Raytown Charley convinced about the Sis Live A2 575 | bettor.com

Raytown Charley convinced about the Sis Live A2 575 ??

The Grade A2 Sis Live A2 575 has attracted Ballycaum Lass, Knockrammer Dash, Ballymac Camp, Raytown Charley, Up In Time and Honeymoon Clara. They will race over 525 yards flat at Shelbourne Park on Wednesday, 31^st October for getting their share out of the ?350 prize money of the race.

None of the entries has tried their luck at the open level, but are well seasoned for the grade that they have to race through tonight.

The seven to four entry for tonight, the two-year-old, Raytown Charley, has raced in a Grade A2 race just once, but made the most out of the chance by winning over the rest of the competition.

He started racing just this season, and has accumulated experience over two race tracks. He has won only twice ever since the 2012 campaign took off.

The first time that the two-year-old won was on 7^th September, 2012 over 525 yards. He had drawn the fourth trap, and got the chance to lead only near the wire. Last Bid?s son settled the race by the margin of a neck?s mark, and cornered, Bing Saturn, as the runner-up.

The last two races of the Mongey trained have boosted his chances for landing the race tonight.

The black hound qualified as the runner-up in a Grade A4 Book Your Christmas Party A4 525 on 10^th October, 2012 at Shelbourne Park over 525 yards.

He found the race to be a challenging task after breaking from the fourth trap, but still ran in for the wire. Making the most out of every chance that came his way, the two-year-old missed the winner?s prize money by the negligible margin of a neck.

The winner, Drumcrow Miller, completed the trip in 29.19 seconds.

The most recent successful attempt of the black hound out of, Choice Bud, was on 20^th October, 2012 over 575 yards. Taking flight from the fifth box, and racing with sheer determination had him making it to the other end of the wire after racing for 31.57 seconds.

St Mullins Pride had to make peace with the second position after missing the opportunity by good three lengths.

The views expressed in this article are the writer's own and in no way represent bettor.com?s official editorial policy.

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Source: http://blogs.bettor.com/Raytown-Charley-convinced-about-the-Sis-Live-A2-575-a197952

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Improving Your Home One Tip At A Time! - Blog for Energy Saving ...

If you are new to home improvement, then you may feel overwhelmed. You may be at a loss as to where to begin. Home improvement can be more than a little overwhelming. Read on and learn some great tips to help you with your next home improvement project.

Keep in mind that the cheapest bid may not be the best. As you are getting estimates, take the time to research the different companies providing the bids carefully. Initially, the lowest bid may seem like a bargain, but you could wind up with more expenses because of low-quality work.

If you would like to make a simple home improvement to give it an updated look then go to the local store and pick up some paint. A fresh coat of paint can make a house feel brand new and requires minimal output in both cash and time. Getting a new coat of paint will make your home more appealing to potential buyers.

You can reduce the costs associated with a project by putting in cabinets without hardware in your kitchen. Thankfully, you can easily purchase cabinet handles, knobs and drawer pulls online or at a local hardware store. You can opt for vintage-look pulls, modern knobs, or designer accents that can be installed in minutes.

Proper planning ensures that your home improvement project will go more smoothly. Procrastinating until start day can be disastrous, as it can result in hasty decisions and bad judgments. Planning ahead will help the work go faster and will keep last minute costs to a minimum.

Some home improvement projects may seem a bit costly, but you?re actually saving money in the long run by tackling them. New, energy-efficient appliances reduce electricity usage. Roof repairs and improved insulation also saves energy bills. Do these things while keeping your finances in mind.

One of the most basic ways to update or freshen up your house is with a few coats of new paint, especially in a new color. A new paint coat makes everything look fresh. The effect of a fresh coat of paint in an exciting new shade simply cannot be underestimated.

Do not neglect regular maintenance of your septic tank. It is easy to purchase chemicals capable of hastening decomposition and which prevent overflows. Make sure that your home improvement projects do not incidentally mess up your septic tank. If you need to get a detailed plan of your house and be extremely carefully to avoid costly damages.

It doesn?t take a lot of time to clean your gutters, but it can make a big difference in the success of your home maintenance plan. Things like clogged gutters can cause water damage to the home. This can lead to wood rot. Maintaining your home and keeping the gutters clear is very important.

As has been shown in this article, making improvements to your home isn?t as daunting as it first seemed. Think about the money you can save, including money for expenses related to repair needs. There are also other benefits to home repair.

I?m currently publishing a collection of content articles about how energy saving light bulbs can help in saving the planet. Even using natural energy if you use LED bulbs then you will create much less carbon. My personal work on this subject is for magazines and on-line forums.

Source: http://caseyalt.com/improving-your-home-one-tip-at-a-time/

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CIA found militant links a day after Libya attack

FILE - In this Sept. 13, 2012 file photo, a Libyan man investigates the inside of the U.S. Consulate, after an attack that killed four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens on the night of Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2012, in Benghazi, Libya. U.S. officials tell The Associated Press that the CIA station chief in Libya reported to Washington within 24 hours of last month?s deadly attack on the U.S. Consulate that there was evidence it was carried out by militants, not a mob upset about an American-made, anti-Muslim movie. It is unclear whether anyone outside the CIA saw the cable at that point or how high up in the CIA the information went. (AP Photo/Mohammad Hannon, File)

FILE - In this Sept. 13, 2012 file photo, a Libyan man investigates the inside of the U.S. Consulate, after an attack that killed four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens on the night of Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2012, in Benghazi, Libya. U.S. officials tell The Associated Press that the CIA station chief in Libya reported to Washington within 24 hours of last month?s deadly attack on the U.S. Consulate that there was evidence it was carried out by militants, not a mob upset about an American-made, anti-Muslim movie. It is unclear whether anyone outside the CIA saw the cable at that point or how high up in the CIA the information went. (AP Photo/Mohammad Hannon, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? The CIA station chief in Libya reported to Washington within 24 hours of last month's deadly attack on the U.S. Consulate that there was evidence it was carried out by militants, not a spontaneous mob upset about an American-made video ridiculing Islam's Prophet Muhammad, U.S. officials have told The Associated Press.

It is unclear who, if anyone, saw the cable outside the CIA at that point and how high up in the agency the information went. The Obama administration maintained publicly for a week that the attack on the diplomatic mission in Benghazi that killed U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans was a result of the mobs that staged less-deadly protests across the Muslim world around the 11th anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks on the U.S.

