Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/01/kris-jenner-kim-kardashian-craves-bjs/
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Thursday 31 January 2013
Volunteer Pirate Crew Gives Mega Its Own Search Engine
A user-created search engine reportedly makes it easy to scour the new, controversial file-sharing site Mega. Unveiled two weeks ago by Kim Dotcom, a German national living in New Zealand and wanted on a slew of charges in the U.S., Mega initially did not have a search function to scour its own content. The new search engine was built by users voluntarily providing links to files.
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Syrian activists say 65 bodies found in Aleppo
BEIRUT (AP) ? The bodies of at least 65 people, some with hands tied behind their backs, were found in Syria's northern city of Aleppo Tuesday as the government and rebels trying to overthrow it blamed each other for the latest mass killing.
Also Tuesday, a bomb wounded former legislator and once governor of the central province of Hama, Abdul-Razzak Qtini, as he was in his car, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and a neighbor of Qtini said. The neighbor, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals, said Qtini is receiving treatment in a Damascus hospital.
The bodies, almost all of men in their 20s and 30s, were discovered in the contested neighborhood of Bustan al-Qasr, the director of the Britain-based Observatory for Human Rights, Rami Abdul-Rahman said. Intense clashes between rebels and government troops have raged in the district since opposition forces launched an offensive on Aleppo in July.
Abdul-Rahman said the identities of the dead were unknown, and it was not clear who was behind the killings or when they occurred. A government official told The Associated Press in Damascus that the dead were residents of Bustan al-Qasr who were kidnapped and later killed.
Syrian state TV said the men were killed by members of Jabhat al-Nusra, an al-Qaida-linked group that the Obama administration has labeled as a terrorist organization. It said the men were killed after they demanded members of the group to leave their areas.
Another activist group, the Local Coordination Committees, put the number of bodies found at 80. It blamed government forces for the killing.
Such exchanges of accusations over killings have been common in Syria since the country's conflict began in March 2011. With lawlessness and joblessness now rife in many areas, kidnappings for ransom are not uncommon.
An amateur video posted online showed dozens of bodies placed in rows on the ground and wrapped in blue blankets. A crowd of men, many covering their noses with scarves, walk among the dead, apparently trying to identify them.
A voice in the background says "number them," while another says "pray for them." At one point, a man stops at a body and breaks down into tears, shouting: "he's my brother."
The video appeared genuine and corresponded to other AP reporting on the events depicted.
The Observatory said a total of at least 160 people were killed in Syria Tuesday, while the LCC put the figure at 162. They numbers included the bodies of the men found in Aleppo.
The violence came a day ahead of a donors conference for the Syrian opposition headed by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon in the oil-rich Gulf state of Kuwait.
In Washington, President Barack Obama authorized an additional $155 million in humanitarian aid for the Syrian people Tuesday, as his administration grapples for a way to stem the violence without direct U.S. military involvement.
The fresh funding brings the total U.S. humanitarian aid to Syria over two years to $365 million, according to the White House. Officials said the money was being used to immunize one million Syrian children, purchase winter supplies for a half million people, and to help alleviate food shortages.
The U.S. has long called for Syrian President Bashar Assad to leave power and says the fall of his regime is inevitable. In addition to the humanitarian aid, the White House has also ratcheted up economic sanctions on Assad's regime and recognized the rebel-led Syrian Opposition Council as the legitimate representative of the Syrian people.
Also, EU humanitarian aid Commissioner Kristalina Georgieva said the EU committed another 100 million euros ($134 million) in help, bringing the overall EU total so far to 360 million euros.
Earlier in the day, Syrian rebels stormed a government intelligence complex in the oil-rich east of the country, freeing at least 11 people held in a prison at the facility, activists said.
After five days of heavy clashes around the intelligence compound in the city of Deir el-Zour, rebels finally overran the complex early Tuesday, the Observatory said. It was not immediately clear whether those freed from the compound's prison Tuesday were fighters or activists.
The activists said the compound was run by the Political Security Department, one of Syria's four most powerful intelligence agencies.
Amateur videos showed rebels raising an Islamic flag on top of the three-story building as fighters carted away rifles and boxes of ammunition.
Deir el-Zour has been the scene of heavy fighting since the uprising against Assad began in March 2011. The province, which goes by the same name as the city, is located along Syria's border with Iraq and includes several oil installations that the rebels have repeatedly targeted.
The aid group Doctors Without Borders said last month that government forces are shelling and bombing Deir el-Zour almost daily. It said tens of thousands of Syrians, many of them wounded, remain trapped in the city.
Also Tuesday, regime warplanes also carried several airstrikes on rebel positions in restive towns and villages around Damascus, including eastern Ghouta and Yalda, the Observatory said. The group relies on reports from activists on the ground.
After capturing several major army bases and government outposts, the rebels control large swathes of land in northeastern Syria. Assad's troops, however, continue to hold a tight grip on the capital after nearly two years of conflict.
The areas on the capital's doorstep have been rebel strongholds since early on in the revolt. In recent months, the rebels have used them as a base from which they have been trying to push into central Damascus, the seat of Assad's power.
Back on the front line in Aleppo, a veiled female sniper who identified herself as Givara told the AP that when she decided to fight against Assad's troops people used to tell her that it would be difficult as a woman.
"No it's not difficult ... I want to defend my life," she said, adding that her husband is proud of her and that she was fighting because she didn't want to see her children reduced to "pieces of flesh" by government attacks.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/syrian-activists-65-bodies-found-aleppo-174207736.html
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Wednesday 30 January 2013
A Former NFL Player Is In Court On Domestic Violence Charges
By
Paul Johnson
Story Created: Jan 29, 2013 at 12:41 PM MST
Story Updated: Jan 29, 2013 at 12:41 PM MST
Redwood City, California (CNN) - A former N-F-L player was in court yesterday (Monday) on domestic violence charges -- over a fight with a man described as his ex-boyfriend.
Kwame Harris was seen leaving the courthouse with his lawyer.
The former San Francisco 49ers and Oakland Raiders player was arrested last year for attacking his former boyfriend at a restaurant.
The two were apparently arguing over spilled soy sauce.
Prosecutors say the men continued arguing outside the restaurant, where Harris pulled down the other man's pants and accused him of stealing his underwear, then assaulted him.
Harris' attorney says the other man -- Dimitri Geier -- threw the first punch in the fight, and that Geier is just looking for money.
Geier's attorney told K-G-O T-V news his client is the victim of a brutal attack, and that he just wants to have his medical bills covered.
Source: http://www.kmvt.com/news/regional/188882761.html
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Central Valley irrigation intensifies rainfall, storms across the Southwest
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
Agricultural irrigation in California's Central Valley doubles the amount of water vapor pumped into the atmosphere, ratcheting up rainfall and powerful monsoons across the interior Southwest, according to a new study by UC Irvine scientists.
Moisture on the vast farm fields evaporates, is blown over the Sierra Nevada and dumps 15 percent more than average summer rain in numerous other states. Runoff to the Colorado River increases by 28 percent, and the Four Corners region experiences a 56 percent boost in runoff. While the additional water supply can be a good thing, the transport pattern also accelerates the severity of monsoons and other potentially destructive seasonal weather events.
