Dec. 23, 2012 ? Acute lymphatic leukemia (ALL) is the most common cancer in children under the age of 14 years. With optimum treatment, approximately 75 percent of children are currently cured, but the treatment consists of severe chemotherapy with many side effects. In collaboration with international research teams, scientists at VIB, KU Leuven and UZ Leuven have identified new genetic mutations that lead to T-ALL, a variant of ALL. They have unmasked the ribosome -- the molecular machine in the cell that is involved in the production of proteins -- as a weak spot in leukemia cells.
Their research has also shown that there is a difference in T-ALL between adults and children. Both findings can be important in the search for improved treatments for T-ALL.
Jan Cools (VIB/KU Leuven): "We have discovered that there is a clear genetic difference between T-ALL in children and in adults. This could be an explanation why adults do not respond as well to the current therapy."
Stein Aerts (KU Leuven): "This is a beautiful example of the power of genome sequencing in cancer research. New technologies and large-scale bio-informatics allow us to study a lot of data simultaneously. This allows us to discover links that would have been impossible to find in the past."
T-cell acute lymphatic leukemia (T-ALL)
The formation of white blood cells is disrupted by leukemia. The cells in the bone marrow that should mature into white blood cells multiply unchecked without maturing completely. These immature blood cells compromise the production of normal blood cells. This makes patients more susceptible to infections. Leukemia occurs in different forms; in the case of T-ALL, there is an accumulation of immature white blood cells over a very short period of time. With optimum treatment -- involving chemotherapy -- approximately 75 % of children are currently cured. For adults, the chance of a cure is below 50 %. Chemotherapy is associated with many side effects. The search for a more specific treatment can only start once we know what causes T-ALL.
7 new genes with a key role in T-ALL identified
T-ALL only occurs if errors in various genes occur simultaneously. It is important to determine which genes play a key role. Kim De Keersmaecker, Zeynep Kalender Atak, Jan Cools and Stein Aerts have identified a series of defects in 15 important genes, of which 7 have not previously been associated with T-ALL. They used next-generation sequencing to analyze the 20,000+ genes of 67 T-ALL patients. This technique allows for very fast analysis and comparison of the complete DNA sequence of healthy and sick individuals.
A difference between adults and children
The investigators from Leuven also discovered a difference between T-ALL in children and in adults. T-ALL in adults contains significantly more mutations than in children. The leukemia cells in adults also contain mutations in other genes than in children. This genetic difference could be a possible explanation why adults do not respond as well to the current therapy.
A weak point in leukemia cells exposed
RPL5 and RPL10 -- two newly identified genes -- form part of the ribosome: this is the complex in the cell that produces proteins. The scientists hereby demonstrated for the first time that defects in the ribosome can also play a role in cancer activation. Experiments in yeast cells confirm that mutations in RPL10 cause a change in the ribosome.
Kim De Keersmaecker (VIB/KU Leuven): "This could be a weak point of the leukemia cells: all cells need properly functioning ribosomes to survive and to grow. These 'defective' ribosomes in the leukemia cells could be a new suitable target for the development of targeted therapies."
Patient information
As this study may raise many questions in patients, we would like to refer you to the e-mail address that the VIB has set up for this purpose. Anyone with questions about this research and other medical research can submit their questions on patients@vib.be. Please submit your question in Dutch or English only.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by VIB, via AlphaGalileo.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Journal Reference:
Kim De Keersmaecker, Zeynep Kalender Atak, Ning Li, Carmen Vicente, Stephanie Patchett, Tiziana Girardi, Valentina Gianfelici, Ellen Geerdens, Emmanuelle Clappier, Micha?l Porcu, Idoya Lahortiga, Rossella Luc?, Jiekun Yan, Gert Hulselmans, Hilde Vranckx, Roel Vandepoel, Bram Sweron, Kris Jacobs, Nicole Mentens, Iwona Wlodarska, Barbara Cauwelier, Jacqueline Cloos, Jean Soulier, Anne Uyttebroeck, Claudia Bagni, Bassem A Hassan, Peter Vandenberghe, Arlen W Johnson, Stein Aerts, Jan Cools. Exome sequencing identifies mutation in CNOT3 and ribosomal genes RPL5 and RPL10 in T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Nature Genetics, 2012; DOI: 10.1038/ng.2508
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
From spa baths to whirlpool tubs to singing and dancing shower cubicles and even heated towel racks, the modern bathroom can be fitted with a number of luxury items that can transform it.
Bathrooms used to be that little room in the house where we went to clean, groom and relieve ourselves. Now all this has changed, and the bathroom can become the luxury room where we escape from everyone for a while. Heated towel racks may sound like a silly extravagance, but there?s nothing like stepping out of the shower or bath and wrapping yourself in a delightfully warm towel.
Benefits of A Heated Towel Rack
Heated towel racks provide you with a simple pleasure: a nice warm toasty towel that adds to the experience of preparing for or recuperating from a hectic day.
They are a practical alternative or addition to whirlpool baths, water jets, home spas and soothing halogen light fittings. All are meant to give you that calm and soothing effect, helping you relax and rejuvenate, but the heated towel rack has some perks that may surprise. You and your family will experience a number of benefits when you install one of these racks. Here are a few:
* Hygiene ? Heated towel racks help to keep towels warm and dry so there is little time for mildew or allergens to develop.
* Comfort ? If you have ever experienced what it is like stepping out of a nice warm shower or bath during winter when it is bitingly cold, only to be greeted by chilly air and a cold piece of terrycloth, you will appreciate warm towels. It is so much better to have a nice warm towel to wrap around your body to continue the spa-like experience, than having to end it shivering.
*?Heated towel racks are designed to keep the area within the vicinity it is installed nice and warm as well. Once it is strategically placed, you can step out of your bath into a warm air pocket, and reach then for your nice warm towel to finish up that lovely bathroom experience.
* Doctors Recommendation ? Doctors recommend the use of heated towels as opposed to room temperature ones to assist with reducing stress, increasing circulation and maintaining a warm and consistent body temperature.
* Drying Smaller Items of Clothing and Cloth ? Your heated towel rack can also serve as cloth warmer for your home. It can be used for drying items of clothing that are not suitable for the dryer, and for drying swim suits that will not be washed immediately because they will be reused soon. You can also use it to warm cloths and hand towels used for facials or for stress reducing treatments or other medical reasons such as wrapping swollen hands/feet or tending to earaches and headaches.
* Helps Save Energy ? If your bathroom is not too large, it could actually keep the entire area warm. Reduce you reliance on an efficient heater and install a modern towel warmer.
Heating racks are available in a range of sizes designs and styles, allowing you can select one that is best for your bathroom space. They can be used in both large bathrooms and single toilets. Heated towel rack is one of life?s affordable luxuries you should indulge.
Jamie Parham is an interior designer. He particularly likes finding solutions that add a touch of luxury to one?s home. Visit BetterBathrooms for more ideas.
