LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Pop rocker Pink scored her first Billboard 200 No. 1 on Wednesday as her sixth studio album stormed the charts, beating out new debuts from Kanye West's GOOD music rappers, The Killers and Carly Rae Jepsen.
Pink's "The Truth About Love" sold 280,000 copies in its first week according to Nielsen SoundScan, making it the third-highest debut of 2012, behind Justin Bieber's "Believe" and Madonna's "MDNA." It is the singer's best-selling debut to date.
Sales of the album were aided by a major Target promotional campaign as well as Amazon MP3 offering the record for a discount price of $5. The lead single from the album, "Blow Me (One Last Kiss)" also topped Billboard's pop songs airplay chart this week.
"Cruel Summer," the latest compilation release from Kanye West's GOOD Music label featuring West collaborating with artists including Big Sean, Pusha T and 2Chainz, sold 205,000 copies in its first week to secure the No. 2 position.
Vegas rockers The Killers came in at No. 3 with their fourth studio album "Battle Born," selling 113,000 copies in its first week. Although the band went straight to No. 1 in the UK last week, a chart-topping album in the Billboard 200 has eluded them.
Newcomer Carly Rae Jepsen, who shot to fame with the catchy summer hit "Call Me Maybe," released her debut set "Kiss" last week, and sold 46,000 copies, notching No. 6 on the chart.
Jepsen was just below last week's chart-topper Dave Matthews Band's "Away From The World" at No. 4 and Little Big Town's "Tornado" at No. 5.
"Call Me Maybe" has sold 5.7 million copies in the U.S. to date, making it 2012's biggest selling single behind only Gotye's "Somebody That I Used To Know."
(Reporting By Piya Sinha-Roy, editing by Jill Serjeant and Sofina Mirza-Reid)
Job Opportunity: Art Gallery of Alberta | Art Rental & Sales Manager
Full Time Position Closing Date: Friday, October 12, 2012, 5 pm Submit resume and cover letter to:?Ruth.McHugh@youraga.ca
Reporting to the Director of Finance & Operations, the Art Rental & Sales Manager promotes both the Art Gallery of Alberta (AGA) and Alberta artists through the sale and rental of original artworks into corporate and household environments.
The Art Rental & Sales Manager must have a dynamic combination of business skills and art knowledge in order to promote the advancement of art in the community and to enhance and grow AGA Art Rental & Sales. This role is responsible to ensure consistent, reliable service and to promote the sale and rental of quality Alberta art throughout the greater Edmonton community.
Qualifications:
- A proven track record of successful retail and business development initiatives, resulting in opportunity and growth. - An understanding of art history and contemporary art demonstrated by a university degree in art history, a bachelor of fine arts, or a college certificate in visual arts studies. Hands-on experience in a commercial art gallery would be an asset. - Experience and demonstrated understanding of general business management practices. A university degree in business would be considered an asset, but is not a requirement. - General computer skills including a working knowledge of basic databases such as Access; working knowledge of Photoshop; Adobe InDesign; Illustrator; Microsoft Office programs.
Duties:
- Financial: annual budget preparation; regular analysis and oversight of revenue and expenses to achieve targets - Art Inventory: assess art inventory for quantity and type of artwork required throughout the year; schedule studio visits to acquire new artwork; schedule returns of older inventory; consider new portfolio submissions through enquiry by artists or through solicitation by AGA Art Rental & Sales - Art consultation for both corporate and household clients: advise and assist in art selection; assist in delivery, placement and installation of art - Administration: oversee and mentor Art Rental & Sales staff of two; maintain existing, and foster new relationships with clients and artists; organize exhibitions promoting Art Rental & Sales.
A number of people are questioning what methods they may in fact use to increase as an specific. One thing about self improvement is you want to learn as much details as you can and from that point put together your personal prepare towards your expansion. The ideal tactic to kind will be your very own, based on just as much details you are able to accumulate. Acquire this informative article into account and find out what you could acquire as a result.
Focus on your time and energy. In the event you delay undertaking something that you genuinely wish to do or enjoy undertaking to help you take care of something which may have waited, you could discover yourself packed with be sorry for in the end of the week. This could take some time to really include into your life, but you may be delighted that you just managed.
An excellent self help idea which will help you make positive changes to lifestyle is to buy a dog. Acquiring a pet cat or a canine is capable of doing wonders to suit your needs stress levels. The simple work of petting a dog can greatly reduce your stress. Having an animal is helpful for yourself as well as for them. halloween costume for 2012
When deciding on private concerns it is crucial to accept commitment in determing the best achievable choice. It is easy to neglect things simply by making an impulsive decision. A single error can grow to be a huge disaster over time if the scenario is not examined properly. halloween costume for 2012
Discover how to tolerate other peoples? irritation with all the phrase no. People need to mention no to somethings. Or else, the other individuals our everyday life will require the maximum amount of of the efforts and sources as we need to provide them with. When an individual hears no and responds negatively, it?s much more about them than you. If they persist, check with why they assume one to say no to your own family, health, desired goals, and so forth. just in order to say indeed directly to them. Only say of course when it?s one thing you truly want. halloween costumes 2012
Regardless of whether you?d prefer to foster your skills, boost your self esteem, or just possess a greater outlook on life, personal development is a thing that?s usually really worth your time and efforts. This article has given some good recommendations regarding how to increase your self. Use these tips in your lifestyle, and you need to see impressive results
WASHINGTON (AP) ? President Barack Obama, defending his foreign policy record at a time of anti-American rage in the Muslim world, fired back at suggestions from Republican Mitt Romney that the president has been weak with allies and enemies alike.