"If we stop irrigating in the Valley, we'll see a decrease in stream flow in the Colorado River basin," said climate hydrologist Jay Famiglietti, senior author on the paper, which will be published online Tuesday, Jan. 29, in the journal Geophysical Research Letters. The basin provides water for about 35 million people, including those in Los Angeles, Las Vegas and Phoenix. But the extra water vapor also accelerates normal atmospheric circulation, he said, "firing up" the annual storm cycle and drawing in more water vapor from the Gulf of Mexico as well as the Central Valley.
When the additional waves of moisture bump into developing monsoons, Famiglietti said, "it's like throwing fuel on a fire."
He and colleague Min-Hui Lo, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of California Center for Hydrologic Modeling who is now at National Taiwan University, painstakingly entered regional irrigation levels into global rainfall and weather models and traced the patterns.
"All percent differences in the paper are the differences between applying irrigation to the Central Valley and not applying it," Famiglietti said. "That's the point of the study ? and the beauty of using computer models. You can isolate the phenomenon that you wish to explore, in this case, irrigation versus no irrigation."
Famiglietti's team plans to increase the scope of the work to track how major human water usage elsewhere in the world affects neighboring areas too. A better understanding of irrigation's impact on the changing climate and water availability could improve resource management in parched or flooded areas.
###
University of California - Irvine: http://www.uci.edu
Thanks to University of California - Irvine for this article.
This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.
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Filing Bankruptcy Is About Making Tough Choices
Every new year comes with a renewed sense opportunity. ?People see a new year as the right time to ?get it right? or ?start over?. ?Whatever words motivate you are great, and I?m all for a motivational quote as a trigger to keep me on the right track. ?This is why people make new year resolutions. ?In one way or another we have all made a new year resolution. ?Sometimes these resolutions work and people create real change in their lives. 
Other times, people fall into their comfortable life patterns and the resolutions are quickly forgotten. ?I?ve always said that it?s not about making the right choice, it?s about seeing the other side of the choice. ?I am choosing this, but in return for my choice I am giving up that, that, that and that. You may be scratching your head right now, and that?s ok. ?Well, the decision to file bankruptcy requires that you make other choices as well. ?Filing for bankruptcy is about making the tough choices, but those choices are probably not the ones that are popping into your head. ?My guess is that you are thinking about debt. ?You may be thinking that the house is underwater and the car payment is due. ?But, if you really think about it, financial choices are the exact same as all of the other choices you have made in your life. ?The person who chooses law school will be choosing not to become a politician. ?The teacher is choosing not to become a firefighter or policeman. ?In other words, all of your past decisions have forced you to forgo opportunities elsewhere. ?I want you to see the decision about filing bankruptcy is not about what you are missing out on, but will be about what you are strategically giving up. ?Maybe you have never thought about it this way, but it?s true. I remember when this idea first hit me. ?When it was time for me to buy a car, I had another decision. ?Do I get a Jeep, Pick-up, or a car? ?Once a choice was made, I was also choosing not to purchase the other types of vehicles. ?Why is this important? ?Well, I?m glad you ask. I see people struggle every day with the decision of whether to file for bankruptcy protection. ?In my mind, the decision should not be that difficult in many of my client?s situations because I know how a bankruptcy can change their lives for the better. ?However, it is not my decision to make. ?In my position, I know how bankruptcy works and the opportunities it creates for the individuals. ?I also know that it is a strategic financial decision that must not be taken lightly. On the other hand, I know that the decision to file for bankruptcy will cause individuals to make other choices, like learning to live on cash, learning to save money, learning to budget, learning to borrow from yourself, and learning about personal finance. ?Learning, or I guess I should say re-learning these skills will help create a simpler and happier life. In the end, most people realize that their decision to file for bankruptcy is not about what they are going to lose, it is all about what they are going to gain. ?That is where I want you to focus your thoughts when and if you are having a hard time with the idea of filing for bankruptcy. ?Think about where you want to be and how you are going to get there. ?This process will make the tough choices seem a little easier. Change your Perspective ? Change your Life.
Source: http://www.bankruptcylawnetwork.com/filing-bankruptcy-is-about-making-tough-choices/
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Video: Market Poised for Pullback?
Sorry, Readability was unable to parse this page for content.
Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/cnbc/50618872/
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Tuesday 29 January 2013
Campus Recruiter Admits She Only Goes to Job Fairs to Get ?Free ...
McKinsey and Co.?s Stanford campus recruiter, Sarah Jennings, was fired from her post last Monday after admitting to only attending job fairs to get the free giveaways distributed by job-seeking students.
The embattled 27-year-old management consultant confided that it was hard to take giveaways from students without feigning some sort of interest. ?I usually tried to strike up a conversation and ask just enough questions to make it look like there was actually a chance we could hire them. By then, I usually felt comfortable asking for their resume, cover letter, business card, letter of recommendation?whatever they happened to be giving away for free.?
Jennings? firing is likely to unveil a rampant underground culture, as anonymous sources told Flipside reporters that recruiters often compete against each other to see who can get the most ?free shit? at each job fair. Allegedly, recruiters even compete for bonus points in categories like ?greatest ethnic diversity of students engaged,? ?most obviously fabricated resume,? and ?most egregious misuse of the word ?synergy? in a cover letter.?
When asked about the fate of all the free memorabilia accumulated at job fairs, Jennings replied incredulously, ?What!?! All this shit? We use these resumes as toilet paper. Nobody gets hired based on this, of course.?
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Six New Web Design and Development Podcasts You Must ...
If you?ve already subscribed or listened to any of the podcasts in this post please feel free to leave a review or your comments at the end of this page.
Unfinished Business is a weekly podcast?focusing?on the business side of being a web designer or running a creative business. Andy and Anna tackle taboo subjects like pricing, rates, deposits and payments.
If you run any kind of creative business I highly recommend subscribing. Episode 2 is all about pricing and is well worth a listen.
Presenters: Andy Clarke and Anna Debenham
Link:?http://unfinished.bz
Subscribe: Subscribe?| RSS
Twitter:?@unfinishedbz
If you are looking for an informal and short?industry?podcast then Happy Monday Podcast will be perfect for you. Typically?around 30 minutes long, each episode focuses around a web industry guest and mixes informal chat with news from around the internet. Perfect to listen to while easing yourself in to a busy working week!
Presenters: Sarah Parmenter and Josh Long
Link:?http://happymondaypodcast.com
Subscribe:?iTunes?|?RSS
Described as ?A show by and for young & attractive web people?, Less Than Bang is a podcast aimed at developers presented by two very talented guys. After two episodes this has potential to be a great podcast covering all manner of code and development topics.
Presenters: Tom Ashworth?and Paul Adam Davis
Link:?http://lessthanbang.com
Subscribe: iTunes |?RSS
Twitter:?@leessthanbang
The first episode of The Back To Front Show has just been published covering industry subjects like the recent New Adventures in Web Design conference and the pros and cons of co-working.
Presenters:?Keir Whitaker and?Kieran Masterton
Link:?http://backtofrontshow.com
Subscribe: iTunes | RSS
Twitter:?@backtofrontshow
I?ve been a fan Joel Hughes? Jojet blog for a while because his posts are a great mixture of design and business advice. Joel?s Port80 conference also has an occasional podcast which features an interview with a member of the design community.
Well worth a listen!
Presenter: Joel Hughes
Link:?http://blog.port80events.co.uk/category/port80-podcast
Subscribe: Web
Twitter: @poort80events
The Upfront Podcast only launched 3 days ago and there isn?t a iTunes link for it yet but it has a lot potential. The podcast?s two presenters Ben and Jack are both really talented front-end developers so it is?definitely?worth keeping your eye on. We?ll publish the iTunes link as soon as it is listed.