Now if you search for a business and a map/places result is featured in the top right knowledge graph area, Google may show street, panoramic and/or inside photos of the business right in that box on the right.
An example is when you search for [oh nuts new york]:
This is Google?s attempt to making the search results richer and more useful for end users.
I also assume businesses with this added richer search result set wouldn?t mind the extra exposure?
KHARTOUM (Reuters) - An international peacekeeper killed three other peacekeepers before killing himself in the Darfur region of Sudan, the U.N.-led international peacekeeping force (UNAMID) said on Friday.
The shooting happened at a UNAMID site in Mukjar in West Darfur on Thursday, UNAMID spokeswoman Aicha Elbasri said, adding that the gunman had shot himself and another comrade had been wounded.
The African Union-United Nations force initially had said the peacekeeper killed four comrades. "The mission is currently investigating the circumstances surrounding the incident," Elbasri said, declining further comment.
Despite the presence of the world's largest peacekeeping mission, fighting between Sudan's armed forces and rebels has continued, alongside banditry and tribal clashes, since the conflict erupted in 2003.
In a separate statement, UNAMID said it was investigating whether the Sudanese air force had bombed this week two areas in North Darfur as reported by local sources.
It sent a patrol to Shangil Tobaya to verify reported bombings but had been denied access by the Sudanese army, UNAMID said, adding that civilians had fled the area.
"The Mission...warns that continued fighting could lead to a catastrophic humanitarian situation for the displaced civilians in North Darfur," it said.
The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for President Omar Hassan al-Bashir and other officials for masterminding war crimes in Darfur. They deny the charges and refuse to recognise the court.
Posted by Sharonne Penickata on Rating 9.0 ?Outstanding
Many people attempt to put off the obstacle of moving so long as possible. Many people may not have that far to go, and a few people might be active the planet. Regardless of how far of a move, most people want the quickest way you can. You may want to obtain a large truck, if you are moving a whole house. This may reduce the trips made from point A to point B.
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You will want to be sure your truck company has a terminal on the other end, especially if you are moving long distance. If you rent then a moving trucks you?ll be able to soundly move everything towards the home, without having to worry about extra trips. It is possible to sit with the driver in the cab of the truck, when it is big enough. This may be the best way to go in case you are moving with kids.
Moving with kids isn?t necessarily easy either. At times you may get your kids to assist pack boxes, so that they feel they do something. You will need to watch the location where the youngsters are when moving the furnishings, you will not desire to place the sofa down on a small foot. So that the children busy, it is possible to assign them little jobs, like cleaning or packing, so they do not get hurt. If you can include the children inside the moving process, they will feel a part of everything.
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NEW YORK (AP) ? Oil closed above $90 a barrel for the first time in two months Thursday as it tracked an upward move in U.S. stock markets.
Benchmark crude for February delivery ended the day at $90.13 per barrel, up 15 cents, on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude, used to price international varieties of oil, dropped 16 cents to finish at $110.20 per barrel in London.
Meanwhile, gasoline prices continued to drop, while natural gas prices surged more than 4 percent.
Hopes faded for a pre-Christmas deal to avert the so-called "fiscal cliff" as budget talks in Washington reached a partisan standoff. Without a deal, the hundreds of billions of dollars in spending cuts and tax hikes that will take effect could throw the U.S. economy back into recession, economists believe. Such a prospect would likely mean decreasing energy demand.
Oil was lower for most of the morning then moved higher as U.S. stocks pushed into positive territory in the afternoon.
Natural gas prices gained 14 cents, or 4.2 percent, to end at $3.46 per 1,000 cubic feet after the government reported that the nation's supplies fell last week. Natural gas had dropped 10 percent in the two weeks ended Wednesday as some regions in the U.S. experienced warmer than normal temperatures, which meant less gas was used for heating.
The U.S. national average for gasoline reached its lowest point of the year on Thursday, falling almost a penny to $3.22 a gallon. The average was $3.28 on Jan. 1, and was as high as $3.87 in mid-September.
In other energy futures trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange:
? Heating oil rose 2 cents to finish at $3.06 a gallon.
? Wholesale gasoline gained a penny to end at $2.75 a gallon.
Editor?s note: This is the first in an occasional series looking at the changing Twin Cities apartment market.
Minneapolis-based Greco Real Estate Development recently started construction on a 171-unit apartment project at 2900 Lyndale Ave. S. in south Minneapolis. The site previously sat idle for years. (Staff photo: Bill Klotz)
Developer Arnie Gregory has been one of the busiest players in the current Twin Cities apartment boom.
His company, Minneapolis-based Greco Real Estate Development, just started construction on its latest project, a 171-unit market rate apartment complex along the Midtown Greenway in south Minneapolis expected to come on line in 2014.
Yet, in a business driven by what?s next, Gregory is calling time out. Citing the large number of apartments under development, he says he?s not looking for additional projects right now.
?We are not chasing any deals,? he said. ?I don?t foresee that we will be in the near term. I think we?re going to finish up what we?ve got and let this all play out.?
Call it a warning signal about the state of an apartment market that has stood out in an otherwise sluggish real estate development scene. In some corners of downtown Minneapolis, construction cranes seem to be everywhere. Finance & Commerce is tracking more than 4,000 apartments under construction within the city limits of Minneapolis and more than 16,000 units either under construction or proposed across the Twin Cities.
But history suggests the game is about to change. Developers will struggle to land financing and some planned projects will be canceled. Meanwhile, other developers will scramble to fill new projects as demand slows for units with rents of $2 or more per square foot, which would translate into $2,000 per month for a 1,000-square-foot unit.
The key question is how fast this change will take hold.
?I think that the next round of buildings that?s going to be opening will do well. Those that are going to be opening in mid-2103, I think we?re going to see leaseups start to slow,? said Tom Melchior, director of market research for Minneapolis-based CliftonLarsonAllen. ?2014 is probably going to be the real problematic year. You?re going to see an overbuilt market for a couple of years.?
While developers continue to propose apartment projects at a feverish clip, market observers are increasingly wary about the depth of the demand for new units.
For Gregory, whose company has developed the 216-unit Flux in the Uptown area of south Minneapolis, the 120-unit Copham in downtown Minneapolis and the soon-to-open 116-unit ElseWarehouse, it?s clearly time to pull back the reins.
Minnetonka-based Opus Development Corp.?s The Nic on Fifth, a 253-unit luxury apartment tower, is under construction at 415-427 Nicollet Mall and 426 Marquette Ave. in downtown Minneapolis. The site was once home to the Powers Department Store. (Staff photo: Bill Klotz)
?I think first and foremost it?s driven by all of the product that?s in the pipeline and coming online,? Gregory said. ?There?s going to be a lot of people delivering over the course of the next 12 to 24 months.?
Gregory is not the only developer cautiously watching the market.
?We may not necessarily know we?ve gone over the cliff until we?ve gone over the cliff,? said George Sherman, president and owner of Minneapolis-based Sherman Associates.
