SANAA, Yemen (AP) ? Yemeni security officials say a government official who once led a local militia against al-Qaida in the country's south has survived a suicide attack. One of his guards died of wounds sustained in the attack.
The officials said the attacker detonated his explosives Saturday near the vehicle of Mohammed Aidarous, the head of Lawder district in Abyan province. The officials said the explosion left 10 wounded, including three civilians. One guard later died of his wounds in a hospital in Aden. Aidarous had led a local militia which fought alongside Yemen's military to drive al-Qaida militants out of their district.
It was the fourth assassination attempt against Aidarous, who was unharmed.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
Like the Bible, the Quran is filled with fiery passages and gentle ones. Some sentences contradict others. But a new way of reading the Muslim holy book -- based on an old way of storytelling -- might shed a very different light on its meaning.
By John Yemma,?Editor / September 28, 2012
A mother helps her daughter read the Quran in Londonderry, N.H.
Melanie Stetson Freeman/Staff/File
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?Carl Ernst has read, parsed, and puzzled over the Quran since graduate school in 1975. As in the Bible, some passages are mild, some blistering. Later ones appear to cancel out earlier ones. Which has precedence??
Skip to next paragraph John Yemma
Editor, The Christian Science Monitor
John Yemma has been a foreign correspondent, Washington reporter, political editor, and has covered economics, science, and culture in 38 years as a journalist. He has worked for The Dallas Morning News, The Boston Globe, UPI, The San Antonio Express-News -- and since 2008, he has been Editor of the Monitor. The Monitor?publishes international news and analysis at CSMonitor.com, in the Monitor Weekly newsmagazine, and in an email-delivered Daily News Briefing.?
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Now a specialist in Islamic studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Professor Ernst had an epiphany when he encountered an ancient literary technique known as ?ring composition.??
We read books first page to last. But before cover-to-cover reads, there were scrolls, and before scrolls, there was oral storytelling. Many older works, Ernst learned from a scholar of Hindi-language Sufi texts, were not composed in a straight-line manner. Instead, the first line of a passage would be mirrored by the last line, the second by the second to last, and so on. At the center of the passage was where the key statement sat.
Why would anyone compose a story that way? In oral storytelling, Ernst says, people had to memorize huge amounts of material. They used mnemonic devices. A famous one is the ?memory palace,? in which a storyteller mentally walks through a palace, each room helping him recall part of the story. That could have influenced where the most important spot would be ? perhaps in the palace?s center.
In early written literature, scrolls were common. The ends of a scroll roll up. The center is the sweet spot. So ring composition was natural in the prebook era. Parts of ?The Iliad? and parts of the Bible (Leviticus, in particular) appear to use this structure.
A few years ago, Ernst began looking for ring composition in the Quran. ?That was my eureka moment,? he says.?
Take Sura 60. Verses at the beginning and end deal with Abraham?s battle with idol worshipers. But here?s the center: ?Perhaps it may be possible for God to create affection between you and your enemies.? That seems to call for tolerance and mercy.
Sura 5 also contains a surprise. At its center: ?For everyone, We have established a law and a way. If God had wished He would have made you a single community. But this was so He might test you regarding what He sent you. So try to be first in doing what is best.? That seems to endorse religious pluralism.
?This is not an illusion,? Ernst says. ?The same words or related words appear at the beginning and end of the suras.?
Ernst?s 2011 book ?How to Read the Qur?an? explores the intriguing idea that ring composition, common in Muhammad?s day, can shed light on a book revered by more than 1 billion people and at the center of one of humanity?s most troubling conflicts. Hearts and minds won?t change overnight. But the Quran may eventually be viewed very differently.
TUCSON, Ariz. ? The applause for Oregon State coach Mike Riley started about five years ago, and it has been going ever since.
That's when former OSU linebacker Joey LaRocque thought it would be funny to clap for the head coach in a team meeting. In every meeting since, players have given Riley a round of applause.
"We're just proud of what he does, and we love him,'' said receiver Markus Wheaton. "It's been like this ever since I've been here.''
On Saturday night at Arizona Stadium, the cheers grew louder. The Beavers' wild 38-35 win over the Wildcats not only moved them to 3-0 but it also was Riley's 75th as OSU coach, breaking Lon Stiner's school record that stood for 64 years.
"The main thing is having been some place for a while,'' Riley said after the game. "That's the biggest thing to me, because when I came back, that's what I set my mind to do because I gave that up when I left. I'm just thankful I had this kind of time to get a chance at a record like this.''
Of all those 75 wins, this was one of the craziest. The Beavers built a 10-point halftime lead only to give it away as Arizona scored 21 points in the third quarter ? the only third-quarter points OSU has given up this season.
It wasn't until the final minute, after Sean Mannion hit Connor Hamlett with a 9-yard touchdown pass and Rashaad Reynolds made a game-saving interception, that Riley could exhale.
It is fitting that the record would come this way. After Riley's rock-bottom year of 2011, when the Beavers went 3-9, they have come out in 2012 and matched that total in three tries ? the last two coming on the road.
Mannion was 29 of 45 for 433 yards and no interceptions. It was the fifth-highest passing total in OSU history and worthy of a standing ovation in itself.
On Saturday night, the OSU contingent included some 60 family members and friends of Wheaton, the Arizona native who caught 10 passes for 166 yards and two touchdowns.
The orange-wearing throng stood and cheered well after the game ended, and the applause finally stopped as the buses pulled away.
But for Riley, it has not. Not even in 2011. It remained consistent, a reflection of the 12-year Riley era that began in 1997, with a four-year break (1999-2002) while he coached in the NFL.
"His consistency has really helped,'' offensive coordinator Danny Langsdorf said. "We've stayed pretty even-keeled through the good and the bad.''
Saturday night's win also was the 48th league victory for Riley, tying him with California coach Jeff Tedford for 17th place all-time. He trails only Tedford (80) in overall wins by a current Pac-12 coach.
Riley is also the only OSU coach to have won more than one bowl game (he has won five) and the first to lead the Beavers to more than one winning season in conference (also five) since 1969.
When he began his OSU coaching career in 1997, the Beavers were mired in a 28-year streak of losing seasons. If 75 seems a modest number for an all-time victory leader, it's because Riley's native Corvallis has not been a hotbed of college football success through the years.
"This is a tough job, and it's a place we have to go the extra mile to win,'' Langsdorf said.
And that's part of the appreciation Riley receives in every single team meeting.
"I've always laughed at that,'' Langsdorf said. "It's neat. It's a pretty unique thing. It's a sign of respect for him.''
According to the players, the applause is well-deserved ? even before the record.
