Stanford Engineering's Bao elected to AAAS

Public release date: 29-Nov-2012
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Contact: Andrew Myers
admyers@stanford.edu
650-736-2245
Stanford School of Engineering

Chemical engineer recognized for work in printed and flexible materials

Professor Zhenan Bao was one of six Stanford scholars to be named Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), an honor bestowed upon members of the association by their peers.

Bao is a professor of chemical engineering and, by courtesy, of materials science and engineering. Before joining the Stanford faculty in 2004, she was a Distinguished Member of Technical Staff in the Materials Research Department of Bell Labs, Lucent Technologies. She has more than 280 refereed publications and holds more than 50 U.S. patents.

Bao was named a AAAS Fellow for her "seminal contributions that have advanced the science and technology of printed and flexible electronics through development of novel organic semiconductors, deposition and growth processes." Bao's research could lead to applications such as organic and carbon nanotube thin film transistors, organic photovoltaic cells, chemical/biological sensors and molecular switches, and artificial electronic skin.

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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.

Public release date: 29-Nov-2012
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Andrew Myers
admyers@stanford.edu
650-736-2245
Stanford School of Engineering

Chemical engineer recognized for work in printed and flexible materials

Professor Zhenan Bao was one of six Stanford scholars to be named Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), an honor bestowed upon members of the association by their peers.

Bao is a professor of chemical engineering and, by courtesy, of materials science and engineering. Before joining the Stanford faculty in 2004, she was a Distinguished Member of Technical Staff in the Materials Research Department of Bell Labs, Lucent Technologies. She has more than 280 refereed publications and holds more than 50 U.S. patents.

Bao was named a AAAS Fellow for her "seminal contributions that have advanced the science and technology of printed and flexible electronics through development of novel organic semiconductors, deposition and growth processes." Bao's research could lead to applications such as organic and carbon nanotube thin film transistors, organic photovoltaic cells, chemical/biological sensors and molecular switches, and artificial electronic skin.

###

---

[ | 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.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-11/ssoe-seb112912.php

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Syria using mines and cluster bombs on civilians: campaigners

GENEVA (Reuters) - Syria has strewn landmines along its borders with Lebanon and Turkey, making it the only country worldwide to use the weapons this year, and is increasingly dropping cluster munitions on civilian areas, campaigners said on Thursday.

Nearly two dozen Syrians, many of them children, are known to have been killed or maimed by Soviet-made mines in border crossing areas so far this year, but the true number of casualties is probably higher, they said.

Another 10 children playing outdoors died in a government air strike that dropped cluster bombs on a rebel-held village near Damascus this week, they said.

"This year we have identified only one government that has used anti-personnel mines and that is Syria. We have information that the laying of mines has continued in Syria, with reports up to October this year that mines are being used," Mark Hiznay, editor of the Landmine Monitor 2012 report, told a briefing.

The International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL), which publishes the report, documented the most recent mine explosion last month in the village of Kharbit al Jouz, near the border with Turkey. Three civilians were injured, including two who lost their legs.

"This was basically a military position that was abandoned by the Syrian military one day and overnight they had laid about 150 to 200 landmines to delay whoever was pursuing them. And eventually the villagers started finding them the hard way as they were going about their business across the paths," Hiznay said.

Syrian rebels are not known to have used landmines in the 20-month conflict aimed at toppling President Bashar al-Assad, but are setting off roadside bombs and other deadly devices, according to the Nobel prize-winning ICBL.

"We have seen instances where the insurgents are using improvised explosive devices but that all we have seen are ones that have been command-detonated, which is of a different character than an anti-personnel mine which is victim-activated," Hiznay said.

Officials from 160 countries that have joined the Mine Ban Treaty meet in Geneva next week to review progress in halting production, destroying stockpiles and clearing mines after wars.

MADE IN THE USSR

Russia has been a major ally and arms supplier to Syria but there was no indication of a recent transfer of mines to Assad's forces, said Hiznay, a senior arms researcher at Human Rights Watch, which contributed to the report with four other groups.

"The ones we have seen going into ground were produced in the Soviet Union in the 1980s, based on the markings that we have seen on the mines," he said.

Human Rights Watch has also documented the use of cluster munitions by Syrian forces, including on an olive oil factory.

"These are indiscriminate, murderous weapons, they are using them for one reason and that is to attack the civilian population," Hiznay told reporters.

Myanmar, long on its list of governments using antipersonnel mines, has been dropped this year as there has been no proven use by state forces, although armed groups have been found to being planting them there in 2012.

"The situation in Myanmar is evolving right now with the transition that's going on there. Our ability to collect almost real-time information is somewhat limited," Hiznay said.

Only four countries - India, Myanmar, Pakistan and South Korea - are known to be actively producing mines, ICBL said.

China, Russia and the United States have stayed outside the so-called Ottawa pact and reserved the right to produce mines, although the Obama administration is reviewing its position.

(Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/syria-using-mines-cluster-bombs-civilians-campaigners-144407461.html

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Syria: Airport road reopens but Internet still cut

In this Thursday, Nov. 29, 2012 photo, night falls on a Syrian rebel-controlled area as destroyed buildings, including Dar Al-Shifa hospital, are seen on Sa'ar street after airstrikes targeted the area last week, killing dozens in Aleppo, Syria. (AP Photo/Narciso Contreras)

In this Thursday, Nov. 29, 2012 photo, night falls on a Syrian rebel-controlled area as destroyed buildings, including Dar Al-Shifa hospital, are seen on Sa'ar street after airstrikes targeted the area last week, killing dozens in Aleppo, Syria. (AP Photo/Narciso Contreras)

In this Thursday, Nov. 29, 2012 photo, night falls on a Syrian rebel-controlled area as damaged buildings are seen on Sa'ar street after airstrikes argeted the area last week, killing dozens in Aleppo, Syria. (AP Photo/Narciso Contreras)

In this Thursday, Nov. 29, 2012 photo, a destroyed building is seen in Aleppo, Syria, after airstrikes targeted the area. (AP Photo/Narciso Contreras)

In this Thursday, Nov. 29, 2012 photo, destroyed buildings, including Dar Al-Shifa hospital, are seen on Sa'ar street after airstrikes targeted the area in Aleppo, Syria. (AP Photo/Narciso Contreras)

In this Thursday, Nov. 29, 2012 photo, destroyed buildings, including Dar Al-Shifa hospital, bottom, are seen after airstrikes targeted the area last week in Aleppo, Syria. (AP Photo/Narciso Contreras)

BEIRUT (AP) ? Syrian rebels battled regime troops south of Damascus on Friday and Internet and most telephone lines were cut for a second day, but the government reopened the road to the capital's airport in a sign the fighting could be calming, activists said.

