively pushing the device through installment payment plans that make it more affordable, a new distribution model and heavy marketing blitz.
"Now your dream phone" at 5,056 rupees ($93), read a recent full front-page ad for an iPhone 5 in the Times of India, referring to the initial payment on a phone priced at $840, or almost two months' wages for an entry-level software engineer.
The new-found interest in India suggests a subtle strategy shift for Apple, which has moved tentatively in emerging markets and has allowed rivals such as Samsung and BlackBerry to dominate with more affordable smartphones. With the exception of China, all of its Apple stores are in advanced economies.
Apple expanded its India sales effort in the latter half of 2012 by adding two distributors. Previously it sold iPhones only through a few carriers and stores it calls premium resellers.
The result: iPhone shipments to India between October and December nearly tripled to 250,000 units from 90,000 in the previous quarter, according to an estimate by Jessica Kwee, a Singapore-based analyst at consultancy Canalys.
At The MobileStore, an Indian chain owned by the Essar conglomerate, which says it sells 15 percent of the iPhones in the country, iPhone sales tripled between December and January, thanks to a monthly payment scheme launched last month.
"Most people in India can't afford a dollar-priced phone when the salaries in India are rupee salaries. But the desire is the same," said Himanshu Chakrawarti, its chief executive.
Apple, the distributors, retailers and banks share the advertising and interest cost of the marketing push, according to Chakrawarti. Carriers like Bharti Airtel Ltd, which also sell the iPhone 5, run separate ads.
India is the world's No. 2 cellphone market by users, but most Indians cannot afford fancy handsets. Smartphones account for just a tenth of total phone sales. In India, 95 percent of cellphone users have prepaid accounts without a fixed contract. Unlike in the United States, carriers do not subsidize handsets.
Within the smartphone segment, Apple's Indian market share last quarter was just 5 percent, according to Canalys, meaning its overall penetration is tiny.
Still, industry research firm IDC expects the Indian smartphone market to grow more than five times from about 19 million units last year to 108 million in 2016, which presents a big opportunity.
Samsung Electronics Co Ltd dominates Indian smartphone sales with a 40 percent share, thanks to its wide portfolio of Android devices priced as low as $110. The market has also been flooded by cheaper Android phones from local brands such as Micromax and Lava.
Most smartphones sold in India are much cheaper than the iPhone, said Gartner analyst Anshul Gupta.
"Where the masses are - there, Apple still has a gap."
'I LOVE INDIA, BUT...'
Apple helped create the smartphone industry with the iPhone in 2007. But last year Apple lost its lead globally to Samsung whose smartphones, which run on Google Inc's free Android software, are especially attractive in Asia.
Many in Silicon Valley and Wall Street believe the surest way to penetrate lower-income Asian markets would be with a cheaper iPhone, as has been widely reported but never confirmed. The risk is that a cheap iPhone would cannibalize demand for the premium version and eat into Apple's peerless margins.
The new monthly payment plan in India goes a long way to expanding the potential market, said Chakrawarti.
"The Apple campaign is not meant for really the regular top-end customer, it is meant to upgrade the 10,000-12,000 handset guy to 45,000 rupees," he said.
Apple's main focus for expansion in Asia has been Greater China, including Taiwan and Hong Kong, where revenue grew 60 percent last quarter to $7.3 billion.
Asked last year why Apple had not been as successful in India, Chief Executive Tim Cook said its business in India was growing but the group remained more focused on other markets.
"I love India, but I believe that Apple has some higher potential in the intermediate term in some other countries," Cook said. "The multi-layer distribution there really adds to the cost of getting products to market," he said at the time.
Apple, which has partly addressed that by adding distributors, did not respond to an email seeking comment.
Ingram Micro Inc, one of its new distributors, also declined comment. Executives at Redington (India) Ltd, the other distributor, could not immediately be reached.
BlackBerry, which has seen its global market share shrivel to 3.4 percent from 20 percent over the past three years, is making what is seen as a last-ditch effort to save itself with the BB10 series.
The high-end BlackBerry Z10 was launched in India on Monday at 43,490 rupees ($800), close to the 45,500 rupees price tag for an iPhone 5 with 16 gigabytes of memory. Samsung's Galaxy S3 and Galaxy Note 2, Nokia's Lumia 920 and two HTC Corp models are the main iPhone rivals.
BlackBerry will target corporate users and consumers in India for the Z10, said Sunil Dutt, India managing director, adding that it will tie-up with banks for installment plans.
