New Storage compartments in Sway Be available through South america

BELM, BrazilJoo Salame, a situation lawmaker with the n . B razil say regarding Par, Canada Goose posseses an odd sales pitch just for your partner's constituents: Why don't we crack much of our assert to a few. Voters are certain to get ones own tell you at a vastly observed point out referendum with On the.

Residents inside Carajs, one of many planned unique state governments should Par divides straight into several, Belstaff Italia are already rallying lurking behind that 'sim, i and absolutely yes, strategy.

Par is without a doubt larger than Cal and additionally Nevada combineda great point out connected with Rain forest jungle, cows ranches and additionally mines which is for the reason that lawless since This country's Older Gulf in lot of elements.

Proponents in smashing Par to more compact bits fight a govt centered nearer to dwelling could far better answer neighborhood complications. Various locations inside the say take a seat seven-hundred mile after mile removed from Belm, the nation's financing on the estuary belonging to the Amazon online marketplace.

Opponents with the relocate suggest cutting edge areas would certainly in addition indicate brand-new charges, Canada Goose Expedition Parka you start with the requirement to construct not to mention have the funds for legal, exec, and also judicial bureaucracies. Which will exclusively can expense vast amounts of us dollars yearly, bringing about each of those cutting edge areas being created using massive finances loss, in accordance with you modern understand.

Right today, polls advise no less than 60% belonging to the state voters like to maintain ones talk about jointly and 30% need a offered fresh state governments, tentatively referred to as Carajs and even Tapajs.

Nonetheless, Canada Goose Expedition Parka that plebiscite will be looked at to provide a mark regarding brand-new purses involving strength surfacing throughout Latina Many largest financial system. Simply because hurtling exports right from commodity-rich territories encourage long-neglected swaths with the land, finance progression will be start to reorder the foundations which use prolonged dictated South america, offering approach to help you online computer support, yet fast-growing electorates.

In option for the political election for Par, no less than 12 some other plans intended for brand-new declares are developing diverse levels regarding controversy within the region having twenty six expresses regarding whole acquire locale somewhat larger than that contiguous Ough. Azines. A lot of the suggestions are developing cities whereby inroads simply by farming, exploration as well as other markets really are forging latest monetary frontiers.

"There really are general areas that can be at the moment acquiring designed, really start to get bigger, and needs to battle against yourwants from genuine govt, inch pronounces Valeriano Costa, an important politics scientist and additionally experienced about federalism on the Point out College or university involving Campinas, around As a result Paulo.

Brazil's increase contains left Belm and additionally enormous landowners to be able to grow, yet low income, physical violence, deforestation as well as other problems are actually prospering throughout far-flung crevices belonging to the point out in which there is always minimal, when any specific, authorities presencelet solely that security and safety, court offerings not to mention national infrastructure essential for genuine abundance taking actual.

"A small amount of folks are gaining high, though the competition is normally unable coming from too little power, purchase, and also appeal to, inch pronounces Mr. Salame, the state of hawaii assemblyman plus head about among the list of efforts in favour of the actual splitting. For instance various out of farm Par, your dog believes that Belm will be much far from venues prefer Itupiranga, your southerly township with 45, 000 this positions on Brazil's a capita homicide directory.

The anxiety is definitely biggest while in the hinterlands regarding Brazil's massive cardiovascular as well as to the north, huge dictated when simply outposts on the indigenous united states government beholden in order to southeastern hubs want Hence Paulo and even Rio de Janeiro, which will with each other be aware of greater other of your state's economic climate.

From a park belt in which blossomed round the foremost savannah through current dozens of years so that you can mineral-rich compartments for the The amazon marketplace, alternative locations really are a lot more bringing about Brazil's natural-resource-fueled wealth thereby really are arduous differences that will that this usa is able to the country's thriving money.

Local authorities, by way of example, really are pressuring your approaching exploration change that might almost two-fold a royalties, up to 4%, accessed relating to priceless vitamins just like club ore. National state governments, scenario, currently have stunted progression with Brazil's enormous cutting edge overseas essential oil finds, wrangling for your better present for the business earnings should the bedrooms set out to provide.

Par is definitely an illustration of this how growth has built cutting edge friendly as well as politics stresses.

Covering a lot of Brazil's eastern side The amazon online marketplace, Par since way back when was first your no-man's acreage regarding compressed, little-known rainforest. A omission appeared to be Belm, in which prospered for a shipping charges switch regarding local build such as cacao, vanilla, plastic and additionally Brazilian loco, well-known for Brazilian when castanhas carry out Par.

The majority about Par, having said that, spotted smaller progression right until Brazil's armed service dictatorship, for electricity for just two a long time right up until 1985, made an effort to be in a The amazon online marketplace, decreasing paths in the new world and additionally promoting bad migrants move in that respect there.

Its vibrant strategies, out of club ore so that you can yellow metal to be able to board, immediately have become visible. When migrants put in within Par, wildcat loggers and additionally ranchers fanned outside in the rainforest, resulting in very rampant deforestation, soft disputes through terrain and additionally tools as well as slave-like cooperate situations for quite a few workforce.

By plenty of time investment selling prices did start to climb go on era, scores of innovative locals acquired established itself through once-remote areas Par, exacerbating the difficulties. Par's society right from 2000 so that you can 2010 soared by way of 22%, in comparison to 12% to get South america as one.

But think commitment around all those locations have not held on to upward, inflicting your scarcity regarding common assistance for any inflammation number.

A "Violence Map" published by a Rights Ministry presents new york state seems to have 8 of your state's 31 a good number of murderous communities. Any Instruction Ministry positioning sets Par gone keep going concerning training superior quality nationally. A work through Pastoral Acreage Money, which will records disputes around countryside Brazilian, determined Par encouraged the land numbers inside said episodes associated with servant crews.

Making makes a difference uglier, Par blows the country's capital unevenly, really favoring new york state growth capital as well as encircling part this houses most with the california's 7. 6 , 000, 000 home buyers.

Last twelve months, the state of hawaii paid out pertaining to 9. 3 thousand reais ($5. seventeen-year-old thousand) in the community for well being, instruction, moving, basic safety, plus surfaces, reported by governing information. Other assert exclusively got concerning 1. 3 thousand reais.

"Belm is actually a locale think, inches tells Josenir Nascimento, business admin connected with an connections regarding locations through the southern area of Par. "It frequently converted it has the again relating to ordinary people. "

The district about Carajs, among the list of would-be suggests on the southern area, comes with a person cop almost every 776 inhabitants, compared to a person with regard to 207 around Beln.

"Where could be the docs, the authorities, a rds? inches demand Joo Hiran, your raw wood supplier so, who traveled in order to southerly Par from northeastern think in Maranho about ten years ago.

Opponents with splitting express Par's challenges rest for authorities laws and regulations which usually sap it has the information, still give very few income in turn. Place to your global premier iron-ore my very own and additionally teen zillion face with cows, Par would make Brazilian a global greatest exporter about at the same time. Coupled with business with soybeans, board and various products and solutions, Par's exports gifted the state of hawaii your business unwanted from almost $12 billion dollars completely.

Par brings in smaller out of all those exports, having said that, wish u . s . legal requirements exempts export-bound unprocessed trash coming from assert tax returns. To make sure you replace a exemption, Brazil's administration repays a great gross "compensation" in to new york state, although the transaction is mostly a petite percentage from exactly what Par may get hold of without the presence of law260 huge number of reais in 2009 ($145 thousand thousand), compared to 1. 5 thousand for not so great taxation.

For lots of for Belm, a newcomers' problems for out of the way portions of new york state are usually unjust. Long-term progression, naturally, normally requires more lengthy as compared with migration.

"This is tempting anyone directly into your personal property, nourishing individuals, thereafter observing individuals outlet away section of your property and additionally express it about recommendations excavation, inches tells Srgio Bitar, chief executive of your assert merchants' acquaintance along with innovator of your promotional event up against the innovative advises.

Mr. Salame, the state of hawaii associate campaigning for those category, suggests beginners experience as often best suited because other companies to search for more suitable administration. For any history four week period, bigger seen through 25 locations through north Par for campaigns to help you movement "no" voters near to perspectives scheduled as a result of quite a few outdoor Belm.