Those statements have become highly charged political fodder as the presidential election approaches. A Republican-led House committee questioned State Department officials for hours about what GOP lawmakers said was lax security at the consulate, given the growth of extremist Islamic militants in North Africa.

And in their debate on Tuesday, President Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney argued over when Obama first said it was a terror attack. In his Rose Garden address the morning after the killings, Obama said, "No acts of terror will ever shake the resolve of this great nation, alter that character or eclipse the light of the values that we stand for."

But Republicans say he was speaking generally and didn't specifically call the Benghazi attack a terror attack until weeks later, with the president and other key members of his administration referring at first to the anti-Muslim movie circulating on the Internet as a precipitating event.

Now congressional intelligence committees are demanding documents to show what the spy agencies knew and when, before, during and after the attacks.

The White House now says the attack probably was carried out by an al Qaida-linked group, with no public demonstration beforehand. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton blamed the "fog of war" for the early conflicting accounts.

The officials who told the AP about the CIA cable spoke anonymously because they were not authorized to release such information publicly.

Congressional aides say they expect to get the documents by the end of this week to build a timeline of what the intelligence community knew and compare that to what the White House was telling the public about the attack. That could give Romney ammunition to use in his foreign policy debate with Obama on Monday night.

The two U.S. officials said the CIA station chief in Libya compiled intelligence reports from eyewitnesses within 24 hours of the assault on the consulate that indicated militants launched the violence, using the pretext of demonstrations against U.S. facilities in Egypt against the film to cover their intent. The report from the station chief was written late Wednesday, Sept. 12, and reached intelligence agencies in Washington the next day, intelligence officials said.

Yet, on Saturday of that week, briefing points sent by the CIA to Congress said "demonstrations in Benghazi were spontaneously inspired by the protests at the U.S. Embassy in Cairo and evolved into a direct assault."

The briefing points, obtained by the AP, added: "There are indications that extremists participated in the violent demonstrations" but did not mention eyewitness accounts that blamed militants alone.

Such raw intelligence reports by the CIA on the ground would normally be sent first to analysts at the headquarters in Langley, Va., for vetting and comparing against other intelligence derived from eavesdropping drones and satellite images. Only then would such intelligence generally be shared with the White House and later, Congress, a process that can take hours, or days if the intelligence is coming only from one or two sources who may or may not be trusted.

U.S. intelligence officials say in this case the delay was due in part to the time it took to analyze various conflicting accounts. One official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to discuss the incident publicly, explained that "it was clear a group of people gathered that evening" in Benghazi, but that the early question was "whether extremists took over a crowd or they were the crowd."

But that explanation has been met with concern in Congress.

"The early sense from the intelligence community differs from what we are hearing now," Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., said. "It ended up being pretty far afield, so we want to figure out why ... though we don't want to deter the intelligence community from sharing their best first impressions" after such events in the future.

"The intelligence briefings we got a week to 10 days after were consistent with what the administration was saying," said Rep. William Thornberry, R-Texas, a member of the House Intelligence and Armed Services committees. Thornberry would not confirm the existence of the early CIA report but voiced skepticism over how sure intelligence officials, including CIA Director David Petraeus, seemed of their original account when they briefed lawmakers on Capitol Hill.

"How could they be so certain immediately after such events, I just don't know," he said. "That raises suspicions that there was political motivation."

National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor declined comment. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence did not respond to requests for comment.

Two officials who witnessed Petraeus' closed-door testimony to lawmakers in the week after the attack said that during questioning he acknowledged that there were some intelligence analysts who disagreed with the conclusion that an unruly mob angry over the video had initiated the violence. But those officials said Petraeus did not mention the CIA's early eyewitness reports. He did warn legislators that the account could change as more intelligence was uncovered, they said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the hearing was closed.

Beyond the question of what was known immediately after the attack, it's also proving difficult to pinpoint those who set the fire that apparently killed Stevens and his communications aide or launched the mortars that killed two ex-Navy SEALs who were working as contract security guards at a fallback location. That delay is prompting lawmakers to question whether the intelligence community has the resources it needs to investigate this attack in particular or to wage the larger fight against al-Qaida in Libya or across Africa.

Intelligence officials say the leading suspected culprit is a local Benghazi militia, Ansar al-Shariah. The group denies responsibility for the attack but is known to have ties to a leading African terror group, al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb. Some of its leaders and fighters were spotted by Libyan locals at the consulate during the violence, and intelligence intercepts show the militants were in contact with AQIM militants before and after the attack, one U.S. intelligence official said.

But U.S. intelligence has not been able to match those reported sightings with the faces of attackers caught on security camera recordings during the attack since many U.S. intelligence agents were pulled out of Benghazi in the aftermath of the violence, the two U.S. intelligence officials said.

Nor have they found proof to back up their suspicion that the attack was preplanned, as indicated by the military-style tactics the attackers used, setting up a perimeter of roadblocks around the consulate and the backup compounds, then attacking the main entrance to distract, while sending a larger force to assault the rear.

Clear-cut answers may prove elusive because such an attack is not hard to bring about relatively swiftly with little preplanning or coordination in a post-revolutionary country awash with weapons, where the government is so new it still relies on armed militants to keep the peace. Plus, the location of U.S. diplomat enclaves is an open secret for the locals.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2012-10-19-US-Libya/id-68990bf166834492b8008cb444a19fe9

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Business in Niagara launches Social Fusion Networking | Marketing ...

Business in Niagara launched the newest of the Business In Networking Group?s?expansion to local business owners across the Golden Horseshoe on Tuesday night. The launch?was held at White Oaks Resort & Spa. This 4 Diamond, 5 Star hotel was the venue sponsor for the festivities.?

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?We believe that it?s important to create a networking opportunity?for Solopreneurs, Entrepreneurs and Small to Medium businesses ? this provides growth potential for everyone in business.?

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It becomes Win/Win/Win when we create alliances with the local business agencies,?chambers and leaders to create business growth in Niagara.?

It?s WIN for the business owner, it?s WIN for Business in Niagara?and it?s WIN for those agencies and chambers that support business.?

A conduit to people, information and opportunities for Niagara?s businesses ? and it?s fun!?