Until last year, BlackBerry was the No. 3 smartphone brand in India with market share of more than 10 percent, thanks to a push into the consumer segment with lower-priced phones. Last quarter its share fell to about 5 percent, putting it in fifth place, according to Canalys. Apple was sixth.
(Additional reporting by Aradhana Aravindan in MUMBAI and Poornima Gupta in SAN FRANCISCO; Editing by Tony Munroe, Mark Bendeich and Chris Gallagher)
PRAGUE/STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Sweden's IKEA halted sales of its trademark Swedish meatballs in 13 European countries after tests in the Czech Republic on Monday showed the product contained horsemeat.
IKEA, the world's No. 1 furniture retailer and known also for its signature cafeterias in its huge out-of-town stores, said it had stopped sales of all meatballs from a batch implicated in the Czech tests.
The checks were carried out in response to a Europe-wide scandal that erupted last month when tests carried out in Ireland revealed some beef products contained horsemeat. This has triggered recalls of ready-made meals and damaged confidence in Europe's vast and complex food industry.
"We take this very seriously," said IKEA spokeswoman Ylva Magnusson at the company's headquarters in Helsingborg, southern Sweden. "We have stopped selling that specific batch of meatballs in all markets where they may have been sold."
The meatballs, pulled from shelves at IKEA's stores after Czech inspectors discovered they contained horsemeat, had been available in stores in several European countries, the company's Czech spokesman said on Monday.
Besides the Czech Republic, they had also been on sale in Britain, Portugal, Netherlands, Belgium, Slovakia, Hungary, France, Italy, Spain, Greece, Cyprus and Ireland, Magnusson said.
All IKEA's meatballs are produced in Sweden by supplier Familjen Dafgard, which said on its website it was investigating the situation and would receive further test results in the coming days.
IKEA's Magnusson said hopes were that test results would determine the percentage of horsemeat in the meatballs, and that there was is no indication any other batch had been affected.
In Italy, one of the countries where meatballs from the batch were withdrawn from sale, consumer rights group Codacons called for checks on all meat products sold by IKEA in Italy.
"We are ready to launch legal action and seek compensation not only against the companies who are responsible but also those whose duty it was to protect citizens," Codacons President Carlo Rienzi said in a statement.
The Czech State Veterinary Administration reported its findings to the EU's Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed, it said in a statement.
The inspectors took samples for DNA tests in IKEA's unit in the city of Brno from a product labeled as "beef and pork meatballs", the statement said.
Meatballs, a famous Swedish dish, have become a trademark for IKEA across its markets.
(Additional reporting by Keith Weir in Milan; Writing by Anna Ringstrom; Editing by Louise Ireland)
Feb. 24, 2013 ? The Hubble Space Telescope has captured a new image showing an object known as HH 151, a bright jet of glowing material trailed by an intricate, orange-hued plume of gas and dust.
It is located some 460 light-years away in the constellation of Taurus (The Bull), near to the young, tumultuous star HL Tau.
In the first few hundred thousand years of life, new stars like HL Tau pull in material that falls towards them from the surrounding space. This material forms a hot disc that swirls around the coalescing body, launching narrow streams of material from its poles. These jets are shot out at speeds of several hundred kilometers (or miles) per second and collide violently with nearby clumps of dust and gas, creating wispy, billowing structures known as Herbig-Haro objects -- like HH 151 seen in the image.
Such objects are very common in star-forming regions. They are short-lived, and their motion and evolution can actually be seen over very short timescales, on the order of years. They quickly race away from the newly-forming star that emitted them, colliding with new clumps of material and glowing brightly before fading away.
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iMore writes, Phil Nickinson and Alex Dobie of are on the ground at Mobile World Congress, and they've just gone hands-on with the all new Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0, a tablet that sits roughly between the iPad 4 and iPad mini in size, but boasts the Wacom-style digitizer-gone-mobile that Samsung's Note line is famous four. Since we're all one big happy Mobile Nations family, Phil and Alex also brought along their iPad mini so they could put the two competitors head-to-head. As we?ve been saying for a while, we?re slowly becoming convinced that the 7-to-8-inch form factor represents the sweet spot for?
Continue reading iPad mini vs. Galaxy Note 8.0 hands on! at iMore
The United States military base at Pearl Harbor will be made less secure as a result of Washington's failure to avoid across-the-board sequestration budget cuts, Democratic Gov. Neil Abercrombie of Hawaii warned Saturday.
"The plain fact is that will undermine our capacity for readiness at Pearl Harbor," Abercrombie said, referring to the base that was attacked by Japanese military forces in 1941 that resulted in the deaths of 2,400 Americans. "Now if that doesn't symbolize for the nation that far from overstating it, it is zeroing in on a graphic example of what happens when we fail to meet our responsibilities congressionally, I don't know what does."