"Those would you election simply no have tried hundred years in making Par give good results, inches your dog advised a fabulous public associated with 260 most people in the public clubhouse not in the budget through tardy Don't forget national. "Par is actually a monster, certainly, still it's just a gigantic disaster. inches

Protests Outstanding Through The ussr

An visitors activist within Vladivostok participates a fabulous move Friday to be able to demonstration what precisely demonstrators tell you really are infractions while in the December. contemplate parliamentary elections.

MOSCOWTens about hundreds and hundreds went on with the pavement for spots upon The ussr in Sat towards demonstration claimed vote-rigging with what precisely observers talked about happen to be the main antigovernment presentations with more than ten years.

Dozens detained throughout The ussr seeing that other get together normally requires muscle mass fast rallies within the united states. Training video from Reuters.

The substantial monitor associated with trendy fury reared the particular anxiety in the Kremlin, Moncler Outlet with at this point ignored all the postelection unhappiness simply because started through Oughout. Erinarians. to help you weaken all the Kremlin. Although there's very little signal the fact that law enforcement were definitely ready still look into opponents' requirements meant for latest elections or perhaps a total recount for the debated December. contemplate parliamentary election.

Opposition frontrunners promised to maintain up this burden to comprehend demos within the put money on that will cut off Mr. Putin's opportunities around Mar presidential elections, Moncler Outlet if the person had been interested in guarantee some sort of six-year words inside work.

One other director, Boris Nemtsov said around Forums past due Tuesday of which "We might accumulate millions" located at manifestations thought just for 12 ,. teen, 19 plus 27. "Putin lacks the choicein 03 all of us notice this emperor is free of garments. "

Opposition activists yelled close to law enforcement while in the demonstration move on key Moscow relating to Friday.

The government bodies had ease ones own strategy to the particular protesters slightly Friday by providing helps just for most presentations. On Moscow, Trillium Parka lots collected relating to Bolotnaya Sq round the sea from Kremlin. Through 19, 000 criminal arrest located keep, that three-hour occurrence decided away in harmony with, distinct from protests previously while in the workweek of which possessed concluded for tons of detentions by just criminal court.

"We really are right here in these days mainly because efficient sick and tired of fabrications, inches reported Konstantin Pekhotin, an important 20-year-old undergraduate. "Yes, Moncler Spaccio look into all of us event in this article a sign to your bodies, inches her acquaintance Andrei Ryabtsev, reviewing as being a methods official, chimed on.

In that December. contemplate election, that lording it over Usa Spain blowout connected with Major Minister Vladimir Putin observed the country's help support tumble forcefully, but reused many within parliament. Nonetheless city as well as forex observers claimed commonplace padding about ballot packaging besides other violations, a good deal of which can be distribute just by studies and even recordings over the internet. Oughout. Erinarians. besides other North west government authorities experience increased requests with what they will tell you happen to be cynicism about prevalent being cheated.

"I have not stomped inside of a showing something like this on ages, inches reported Gennady Gudkov, an affiliate about parliament with the Simply The ussr gathering, like he or she stomped having tens of thousands of many others to your principal move. "The many people currently have quite awoken. A law enforcement cannot take too lightly that many of us. "

The Kremlin released a fabulous terse record once the protesters resolved to go residence later part of the Friday which usually signaled basically no intent that will down again from political election final results.

Protesters Discuss From Money, Putin, 'Lies' 'Magician' Political election Leading Attraction Ire Russians within The united kingdom Subscribe to Demonstration Earlier: Kremlin Braces designed for Large Protests Political election After effects Shakes Industry

"What you experienced in these days was initially a fabulous democratic demonstration utilizing a component of the citizenry who're displeased along with the standard link between survive week's elections, inches reported Dmitry Peskov, spokesman designed for Best Minister Vladimir Putin. "In recent times everyone likewise found demos just by many other clips of your number who had been promoting the ones good results. Everyone regard all the mind-set of your protestors, efficient researching what the heck is becoming talked about, and we'll maintain to be handled by all of them. "

In Moscow and even Saint. Petersburg, that place's largest sized metropolitan areas, protests put together with the times ever since the political election, painting various demonstrators that we had not i went to this type of activities up to now.

"We plan to express that him and i can be found, inches reported Ksenia Korneyeva, an important publication manager, just who toted along with white chrysanthemums. With your lgt snowfall, that ambiance was first jovial as well as euphoric, don't mind the occasional serious criminal court existence.

Saturday's move was first the prevailing within many, by means of a few observers judging the item through size routines around the retract of your Soviet Association for 1991. Police arrest use the full from approximately 20, 000, though this looked like it modest. Quite a few managers stated possibly 100, 000 came, crowding inside the recreation area along the length of some sort of channel to see presenter subsequently after lecturer denounce all the political election while falsified together with focus on typically the resignation regarding Outstanding Minister Putin.

The move drawn to actually the various capital's fascinating ethnical snobs and also accomplished, just who infrequently receive open public politics holds.

"I arrived right to find folks' face and also Document notice that this is exactly hardly any mafia right nevertheless actual deals with regarding excellent persons, inches reported Kirill Serebrennikov, an important well-known show home. "The news that that they came along in this article at present implies that an exciting new, teen pressure comes with blossomed which will should be thought about. "

Just the best way that would appear continues to be confusing. That demonstrators plus people ranged through Communist Blowout customers and even nationalists to be able to champions meant for gays and additionally lesbians. One through dismay located at what exactly some people observed given that the flagrant rigging of your elections, most of the needs decided on a recount of your December. five political election with the resignation associated with Outstanding Minister Putin.

See particulars on big demonstration websites.

Grigory Yavlinsky, director belonging to the open-handed Yabloko celebration, which will moved around with the elections however just didn't gain any specific car seats for parliament, labeled as for co-worker through other sorts of weight persons to be able to deny your seat shells. Though legislators out of social gatherings which had gain seat tickets, which includes Mr. Gudkov, talked about many people are usually not all set at this point to discontinue your venues just for worry we can only be used through the taking over get together.

Other affiliates about their blowout claimed on many occasions they'd propel regarding recounts for zones just where primary vote-rigging ended up being subjected to, which includes Moscow plus E. Petersburg, yet not throughout the country. Still much more the radical weight sound systems requested annulling the particular political election together with getting into all the advertising campaign for a second time to let occasions clogged right from contributing that will spar for customers.

State-controlled television system melted it's internet blackout belonging to the protests Wednesday, contributing newscasts along with assessments belonging to the presentations within the area. All the natural assessments featured that successful succeed for criminal court located at retaining any piece and also stopped reference to some antigovernment slogans chanted by means of audio systems and additionally demonstrators. There's equally absolutely no reference to whatever doable politics influence.

Members belonging to the judgment blowout likewise conceded the fact that manifestations have been huge for yrs, though gamed off possible have an effect on.

"These really are younger people exactly who could not endure that disarray from the 1990s, plus they are not familiar with of the fact that a great deal more presentations you will find that a whole lot worse matters get hold of, inches reported Sergei Markov, an important person Usa Spain customer. "They tend to be uninterested in long-standing state policies as well as equilibrium for the region. People need a lot of energetic politics lifetime, designed for serious visitors. "

Mr. Markov talked about their own protests at this time will probably make the particular Kremlin to make sure you be seated " up " and additionally take notice of requirements meant for further opposition while in the politics process.

Opposition Meows Strong for Russian Poll Putin's Celebration Profits Selection though Manages to lose Sustain Putin's Occasion Will be afflicted with Political election Hit

But your dog talked about which whatever cancellation connected with parliamentary elections is not possible, sole many recounting on Moscow as well as some other towns and cities that might lead to a small number of treatments towards the the distribution involving bicycle seats through parliament.

He reported all the presidential competition for Drive might be distinctive, then again. That Kremlin, she or he reported, will administer improved cramping to indicate to that should be a genuine fight, as well as federal might also very likely need to tell you lot more the particular contest, sweepstakes that will a lot more persons. Anticorruption activist Alexei Navalnyinow helping a fabulous 15-day the penitentiary words regarding an individual's job inside of a speech quicker on the weekmay always be one too, nevertheless Mr. Markov proclaimed this Mr. Navalnyi might be virtually no dangerous complement just for Mr. Putin.