In an interview airing the night before Obama meets with other world leaders at the United Nations, the president said, "If Gov. Romney is suggesting that we should start another war, he should say so."
It was Obama's most direct rebuttal yet to persistent skepticism by his White House rival on his handling of an unraveling situation in the Middle East. Romney has charged the U.S. stance has been marred by miscalculations, mixed messages and appeasement.
The foreign policy arguments come as both candidates sharpen their strategy just six weeks ahead of Election Day. Speaking to reporters on a flight to Colorado Sunday night, Romney acknowledged he was slipping behind Obama in several swing states and said he would spend more time with voters in the coming weeks.
"I think the fundraising season is probably a little quieter going forward," he said following a weekend largely devoted to raising money in California.
Facing Republican fears that his campaign is moving in the wrong direction, Romney huddled earlier in the day with his top advisers, preparing for next month's debates and crafting a more aggressive strategy.
"I don't pay a lot of attention to the day-to-day polls. They change a great deal," Romney said. "And I know that in the coming six weeks they're very unlikely to stay where they are today."
Obama Is launching a new campaign offensive Monday with his first television advertisement targeting Romney's comments about Americans who don't pay income taxes. The ad, which was to start running in swing state Ohio, argues that Romney should stop attacking others on taxes and "come clean" on his own.
The ad uses Romney's comments to wealthy donors that 47 percent of Americans don't pay income taxes, believe they are victims and feel entitled to government assistance. It shows Romney saying, "My job is not to worry about those people."
The 30-second spot signals that Obama will keep making the wealthy Romney's taxes a campaign issue even after the Republican released a second year of information about his personal finances on Friday.
Romney and Obama both discussed foreign policy in interviews broadcast Sunday on CBS' "60 Minutes."
Romney, who has criticized Obama's response to unrest in Syria and anti-American protests across the Muslim world, broadened his reproach to include Israel. He said Obama's failure to schedule a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during the annual U.N. gathering this week "sends a message throughout the Middle East that somehow we distance ourselves from our friends."
The White House has said scheduling precluded a meeting between the two leaders, who won't be in New York at the same time. But Obama pushed back on the notion that he feels pressure from Netanyahu, dismissing as noise the Israeli leader's calls for the U.S. to lay out a "red line" that Iran's nuclear program mustn't cross to avoid American military intervention.
"When it comes to our national security decisions, any pressure that I feel is simply to do what's right for the American people," Obama said. "And I am going to block out any noise that's out there. "
In a wide-ranging interview conducted the day after U.S. Ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens was killed in an attack on Benghazi, Obama defended his foreign policy successes, noting he'd followed through on a commitment to end the war in Iraq and had nabbed al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden.
He also waxed optimistic that winning a second term would give him a mandate to overcome obstructionism from congressional Republicans whose No. 1 goal, he said, has been to prevent his re-election.
"My expectation is, my hope is that that's no longer their number one priority," Obama said. "I'm hoping that after the smoke clears and the election season's over that that spirit of cooperation comes more to the fore."
Romney, in an interview conducted last week, sought to deflect attention from his running mate, Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan, over their differences in Medicare policy: "I'm the guy running for president, not him."
While reaffirming his commitment to lowering all income tax rates by 20 percent, Romney expressed no unease about his refusal to offer specifics, such as which loopholes and deductions he'd eliminate to pay for the cuts.
"The devil's in the details. The angel is in the policy, which is creating more jobs," Romney said, adding that he doesn't want to see overall government revenue reduced.
Addressing the seemingly unshakable charge of flip-flopping on policy issues, Romney pointed the finger at Obama, noting his changes of heart on gay marriage and military tribunals for terrorism suspects.
"Have I found some things I thought would be effective turned out not to be effective? Absolutely," Romney said. "You don't learn from experience, you don't learn from your mistakes ?why, you know, you ought to be fired."
The series of interviews also offered glimpses into both candidates' personal habits, including their late-night routines. Romney said his nightly prayer is a time to connect both with the divine and with his own thoughts, and said he asks God mainly for wisdom and understanding.
Obama, describing himself as "a night guy," said that after first lady Michelle Obama and their daughters retire around 10 p.m., he hunkers down for reading, writing and occasionally a moment alone on the Truman Balcony, with the Washington Monument and Jefferson Memorial in view.