Sherman Associates is building the 180-unit Longfellow Station in south Minneapolis and the 178-unit West Side Flats in St. Paul. He?s also planning 140 units at the former Reserve condo site in the North Loop area of downtown Minneapolis and 86 to 89 units at the vintage Rayette Building in downtown St. Paul.
Sherman said that the vast majority of local apartments are on solid footing. But he questions the depth of demand for new high-end units charging more than $2 per square foot in rent.
?How many more projects can get done before there is a tipping point on that upper end market?? Sherman said. ?When you do the numbers, $1,800 to $2,500 a month of rent is pushing what a large amount of people can afford to pay.?
Sherman, an industry veteran, takes a long-haul view of the market.
?Clearly we are in a building boom right now,? Sherman said. ?We?re producing significantly more apartments than we have historically done. Where I think we have this tremendous exposure is on the upper end of the market rate spectrum.?
Sherman believes that this boom is being driven by the ongoing turmoil in the housing market and attractive financing terms for developers: ?I think it has to do with the for-sale market shutting down and low interest rates.?
But it can?t last forever, Sherman said.
?The demand is going to slow down and in two years rates will not support this kind of development,? he said.
Citing the large number of apartments under development, developer Arnie Gregory says he?s not looking for additional projects right now. This June photo shows Gregory at the TowerLight senior housing project, which was under construction in St. Louis Park. (FILE PHOTO: BILL KLOTZ)
Same old market?
There are competing schools of thought about the current apartment boom. Some think that changes in the economy and weakness of the housing market have fundamentally changed the dynamics of the market, creating a new generation of people who would rather rent than buy a home.
Other observers argue that real estate remains a cyclical business with boom-and-bust cycles destined to repeat themselves. As vacancy rates fall, developers start building units. But at some point, too many developers are in the game and the market becomes overbuilt. Development stalls as people wait for the existing inventory to fill up.
Ryan Severino, senior economist with New York-based research firm REIS Inc., said that after more than two strong years for the apartment business, numbers show the boom is slowing down.
?We?re seeing barely any movement in vacancy; rent growth has started to decelerate,? Severino said. ?It had been on a really good tear for two and a half years. ? 2013 and beyond is where it starts to get interesting.?
The third-quarter market report from REIS found an average vacancy rate of 4.6 percent across the nation. REIS reported a vacancy rate of 2.4 percent for the Minneapolis-St. Paul market, one of the lowest rates in the country.
But the report from REIS cautions: ?The third quarter?s rate of absorption is the slowest pace since the recovery began in the first quarter of 2010, and represents less than half the quarterly average rate of about 50,000 units that the sector enjoyed in 2010 and 2011.?
After enjoying a strong rebound, the question is what will drive demand for additional units.
?The economy and the job market are still pretty weak,? Severino said. ?A good number of the jobs being created are lower wage jobs. ? Until we see better jobs being created ? it?s going to be a little bit of a challenge. There?s just not a lot of really strong income growth right now.?
Local apartment reports are also flashing yellow for vacancy rate and absorption trends.
A quarterly survey by Minneapolis-based Marquette Advisors reported a third-quarter vacancy rate of 2.7 percent across the Twin Cities. While still low, it did mark an uptick from the 2.3 percent vacancy rate reported a year ago.
During the first nine months of 2012, Marquette Advisors tallied absorption of 1,164 units across the metro. That paled in comparison to the absorption of 3,029 units during the first nine months of 2011.
The Marquette Advisors reported noted: ?The pace of job creation has been unsteady over the past several months.?
The troubling jobs trend also is reflected in surveys of vacant positions conducted twice a year by the state of Minnesota. A second-quarter survey of employers found an increase in open jobs compared with a year ago, but 42 percent of openings were part time and half offered pay of less than $11.06 an hour.
Place your bets
So far, lenders have continued to finance new multifamily deals.
?Apartments have always been speculative,? CliftonLarsonAllen?s Melchior said. ?You don?t wait for people to rent before you build the building. ? There?s money out there that wants to be put to use. Where else are you going to invest it? ? The darling of the real estate industry right now is rental housing.?
Some skeptics thought that two luxury apartment towers proposed for downtown Minneapolis might never move forward. But this fall, Chicago-based Magellan Development Group started construction on a 354-unit project near Loring Park and Minnetonka-based Opus Development Corp. began The Nic on Fifth, a 253-unit project in the heart of downtown Minneapolis. The Opus project, however, is about 25 percent smaller than originally envisioned. When plans were first floated last year, the Opus tower called for 330 apartments.
Most observers agree that not every proposed apartment project will be built. Some have already been scuttled.
Minneapolis-based nonprofit Artspace Projects had planned a 59-unit affordable apartment project in downtown Minneapolis on a vacant parcel of land owned by the city of Minneapolis. But last summer, Artspace quietly scrapped plans for the project, at 800 Washington Ave. S., saying it could not attract enough financing for the project.
As they try to read the apartment market, many developers are reminded of the condo boom of 2004-2006, when they competed to build for-sale urban units.
As the market began to shift, many condo projects were scrapped as developers were unable to pre-sell units and secure financing. Some developers lost money; others lost sites to foreclosure. Many vacant sites remain undeveloped. Some of those are back in circulation as apartment sites.
Some believe it may be time for a reprise.
?If I was a developer out there, I would start a condo project right now,? Melchior said. ?There?s virtually no product left.?
That?s exactly what developer Jim Stanton of Coon Rapids-based Shamrock Development is doing in downtown Minneapolis. Construction is now under way on his Stonebridge Lofts, a 166-unit condo building near the Guthrie Theater that?s slated for completion in January 2014.
Greco?s Arnie Gregory, meanwhile, is surveying the landscape near his latest apartment project under construction at 2900 Lyndale Ave. S.
Just a block away, the 198-unit Track 29 Apartments is slated to open in spring, offering ?New York-style? two-story duplex units. A couple blocks to the west is Elan Uptown, a project ultimately slated for 591 units on the former Bennett Lumber site. Greystar, a large national apartment player based in Charleston, S.C., is building 203 units, the first phase of Elan Uptown, also aimed at a spring opening.
?We?re all going to compete with each other,? Gregory said. ?Everybody?s going to need about the same rent; it?s all new [construction]. It?s all going to come down to marketing, management and branding.?
In tough market, apartments stand out
2012 continued to be a hot year for apartment development in the Twin Cities. Below are notable projects that opened during the year along with a list of key projects that are under construction. For judging the health of the market going forward, we?ve provided some key proposed projects to watch. For a complete overview of the market, check out our Apartment Development Tracker at finance-commerce.com.
FINISHED:
Flux, 2838 Fremont Ave. S., Minneapolis, 216 units: An upscale Greco project in the Uptown area of south Minneapolis, along the Midtown Greenway.