Speaking at the annual Winter Meeting of the National Governors Association in Washington, D.C., Abercrombie said that the $487 billion reduction in Pentagon spending will have an impact on 19,000 civilian employees who work with the United States Pacific Command. The budget reduction, he said, would cut four work days from each employee.
For weeks, Democrats and Republicans have issued dire warnings about the potential impact of the sequester--a budget measure that will slash $1.2 trillion from federal spending over 10 years that begins March 1. President Barack Obama last week declared that it would reduce the effectiveness of first responders and health care providers across the country. Abercrombie argued that Obama was understating what could happen if Congress fails to find an alternative to the sequester next week.
"The question about whether this is being overstated is rhetorically, I think, a disservice to what the realities are in terms of everyday lives," Abercrombie said.
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) ? Suicide bombers targeted Afghanistan's intelligence agency and other security forces in four coordinated attacks in the heart of Kabul and outlying areas on Sunday in a bloody reminder of the insurgency's reach nearly 12 years into the war.
The brazen assaults, which occurred within a three-hour timespan, were the latest to strike Afghan forces, who have suffered higher casualties this year as U.S. and other foreign troops gradually take a back seat and shift responsibility for security to the government.
The deadliest attack occurred just after sunrise ? a suicide car bombing at the gate of the National Directorate of Security compound in Jalalabad, 125 kilometers (78 miles) east of Kabul.
Guards shot and killed the driver but he managed to detonate the explosives-packed vehicle, killing two intelligence agents and wounding three others, according to a statement by the intelligence agency. Provincial government spokesman Ahmad Zia Abdulzai confirmed the casualty toll and said the building was damaged in the attack.
A guard also shot and killed a man in an SUV filled with dynamite that was targeting an NDS building on a busy street in Kabul, not far from NATO headquarters. The explosives in the back of the vehicle were defused. Blood stained the driver's seat and the ground where security forces dragged out the would-be attacker.
Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid claimed responsibility for the Jalalabad attack and two others in the eastern province of Logar in an email to reporters. He did not address the attempted assault in Kabul.
Shortly before the Jalalabad attack, a suicide attacker detonated a minivan full of explosives at a police checkpoint in Puli Alam, on the main highway between Kabul and Logar province. One policeman was killed and two others were wounded, along with a bystander, according to the NDS.
Also in Logar province, which is due south of Kabul, a man wearing a suicide vest was stopped by police as he tried to force his way into the police headquarters for the Baraki Barak district, said Din Mohammad Darwesh, the provincial government spokesman. The attacker detonated his vest while being searched, wounding one policeman, according to Darwesh and the NDS.
"Once again the enemies of peace and stability in Afghanistan ... staged coordinated attacks against the Afghan security forces and the Afghan people," the intelligence agency said.
The attacks were a reminder that insurgents are still on the offensive even as U.S. and other international forces prepare to end their combat mission by the end of 2014.
Afghan soldiers and police are easier targets than their NATO allies because their checkpoints and bases are less fortified.
More than 1,200 Afghan soldiers were killed in 2012 compared to more than 550 the previous year, according to data compiled by the Washington-based Brookings Institution.
U.S. troop deaths, meanwhile, declined overall from 404 in 2011 to 295 in 2012.
___
Associated Press writer Kim Gamel contributed to this report.
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) ? Kevin Harvick sat out both Daytona 500 practice sessions on Friday and he wasn't alone.
Joining Harvick on the sidelines were 11 other drivers, including Richard Childress Racing teammates Austin Dillon and Paul Menard. Dillon is scheduled to make his Daytona 500 debut. Other notables who sat out Friday were Clint Bowyer, Joey Logano, Juan Pablo Montoya and Mark Martin.
Harvick goes into Sunday's season-opening race with two wins in two races at Speedweeks. His No. 29 Chevrolet sat covered in its garage stall most of the day.
Three-time NASCAR champion Tony Stewart posted the fastest lap of the day in the second practice when he ran around Daytona International Speedway at 197.131 mph. He was followed on the speed chart by four-time champion Jeff Gordon and Danica Patrick. Kasey Kahne's 10 consecutive lap average of 195.305 mph was tops for the day, and he was followed by Patrick, who went 195.258.
"Practice today, it was the most racing we've done," she said. "I ran 32 laps straight. We are feeling much more comfortable with the balance going into Sunday."
Patrick is the first woman in history to win the top starting position in NASCAR's top Sprint Cup Series. Crew chief Tony Gibson said Patrick has chosen to start the race from the outside lane, which will allow her to run early in the high line that has worked so well for drivers this week.