The general manager of the Syrian Civil Aviation Agency, Ghaidaa Abdul-Latif, said the airport was operating "as usual" on Friday. On Thursday, international flights were canceled because of the violence.

President Bashar Assad's regime and opposition activists blamed each other for the communications blackout, which is the first to hit the whole country since Syria's 20-month-old uprising began.

Syrian authorities previously have cut Internet and telephones in areas ahead of military operations. On Friday, some land lines were working sporadically.

An Associated Press reporter in the capital said Damascus was largely quiet, although there were sounds of fighting in the suburbs.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the main road to Damascus' airport reopened early Friday afternoon. Intense clashes broke out after midnight in villages and towns near the facility but the area was calm by the late morning, the group said. It said rebels were able to destroy several army vehicles near the airport.

The Observatory, which has a network of activists around Syria, reported fighting in other southern neighborhoods of Damascus, including Qaboun and Hajar Aswad. The Observatory said it was able to contact its sources who used satellite telephones.

Activists say Assad's regime pulled the plug on the Internet on Thursday, perhaps in preparation for a major offensive. Cellphone service also went out in Damascus and parts of central Syria, they said. The government blamed rebel fighters for the outages.

Thursday's violence appeared to be focused on southern suburbs near the airport, forcing the military to shut the road to the facility. The surrounding districts have been strongholds of rebel support since the uprising began.

Thursday's fighting wounded two Austrian soldiers assigned to the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force in the Golan Heights when their convoy came under fire on the way to the airport, Austria Press Agency said.

The two were transferred to Israel for treatment Friday and their condition is not life-threatening, said David Ratner, a spokesman for Rambam Hospital in Haifa. He said the two soldiers suffered gunshot wounds ? one to the chest and the other to the hand.

With pressure building against the regime on several fronts and government forces on their heels in the battle for the northern commercial hub of Aleppo, rebels have recently begun pushing back into Damascus after largely being driven out of the capital following a July offensive. One Damascus resident reported seeing rebel forces near a suburb of the city previously deemed to be safe from fighting.

The Internet outage, confirmed by two U.S.-based companies that monitor online connectivity, is unprecedented in Syria's uprising against Assad, which activists say has killed more than 40,000 people since the revolt began in March 2011.

Regime forces have suffered a string of tactical defeats in recent weeks, losing air bases and other strategic facilities. The government may be trying to blunt additional rebel offensives by hampering communications.

U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland on Thursday condemned what she called the regime's "assault" on Syrians' ability to communicate with each other and express themselves. She said the move spoke to a desperate attempt by Assad to cling to power.

As the rebels and government vie for the upper hand in an increasingly bloody struggle, the conflict's toll on civilians is worsening.

The U.N. refugee agency said Friday it found desperate conditions in the Syrian city of Homs, where thousands of people are living in unheated shelters and a quarter of million people are displaced from their homes.

An assessment team visiting this week saw half of the city's hospitals shut down and "severe shortages of basic supplies ranging from medicine to blankets, winter clothes and children's shoes," the agency's spokeswoman, Melissa Fleming, said.

The violence on the ground, meanwhile, has overshadowed a slow diplomatic process.

Lakhdar Brahimi, the United Nations envoy for Syria, said Thursday that divisions in the Security Council are blocking progress toward ending the violence in Syria, and any eventual cease-fire will require the presence of an international peacekeeping force.

Brahimi said he has the elements for a possible peace plan, but those elements "cannot be put together until the (Security) Council has come together and is ready to adopt a resolution that will be the basis for a political process."

World powers remain divided on how to stop Syria's crisis, with the U.S. and many Arab and European nations calling for Assad to step down, while Russia, China and Iran continue to back the regime. Moscow and Beijing have vetoed three Western-backed Security Council resolutions that would pressure Assad, including with the threat of sanctions, to halt the violence, and the U.N.'s most powerful body remains paralyzed.

___

Associated Press writer Albert Aji in Damascus, Syria, contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/495d344a0d10421e9baa8ee77029cfbd/Article_2012-11-30-ML-Syria/id-7d0612b40e9d49148aacac5cac26f470

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A very Biden Christmas (Washington Bureau)

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Netflix Gambles on Big Data to Become the HBO of Streaming

Reed Hastings has a dream. Actually, it's more of an obsession. The Netflix CEO wants the streaming video service to become the next HBO but without the cable subscription. It's a bold plan and if Netflix can pull it off, ...

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GearFactor/~3/7qqDiNClSl8/

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AP Exclusive: Disney, Sears used factory in fire

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) ? Order books and clothing found at a Bangladeshi factory where a fire killed 112 people show that it was making clothing for Disney Pixar, Wal-Mart, Sears and other Western brands.

The Associated Press discovered clothing and records connected to the retailers Wednesday while police announced the arrests of three factory officials who are suspected of locking doomed workers in the building.

Piles of children's shorts from Wal-Mart's Faded Glory brand were found among the charred equipment at the Tazreen Fashions Ltd. factory. Blue and off-white shorts from rap star Sean Combs ENYCE label were piled on the floor and stacked in cartons.