The city of St. Paul developed The Lofts at Farmers Market, a long-delayed project in the Lowertown area of the city. (Staff photo: Bill Klotz)
Genesee, 8055 Penn Ave. S., Bloomington, 234 units: Bloomington-based StuartCo brought rentals to the intersection of Penn Avenue South and American Boulevard West, long planned for redevelopment.
Stadium Village Flats, 850 Washington Ave. SE, Minneapolis, 120 units: Minnetonka-based Opus Development Corp. delivered a mixed-use project reflecting the trend of high-end apartments catering to University of Minnesota students.
Soltv?, 701 Second St. N., Minneapolis, 100 units: The North Loop area of Minneapolis is one of the most crowded areas for new apartment development. The team of Solhem LLC and TE Miller Development completed this project last summer.
The Lofts at Farmers Market, 260 E. Fifth St., St. Paul, 58 units: Developed by the city of St. Paul, the long-delayed project was finally completed in the Lowertown area of downtown St. Paul.
UNDER CONSTRUCTION:
Loring Park Tower, 1369 Spruce Place, Minneapolis, 354 units: Chicago-based Magellan Development Group is bringing a ?Windy City?-scale project to Minneapolis with this 36-story luxury tower. The project does not yet have a name.
A Whole Foods grocery store is a key feature in the 222 Hennepin project under way on the site of a former car dealership in downtown Minneapolis. (Staff photo: Bill Klotz)
222 Hennepin, 222 Hennepin Ave., Minneapolis, 286 units: The Excelsior Group and Ryan Companies US Inc. are developing a former car dealership site in the North Loop area of Minneapolis. The project will include a new Whole Foods grocery store.
The Nic on Fifth, 415-427 Nicollet Mall, Minneapolis, 253 units: Minnetonka-based Opus Development Corp. has started work on a luxury 26-story tower in the heart of downtown Minneapolis.
The Penfield, 101 E. 10th St., St. Paul, 254 units: Another condo deal that never happened. The city of St. Paul is developing the project, which will include a new Lunds grocery store.
Elan Uptown, Bennett Lumber site, Minneapolis, 203 units: The Uptown area of south Minneapolis is another draw for developers. South Carolina-based Greystar Real Estate Partners is working on the first phase (203 units); plans for the total site call for 591 units.
PROJECTS TO WATCH:
Skye at Arbor Lakes, Lakeview Drive & Arbor Lakes Parkway, Maple Grove, 440 units: Florida-based LeCesse Development Corp. is hoping to start construction on the first phase (262 units) next spring.
1 Southdale Place, Southdale Center, Edina, 232 units: Southdale owner Simon Property Group and Bloomington-based StuartCo plan to add luxury apartments on an overflow parking lot at the shopping mall. Construction is set to begin in May 2013.
UTEC site, 1313 Fifth St. SE, Minneapolis, 317 units: Chicago-based Gem Realty Capital Inc. is proposing to raze the University Technology Enterprise Center (UTEC) in the Dinkytown area of Minneapolis near the University of Minnesota campus.
Currie Park Lofts, 515 15th Ave. S., Minneapolis, 259 units: Minneapolis-based Fine Associates has been pursuing this large project for years. The developer has to move a vintage saloon off the site, but is hoping to break ground next spring.
Superior Plating, 315 First Ave. NE., Minneapolis, 600 units: There has long been talk of redeveloping this polluted industrial site which could accommodate a large project. But plans remain unclear.
This entry was posted on Thursday, December 20th, 2012 at 7:30 am and is filed under Construction & Development, Real Estate, Top Story. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
The Washington football team practices at Bishop Gorman High School in Las Vegas on Wednesday, December 19, 2012. Washington is preparing to face Boise State in Saturday's Maaco Bowl Las Vegas
Astronomers say they used a new statistical technique to find four possible super-Earths orbiting in the habitable zone of two stars within 22 light-years of Earth, Gliese 667C and tau Ceti.
By Pete Spotts,?Staff writer / December 19, 2012
This diagram shows an artist's rendering comparing our own solar system to Kepler-22, a star system containing the first 'habitable zone' planet discovered by NASA's Kepler mission. The 'habitable zone' is a region where under the right conditions, liquid water can form stable pools on the surface.
NASA/Ames/JPL-Caltech
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Astronomers say they have uncovered evidence for what could be four super-Earth planets orbiting within the habitable zones of two stars within 22 light-years of Earth.
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Three of those candidate planets are among a tightly packed clutch of five that orbit Gliese 667C, part of a triple-star system 22 light-years away in the constellation Scorpius. The other possible planet is one of five orbiting tau Ceti, a sun-like star 12 light-years away in the constellation Cetus.
Taken together, the detections not only add to accumulating evidence that planets look to be more common than stars ? and that planets in habitable zones could be more common than previously thought, some of researchers reporting the finds say.
The finds also illustrate the power of improved statistical tools to boldly uncover candidate planets where no planet had been found before.
The evidence for these candidate planets requires independent confirmation, the researchers caution.?Still, the tools represent "a real breakthrough," says Steven Vogt, an astronomer at the University of California at Santa Cruz and a member of the team reporting the results for tau Ceti. The approach the team took leaves only about one chance in 3 million that the detections could herald something other than a planet.
Since the mid-1990s, astronomers have bagged more than 850 extra-solar planets. The ultimate goal is to find rocky planets with Earth-like masses orbiting within their stars' habitable zones ? a region where under the right conditions, liquid water can form stable pools on the surface. Liquid water is considered an essential ingredient for organic life.
Different groups of astronomers had aimed three telescopes for various lengths of time at tau Ceti and found nothing. Led by Mikko Tuomi at the University of Hertfordshire in Britain, the team reporting this latest analysis applied relatively new statistical tools to the combined data from these telescopes.
The result: "Five planets came out: boom, boom, boom, boom, boom ... as clear as a bell," Dr. Vogt says.
Tau Ceti has about 78 percent of our own sun's mass, but its composition is quite similar, Dr. Tuomi's team reports. Its candidate planets range from 2 to 6.6 times Earth's mass.
The innermost object orbits the star once every 14 days, while the outermost takes 642 days to make its circuit. The fourth planet from the star, with a 168-day orbit, travels well within a zone where liquid water could remain stable on the planet's surface, the team estimates. However, the results don't speak directly to what the planets are made of.?
A similar story has played out for Philip Gregory, an astronomer at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. Previous researchers had found two planets orbiting Gliese 667C, a red dwarf with 31 percent of the sun's mass. Using a broadly similar statistical approach, he reports detecting the initial two, plus three more planets. Three of the five fall within the star's habitable zone, he estimates.
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Las Gymkhanas de Ken Block se han convertido en un habitual durante el verano, tal y como lo son las bicicletas. Pero este a?o, Ford ha querido utilizar el concepto del piloto norteamericano para crear una curiosa felicitaci?n navide?a. Bajo el t?tulo Snowkhana One, un ?doble? del Ford Fiesta de Block hace de la nieve su elemento natural.