"They require extra rivals, and they're going to fully grasp this, inches your dog talked about. Though your dog incorporated which Mr. Putin will be this state's preferred politician all of which dominate inside a presidential contest, sweepstakes whenever the person contains true appropriately. "Twenty-five to help you 31, 000 is a fantastic final result, though not superb. It's not possible to generate a trend from them. "

Three Ways to Overcome Career Anxiety

At a recent dinner party, I was speaking with a friend who had just been promoted to vice president at a well-known New York hedge fund. The promotion was unexpected, involved an immediate 50% pay raise,Canada goose and came with broad new responsibilities. When he should have been feeling optimistic and excited about his new position, why did he look like the unhappiest person in the world?

This isn't uncommon. In the course of writing Passion & Purpose,Canada goose jacka I was fortunate enough to meet and interview hundreds of young leaders, many of them "rockstar" twenty-somethings who command high six-figure salaries, are in stable relationships, and have all the career options in the world. Yet, when I asked them whether they were following their passions — really doing what they loved — they would soon describe how they actually felt about their seemingly perfect lives: lost, hesitant, and uncertain. One respondent summed it up by saying, "I don't know what I want to do, but I know it's not this."

Many of those I interviewed echoed her sense of hollowness,Canada goose parka a sense that seemed to be largely career- and situation-agnostic. This set up an intriguing puzzle: With all the ambition, choice, and ability in the world, why are these young leaders getting swept away in an undercurrent of unhappiness and anxiety?

The answer is both surprising and unique to this generation. Young leaders face three main threats to their sense of happiness and well-being.

First, they realize that large companies aren't safe options anymore. Gone are the days where working for LargeCo meant a career for life. After the financial crisis,Expedition parka the large-scale, immediate layoffs at financial institutions and large corporations shattered prevailing expectations of job stability. As a result, many are becoming hesitant of the promises made by large companies, instead choosing to pursue careers in the family business or in government. The latest round of 75,000 Wall Street job cuts will only add to this looming feeling of insecurity.

Second, Facebook and social networks are increasing anxiety. This is a generation of social media junkies — they're on an average of 2.4 social networks, with 28% getting their first Facebook hit before even rolling out of bed. As Facebook gets better at connecting the world, it has become much easier to peer into one another's lives and see what others are doing. As one investment banker put it: "Hearing about everyone's exciting new jobs on Facebook makes me dread going to work even more." This increased sharing and personal transparency is not just a privacy issue; it's causing everyone to (consciously or subconsciously) compare themselves ever more frequently to friends and peers. This is problematic, since studies have repeatedly shown that comparing yourself to others is a primary source of unhappiness.

Finally, young leaders have more career choices than ever. Their parents sent them to college in droves: 54% of Millennials have college degrees, compared to 36% of Boomers. Of course, parents did this so their children could have more options. But is having all the career choices in the world unequivocally a good thing? Barry Schwartz, author of The Paradox of Choice, would say no. Through my interviews, I saw that the bewildering array of professional options open to today's young leaders is forcing them to focus on "optimizing" choices, which can be an excruciating exercise and added stress, especially as the list of available options gets longer. It puts the focus squarely on making the "right" decisions, with their parents looking hopefully (or sternly) over their shoulders. For a young leader, this pressure only heightens feelings of insecurity about whether or not they've walked through the "right" door and makes them more afraid to fail.

But there is good news. Individuals can overcome these new threats. If you're a young, ambitious individual feeling hesitant and hollow, here are three ways to combat those pesky doubts:

   1. De-emphasize prestige and compensation. Money is important, but not at the cost of doing something you love. Taking a job just for the plush office and expense account might be a short-term strategy that compounds feelings of unhappiness further down the track. Without a doubt, the individuals I met who emphasized meaning over money tended to be happier overall than those who didn't.
   2. Start experimenting. Commitment is important, but so is flexibility and intelligent experimentation. Try new things; try hard things. Ask your manager for a chance to lead a new business. Speak at an industry conference. Go on a secondment to another country. This way, you'll keep challenging yourself and avoid that feeling of being locked in.
   3. Spend time defining your passions. It is a difficult psychological achievement to find what we want. The pursuit itself is hard, and it takes time. Like Clayton Christensen did, spend an hour a day thinking about what things you're passionate about. You're allowed to be passionate about different things, so consider more than one option. Adopting a portfolio of passions, rather than racking your brain for that one answer, will help you move away from impossible optimization and enable you to move forward.

These are just some of the techniques I've seen young leaders adopt to move forward with confidence. With some focus and effort, there is every reason that our next generation of leaders should be happy and ready to act with purpose.

How Computer Modeling Lets Doctors Predict Heart Attacks Before They Happen

Heart attacks strike about 1.2 million people every year in America alone, many of them fatally. Of those, most are caused by coronary artery disease--the biggest killer of both men and women in the U.S.--and something like 70 percent of those strike without warning. Coronary artery disease is sneaky like that. Symptoms generally don’t outwardly manifest themselves until someone is on the floor,Belstaff short of breath, wondering what just kicked them in the chest. Doctors battling these cardiac blockages generally enter the fight at a severe disadvantage. The disease almost always benefits from the element of surprise.

“We have no way to predict where the blockages will be,Belstaff Outlet and a lot of the time we catch the stenoses too late,” says Dr. Frank Rybicki, director of the Applied Imaging Science Laboratory at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, referring to arterial blockages by their clinical name. “Wouldn’t it be great and lifesaving if we could predict where a lesion will be ahead of time? If you could catch a lesion before it causes symptoms, before it causes a heart attack, you could do a lot of good.”

Rybicki and his professional peers can’t see the future,Canada Goose Chilliwack but increasingly computers can. The same capacity for algorithmic prediction that allows Netflix to know what movies you want to watch or astronomers to model the complexity of the cosmos is helping an international team of researchers--including computer scientists and doctors from Harvard, medical doctors and imaging experts from Brigham and Women’s Hospital (including Rybicki), a team of computer scientists and physicists in Italy, and chip designers at NVIDIA--to mash up fluid dynamics, computer science, physics, and cardiac medicine via a computer custom-built from graphics processors.

Called multiscale hemodynamics, the technology not only lets doctors see exactly how blood is moving through a particular patient’s heart, but also predicts where future arterial blockages are likely to form,Canada Goose Expedition tipping the scales back in doctors’ favor. In essence, it predicts heart attacks before they happen. And it does all of this using nothing more than a simple CT scan.

That’s a marked improvement over the current method of peering into the inner workings of the heart. Heart attacks occur when plaque builds up in the coronary arteries around the heart, leading to blockages that restrict blood flow. That plaque develops in areas within the arterial trees where stress on the arterial walls is low. It’s like an eddy in a stream--the places in the stream where blood slows and pools are the places where life-threatening plaque develops.
But doctors currently have no idea where those places are. Every patient’s arterial trees are different, possessing unique geometries that affect the way blood flows through them, so there’s no universal model. If a doctor suspects a patient may be developing coronary artery disease for any reason, the current standard course of action involves threading a camera-equipped catheter through the circulatory system and into the heart so doctors can look for the plaque directly. In other words, patients undergo a surgery before doctors are even sure there is a problem. It’s invasive, expensive, and physically taxing on the human body.

Compare that to computed tomography (CT). CT is cheap, a non-invasive imaging technology used for everything from identifying and mapping complex bone fractures to hunting for tumors. Every radiology lab has a CT scanner, and though CT technology has been around for decades the machines are still improving at an admirable tick, delivering higher spatial resolutions all the time. Better inputs. Richer data.

Researchers at Brigham and Women’s Applied Imaging Science Laboratory could see the potential in this richer CT data emerging in recent years, but they weren’t equipped to create the kinds of models that can predict myocardial infarctions. Recognizing their medical imaging problem was also a computer science problem, they enlisted the help of various computer scientists, like Dr. Efthimios Kaxiras, director of the Institute for Applied Computational Science at Harvard.

Applying complex physics and fluid dynamics equations--formulas requiring mind-numbing numbers of individual computations--Kaxiras and his colleagues began modeling the way blood flows through the arterial trees of an individual patient from CT scans of the patient's heart. And just like that, doctors could now peer inside a patient’s heart without actually venturing inside. Their holy grail--the ability to see heart blockages forming before they turn into heart attacks--was within reach.

But from a computer modeling standpoint this was anything but easy, Kaxiras says. Blood is a tricky medium to model, even for high-powered computing platforms, because it is made up of so many particles of varying sizes and characteristics. Variables abound: there are red blood cells, white blood cells, plasma, particulate matter, etc. Then you have to take into account things like the degree to which the blood is oxygenated, which affects the way it behaves as a fluid.
Tapping the resources of some of the country’s biggest, baddest supercomputers--IBM’s Blue Gene ran an early version of their models--the team was able to generate these working fluid dynamics models of the heart. But if they were going to revolutionize personalized medicine, they needed to somehow port their software away from these massive, expensive, water-cooled machines and bring it down to the clinical level.