That?s what Social Fusion Networking is all about! Meet, tweet and growing business relationships.?

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Business in Niagara will be holding events on a monthly basis. For more information contact?RoseAnn Waters.

Those pictured in the Ribbon Cutting at the Business in Niagara Launch include from left to right:

• Marcie Clarkson, Manager of Conference Sales and Catering, White Oaks Resort & Spa
• Walter Sendzik, CEO, Greater Niagara Chamber of Commerce,?
• RoseAnn Waters, Executive Director, Business in Niagara and Vice Chair of the GNCC?s Small Business Council?
• Dan McKinnon, Co-creator,?EmbraceNiagara.com?and Member, Greater Niagara Chamber of Commerce ? Small Business Council
• James Burchill, Founder, BiX Networking Group,
• James Schwehr, CEO & President, Affinity Luxury Car Rental (left arm only!)

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**END**

Source: http://jamesburchill.com/business-in-niagara-launches-social-fusion-networking/

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South Korean Company Indicted for Theft of Trade Secrets ...

Yesterday, Kolon Industries Inc. and several of its executives and employees were indicted for allegedly engaging in a multi-year campaign to steal trade secrets related to DuPont?s Kevlar para-aramid fiber and Teijin Limited?s Twaron para-aramid fiber.?The charges were announced today by U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia Neil H. MacBride; Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Justice Department?s Criminal Division; and Jeffrey C. Mazanec, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI?s Richmond Field Office.

Headquartered in Seoul, South Korea, Kolon was indicted by a grand jury in Richmond, Virginia. ?The indictment charges Kolon with one count of conspiring to convert trade secrets, four counts of theft of trade secrets, and one count of obstruction of justice.?The indictment further seeks forfeiture of at least $225 million in proceeds from the alleged theft of trade secrets.

In addition to the corporation itself, the following Kolon executives and employees from Seoul were charged with conspiring together to steal trade secrets and obstruction of justice for deleting information from their computers:

• Jong-Hyun Choi, 56, was a senior executive overseeing the Heracron Business Team. He allegedly met with other top executives at Kolon to develop the directives to secure consultants and directly participated in carrying out the directives.
• In-Sik Han, 50, managed Kolon?s research and development related to Heracron and was allegedly responsible for overseeing the ?consulting? sessions with ex-DuPont employees.
• Kyeong-Hwan Rho, 47, worked for Kolon for more than 25 years and served as the head of the Heracron Technical Team beginning in January 2008. He allegedly participated in the consulting sessions.
• Young-Soo Seo, 48, reported to Choi and served as the general manager for the Heracron Business Team beginning in November 2006. He allegedly participated in the consulting sessions.
• Ju-Wan Kim, 40, was a manager on the Heracron Business Team from September 2007 through February 2009 and reported to Seo. He was the main point of contact at Kolon for at least one of the ex-DuPont employees. He also participated in the consulting sessions.

The conspiracy and theft of trade secrets counts each carry a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a fine of $250,000 or twice the gross gain or loss for individual defendants and a fine of $5 million or twice the gross gain or loss for the corporate defendant. The obstruction of justice count carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a fine of $250,000 or twice the gross gain or loss for individual defendants and a fine of $500,000 or twice the gross gain or loss for the corporate defendant.

?Kolon is accused of engaging in a massive industrial espionage campaign that allowed it to bring Heracron quickly to the market and compete directly with Kevlar,? said U.S. Attorney MacBride. ?This country?s greatest asset is the innovation and the ingenuity and creativity of the American people. The genius of free enterprise is that companies compete on the excellence of their ideas, products, and services?not on theft. This indictment should send a strong message to companies located in the United States and around the world that industrial espionage is not a business strategy.?

?By allegedly conspiring to steal DuPont?s and Teijin?s intellectual property, Kolon threatened to undermine an economic engine at both companies,? said Assistant Attorney General Breuer. ?Developing Kevlar and Twaron was resource-intensive work and required strategic investment and ingenuity. Kolon, through its executives and employees, allegedly acted brazenly to profit off the backs of others. The Justice Department has made fighting intellectual property crime a top priority, and we will continue to aggressively prosecute IP crimes all over the country.?

?It?s critical that law enforcement aggressively investigate crimes of intellectual property theft, such as this one,? said FBI Special Agent in Charge Mazanec. ?If not, intellectual creativity and our economy will be compromised. As a member of the Department of Justice Task Force on Intellectual Property, our office will investigate any company, domestic or international, that steals confidential proprietary information for their own benefit. We will pursue those that prey on the originality and vision of hardworking businesses who conduct their own research, obtain patents, and market a successful product.?

In an attempt to defend the company, as well as distance the company and its executives from any wrongdoing, Kolon issued a press release earlier today denying the charges and promising a vigorous defense. ?The press release explained that the company ?takes the allegations made today by the U.S. Department of Justice (?DOJ?) very seriously and will defend vigorously against the charges relating to alleged trade secrets concerning DuPont?s and Teijin?s aramid fiber products.? ?The press release went on to accuse the Department of Justice with unfairly damaging the company?s reputation and impugning its own intellectual property and development efforts. ?The company expressed concern that??DOJ?s allegations undermined its freedom to benefit customers through legitimate competition in the United States and elsewhere.?

?It?s always unfortunate when companies like DuPont resort to trade secret litigation to attempt to block legitimate competition, particularly in an area of technology that is four decades old. DuPont?s aramid fiber technology is the subject of hundreds of expired patents that have been in the public domain for dozens of years for any competitor to use legitimately. It is disturbing that the DOJ would bring charges that effectively assist DuPont in improperly extending its monopoly over aramid fiber technology beyond the limited term provided by the U.S. patent laws,? says Jeff Randall of Paul Hastings LLP, counsel for Kolon. ?DuPont reaped the benefits of monopoly power to the extent permitted by law, including higher prices to consumers of aramid fiber products, for the duration of its patent coverage. Now that DuPont?s key patents have expired, competitive products such as Kolon?s Heracron? should be free to compete on the merits to the benefit of consumers in the United States and internationally,? he continued.