"He's the dad of us,'' tackle Colin Kelly said. "He deserves our respect.''
And, Riley says, his staff deserves the record, too.
"It's not my record,'' Riley said. "(Defensive coordinator) Mark Banker's been with me every game here. (Special teams coach) Bruce Read has been here for most of them, Danny Langsdorf, we have a great group of guys.
"That's why I do this thing. I love the camaraderie of the staff. We all have one vision: We try to build these kids up and coach them like crazy, and we've been able to do that at Oregon State, and we're proud of that.''
FILE - This May 15, 2012 file photo shows actress Emily VanCamp attending the Entertainment Weekly and ABC Upfronts Party in New York. A year ago, Emily VanCamp worried no one would watch her TV show "Revenge" on ABC. Now, a year later, it's about to debut its second season and is one of the hottest shows on television. (AP Photo/Charles Sykes, file)
FILE - This May 15, 2012 file photo shows actress Emily VanCamp attending the Entertainment Weekly and ABC Upfronts Party in New York. A year ago, Emily VanCamp worried no one would watch her TV show "Revenge" on ABC. Now, a year later, it's about to debut its second season and is one of the hottest shows on television. (AP Photo/Charles Sykes, file)
FILE - This May 15, 2012 file photo shows actress Emily VanCamp attending the Entertainment Weekly and ABC Upfronts Party in New York. A year ago, Emily VanCamp worried no one would watch her TV show "Revenge" on ABC. Now, a year later, it's about to debut its second season and is one of the hottest shows on television. (AP Photo/Charles Sykes, file)
NEW YORK (AP) ? What a difference a year makes.
This time last year, Emily VanCamp was hoping and praying her ABC series "Revenge" would be a success. It was ? and regularly won its time slot.
Now she's gearing up for the show's second season, premiering Sunday at 9 p.m. EDT.
"I was wondering what was going to happen with the show and, oh gosh, I remember just trying to repress the stress so much," VanCamp said in a recent interview. "You just want to focus on the work and not pay too much attention to all that stuff, but you're putting so much of yourself into it, and the fact that it all paid off and that it did so well has been kind of extraordinary. It's been a crazy year to say the least."
VanCamp plays Emily Thorne, a young woman out to get even for her father's death. She infiltrates a wealthy community in the Hamptons to take down the people who betrayed her family.
Like her character, 26-year-old VanCamp is a private person who prefers to remain a bit of a mystery to the public. She doesn't like to talk about her personal life (although she's rumored to be dating her "Revenge" co-star Josh Bowman) and says she's trying to come to terms with the public's interest in her life now that she has a hit TV show.
"We live in a time where the media is a very difficult thing to navigate because it's everywhere, and I tend to want to be a lot more private with my life," she said. "I've managed to do that for 10 years in this business.
"I've found a really nice balance, but this show is a different scale so ... I'm trying to figure all that out at the moment but ... some of the actors that I admire the most do have an element of intrigue. You don't know everything about them. It's very important to be able to distinguish the actors from the characters they play."
One thing VanCamp is getting used to as a leading lady is being sleep deprived.
"I'm exhausted almost all the time," she said. "I keep saying I'm weirdly preparing myself for motherhood because once you can get ahold of this sleep deprivation thing I think you have a leg up. And I'm definitely sleep deprived."
VanCamp also has adjusted to her high-profile role in "Revenge" by seeing herself as part of an "incredible" cast.
"I think it's really interesting to say 'my show' or 'I'm a lead of it' because it is such a collaborative thing ... but I am definitely there all the time," she laughed.
"I'm excited by challenging myself physically and mentally every day. That's what keeps me going and makes me love what I do so I really can't complain about it." She pauses then says: "I complain sometimes. I'm not gonna lie."
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Online:
http://beta.abc.go.com/shows/revenge
___
Alicia Rancilio covers entertainment for The Associated Press. Follow her online at http://www.twitter.com/aliciar
People are attracted to commercial real estate investing for a number of reasons. However, you need to decide whether an investment is right for you. The more knowledgeable you are about commercial real estate, the more lucrative it can be. The tips in the article below will help you add to your real estate knowledge.
When you?re writing letters of intent, try to keep it brief by agreeing with the bigger issues initially and let the lesser issues be resolved at a later time. This will diffuse tension during negotiations and will facilitate compromise on the minor issues.
Do a walk-through of each property on your short list. It may be a good idea to take a professional contractor with you when you check out properties you are interested in purchasing. Begin negotiating and the process of offers and counter offers. Carefully look over any counteroffers you receive before you make your final choice, whatever that may be.
TIP! Plan on doing some improvements to your new commercial space before you can inhabit it. It could be something simple, such as paining walls, rearranging appliances or furniture or hanging things.
Make sure you know what your needs are before you start looking at commercial real estate. You should know precisely what your business?s office space requirements are. If you?re interested in eventually expanding your business, buy more office space than you currently need. This saves money in the long run because prices may be higher by the time you?re ready for more office space.
The neighborhood where the property is located is very important. If you buy property in a very affluent area, your business will likely be successful, because your clientele will be better able to afford what you are selling. You might want to buy a property in a less affluent neighborhood if you are selling products or services that less affluent people would find attractive.
TIP! Seek the council of an experienced real estate attorney to help you with your commercial purchase. If something horrible happens when you are dealing with real estate, the right attorney can make a world of difference.
If you are investing in real estate, consider going big. If you believe that you can easily manage five units, you can probably easily manage 50. That many units still need commercial financing like the larger ones do, and the larger ones generally cost less for every unit.
Never underestimate the help that your relationships with private lenders and investors can lend you when dealing in commercial real estate. For example, commercial properties are often sold without ever making it to a listing, so having a broad network can increase your exposure to great deals.
Buy apartment complexes with large numbers of units. You can spread your wealth that is obtained by each one, by having more units. Properties with fewer than ten units are often harder to sell, since many investors believe that more units mean more money.
TIP! It is necessary that you have financial statements for yourself and for your business handy if you want to finance a commercial real estate property. Without financial statements, a bank cannot verify your income and will not allow you to borrow money.
There are a myriad of reasons to expand your monetary investments into commercial real estate. All it takes is determination, and a good base of information. Use the information you learned in this article to fit your plans for commercial real estate. When you do this, profit and success will be
For more information about Key West Commercial Real Estate contact Gary Smith at http://www.keywestlifestyle.com/commercial.html
MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Somalia's al Shabaab rebels withdrew from their last major bastion of Kismayu overnight, the group and residents said, a day after Kenyan and Somali government forces attacked the southern port.