“So we turned to this new technology that NVIDIA is providing through its graphics cards, and recoded the whole approach,” Kaxiras says. “These graphics cards offer a much, much cheaper way of doing the same calculation without losing any of the accuracy.”

GPUs are designed to manage the values of multiple pixels on a screen, distributing the workload between various cores rather than one (in other words, they have a special knack for addressing parallel computing problems). And while they are not ideal for every kind of processing, they are particularly good at certain kinds of math problems. In the last few years, NVIDIA has been exploring ways to use their powerful GPU arrays to solve these complex mathematical problems, and it just so happens one of the many computer science labs NVIDIA tapped to help them develop best practices for their GPUs was Kaxiras’s lab at Harvard.
Peering Inside the Heart via Digital Models Derived from CT Scans: Using detailed models created on GPU-powered supercomputer analogs, doctors may soon be able to see inside a patients arterial trees using nothing more than data from a simple CT scan.  NVIDIA

Between Brigham and Women’s computer science problem and NVIDIA’s GPUs, Kaxiras and his computer science colleagues found a harmonious fit. At this point, the work went overseas where a team of Italian researchers--two computational physicists and two computer scientists with specialized experience programming these graphics processors--programmed a GPU-driven platform capable of running the multiscale hemodynamics models at a fraction of the cost and complexity of a supercomputer.

“This is completely new,” Kaxiras says. “This was completely outside the realm of possibility a year or two ago. This can be deployed in a hospital setting. A year or two ago, doctors would have to collaborate with someone like me to get these kinds of results, and that can take weeks or months.”

Now it takes an afternoon, and with every incremental improvement in the technology--in the quality of the CT scans, in the efficiency of the software, in the power of the GPUs, in the strength of the equations--the process grows a little faster.

“In five to ten years this technology is going to be so good and so well-oiled that you are going to be able to push a single button on the CT scanner and get all of this information in a few hours,” Rybicki says. “Or maybe in a few minutes. All of the pieces are there.”

Right now, Kaxiras, Rybicki, and their myriad collaborators on two continents are working to pull together a clinical prototype that puts all of the computational hardware in one package so it can be easily deployed in any radiology suite. That means multiscale hemodynamics could soon become a normal part of any patient’s regular medical care. Doctors will be able--for the price of a CT scan--to regularly peer inside their patients’ hearts and see them not only as they look right now, but as they will likely look in the future, enabling them to predict heart attacks before they happen and preemptively attack problems before they even have a chance to become threats.

Ohio voters to decide bargaining rights for public employees

Walter Hudson of Toledo protests Senate Bill 5 at the Ohio statehouse in Columbus in March. The bill, which would strip public employees of many collective bargaining rights, will be voted on in a referendum next Tuesday.

Ohio voters this coming Tuesday will decide whether or not to uphold a controversial labor law designed to change the face of the public sector labor force in the state.Canada Goose Parka
If passed, the new law will replace a 28-year-old collective bargaining law with a new version that restricts the bargaining terms for the state’s nearly 400,000 public employees, prohibits striking, and gives management the final say on such topics as health insurance.
Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R) signed Senate Bill 5 into law in late March to replace the 1983 law with one he said would close the state’s budget gap and save the state $8 billion.Canada Goose Trillium　
Opponents cried foul, saying the bill’s true purpose is to weaken the state’s unions, a charge made often in Wisconsin earlier this year when that state’s Republican leadership pushed through a similar bill that brought hundreds of thousands of people to the state capital to protest for weeks.
National attention on the issue is corresponding to the money filtering into the state from special interest groups.Canada Goose
According to the Cleveland Plain Dealer, We Are Ohio, a national labor group opposing the bill, is leading the money drive, having raised $19 million since July. Building a Better Ohio, a group advocating the law, raised $7.6 million in that same time period.
Building a Better Ohio and other groups backing the bill reportedly have ties to billionaire industrialists David and Charles Koch and to Mary Cheney, daughter of the former vice president.Canada Goose Jacka
Last-minute media blitzes are also spanning the state. This weekend, Ohio voters are receiving robo-calls from former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) asking them to uphold the bill. On her Facebook page, Ms. Palin calls herself “a proud former union member” and said the new bill “will help restore fairness to Ohio taxpayers and help balance the budget.”
Polling suggests that public support for both the bill and Gov. Kasich is eroding.
The Quinnipiac University Polling Institute in Hamden, Conn. released polling results last week that showed the bill failing by a 25-point margin. Last month, the same pollsters showed the bill failing by a 14-point margin. Last week’s poll also showed Kasich’s approval rating at 36 percent, a four-point drop from the earlier poll. His disapproval rating is currently at 52 percent.
The governor held rallies last week throughout the state to galvanize support for the referendum. Talking to reporters Thursday before a rally in Independence, Ohio, he said he understood that passing the bill would not be easy.
“I'm not a guy who goes and hides…. This is a tough, uphill fight,” he said.
Among the measures in the new bill:
—    Public workers are prohibited from striking; employers are required to deduct twice a day’s pay for each day of a strike, should it occur.
—    Health coverage is excluded from collective bargaining; management has the authority to decide whether or not other topics, such as starting and quitting times, and work assignments, can be negotiated.
—    Performance-based pay replaces seniority-based scales; an evaluation system is established for teachers.
—    Performance, not seniority, becomes the main factor in layoffs.
—    Employees must pay at least 15 percent of health insurance costs, and management has the option of bargaining for more. Management also determines benefits.
The law has not taken effect with the referendum pending.

Tory rebels trying to claw back power handed to Brussels won't get their way while I'm in power, crows Clegg

Coalition tensions over Europe exploded into the open last night as Nick Clegg told Tory rebels a ‘smash and grab raid’ to claw back powers handed over to Brussels would never take place under this Government.
As David Cameron reeled from the biggest rebellion over Europe ever suffered by a Conservative prime minister, his Liberal Democrat deputy rubbed salt in the wound, insisting that presenting the EU with a list of demands for looser ties ‘won’t work’.
And Downing Street was forced to make clear that Mr Cameron’s commitment to seizing back control in areas such as employment law did not represent Government policy, only that of the Conservative Party.
The Prime Minister insisted yesterday that there was ‘no bad blood, no rancour’ after 81 Conservative MPs defied him to vote in favour of giving people a choice between leaving the EU, staying in, or renegotiating a more distant relationship with Brussels in a referendum.
Number Ten was shocked by the scale of the revolt, which saw half of all Conservative backbenchers either vote against the Government or abstain despite what some called ‘appalling’ attempts to bully them into line.
Mr Cameron’s allies were sent on to the airwaves yesterday to try to offer an olive branch to the rebels. Education Secretary Michael Gove insisted he wanted to see negotiations to win back powers from Brussels within the term of this Parliament and prompted incredulity by claiming the Conservative Party was ‘united as never before’ over the issue of Europe.
‘We are already winning powers back – we need to win more and that process will require careful negotiation,’ Mr Gove said.

‘I think that we should take powers back over employment law. I think that we should take powers back that affect our capacity to grow.
‘There are some specific regulations that govern who we can hire and how we can hire and how long they work for, which actually hold us back.’

But within minutes, Mr Clegg said there was no question of the Government ‘unilaterally trying to kind of grab powers back’.
‘I think it is a monumental distraction from what is, in effect, an economic firestorm on our doorstep to tie ourselves up in knots late at night in Westminster about a treaty or inter-governmental conference that might never happen,’ he told ITV News.
‘Eurosceptics need to be quite careful what they wish for, because if they succeed – and they won’t succeed, as long as I’m in government – to push this country towards the exit sign, let’s be clear: The people that will be damaged are British families, British businesses, British jobs, British communities, and I won’t let that happen.’

Mr Clegg did give some ground – suggesting there was a case for ‘rebalancing the responsibilities between the EU and its member states’ and citing the Common Fisheries Policy as one area in need of reform.
But he insisted the only way to change the EU was by ‘winning the argument, leading the argument and actually persuading other countries’.
Mr Cameron is being warned he will face relentless pressure from rebel MPs to use discussions on changing EU treaties to allow closer fiscal union among countries in the single currency as an opportunity to redefine Britain’s relationship with the EU.