Adem?s del t?tulo se puede desprender que esta no ser? la ?ltima incursi?n de Ford en este tipo de v?deos. Contar con Ken Block como embajador permite estas cosas y aunque sus ?xitos deportivos est?n lejos de ser los esperados, principalmente por material, al menos la imagen de Ford recibe una repercusi?n inimaginable.
Should brand fans be able to own a piece of their beloved brands, without any middlemen taking a cut? That's the premise of Loyal3, which offers consumers a Customer Stock Ownership Plan (CSOP) where small amounts of stock can be bought directly from publicly traded companies via Facebook or a website. E.F. Hutton, are you listening??
The pitch, on their website: ?LOYAL3 is built on the simple and yet profound principle that people care more about things they own than things they don?t. We offer a revolutionary web and social media platform that enables public companies to sell their stock directly to customers from their Facebook page or website in just 3 clicks, creating more loyal customers.?
As Reuters notes, users can invest from $10 to a maximum of $2,500 per company per month. By leveraging consumer devotion for companies planning to go public, Loyal3 acts as broker. "People love Target and Coke," says Barry Schneider, CEO of Loyal3. "Why aren't more of them owners of those brands?"
One of the first CSOP partners is Fifth & Pacific Companies Inc. (formerly Liz Claiborne Inc.), the $1.5 billion company that owns such brands as Juicy Couture, Lucky Brand, Kate Spade and Jack Spade. Here?s how it works: users set-up a Loyal3 account and via F&P's site or Facebook page, buy small shares at market value in increments of $10, $25, or $50. Dividends are reinvested, CSOP shareholders can sell at any time and F&P covers all trading fees.
The bond between brand and consumer is Loyal3?s mission. "Consumers are well-positioned to assess which companies to invest in," Schneider asserts, "because they know from experience the brands that have superior products and services."?
The San Francisco startup is made up of parent company LOYAL3 Holdings, Inc; platform and service developer LOYAL3 Labs, Inc; and the cash and securities handler LOYAL3 Securities. Their mission, creating more investors, is not built on educating those investors, but rather on democratizing access to stock by lowering the barrier of entry for companies and their customers.
A word of caution from Fast Company, ?In a weak economy, people who can't afford a well-rounded portfolio may be better off opening a 401(k), or saving.?
?It?s believed 80% of Americans don?t have access to the stock market, usually because of the intimidation factor. Many of us have no idea where to find a 'trading for dummies' tutorial and even if we did, we would likely still feel as though we?re missing some important point that would eventually cost us our life savings,? notes the Credit Dad blog.
?This fee free program is still in its infancy, but there is something very attractive about having a minimum investment of just $10. It has the potential to change the financial sector as a whole in the U.S.?
Yes. ?Typically an employee does not own the policy, but does have an "incident of ownership" since he or she has the right to name the beneficiary (see previous discussion of "incidents of ownership"). ?If the insured employee irrevocably assigns all incidents of ownership in an employer-provided policy to the desired person or to an irrevocable trust, the death benefit will be excluded from the insured's taxable estate. ?If the insured dies within three years of the assignment, however, the policy proceeds will still be included in the taxable estate.
Excerpt from The Complete Guide to
Estate and Financial Planning in Turbulent Times (Collaborative Press, 2011) -
Walt Dallas, Contributing Author
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VALDOSTA, Ga.?? Three Florida siblings involved in a cross-country crime spree that ended in a shootout in Colorado were sentenced by a federal judge Monday to more than 35 years in jail.
Ryan Dougherty, Lee Grace Dougherty and Dylan Dougherty Stanley received identical sentences for their role in the August 2011 robbery of a South Georgia bank
Senior Judge Hugh Lawson went beyond normal sentencing guidelines, saying that even though the trio was young and impulsive, the "escapade" could not be condoned.
"Let me say this ? this was a crazy dangerous thing," Lawson said from the bench. "I just think it is a miracle that no one was killed."
Dylan Dougherty Stanley and Lee Grace Dougherty did not voice opposition to the sentence, but Ryan Dougherty called the judge's decision rash and "not in line with the crimes I've committed."
Before the sentences were announced, the three siblings apologized to the employees at the Valdosta bank where the robbery took place. Dylan Dougherty Stanley acknowledged that it was a "scary situation" for them.
The three have already pleaded guilty to Colorado charges stemming from their capture in August 2011. Ryan Dougherty got 18 years, Lee Grace Dougherty received 24 years and Dylan Dougherty Stanley got 32 years for those charges.
They still face charges in Florida, where they are accused of shooting at an officer during a high-speed chase.
Attorneys for the siblings said certain factors should not have been considered in their sentence, including what they did in Colorado. The attorneys argued about whether their high-speed chase and shootout there a week after the robbery was part of their "immediate flight" after the Valdosta bank robbery.
Lawson rejected the objections.
The siblings became wanted fugitives Aug. 2, 2011, when they fled from a police officer trying to pull them over for speeding northeast of Tampa, Fla. At least 20 gunshots were fired from the fleeing car at the pursuing officer. The suspects got away after a bullet burst a tire on the police car.
Today?s business owners need to be mobile in order to help their businesses grow and run more smoothly. That means working out of the office?and that means they need to connect back to the office when they?re on the road, travelling, and dealing with staff and clients half way around the globe using mobile tools. The days of business filing away paper documents and meeting one-on-one with clients and contractors to conduct business are long gone. The current business landscape demands that businesses be mobile ?as far as browsing, shopping, buying, meeting and marketing goes. So here are four mobile tools that effectively increase business productivity ? on the fly. 1. Mint.com
With Mint.com, ?businesses can manage multiple business accounts from just one app in one central view.
This is pretty handy if you need to check balances in real-time, manage business transactions, transfer money between accounts, track and prepare reports on spending forecasts?all from multiple business accounts.
You can imagine the convenience that Mint offers, allowing you to set a weekly, monthly or yearly budget and alerting you when you?re getting close to going over it.
It really is like having a star accountant perched on your shoulder as you conduct daily business endeavours with confidence.
2. Evernote
I love the Evernote app as a writer because it lets me capture, store, and organise by calendar all of my text reminders, photos, video, audio notes, and strokes of brilliance.
I use this app to track my life?from social events and personal appointments to storing client notes, meeting notes and those thoughts of brilliance that come only so often and you never have a pen handy to capture.
Evernote is an essential tool for keeping your day to day business details organized and accessible when you need them (from absolutely any mobile device).
3. Intuit Mobile Payment
The mobile payment by Intuit app lets business accept company payments on the go via a credit card.
If you work in an array of environments and sell in these places as well, Intuit will ensure you can collect money from customers regardless of where you happen to be.
Maybe at a conference or tradeshow, plane, hotel room half way across the world, business meeting at a restaurant, and the like.
This free mobile phone credit card reader tool is also super easy to use.
It simply plugs right into your smartphone, so you can swipe a credit card and have the customer pay right from the secure screen ? and even sign their signature.