The loss of Kismayu will deal a major blow to the al Qaeda-linked movement, weakening morale and depriving it of revenue, but is unlikely to mark the end of its five-year rebellion.
The insurgents, who once controlled large swathes of the lawless Horn of Africa country, have been turning to guerrilla-style tactics, harrying the country's weak government with suicide bombings and assassinations.
"We moved out our fighters ... from Kismayu at midnight," al Shabaab spokesman, Sheikh Ali Mohamud Rage, told Reuters on Saturday.
Rage threatened to strike back. "The enemies have not yet entered the town. Let them enter Kismayu which will soon turn into a battlefield," he said.
Locals confirmed the militants had pulled out under the cover of darkness but said the Kenyan troops, fighting under an African Union peacekeeping force's banner, and Somali soldiers were still camped on the city's outskirts.
"NOW WE ARE TERRIFIED"
There were reports of looting in some areas of the city.
"Al Shabaab has not perished, so the worry is what next," said local elder Ali Hussein.
One man who was loudly celebrating the departure of al Shabaab fighters from the city was shot dead by two masked men, residents said.
"These masked men came from behind him and hit him with several bullets right in the head... Now we are terrified, everyone in Kismayu is dumb silent. We are afraid to talk on the phone outdoors," said Halima Nur, a mother of three children.
Al Shabaab, which formally merged with al Qaeda in February, has been steadily losing its footholds under sustained pressure from African Union peacekeeping forces (AMISOM) and Somali government troops for the past year.
The rebel group, which counts foreign al Qaeda-trained fighters among its ranks, is seen as one of the biggest threats to stability in the Horn of Africa. It has received advice from al Qaeda's leadership, counter-terrorism experts say.
Residents said the fighters who had abandoned Kismayu had moved to the jungles that lie between Kismayu and Afmadow as well as to other towns north of the port city like Jamame and Kabsuma.
Kenyan military spokesman Col. Cyrus Oguna said his force was still trying to check whether al Shabaab had withdrawn, and would move into the city if the rebels did not put up resistance.
Al Shabaab has pulled out of a number of urban areas including the capital, Mogadishu, in recent months under pressure from advancing African Union forces. But their continuing guerrilla attacks still pose a big challenge for newly-elected President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud.
(Writing by Richard Lough and Duncan Miriri; Editing by Andrew Heavens)
This post was originally published at my menopause column at Healthline.com April 16, 2012. In light of the political season I thought I would reprint it.
Unless you live under a rock, or like Viggo Mortensen, you don?t own a television or surf the web (it?s true, I heard him say it), then you are probably keenly aware of the current debate over Obamacare, also known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, ?women?s health, ?and women?s reproductive rights.
It?s a raging debate, and frankly, it also insults the hell out of me.? But then, when it comes to politicians and their political, politician games, I get insulted quite often.? Mainly because I get sick and tired of politicians presuming to speak for me.? As if I am not able to speak for myself.
I am one of those much talked about (and apparently very powerful) registered Independents ? the swing voters. I like to think of us folks in the middle as the real silent majority.? We?re the ones that are usually not ideological in our politics.? We generally don?t show up to political rallies, or Tea Parties, or Occupy Wall Street protests. It?s not that we don?t care.? It?s just that we prefer to speak with our vote.? And when we do it?s usually pretty loud and clear.? Just ask Martha Coakley, she?ll tell you.
As a woman, I?m also in a voting demographic that is a hot commodity this political season.? You may recall all of the brouhaha with Sandra Fluke and free birth control for Georgetown law students recently; Rick Santorum?s supremely ignorant comments about birth control; and no doubt, you remember Rush Limbaugh?s misogynistic rant about Sandra Fluke, so I won?t even go there.
Now, the Obama administration and Mitt Romney, the presumptive GOP presidential nominee, have both decided that it?s going to be women like me, and you perhaps, who determine the outcome of the 2012 presidential election.? It?s game on ? on both sides of the aisle. This is where I start to get testy.? That?s because I don?t believe any politician has my best interests in mind.? I?m an Independent voter, remember?
Yes, I know it has been politics and politicians who have passed laws which have directly benefited women, and I do appreciate that. What I don?t appreciate is being used as a political pawn.? But even more than that, I deeply resent the assumption that I?m too stupid to see through the political posturing, the slogans, and the ideological warfare intended as nothing more than to influence how I might think about certain issues, and who I will vote for as a result.
Are we just silly women who can be politically persuaded and led about by our ovaries and our uterus? Do they honestly believe that all it takes for me to vote for a specific candidate is to inflame my feminist passions by suggesting there is a ?war on women?? Seriously?? That?s what you think of me Mr. Politician?
Newsflash gentlemen:? Like you, I read.? Like you, I reason, and contrary to what you might think, I am not an uneducated dunderhead who believes every piece of political propaganda set before me. Yes, I care about women?s rights.? Yes, I care about women?s health, and yes, I care about women?s reproductive rights. ?But unlike some of you, I don?t think with what is positioned between my legs.
So please, enough with this pseudo war on women.? I?m not feeling it.? At least, not in the way you probably wish that I would.? If you really want to inflame my passions, recite Lord Alfred Tennyson to me while you?re dressed as a Gladiator, ala Russell Crowe.? That will get me every time.
As a writer, you could say that Jonathan Ames has certainly explored the boundaries of what?s possible through a myriad of mediums and life experiences. He?s written novels, memoirs and comics, worked as a newspaper columnist, an on-stage storyteller and was the creator, writer and producer of ?Bored to Death? the TV series which ran for three seasons on HBO. He?s also been an occasional actor (he was a ?porn-extra? in one film) and had a brief career as an amateur boxer known as ?The Herring Wonder.?
Often confessional, frequently provocative and largely experiential, Ames built a reputation for putting it all out there in his writing ? whether he was sharing stories of his childhood traumas or sexual misadventures. On Wednesday, October 3 Ames will be the first guest in the fall Writers Speak Wednesdays series at Stony Brook Southampton.
Given all his successes, Ames is now in a well-earned position to offer aspiring young writers a bit of guidance in pursuing their own careers. But Ames will tell you, it was another talented (and extremely confessional) writer who inspired him when he was just starting out ? Spalding Gray, the renowned monologist and Sag Harbor resident who took his own life in 2004 following a car accident that left him with debilitating injuries.
?I first saw him in ?86 at Lincoln Center,? recalls Ames. ?A woman I was dating took me to the show, and I remember loving it. Even though it was Lincoln Center there was something Beat Generation about it. For me anyway.?
?I was 22 years old and here?s someone going up there being so vulnerable and honest and real while performing,? adds Ames. ?A few years later, I don?t know if I forgot about it, but I began to tell stories.?