Entries in account books in the abandoned factory showed it took orders in recent months to produce clothes for Disney and Sears, despite the factory's spotty safety record.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2012-11-28-Bangladesh-Factory%20Fire/id-48dbd8f0f670447a972693cf95b6485a

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Mexico's drug war bright spot hides dark underbelly

CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico (Reuters) - Inside a notorious Mexican prison where armed convicts used to roam freely, selling drugs and deciding who was allowed in, the state is in control again. Prisoners are back in their cells and the once overcrowded complex sparkles with cleanliness.

But outside on the dusty streets of Ciudad Juarez, store owners lock themselves behind their doors, fearful of police and carefully vetting customers to avoid becoming the next victims of still rampant crime.

For four years, the city on the border with Texas was convulsed by daily slaughter, becoming the murder capital of the world and a shocking illustration of the Mexican government's failure to contain violence among warring drug cartels.

Once best known as a party town for Americans hopping across the border for cheap thrills, Ciudad Juarez fell into chaos with about one in every six of the 60,000 victims of Mexico's bloody drug war over the last six years dying here.

This year, though, the violence in Ciudad Juarez has fallen dramatically, prompting political leaders to hold up the city as a symbol of progress and offering hope to Mexico's incoming president, Enrique Pena Nieto, in the fight against crime.

"It's a completely different city now," said mayor Hector Murguia, who took office for a second time in October 2010, just as the violence in Ciudad Juarez reached its peak.

Homicides and kidnappings fell by more than 60 percent from last year in the first 10 months of 2012, and extortion was down 12 percent, city data shows. In October, Ciudad Juarez had just 28 murders, down from 253 in the same month in 2010.

The government of Ciudad Juarez's home state of Chihuahua has hailed the results as proof that tougher policing works, claiming a new record for catching criminals in Mexico. It has also transferred hundreds of gang members from local prisons to jails elsewhere in Mexico, dismantling power structures that continued to direct crime from behind bars.

A number of drug war experts say security has also improved because the Sinaloa Cartel of Joaquin "Shorty" Guzman now has a firm hold on the city after squeezing out the Juarez Cartel, for long aligned with the local police. Senior government officials deny this, and one said the gangs are likely biding their time to see what Pena Nieto does after he takes office on December 1.

For all the success in reducing violence, drug trafficking is still flourishing; police are widely suspected of colluding with the cartels; reports of human rights abuses are rife; and many businesses pay a de facto tax to the gangs.

National police data shows incidence of property-related crime - which includes extortion, fraud and looting - is heading for its worst year in Chihuahua since President Felipe Calderon took office in December 2006. His term has been dominated by the drug war and he sent more than 10,000 soldiers and federal police to Ciudad Juarez when violence erupted there in 2008.

U.S. demand continues to fuel the drug trade, and a U.S. congressional report this month said Mexican cartels still had "firm control" of border smuggling routes. Mexican consultancy Risk Evaluation says the amount of cocaine and marijuana smuggled across the U.S. frontier was up at least 20 percent this year compared to 2010, and methamphetamine by 40 percent.

PAY OR BURN

Instead of bringing peace, the security buildup in Ciudad Juarez spawned more chaos. Corrupt soldiers and police were soon infected by the criminal malaise sucking the life out of the city, extorting, kidnapping and killing at will.

"Unfortunately, there were people wearing federal police badges and army insignia who only came here to make money," said municipal police officer Roberto Hernandez, 37.

By the end of 2011, most of the army and federal police had been pulled out. To regain the upper hand, Chihuahua beefed up intelligence gathering and investigations and also introduced tougher sentences for criminals.

State governor Cesar Duarte said since he took office two years ago, Chihuahua has executed a record 98 percent of arrest warrants issued and put 95 percent of suspects on trial.

"Where the news was once about deaths, deaths, and more deaths, today it's about arrests, arrests, arrests and convictions," he told Reuters. His government has put 8,000 people behind bars and moved 2,000 criminals to other jails around Mexico to break the power of prison networks, he said.

Inside Ciudad Juarez's main prison, walkways and yards once filled with convicts in civilian clothes chatting in the sun are now empty. When prisoners emerge, all wear regulation gray.

"A year ago you couldn't have been here," said Chihuahua's head of social re-integration, Gonzalo Diaz. "The prisoners had the keys to the cells and they were in charge. It was the most dangerous prison in the world."

Regardless of improvements on the inside, the hold exercised by criminals on the city outside is palpable.

One recent Saturday afternoon, the main road through the center of Ciudad Juarez was almost deserted.

On block after block on the 16 de Septiembre avenue, nearly half the businesses were closed, abandoned or burned out. Many of the stores that were open had their doors locked, admitting strangers only after they were satisfied they meant no harm.

"Everyone who is open here is paying extortion," said a man in his 30s working in a forlorn hairdressing salon on the street. "If you don't pay, the place burns down."

That Saturday the salon had four clients in 4-1/2 hours. Before the violence flared up in Ciudad Juarez it would have had about 60, said the man, who asked to remain anonymous.

Of some two dozen people working in the city Reuters spoke to about extortion, nearly all said their business paid it or that they knew of others who did - or they declined to comment.

They said payments vary from 100-150 pesos ($7.70-$11.50) a week for taxi drivers to 5,000 pesos at a mechanic's workshop employing three and 6,000 pesos at a funeral home with 15 staff.

A bus driver said operators of 40-seat vehicles had to pay as much as 5,000 pesos a month for a single bus. Children as young as 12 have been used to collect extortion, police say.

For some residents of Ciudad Juarez, paying extortion has even become a token of security in areas where the gangs rule.

"A guy in our neighborhood who ran a store got so fed up with kids stealing stuff, he eventually said 'Who do I have to pay extortion to around here?' Once he started paying, the problems stopped," said the manager of a funeral home.

EXHAUSTION

The torrent of robberies, shootouts and disappearances have drained the city's economy, forcing many people out. A study by a local university estimated nearly 240,000 of the city's 1.3 million people had left by the end of 2011.

In 2006, Ciudad Juarez accounted for about 1.9 percent of Mexican economic output, according to studies by bank Banamex. By the end of 2010 its share had fallen to 1.2 percent.