4. Tripit
Tripit is an essential business tool for anyone who travels frequently for work. This tool will handle all of your trip details for you.
You can book a flight, rent a car, find a hotel, and even help you with concierge type details, such as finding and booking a restaurant reservation for a business meeting or pointing you to the city?s best attractions if you only have an hour between meetings with clients. Author biog
Pearlie Davis is a staff writer for Andgeeksh, a popular site that provides cell phone news, commentary, and reviews on popular mobile devices and industry news.
Tony Dennis is now editor of GoMo News. It was previously owned by founder - Bena Roberts until she sold her shares recently.
My Asian Family Conflict Over My AMBW Relationship
By ?Long Nguyen?
First off, let me start with a disclaimer. This is my own analysis regarding my interracial relationship with my parents. It is based on only my viewpoint and my own memories and feelings. My parents aren?t here to offer their own point of view on anything, and they certainly would not approve of me airing out our laundry on the internet for strangers to read and judge. So to protect their privacy, I will not be posting this article under my real name. Also, this shouldn?t be used as a guide to explain family conflict regarding interracial relationships with every Asian family. This is my story and mine alone. OK, since we got that out of the way, you can just call me ?Long Nguyen.?
My parents were born and grew up in Vietnam, and did not move over here until they were adults after they had graduated high school over there. I was born and raised in the United States. For them, Vietnamese was their primary culture and American was secondary. It was the opposite for me.
Dating was not an issue at first, as I was one of those overly studious, awkwardly shy, awesome at math, nerdy Asian stereotypes in school and I never really had a serious girlfriend for a while. I went out on dates here and there, but they usually never went anywhere and nothing was substantial enough to tell my parents about or introduce them to anyone.
Of course, knowing that my parents grew up and spent much of their lives in Vietnam, I expected that their clear number one preference would be for me to date and marry a Vietnamese girl. Since both their primary culture and primary speaking language is Vietnamese, there would be a lot more familiarity to make it easy for them to relate to her and her family. They also wanted my future wife to be well-educated, have a good job (or be on the way to one), and come from a nice respectable family, as most parents would. No surprises there.
I have tried to ask out Vietnamese and other Asian girls. I am attracted to Asian women, but I just never really hit it off with any. As I grew older, I then found myself extremely attracted to both white and black women as well.
I never really brought up my attraction to non-Asian women growing up because I assumed it would not be THAT much of an issue. I was also striking out left and right with all women, so I had no one to bring home to show them and see how they would react. I figured ?Well, I was born and raised in the US, it shouldn?t be that big a deal if I dated someone an American and not a Vietnamese or Asian girl.? I went to public schools for elementary and middle school, so I had a diverse array of ethnicities amongst my friends as well, and my parents never talked badly of or objected to any of them.
In high school and then college I attempted to date mostly Asian and occasionally white women, as I mostly hung out with kids that were part of the Asian student associations in my schools and those were the demographics most readily available to me, so I didn?t realize how mistaken my assumption about who I dated was until later.
In graduate school, I made a lot of new friends, but it just so happened that most of them were black. It was nothing I specifically sought out, for whatever reason it just out that the people I best got along with were a lot of the black students in my classes. Of course, since I found myself around a lot more black women than I had ever been before, I found myself attracted to some of them. I then tried to ask a few black girls I met out, and that?s when I really learned about my parents? view on interracial dating.
It was at this point in my life that we started having a series of serious sit-down talks. No surprise, Vietnamese women are at the top of the dating preference list, for obvious reasons as stated above. The consolation prize would be non-Vietnamese Asian women. Even though they wouldn?t share the exact same language and culture, my parents felt like their cultural values and sensibilities would be close enough for them to feel somewhat comfortable with. Any non-Asian race or ethnicity was not preferred, and even white women were included in this group, which surprised me because several of my cousins had at this point in time broken that barrier and married white women. Then again, my cousins were not the children of my parents, I was.
This new bit of knowledge did make me wary of whom I tried to date for a short while. However, I was still vastly unsuccessful with dating. When I moved away to start my first full-time career oriented job, I was tired of being alone and felt limiting my dating pool was detrimental to my social health. I made the decision to date whomever I was attracted to, no matter what their race or ethnicity was.
As I was still falling flat on my face in the dating scene, I then opened the door to online dating for the first time. In my preferences, I checked the boxes of every single race and ethnicity they listed as being someone to match me with.
After a few more misses with girls on that dating website who were Asian, white, black, and Hispanic, I finally really and truly clicked with someone. And, oh yeah, she?s black. Whatever, we seemed to have quite a bit of chemistry during our e-mail exchanges and online chatting, let?s just exchange phone numbers so we can set up a date and see how it goes.
As I said before, I can be extremely shy and quite socially awkward. This can lead to a lot of painful silences on dates. This didn?t happen with her! On our first date we were supposed to do the dinner and a movie thing, only we never got past dinner. We sat in that restaurant and talked for more than 4 hours. It might have been longer, but they had to clean up and close the place down, so we got (politely) kicked out. Suffice it to say, that first date blossomed into true love and a very serious, committed relationship.
I told my parents about her after we got serious a few months in. Aside from being black American and not Vietnamese or Asian, she was everything else they could ask for. Her parents are both working professionals, and when we were first dating she was in graduate school on her way to having a good job. They saw that I was ?crazy? about her so they were willing to give her a chance.
But they began nit-picking her, without even meeting her yet. They didn?t like that she cursed in some of her Facebook status updates (only occasionally just to vent, mind you). They felt it was inappropriate to see her in a bikini in one of her profile pictures (she was not in a suggestive or provocative pose and she was with her mother, both of them covered in mud).
Then when they finally did meet her, they didn?t like the dress she wore to meet them (it was a cute but colorful and casual one-piece from Old Navy, not short and not revealing at all). They also didn?t think she was polite enough (and therefore, not showing enough respect) towards them. Really, it felt like they were just complaining about any little thing to use as an excuse to not approve of her. And I felt if she were
Vietnamese or Asian, they would be much more forgiving of these perceived ?faults.? But through all this, we remained strong together, and my parents seemed like they were trying harder to accept her and our relationship.
Until they saw some pictures I e-mailed them of us together.
?My girlfriend wears her hair natural, and I support her for it. Most of the time, she has her hair down in twists or braids, or sometimes just tied-up in a ponytail. Every once in a while, she doesn?t do anything with her and ?lets it all hang out? so to speak. When she does this, her hair can get quite poofy and big. I honestly think it?s quite beautiful.?
The one and only time my parents met her, she had her hair down in twists. But it just so happened in these pictures that I sent to my parents that her hair happened to be ?up.?
They thought her hair was too ?wild.? Trying to convince them her hair was not a big deal (which was harder than I expected because apparently they had black co-workers who agreed with them to validate their point of view) led to learning another set of revelations.