?Often in legitimate trade secret disputes involving the government, prosecutors will bring a criminal case, which then eliminates the need for any subsequent civil case,? Randall continued. ?That?s not what happened here. Despite its ongoing investigation since June 2007, the DOJ initially opted not to prosecute Kolon, and instead allowed DuPont to engage Kolon in more than three and a half years of civil litigation. That raises significant questions as to what DOJ now seeks to accomplish, particularly given that the legitimacy of DuPont?s civil verdict soon will be tested on appeal,? added Randall.

Factually, the dispute centers around Kolon?s product called Heracron, which is a recent entrant into the para-aramid fiber market as a competitor to products called Kevlar and Twaron. Para-aramid fibers are used to make, for example, body armor, fiberoptic cables, and automotive and industrial products. Kevlar is produced by E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company (DuPont), one of the largest chemical companies in the United States. For decades, Kevlar has competed against Twaron, a para-aramid fiber product produced by Teijin Limited, one of the largest chemical companies in Japan.

According to the indictment, from July 2002 through February 2009, Kolon allegedly sought to improve its Heracron product by targeting current and former employees at DuPont and Teijin and hiring them to serve as consultants, then asking these consultants to reveal information that was confidential and proprietary.

The indictment alleges that in July 2002, Kolon obtained confidential information related to an aspect of DuPont?s manufacturing process for Kevlar, and within three years, Kolon had replicated it. This successful misappropriation of DuPont?s confidential information, the indictment alleges, spurred Kolon leadership to develop a multi-phase plan in November 2005 to secure additional trade secret information from its competitors by targeting people with knowledge of both pre-1990 para-aramid technology and post-1990 technologies.

Kolon is alleged to have retained at least five former DuPont employees as consultants. Kolon allegedly met with these people individually on multiple occasions from 2006 through 2008 to solicit and obtain sensitive, proprietary information that included details about DuPont?s manufacturing processes for Kevlar, experiment results, blueprints and designs, prices paid to suppliers, and new fiber technology. In cases where the consultants could not answer Kolon?s specific and detailed questions, Kolon allegedly requested the consultants to obtain the information from current employees at DuPont.

The indictment alleges that during a meeting with one consultant, a Kolon employee surreptitiously copied information from a CD the former DuPont employee had brought with him that contained numerous confidential DuPont business documents, including a detailed breakdown of DuPont?s capabilities and costs for the full line of its Kevlar products, customer pricing information, analyses of market trends, and strategies for specific Kevlar submarkets. This wealth of information was allegedly copied and dispersed among several Kolon executives and employees, and the indictment alleges that many of these documents and others associated with the consultants were deleted by the Kolon executives and employees after DuPont filed a civil suit against Kolon in 2009.

Kolon also is accused of attempting to recruit a former employee of a Teijin subsidiary, Teijin Twaron, who reported the requests for trade secret information to Teijin Twaron. Legal representatives from Teijin Twaron sent a letter to Kolon in January 2008 demanding that Kolon cease and desist from seeking to obtain trade secrets related to Twaron. After this incident, the indictment alleges that Kolon continued to try to obtain trade secrets but took additional steps to attempt to avoid detection of its actions.

The indictment alleges that, in August 2008, Kolon employees met with a current DuPont employee in a hotel room in Richmond and discussed how the DuPont employee could provide trade secrets to Kolon without leaving evidence.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Timothy D. Belevetz and Kosta S. Stojilkovic of the U.S. Attorney?s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia?s Financial Crimes and Public Corruption Unit and Trial Attorney John W. Borchert of the Criminal Division?s Fraud Section and Senior Counsel Rudolfo Orjales of the Criminal Division?s Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section.?The FBI?s Richmond Field Office is investigating this case.

This case is part of efforts being undertaken by the Department of Justice Task Force on Intellectual Property (IP Task Force) to stop the theft of intellectual property.

Source: http://www.ipwatchdog.com/2012/10/19/south-korean-company-indicted-for-theft-of-trade-secrets/id=29046/

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Honduran supreme court rejects 'model cities' idea

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (AP) ? Honduras' Supreme Court has struck down a plan to build a series of model cities with their own independent tax and justice systems, a proposal that was meant to spur economic growth in this Central American country struggling with corruption and crime.

Court spokesman Daniel Aguirre said the justices voted 13-2 Wednesday evening that legislation permitting the creation of special development zones outside the jurisdiction of ordinary Honduran law was unconstitutional, partly because it placed Honduran territory out of government control.

Proponents of the model cities project said Thursday that the court decision was a blow to Honduran efforts to attract more international investment. Opponents said they were happy with the decision, which was expected to put an end to the model cities idea.

Authorization for the private cities was passed by the Honduran Congress in January 2011 amid controversy that included objections to handing over control of Honduran territory. A U.S.-based investment group had been expected to put up $15 million to begin building basic infrastructure for the first model city near Puerto Castilla on the Caribbean coast.

An international group of investors and government representatives had promoted the project as a way to bring badly needed economic growth.

The project's aim was to strengthen Honduras' weak government and failing infrastructure, overwhelmed by corruption, drug-related crime and lingering political instability after a 2009 coup.

The "model cities" would have had their own judiciary, laws, governments and police forces. They also would have been empowered to sign international agreements on trade and investment and set their own immigration policy.

The project was opposed by civic groups as well as the indigenous Garifuna people, who said they didn't want their land near Puerto Castilla used in the project. Living along Central America's Caribbean coast, the Garifuna are descendants of the Amazon's Arawak Indians, the Caribbean's Caribes and escaped West African slaves.

Oscar Cruz, a former constitutional prosecutor, filed a motion with the Supreme Court last year challenging the project as unconstitutional and calling it "a catastrophe for Honduras."

"The cities involve the creation of a state within the state, a commercial entity with state powers outside the jurisdiction of the government," Cruz said.

The investors had envisioned textile manufacturing, small-product assembly and outsourced businesses like call centers or data processing as possible industries in the model cities.

They said workers would have been able to live in the cities, and the Honduran laws setting up the private areas guaranteed that any citizen of the country could also live there.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/honduran-supreme-court-rejects-model-cities-idea-171737298--finance.html

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Second Circuit Strikes Down Doma - Business Insider

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit on Thursday found the Defense of Marriage Act violates the right to equal protection guaranteed by the Constitution.

DOMA defines marriage as between a man and a woman and says states don't have to recognize same-sex marriage.