"Those are moments of reflection that, you know, help gird you for the next challenge and the next day," Obama said.
The "60 Minutes" interviews came as Romney's campaign strove to turn the page on a week of public stumbles and Republican hand-wringing. On the flight to Colorado, Romney said he's looking forward to next month's debates to help reverse his slide, which he attributed to Obama's aggressive advertising.
"He's trying to fool people into thinking that I think things I don't," Romney said of the president. "And that ends I think during the debates."
Romney blamed his fundraising focus on Obama's decision to bypass traditional spending limits during the 2008 campaign. "I'd far rather be spending my time out in the key swing states campaigning door to door if necessary, but in rallies and various meetings," he said. "But fundraising is part of politics when your opponent decides not to live by the federal spending limits."
After Colorado, Romney was to begin a three-day bus tour in Ohio on Monday followed by a stop in Virginia ? states that Obama won in 2008 but that Republicans claimed four years earlier.
While national polls remain tight, polls in several of the most closely watched states, including Colorado, suggest Obama has opened narrow leads. Obama won Colorado by 9 points four years ago, but the state went to a Republican in the previous three presidential elections.
Obama took a rare weekend break from the campaigning ahead of his U.N. address Tuesday, but dispatched top allies to the Sunday talk shows.
___
Peoples reported from Los Angeles and Denver. AP White House Correspondent Ben Feller contributed to this report.
Five footballers are facing year-long bans after a brutal brawl between two church sides in a CHRISTIAN league set up to promote PEACE and UNDERSTANDING.
For the first time ever a game had to abandoned in the West Midlands Christian League after a penalty spot punch up between teams Zion Athletic and Common Ground United.
Trouble flared in the 47th minute of the game last weekend after a Common Ground player was sent off for 'serious foul play' as his team were trailing to Zion.
When Zion, who were leading 5-1, were then awarded a 60th minute penalty players saw red and fighting broke out.
A Zion player is said to have smiled and 'made a remark' about the penalty decision before being struck by his Common Ground opponent. And the player sent off for Common Ground minutes earlier even ran on from the changing rooms to join in the un-biblical scene - leaving him with the most serious charge for foul play.
Five Common Ground players in total were put on 'violent conduct' charges with one Zion player also brought to book over 'improper conduct'.
The Chruch of Common Ground United
Caters
Birmingham County FA discipline manager Mike Fellows, said he could not recall there ever being a game in the Christian League called off for bad behaviour.
He said: "I cannot recall a game ever being abandoned in the Christian League, certainly not due to violence. It's so strict that even swearing is banned.
"Referees are under instruction to send players off if any of them swears. "A Common Ground player was sent off for serious foul play in the 47th minute, but the game carried on without problems.
"But then, in the 60th minute, the score was 5-1 to Zion and a penalty was awarded to them. An incident happened between one player and another where one received a few punches. The trouble kicked off.
"The referee reported that Common Ground players started throwing punches at Zion Athletic players. It got to the situation that the two official assistant referees agreed that they would have to abandon the game."
The league has strict rules that state players are expected to behave both on and off the pitch in a manner 'morally, decently and ethically sound of action and speech, honouring the name of Jesus Christ'.
Bad language in the league leads to an automatic red card and ungentlemanly conduct, such as spitting or arguing, is frowned upon.
Players are expected to turn the other cheek if confronted.
Mike said: "It ended with five Common Ground players facing violent conduct charges, one of them also on a serious misconduct charge for violence.
"The player had already been sent off but when this all cracked off, he came back onto the pitch from the changing rooms and got himself heavily involved."
All the players identified for the referee by Common Ground after the game face at least a three-match suspension.
An FA panel will convene to decide on sanctions against the footballer on the most serious charge. Mike said Zion Athletic had a team member charged with improper conduct, although the referees report indicates that their players were largely defending themselves and trying to break it up.
He said: "The West Midlands Christian League has a reputation as a good league, which is well run and very strict."
The league will now decide if Zion are given the full three points for the match and if Common Ground will have points deducted. Common Ground founder Tony Sadla, a deacon at Living Stones of Christ Embassy church, in Perry Barr, Birmingham, claimed he players had been provoked.
He said: "Some of the kids come to church and some of them don't, and those are no longer church-going Christians.
"It's devastating and shocking and we don't condone this sort of behaviour. But Common Ground got the raw end of the deal with five red cards whereas Zion Athletic seemed to be the ones who escaped.
"When a penalty was awarded to Zion, their player started smiling and laughing, and made a remark.
"The guy who was involved in hitting him made a remark back and smiled and laughed. From there it just kicked off, we tried to stop it and pull them apart.
"Some of our players have had a bad course in life. By going to church, you don't expect it to change overnight. Sometimes they go off the rails."
Tony said the club would accept whatever punishment was doled out by the FA and the league.
Zion Athletic manager Jonathan Allen said neither he or Tony were proud of what happened. He said: "We are just thankful no one was seriously hurt.