"Juarez is exhausted by gore, poverty, terror and business flight," said Charles Bowden, a U.S. author of various books on the city. "This, coupled with a population flight, means there are fewer people left to kill. All the people who refused to pay extortion are dead, and the living have taken note."

Many streets in the Riberas del Bravo district are largely deserted following months of fighting and gunfire.

Rows of neat little homes stand gutted, stripped of every item of value but their stone frames, the walls plastered with graffiti and entrances littered with debris and weeds. On one street in the area, only 12 of 39 houses had not been abandoned.

"You feel very lonely," said Antonio, 38, a beautician who described regular battles between gangs on the street and seeing a man beaten to death with rocks outside his front door last year. Since the spring it has been mostly quiet, he said.

Locals say the city is much safer since the army and federal police withdrew, but corruption inside the local police remains a problem. "Very few of us hang out together after work because of the fear, the paranoia," said police officer Hernandez.

For Hugo Almada, an academic who sits on a Ciudad Juarez security panel made up of local officials and civilians, the violence had less to do with drug trafficking itself and more to do with splits "within the state" over who controlled the money.

"What we saw was police, the military, politicians, entrepreneurs, drug traffickers and killers on the one side - and another group of the same people on the other," he said. ($1 = 13.0292 Mexican pesos)

(Editing by Kieran Murray and Mohammad Zargham)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/mexicos-drug-war-bright-spot-hides-dark-underbelly-175443585.html

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Jada Pinkett Smith: Lay Off Willow?s Hair!

The actress and mom of two took to her Facebook page to address critics of her parenting style.

Source: http://feeds.celebritybabies.com/~r/celebrity-babies/~3/ZwpsW39gwJs/

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Amazon Kindle (2012)

Last year, we awarded the entry-level Amazon Kindle our Editors' Choice for its excellent value, slim form factor, and robust ebook ecosystem. This year, Amazon introduced the higher-end Kindle Paperwhite, which got most of the press ink thanks to its new edge-lit lighting. However, the company also saw fit to release a modestly updated version of the base model, with a slightly improved screen and a lower ($69 direct) price. After testing it, we found that the new improvements help keep this little?ebook reader solidly in the lead among budget models, even if its lack of a touch screen is beginning to feel a bit dated.

Design and Display
This year's Amazon Kindle has the same form factor as before. It measures 6.5 by 4.5 by 0.34 inches (HWD) and weighs 5.98 ounces. You can now get one in black as well as the standard gray. And the new black version looks sharp. Both models have the same plastic bezel and soft touch back panel as before, and are quite comfortable to hold for long reading sessions.?In fact, you could argue it's easier to hold one of these than it is a touch screen version, since you can place your fingers on the screen without accidentally turning pages.?

For that task, duplicate sets of hardware page-turn buttons sit on the left and right edges of the Kindle's frame. The larger one moves forward one page, while the smaller one moves back one page. The buttons are a little tough to press at first, but once you get used to the positioning, they're quite responsive. Now that the Kindle has been out for a year in this form factor, reports have surfaced about the page turn buttons loosening up and eventually not working. I can confirm that the buttons on the model I purchased last November feel decidedly looser than the new loaner I'm reviewing, although they still work fine. It's just something to be aware of.

Beneath the screen is a raised, five-way control pad, bracketed by Back, Keyboard, Menu, and Home buttons. A Power button and micro USB charger port occupy the bottom panel. The package includes a white USB cable, but no AC adapter. Amazon sells a $9.99 AC adapter if you want one, along with a $34.99 leather case that looks nice but adds noticeable heft and thickness.

At 167ppi, the 6-inch, E Ink Pearl screen shares the same pixel density as the older model; it doesn't get the Kindle Paperwhite's sharper 212ppi screen, nor does it get touch capability. When placed next to last year's model, there's a slight but noticeable difference in contrast. The new version's fonts look ever so slightly darker and crisper. It's nothing you would notice without the side-by-side comparison, though.

Interface, Reading, and Kindle Store
To get started, plug the Kindle into a USB port on a computer to begin charging it, choose your interface language, and then log onto your Wi-Fi network. It's little places like this where you'll wish you had a touch screen, as moving the cursor from letter to letter to enter the network password is a little clumsy.

Once you download a few books and start reading, though, the Kindle offers an enjoyable experience. Page turns are just as fast as before thanks to the 800MHz processor, and as with last year's model, no longer flash the entire screen black each time. Amazon employs a caching mechanism that only flashes the page every six page turns. You get eight different font sizes, three line spacing settings, and a choice of three fonts: regular, condensed, and sans serif. You can make annotations and take notes, but without an on-screen keyboard, this is a novelty at best; if you think you might be doing that a lot, it's worth the extra cash to spring for the Kindle Paperwhite.

A few nits: The Home screen is still the same, boring one that lists your books, sorted by most recent, title, or author. You can create collections, but those collections stay on the device and can't be easily transferred to the iPhone app, for example, the way iTunes shares music playlists in the cloud. You also don't get the book cover view that the Kindle Paperwhite adopted this year; it's text only.?None of these are deal-breakers, though.

Amazon's Kindle Store is packed with Recommended and Top Book lists, so finding new things to read is a pleasure. You can even browse the store easily from the Kindle, which is a better shopping experience than you get on the Kobo Mini, despite that ebook reader's touch screen interface. Amazon makes apps for the iPhone, iPad, Android phones, Macs, and PCs, and syncs your book collections, last-read pages, and notes among all of them.

Other Features, Special Offers, and Conclusions
There's no 3G version, which is fine for an inexpensive ebook reader; the base Amazon Kindle supports 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi; there's no cellular radio here. You get 2GB of internal storage as before, with 1.25GB free for your books, which should be good for roughly 1,000 of them. As always, Amazon stores all of your purchases in the cloud, so you can retrieve them whenever you want, and also view them on other devices.