It has the practical effect of sometimes requiring gay couples to pay more federal taxes.

In striking the law down, the Second Circuit sided with a 83-year-old Edith Windsor, who was forced to pay estate taxes after the death of her wife in 2009.

The history of DOMA goes back to 1993, when Hawaii's Supreme Court ruled it was unconstitutional for the state to deny gay couples the right to marry.

That ruling sparked concern among gay marriage opponents, and Bob Barr, then a member of the House of Representatives representing Georgia, authored DOMA to "defend" opposite-sex marriage.

DOMA breezed through the Republican-controlled Congress, and Clinton signed the bill into law in 1996.

Since then, a number of states have passed laws allowing gay marriage, and DOMA has been challenged in several federal courts.

Because the law says the federal government doesn't have to recognize same-sex marriages, gay couples don't have access to some of the same federal tax benefits that straight people enjoy.

The gay-friendly Obama administration stopped defending the law in February 2011. Since then, House Republicans have been bankrolling the fight to preserve DOMA, which has had several fronts.

The First Circuit Court of Appeals in Massachusetts already found DOMA unconstitutional in May.

After a federal appeals court weighs in on a law, the U.S. Supreme Court usually decides whether to take the case and, if so, whether to uphold or reverse the decision.

While the Supreme Court isn't under any obligation to take the DOMA case, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has said the issue of gay marriage will almost certainly come before the court this term.

SEE ALSO: 83-Year-Old Lesbian Hopes She Can Survive Her Fight Against The Defense Of Marriage Act

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/second-circuit-strikes-down-doma-2012-10

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Early voting outpaces 2008 rate (CNN)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories Stories, News Feeds and News via Feedzilla.

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Chip gear maker ASML buys Cymer for $2.5 billion

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - ASML, the world's leading provider of tools for making computer chips, is buying U.S. group Cymer for 1.95 billion euros ($2.5 billion) to get control of a light-based technology crucial to making smaller, smarter chips of the future.

The Dutch company said that the cash-and-shares acquisition would speed up the development of extreme ultraviolet (EUV) semiconductor lithography, which will help produce chips to power future generations of smartphones and tablet computers.

It is upgrading its machines to produce these smaller, faster chips. In July, it sold a 23 percent stake to its three biggest customers, Intel, Samsung Electronics and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing, to help finance research into the technology behind its new equipment.

ASML and San Diego-based Cymer have both been working on EUV technology but progress has been slow.

"Combining the two companies will definitely speed up the development of this EUV source," said Chief Financial Officer Peter Wennink."

ASML's funding for the Cymer acquisition, its biggest, will be three-quarters shares and one-quarter cash. Cymer shareholders will receive $20 in cash per Cymer share plus 1.1502 ASML shares.

The total price is a premium of 61 percent to Cymer's recent share price. Cymer's shares jumped 48.80 percent to $71.16 on the Nasdaq.

ASML will pay the $630 million cash component from its 3 billion euros of available reserves and issue new shares for the rest, an ASML spokesman said.

The deal might face scrutiny from antitrust regulators since Japan's Nikon, a key AMSL competitor in lithography, is a customer of Cymer's current technologies, DUV and IBP, said Steifel Nicolaus analyst Patrick Ho.

"By acquiring Cymer and their core DUV and IBP business, ? that would be selling products to their direct competitor in Nikon. That's obviously an awkward situation," Ho said.

Rabobank analyst Peter Scholte said the deal, which is due to close in the first half of next year, highlights the difficulties in EUV development and is an expensive way for ASML to get it back on track.

ASML said that the deal is expected to boost earnings per share within two years. Bernstein analyst Pierre Ferragu said assuming the deal closes by next March, he'd expect earnings to be diluted for the year by around 4 percent.

Analysts said they did not expect the deal to lead to other acquisitions because ASML's and Cymer's leadership in EUV is unique.

"This is a one-of-a-kind deal triggered by EUV, which is not even a product yet. EUV is pretty much down to ASML," said RBC Capital Markets analyst Mahesh Sanganeria.

DOWNBEAT MESSAGE

ASML, a bellwether for Europe's technology sector, also reported lower-than-expected third-quarter orders and said fourth-quarter sales would be at the low end of forecasts. It declined to give a 2013 outlook.

Its trading update echoed the downbeat message from technology peers. Intel, one of ASML's biggest customers, said on Tuesday that its outlook remained weak for the rest of the year because of falling computer sales.

Earlier this month research firm Gartner said that worldwide industry spending on chip equipment would slow in 2013 because of deteriorating economies.

ASML's third-quarter order book was 831 million euros, lower than the 899 million euros analysts had forecast.

Third-quarter net profit was 275 million euros, compared with a forecast 278 million euros.

Shares of ASML, which has a market share of more than 80 percent, and competes with Japanese groups Canon and Nikon, hit a record high of 48.34 euros in July after the deal with its top customers. They closed down 5.25 percent at 39.145 euros on Wednesday.

(Additional reporting by Gilbert Kreijger in Amsterdam and Noel Randewich in San Francisco; Editing by Erica Billingham and Steve Orlofsky)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/chip-gear-maker-asml-buy-cymer-2-5-083144895--sector.html

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Mercer Advisors: Portfolio Longevity - What Constitutes an Optimally ...

Portfolio Longevity: The successful conversion of retirement savings into a secure, sustainable stream of income requires three things:?

? A comprehensive financial plan?outlining how much, when and how to withdraw from your portfolio?is the foundation for a well-designed retirement income strategy;?

? Sophisticated portfolio design?including extreme diversification across multiple asset classes, companies and countries, customized for your unique vision and risk tolerance profile?positions the investment and retirement income strategy for success;

? Beyond-the-market portfolio management?the big-picture implementation and oversight of your portfolio design?can generate incremental return beyond that derived from the portfolio design itself.?

? Collectively, these three elements can extend your portfolio?s longevity, maximizing the security of your retirement income.?

The Foundation

Many factors influence the performance and sustainability of an investment portfolio. Inflation, taxes, emotion-driven investment decisions, poor diversification, misinformation ? to name just a few ? each impact a portfolio?s longevity. Given these potential risks, how should you go about optimizing your portfolio?s life expectancy while maximizing your retirement income?