"As a manager I was pleased by my players' response to the aggressive and violent behaviour of the opposition, by not fuelling a situation that could have been far worse.
"Violence has no place on a football pitch and we hope that the league will do all that they can to prevent a recurrence of this incident and ensure the very good discipline we have to come to enjoy each Saturday continues."
Christian League secretary Neil Kovacs said: "It is very much unprecedented, I'm meeting on Tuesday with both clubs, and actions will be prompt and severe, I would imagine. I would think the league ban for the players will be a minimum of a year."
Oh to have such talented photographers as friends. Marissa?s friend, Jenn, got some great shots of the wedding (and especially the girls and their cousins, Amira and Aymen) that I couldn?t help but share with you. I was told that it was tough getting pictures of Gracie because she was always on the go ? but the black and white shot of Gracie dancing ? is one of the most beautiful shots I?ve ever seen of her. Everything about it embodies her spirit and energy. You?d never know that Neva Lou was sick and cranky looking at these shots either ? smudge of dirt on her chin, radiating such joy.
Peek a boo! This last photo was courtesy of Marissa?s friend and wedding photographer, Tanya Rosen-Jones. I can?t wait to see the rest of her pictures. I can testify to the fact that she is an expert at wrangling the under five set :)
ScienceDaily (Sep. 20, 2012) ? Moving from a high-poverty to lower-poverty neighborhood spurs long-term gains in the physical and mental health of low-income adults, as well as a substantial increase in their happiness, despite not improving economic self-sufficiency, according to a new study published in the Sept. 20 issue of Science by researchers at the University of Chicago and partners at other institutions.
Although moving into less disadvantaged neighborhoods did not raise incomes for the families that moved, these families experienced important gains in well-being in other ways. Moving from a high-poverty neighborhood to one with a poverty rate 13 percentage points lower increased the happiness of low-income adults by an amount equivalent to the gains caused by a $13,000 rise in family income.
Using data from a large-scale randomized social experiment called Moving to Opportunity, the authors found that neighborhood income segregation had a greater impact than neighborhood racial segregation in shaping the outcomes of adults in the study. "This finding is important, in part, because racial segregation has been trending down since 1970, but income segregation has gone up steadily since then," said lead author Jens Ludwig, the McCormick Foundation Professor of Social Service Administration, Law and Public Policy at UChicago and director of the University of Chicago Crime Lab. "So the problem of adverse neighborhood effects on low-income families seems to be getting worse, rather than better, over time."
Another implication of the study is that looking at the growth over time in inequality with respect to family income -- a key focus of much of the inequality discussion -- understates the growth in inequality of well-being. Focusing on income inequality ignores the negative effects on poor families from growing residential segregation by economic status. The researchers estimate that the drop in happiness of low-income adults due to growing residential income segregation since 1970 is large enough to offset the full income growth for low-income Americans over the past four decades.
"Focusing just on trends in income inequality over time in the U.S., while ignoring the growth of income segregation over time, understates the trends towards greater inequality in well-being in America," Ludwig said.
The new paper, "Neighborhood Effects on the Long-Term Well-Being of Low-Income Adults," was co-authored by a national team of collaborators in addition to Ludwig. It relied on data from 4,604 low-income families that enrolled in Moving to Opportunity, an experiment that used a random lottery to offer some families initially living in distressed public housing projects the chance to move into lower-poverty areas. The Science paper looks at outcomes among adults 10 to 15 years after they moved.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development operated Moving to Opportunity from 1994 to 1998 in five cities: Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles and New York. Families volunteered for the study, and some were picked at random to receive housing voucher subsidies to move to lower-poverty communities. Other families were randomly assigned to a control group that received no special assistance under the program.
People in the study were extremely disadvantaged economically. Most households were headed by African American or Hispanic females -- fewer than 40 percent of whom had completed high school. Their primary reason for participating was to get away from gangs and drug activity and find better apartments and better schools for their children.
A previous paper found that MTO participants who moved had fewer problems with extreme obesity and long-term risks. The study in Science showed that neighborhood environments have much broader effects on well-being for low-income families and implicate neighborhood income segregation as the key feature of distressed urban neighborhoods that seems to matter most for well-being.
"These findings suggest the importance of focusing on efforts to improve the well-being of poor families, rather than just the narrower goal of reducing income poverty, and the potential value of community-level interventions for achieving that end," Ludwig said.
Ludwig's co-authors on the paper were Greg Duncan (University of California, Irvine); Lisa Gennetian (Brookings Institution); Lawrence Katz (Harvard University); Ronald Kessler (Harvard Medical School); Jeffrey Kling (Congressional Budget Office); and Lisa Sanbonmatsu (National Bureau of Economic Research).
The study was supported by HUD, the National Science Foundation, the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institute of Mental Health, the National Institute on Aging, the Institute of Education Services at the U.S. Department of Education, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Smith Richardson Foundation, the Spencer Foundation, the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Russell Sage Foundation, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
Share this story on Facebook, Twitter, and Google:
Other social bookmarking and sharing tools:
Story Source:
The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Chicago. The original article was written by William Harms.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
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.