The Kindle supports Amazon's own Kindle format, plus TXT, PDF, MOBI, HTML, DOC, and DOCX files, but not ePub, which might limit your ability to borrow books from public libraries. There's no memory card slot either, so you can't expand storage or easily sideload books. If these features are important to you, have a look at the Barnes & Noble Nook Simple Touch, which adds ePub support and a memory card slot. Also missing: A headphone jack and audiobook support.

As with other Kindle products, there are two versions available. The $69 model comes with Special Offers, which appear on the home screen whenever it's locked, and also appear as small banner ads while browsing in the store. They don't appear during actual reading, although I still find it disconcerting to pick up the ebook reader and see a new ad each time. If you don't like the ads, you can either pay $20 to remove them, or you can buy a version without ads up front for $89. Note that while the base model with Special Offers receives a $10 price cut, from $79 to $69, the model without Special Offers is now $20 less expensive, down from $109 to $89, which is a welcome development.

The new $69 price keeps the Amazon Kindle competitive and easily worth the cash. The Kobo Mini costs $79, doesn't display ads, supports ePub files, has a memory card slot, and offers a touch screen. But the screen itself is an inch smaller, at just 5 inches, its sluggish page turns and slightly stubborn finger response are difficult to overlook, and its store isn't as fun to browse from the device. The Barnes & Noble Nook Simple Touch costs $99; it has a 6-inch touch screen and many of the same benefits as the Kobo Mini, but $30 is a fairly significant jump in price. Otherwise, your other options sail past the $100 mark, which puts you in an Amazon Kindle Paperwhite. For just $69, or $89 without ads, the base Amazon Kindle remains our favorite low-cost ebook reader.

More Ebook Reader Reviews:
??? Amazon Kindle (2012)
??? Kobo Mini
??? Kobo Glo
??? Amazon Kindle Paperwhite (Wi-Fi)
??? Amazon Kindle Paperwhite 3G
?? more

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Outstanding Tax Bill at Issue | Daily Business News

According to myfoxpointnow, Milwaukee, Wis.-based MHC owner Asset Development Group?s value was assessed nearly seven times more in 2008 and 2009 than in the following two years due to failure to file a statement of personal property for the earlier years. While the firm has paid its taxes for 2010 and 2011 in the village of Fox Point, WI, unpaid taxes for its assessed valuation of $522,800 and $668,800 in ?08 and ?09, respectively, continue to accrue, and the bill is now up to $47,926. Despite repeated phone calls and statements from the village treasurer and the assessor to the company during that two-year period, there was no response. Asset Development?s new CFO, James McKevitt, blamed past mismanagement for the problems, saying the previous CFO is facing charges of embezzlement. While the village is considering litigation, KcKevitt sent a $7,157 check based on a previous valuation, asking that it be considered payment in full. Asset Development?s Dirk Hausmann, while acknowledging past missteps, says ?This is one of several problems that have been on our plate,? he said of the delinquent taxes. ?It?s not the character of the company to just ignore this sort of thing.? As MHProNews has learned, the village board may consider the matter in the future. Fox Point borders Lake Michigan just north of Milwaukee.

(Photo credit: progressive housing)

Categories: Communities, Company News, Legal, Manufactured Homes, News Item Tags: asset development group, borders lake, CFO, dirk, embezzlement, failure, hausmann, lake michigan, litigation, mckevitt delinquent taxes, MHProNews, milwaukee wis, mismanagement, personal property, phone calls, seven times, unpaid taxes, village of fox point, village treasurer

Source: http://www.mhmarketingsalesmanagement.com/blogs/daily-business-news/outstanding-tax-bill-at-issue/

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Want to buy a big-screen TV? Don't wait too long

Yuriko Nakao / Reuters

A man looks at Panasonic televisions displayed at an electronics store Oct. 31 in Tokyo. Many Cyber Monday deals on televisions have been extended through this week.

By Martha C. White

Japan?s legacy television brands continue to struggle against competitors like Samsung and LG as well as low-cost Chinese manufacturers, and this means a fuzzy picture for American shoppers trying to decide if and when to buy a TV.

Retailers are struggling to move inventory as shoppers, still wary about the economy, gravitate towards cheap Chinese options despite their lack of bells and whistles.

?I think the market?s flooded now,? said RJ Hottovy, director of consumer equity research at Morningstar.

Sharp and Panasonic reported losses for their most recent quarters. Sharp was the most dire in its outlook, saying it faced ?circumstances in which material doubt about its assumed going concern is found? in its most recent earnings report. Sony?s quarterly operating profit came in below the expectations of analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters, according to CNBC.?

In the short run, this could be good news for buyers who want to buy a TV this holiday season, especially those in the market for a 50-inch-plus behemoth.

?It?s a great time to buy big screens,? said Gary Merson, editor of HDGuru.com. ?It?s the fastest-growing segment, but it didn?t grow as fast as they expected.? The result is lower prices across the board. The kind of deals that usually surface in January are here now, as manufacturers race the clock to get rid of their excess inventory before their new models come out early next year.

"We had great Black Friday deals. We had great Cyber Monday deals," he said. "A number of the vendors have extended their pricing from Cyber Monday through the week...?If you see it at a substantial discount this week, grab it." While there might be better deals down the pike for TVs that are currently 10 percent off, Merson said the 30 percent, 40 percent and even higher discounts won't last.?

Merson highlighted a Samsung 60-inch LED LCD with an MSRP of $2,570 now selling for $1,297.99 through Amazon.com, nearly half off, and a?Panasonic 55-inch, LED LCD smart TV with an MSRP of $1,700 now on sale for $899.99.

There?s a flip side to this fire sale, though. Analysts say name-brand manufacturers are scaling back production for 2013 and focusing more on higher-end models,?which could translate to higher prices in the form of fewer markdowns, rebates or add-on freebies, especially if demand for more sophisticated models grows.

?Thin costs money. Smart costs some money if it?s built into the set, and better quality panels with higher contrast ratios cost more money,? Merson said. ?If you want better performance coupled with a svelte design and smart [functionality], they all have a built in inherent cost.?