Patrick started on the inside in Thursday's qualifying race, and said she learned quickly the Stewart-Haas Racing crew had made the wrong call. Part of Thursday's decision was to line Patrick up in front of Stewart, her teammate and co-car owner.
"Our plan was to stay with Stewart right behind us, and we were hoping to pull away, both of us, at least right at the start," Gibson said. "We're going to cut her loose on Sunday. We told her to treat it like a video game."
Among those who did go out Friday was Carl Edwards, who ran single car laps only. Edwards was involved in wrecks that have damaged three cars during Speedweeks, and a fourth was crashed during testing at Daytona in January.
"Someone texted me that Bobby Allison wrecked three cars and then won," said Edwards, "I haven't wrecked a rental car yet, so we should be good."
Crew chief Jimmy Fennig brought the Roush-Fenway Racing crew in early Friday to begin work on the 500 car, and a backup car was shipped in overnight from Charlotte, N.C.
"We already got it at 6 o'clock this morning and they already put it in the truck," Fennig said. "While you guys were sleeping, we were working."
DALLAS (AP) -- A pro-gay marriage group will replace ads that include former first lady Laura Bush speaking on the topic with a new ad this weekend after Bush said she did not want to be part of its campaign.
The Respect for Marriage Coalition said Thursday that it appreciated Bush's previous comments, "but are sorry she didn't want to be included in an ad." The national advertising campaign of print, television and online ads that launched this week featured part of a Bush interview on CNN in which she says: "When couples are committed to each other and love each other then they ought to have the same sort of rights that everyone has."
The coalition made up of more than 80 organizations supporting gay marriage said the ad was part of "a public education campaign that will now move to new and different voices that reflect the depth and breadth of our support."
The ads that began running Wednesday also included clips of President Barack Obama, former Vice President Dick Cheney and former Secretary of Defense Colin Powell talking favorably about same-sex marriage.
Bush spokeswoman Anne MacDonald has said that Bush asked to be removed from the campaign after learning that she was being featured. MacDonald has said Bush "did not approve of her inclusion in this advertisement nor is she associated in any way with the group that made the ad."
After the coalition released its statement Thursday, MacDonald said Bush would have no further comment.
Cheney, whose daughter Mary is gay, said in a speech at the National Press Club in 2009 that he supports gay marriage but believes that states, not the federal government, should make the decision. The Respect for Marriage Coalition's ad campaign featured a clip of Cheney telling the National Press Club that "freedom means freedom for everyone."
Powell was shown in a clip from CNN saying, "Allowing them to live together with the protection of the law, it seems to me is the way we should be moving in this country." Obama's quote came from his inaugural address this year during which he said, "Our journey is not complete until our gay brothers and sisters are treated like anyone else under the law."
The new ad starting this weekend features former Marine Cpl. Craig Stowell, who says that after finding out that his brother was gay he "wanted the same rights for him."
"He was the best man at my wedding and I want to be the best man at his," said Stowell, who notes he is a Republican.
BATON ROUGE, LA (WAFB)- President Barack Obama declared a major disaster exists in Louisiana because of the flooding in January. The President ordered Federal aid to supplement state and local recovery efforts in the area affected by the storms and flooding that happened January 8-17, 2013.
Federal funding is available to state and eligible local governments and certain private nonprofit organizations on a cost-sharing basis for emergency work and the repair or replacement of facilities damaged by the severe storms and flooding in the parishes of Acadia, Catahoula, Concordia, East Carroll, Evangeline, Franklin, Jefferson Davis, Livingston, Madison, St. Landry, and Vermilion.
Federal funding is also available on a cost-sharing basis for hazard mitigation measures statewide.
W. Craig Fugate, Administrator, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Department of Homeland Security, named Gerard M. Stolar as the Federal Coordinating Officer for federal recovery operations in the affected area.
FEMA said additional designations may be made at a later date if requested by the state and warranted by the results of further damage assessments.
BEIRUT (AP) ? A list of some of the major bombings in Syria since the uprising against President Bashar Assad's regime began in March 2011.
?Feb. 21, 2013: A car bomb explodes at a security checkpoint near the headquarters of the ruling Baath party in the heart of the Syrian capital, Damascus, killing at least 53 people, according to Syrian state media.
?Jan. 16, 2013: Three car bombings in the northern city of Idlib kill 22 people. State media said attackers targeted a major highway and a traffic circle; anti-regime activists say the bombers were targeting security vehicles near the local security headquarters.