By that point, though Ames had published his first novel, ?I Pass Like the Night,? he was struggling with his new writing projects. So he went to MacDowell Colony, an artists and writers retreat in New Hampshire, where he had received a residency. Coincidentally, Spalding Gray had also once had a MacDowell residency (he shared details of the writer?s block he experienced there in his monologue ?Monster in a Box?). And like Gray, Ames found he was also having trouble getting his words down on paper during his time at MacDowell.
?But when I was talking at the dinner table they?d all laugh,? recalls Ames of the other artists and writers at MacDowell. ?Same things at the support groups, I?d tell my stories and they laughed.?
?One night I ended up telling stories at the library in the colony,? he adds. ?I don?t know if I had Spalding in my mind, but he was in my conscious.?
That was 1990, and in the years that followed, Ames began to go on stage to tell very personal stories from his life. But these were not like stand-up comedy routines or theatrical one-person shows that involve a lot of movement on stage.
?I kind of did what Spalding did with the desk and the glass of water ? stripped down and talking at a mic,? explains Ames. ?Then in ?99, I met him socially at a party and was very shy, a little like a baseball fan seeing Joe DiMaggio or Derek Jeter. I asked if his technique was like mine, where he knew the basic outline, but used improv so he told it fresh every time. He said he did.?
In 1999, Ames received a Guggenheim fellowship and brought his original (and some would say shocking) one-man show ?Oedipussy? to an off-off-Broadway theater. And by the time of Gray?s death, Ames had become known as a downtown Manhattan performer and he knew a lot of the same people as Gray. So when Gray?s widow, Kathie Russo, and Lucy Sexton put together the theatrical piece ?Spalding Gray: Stories Left to Tell,? which consisted of excerpts from Gray?s monologues and writings, they tapped Ames as one of the initial five performers to share Gray?s words on stage.
?After a few experimental performances in small theaters I was in the PS 122 run,? says Ames. ?We did five nights in a row, then I went on the road with them to a couple different cities and theaters.?
While Ames would not say his own method of baring his soul on stage was directly because of Gray, he does call him ?a kindred spirit.? And though he performed his on stage pieces while still working on his books, Ames did not find that one form of writing segued into the other.
?It was a dual track ? I?d write during the day, perform at night,? he says. ?The performance was more ephemeral, more of the moment. Later I had a column in an alternative paper for three years. A lot of the stories I told on stage I turned into prose for my column. My column was my adventures.?
?For me, performing grew out of struggle to write a second book ? but I found I could just talk,? he says. ?That led me back to writing. It was this bifurcated life. I was better known as a writer than a performer. In the downtown world I was known as both.?
Now that he?s older (Ames is 48), finds his focus has changed and he admits he is less eager to share the nitty gritty details of his personal life with his public. In the HBO series ?Bored to Death,? actor Jason Schwartzman may have played a struggling novelist named Jonathan Ames who moonlights as an unlicensed private detective, but the show, which ran from 2009 to 2011, was wholly fictional ? not confessional.
?I?ve written four novels and four collections,? he says. ?I haven?t really been doing the confessional work for quite some time. As I get older it becomes more difficult because I think I want to be more private and don?t want people reading into things as much.?
?It?s an issue I?m struggling more with now than when I was young and more courageous on some level,? says Ames. ?When you?re trying to make your way, you do that by being brave. Maybe I?ve gotten less brave.?
It?s not just true of the writing. Ames, a.k.a. ?The Herring Wonder? who once enjoyed going a few rounds in the ring, whether in the school yard, as performance art spectacle or a serious amateur bout, has also hung up the boxing gloves. His nose has been broken more times than he cares to remember.
?I haven?t had a fight since 2007. I don?t think I?ll box again,? he says. ?I enjoyed the romance of getting into the ring, but not getting hit or hurting someone else. I was more into putting on the costume.?
Jonathan Ames speaks as part of Writers Speak Wednesdays at Stony Brook Southampton at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, October 3, 2012. Sponsored by the in CreativeWritingand Literature program, the talk will be held in the Radio Lounge on the second floor of Chancellors Hall. For information, call 632-5287 or visit www.stonybrook.edu/mfa. Admission is free and open to the public.
Tom Butler, Director of Lenovo ThinkPad Marketing, speaks while holding a Lenovo tablet Thursday, Sept. 27, 2012, in San Francisco. Intel previewed a wave of tablet computers powered by a microprocessor that the company redesigned to make a bigger dent in the rapidly growing mobile market. An assortment of major computer vendor made the tablets previewed Thursday in San Francisco. All the devices depend on Intel Corp.?s new processor and Windows 8, a dramatic overhaul of the widely used operating system made by Microsoft Corp. (AP Photo/Ben Margot)
Tom Butler, Director of Lenovo ThinkPad Marketing, speaks while holding a Lenovo tablet Thursday, Sept. 27, 2012, in San Francisco. Intel previewed a wave of tablet computers powered by a microprocessor that the company redesigned to make a bigger dent in the rapidly growing mobile market. An assortment of major computer vendor made the tablets previewed Thursday in San Francisco. All the devices depend on Intel Corp.?s new processor and Windows 8, a dramatic overhaul of the widely used operating system made by Microsoft Corp. (AP Photo/Ben Margot)
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) ? Intel previewed a wave of tablet computers powered by a microprocessor that the company redesigned to make a bigger dent in the rapidly growing mobile market.
An assortment of major computer vendors made the tablets that were shown Thursday in San Francisco. All the devices depend on Intel Corp.'s new processor and Windows 8, a dramatic overhaul of the widely used operating system made by Microsoft Corp.
The tablets won't go on sale until Oct. 26 when Windows 8 is released. The prices for the various machines will be revealed during the next few weeks.
Intel held the event in an attempt to prove it's adapting to the market upheaval caused by the increasing popularity of smartphones and tablets such as Apple Inc.'s iPad.
The shift to mobile devices poses a threat to Intel because its previous chip designs weren't well suited for the needs of smartphones and mobile devices. As a result, Intel's sales are now falling as demand for its personal-computer microprocessors tapers off.
Intel's new tablet chip, code named "Clover Trail" while it was in development, is called the Atom Z2760. It boasts a dual-processing feature that makes tablets run faster and with low power consumption so the battery life of a device should last 10 hours while it's showing video or performing other tasks.
The chips that Intel makes for PCs devour more power, making them ill-equipped for tablets that are often used for long stretches without a recharge. That's one of the main reasons Apple and other tablet makers have shunned Intel's chips.