?Those brands are more likely to fight on features than price,? said Stephen Baker, vice president of industry analysis at NPD Group.

The question is whether?American viewers will pay for those features.?The industry is taking a big gamble that they will.

Following a less-than-robust demand for 3-D TVs, manufacturers are pinning their hopes on what they hope will be the next big thing, a super-high resolution that goes by the terms ?4k? or ?ultra HD.?

?4k is to HD what HD was to standard definition,? said James McQuivey, principal analyst?at Forrester Research.

But it?s not mainstream yet for a few reasons, he said. A big-screen set retails for five figures, and there isn?t yet any content or transmission standards for the format (and tech bloggers argue about the extent the human eye can even appreciate that many pixels).

Merson said interest among early adopters was good, but it?s still a very small slice of the buying public willing to drop $10,000 or more on a television. What's more, the cutthroat competition in the market will drive even the price of this ?next big thing? down in just a few years. ?

This means shoppers who are willing to be patient will probably be able to get more TV with more features for less money, especially as Chinese companies become increasingly sophisticated and start competing more directly with brands like Samsung.

TV viewers who want cutting-edge technology, especially when it comes to resolution, as soon as it hits the market will pay for the privilege. ?I see much more innovation... just to differentiate between the manufacturers,? said?Paul O?Donovan, principal analyst at Gartner Inc.

?The real premium price goes to the ultra HD,? he said. ?This is exactly where they plan to get their money.?

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Source: http://lifeinc.today.com/_news/2012/11/27/14860511-want-to-buy-a-big-screen-tv-dont-wait-too-long?lite

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Richard Stearns: Living as an Authentic Christian in a Non-Christian World

After the election, I published an article in this space that struck a chord with many Christians. I suggested that engaging in a bitter 'culture war' in order to preserve America's formerly dominant Christian culture has been largely a failed strategy. We cannot win in the courts and at the ballot box that which we have lost in the court of public opinion. Instead, I argued, we should embrace the strategy that has successfully attracted people to Jesus for two thousand years - authentic Christianity.

What if we simply stuck to what Jesus commanded us to do: love our neighbors as ourselves, care for the poor and the sick and the brokenhearted, stand up for the oppressed, be generous with our time and our money, and live winsome lives filled with grace and gentleness?

Christians have always lived, and often thrived, in cultures where they are minorities. Christianity began in a Jewish culture and thrived in a pagan Roman one. The apostle Paul, writer of nearly half the New Testament, actually offers advice to the church in Corinth which lived in the midst of a very pagan society. His words should guide us today.

In I Corinthians 5:9, Paul encourages the Christians to clean up their own affairs. The church was in a mess with sexual shenanigans, internal bickering, and a deep division between rich and poor. Paul gives them some advice, but he also says Christians shouldn't worry about whether others follow Christian moral teaching.

"I wrote you in my earlier letter that you shouldn't make yourselves at home among the sexually promiscuous. I didn't mean that you should have nothing at all to do with outsiders of that sort. Or with crooks, whether blue- or white-collar. Or with spiritual phonies, for that matter. You'd have to leave the world entirely to do that! ... I'm not responsible for what the outsiders do, but don't we have some responsibility for those within our community of believers? God decides on the outsiders, but we need to decide when our brothers and sisters are out of line and, if necessary, clean house. (I Cor. 5:9-13, The Message)

Paul's point is this: Be strict with yourselves, expecting fellow Christians to obey the demands of Jesus. But don't hold others to the same rules.

I think these verses can show Christians the way forward in today's America. We need to find a way to live in a pluralistic society without engaging in an arms race with those who are not Christians.

I recently saw a beautiful example of how Christians can love their neighbors, offering a compelling invitation to the kingdom of God at a banquet for a Christian homeless ministry, the Bread of Life Mission in Seattle.

A man spoke to those present that night about his life of the streets and the addiction that cost him his job, his family, and his self respect. "I was on drugs, sleeping under the bridge," he said. Just eight months ago, he visited the mission in order to get a free wool hat. He decided to accept the offer to help him get off the streets. Next he wheeled in the shopping cart that once carried all of his belongings, and he held up a cardboard sign. On it, he had written, "I don't live here anymore." He was about to graduate from the Bread of Life discipleship program and would soon be living on his own with his own roof over his head. He showed us a picture of himself while he lived on the street. "I gave my life to Christ," he said. "The man you see here tonight is a different person altogether."

What I witnessed at the Bread of Life Mission is a perfect example of Jesus' calling for Christians today. In Matthew 25, Jesus says that those who enter his kingdom will be people who feed the hungry, welcome strangers, clothe the naked, care for the sick, and visit the prisoners.

In his book, UnChristian, David Kinnaman cites a Barna Research study that asked non-Christians whether they viewed the role of Christians in American society in a favorable or unfavorable way. In 1996, 85% viewed Christians favorably. Ten years later, that approval rating had dropped to just 15%. When people were asked to describe Christians, adjectives like, judgmental, hypocritical, close-minded, insensitive, too critical and too political were most often cited. We might contrast this list with what the Apostle Paul in Galatians listed as the 'fruits of the Spirit': "love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control."

"Against such things," Paul exhorted, "there is no law."

There isn't any question that American culture is in a transition from a dominantly Christian culture to a dominantly secular culture. We can no longer expect America society to uniformly embrace Christian values or morality. How the Christian community chooses to respond to this will be critical. Angry rhetoric, and bitterly contested lawsuits and elections create adversaries, but no one ever made an enemy by offering the hand of friendship, helping the down and out, mentoring kids, giving generously to others or helping people after a hurricane get their lives back together. Paul was right - "against such things, there is no law".

Click through the slideshow to see most and least Christian states in the United States:

• Utah

  78,438 Christian adherents per 100,000 people. <br> Credit: Wikimedia Commons. Original photo <a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1a/Parowan_Utah_Church.jpg" target="_hplink">here</a>.