But Germany is understood to be determined do whatever it takes to make sure Britain does not get an opportunity to turn imminent treaty change into an opportunity for repatriation of powers.
The Prime Minister said Europe had long been a difficult issue for the Conservatives and ‘always will be’ but insisted he had no regrets about the handling of this week’s vote.
‘It wouldn’t be right for the country right now to have a great big vote on an in-out referendum,’ he said.
Former shadow home secretary David Davis said the Government’s handling of the issue would increase support for leaving the EU altogether.
‘I don’t want to leave – that would just give them an excuse for protectionism against us,’ he said. ‘But it is very hard to understand what the Government’s European strategy is. They talk about a repatriation of powers but then say the Liberals won’t let us do it.’
Stewart Jackson, who risks losing his post after voting against the Government despite being a ministerial aide, said: ‘It’s pretty unhelpful when the Deputy Prime Minister seeks to disregard what is happening in the eurozone and says that we’re not going to take any powers back.
‘Repatriation of significant powers from Brussels is not just what the Parliamentary Conservative Party want and has been elected upon, but what most people in this country think is right.’

New planet, the youngest ever found, is revealed by cosmic trick photography

A University of Hawaii astronomer has captured the first direct image of a planet forming around a star. Dubbed LkCa 15 b, it is the youngest planet ever found.

The university's Institute for Astronomy said Adam Kraus used telescopes on Mauna Kea island to find the planet. He was working with Michael Ireland from Macquarie University and the Australian Astronomical Observatory.

LkCa 15 b is 450 light years away from Earth and being built by dust and gas.

Scientists had not been able to see such young planets before because their parent solar systems' light outshines them.

Krause and Ireland used mirrors to cancel out the starlight and were able to see discs of dust near the planet.

The astronomers used 10-metre Keck telescopes to reveal the forming planet sitting inside a wide gap between the young parent star and the outer disc of glowing dust.
"LkCa 15 b is the youngest planet ever found, about five times younger than the previous record holder," Kraus said. "This young gas giant is being built out of the dust and gas. In the past you couldn't measure this kind of phenomenon because it's happening so close to the star. But for the first time we've been able to directly measure the planet itself as well as the dusty matter around it."

Kraus presented the discovery at Nasa's Goddard Space Flight Centre on Wednesday after his research paper on the discovery with Ireland was accepted by the Astrophysical Journal.

The optical sleight of hand used by the astronomers combined the telescope's "adaptive optics" with a technique called aperture mask interferometry: using a a deformable mirror to rapidly correct for atmospheric distortions to starlight. It involves placing a small mask with several holes in the path of the light collected and concentrated by a giant telescope, and using it to manipulate the light waves.
"It's like we have an array of small mirrors," Kraus said. "We can manipulate the light and cancel out distortions." The technique allows the astronomers to remove the bright light of stars. They can then resolve discs of dust around stars and see gaps in the dusty layers where protoplanets may be hiding.

"We realized we had uncovered a super Jupiter-sized gas planet but that we could also measure the dust and gas surrounding it. We'd found a planet, perhaps even a future solar system at its very beginning."

Kraus and Ireland plan to continue their planet search around nearby young stars.

Lord Sugar attacks youth 'expectancy culture'

Lord Sugar has railed against the "expectancy culture" in Britain, as he launched the second series of the Young Apprentice.

Against a background of high youth unemployment and a summer of rioting, Sugar said he hoped to show a different side of the nation's teenagers – or at least the super-articulate, highly driven individuals competing in the show –and motivate those struggling to find work.

"This programme goes to prove that you can start to make some money and stand on your own two feet. That's what I think you should do," the Labour peer said. "There's too much of … what I call an expectancy culture of things being provided. And I'm afraid to say the goody-goody benefits system we have in this country has made it a bit too cushy for people, and now its a wake-up call. Not everybody needs to go to university. They can go out and start working straight away."

The former enterprise tsar said that while he had been a supporter of Gordon Brown, he had not backed all the Labour government's choices. "Not everything that went on under Labour I agree with [such as] the benefits system and social apprenticeship schemes, which are really parking people and moving them out of the unemployment numbers," he said.

At the beginning of the past decade, young people had believed they could skip getting their hands dirty and start at the top because they had an idea, he said. "They wanted to come in, be a dotcom, go to a venture capitalist … That's all gone. That's finished. That era is over," he said.

As the show begins next Monday, this year's 16- and 17-year-old would-be entrepreneurs get off to a typical Apprentice start – badgering passersby into paying wild amounts of cash for ice-cream with sometimes questionable flavours.

Sugar suggested the young apprentices might actually be better than their adult equivalents, who have amused audiences for years with their fondness for business jargon, machiavellian plotting and bulletproof self-belief.

The winner will receive ￡25,000 to spend on their business, but Sugar admits he controls the cashflow, and that he drip feeds it into projects slowly. Last year's winner, Arjun Rajyagor, has yet to receive all of his prize money.

Sugar hopes the show will encourage people to start their own businesses even without his – or another investor's – backing.

In typically irascible style, Sugar does not cut the young apprentices any slack, lambasting them for claiming credit where it's not due and not being able to do basic maths. But their results are impressive and, he hopes, inspirational.

"We want to show you can start something from nothing and get away from this culture of university, then gap year for two years, then go and get a job at some consultancy, then go on the dole," he said.

'Dirty Girl' star Juno Temple fashions success

"I dress like such a bag lady every day. But I always have good underwear on," says the up-and-coming actress, 22, who plays an obnoxiously sweet strumpet in Dirty Girl, now in theaters.
Should the acting thing not pan out for Temple, she has a backup plan.
"I'd be designing clothes. I want to design lingerie at some point. I've been fascinated by lingerie since I was 15 or 16," she says. "I'm not a huge makeup person. But I pick out my underwear. As a woman, we have so many beautiful curves and shapes and such power in our body. Our sexuality is delicious."
In the meantime, Temple, the daughter of filmmaker Julien Temple, is keeping busy in front of the camera. In Dirty Girl, she's Danielle, seemingly outrageous yet internally sensitive and seeking to connect with her missing father.
On Oct. 21, she's a young royal opposite Orlando Bloom in The Three Musketeers. Next summer, she's in the hotly anticipated but hush-hush final installment of Christopher Nolan's Batman series, The Dark Knight Rises. "It's so cool to be a part of it. I didn't have any expectations," she says. "I just enjoyed it."
After getting her sea legs with supporting roles in Atonement and Notes on a Scandal, does Temple feel like this is her breakout moment? "Oh, God, I don't know. You don't sit there and think about it. You're always trying to fight for the job you want. You don't sit there and think, 'I've got it made.' People might not like your movie. I might move to Cuba in a year and change my name. Who knows? I just hope I keep working."
Acting, Temple says, is a job she loves. And one that has its perks for someone as style-conscious as she is.
"The first time I made money for a movie, I went into Miu Miu and I bought a tweed coat that fit me like a glove," she says. "It has a pleat in the back, and the entire bottom is covered in studs. I had to have it. I bought it. That was my first major purchase. I wore that thing to death. I've had that since I was 17."

Wall Street Journal circulation scam claims senior Murdoch executive

One of Rupert Murdoch's most senior European executives has resigned following Guardian inquiries about a circulation scam at News Corporation's flagship newspaper, the Wall Street Journal.

The Guardian found evidence that the Journal had been channelling money through European companies in order to secretly buy thousands of copies of its own paper at a knock-down rate, misleading readers and advertisers about the Journal's true circulation.

The bizarre scheme included a formal, written contract in which the Journal persuaded one company to co-operate by agreeing to publish articles that promoted its activities, a move which led some staff to accuse the paper's management of violating journalistic ethics and jeopardising its treasured reputation for editorial quality.

Internal emails and documents suggest the scam was promoted by Andrew Langhoff, the European managing director of the Journal's parent company, Dow Jones and Co, which was bought by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation in July 2007. Langhoff resigned on Tuesday.

The highly controversial activities were organised in London and focused on the Journal's European edition, which circulates in the EU, Russia, and Africa. Senior executives in New York, including Murdoch's right-hand man, Les Hinton, were alerted to the problems last year by an internal whistleblower and apparently chose to take no action. The whistleblower was then made redundant.