The first step involves developing a comprehensive financial plan that includes your values, spending aspirations, charitable intentions, estate plans, taxes, health status, risk tolerance and lifestyle expectations both now and in retirement. The amount of income you choose to withdraw from your portfolio is not a decision to rush or arrive at lightly. The amount, timing and method of portfolio withdrawals are each and collectively critical to portfolio longevity and retirement income security.

Furthermore, the how involves logistical planning and understanding, including: Which asset classes should be sold to raise the cash needed? From which accounts ? pre-tax, taxable, or tax-exempt ? should these withdrawals be taken in order to minimize taxes? Which accounting method should be used to process withdrawals from taxable accounts? Should withdrawals be taken monthly, quarterly or annually? Regarding taxes, how might imminent/future tax law changes impact the withdrawal strategy? These are only some of the difficult questions that must be addressed in order to maximize portfolio longevity and retirement income security.?

Finally, a comprehensive financial plan provides a scientifically sound portfolio design and management strategy for their retirement savings. Further, it establishes a clear and precise roadmap for how to invest retirement assets. This last point cannot be overemphasized. Studies have shown consistently that investors succumb all too often to media noise, emotional biases and financial industry marketing gimmicks. Unfortunately, such investors subsequently pay an exceptionally high price in terms of lost dreams and dollars [Figure 1].?

A roadmap to retirement security

Portfolio design is the art and science of weaving together multiple asset classes into a balanced, integrated whole in order to maximize return potential at an acceptable level of risk. Asset classes are categories of investments that share similar risk and return characteristics, regulatory constraints, financial accounting measures and occasionally, geography. Scientific and sophisticated asset class definitions extend far beyond the traditional asset classes of stocks and bonds. Examples include U.S. large company value stocks, investment-grade government bonds, high-yield bonds, managed futures, commodities, emerging markets small company stocks, international real estate, and many more. With regard to asset class incorporation into your portfolio, the adage ?more is better? resoundingly applies.?

Extensive academic studies have demonstrated repeatedly that a portfolio?s returns ? and subsequently its longevity ? are largely a function of its design. On three separate occasions, Professors Brinson, Beebower, Singer, and Hood1 conducted exhaustive examinations of the largest pension funds in the United States. They determined that portfolio design (i.e., the method of allocation across multiple asset classes) accounted for more than 90 percent of a portfolio?s return in any given year.?

Diversification: Portfolio Design in Action

Diversification is the practice of investing across multiple asset classes with the goal of maximizing the portfolio?s long-term expected return, while removing various, ?uncompensated? risks. What are ?uncompensated? risks? Studies have shown that portfolios concentrated in only a handful of stocks or asset classes do not earn higher returns, commensurate with the risks associated with holding such a portfolio. Examples of ?uncompensated? risk include individual company risk (investing in relatively few stocks), currency risk (investing only in U.S. dollar-denominated assets) and geopolitical risk (investing in one or two countries only). Fortunately, such risks can be ?diversified away? by investing in multiple asset classes comprised of thousands of individual stocks and bonds, and by strategically investing in a globally diversified portfolio.?

Why is diversification so critical to portfolio longevity? While there is nothing inherently wrong with investing in bonds or dividend-paying stocks, the problem with such an approach is that a portfolio consisting of only bonds and/or dividend-paying stocks is exposed to ?uncompensated? risk. This portfolio contains too few asset classes to be truly diversified. Consider Figure 2, which compares two retirement portfolios?one highly diversified (holding many asset classes) and the other undiversified (holding relatively few asset classes). Diversified portfolios can sustain periodic withdrawals throughout retirement more reliably and confidently.

?

?

The Power of Cross-Correlation?

Why is asset class diversification so powerful? The answer lies in correlation. Correlation measures the movement of asset classes relative to one another within a portfolio. Asset classes may be co-correlated (they move up or down together in unison, though not necessarily in a one-to-one relationship), inversely-correlated (one moves up when the other goes down), or non-correlated (no relationship). When a portfolio is designed to incorporate multiple asset classes with differing correlations, the result is a retirement portfolio with higher expected return and lower overall risk level (as measured by standard deviation), and subsequently, greater portfolio longevity. Table 1 outlines the incremental gains achieved through the construction of a 10-asset class portfolio.?

?

? To demonstrate this principle conceptually, consider two portfolios?a ?risky? portfolio consisting of relatively few asset classes and a ?stable? portfolio consisting of many asset classes. Each of these portfolios, while returning the same arithmetic mean annual return of 10%, contains very different levels of risk due to the correlation among the asset classes within each portfolio. [Table 2].

?

?

Portfolio Management: The GPS of portfolio of design

Portfolio management is the art and science of implementing your portfolio design and integrating it with your comprehensive financial plan. Get this wrong, and even the best portfolio design will have been constructed in vain. Many components influence the successful portfolio implementation, some of which include:?

?Fund Selection. Access to institutional funds is paramount. Unavailable to the average retail investor, these funds ensure lower overall portfolio operating costs, true asset class representation (i.e., no ?style drift?), and the incorporation of the latest, peer-reviewed academic research. For example, the average retail mutual fund investing in U.S. large company stocks has an average annual expense ratio of 1.21 percent per year, whereas an institutional-grade U.S. large company fund has an expense ratio of only 0.16 percent per year. For a retiree with $2,000,000 in retirement assets, this equates to a potential savings (extra return) of more than $20,000 per year.?

Periodic Rebalancing. Rebalancing your portfolio by selling ?winners? to buy ?losers? may sound counterintuitive, but doing so is fundamentally critical to long-term investment success and to maintaining your portfolio?s desired overall risk level. For example, if left unbalanced, a portfolio consisting of 60 percent stocks in early 2009 would now hold nearly 80 percent of its assets in stocks. This would result in the portfolio containing exceptionally more risk than originally intended. Studies have shown periodic rebalancing to provide an excess ?bonus return?2 of anywhere from 0.50 percent to as much as 2 percent per year.3 At minimum, the retiree could earn an additional $10,000 per year in return.

Tax Management. Sound portfolio management, when properly integrated with your comprehensive financial plan, minimizes your income tax exposure in retirement. For example, despite current federal income tax brackets as high as 35 percent, with strategic planning, retirees are often able to reduce their effective tax rate in retirement to as low as 15 percent (sometimes lower). Such tax management strategies may include ?harvesting? tax losses (which reduce or eliminate future capital gains taxes) opportunistically and executing zero-tax Roth conversions to move retirement assets into tax-exempt accounts. For a retiree seeking to spend $150,000 per year in retirement, strategic tax management could provide potential tax savings of more than $55,000 per year.4?