• North Dakota

  66,950 Christian adherents per 100,000 people. <br> Credit: Wikimedia Commons. Original photo <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Catholic_Church_in_Warsaw,_North_Dakota.jpg" target="_hplink">here</a>.

• Alabama

  62,467 Christian adherents per 100,000 people. Credit: Wikimedia Commons. Original photo <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:16th_Street_Baptist_Church.JPG" target="_hplink">here</a>.

• Louisiana

  59,598 Christian adherents per 100,000 people. <br> Credit: Wikimedia Commons. Original photo <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:St._Stephens_Episcopal_Church_(Innis,_Louisiana).jpg" target="_hplink">here</a>.

• Oklahoma

  58,598 Christian adherents per 100,000 people. <br> Credit: Wikimedia Commons. Original photo <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Catesby_Oklahoma_Church.jpg" target="_hplink">here</a>.

• Mississippi

  58,342 Christian adherents per 100,000 people. <br> Credit: Wikimedia Commons. Original photo <a href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mississippi_Church.jpg" target="_hplink">here</a>.

• South Dakota

  58,212 Christian adherents per 100,000 people. <br> Credit: Wikimedia Commons. Original photo <a href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Methodist_Episcopal_Church_Pierre_South_Dakota.JPG" target="_hplink">here</a>.

• Minnesota

  55,280 Christian adherents per 100,000 people. <br> Credit: Wikimedia Commons. Original photo <a href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Church_near_Flom,_Minnesota.jpg" target="_hplink">here</a>.

• Massachusetts

  55,023 Christian adherents per 100,000 people. Credit: Wikimedia Commons. Original photo <a href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sandwich_Church,_Massachusetts.jpg" target="_hplink">here</a>.

• Arkansas

  54,985 Christian adherents per 100,000 people. Credit: Wikimedia Commons. Original photo <a href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Our_Lady_of_Perpetual_Help_Church_silhouette_altus_arkansas.jpg" target="_hplink">here</a>.

• Nebraska

  54,776 Christian adherents per 100,000 persons. Credit: Wikimedia Commons. Original photo <a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b5/Visitation_Church_%28O'Connor%2C_Nebraska%29_church_from_S.JPG" target="_hplink">here</a>.

• Tennessee

  54,764 Christian adherents per 100,000 persons. Credit: Wikimedia Commons. Original photo <a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1e/First_Baptist_Church_Donelson_Tennessee_04032012.JPG" target="_hplink">here</a>.

• Rhode Island

  53,576 Christian adherents per 100,000 persons.

• Texas

  53,525 Christian adherents per 100,000 persons.

• Iowa

  53,403 Christian adherents per 100,000 persons.

• Wisconsin

  52,863 Christian adherents per 100,000 persons.

• Pennsylvania

  51,883 Christian adherents per 100,000 persons.

• Illinois

  51,442 Christian adherents per 100,000 persons.

• South Carolina

  51,374 Christian adherents per 100,000 persons.

• Kentucky

  51,055 Christian adherents per 100,000 persons.

• Idaho

  50,695 Christian adherents per 100,000 persons.

• District of Columbia

  49,903 Christian adherents per 100,000 persons.

• Kansas

  49,666 Christian adherents per 100,000 persons.

• New Jersey

  49,575 Christian adherents per 100,000 persons.

• Georgia

  49,374 Christian adherents per 100,000 persons. <br> Credit: Wikimedia Commons. Original photo <a href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Washington_(Georgia)_Presbyterian_Church.JPG" target="_hplink">here</a>.

• Connecticut

  49,096 Christian adherents per 100,000 persons.

• New Mexico

  49,044 Christian adherents per 100,000 persons.

• Missouri

  48,436 Christian adherents per 100,000 persons.

• North Carolina

  46,737 Christian adherents per 100,000 persons. Credit: Wikimedia Commons. Original photo <a href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Carolina_Baptist_Church.jpg" target="_hplink">here</a>.

• New York

  44,488 Christian adherents per 100,000 persons. <br> Credit: Wikimedia Commons. Original photo <a href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Church_in_Rye,_New_York.jpg" target="_hplink">here</a>.

• Indiana

  43,788 Christian adherents per 100,000 persons.

• Ohio

  42,744 Christian adherents per 100,000 persons.

• California

  42,430 Christian adherents per 100,000 persons.

• Virginia

  41,304 Christian adherents per 100,000 persons.

• Michigan

  40,186 Christian adherents per 100,000 persons.

• Delaware

  39,575 Christian adherents per 100,000 persons. Credit: Wikimedia Commons. Original photo <a href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Christ_Church,_Dover,_Delaware.JPG" target="_hplink">here</a>.

• Wyoming

  39,341 Christian adherents per 100,000 persons.

• Maryland

  39,214 Christian adherents per 100,000 persons.

• Montana

  37,824 Christian adherents per 100,000 persons.

• Florida

  37,104 Christian adherents per 100,000 persons.

• Colorado

  36,461 Christian adherents per 100,000 persons.

• Hawaii

  36,103 Christian adherents per 100,000 persons.

• Arizona

  35,842 Christian adherents per 100,000 persons.

• West Virginia

  35,211 Christian adherents per 100,000 persons.

• New Hampshire

  34,617 Christian adherents per 100,000 persons.

• Nevada

  33,395 Christian adherents per 100,000 persons. Credit: Wikimedia Commons. Original photo <a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f2/StJoanofArcCatholicChurch_in_Las_Vegas_founded_1910.jpg" target="_hplink">here</a>.

• Washington

  33,065 Christian adherents per 100,000 persons. Credit: Wikimedia Commons. Original photo <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Methodist_Church_at_Historic_Washington_State_Park_IMG_1467.JPG" target="_hplink">here</a>.

• Vermont

  32,954 Christian adherents per 100,000 persons.

• Alaska

  32,810 Christian adherents per 100,000 persons. Credit: Wikimedia Commons. Original photo <a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/17/Orthodox_church_in_Seldovia%2C_Alaska.jpg" target="_hplink">here</a>.