Presenters: Ben Howdle?and Jack Franklin
Link:?http://www.upfrontpodcast.com
Subscribe: Web
Twitter:?@upfrontpodcast
Related posts:
- My Five Favourite Web Design Books of 2012 2012 was a wonderful year for web design and development...
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
Source: http://design.findfollowtweet.com/six-new-web-design-and-development-podcasts-you-must-subscribe-to/
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Justin Bieber's Believe Acoustic Even Has Non-Beliebers Raving
The unplugged album, out today, is 'perfection,' diehard fans and Bieber newbies agree.
By Jocelyn Vena
Justin Bieber's Believe Acoustic
Photo: Island/ Def Jam
Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1700953/justin-bieber-believe-acoustic-album-reviews.jhtml
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On Data Privacy Day, Google Standing Up for Privacy and ...
Running a business online or providing services to multiple online businesses means you?re dealing in data. Lots of data. A lot of what makes the internet attractive for businesses is the fact that this data is about real people and what they do online. Online commerce allows for easier, more effective marketing. That?s the nature of having more detailed data. Ever since online marketing and commerce started to pick up steam, critics about privacy always rang in. Google has been a target of many critics of online privacy, but today they are coming out on the consumer?s side.
Google Protecting Users
I?ll admit, it can be a little scary when you think about how much information about yourself is out there. I?m relatively receptive to the fact that so much information is out there. Users can benefit from this. I?d rather see advertisements and content that I am interested in than something that wastes my time. Many consumers share this same mentality. The way commerce and free services (like Google?s) currently works is a give-and-take between how much information users give up and how much they keep private. It has been working for quite some time.
Google deals with an unimaginable amount of user information. They have to take in this information ? most of it anonymously ? for their ads to be profitable. But, news reported this morning is giving a glimpse into what Google does with users? private information.
According to Martin Kaste at NPR, ?For the first time, [Google] has posted its policies for when it gives up your information to the government.? This news comes after many years of relatively vagueness from Google about how it handles privacy issues, especially when it comes from Government requests. Even better for consumers is that this appears to be ?part of a broader company strategy to push for tougher privacy laws.?
Part of the beauty of the internet comes from privacy. Users understand we have to give up data about ourselves ? data drives the search engines and the marketing that helps businesses have better, more effective, and more profitable ad campaigns and outreach to consumers. Unfortunately, not many people are aware that, according to an Associated Press article, ?Google is being pulled into an increasing number of police and government investigations.?
How is Google Pushing for Privacy?
According to Google?s own blog post, in recognition of Data Privacy Day, Google has released to the public how it handles government requests of data and privacy information about its users. David Drummond, the Senior VP and Chief Legal Officer of Google explains how Google is focused on three initiatives to protect user safety.
First, Google wants to update laws concerning digital information ?so the same protections that apply to your personal documents ? in your home also apply to your email and online documents.? Second, they will continue requiring agencies to go through 100% legal means of obtaining documents. Google won?t resist investigation but they want to make sure the privacy of its users is respected. Third, Google is going to be transparent about government requests for data.
Commerce and Privacy Can Work Together
I have no doubt that consumers enjoy having their data out there for targeted ads and to allow them to see content that is relevant to their lives. I know I enjoy that. Of course, at the same time, there?s no reason for people to give up real and important issues of privacy. What Google and many companies are doing in this realm will help maintain the balance of collecting anonymous data and respecting individual consumers? privacy.
What do you think about Google?s privacy announcement? Is it the right way for the company to handle privacy?
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Monday 28 January 2013
Mali rebels torch ancient library in Timbuktu
Thousands of residents came out to celebrate after French and Malian troops entered the town of Gao on Sunday, with a parade of motorbikes honking their horns and people weeping in disbelief. Lindsey Hilsum of the UK's Channel 4 News reports.
By Adama Diarra and Richard Valdmanis, Reuters
GAO, Mali -- French and Malian troops on Monday sealed off Timbuktu, a UNESCO World Heritage site, but fleeing Islamist rebel fighters torched several buildings in the ancient Saharan trading town, including a library of priceless manuscripts.
Without a shot being fired to stop them, 1,000 French soldiers including paratroopers and 200 Malian troops seized the airport and surrounded the centuries-old Niger River city, looking to block the escape of al-Qaida-allied fighters.
The retaking of Timbuktu followed the swift capture by French and Malian forces at the weekend of Gao, another major northern Malian town which had also been occupied by the alliance of Islamist militant groups since last year.
A two-week intervention by France in its former Sahel colony, at the request of Mali's government but also with wide international backing, has driven the Islamist rebel fighters northwards out of towns into the desert and mountains.
A French military spokesman said the assault forces at Timbuktu were being careful to avoid combat inside the city so as not to damage cultural treasures and mosques and religious shrines in what is considered a seat of Islamic learning.
But Timbuktu's mayor, Ousmane Halle, reported that fleeing Islamist fighters had torched a South African-funded library in the city containing thousands of priceless manuscripts.
Nic Bothma / EPA
A French soldier in Mali on Sunday.
"The rebels set fire to the newly constructed Ahmed Baba Institute built by the South Africans ... this happened four days ago," Halle Ousmane told Reuters by telephone from Bamako. He said he had received the information from his chief of communications who had traveled south from the city a day ago.
Ousmane was not able to immediately say how much the concrete building had been damaged. He added the rebels also torched his office and the home of a member of parliament.
The Ahmed Baba Institute, one of several libraries and collections in the city containing fragile ancient documents dating back to the 13th century, is named after a Timbuktu-born contemporary of William Shakespeare and houses more than 20,000 scholarly manuscripts. Some were stored in underground vaults.
'Free as the wind'
The French and Malians have faced no resistance so far at Timbuktu, but they face a tough job of combing through the labyrinth of ancient mosques and monuments and mud-brick homes between alleys to flush out any hiding Islamist fighters.
"We have to be extremely careful. But in general terms, the necessary elements are in place to take control," French army spokesman Lieutenant Thierry Burkhard said in Paris.
Timbuktu member of parliament El Hadj Baba Ha?dara told Reuters in Bamako the Islamist rebels had abandoned the city. "They all fled. Before their departure they destroyed some buildings, including private homes," he said.
The United States and European Union are backing the French-led Mali operation as a strike against the threat of radical Islamist jihadists using the West African state's inhospitable Sahara Desert as a launch pad for international attacks.
In the first installment of Rock Center's Hidden Planet series, Richard Engel travels to Mali, on the edge of the Sahara desert, to discover the city of Timbuktu.
They are helping with intelligence, airlift of troops, refueling of planes and logistics, but do not plan to send combat troops to Mali.?
In Gao, crowds celebrated the arrival of French forces. Many smoked cigarettes, women went unveiled and some men wore shorts to flout the severe Shariah Islamic law the rebels had imposed for months. Youths on motorcycles flew the flags of Mali, France and Niger, whose troops also helped secure the ancient town on the Niger River.
"Now we can breathe freely," said Hawa Toure, 25, wearing a colorful traditional African robe banned under Shariah for being too revealing. "We are as free as the wind today. We thank all of our friends around the world who helped us," she said.
About a dozen rebels were killed in Gao, while French forces suffered no losses or injuries, the?French defense ministry?said.