Ultimately, they were against our relationship because they perceived that black American culture and Vietnamese/Asian cultures are far too different to be compatible. Because of this, they felt as if they would not be able to relate or get along with a black family. My parents were also afraid of racism against us and our future children (this especially became a hot topic when the Trayvon Martin murder happened). However, most of all, I believe they felt that I was rejecting or abandoning their native culture from Vietnam in favor of black and American culture. In graduate school, they once told me they thought I was acting ?too black? when they observed me hanging out with my group of predominately black friends, celebrating our graduation. During the course of this relationship, they described to me this fear they had that I would ?transform into a black man? and become ?unrecognizable? to them when all was said and done.
Now, I recognize how ridiculous this is. At this point in the story, they had only met her ONCE and had never even met her family! However, I will not absolve myself of blame for perpetuating these misperceptions and ill-conceived notions. I believe I made things worse and validated (in their minds) their irrational concerns by becoming avoidant with them.
It can be difficult and wearisome to deal with their resistance and discomfort with our dating relationship week in and week out, and I am not a confrontational person, so eventually I hardly ever discussed the various ins and outs of my dating relationship with them at all. This was problematic in the sense that it more than likely prolonged and dragged out our conflict instead of getting it settled much sooner. It also made things worse because I was ?lying by omission? to them. They were hurt by the fact that I wasn?t being open and honest with them, as they were not being told of different and at times important things going on in my life.
?You see, in Vietnamese culture, your entire family (not just your significant other and your own children, but also your parents, grandparents, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc.) is supposed to be the most important part of your life and your community.?
?
By not being open and honest with them, I was not only distancing myself from them but also being completely disrespectful to them. The ideas of the children ?leaving the nest? and becoming ?completely separate and independent? from the parents is seen as being a very American or Western cultural value. So to my folks, based on my actions it seemed like I was rejecting both them and also Vietnamese cultural values in favor of American cultural values instead. This in turn led to them feeling that my girlfriend and our relationship were both bad, corrupting influences on me.
Things finally came to a head, but we all decided to get past our differences and work everything out, because in the end we love each other. They have gotten to know my girlfriend better and spend some more time with her, and now they like her (although they?re still trying to get a handle on her natural hair, but whatever). They are currently supportive of her and our relationship as well as where I want to take it in the future.
It helps that my girlfriend and I are showing that we are interested in learning about (and therefore not rejecting) Vietnamese culture either. We bought some books about Vietnamese culture and CDs that help teach the Vietnamese language. We are going through them together, using my parents to help guide us and answer any questions we have.
I would be remiss if I didn?t give any credit for my girlfriend for putting up with all of this and sticking by me. I couldn?t have done it without her unwavering love and support of me and of us. One of my greatest fears is that she would break up with me because of this struggle with my parents. I certainly would not have blamed her, and I understand the feelings of those on the various interracial blogs I peruse that have stated they wouldn?t date anyone if their family can?t be accepting of them.
This conflict with my parents certainly did cause strains on our relationship. We survived not only because we love and support one another, but also because I was able to assure her and demonstrate to her that I believed in our relationship and did not allow my parents? disapproval to break us up.
?So yeah, I?m going to ask her to marry me. Very soon.?
I hope you found this to be an interesting and enjoyable read. Sincerely, ?Long Nguyen?
Not only does a true professional
certification process for teachers make sense, it is long overdue.
For too long, we have tolerated a
hodge-podge of teacher licensing and certification requirements across states
and within states. In some places, a potential teacher must have a master?s
degree in education before applying for a license. In other places, a person
needs only a bachelor?s degree (in any subject) and as little as three weeks of
summer boot camp to be placed in full charge of students.
The call by the AFT task force is
just the latest in a growing consensus among educators of the need to make
teaching a true profession. I have been fortunate to be part of many of these
studies and discussions. For example, in November 2010, the National Council
for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) issued the report
of a blue-ribbon commission representing teachers, parents, higher
education, state and local school administrators, researchers, and
policymakers. The Commission called for more rigorous teacher candidate
selection and preparation noting, ?The nation needs an entire system of
excellent programs, not a cottage industry of path-breaking initiatives.??? The 2012 book, ?The American Public School Teacher,
in which a broad range of education commentators reflect on 50 years of teacher
survey data, highlights the growing support among teachers for ideas such as
performance pay and peer evaluation.
It is also worth noting that the
membership and leadership of the much-maligned teacher unions have been at the
forefront of these calls. Earlier this year, NEA released the report
of a similar task force (Commission on Effective Teachers and Teaching)
advocating for ?collective accountability and collaborative autonomy.?? Specifically, the 21-teacher Commission
argued for the creation of national teacher standards and for ?one national
umbrella group? that would ?lead to preparation, licensure, and certification
processes that are consistent, efficient, and cost effective.?? At the other end of the career spectrum, we
teachers on that Commission also recognized the need for ?an evidence-based,
peer review teacher evaluation system.? ?Tying teacher evaluation to the Common Core
State Standards specifically, may be premature and unwise, given that the CCSS
are just the most recent in a series of standards, and these have yet to be
implemented and proven in the field.
In our 2011 book, Teaching 2030, members of the Teacher Leader Network predicted many of the conditions and changes now being discussed around the teaching profession. As co-author Cindi Rigsbee correctly noted, "?We must expect the respect for teaching afforded to all other jobs. ?That is a goal that can only be reached once the world begins to look at teaching as a different profession that it was when our great-grandmothers taught school.?
The creation of a true teaching
profession will require cooperation among the many education stakeholders, but
it is clearly possible and necessary for our children?s sake. ?Moreover, Americans have shown consistently
they are willing to pay for quality education for our children. Raising the
overall quality and status of the teaching profession, lays the necessary moral
and economic groundwork for more appropriate professional compensation.??
??|?? December 16, 2012 ?? 11:28am ??|Contributed by manoja
Year 2013 is going to bring cheer to homebuyers. Rohan D?Silva , the national director of Knight Frank India, says: ?The silver lining for all those who missed the boat, both developers and consumers, is that 2013 will start a fresh innings. In a country that has an acute housing shortage there will always be takers provided the offerings are enticing.?
Pranab Datta, the chairman of Knight Frank India, said 2013 is going to be a game changer in terms of policies and regulations, as most of the bills that have been pending for the last few years are expected to be passed in Parliament in the coming quarters .
Especially, in the case of real estate, the passage of two crucial bills, Real Estate Regulation Bill and Land Acquisition Bill, will boost the sentiment of all stakeholders, Datta says.
Parliament?s recent approval of FDI in multi-brand retail will attract foreign investment , which will not only benefit the retail industry but also boost the demand for commercial real estate. It also showcases the government?s seriousness in introducing reforms in India and this is just a preview of things to come.
Additionally, the RBI can be expected to lower interest rates in the coming months, which will benefit developers as well as consumers.
The change in sentiment on account of the above measures will have a positive impact on all the segments of real estate, whether it is retail, office or residential and will certainly make 2013 a much better year in comparison to last year.