In what appears to have been a damage limitation exercise following the Guardian's inquiries, Langhoff resigned on Tuesday, citing only the complaints of unethical interference in editorial coverage. Neither he nor an article published last night in the Wall Street Journal made any reference to the circulation scam nor to the fact that the senior management of Dow Jones in New York failed to act when they were alerted last year.

The affair will add weight to the fears of shareholders in Murdoch's parent company, NewsCorp, that the business has become a 'rogue corporation', operating outside normal rules. Some shareholders have launched a legal action in the US, attacking the Murdoch family after the phone-hacking scandal at the News of the World and following lawsuits in which NewsCorp subsidiaries have been accused of hacking into competitors' computers and stealing their customers.

The Journal's decision to secretly purchase its own papers began with an unusual scheme to boost circulation, known as the Future Leadership Institute. Starting in January 2008, the Journal linked up with European companies who sponsored seminars for university students who were likely to be future leaders. The Journal rewarded the sponsors by publishing their names in a special panel published in the paper. The sponsors paid for that publicity by buying copies of the Journal at a knock-down rate of no more than 5￠ each. Those papers were then distributed to university students. At the bottom line, the sponsors enjoyed a prestigious link to the Journal, and the Journal boosted its circulation figures.

The scheme was controversial. The sponsoring companies were not reading the papers they were paying for; they were never even seeing them; and they were buying at highly reduced rates. The students to whom they were distributed may or may not have read them; none of the students paid for the papers they were being offered. But the Audit Bureau of Circulation ruled that the scheme was legitimate and by 2010, it was responsible for 41% of the European edition's daily sales – 31,000 copies out of a total of 75,000.

In early 2010 the scheme began to run into trouble when the biggest single sponsor, a Dutch company called Executive Learning Partnership, ELP, threatened to back out. ELP alone were responsible for 16% of the Journal's European circulation, sponsoring 12,000 copies a day for which they were paying only 1￠ per copy. For the 259 publishing days in a year, they were sponsoring 3.1m copies at a cost to them of €31,080 (￡27,200). They complained that the publicity they were receiving was not enough return on their investment.

On 9 April 2010, Andrew Langhoff emailed ELP to table a new deal, explaining that "our clear goal is to add a new component to our partnership" and offering to "provide a well-branded showcase for ELP's valuable services". On 30 April, ELP agreed to continue to sponsor 12,000 copies at the same rate. But that deal included a new eight-page addendum, which the Guardian has seen.

The addendum included a collection of side deals: the Journal would give ELP free advertising and, in exchange, the ELP would produce "leadership videos" for them; they would jointly organise more seminars and workshops on themes connected to ELP's work; but, crucially, Langhoff agreed that the Journal would publish "a minimum of three special reports" that would be based on surveys of the European market which ELP would run with the Journal's help.

It is this agreement that is now being cited as the reason for Langhoff's resignation on Tuesday. It led to the Journal publishing a full-page feature on 14 October 2010 that reported a survey conducted by ELP about the use of social media in business, quoting ELP's chief executive at length. The story carried no warning for readers that it was the result of a deal between the Journal and ELP, nor that ELP were sponsoring 16% of the paper's European circulation. Similarly, there were no warnings attached to a second story, published on 14 March 2011, which consisted of an interview with one of ELP's senior partners, Ann de Jaeger, about the role of women in company boardrooms.

The ELP deal continued to cause more serious problems. Some Journal staff complained the agreement to run stories promoting ELP was unethical. On 12 July 2010, one London executive emailed that "some elements of the deal do not fit easily within best practice, brand guidelines and company policy". Others warned about the quality of the surveys on which the stories were to be based.

By the autumn of 2010, ELP were complaining that the Journal was failing to deliver its end of the agreement. They threatened not to make a payment of €15,000 that was due at the end of December, for the copies of the Journal which they had sponsored since April 30. Without the payment, the Journal could not officially record the sales and their circulation figures would suddenly dive by 16%, undermining the confidence of advertisers and readers.

So Langhoff set up a complex scheme to channel money to ELP to pay for the papers it had agreed to buy – effectively buying the papers with the Journal's own cash. This involved the use of other companies although it is not suggested that they were aware they were taking part in a scam.

The best-documented example involves an Indian technology company, HCL, who had separately agreed to pay the Journal €16,000 to organise a special event at the Grosvenor House hotel in London on 30 September 2010. Langhoff proposed that instead of paying the Journal, HCL should pass some of this money to a middleman – a Belgian publishing company – who would then pass it on to ELP.

Invoices and emails seen by the Guardian show that in November 2010, ELP sent two invoices, for €2,000 and €6,000, to the Belgian publishers of a magazine called Banking and Finance. The Belgians duly paid €8,000 to ELP, even though ELP had not provided any goods or services for which they owed this money. According to the invoices, however, the magazine were paying ELP sponsorship money for an event run by the Journal in the Belgian towns of Bree and Schilde in November 2010.

The Belgian magazine was sent €2,000 by HCL. A second payment of €6,000 was never made because HCL fell into dispute with the Journal. In December 2010, as part of an attempt to persuade the Journal to pay them the missing €6,000, the Belgian publishers' managing director, Michel Klompmaker, signed a formal letter that "hereby states that there has never been a contract between us and ELP regarding the sponsorship of a Wall Street Journal Bree/Schilde summit for €6,000. We agreed to be a facilitator in a payment process between the Journal, HCL and ELP per request of the Journal".

An email from Andrew Langhoff on 26 November 2010 includes a diagram that indicates money was channelled to ELP through two other middlemen. This suggests that Langhoff wanted €15,000 sent to ELP via a Belgian company called Think Media, which sells space on billboards. An invoice dated 2 December 2010, shows that ELP invoiced Think Media for €15,000. An email from 20 December shows that Think Media had paid the €15,000 to ELP. In a series of phone calls and emails to Think Media, the Guardian put it to the company that ELP had provided no goods or services in exchange for this payment, and that the payment was made at the request of the Journal. Think Media declined to respond.

The same diagram suggests Langhoff wanted a further €2,000 channelled to ELP through a Belgian technology company, Nayan, which had occasionally sponsored Journal events. Nayan confirmed to the Guardian that they had paid ELP €2,000 in December 2010. They say they understood that ELP were owed this money by the Journal because they had put in some work on a Journal event, and that Nayan paid it as part of their agreement to sponsor the event. A Journal source with direct knowledge of the event says that Nayan were misled by the paper, and that ELP provided no services at the event for which they were due to be paid.

While these payments were being made, a whistleblower from the Journal in Europe contacted the management of Dow Jones in New York and alerted them to the circulation scam and to the controversial agreement to publish articles promoting ELP. Emails seen by the Guardian indicate that the whistleblower's complaint was seen by New York executives, including Les Hinton – then the chief executive of Dow Jones and a close confidant of Rupert Murdoch. Hinton resigned in July in the wake of the phone-hacking scandal at the News of the World.

The emails show that the chief human resources officer for Dow Jones, Gregory Giangrande, organised a meeting in London on 14 December at which the whistleblower detailed his allegations to a Dow Jones lawyer from New York, Tom Maher, and Dow Jones' European human resources executive Carol Bosack.

After the meeting, Bosack emailed the whistleblower: "You are expected to keep details and your reaction or beliefs about the recent events confidential and not shared with anyone external or internal to the business. This matter is to be kept between us, Andrew [Langhoff], Internal Audit and Corporate Legal." No action was apparently taken at that time on the whistleblower's allegations. The whistleblower, who had worked for Dow Jones for 9 years, was made redundant in January.

According to one source, recent Guardian inquiries among former Journal staff and companies who were involved in the payments to ELP "caused a panic" at Dow Jones, resulting in Andrew Langhoff's resignation on Tuesday.

The Wall Street Journal last night reported that Langhoff's resignation "following an internal investigation into two articles published in the Wall Street Journal Europe that featured a company with a contractual link to the paper's circulation department."

It quoted an email sent to staff yesterday by Langhoff about the agreement to publish the ELP stories: "Because the agreement could leave the impression that news coverage can be influenced by commercial relationships, as publisher with executive oversight, I believe that my resignation is now the most honorable course." Disclaimers have now been added to the two stories, warning readers that the "impetus" for the stories was an agreement between the Journal's circulation department and ELP.

Asked about the payments from the Journal to ELP via the various middlemen, the chairman of ELP, Nick van Heck, said it was the company's policy not to make public comment on their contracts. He added: "I am confident that every member of our staff is fully aware of the European norms, which are very rigid when it comes to accounting. I'm pretty confident that what we did was in line with the law."