• Oregon

  30,101 Christian adherents per 100,000 persons.

• Maine

  27,098 Christian adherents per 100,000 persons.

?

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/richard-stearns/living-as-an-authentic-christian-in-a-non-christian-world_b_2171648.html

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Metabolic protein launches sugar feast that nurtures brain tumors

ScienceDaily (Nov. 26, 2012) ? Researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center have tracked down a cancer-promoting protein's pathway into the cell nucleus and discovered how, once there, it fires up a glucose metabolism pathway on which brain tumors thrive.

They also found a vital spot along the protein's journey that can be attacked with a type of drug not yet deployed against glioblastoma multiforme, the most common and lethal form of brain cancer. Published online by Nature Cell Biology, the paper further illuminates the importance of pyruvate kinase M2 (PKM2) in cancer development and progression.

"PKM2 is very active during infancy, when you want rapid cell growth, and eventually it turns off. Tumor cells turn PKM2 back on -- it's overexpressed in many types of cancer," said Zhimin Lu, M.D., Ph.D., the paper's senior author and an associate professor in MD Anderson's Department of Neuro-Oncology.

Lu and colleagues showed earlier this year that PKM2 in the nucleus also activates a variety of genes involved in cell division. The latest paper shows how it triggers aerobic glycolysis, processing glucose into energy, also known as the Warburg effect, upon which many types of solid tumors rely to survive and grow.

"PKM2 must get to the nucleus to activate genes involved in cell proliferation and the Warburg effect," Lu said. "If we can keep it out of the nucleus, we can block both of those cancer-promoting pathways. PKM2 could be an Achilles' heel for cancer."

By pinpointing the complicated steps necessary for PKM2 to penetrate the nucleus, Lu and colleagues found a potentially druggable target that could keep the protein locked in the cell's cytoplasm.

MEK, ERK emerge as targets

The process begins when the epidermal growth factor connects to its receptor on the cell surface.

This leads to:

* Activation of the MEK protein, which in turn activates ERK.

* ERK sticking a phosphate group to a specific spot on PKM2.

* Phosphorylation priming PKM2 for a series of steps that culminate in its binding to the protein importin, which lives up to its name by taking PKM2 through the nuclear membrane.

Once in the nucleus, the team showed that PKM2 activates two genes crucial to aerobic glycolysis and another that splices PKM RNA to make even more PKM2.

An experiment applying several kinase-inhibiting drugs to human glioblastoma cell lines showed that only a MEK/ERK inhibitor prevented EGF-induced smuggling of PKM2 into the nucleus. ERK activation then is mandatory for PKM2 to get into the nucleus.

"MEK/ERK inhibitors have not been tried yet in glioblastoma multiforme," Lu said. Phosporylated PKM2 is a potential biomarker to identify patients who are candidates for MEK/ERK inhibitors once those drugs are developed.

MEK inhibitor blocks tumor growth

The researchers also found that the two glycolysis genes activated by PKM2, called GLUT1 and LDHA, are required for glucose consumption and conversion of pyruvate to lactate, crucial factors in the Warburg Effect. Depleting PKM2 in tumor cell lines reduced glucose consumption and lactate production.

In mice, depleting PKM2 blocked the growth of brain tumors. Re-expressing the wild type protein caused tumors to grow. However, re-expression of a PKM2 mutant protein that lost its ability to get into the nucleus failed to promote tumor formation. Experiments in human glioblastoma cell lines showed the same effect.

Injecting the MEK inhibitor selumetinib into tumors inhibited tumor growth, reduced ERK phosphorylation, PKM2 expression and lactate production in mice. In 48 human tumor samples, the team found that activity of EGFR, ERK1/2 and PKM2 were strongly correlated.

Cause of PKM2 overexpression

Lu and colleagues also published a paper in Molecular Cell that revealed a mechanism for overexpression of PKM2 in glioblastoma. They found that EGF receptor activation turns on NF-KB, which leads to a series of events culminating in PKM2 gene activation.

PKM2 levels were measured in tumor samples from 55 glioblastoma patients treated with standard of care surgery, radiation and chemotherapy. The 20 with low PKM2 expression had a median survival of 34.5 months, compared to 13.6 months for the 35 patients with high levels of PKM2.

Level of PKM2 expression in 27 low-grade astrocytomas was about half of the expression found in higher grade glioblastomas.

"In these two papers, we show how PKM2 is overexpressed in tumors, how it gets into the nucleus, that nuclear entry is essential to tumor development, and identified potential drugs and a biomarker that could usefully treat people," Lu said.

Co-authors of the Nature Cell Biology paper are first author Weiwei Yang, Ph.D., Yanhua Zheng, Ph.D., Yan Xia, Ph.D., and Haitao Ji, Ph.D., of MD Anderson's Department of Neuro-Oncology and Brain Tumor Center; Xiaomin Chen, Ph.D., of MD Anderson's Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology; Ken Aldape, M.D., MD Anderson's Department of Pathology; Fang Guo, Ph.D., Nanomedicine Center, Shanghai Research Institute, China Academy of Science; Costas Lyssiotis, Ph.D., and Lewis Cantley, Ph.D., Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School.

This research was funded by grants from the National Institutes of Health (numbers 2RO1CA109035, RO1GM068566 and RO1GM56302), MD Anderson's Cancer Center Support Grant (CA16672) from the National Cancer Institute; and a research grant from the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, via Newswise.

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Journal Reference:

1. Weiwei Yang, Yanhua Zheng, Yan Xia, Haitao Ji, Xiaomin Chen, Fang Guo, Costas A. Lyssiotis, Kenneth Aldape, Lewis C. Cantley, Zhimin Lu. ERK1/2-dependent phosphorylation and nuclear translocation of PKM2 promotes the Warburg effect. Nature Cell Biology, 2012; DOI: 10.1038/ncb2629

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Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/~3/_dUZzBAdjxE/121126164003.htm

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