WASHINGTON (AP) ? Ann Romney is safely on the ground in Colorado after her plane made an emergency landing.
Romney spokeswoman Andrea Saul said the plane filled with smoke on Friday afternoon, forcing the unexpected landing. Saul says no one was injured in the incident and everyone traveling with Mrs. Romney is fine.
Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney was in Nevada, appearing at a fundraiser and rally on Friday. He was heading to California this weekend to raise money.
Global economic pressures trickle down to local landscape change, altering disease riskPublic release date: 20-Sep-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Liza Lester llester@esa.org 202-833-8773 x211 Ecological Society of America
The pressures of global trade may heighten disease incidence by dictating changes in land use. A boom in disease-carrying ticks and chiggers has followed the abandonment of rice cultivation in Taiwanese paddies, say ecologist Chi-Chien Kuo and colleagues, demonstrating the potential for global commodities pricing to drive the spread of infections. Their work appears in the September issue of ESA's journal Ecological Applications.
After Taiwan joined the World Trade Organization in 2001, active cultivation of rice paddies fell from 80 percent to 55 percent in just three years. The government of Taiwan subsidized twice-yearly plowing of abandoned fields to reduce the spread of agricultural pests into adjacent fields still in cultivation. Compliance has been spotty. Kuo found that, while plowing did not suppress rodent populations, it did inadvertently reduce the presence of the ticks and chiggers that use rodents as their primary hosts.
"The government considers only agricultural pests such as insects and rodents. They don't think about the disease factors," said Kuo. But land use policy can have complex and unexpected reverberations in the ecology of the landscape.
Chiggers, the larval stage of trombiculid mites, spread scrub typhus (Orientia tsutsugamushi), a bacterium that gets its name from the scrubby, dense vegetation that often harbors its flesh-loving host. Scrub typhus is a common culprit underlying visits to Southeast Asian hospitals for flu-like symptoms. Without antibiotics, the infection is often fatal. Ticks (Ixodidae) transmit bacteria spotted fever group rickettsiae, causing fever, aches and rash similar to Rocky Mountain spotted fever. Neither pest prefers to live underwater.
Hualien, Kuo's study area, is one of the least populous of Taiwan's counties, yet had nearly the highest incidence of scrub typhus from 1998-2007. The county is a smattering of small villages surrounded by a patchwork of flooded, plowed, and abandoned rice paddies.
Flooded paddies are poor habitat for ticks and chiggers, and so cultivation of rice, which locally means carefully managed flooding of fields to drown agricultural pests, likely suppresses ticks and chiggers as well. Even the seemingly unkillable ticks die after a few weeks of submersion, and chiggers are similarly terrestrial. Though studies are few, limited data indicate that most chiggers die after a month under water.
This study did not assess flooded paddies due to the difficulty of finding and collecting rodents, ticks, and chiggers underwater. Instead, Kuo trapped rodents in fallow and plowed fields and examined their tick and chigger passengers, testing the arachnids for presence of disease-causing rickettsial bacteria. He found 6 times as many ticks on the rodents living in fallow fields and the proportion of infectious ticks in fallow fields was three times higher, compounding the risk. Chiggers rode rodents at a rate 3 times higher in fallow fields than plowed fields.
"This study is a great example of the kinds of indirect effects that trickle down from human policies," said Bob Parmenter, an ecologist unaffiliated with the study. "It tells a nice story about how changes in international trade barriers can have unforeseen consequences." Parmenter is director of the USDA's Scientific Services Division at Valles Caldera National Preserve near Los Alamos, New Mexico, and an expert on the influence of ecology on deadly Hantavirus outbreaks, like the current episode in Yosemite National Park (California, USA) that has infected nine visitors and killed three.
The consequences of economic pressures on land use are also present in the eastern United States, where the small farms of the eighteen and nineteenth centuries have reverted, to a large degree, to forest. With the return of deer and wildlands has come a rise in ticks, and concurrent rise in Lyme disease. Conversely, opening new land to farming or housing can bring its own disease risks.
Many studies have investigated influence of global forces on disease, said Kuo. "Most are focused on how climate change, global travel, or habitat destruction will affect the emergence of vector-borne and zoonotic disease. We show that economic organizations can actually affect human health, by influencing the landscape."