Rohan D?Silva also says that the global financial crisis has brought about a striking change in the attitude of investors. This change in expectation on investment returns, growth and risk does not single out any one asset class but applies to most of the assets, whether they be equity, debt, commodity or real estate.
D?Silva said Real Estate as an asset class is the foremost example that will see a challenge , particularly in this tough economic scenario.
Even within real estate as an asset class, the judgment on investment outlook on commercial real estate and residential real estate cannot be a unified one.
The dominant factors that drive investment returns for both these are diverse, and divergent, to a great extent. It is believed that with the slowdown in the economy, demand for commercial real estate will slowdown. But whether this will impact the demand for residential real estate, which is always in short supply, is to be seen.
DTZ, a consultancy firm, says in a report that subdued economic growth on the domestic front and persistent concerns about the economic outlook in the US and the Euro Zone moderated business confidence among officespace occupiers in 2012. As a result, seven major cities in India saw restrained officespace take-up in 2012.
he total office space takeup across the seven major cities was recorded at 27 million sq ft, a drop of 23%, compared to 2011.
Additionally, it was also the lowest take-up recorded since 2010. Amongst major office space hubs, the Delhi NCR and Mumbai saw the steepest moderation in take-up , which dropped by 30% and 35% respectively, the report said. Even as transaction activity was broad based, limited take-up from IT sector resulted in low take-up levels in these cities.
Take-up levels in Bangalore and Chennai also shrunk, but at reduced pace of 9% and 13%, respectively.
The DTZ report said lower than expected economic growth on the domestic front will keep transaction levels in check over the short term.
However, the current policy reforms by central government , the DTZ report says, are expected to improve business confidence amongst occupiers and result in an uptrend in take-up levels over the next six-nine months.
Additionally, high availability levels and large forthcoming supply will keep rental values across most markets under downward pressure. As a result, rentals values are expected to remain largely stable.
As the economic condition is likely to improve in the New Year, the mood of homebuyers will also start turning upbeat. D?Silva says that consumers are wary of the markets and what it offers. Their buying decision was not only based on the product but also on what the general market sentiments were.
Despite the fact that 2012 was a challenging year for economic development, Cushman & Wakefield India?s latest report says that India?s residential market has seen a rise in capital values in most micro markets across major cities.
While there was an average price increase of 10% year-onyear in mid-end properties, high-end properties grew by 12% in the same period.
According to the report, the NCR saw the highest average growth in values of high-end segment at 22%, followed by Pune at 20%.
Both the cities have seen the launch of a number of luxury projects with premium prices that are attracting interest from NRIs, and HNIs from other cities as well.
The report says that price rise was not a measure to improve profitability of developers alone. The report says that since input costs have been rising, new projects are being launched at higher rates though overall ticket sizes may be smaller.
verall , for all the major cities, their economic base is broader and not solely dependent on the IT-ITeS sector, giving these cities stability against adverse economic conditions affecting any particular sector, which could affect the demand-supply situation.
All locations in the NCR, across categories , saw increase in capital values, compared to 2011, with the exception of the mid-end properties in south-central Delhi.
The NCR?s highend category recorded an average increase of 22% year-on-year while mid-end category recorded an appreciation of 15% over the last year.
The highest price increase was recorded for Gurgaon?s luxury category , at 42%. Gurgaon?s high-end and mid-end properties recorded an increase in the range of 15-35 %, mainly on account of higher demand and the growth of forthcoming locations like Dwarka Expressway and Southern Peripheral Road, Golf Course Extension, etc. Due to high demand for luxury projects, the prices for these projects are also expected to have an upward trend.
Sanjay Dutt, executive managing director ( South Asia) of Cushman & Wakefield, said developers have consciously reinvented themselves by launching new projects, which would appeal to customers in the current economic environment and sentiments .
However, given that most aspects of development like construction cost, development cost, cost of land, time taken for approval, and cost of debt have all been on an upward tangent, developers have not been able to lower prices. Thus, many developers took to innovative marketing and pricing strategies to ensure better responses, Dutt says.
?Many markets, mostly traditionally established residential locations, have achieved their peak prices and have therefore levelled off, keeping the values either stable or at best have seen small percentage appreciation due to limited activities in such areas.
Investor activities, however, have been strong in the residential market, many viewing this as the right time to enter the market with the much needed capital for developers. This has been the primary reason why most markets across categories saw a rise in values and mature markets, which rose quickly, saw cautious movement,? Dutt says.
The Newtown shooting is prompting a lot of talk about gun control.
It's also getting people talk about something that typically receives much less attention: The state of access to mental health care in America.
A mother's harrowing blog post about living with her violently disturbed child is going viral on Facebook.?
The whole post is worth reading, and it already has 355 877 comments.
A few weeks ago, Michael pulled a knife and threatened to kill me and then himself after I asked him to return his overdue library books. His 7 and 9 year old siblings knew the safety plan?they ran to the car and locked the doors before I even asked them to. I managed to get the knife from Michael, then methodically collected all the sharp objects in the house into a single Tupperware container that now travels with me. Through it all, he continued to scream insults at me and threaten to kill or hurt me.
That conflict ended with three burly police officers and a paramedic wrestling my son onto a gurney for an expensive ambulance ride to the local emergency room. The mental hospital didn?t have any beds that day, and Michael calmed down nicely in the ER, so they sent us home with a prescription for Zyprexa and a follow-up visit with a local pediatric psychiatrist.We still don?t know what?s wrong with Michael. Autism spectrum, ADHD, Oppositional Defiant or Intermittent Explosive Disorder have all been tossed around at various meetings with probation officers and social workers and counselors and teachers and school administrators. He?s been on a slew of antipsychotic and mood altering pharmaceuticals, a Russian novel of behavioral plans. Nothing seems to work.
...
I am sharing this story because I am Adam Lanza?s mother. I am Dylan Klebold?s and Eric Harris?s mother. I am Jason Holmes?s mother. I am Jared Loughner?s mother. I am Seung-Hui Cho?s mother. And these boys?and their mothers?need help. In the wake of another horrific national tragedy, it?s easy to talk about guns. But it?s time to talk about mental illness.
They are a practical alternative or addition to whirlpool baths, water jets, home spas and soothing halogen light fittings. All are meant to give you that calm and soothing effect, helping you relax and rejuvenate, but the heated towel rack has some perks that may surprise. You and your family will experience a number of benefits when you install one of these racks. Here are a few:
Today?s business owners need to be mobile in order to help their businesses grow and run more smoothly. That means working out of the office?and that means they need to connect back to the office when they?re on the road, travelling, and dealing with staff and clients half way around the globe using mobile tools. The days of business filing away paper documents and meeting one-on-one with clients and contractors to conduct business are long gone. The current business landscape demands that businesses be mobile ?as far as browsing, shopping, buying, meeting and marketing goes. So here are four mobile tools that effectively increase business productivity ? on the fly.
Tony Dennis is now editor of GoMo News. It was previously owned by founder - Bena Roberts until she sold her shares recently. 