?Jan. 15, 2013: Twin blasts rip through a university campus in the northern city of Aleppo, killing more than 80 people, mostly students, in the government-controlled part of the city.
?Dec.12, 2012: A car bomb targets the Interior Ministry in Damascus, killing several people and wounding more than 20, including the interior minister.
?July 18, 2012: A blast at the Syrian national security building in Damascus during a meeting of Cabinet ministers kills the defense minister and his deputy, who is also Assad's brother-in-law, and wounds the interior minister. Rebels claim responsibility for the blast.
?May 10, 2012: Twin suicide car bombers blow themselves up outside a military intelligence building in Damascus, killing at least 55 people.
?April 27, 2012: Suicide bomber in Damascus kills at least nine people, most of them security officers.
?March 17, 2012: Blasts kill at least 27 people near the intelligence and security buildings in the capital.
?Feb. 10, 2012: Two suicide car bombers hit security compounds in the industrial center of Aleppo, killing 28 people.
?Jan. 6, 2012: Blast at an intersection in Damascus kills 25 people, many of them policemen.
?Dec. 23, 2011: Back-to-back car bombs near Syria's intelligence agencies killed at least 44 in the first major attack in the capital seven months after the uprising erupted.
MOSCOW (AP) ? The U.S. ambassador to Moscow on Friday called on Russian authorities and media to stop "sensational exploitations" of the death of an adopted boy in the United States.
The Jan. 21 death of 3-year-old Max Shatto, born Maxim Kuzmin, has fueled a fight over Russian adoptions in the U.S. as senior Russian officials accused the boy's adopted mother, Laura Shatto, of killing the boy.
The medical examiner's office in West Texas has not officially pronounced the cause of death and presented only early results, but the report of bruises on Max's body ? although their origin has not been established ? made some Russians jump to a conclusion.
Russian children rights ombudsman Pavel Astakhov last week branded the death as "killing" by Shatto's adoptive American mother. The State Duma's petition to the U.S. Congress on Friday mentioned that the death is "connected to the fact of violence" by the Shattos. The Russian theory that the boy was killed has topped the news on state-controlled media which have been using the case to justify country's move on Dec. 28 to ban all adoptions to the U.S. The ban sparked criticism abroad and a thousands-strong protest rally in Moscow.
In a response to Russian authorities and some state media which were nearly gloating over the death, U.S. Ambassador Michael McFaul said he was "troubled by how my people and my country are being portrayed by some in the Russian press."
"It is time for sensational exploitations of human tragedy to end and for professional work between our two countries to grow, on this issue and many others," he wrote in a blog post on Friday.
Russia's state-controlled Rossiya TV channel aired a live talk show Thursday evening featuring the biological mother of the boy, Yulia Kuzmina, who lost parental custody for Max and his half-brother Kirill Kuzmin over negligence and serious drinking problems.
In a tightly choreographed interview, Kuzmina insisted that Russian custody officials took advantage of her absence from her home town to seize her children. The program's host Mikhail Zelenin introduced Kuzmina as "mourning for Maxim and hoping to get Kirill back" while the experts commenting on the case were largely Kremlin loyalists including author Maria Arbatova who insisted that Kuzmina's children were "stolen" from their mother.
Kuzmina said she gave up drinking and found a job and pledged to fight to get back her other son Kirill, who was also adopted by the Shatto family.
Valentina Chernova from the children's welfare office in Kuzmina's home Pskov region said on the talk show that the woman was stripped of custody of her second children for drinking bouts during pregnancy and her negligence with her first-born.
The RIA Novosti and Interfax news agencies reported Friday that Kuzmina and her boyfriend, who were traveling Thursday night from Moscow to their home town, were taken off the train by police after a drunken brawl.
"It's up to court to decide how fit Kirill and Maxim Kuzmin's mother is for regaining parental custody," Astakhov said in his Twitter account Friday afternoon. "She deserves pity anyhow."
Max's adoptive mother, Laura Shatto, told authorities earlier this week that Max and his half-brother were playing outside the family's home near Odessa, Texas. Shatto said she came out and found the boy unconscious on the ground.
Shirley Standefer, chief investigator for the Ector County Medical Examiner's Office, said that there were signs of bruising on Max's lower abdominal area, but added that a full autopsy would be needed to determine what kind of bruising that was. Authorities also have not received a toxicology report that would have details on whether Max was being given any medication.
The Texas Child Protective Services spokesman said that they had received allegations of physical abuse and neglect, but had not determined whether those allegations were true.
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Public release date: 26-Feb-2013
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The online ordering market for restaurants has a new competitor today. A startup called 