Youths in Gao said there were still some rebels and rebel sympathizers around, but they were being found. "Yesterday, even, we found one hiding in a house. We cut his throat," one man said, asking not to be named. "Today we found another and we brought him to the army."
A third northern town, the Tuareg seat of Kidal, in Mali's rugged and remote northeast, remains in rebel hands.
Related:
Jihadists leave trail of destruction, brutality
PhotoBlog: Eerie photo of French soldier in Mali upsets military officials
Analysis: Why France is taking on Mali extremists
Copyright 2013 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.day light savings daylight saving time 2012 grapes of wrath silent house nfl mock draft project m rubio
Poor Sleep Prevents Brain From Storing Memories
I like to follow these types of stories. I lost all of my memory one morning when I was 19. The cause isn't clear. I was in an underdeveloped country at the time, so the medical facilities didn't exist to determine what had happened. (It might have been a delayed effect of a car accident I was in two years earlier.) It's also probably important to note that my ability to form new memories was also severely impeded.
I wonder a little bit about what "moving" a memory means. At least in my amateur study, memories aren't complete entities (like a file, database, etc). They are mixes of memories, the awareness of what has occurred, and associations, our integration of what we already know with what we are remembering. That's part of the reason people can have such differing memories of a shared experience. Some of that is about how memories are retrieved. In my study and experience, they are retrieved by these associations we make. That's why memory tricks involve making varied associations -- to song, to a mental or physical image, etc. For people who haven't learned those tricks, an association can be as simple as "I remember we met in a bar..." then the rest of the picture is pieced together.
I wonder sometimes if my having to learn different ways of "remembering" things will allow me to maintain a higher level of memory functioning into my elder years. I have to be very aware and purposeful about what I remember. I was in college when I lost my memory, so I had to learn very quickly how to perform in school without being able to learn in the conventional sense (I could not remember the beginning of a semester by the time it ended). So I focused much more on the integration of memories into my existing awareness (aka forming associations between new experiences and prior knowledge.) I still have a very poor memory retrieval in the classic sense, but I can still learn lessons well. It has just required a much higher level of sentience with regards to how memories are stored and what I hope to gain from a memory in the long term.
Source: http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotScience/~3/LYNseFnfWgU/story01.htm
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Leading Senate liberal Harkin of Iowa to retire
DES MOINES (Reuters) - Senator Tom Harkin, a veteran Iowa Democrat and one of the most liberal senators, said on Saturday he will not seek re-election in 2014, putting at risk what was considered a safe Democratic seat.
Harkin, 73, who has focused much of his nearly 40-year congressional career on farm policy, education and expanding rights for people with disabilities, is the third senator facing re-election next year who has announced his retirement, following Democrat Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia and Republican Saxby Chambliss of Georgia.
"It's somebody else's turn. It's time for me to step aside ... . I think that's not only good for our party, it's good for our state and for our nation," Harkin said in an interview with Reuters.
He said he had no health problems but had promised his wife that he would quit before it was too late to enjoy other things in life.
Iowa, site of the country's first presidential nominating contest, is considered a political swing state. Republican Charles Grassley is Iowa's other U.S. senator.
In remarks to the Iowa Democratic Party central committee after his announcement, Harkin said he would stay politically active.
"I'm not quitting today. This is not a time for legacy talks or anything like this," said Harkin, who has served in Congress since 1974.
Several committee members had tears running down their cheeks as he spoke.
President Barack Obama, a fellow Democrat, praised Harkin for his decades of public service.
"During his tenure, he has fought passionately to improve quality of life for Americans with disabilities and their families, to reform our education system and ensure that every American has access to affordable health care," Obama said in a statement.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat, in a statement described Harkin as "a passionate progressive, whose deeply held principles have provided a guiding light to Democrats for decades."
SEARCH IS ON
Party officials said Harkin's announcement, coming early in the current two-year election cycle, provides ample time to recruit a strong Democratic candidate.
Among Democrats, U.S. Representative Bruce Braley is widely seen as a front-runner. U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, a former Iowa governor, and his wife, Christine Vilsack, who ran unsuccessfully for Congress last year, are also viewed as potential candidates.
Among Republicans, U.S. Representatives Tom Latham, a moderate, and Steve King, a conservative, are mentioned as possible candidates, which could produce a divisive Republican primary.
Obama won Iowa in the November election. But the state has a Republican governor, and a divided legislature and congressional delegation.
Harkin's retirement "just reinforces our belief that a grassroots Republican comeback can take place in 2014. Let's have it start in Iowa," Iowa Republican Party Chairman A.J. Spiker said in an email appeal to state Republicans.
The party needs to pick up six seats in the mid-term elections next year to get a majority in the 100-member Senate.
One of the last of the Senate's old-guard liberals, Harkin angrily opposed the White House over the recent fiscal cliff compromise that Vice President Joe Biden negotiated with Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.
Harkin said the deal that raised taxes only on the very rich helps the wealthy at the expense of the middle class.
First elected to the House of Representatives in 1974 and to the Senate in 1984, Harkin said someone younger needs to take his place.
"I've been there 40 years. I'm 73. By the time I run (for re-election), I'd be 75," he said.
(Additional reporting by Richard Cowan, David Morgan, Charles Abbott and Vicki Allen in Washington; Editing by Greg McCune and Xavier Briand)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/democratic-senator-tom-harkin-not-seek-election-aide-161442576.html
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Octa TabletTail Vacuum Dock and WhaleTail Kit for tablets and eReaders review
When I first saw the Octa stand last year, I thought it was cute and whimsical. ?Many gadget accessories are very serious and seem to be designed to fit into the most sedate business environment. ?When designers do decide to mix it up, it’s often just to offer a brighter color in the same overall [...]
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Sunday 27 January 2013
Health News - New Guidance Will Enhance Sports Opportunities for ...
New Guidance Will Enhance Sports Opportunities for Students with Disabilities
Inclusive Fitness Coalition compares impact to Title IX
WASHINGTON ? Students with disabilities have reason to celebrate as they gain some headway in their fight for better, health, and greater participation in school activities. The Inclusive Fitness Coalition (IFC) and student athletes with disabilities all over the country today applauded guidance issued by the U.S. Department of Education?s Office of Civil Rights (OCR).[1] The guidance clarifies schools? responsibilities under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (Rehab Act) to provide athletic opportunities for students with disabilities.
The 2013 Dear Colleague Letter requires a holistic approach by schools seeking to comply with the Rehab Act and ensures that schools look broadly and proactively to include students with disabilities in athletic programs in order to satisfy their civil rights obligations to provide equal educational opportunities.The policies apply to all levels of education including both interscholastic and intercollege athletic opportunities.
The benefits of providing all students opportunities for exercise and sports participation go beyond justice and individual opportunity. ?Inclusion in athletics is how children learn from each other, build social skills and optimize their growth and development.The OCR guidance is a clear indication that athletics is an extremely important part of our educational system and that youth and young adults with disabilities must be afforded the same opportunities as their non-disabled peers,? said James Rimmer, Ph.D., who co-chairs the Inclusive Fitness Coalition and directs the National Center on Health, Physical Activity and Disability. ?This should be part of a national strategy to lower obesity rates, which are disproportionately higher among youth with disabilities compared to their non-disabled peers.?