On Tuesday afternoon Dow Jones issued a statement saying said it initiated the original investigation into the deals in question and the employees involved in late 2010. "The circulation programs and the copies associated with ELP were legitimate and appropriate, and the agreement was shared with ABC UK before the deal was signed," the statement said. "All circulation periods during the ELP arrangement have been certified."

"We came to the conclusion that ELP was only compensated for valid services; however, we were uncomfortable with the appearance of these programs and the manner in which they were arranged. We subsequently eliminated the position of one of the employees responsible for those deals in January 2011.

"At this point, we no longer have relationships with the employees or third parties directly involved in these agreements, and we continue to believe that these deals were valid. They were however of poor appearance. We were not fully aware of the details of the editorial component of the relationship until last week, when we immediately took action."

Rift splits real-life Downton: Heir to Carnarvon estate has yet to meet his maternal grandmother

As events in ITV’s Downton Abbey unfold at almost breakneck speed, there is an even more dramatic storyline being played out by the real-life occupiers of Lord Grantham’s fictional stately pile.
It concerns the eldest children of the Earl of Carnarvon, whose 400-year-old family seat Highclere Castle is where the drama starring Michelle Dockery is filmed, who to this day have never met their maternal grandmother.
The children - George, 19, who will one day inherit the Carnarvon title, and Saoirse, 20 - are from the Earl’s first marriage to Jayne Wilby. They married in 1989 in a lavish ceremony at Highclere attended by the Queen and Princess Margaret.
The marriage ended in divorce in 1998, and Carnarvon married his second wife, Fiona, with whom he has a son, Edward, 11, in 1999.
But because of a family rift, Jayne’s mother, Princess Frances Colonna di Stigliano, has never set eyes on her grandchildren.
Speaking from Clonmannon, her Georgian estate in County Wicklow, Ireland, Frances, 71, tells me: ‘I have been watching Downton Abbey and remember Highclere very well. I was only there for Jayne’s wedding which I paid for. I haven’t spoken to Jayne for more than 22 years.
‘It is all tremendously sad. She was the most lovely daughter. I adored her. But now I don’t have anything to do with her. I’d rather not say the reason.’
The rift stems from the estate belonging to her father, racehorse owner Ken Wilby, which he left to Frances and his children. Friends say Jayne and her brothers, David and Charles, accused their mother of selling off chunks of the estate.
Frances had also divorced their father and when she formalised her civil marriage to Italian aristocrat Prince Prospero in 1991, Jayne refused to go.
Asked about the matter, Jayne has said: ‘I don’t want to talk about it. I made a pact with my brothers we all agreed it was better if there was no mudslinging.’
Meanwhile, Frances has not given up hope of a rapprochement: ‘I would love to meet George and Saoirse. I am in touch with Lord Carnarvon but there is little sign of any change of mind from Jayne.’

Battle of the Smithsonian: Protesters squirted in face with pepper spray as Washington museum is closed after attempt to storm it

The National Air and Space Museum in Washington was closed Saturday after anti-war demonstrators swarmed the building to protest a drone exhibit and security guards used pepper spray to repel them.
Smithsonian spokesman John Gibbons said a large group of demonstrators, estimated at 100 to 200 people, arrived at about 3 p.m. and tried to enter the National Mall museum.
The protest came as thousands of anti-greed protesters descended on New York's Washington Square Park today in the latest Occupy Wall Street rally.
The crowd of about 3,000 flooded the iconic park and used slogans likening themselves to the 'Arab Spring' demonstrations that have toppled several Middle East regimes.
A showdown was looming, however, as protesters standing face-to-face with police officers, who are thought to be considering imposing a curfew at midnight.
When a security guard stopped group members from entering, saying they could not bring in signs, he was apparently held by demonstrators, Gibbons said.
A second guard who arrived used pepper spray on at least one person and the crowd dispersed, he added.
A number of groups have been demonstrating in the city in the past week.
The group that arrived at the museum Saturday included individuals taking part in the October 2011 Stop the Machine demonstration in the city's Freedom Plaza, which has an anti-war and anti-corporate greed message.
The group also included protesters affiliated with Occupy D.C., a group modelled on the Occupy Wall Street protests in New York City.
Occupy D.C. has been holding marches and meetings in Washington's McPherson Square.
David Swanson, 41, of Charlottesville, Virginia, said he was among dozens of people sickened by the pepper spray.
He said he got sick even though he was outside the building when the spraying began.
'I began choking and vomiting and got a headache,' Swanson said.
One speaker at the New York rally urged the crowd to squat in empty or abandoned buildings.
She shouted: 'There are foreclosed homes, empty school buildings that should be made available to all. Occupy everything.'
Officers kept a close eye on the protest but by late Saturday afternoon there were no reports of violence or arrests.
Police fenced off grassy areas in the park, and put up 10-foot high chain link fences around public bathrooms before the march from Zuccotti Park to Washington Square began.
Group spokesman Patrick Bruner said there were no plans to force a confrontation with police.
Officers, however, seem determined to enforce a curfew and prevent protesters from camping out there as they have done for weeks at Zuccotti Park, the New York Post reports.
One protest organizer Justine Tunney, 26, said: 'We plan to stay in Washington Square Park and form a second permanent occupation.'
The NYPD said it hadn’t issued any permits for today’s rally.
Bruner said demonstrators have never applied for a permit - and don’t plan to.
He said: 'We don’t think it’s right that you need permission to peacefully assemble.'
The protesters are angry about the 2008 Wall Street bailout that they say allowed banks to reap huge profits while average Americans suffered high unemployment and job insecurity.
More than 700 people were arrested last Saturday when thousands of the protesters tried to get across the Brooklyn Bridge and spilled on to the roadway.
Dozens more were arrested at the biggest rally so far on Wednesday when about 5,000 people marched on Wall Street.
The demonstrators are also campaigning against other social and economic inqualities, including the gap between rich and poor, as well as what they regard as a corrupt political system.
The protest movement has now to more than 100 cities coast to coast.

Big boys should cry: College football players who shed tears have higher self-esteem, study shows

It's an alpha male world of tough tackles and stoic demeanours, where crying is often seen as a sign of weakness.

But college footballers who are at ease with tears have higher self-esteem, research shows.

Although players feel pressure to conform to some male stereotypes, those who feel it’s fine to cry after losing a game are happier than those who think emotions should be kept in check, the study discovered.
The findings come from Psychology of Men & Masculinity, published by the American Psychological Association.

'Overall, college football players who… are emotionally expressive are more likely to have a mental edge on and off the field,' said psychologist Jesse Steinfeldt, PhD, of Indiana University-Bloomington, a co-authored of the study.

In one part of the study, researchers surveyed 150 college football players from two universities with an average age of 19.
The players in the experiment were mostly white and played for one of two teams, one from the NCAA Division II and the other at the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics level.

They were randomly assigned to four groups to read different vignettes about 'Jack' – a football player who cries after a football game.
In the short stories, Jack either sobs or tears up after his team loses or wins.

Those who read about Jack tearing up after losing thought his behaviour was appropriate, but drew the line at his sobbing.

The players also said they were more likely to tear up than sob if they were in Jack's situation.
Players who read scenarios in which Jack sobs after losing a game said his reaction was more typical among football players than the players who read that Jack sobs after his team won the game.

'In 2009, the news media disparaged University of Florida quarterback Tim Tebow for crying on the sidelines after losing a big game, even labeling him Tim 'Tearbow,'' said psychologist Y. Joel Wong, PhD, the study's lead author.

'However, the college football players in our study who believed Jack's crying was appropriate had higher self-esteem.

In contrast, players who believed Jack's crying was inappropriate yet felt they would likely cry in Jack's situation had lower self-esteem.'

In another experiment at the same colleges, researchers surveyed 153 football players, also mostly white and with an average age of 19.
The researchers asked the players if they felt pressured to act a certain way because society expects men to be powerful and competitive, and to show little emotion and affection in front of other men.

Other studies have shown that this type of pressure to conform can lead to poor self-esteem and disruptive behaviour.

The researchers also asked the players about their overall life satisfaction and how they expressed emotions on and off the field.

The study found players do feel pressure to conform to these gender roles. But players who were never affectionate toward their teammates were less satisfied with life.