A comprehensive financial plan, a scientifically sound portfolio design and sophisticated, tax-sensitive portfolio management are the three most critical elements for maximizing portfolio longevity and establishing retirement income security. Is your portfolio optimally designed to meet your retirement expectations?

Contact Nathan Ricks, Mercer Advisors' Washington Managing Director, if you would like a complimentary one hour consultation. Email: nathan.ricks@merceradvisors.com. Phone: 888.642.4636

1. Brinson, Gary P., Brian D. Singer, and Gilbert L. Beebower, ?Determinants of Portfolio Performance II: An Update,? Financial Analysts Journal, May-June 1991.

2. See Bernstein, William J. ?Case Studies in Rebalancing?, Efficient Frontier (Fall 2002) and ?The Rebalancing Bonus?, Efficient Frontier (Fall 1996) online at www.efficientfrontier.com.

3. Arnott, Robert D. and Plaxo, Lisa M. ?Rebalancing a Global Policy Benchmark?, Journal of Portfolio Management, Winter 2002, p.9-22.

4. $150,000/(1-0.35) = c.$231,000 in required portfolio withdrawals whereas $150,000/(1-0.15) = c.$176,500 in required portfolio withdrawals. Intended for demonstration purposes only. The unique tax circumstances of each individual investor will vary.?

References and Sourcing:

Milevsky, Moshe A., and Thomas S. Salisbury, ?Asset Allocation and the Transition to Income: The Importance of Product Allocation in the Retirement Risk Zone?, September 27, 2006.

Figure 1:

Indexes include: REITS: NAREIT Equity REIT Index; EAFE: MSCI EAFE; Oil: WTI Index; Bonds: Barclays Capital U.S. Aggregate Index; Homes: median sale price of existing single-family homes; Gold: USD/troy oz.; Inflation: CPI. Average asset allocation investor return based a Dalbar Inc. analysis which utilizes the net of aggregate mutual fund sales, redemptions and exchanges each month as a measure of investor behavior. Returns are annualized (and total return where applicable) and represent the 20-year period ending 12/31/09 to match Dalbar Inc.?s most recent analysis.?

Figure 2:

S&P 500, MSCI, Dimensional, CRSP, Bloomberg. Mercer Advisors Investment Committee. Diversified Portfolio is 60 percent diversified equity allocation mix consisting of U.S., International and Emerging Market Equities and 40 percent Short-term Fixed income. The Undiversified portfolio consists of 60 percent U.S. Large Equities and 40 percent Barclays Gov?t Bond Index. Beginning with $100,000 in 1973, $700 is distributed monthly from each portfolio.

Figure 4:

Mercer Advisors Investment Committee.

Mercer Advisors, established in 1985, is a total wealth management firm that provides comprehensive financial planning, investment management and retirement plan services for the affluent individual. Mercer Advisors, a Registered Investment Advisor, manages more than $4 billion in assets under management (data as of September 15, 2012) and maintains a national presence with branch offices located in 13 major cities ? including Seattle. For more information, please contact us at 800.898.4642 or visit our website at www.merceradvisors.com.?

Mercer Global Advisors Inc. is registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission and delivers all investment-related services. Mercer Advisors Inc. is the parent company of Mercer Global Advisors Inc. and is not involved with investment services.?

?

Source: http://www.wsda.org/headlines/2012/10/16/mercer-advisors-portfolio-longevity-what-constitutes-an-opti.html

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Guilty plea expected in plot to kill Saudi ambassador

By NBC's Pete Williams and Jonathan Dienst

Nueces County Sheriff

Mansour Arbabsiar is seen in a 2001 booking photo after he was charged for check fraud.

The man charged with plotting to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to the United States in Washington is expected to plead guilty in Manhattan federal court Wednesday, according to officials familiar with the matter.

Authorities have said Manssor Arbabsiar, a 56-year-old U.S. citizen with an Iranian passport, admitted his role in a $1.5 million plot to kill the ambassador at a restaurant by setting off explosives. He was indicted last October.

---

See the original story at NBCNewYork.com | More from NBCNewYork.com

The terms of the expected plea deal are unknown.

When Arbabsiar's arrest was announced last year, President Barack Obama's administration accused the Iranian government of being behind the planned assassination of Ambassador Adel al Jubeir in Washington.

The press attache at Iran's mission to the United Nations then called the accusation "baseless."

A second person, Gholam Shakuri, was charged in the plot?but remains at large in Iran.

The Justice Department said Shakuri is an Iran-based member of Iran?s Qods Force, which is a special operations unit of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) that is said to sponsor and promote terrorist activities abroad.????

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Source: http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/10/17/14510312-man-charged-in-plot-to-kill-saudi-ambassador-expected-to-plead-guilty?lite

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Video: More on October 15: Round two

University wants anti-gay marriage official back on job

Gallaudet University would like to work with its chief diversity officer, who was put on leave after signing a petition to reverse Maryland's same-sex marriage law, so she can return to her post, its president said Tuesday.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036697/vp/49422853#49422853

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Isis Mobile Wallet app for Android surfaces in Google Play, you probably can't run it

Unofficial rumblings have pointed to Isis Mobile Wallet's trial getting close. If you've remained skeptical all the same, we're pretty sure that seeing Isis' Android app in Google Play will change your mind. The currently T-Mobile-only software confirms that pilot program members will tie their American Express, Capital One or Chase card (as well as a unique card) to Isis for paying through NFC at stores with a SmartTap terminal. We're also promised streamlined loyalty cards and coupons. Before anyone rushes to try the app at the local shop, remember that it's just one piece of the puzzle on top of the special SIM card, one of three NFC-equipped phones and that small matter of living in Austin or Salt Lake City when the service goes live. Having the official app at least lets those who qualify get a head start on what could soon be the only major alternative to Google Wallet in the US.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile

Isis Mobile Wallet app for Android surfaces in Google Play, you probably can't run it originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 16 Oct 2012 18:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink MobileBurn  |  Google Play  | Email this | Comments

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/10/16/isis-mobile-wallet-app-for-android-surfaces-in-google-play/

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The Best Manmade Sound [Chatroom]

The click-pop-sizzle of a soda can opening? The super-satisfying click of a firearm chambering a round?? The roar of an engine? What's the best noise to come from one of mankind's inventions? More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/tNSHIq7Vi6w/the-best-manmade-sound

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Fitness haiku: No exercise for two weeks; doctor's orders | Health Blog

Skin procedure means
No exercise for ? how long?!
?Two weeks,? surgeon said.