GAO study called for guidance
The guidance followed a 2010 study from the Government Accountability Office[2] that found that students with disabilities receive fewer opportunities for physical activity and sports participation than students without disabilities. To help close the gap, the GAO called on the Department of Education to provide resources to assist states and schools in serving students with disabilities in physical activity settings. The GAO report also called for clarification of schools? responsibilities to provide athletic opportunities for students under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. The Inclusive Fitness Coalition called for the GAO study, working with Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA) and Reps. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY) and George Miller (D-CA).
Advocates Invoke Title IX
?OCR?s guidance is a landmark moment for individuals with disabilities, as it sends a loud message to educational institutions that students with disabilities must be provided opportunities for physical activity and sports equal to those afforded to students without disabilities,? said Terri Lakowski, policy chair of the Inclusive Fitness Coalition and nationally recognized sports policy advocate. Lakowski, who has been a champion of equal physical activity and sports opportunities for women and girls under Title IX as well as students with disabilities for over ten years, added, ?We applaud OCR for its leadership and action, which we hope will pave the way for students with disabilities in sports the same way that Title IX has done for women.?
James R. Whitehead, CEO of the American College of Sports Medicine and co-chair of the Inclusive Fitness Coalition, said, ?Athletes with physical disabilities shone on the world stage at the Paralympic Games in London. These important steps taken to provide further guidance will help ensure that tomorrow?s world-class athletes find their way to sports in schools across our country like never before. The benefit of sport transcends that world stage; these athletes demonstrate that regular physical activity can have a positive impact on so many aspects of a young person?s life.?
This guidance opens the door for the vast expansion of opportunities for students with disabilities to participate in sports and physical activity programs in all levels of education. Beverly Vaughn, Executive Director of the American Association of Adapted Sports Programs, who has developed and implemented a school-based model for disability sport says, ?We are ready and eager to work with schools across the country and show them that integrating students with disabilities into school athletic programs is not only feasible, but will greatly enrich the overall athletic experience for all students.?
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About IncFit
The IFC, led by the Lakeshore Foundation in partnership with the American College of Sports Medicine, comprises 200 organizations representing a cross-section of the disability rights, sports, health/fitness and civil rights communities. Recognizing the barriers that continue to limit opportunities for physical activity for individuals with disabilities in the school setting, the IFC works to expand opportunities for physical activity, exercise and athletics for individuals with disabilities. For more information, please visit www.Lakeshore.org.
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Armstrong meeting with USADA appears unlikely
FILE - In this July 19, 2009, file photo, Lance Armstrong crosses the finish line during the 15th stage of the Tour de France cycling race in Verbier, Switzerland. Armstrong confessed to using performance-enhancing drugs to win the Tour de France during a taped interview with Oprah Winfrey that aired Thursday, Jan. 17, 2013, reversing more than a decade of denial. (AP Photo/Laurent Rebours, File)
FILE - In this July 19, 2009, file photo, Lance Armstrong crosses the finish line during the 15th stage of the Tour de France cycling race in Verbier, Switzerland. Armstrong confessed to using performance-enhancing drugs to win the Tour de France during a taped interview with Oprah Winfrey that aired Thursday, Jan. 17, 2013, reversing more than a decade of denial. (AP Photo/Laurent Rebours, File)
FILE - In this Monday, Jan. 14, 2013, file photo provided by Harpo Studios Inc., Lance Armstrong listens as he is interviewed by talk show host Oprah Winfrey during taping for the show "Oprah and Lance Armstrong: The Worldwide Exclusive" in Austin, Texas. Armstrong confessed to using performance-enhancing drugs to win the Tour de France cycling during the interview that aired Thursday, Jan. 17, reversing more than a decade of denial. (AP Photo/Courtesy of Harpo Studios, Inc., George Burns, File)
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) ? Lance Armstrong's lawyers say the cyclist will talk more about drug use in the sport, just likely not to the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency that led the effort to strip him of his Tour de France titles.
In a testy exchange of letters and statements revealing the gulf between the two sides, USADA urged Armstrong to testify under oath to help "clean up cycling."
Armstrong's attorneys responded that the cyclist would rather take his information where it could do more good ? namely to cycling's governing body and World Anti-Doping Agency officials.
USADA's response to that: "The time for excuses is over."
The letters, obtained Friday by The Associated Press, underscore the continuing feud between Armstrong and USADA CEO Travis Tygart, the man who spearheaded the investigation that uncovered a complex doping scheme on Armstrong's U.S. Postal Service teams.
Armstrong's seven Tour de France victories were taken away last year and he was banned for life from the sport.
In an interview with Oprah Winfrey last week, Armstrong admitted doping, said he owed a long list of apologies and that he would like to see his lifetime ban reduced so he can compete again.
His most realistic avenue toward that might be telling USADA everything he knows in a series of interviews the agency wants started no later than Feb. 6.
That seems unlikely.
Armstrong attorney Tim Herman responded to USADA's first letter, sent Wednesday, by saying his client's schedule is already full, and besides, "in order to achieve the goal of 'cleaning up cycling,' it must be WADA and the (International Cycling Union) who have overall authority to do so."
By Friday night, Herman strongly suggested Armstrong won't meet with USADA at all but intends to appear before the UCI's planned "truth and reconciliation" commission.
"Why would we cooperate (with USADA)?" Herman said in a telephone interview. "USADA isn't interested in cleaning up cycling. Lance has said, 'I'll be the first guy in the chair when cycling is on trial, truthfully, under oath, in every gory detail.' I think he's going testify where it could actually do some good: With the body that's charged with cleaning up cycling," Herman said.
In its last letter to Armstrong, sent Friday evening, USADA attorney William Bock said his agency and WADA work hand-in-hand in that effort.
"Regardless, and with or without Mr. Armstrong's help, we will move forward with our investigation for the good of clean athletes and the future of sport," Bock's letter reads.
The letters confirm a Dec. 14 meeting in Denver involving Armstrong, Tygart and their respective attorneys, which is when, in Tygart's words, Armstrong should have started thinking about a possible meeting with USADA.
"He has been given a deadline of February 6th to determine whether he plans to come in and be part of the solution," Tygart said in a statement. "Either way, USADA is moving forward with our investigation on behalf of clean athletes."
The letters were sent to the AP after details about a Tygart interview with "60 Minutes," being aired Sunday, were made public.
Among Tygart's claims: Armstrong is lying when he says he didn't dope during his 2009-10 comeback.
Tygart said USADA's report on Armstrong's doping included evidence Armstrong was still cheating in those years.
"His comeback was totally clean," Herman said. "It's pretty fashionable to kick Lance Armstrong around right now."
Tygart also reiterated that an Armstrong associate offered USADA a donation of more than $200,000. Armstrong denied that in his interview with Winfrey, too.
In advancing his claim that USADA is only a bit player in the investigation, Herman noted in his letter, sent to USADA on Friday, that most cycling teams are based in Europe.
"I'm pretty sick of people trying to blame a European cycling culture that goes back to the 1920s on one guy," Herman said.
Bock's response to that: "Your suggestion that there is some other body with which Lance should coordinate is misguided," he said in his final letter.
___
AP National Writer Eddie Pells contributed to this report.
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Saturday 26 January 2013
New maps could be good news for many New Orleans-area flood ...
Many residents of New Orleans and Jefferson, St. Bernard, St. Charles and Plaquemines parishes could see the fruits of the improved hurricane levee system in new maps published on the Web Friday by FEMA's National Flood Insurance Program. Most locations within the levee system will see required base elevations lowered, which could mean a stabilizing or even a drop in future flood insurance premiums.