###
Title:
Cascading effect of economic globalization on human risks to scrub typhus and tick-borne rickettsial diseases. Ecological Applications volume 22 issue 6
Authors:
Chi-Chien Kuo, Geography and Environment, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK
Douglass A Kelt, Department of Wildlife, Fish, & Conservation Biology, University of California, Davis, CA, USA
Jing-Lun Huang, Pei-Yun Shu, Pei-Lung Lee, and His-Chieh Wang, Research and Diagnostic Center, Centers for Disease Control, Department of Health, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC
The Ecological Society of America is the world's largest community of professional ecologists and the trusted source of ecological knowledge. ESA is committed to advancing the understanding of life on Earth. The 10,000 member Society publishes five journals, convenes an annual scientific conference, and broadly shares ecological information through policy and media outreach and education initiatives. Visit the ESA website at http://www.esa.org or find experts in ecological science at http://www.esa.org/pao/rrt/.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Global economic pressures trickle down to local landscape change, altering disease riskPublic release date: 20-Sep-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Liza Lester llester@esa.org 202-833-8773 x211 Ecological Society of America
The pressures of global trade may heighten disease incidence by dictating changes in land use. A boom in disease-carrying ticks and chiggers has followed the abandonment of rice cultivation in Taiwanese paddies, say ecologist Chi-Chien Kuo and colleagues, demonstrating the potential for global commodities pricing to drive the spread of infections. Their work appears in the September issue of ESA's journal Ecological Applications.
After Taiwan joined the World Trade Organization in 2001, active cultivation of rice paddies fell from 80 percent to 55 percent in just three years. The government of Taiwan subsidized twice-yearly plowing of abandoned fields to reduce the spread of agricultural pests into adjacent fields still in cultivation. Compliance has been spotty. Kuo found that, while plowing did not suppress rodent populations, it did inadvertently reduce the presence of the ticks and chiggers that use rodents as their primary hosts.
"The government considers only agricultural pests such as insects and rodents. They don't think about the disease factors," said Kuo. But land use policy can have complex and unexpected reverberations in the ecology of the landscape.
Chiggers, the larval stage of trombiculid mites, spread scrub typhus (Orientia tsutsugamushi), a bacterium that gets its name from the scrubby, dense vegetation that often harbors its flesh-loving host. Scrub typhus is a common culprit underlying visits to Southeast Asian hospitals for flu-like symptoms. Without antibiotics, the infection is often fatal. Ticks (Ixodidae) transmit bacteria spotted fever group rickettsiae, causing fever, aches and rash similar to Rocky Mountain spotted fever. Neither pest prefers to live underwater.
Hualien, Kuo's study area, is one of the least populous of Taiwan's counties, yet had nearly the highest incidence of scrub typhus from 1998-2007. The county is a smattering of small villages surrounded by a patchwork of flooded, plowed, and abandoned rice paddies.
Flooded paddies are poor habitat for ticks and chiggers, and so cultivation of rice, which locally means carefully managed flooding of fields to drown agricultural pests, likely suppresses ticks and chiggers as well. Even the seemingly unkillable ticks die after a few weeks of submersion, and chiggers are similarly terrestrial. Though studies are few, limited data indicate that most chiggers die after a month under water.
This study did not assess flooded paddies due to the difficulty of finding and collecting rodents, ticks, and chiggers underwater. Instead, Kuo trapped rodents in fallow and plowed fields and examined their tick and chigger passengers, testing the arachnids for presence of disease-causing rickettsial bacteria. He found 6 times as many ticks on the rodents living in fallow fields and the proportion of infectious ticks in fallow fields was three times higher, compounding the risk. Chiggers rode rodents at a rate 3 times higher in fallow fields than plowed fields.
"This study is a great example of the kinds of indirect effects that trickle down from human policies," said Bob Parmenter, an ecologist unaffiliated with the study. "It tells a nice story about how changes in international trade barriers can have unforeseen consequences." Parmenter is director of the USDA's Scientific Services Division at Valles Caldera National Preserve near Los Alamos, New Mexico, and an expert on the influence of ecology on deadly Hantavirus outbreaks, like the current episode in Yosemite National Park (California, USA) that has infected nine visitors and killed three.
The consequences of economic pressures on land use are also present in the eastern United States, where the small farms of the eighteen and nineteenth centuries have reverted, to a large degree, to forest. With the return of deer and wildlands has come a rise in ticks, and concurrent rise in Lyme disease. Conversely, opening new land to farming or housing can bring its own disease risks.
Many studies have investigated influence of global forces on disease, said Kuo. "Most are focused on how climate change, global travel, or habitat destruction will affect the emergence of vector-borne and zoonotic disease. We show that economic organizations can actually affect human health, by influencing the landscape."