Like Intel, PC makers are counting on Windows 8 to give them a slice of a market that so far has been dominated by the iPad. Most of the other tablets that are siphoning sales from the iPad are running on Android, a free operating system made by Google Inc.
Windows 8 presents applications in a mosaic of tiles to allow for touch-screen navigation and highlight real-time information from the Internet. The revamped operating system also can be adjusted to work on traditional laptop and desktop computers with keyboards. That versatility is meant to appeal to office workers and others who want to use their machines to create content, as well as consume it.
To cater to that market, some tablet makers are designing hybrid machines that include a keyboard that can be untethered from the display screen.
Erik Reid, an executive in Intel's mobile and communications group who orchestrated Thursday's showcase, described Windows 8 as a breakthrough that "offers an incredible and exciting opportunity to drive new innovation in the marketplace."
The flattery came after Bloomberg News reported Intel CEO Paul Otellini's apparent misgivings about the new operating system. In a meeting earlier this week with Intel employees in Taiwan, Otellini said he believes Microsoft is releasing Windows 8 before all the bugs are fixed, according to Bloomberg, which quoted an unnamed person who heard the remarks.
The manufacturers who have built tablets and hybrid machines running on Intel's new chip include Hewlett-Packard Co., Dell Inc., Lenovo Group, Asustek Computer Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co.
Intel shares gained 44 cents Thursday to close at $23.09.
Earlier this week Bloomberg reported that some Internet providers, including AT&T, Verizon, Time Warner Cable, Comcast, and Cox Communications, are going to partner with Web-based gaming companies in an attempt to snatch some marketshare away from video gaming juggernauts Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft.
Great! Now they just need to work on almost every aspect of their existing infrastructure and pricing models to make it possible.
Hell, I would have responded to this announcement a bit earlier if my home Internet connection, courtesy of Verizon, wasn?t so goddamn slow. Download speeds tend to average around 1.5 megabytes per second (though I am paying for 3.0 mbps speeds, oddly enough) ? glacial by many standards, but much faster than what I was used to in Upstate New York.
This isn?t an isolated issue. CNN reported earlier this year that the average US download speed, 6.7 mbps, puts the US, with the notable exception of a portion of Kansas City and Chataanooga, Tennessee, behind South Korea, Japan, and 10 other countries. Some states can pull down faster connections ? surprisingly enough, the state with the fastest connection is Delaware, not California or New York ? but for the most part download speeds in the US are a total crapshoot.
Even if these download speeds improve, and they?re going to have to if cloud-based gaming is ever going to catch on, gamers will then have to worry about?upload?speeds catching up as well. The infrastructure simply isn?t in place yet.
Then there is the fact that many people don?t have Internet connections at all. As Hamish pointed out in an earlier article about a non-profit?s efforts to extend Google Fiber?s high-speed goodness to the poorer parts of Kansas City, even if high-speed Internet does become available, many people won?t be able to afford it.
A family might be able to swing a game console, which tend to average around $300, but having to pay fees like the $95 per month customers pay for Verizon?s fastest FiOS connection is outside of many household?s reach. Prices would have to fall to an affordable level while connection speeds rise to accomodate these Web-based games. Though that may happen eventually, it certainly won?t happen by 2013 or 2014, the years Bloomberg claims many of these products should be ready to ship.
So why introduce the product at all, then? The short answer is the same as always: money. The long answer is that doing so would give these companies control over how games are delivered, played, and paid for.
?It makes perfect sense why they would want to go after this market,? Mitch Lasky, a partner at Benchmark Capital and former executive at Electronic Arts, told Bloomberg. ?Streaming games use a ton of bandwidth and really benefit from good networks. But it?s a gnarly execution problem they?re trying to solve.? By adding a new product ? the gaming service ? these companies are making money in two different ways. First is with the gaming service itself, which in turn could lead to customers paying more for faster Internet connections and larger data caps.
If the Internet providers are charging for the gaming product, keep their prices at a similar level (or even simply within a decent range), and then move to introduce or reinforce data caps, they stand to make what is best described as a?fuckton of money. To run with the popular ?Internet providers are like roads, and content is like housing? metaphor, selling this product is like owning the road, the house, and, if they ?need? to sell a set-top box, the car. Did anyone just hear a million?ka-chings?
[unable to retrieve full-text content]Phoenix personal injury lawyer, Chris Zachar of Zachar Law Firm. ... That agreement you signed for your Personal Injury case? ... Find a law firm where you get to talk to and/or meet with a Phoenix Personal Injury Attorney.
So you want to know what's important in your soccer recruiting video? Or maybe you want to know if you can set your highlight clips to Queen's "We are the Champions" to add to the entertainment value. Because all prospective coaches want to be entertained ... right? Well, keep reading. I have tips for you.
I surprised my wife on Saturday by taking her to the movies to see Finding Nemo 3D.
Some surprise, you might think. A children's movie? Did you also take her to McDonald's and get her a Happy Meal?
Hold up, hold up, hold up. I had my reasons. Finding Nemo was our first movie date and our third date overall. (At least I think it was. I can remember just three relationship-related dates ? the anniversary of our first date, our wedding anniversary and the date I proposed. Any other event gets plugged into either "sometime during the calendar year" or "wait, that happened?")
It was also the first night I held her hand. I even wrote a column about it for Indiana University's student newspaper, where ? in the vein of great journalists such as Dave Barry and Lewis Grizzard ? I spent much of my time writing silly columns.
More than nine years later, I'm still holding her hand. As such, Finding Nemo ? the story of a clownfish searching for his son ? always will have a special place in my heart.
So, needless to say, I was disappointed to find out the clownfish might be in peril.
According to a Los Angeles Time opinion piece:
Almost a decade after the Pixar hit Finding Nemo made clownfish seem downright warm and fuzzy, environmentalists are now looking for a real-life sequel: Saving Nemo. The Center for Biological Diversity is petitioning the National Marine Fisheries Service to extend the protections of the Endangered Species Act to the clownfish as well as several other coral reef dwellers.
The piece goes on to report that while there is no evidence of clownfish population loss, the deterioration of their coral reef homes justified the request:
In ways it makes more sense to move to protect a species when its habitat declines rather than its actual population. The backbone of the Endangered Species Act is the protection of critical habitat; without that habitat, there's almost no hope of saving an endangered animal, except perhaps in a zoo.
The same concept applies to relationships. You don't wait until the relationship is in danger to try to save it. You want to make sure your habitat is well-kept. (I'm speaking metaphorically, of course. Thoroughly cleaning your home is not the key to a healthy relationship. Though, doing the dishes on a regular basis might be.)