It?s not all good news, as residents of Braithwaite are already aware. Buildings outside the new levee system, such as those in Braithwaite, are likely to be required to be built higher ? sometimes as much as 7 feet higher. That?s the result of new studies that better identify the height of possible hurricane storm surges and the violent waves that accompany them, FEMA officials say.
The online publication of the preliminary ?digital flood insurance rate maps,? or DFIRMS, comes in advance of public hearings to be held by New Orleans and the parishes on their accuracy this spring.
St. Bernard Parish already has set a public meeting between 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. on Feb. 28 in the Council Chambers, 8201 W. Judge Perez Dr., in Chalmette, to allow residents to review the maps. FEMA officials also will be available to answer questions.
To view the new flood maps, contact your local floodplain administrator or follow these links: New Orleans, St. Bernard, Jefferson, Plaquemines, and St. Charles.
The hearings will trigger the start of a formal 90-day resolution period in which local governments and the public can appeal specific map location findings, said Matthew Dubois, a civil engineer and project monitor for the flood map studies for the greater New Orleans area.
Once all comments are resolved, FEMA will send a ?letter of final determination? to the city and parishes. That kicks off a six-month period during which the localities must approve the maps and adopt their standards as part of their building codes; if they refuse, their residents will be ineligible for flood insurance.
DuBois said that while the majority of areas within the improved levees will see their base flood elevation requirements lowered, there are a few locations that will see higher elevation requirements, the result of better mapping of land heights or recognition of? rainfall flooding challenges.
The improvements are the result of the post-Katrina bargain between the Army Corps of Engineers and FEMA: the corps would improve the levees to guarantee against flooding caused by surges created by a hurricane with a 1 percent chance of occurring each year, a so-called 100-year hurricane. FEMA, meanwhile, would continue to issue insurance within the levee areas, taking into account the chance of a rainfall event that also has a 1 percent chance of occurring each year.
Dubois was unable to say how much rain that would be, but one report cited in the flood insurance study accompanying the New Orleans map says there?s a 1 percent chance of between 11 and 14 inches of rain falling across the New Orleans area in 24 hours each year.
DuBois said the new levee maps represent a snapshot in time, representing the chance of flooding in mid-2012 after the levee system was completed to the 100-year standard. The maps also include the effects of a variety of drainage improvement projects that were completed at that time.
Local governments can provide evidence of the completion of additional drainage improvements -- including several Southeast Louisiana Urban Flood Control Program projects in New Orleans and Jefferson Parish that will cost more than a billion dollars over the next three years -- to FEMA in the future and get credit that can result in reduced insurance rates in their areas.
Work on the new maps is part of a national effort to digitize all flood insurance maps that began several years before Hurricane Katrina. In New Orleans, for instance, the last time insurance maps had been drawn was in 1984. Those maps used corps measurements that were based on outdated estimates of the heights of monuments called datum that were as much as 2 feet too low. The same outdated? information resulted in some area levees and floodwalls being as much as 2 feet too low before Katrina.
Following the storm, New Orleans-area parishes in 2006 adopted advisory maps that took into account the incomplete construction of the post-Katrina levee system. Those are still being used today.
FEMA completed a preliminary set of maps for New Orleans and the other four parishes in 2008, but stalled the adoption process until now to allow the corps to complete construction of the improved levee system, DuBois said.
?The corps has now reached the point where enough of the system is in place where it will defend against the 100-year storm surge,? he said.
Between 2008 and last summer, FEMA updated the maps with more information about? interior drainage improvements and provided local officials with copies of the completed maps last November.
The new maps outline a variety of changes.
In Lakeview and Gentilly, the new levees have resulted in significant drops in base flood elevation requirements. Where the elevation is now required to be 2.5 feet below sea level in Lakeview, the new map requires only 5 feet below sea level. In Gentilly, where the standard now is 1 foot below sea level, it drops to -6 feet. In the Central City area, including Broadmoor, where the present map requires a base elevation of 1.5 feet above sea level, the new map allows the base to be 1 foot below sea level.
In Metairie and Kenner, the existing maps set a base flood elevation of -3.5 feet above sea level north of the Metairie Ridge to the lakefront. That drops to -4 feet in parts of Kenner and between -3 and -5 in Metairie.
On the West Bank, areas now protected by a post-Katrina levee along Lake Cataouatche will see their base flood elevation requirements drop dramatically, from 3.5 feet above sea level to as low as -1 foot. Areas north of the V levee and west of Leo Kerner Parkway would see their base flood elevation drop from 5 feet above sea level to zero, while areas to the east drop from 1.5 feet above sea level to 1 foot below sea level.
Outside the levee, areas along Jean Lafitte Boulevard and Rosethorn Road, adjacent to the Barataria Unit of Jean Lafitte Park, will increase in base flood elevation to 8 feet above sea level, from the present 7 feet. On Grand Isle, some base flood elevations along the Gulf rise to 16 feet from present elevations of 10 to 13 feet.
East Bank St. Charles Parish residents also will see significant improvements in areas behind completed 100-year levees, with existing base flood elevation requirements of 8 feet and 9 feet above sea level dropped to between 2.5 feet and 4 feet.
Areas north of the levee along Lake Pontchartrain move from mostly 10 feet base elevation to mostly 12 feet.
In Plaquemines Parish, Belle Chasse gains from improvements of the Mississippi River levee to protect it from hurricane storm surges, with base flood elevations dropping from mostly 1.5 feet above sea level to between 0-3 feet below sea level.
The rest of the parish gets hit with major elevation requirements, the result of new studies indicating that existing levees will not protect the area from either 100-year storm surges or waves.
Braithwaite and east bank communities to the south across from the New Orleans Naval Air Station take the brunt, seeing their elevation requirement increase from 3 feet above sea level to 21 feet.
Areas to the south on the east side of the river will see new elevation requirements of 15 to 17 feet, generally a foot or two higher than the present map.
On the west side, the elevations are 14 to 15 feet with the new map, similar to the existing map except at one location just north of Triumph, which now has a 3.5-foot elevation requirement.
In St. Bernard Parish, areas inside the newly raised Chalmette Loop see the base elevation drop to as low as -2 feet in Arabi to 3 feet above sea level near Riverbend Drive, a foot or two lower than existing requirements. To the south, outside the levee system, the base increases to 19 and 20 feet from 13 and 14 feet.
Source: http://www.nola.com/environment/index.ssf/2013/01/new_maps_could_be_good_news_fo.html
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Enterprise Architecture Standard Aligns People, Business Processes
TOGAF, the Open Group?s standard for enterprise architecture (EA) methodology and framework, is no longer just a tool for better IT systems. It?s become a method for aligning business and IT by integrating people, processes and technology, Sven van Dijk (@Vandijk_S), a consultant with BiZZdesign, explained to IT Business Edge?s Loraine Lawson. Van Dijk has worked with a number of large enterprises to enact enterprise architecture using the TOGAF standard, and will share his experience at the Open Group?s first conference of the year, which will be in Newport Beach, California, Jan. 28-31.
Lawson: What particularly caught my eye was the part about TOGAF as a tool for organizing people, processes and technology in an integrated way. I think a lot of IT people know about integrating technology and organizing it, but how does TOGAF support organizing people and processes?
van Dijk: My presentation is really about how can organizations use enterprise architecture. I think the point of enterprise architecture is to attain an integrated view on the organization and with ?integrated,? I mean not only focusing on technology, but also integrate people and processes with that.