###
Title:
Cascading effect of economic globalization on human risks to scrub typhus and tick-borne rickettsial diseases. Ecological Applications volume 22 issue 6
Authors:
Chi-Chien Kuo, Geography and Environment, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK
Douglass A Kelt, Department of Wildlife, Fish, & Conservation Biology, University of California, Davis, CA, USA
Jing-Lun Huang, Pei-Yun Shu, Pei-Lung Lee, and His-Chieh Wang, Research and Diagnostic Center, Centers for Disease Control, Department of Health, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC
The Ecological Society of America is the world's largest community of professional ecologists and the trusted source of ecological knowledge. ESA is committed to advancing the understanding of life on Earth. The 10,000 member Society publishes five journals, convenes an annual scientific conference, and broadly shares ecological information through policy and media outreach and education initiatives. Visit the ESA website at http://www.esa.org or find experts in ecological science at http://www.esa.org/pao/rrt/.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Things aren't all Champagne and caviar over at American Airlines, not that you'd know it from the company's latest press release. The Dallas-based air carrier just shared a plan to outfit all of its flight attendants with Samsung Galaxy Notes beginning later this year. The rollout will continue through the middle of 2013, at which point each of the airline's 17,000 cabin crew members will have their very own "tablet," which they'll use to manage flight manifests, track premium passenger meal preferences and monitor weather and gate information in real-time, on WiFi-equipped flights. Eventually, the handsets will also include the flight attendant manual, along with additional features, such as processing for in-flight meal and drink purchases (pending FAA approval).
Though the Galaxy Note II will likely be available by the time the program begins, the press release references a 5.3-inch display, which would imply the previous-gen handset. Sadly, this Note of excitement comes alongside news that some 11,000 American mechanics and ground workers could get a pink slip come November -- as frequent air travelers ourselves, we're genuinely sorry to hear that, and we don't want any gadget to overshadow the airline's ongoing troubles and the unfortunate fate of hardworking employees. You can catch that angle at the coverage link below, then read all about the Note program just after the break.
PARIS (Reuters) - A French magazine ridiculed the Prophet Mohammad on Wednesday by portraying him naked in cartoons, threatening to fuel the anger of Muslims around the world who are already incensed by a film depiction of him as a lecherous fool.
The drawings in satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo risked exacerbating a crisis that has seen the storming of U.S. and other Western embassies, the killing of the U.S. ambassador to Libya and a deadly suicide bombing in Afghanistan.
Riot police were deployed to protect the magazine's Paris offices after it hit the news stands with a cover showing an Orthodox Jew pushing the turbaned figure of Mohammad in a wheelchair.
On the inside pages, several caricatures of the Prophet showed him naked. One, entitled "Mohammad: a star is born", depicted a bearded figure crouching over to display his buttocks and genitals.
The French government, which had urged the weekly not to print the cartoons, said it was temporarily shutting down premises including embassies and schools in 20 countries on Friday, when protests sometimes break out after Muslim prayers.
Arab League Secretary-General Nabil Elaraby called the drawings provocative and outrageous but said those who were offended by them should "use peaceful means to express their firm rejection".
Tunisia's governing Islamist party, Ennahda, condemned the cartoons as an act of "aggression" against Mohammad. It urged Muslims, in responding to it, to avoid falling into a trap designed by "suspicious parties to derail the Arab Spring and turn it into a conflict with the West".
In Lebanon, Salafist cleric Sheikh Nabil Rahim said the incident would raise tensions that were already dangerously high.
"We will try to keep things managed and peaceful, but these things easily get out of hand. I fear there could more targeting of foreigners, and this is why I wish they would not persist with these provocations," he said.
In the northern Paris suburb of Sarcelles, one person was slightly hurt when two masked men threw a small explosive device through the window of a kosher Jewish supermarket, a police source said, adding it was too early to link the incident to the cartoons.
DEADLY PROTESTS
The posting of a short film on YouTube last week that mocked Mohammad as a womanizing buffoon has sparked protests in many countries, some of them deadly.
The U.S. envoy to Libya and three other Americans were killed in an attack in Benghazi, and U.S. and other foreign embassies were stormed in cities in Asia, Africa and the Middle East by furious Muslims. Afghan militants said a suicide bombing that killed 12 people on Tuesday was carried out in retaliation for the film, which was made with private funds in California.
At least four people died last week after hundreds of protesters forced their way into the U.S. embassy in Tunis, ransacking it and burning some of its annexes.
The furor has emerged as an issue in the U.S. presidential election campaign and sparked a wider international debate over free speech, religion and the right to offend. Many Muslims consider any representation of Allah or the Prophet Mohammad blasphemous.
"We have the impression that it's officially allowed for Charlie Hebdo to attack the Catholic far-right but we cannot poke fun at fundamental Islamists," said editor Stephane Charbonnier, who drew the front-page cartoon.
"It shows the climate - everyone is driven by fear, and that is exactly what this small handful of extremists who do not represent anyone want - to make everyone afraid, to shut us all in a cave," he told Reuters.
One cartoon, in reference to the scandal over a French magazine's decision to publish topless photos of the wife of Britain's Prince William, showed a topless, bearded character with the caption: "Riots in Arab countries after photos of Mrs. Mohammad are published."
BEEFED UP SECURITY
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius criticized the magazine's move as a provocation.
"We saw what happened last week in Libya and in other countries such as Afghanistan," Fabius told a regular government news conference. "We have to call on all to behave responsibly."
A Foreign Ministry spokesman said France was closing its embassies, consulates, cultural centers and schools in 20 countries on Friday as a "precautionary measure".