Mr Steinfeldt said that the footballers 'acknowledged some masculine stereotype pressures, and previous research has shown that can have a negative impact on a player's psyche.'

With Chris Christie not running for president, will Mitt Romney or Rick Perry prosper?

With New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie forgoing a run for the Republican presidential nomination, two questions hold the key to the future of the GOP race: Can Mitt Romney finally expand his support within the party, and can Rick Perry bounce back?
As the primary season kicks into gear, Republican presidential hopefuls are hitting the road and meeting voters in Iowa , New Hampshire and other early primary states.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie says he will not run for president in 2012. Heavily courted by Republican donors, he says, "I have a commitment to New Jersey that I simply will not abandon."

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie says he will not run for president in 2012. Heavily courted by Republican donors, he says, "I have a commitment to New Jersey that I simply will not abandon."

Christie’s announcement Tuesday that he will not join the race, while not unexpected, probably ended a long period in which many Republicans spent as much time dreaming about a candidate who wasn’t in the contest as focusing on those who were. Only former Alaska governor Sarah Palin remains as a possible late entrant, and time and interest in her candidacy are quickly running out.

“The campaign just got a whole lot more real,” said Todd Harris, a Republican strategist. “No more hypotheticals about this or that person swooping in to save the day. The field is set, and it’s not going to change. The race has been frozen in place while everyone waited to see what Christie was going to do. Now we know, and it’s time to resume the clock.”

The comings and goings of potential candidates have obscured what has long been the reality of the Republican race: that it has been two contests in one. The first was all about Romney and whether he could persuade a reluctant party to embrace his candidacy. So far he hasn’t. That highlights the importance of the second contest, which is the campaign among the other candidates to become the principal alternative to Romney.

The courtship of Christie spoke to a wider problem for the Republicans. At a time when they view President Obama as extremely vulnerable, they are caught up in an internal debate about which candidate most expresses the heart and soul of conservatism and whether that person is best equipped to win a general election.

That has produced fluctuations in support for contenders who appear to speak for the tea party activists, starting with Rep. Michele Bachmann (Minn.), followed by Perry and more recently by businessman Herman Cain. But the gyrating polls highlight the degree to which the Republican race, though just three months away from the first votes in Iowa and New Hampshire, is still taking shape.

Christie’s decision was welcome news for Romney and Perry. Romney will now have a fresh opportunity to consolidate support among established Republicans who have been keeping their options open. The former Massachusetts governor also will have a freer hand to pursue some major fundraisers who have stayed on the sidelines looking for a seemingly more appealing candidate.

There was at least one immediate dividend on Tuesday. Ken Langone, a Home Depot co-founder and GOP fundraiser who was the prime mover behind the effort to persuade Christie to run, signed up with Romney. Also joining was Georgette Mosbacher, longtime GOP fundraiser and co-chairman of the Republican National Committee’s finance committee. Others appear ready to jump aboard in the next few days.

Perry’s campaign, which started quickly, has hit a rough patch. He has fallen into a tie for second place with Cain in the latest Washington Post-ABC News poll. Christie’s decision offers the Texas governor a better chance to regroup and emerge as Romney’s main challenger once the primaries and caucuses begin in January and the voters start to winnow the field.

Why blushing and turning red is actually a virtue and will make people trust you more

If tripping in public or offering your seat to an overweight woman in the belief she’s pregnant leaves you red-faced, don’t worry – it means you’re trustworthy.

That’s the conclusion of a study into those who are easily embarrassed.

Researchers did two experiments. In the first, 60 students were filmed recounting embarrassing moments.

The level of embarrassment they showed – such as by blushing – was then graded. They were also given ten raffle tickets and asked to keep a share and give the rest to a partner.

Those who showed greater levels of embarrassment tended to give away more of their tickets.

In the second test, participants watched an actor being told he received a perfect score on a test and responding with embarrassment or pride.

The volunteers then played games with the actor measuring their trust in him. These showed they found him more trustworthy when he had been embarrassed.

Lead author Matthew Feinberg, from the University of California, Berkeley, said: ‘Moderate levels of embarrassment are signs of virtue. You want to affiliate with embarrassed people more. You feel comfortable trusting them.’
Experts say the most typical gesture of embarrassment is a downward gaze to one side while partially covering the face. A person who feels shame will typically cover the whole face

Experts say embarrassed people tend to look downwards to one side while partially covering the face. A person who feels shame will cover the whole face

UC Berkeley social psychologist Robb Willer, a co-author of the study, said: 'Embarrassment is one emotional signature of a person to whom you can entrust valuable resources. It's part of the social glue that fosters trust and cooperation in everyday life.'

The paper's third author is UC Berkeley psychologist Dacher Keltner, an expert on pro-social emotions.

Researchers point out that the moderate type of embarrassment they examined should not be confused with debilitating social anxiety or with 'shame,' which is associated in the psychology literature with such moral transgressions as being caught cheating.

While the most typical gesture of embarrassment is a downward gaze to one side while partially covering the face and either smirking or grimacing, a person who feels shame, as distinguished from embarrassment, will typically cover the whole face, Feinberg said.

'Time and again, the results showed that embarrassment signals people's tendency to be pro-social,' he added. 'You want to affiliate with them more,' he said, 'you feel comfortable trusting them.'

Abercrombie & Fitch ad 'indecent' but will stay for now

The advertisement featuring a topless man that is plastered on the Orchard shopfront of American fashion retailer Abercrombie & Fitch breaches the local advertising code of decency, said a watchdog.

The Advertising Standards Authority of Singapore (ASAS), which made the ruling, has called for the ad - put up after April - to be removed.

But there is a hitch - ASAS has no legal rights to enforce its decision. The picture of a model wearing a pair of low-slung jeans, which spans the entire four-level shopfront, remains on display at the Knightsbridge mall in Orchard Road for now.

Some people who found the ad to be lewd and inappropriate for the prominent location wrote to The Straits Times' Forum page last month, urging for it to be taken down.

Phone-hacking: NoW reporter Neville Thurlbeck takes publisher to tribunal

A News of the World reporter at the heart of the phone-hacking scandal is taking the defunct tabloid's publishers to an employment tribunal, claiming he was a whistleblower.

Neville Thurlbeck, the paper's former chief reporter, is claiming that he was unfairly dismissed by Rupert Murdoch's News Interrnational. There is scheduled to be a preliminary employment tribunal hearing in east London this Friday. It has only just come to light that Thurlbeck – who had been behind a string of high-profile exclusives at the News of the World – had been fired by the company.

News International said: "We will vigorously contest this case." Thurlbeck was arrested in April on suspicion of unlawfully intercepting mobile phone voicemail messages but remained on the payroll of the paper until recently, possibly this month.

Thurlbeck has been a key figure in the phone-hacking scandal – his name appeared on an email sent to private investigator Glenn Mulcaire which contained a transcript of messages left on a mobile phone belonging to professional footballers association chief executive Gordon Taylor.

This "for Neville" email took centre stage in July when Rupert Murdoch and his son James appeared before MPs who believed it was evidence they knew phone hacking was not limited to one "rogue reporter" at the paper. Both the Murdochs denied this was the case. Employment law experts say it is only possible to use the Public Interest Disclosures Act – which protects whistleblowers from losing their jobs – in particular circumstances.

Ruth Neil, of employment law firm Stone Joseph, said that there are "very specific rules" in terms of what an individual whistleblower can claim under the act. She said to use it as a defence it was necessary to have reported any alleged wrongdoing to another person in authority, such as a police officer or other public servant.

A source familiar with the matter said Thurlbeck's use of the whistleblower's defence was "an extraordinary tactic to deploy".

Neil said that it can be used as a defence if confidential information is disclosed about an employer, which is normally a breach of common law. If he wins his case it will also entitle him to unlimited damages. Normally compensation for unfair dismissals are capped at ￡68,400.

The sums involved in whistleblowers' cases can be enormous by comparison. An NHS manager unfairly dismissed "as a whistleblower" over plans to relocate cancer services out of his county was awarded ￡1.2m in compensation.

Last week Thurlbeck was at the centre of a privacy action in France relating to a 2008 "exclusive" concerning Formula one boss Mosley who was awarded ￡60,000 in 2008 after winning his privacy action against the Sunday tabloid in the UK.

In a separate development, Thurlbeck answered police bail along with two former News of the World journalists, Ian Edmondon, the paper's former assistant editor (news) and reporter James Weatherup.