Happily, the movie Finding Nemo has some great advice for keeping a relationship strong throughout, including some things I try to practice in my marriage.
1. You have to work at it ? Relationships just don't float along with no problems. And problems aren't solved just by sitting around in your sea anemone (or pajamas, whatever) and hoping things get better. You have to keep swimming. Talk. Listen. Act. Anything worthwhile is worth putting work into. Just keep swimming.
2. Say "yes" more times than you say "no" ? Shortly after the beginning of the film, Marlin ? the dad clownfish ? becomes a "no" fish. He tells his son, Nemo, no. After he loses Nemo, he tells his traveling buddy, Dory, no. No, no, no, no, no. He becomes happier throughout the film by learning to say "yes." There are times in a relationship when it's easy to fall into a "no" rut. No, I don't want to go see that movie. No, I don't want to go out tonight. No, I don't want to go for a walk. As Dory might say, you essentially become a "Mr. Grumpy Gills." Relationship is a give and take, though. When your partner asks whether you want to do something with them, make a point to try to say "yes" more than you say "no" ? even when they are things that don't really interest you. By the end, you'll be happier, too.
3. See things from your significant other's point of view ? Marlin's trek toward becoming a "yes" fish begins when he starts to see things from the point of view of Dory and Nemo. You can be with someone for years and still not know where they're coming from unless you really stop and walk in their shoes for a bit. Suddenly, the problem with leaving the faucet dripping on a consistent basis becomes a little more clear.
4. Keep things fresh ? It's up to both sides to freshen things up from time to time. Fight a shark. Ride the current with sea turtles. Hang out inside a whale. OK, maybe it's best not to get ideas on how to freshen things up from an animated fish movie.
5. Don't put a jellyfish under the covers where your significant other sleeps ? They sting. Just sayin'.
? Joe Grace is a writer and journalist who lives in Chicago with his wife. He's serious about No. 5. Jellyfish aren't toys.
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New clues about ancient water cycles shed light on US deserts, says Texas A&M-led studyPublic release date: 27-Sep-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Keith Randall keith-randall@tamu.edu 979-845-4644 Texas A&M University
The deserts of Utah and Nevada have not always been dry. Between 14,000 and 20,000 years ago, when large ice caps covered Canada during the last glacial cooling, valleys throughout the desert southwest filled with water to become large lakes, scientists have long surmised. At their maximum size, the desert lakes covered about a quarter of both Nevada and Utah. Now a team led by a Texas A&M University researcher has found a new water cycle connection between the U.S. southwest and the tropics, and understanding the processes that have brought precipitation to the western U.S. will help scientists better understand how the water cycle might be perturbed in the future.
Mitch Lyle, professor of oceanography, led the study with colleagues from Columbia University, University of California-Santa Cruz, Stanford University, Hokkaido University of Japan, Brown University and the U.S. Geological Survey. Their work, funded by the National Science Foundation, is published in the current issue of Science magazine.
The dry shorelines of these glacial lakes were first discovered by 19th century geologists when the west was first explored, Lyle explains, adding that the source of the additional water has been a mystery. By assembling data from ocean sediments and from dry western valleys collected over the last 30 years, Lyle and the team found a new water cycle connection between the southwest U.S. and the tropics.
"Large ice caps profoundly altered where storms went during glacial periods. Before this study, it was assumed that Pacific winter storms that now track into Washington and Canada were pushed south into central and southern California," Lyle notes.
"However, by comparing timing between wet intervals on the coast, where these storms would first strike, with growth of the inland lakes, we found that they didn't match."
The team was able to time wet periods along the California coast from pollen buried in marine sediments from cores archived by scientists at the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program at Texas A&M. They evaluated lake level studies from southeast Oregon, Nevada, Utah, eastern California, New Mexico, and west Texas to find when lakes filled in different parts of the west.
"Many teams of scientists have been working on this problem since the 1950s, when radiocarbon dating first allowed ages to be put on old shorelines," Lyle adds. "The data we synthesized covers a wide latitude so that we could determine how the glacial wet intervals operated."
Only southern California coastal wet intervals matched with the progression of high lakes inland, pointing to the development of a tropical connection, where storms cycled into the region from the tropical Pacific, west of southern Mexico.
"We think that the extra precipitation may have come in summer, enhancing the now weak summer monsoon in the desert southwest. But we need more information about what season the storms arrived to strengthen this speculation," Lyle says.
Not only is the development of the glacial lakes important from a paleoclimate perspective, but it is likely that the lakes were important to the migration of people into North America, Lyle believes.
Many of the archaeological sites where early Indians settled when they first came into the U.S. are rock shelters at the edges of these ancient lakes. The lakes were a major source of fish, and a gathering place for deer and wildfowl at that time.
"What we need to do now is look at all of this on a finer scale," Lyle points out. "We need to understand better the processes that directed the storms thousands of years ago, and to predict better what changes might occur in the future."
###
About Research at Texas A&M University: As one of the world's leading research institutions, Texas A&M is in the vanguard in making significant contributions to the storehouse of knowledge, including that of science and technology. Research conducted at Texas A&M represents an annual investment of more than $700 million. That research creates new knowledge that provides basic, fundamental and applied contributions resulting in many cases in economic benefits to the state, nation and world.
Media contact: Keith Randall, News & Information Services, at (979) 845-4644 or keith-randall@tamu.edu or Mitch Lyle at (979) 845-3380 or mlyle@ocean.tamu.edu
More news about Texas A&M University, go to http://tamutimes.tamu.edu/
Follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/tamu/
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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.
New clues about ancient water cycles shed light on US deserts, says Texas A&M-led studyPublic release date: 27-Sep-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Keith Randall keith-randall@tamu.edu 979-845-4644 Texas A&M University
The deserts of Utah and Nevada have not always been dry. Between 14,000 and 20,000 years ago, when large ice caps covered Canada during the last glacial cooling, valleys throughout the desert southwest filled with water to become large lakes, scientists have long surmised. At their maximum size, the desert lakes covered about a quarter of both Nevada and Utah. Now a team led by a Texas A&M University researcher has found a new water cycle connection between the U.S. southwest and the tropics, and understanding the processes that have brought precipitation to the western U.S. will help scientists better understand how the water cycle might be perturbed in the future.
Mitch Lyle, professor of oceanography, led the study with colleagues from Columbia University, University of California-Santa Cruz, Stanford University, Hokkaido University of Japan, Brown University and the U.S. Geological Survey. Their work, funded by the National Science Foundation, is published in the current issue of Science magazine.