One important aspect of the TOGAF standards, the Open Group?s architecture framework, that helps organizations do enterprise architecture in an effective way is that TOGAF, as standards, really includes the people aspect as well as the process aspect as well as the technology aspect in its framework. So by following the TOGAF standards, you can take into account in your enterprise architecture the three aspects: people, processes and technology.
Lawson: Now, when you say the standard includes support for those, does it walk you through each aspect of those? How does it support that? What is it about it that makes it useful?
van Dijk: The core of the TOGAF standards is actually its ADM, the architecture development method. This method is a complete process of how to do architecture starting from the strategy level, and it takes you along all the important domains toward the level of implementation.
The TOGAF ADM consists of a number of phases, process steps that you take. In the beginning phases, these are about the strategy and aligning the strategy with goals for the enterprise architecture. In these phases, the TOGAF standard supports the organization to engage people, the stakeholders that have an interest in that enterprise architecture. It involves them in the process and in the subsequent phases, TOGAF circles through various architectures starting at the business level or the business architecture, then into application architecture, and then in technology architecture. In this way, it aligns based on the concerns of the stakeholders that were identified in the earlier phase and integrated enterprise architecture that connects business processes, information technology in terms of application and data, and also the technology aspects in terms of the hardware, the servers and everything that?s needed to actually execute that enterprise architecture.
So by using the ADM and following the standards, you engage the most important stakeholders and align this with the enterprise architecture going from business to the level of technology.
Lawson: You're a consultant for enterprise architecture, so do you work with organizations to implement this?
van Dijk: Yes, so I work for a company called BiZZdesign and BiZZdesign is a leader in enterprise architecture developments. We offer tooling, we offer also consultancy and we help organizations implement enterprise architecture in their organizations based on best practices and standards, particularly TOGAF.
In my work for BiZZdesign, I was involved in various engagements where we helped organizations do enterprise architecture and leverage the TOGAF standards for that. In this presentation, I really want to share my experiences on how to do that and so that?s also why my presentation is called, ?Implementing TOGAF: Where to Start??
We want to use it, we want to implement it, but where do we start?
So in my presentation, I really want to share experiences of how to implement TOGAF, what are characteristics of implementing TOGAF. I will also actually go into a specific case where I was involved in helping implementing TOGAF in a large organization in the telecommunications industry.
Lawson: Is it usually very large organizations that use TOGAF? For CIOs or EAs looking at this and thinking about engaging with TOGAF, what size organizations benefit from this?
van Dijk: TOGAF really was designed for a generic level, so potentially every enterprise can benefit from TOGAF. Large enterprises, but also smaller enterprises?all organizations that really look for the question, ?So how do we adapt ourselves to our changing environments??
All those organizations can benefit from enterprise architecture in general and standards more specifically to help them address these questions. And because TOGAF is generic, one of the key points actually is also to tailor the standards to the organization specifics. ?If you're a small organization, you probably won?t need, in the beginning, all the aspects of the TOGAF standards.
TOGAF is very big. The advantage is that TOGAF is very complete. So the key to using TOGAF effectively is really to tailor it to your organization, select the elements from the TOGAF standards that you really can benefit from and start out with those.
Lawson: Businesses have been involved in a lot of sort of major disciplines over the years, like TQM and Six Sigma and these sort of things. Is TOGAF like that? It sounds a little intimidating and heavy, like it would be difficult to support. What would you say to CIOs who are skeptical about trying TOGAF? What?s the benefit?
van Dijk: I would actually say that TOGAF, as opposed to those approaches and methodologies that you mentioned, actually is a standard that includes many of those lower-level standards. Right? You should look at TOGAF, I think, more like a toolkit, and in your toolkit there are a number of techniques and a number of tools that you actually can use to address questions on an enterprise level.
So business process improvements using Six Sigma could be a focus area and you could focus on that. But if you want to do that in a more integrated way and in a more aligned way, aligning this with the people and with applications that support these processes, you can look at the TOGAF framework as a standard where you can place this effort, using Six Sigma to improve your processes in an enterprise context.
That is how I use TOGAF mostly in these engagements with organizations. Sometimes you already see that organizations do a lot of stuff to improve parts of the organization, maybe the technology landscape or they're creating a roadmap for applications. I?d use the TOGAF standard more to align all these separate initiatives and really place them into a context where the organization can derive more value from integrating these separate initiatives with each other.
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Friday 25 January 2013
Bats split on family living
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Public release date: 24-Jan-2013[ | E-mail |
Share ] Contact: Chris Bunting
c.j.bunting@leeds.ac.uk
44-113-343-2049
University of Leeds
For the tiny Daubenton's bat, the attractions of family life seem to vary more with altitude than with the allure of the opposite sex.
For more than a decade, a team led by Professor John Altringham from the University of Leeds' School of Biology has studied a population of several hundred bats along a 50-km stretch of the River Wharfe. They monitored roosts in Ilkley and Addingham, upstream in the market town of Grassington and higher still in the villages of Kettlewell and Buckden.
The researchers found that all Daubenton's bats in nursery roosts in lowland areas of Wharfedale during the spring and summer were females and their offspring.
Male bats were mostly restricted to a windier, Heathcliff-like existence in roosts at the top of the Dales.
But the researchers were surprised to find a small oasis of cohabitation in Grassington, sandwiched between the bustle of the women-only childrearing in the lowlands and the more relaxed lives of the bachelors in the highlands.
Professor Altringham said: "Low down the dale, the females appear not to tolerate males and we assume they won't let them in the roost. They don't want anything to do with them. High in the dales, all the roosts are bachelor pads. But in the middle, at Grassington, males and females live togetherthe social structure changes with the environment"
"One possible reason for not finding males low down the valley could be that the mothers just want to avoid competing with males for food. It takes a lot of insects to make the milk needed to feed their young," Professor Altringham said.
"But it is also possible that the males choose not to roost with the females. When you look at the nursery colony in Ilkley, mothers and pups often have a lot of ectoparasites like ticks and mites. In a warm, crowded nursery, parasites can thrive, especially if there's less time for good personal hygiene. Parasites not only make life uncomfortable but can affect a bat's health. The males that live by themselves are usually very clean in their bachelor pads, so you can understand why they might not want to move in," he added.
At Grassington, which is deep in the Yorkshire Dales National Park but not as high as Buckden and Kettlewell, the bats have a completely different social structure. Both male and female bats live with the young throughout the spring and summer in roosts in the stonework of the old Dales bridges and in holes in ash trees.
"Females may roost as high up the dale as Grassington because they have these warm, cuddly males to bunk up with. This way, females use less energy keeping warm and babies grow faster," Professor Altringham said. "In these marginal conditions, they may just tolerate a few males to keep them warm. Otherwise they kick them out. Why do the males co-habit if they are going to get parasites all over them? Well, that may be down to the usual answer: sex."
Although male and female Daubenton's bats usually live apart throughout the spring and summer, they meet when they begin flying to caves in late summer.
Professor Altringham said: "In and around these caves the bats gather in huge numbers to mate, in a behaviour known as swarming. This is clubbing for bats, with males displaying to females in lengthy acrobatic chases. As winter closes in, these caves will ultimately be their hibernation sites.