On Saturday, I swam my last laps for two weeks. When I woke up before dawn on Sunday to run, I thought, ?What will it be like next week when I won?t ? when I can?t ? have a long run on my schedule??

I am, as I might have hinted at once or twice, an avid exerciser. As in, I exercise every day. I?m great at telling other people the benefits of rest, which I wholeheartedly believe ? but can?t quite seem to put it into practice myself.

But as of Tuesday, I?ll have no choice.

A few weeks ago, my story begins, I went to my beloved dermatologist to look at a weird little something on my temple.

?Nah,? she said, as she usually does, ?that?s nothing.?

Then (also as she usually does), she pointed out a little something on my nose.

?I?m kind of concerned about this,? she said. ?I?d like to do a biopsy on it.?

(Read about my visit to see her by clicking here).

She called a few days later to tell me it was a squamish- (as in, it makes me squeamish to think about)cell carcinoma and needed to come off. So I made an appointment with someone who specializes in Mohs surgery.

That?s a procedure in which a few cells are removed at a time, then examined. When they stop showing signs of cancer, the doctor stops removing them. Then he?ll gauze me up, and off I?ll go to a plastic-surgeon?s office for wound closure and a possible skin graft. Then I?ll go home to eat (finally) and sleep.

As I was looking at the post-procedure instruction list, No. 5 may as well have been painted in neon: NO EXERCISE OR HEAVING LIFTING FOR AT LEAST TWO WEEKS. (Yes, the all-caps choice is mine). The reason, in general, is that elevated blood pressure or pulse rate could cause bleeding, which would not be a good thing.

Part of me is horrified. WHAT?! Two weeks without running or swimming? I picture myself in bed, moaning softly as I alternate scooping spoonfuls of peanut butter and ice cream with one hand while order larger clothing online with the other.

But part of me (especially after being reassured that I will be quite mobile, just not high heart-rate mobile) thinks this could be good for me. I know I wouldn?t take a break otherwise, and rest IS good.

I?ve been told I can walk ? not all-out fast, and not up or down steep hills. I?m thinking after a day or two or three maybe I can lift light weights. I wouldn?t even want to swim; something about gauze and a pool and the possible ooze factor is a bit off-putting (to me and fellow swimmers).

So what can I do but pay attention to the doctors? Yes, even in these glorious days of fall, when the sun sets at just the right time, when I can wear a short-sleeved shirt in the morning and not think I?ll have heat stroke. When I can forget my water bottle, and won?t worry about getting dehydrated.

I?ll say again, and remind myself of this way more than once during the next 14-days-and-counting, that I?m lucky to be able to exercise in the first place. Plus, I?m grateful that this kind of skin cancer can be taken care of, especially at such an early stage.

Most truly, in the grand scheme of things, two weeks really isn?t long at all. There will be, I?m pretty confident saying, plenty of butterscotch sunrises and honey-drenched autumn afternoons to revel in once I?m given the OK to resume my running.

Meanwhile, I?ll walk or stroll or amble, being more aware of what?s around me. And, I daresay, ever so grateful.

Source: http://healthblog.dallasnews.com/2012/10/fitness-haiku-no-exercise-for-two-weeks-doctors-orders.html/

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Adherence evaluation of endocrine treatment in breast cancer: methodological aspects

Research article

Anne S Oberguggenberger, Monika Sztankay, Beate Beer, Birthe Schubert, Verena Meraner, Herbert Oberacher, Georg Kemmler, Johannes Giesinger, Eva Gamper, Barbara Sperner-Unterweger, Christian Marth, Bernhard Holzner and Michael Hubalek

For all author emails, please log on.

BMC Cancer 2012, 12:474?doi:10.1186/1471-2407-12-474

Published: 15 October 2012

Abstract (provisional)

Background

Current studies on adherence to endocrine therapy in breast cancer patients suffer from methodological limitations due to a lack of well-validated methods for assessing adherence. There is no gold standard for measuring adherence. The aim of our study was to compare four different approaches for evaluating adherence to anastrozole therapy for breast cancer with regard to concordance between methods.

Methods

Outpatients with early breast cancer treated with anastrozole completed the multi-method assessment of adherence. We implemented a self-report scale (the Simplified Medication Adherence Questionnaire), physician- ratings, refill records and determination of anastrozole serum concentration.

Results

Comparison of the four approaches using Spearman rank correlation revealed poor concordance across all methods reflecting weak correlations of 0.2-0.4. Considering this data incomparability across methods, we still observed high adherence rates of 78%-98% across measures.

Conclusion

Our findings contribute to the growing body of knowledge on the impact that methodological aspects exert on the results of adherence measurement in breast cancer patients receiving endocrine treatment. Our findings suggest that the development and validation of instruments specific to patients receiving endocrine agents is imperative in order to arrive at a more accurate assessment and to subsequently obtain more precise estimates of adherence rates in this patient population.

The complete article is available as a provisional PDF. The fully formatted PDF and HTML versions are in production.

Source: http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2407/12/474

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UAE firms increase gas production in northern Iraq

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Obama Lauds Higher US Car Sales (Voice Of America)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories News, News Feeds and News via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/255270074?client_source=feed&format=rss

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Dying Suns, A Lego Wunderkind, Mysteries on Mars, And More [The Best Stories Of The Week]

It's the weekend! Time to relax, kick back, and catch up on a little news. Please, allow me to serve you up some of the best dishes this week. Here's some of what's on the menu: Why science says you can't have a pet dinosaur, a flock of SR-71 Blackbirds in a perfect pose, the best fitness app around, what the end of the world might look like, yet another Apple Maps gaffe and more. Dig in below. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/SYMg3MParqo/dying-suns-a-lego-wunderkind-mysteries-on-mars-and-more

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