The dry shorelines of these glacial lakes were first discovered by 19th century geologists when the west was first explored, Lyle explains, adding that the source of the additional water has been a mystery. By assembling data from ocean sediments and from dry western valleys collected over the last 30 years, Lyle and the team found a new water cycle connection between the southwest U.S. and the tropics.
"Large ice caps profoundly altered where storms went during glacial periods. Before this study, it was assumed that Pacific winter storms that now track into Washington and Canada were pushed south into central and southern California," Lyle notes.
"However, by comparing timing between wet intervals on the coast, where these storms would first strike, with growth of the inland lakes, we found that they didn't match."
The team was able to time wet periods along the California coast from pollen buried in marine sediments from cores archived by scientists at the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program at Texas A&M. They evaluated lake level studies from southeast Oregon, Nevada, Utah, eastern California, New Mexico, and west Texas to find when lakes filled in different parts of the west.
"Many teams of scientists have been working on this problem since the 1950s, when radiocarbon dating first allowed ages to be put on old shorelines," Lyle adds. "The data we synthesized covers a wide latitude so that we could determine how the glacial wet intervals operated."
Only southern California coastal wet intervals matched with the progression of high lakes inland, pointing to the development of a tropical connection, where storms cycled into the region from the tropical Pacific, west of southern Mexico.
"We think that the extra precipitation may have come in summer, enhancing the now weak summer monsoon in the desert southwest. But we need more information about what season the storms arrived to strengthen this speculation," Lyle says.
Not only is the development of the glacial lakes important from a paleoclimate perspective, but it is likely that the lakes were important to the migration of people into North America, Lyle believes.
Many of the archaeological sites where early Indians settled when they first came into the U.S. are rock shelters at the edges of these ancient lakes. The lakes were a major source of fish, and a gathering place for deer and wildfowl at that time.
"What we need to do now is look at all of this on a finer scale," Lyle points out. "We need to understand better the processes that directed the storms thousands of years ago, and to predict better what changes might occur in the future."
###
About Research at Texas A&M University: As one of the world's leading research institutions, Texas A&M is in the vanguard in making significant contributions to the storehouse of knowledge, including that of science and technology. Research conducted at Texas A&M represents an annual investment of more than $700 million. That research creates new knowledge that provides basic, fundamental and applied contributions resulting in many cases in economic benefits to the state, nation and world.
Media contact: Keith Randall, News & Information Services, at (979) 845-4644 or keith-randall@tamu.edu or Mitch Lyle at (979) 845-3380 or mlyle@ocean.tamu.edu
More news about Texas A&M University, go to http://tamutimes.tamu.edu/
Follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/tamu/
[ | 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.
Controlling the spread of diseases among humans, other animals and the environmentPublic release date: 27-Sep-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Cheryl Dybas cdybas@nsf.gov 703-292-7734 National Science Foundation
New NSF-NIH-USDA-BBSRC grants fund research on how infectious diseases are transmitted
West Nile virus, Lyme disease and hantavirus are all infectious diseases spreading in animals and in people. Is human interaction with the environment somehow responsible for the increase in incidence of these diseases?
A joint National Science Foundation (NSF) and National Institutes of Health (NIH) Ecology and Evolution of Infectious Diseases (EEID) program is providing answers.
It supports efforts to understand the underlying ecological and biological mechanisms behind human-induced environmental changes and the emergence and transmission of infectious diseases.
NSF and NIH--in collaboration with the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture and the United Kingdom's Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC)--recently awarded $20.7 million in 11 new EEID grants.
"Threats to human health, food security and ecosystem services are growing, in part due to increases in the spread of diseases," says Sam Scheiner, NSF EEID program director. "These research projects will provide a new understanding of the causes of that spread and help us control these growing and myriad threats."
At NSF, the EEID program is supported by the Directorates for Biological Sciences and Geosciences.
"The interdisciplinary collaborations fostered by the EEID program promote a deeper understanding of how infectious diseases emerge and spread," says Irene Eckstrand of the National Institutes of Health's National Institute of General Medical Sciences.
"This knowledge is enormously helpful in developing effective strategies for suppressing the transmission of infectious agents in animal populations and reducing the burden of disease in humans."
Projects funded through the EEID program allow scientists to study how large-scale environmental events--such as habitat destruction, invasions of non-native species and pollution--alter the risks of emergence of viral, parasitic and bacterial diseases in humans and animals.
"With the growing global population expected to reach nine billion by 2050, we face many challenges related to food security and health," says Douglas Kell, BBSRC chief executive.
"Infectious diseases have a major effect on these issues, threatening the health of humans and livestock. These new EEID projects offer international expertise to help us find solutions to this threat."
Researchers supported by the EEID program are advancing basic theory related to infectious diseases and applying that knowledge to improve our understanding of how pathogens spread through populations at a time of increasing environmental change.
The benefits of research on the ecology and evolution of infectious diseases include development of theories of how diseases are transmitted, improved understanding of unintended health effects of development projects, increased capacity to forecast disease outbreaks, and knowledge of how infectious diseases emerge and reemerge.
"Animal and plant diseases cause significant losses in food production around the globe, with some pathogens also causing food-borne illnesses in humans," says Sonny Ramaswamy, director of USDA's National Institute of Food and Agriculture.
"Agriculturally-relevant research supported by the EEID program is helping us understand how best to prevent, predict and respond to both native and non-native diseases that threaten U.S. food security."
This year's award recipients will conduct research on such topics as: the spillover dynamics of avian influenza in endemic countries; the effects of a changing ocean on the management and ecology of infectious marine disease; and how mutualistic interactions among tick-borne pathogens drive the emergence of human babesiosis in the northeastern United States.
In the urban slums of Brazil, other grantees will study the influence on human health of leptospirosis--a common disease transmitted to people from animals. Still other grantees will study the ecological drivers of infectious disease evolution in an emerging avian pathogen, while others will link models and policy using adaptive management for optimal control of disease outbreaks.
EEID 2012 awardees, their institutions and projects are:
Peter Daszak, Ecohealth Alliance, Inc.