"There are nearly 2,000 cave entrances and hundreds of kilometres of cave passages in the Dales and these attract bats from all over Yorkshire, Lancashire, Cumbria and beyond for mating and hibernation. The males in Grassington may be giving themselves the opportunity to mate with the females late in the summer before they even get to the caves."
The researchers have built up a detailed picture of social and sexual behaviour by genotyping hundreds of individuals. The evidence gathered from this supports the theory that the Grassington males enjoy an advantage in mating.
"At Grassington, most of the fathers of bats born there spent the summer with the females. If we look at pups in Addingham and Ilkley, their dads were males caught when swarming at caves. So, as well as two different mating systems, you have distinct social groupings. A bachelor from Buckden is always a bachelor from Buckden. He doesn't pop down to Grassington to visit the females in the summer. His only option seems to be to go clubbing in the autumn," Professor Altringham said.
The Daubenton's bat, named after the 18th Century French naturalist Louis-Jean-Marie Daubenton, is widespread across the United Kingdom and specialises in hunting insects over water. Full-grown adults weigh only 7 to 12 grams, but they can live for 20 years or more.
"These bats are the size of a shrew but have a very different lifecycle. A shrew typically spends its entire life in a few metres of hedgerow, eats and breeds with a ferocious intensity, for a year if it is lucky, and then dies. In contrast, these bats lead a complex life over a huge area and females produce only one pup a year," Professor Altringham said. "This makes bats particularly vulnerable to the problems of habitat fragmentation and climate change."
###
The paper, which is published in PLOS ONE, was co-authored by Dr Ruth Angell and Professor John Altringham at The University of Leeds and by Professor Roger Butlin at Sheffield University. It was funded by a Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) PhD studentship to Ruth Angell, with additional support from the NERC Biomolecular Analysis Facility at Sheffield.
Further information:
Professor John Altringham is available for interview. Images and a map are available on request.
A copy of the full paperRuth L. Angell, Roger K. Butlin and John D. Altringham. 'Sexual segregation and flexible mating patterns in temperate bats,' PLOS ONE (DOI 10.1371/journal.pone.0054194) is also available on request.
Contact:
Chris Bunting
Press Officer
University of Leeds
The paper will be available for download from 10 pm London Time / 5 pm US Eastern Time on Thursday 24 January 2013.
[ | 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.
Public release date: 24-Jan-2013[ | E-mail |
Share ] Contact: Chris Bunting
c.j.bunting@leeds.ac.uk
44-113-343-2049
University of Leeds
For the tiny Daubenton's bat, the attractions of family life seem to vary more with altitude than with the allure of the opposite sex.
For more than a decade, a team led by Professor John Altringham from the University of Leeds' School of Biology has studied a population of several hundred bats along a 50-km stretch of the River Wharfe. They monitored roosts in Ilkley and Addingham, upstream in the market town of Grassington and higher still in the villages of Kettlewell and Buckden.
The researchers found that all Daubenton's bats in nursery roosts in lowland areas of Wharfedale during the spring and summer were females and their offspring.
Male bats were mostly restricted to a windier, Heathcliff-like existence in roosts at the top of the Dales.
But the researchers were surprised to find a small oasis of cohabitation in Grassington, sandwiched between the bustle of the women-only childrearing in the lowlands and the more relaxed lives of the bachelors in the highlands.
Professor Altringham said: "Low down the dale, the females appear not to tolerate males and we assume they won't let them in the roost. They don't want anything to do with them. High in the dales, all the roosts are bachelor pads. But in the middle, at Grassington, males and females live togetherthe social structure changes with the environment"
"One possible reason for not finding males low down the valley could be that the mothers just want to avoid competing with males for food. It takes a lot of insects to make the milk needed to feed their young," Professor Altringham said.
"But it is also possible that the males choose not to roost with the females. When you look at the nursery colony in Ilkley, mothers and pups often have a lot of ectoparasites like ticks and mites. In a warm, crowded nursery, parasites can thrive, especially if there's less time for good personal hygiene. Parasites not only make life uncomfortable but can affect a bat's health. The males that live by themselves are usually very clean in their bachelor pads, so you can understand why they might not want to move in," he added.
At Grassington, which is deep in the Yorkshire Dales National Park but not as high as Buckden and Kettlewell, the bats have a completely different social structure. Both male and female bats live with the young throughout the spring and summer in roosts in the stonework of the old Dales bridges and in holes in ash trees.
"Females may roost as high up the dale as Grassington because they have these warm, cuddly males to bunk up with. This way, females use less energy keeping warm and babies grow faster," Professor Altringham said. "In these marginal conditions, they may just tolerate a few males to keep them warm. Otherwise they kick them out. Why do the males co-habit if they are going to get parasites all over them? Well, that may be down to the usual answer: sex."
Although male and female Daubenton's bats usually live apart throughout the spring and summer, they meet when they begin flying to caves in late summer.
Professor Altringham said: "In and around these caves the bats gather in huge numbers to mate, in a behaviour known as swarming. This is clubbing for bats, with males displaying to females in lengthy acrobatic chases. As winter closes in, these caves will ultimately be their hibernation sites.
"There are nearly 2,000 cave entrances and hundreds of kilometres of cave passages in the Dales and these attract bats from all over Yorkshire, Lancashire, Cumbria and beyond for mating and hibernation. The males in Grassington may be giving themselves the opportunity to mate with the females late in the summer before they even get to the caves."
The researchers have built up a detailed picture of social and sexual behaviour by genotyping hundreds of individuals. The evidence gathered from this supports the theory that the Grassington males enjoy an advantage in mating.
"At Grassington, most of the fathers of bats born there spent the summer with the females. If we look at pups in Addingham and Ilkley, their dads were males caught when swarming at caves. So, as well as two different mating systems, you have distinct social groupings. A bachelor from Buckden is always a bachelor from Buckden. He doesn't pop down to Grassington to visit the females in the summer. His only option seems to be to go clubbing in the autumn," Professor Altringham said.
The Daubenton's bat, named after the 18th Century French naturalist Louis-Jean-Marie Daubenton, is widespread across the United Kingdom and specialises in hunting insects over water. Full-grown adults weigh only 7 to 12 grams, but they can live for 20 years or more.
"These bats are the size of a shrew but have a very different lifecycle. A shrew typically spends its entire life in a few metres of hedgerow, eats and breeds with a ferocious intensity, for a year if it is lucky, and then dies. In contrast, these bats lead a complex life over a huge area and females produce only one pup a year," Professor Altringham said. "This makes bats particularly vulnerable to the problems of habitat fragmentation and climate change."
###
The paper, which is published in PLOS ONE, was co-authored by Dr Ruth Angell and Professor John Altringham at The University of Leeds and by Professor Roger Butlin at Sheffield University. It was funded by a Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) PhD studentship to Ruth Angell, with additional support from the NERC Biomolecular Analysis Facility at Sheffield.
Further information:
Professor John Altringham is available for interview. Images and a map are available on request.
A copy of the full paperRuth L. Angell, Roger K. Butlin and John D. Altringham. 'Sexual segregation and flexible mating patterns in temperate bats,' PLOS ONE (DOI 10.1371/journal.pone.0054194) is also available on request.
Contact:
Chris Bunting
Press Officer
University of Leeds
The paper will be available for download from 10 pm London Time / 5 pm US Eastern Time on Thursday 24 January 2013.
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Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-01/uol-bso012313.php
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