Comparative Spillover Dynamics of Avian Influenza in Endemic Countries
Eileen Hoffman, Old Dominion University Research Foundation:
Development of a Theoretical Basis for Modeling Disease Processes in Marine Invertebrates
Douglas Call, Washington State University:
US-UK Collab: Ecological and Socio-Economic Factors Impacting Maintenance and Dissemination of Antibiotic Resistance in the Greater Serengeti Ecosystem
Peter Hudson, Pennsylvania State University, University Park:
EID: Collaborative Research: Invasion and Infection: Translocation and Transmission: An Experimental Study with Mycoplasma in Desert Tortoises
Donna Rizzo, University of Vermont & State Agricultural College:
Modeling Disease Transmission Using Spatial Mapping of Vector-Parasite Genetics and Vector Feeding Patterns
C. Drew Harvell, Cornell University:
RCN: Evaluating the Impacts of a Changing Ocean on Management and Ecology of Infectious Marine Disease
Andrew Read, Pennsylvania State University, University Park:
US-UK Collab: Vaccines as Drivers of Disease Emergence: Transmission Ecology and Virulence Evolution in Marek's Disease
Dana Hawley, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University:
Ecological Drivers of Virulence Evolution in an Emerging Avian Pathogen
Maria Diuk-Wasser, Yale University:
Babesiosis Emergence in the United States
Matthew Ferrari, Pennsylvania State University, University Park:
US-UK Collab: Linking Models and Policy: Using Active Adaptive Management for Optimal Control of Disease Outbreaks
Albert Ko, Yale University:
Ecoepidemiology of Leptospirosis in the Urban Slums of Brazil
Kerry-Ann Naish, University of Washington:
Ecological Drivers of Transmission, Emergence, and Displacement of an Aquatic Virus in Fish Hosts
###
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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.
Controlling the spread of diseases among humans, other animals and the environmentPublic release date: 27-Sep-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Cheryl Dybas cdybas@nsf.gov 703-292-7734 National Science Foundation
New NSF-NIH-USDA-BBSRC grants fund research on how infectious diseases are transmitted
West Nile virus, Lyme disease and hantavirus are all infectious diseases spreading in animals and in people. Is human interaction with the environment somehow responsible for the increase in incidence of these diseases?
A joint National Science Foundation (NSF) and National Institutes of Health (NIH) Ecology and Evolution of Infectious Diseases (EEID) program is providing answers.
It supports efforts to understand the underlying ecological and biological mechanisms behind human-induced environmental changes and the emergence and transmission of infectious diseases.
NSF and NIH--in collaboration with the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture and the United Kingdom's Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC)--recently awarded $20.7 million in 11 new EEID grants.
"Threats to human health, food security and ecosystem services are growing, in part due to increases in the spread of diseases," says Sam Scheiner, NSF EEID program director. "These research projects will provide a new understanding of the causes of that spread and help us control these growing and myriad threats."
At NSF, the EEID program is supported by the Directorates for Biological Sciences and Geosciences.
"The interdisciplinary collaborations fostered by the EEID program promote a deeper understanding of how infectious diseases emerge and spread," says Irene Eckstrand of the National Institutes of Health's National Institute of General Medical Sciences.
"This knowledge is enormously helpful in developing effective strategies for suppressing the transmission of infectious agents in animal populations and reducing the burden of disease in humans."
Projects funded through the EEID program allow scientists to study how large-scale environmental events--such as habitat destruction, invasions of non-native species and pollution--alter the risks of emergence of viral, parasitic and bacterial diseases in humans and animals.
"With the growing global population expected to reach nine billion by 2050, we face many challenges related to food security and health," says Douglas Kell, BBSRC chief executive.
"Infectious diseases have a major effect on these issues, threatening the health of humans and livestock. These new EEID projects offer international expertise to help us find solutions to this threat."
Researchers supported by the EEID program are advancing basic theory related to infectious diseases and applying that knowledge to improve our understanding of how pathogens spread through populations at a time of increasing environmental change.
The benefits of research on the ecology and evolution of infectious diseases include development of theories of how diseases are transmitted, improved understanding of unintended health effects of development projects, increased capacity to forecast disease outbreaks, and knowledge of how infectious diseases emerge and reemerge.
"Animal and plant diseases cause significant losses in food production around the globe, with some pathogens also causing food-borne illnesses in humans," says Sonny Ramaswamy, director of USDA's National Institute of Food and Agriculture.
"Agriculturally-relevant research supported by the EEID program is helping us understand how best to prevent, predict and respond to both native and non-native diseases that threaten U.S. food security."
This year's award recipients will conduct research on such topics as: the spillover dynamics of avian influenza in endemic countries; the effects of a changing ocean on the management and ecology of infectious marine disease; and how mutualistic interactions among tick-borne pathogens drive the emergence of human babesiosis in the northeastern United States.
In the urban slums of Brazil, other grantees will study the influence on human health of leptospirosis--a common disease transmitted to people from animals. Still other grantees will study the ecological drivers of infectious disease evolution in an emerging avian pathogen, while others will link models and policy using adaptive management for optimal control of disease outbreaks.
EEID 2012 awardees, their institutions and projects are:
Peter Daszak, Ecohealth Alliance, Inc.
Comparative Spillover Dynamics of Avian Influenza in Endemic Countries
Eileen Hoffman, Old Dominion University Research Foundation:
Development of a Theoretical Basis for Modeling Disease Processes in Marine Invertebrates
Douglas Call, Washington State University:
US-UK Collab: Ecological and Socio-Economic Factors Impacting Maintenance and Dissemination of Antibiotic Resistance in the Greater Serengeti Ecosystem
Peter Hudson, Pennsylvania State University, University Park:
EID: Collaborative Research: Invasion and Infection: Translocation and Transmission: An Experimental Study with Mycoplasma in Desert Tortoises
Donna Rizzo, University of Vermont & State Agricultural College:
Modeling Disease Transmission Using Spatial Mapping of Vector-Parasite Genetics and Vector Feeding Patterns
C. Drew Harvell, Cornell University:
RCN: Evaluating the Impacts of a Changing Ocean on Management and Ecology of Infectious Marine Disease
Andrew Read, Pennsylvania State University, University Park:
US-UK Collab: Vaccines as Drivers of Disease Emergence: Transmission Ecology and Virulence Evolution in Marek's Disease
Dana Hawley, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University:
Ecological Drivers of Virulence Evolution in an Emerging Avian Pathogen
Maria Diuk-Wasser, Yale University:
Babesiosis Emergence in the United States
Matthew Ferrari, Pennsylvania State University, University Park:
US-UK Collab: Linking Models and Policy: Using Active Adaptive Management for Optimal Control of Disease Outbreaks
Albert Ko, Yale University:
Ecoepidemiology of Leptospirosis in the Urban Slums of Brazil
Kerry-Ann Naish, University of Washington:
Ecological Drivers of Transmission, Emergence, and Displacement of an Aquatic Virus in Fish Hosts
###
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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.
Earlier this week Bloomberg reported that some Internet providers, including AT&T, Verizon, Time Warner Cable, Comcast, and Cox Communications, are going to partner with Web-based gaming companies in an attempt to snatch some marketshare away from video gaming juggernauts Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft.
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Public release date: 27-Sep-2012
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