In Egypt, Essam Erian, acting head of the powerful Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party, told Reuters: "We reject and condemn the French cartoons that dishonor the Prophet and we condemn any action that defames the sacred according to people's beliefs."
Charlie Hebdo has a long reputation for being provocative. Its Paris offices were firebombed last November after it published a mocking caricature of Mohammad, and Charbonnier has been under police guard ever since.
Speaking outside his offices in an eastern neighborhood with many residents of North African origin, Charbonnier said he had not received any threats over the latest cartoons. In a message on its Twitter account, Charlie Hebdo said its website had been hacked, but referred readers to a blog it also uses.
The French Muslim Council, the main body representing Muslims in France, accused Charlie Hebdo of firing up anti-Muslim sentiment at a sensitive time.
"The CFCM is profoundly worried by this irresponsible act, which in such a fraught climate risks further exacerbating tensions and sparking damaging reactions," it said.
Richard Prasquier, head of the body representing France's Jewish community - Europe's largest - said religious censorship was wrong but added: "Publishing Mohammad cartoons at this time, in the name of freedom, is irresponsible".
In 2005, Danish cartoons of the Prophet sparked a wave of violent protests across the Muslim world that killed at least 50 people.
The decision to temporarily close some embassies comes at a time when France is already on heightened alert over possible attacks by al Qaeda on French interests in West Africa.
A diplomatic source said this week Paris recently foiled attacks on economic and diplomatic targets and had credible evidence that more were planned. "Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb is a direct and immediate threat," the source said.
Separately, French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said the authorities had rejected a request to hold a march against the Mohammad film in Paris.
Social media had circulated calls for a protest on Saturday against the film, after police arrested about 150 people who tried to take part in an unauthorized protest near the U.S. Embassy in Paris last week.
(Additional reporting by Sreya Banerjee, Thierry Chiarelly, Brian Love and John Irish, Marwa Awad in Cairo and Souhail Karam in Tunis; writing by Mark John, Editing by Mark Trevelyan)
If you are thinking of giving a facelift to your home by adding some outdoor lighting fixtures on the entryway / patio or brightening up the interior d?cor with a wall chandelier or ceiling fan, then you need to hire electrical contractors from a reliable company. However small the task may seem, trying to do it on your own may result in disaster. If you are in a big city like Los Angeles, Chicago, Illinois or New York, then you can get a large number of contractors in the local directory or yellow page.
Apart from the usual wiring or installing of electrical fixture, an electrician also sets up wiring for appliances like dryer, oven, microwave, and ceiling fan. He can replace flood motion light and circuit breakers, does spa or hot tub wiring, install dedicated circuits, grounding, emergency lighting, ballast replacement, computer circuits, generators, and many such other things.
However, before hiring electricians in Chicago or any other city, you need to ensure whether you have chosen the right person for your home. You can ask for local references from your neighbors or friends, check the credibility of the company with BBB or Better Business Bureau, and once you have short listed the companies, you can pay them a visit or call them up and ask certain questions like -- how long the company has been in business, are the electricians licensed, certified, insured, and bonded; can the company give at least three to five references, and whether the company would give a written guarantee. If all the answers are satisfactory, you can go ahead with that company.
You can save time by planning to combine all the electrical projects, like computer wiring, installing lighting fixtures, having some extra outlets, and so on. You need to make a specific list of your needs and can even mark the wall or ceiling with a pencil. This will not only save your time and energy, but the electric contractor will also have a better understanding of your requirement and can suggest changes immediately, if needed.
After this, you need to sit with the contractor for scheduling an estimate. You can discuss with him about your affordability to spend for the total project, including labor and electrical materials. Some of the common tools used by electricians include drills, saws, small power augers, guns, and so on. The electrical contractors also offer high-end solution regarding the wiring. They check the wiring with the help of ohmmeter or voltmeter. You need to check out with the electrician whether he is going to charge anything extra toward these tools. As, labor and material cost may fluctuate from time to time, you need to get the estimate and start work within a very short period of time. If you opt for a long term contract with the electrical company, they will also send electricians from time to time and check on the electrical appliances of your home.
Another benefit to hire electrical contractors rather than doing the job on your own is, once you have a licensed professional do the inspection, the property value would certainly have an added advantage at the time of selling and bring you more money. So, start to look for reliable and licensed electricians in Chicago and give your home a new look.
Aric Parker has been advising people on getting various types of professional services that include how to find electricians in Chicago. A former educator and constructor, he is also owner of several houses and a home improvement hobbyist, giving tips on how to hire electrical contractors.
This article has been viewed 14 time(s).
It is a violation of our terms and conditions for writers to submit material which they did not write and claim it as their own.
If this article infringes on your copyrights, you MUST either call us at 706-866-2295 or send proof of infringement
along with the offending article's title, URL, and writer name to
IdeaMarketers.com
Attn: Marnie Pehrson - Copyright Concern
514 Old Hickory Ln
Ringgold GA 30736 USA
If you email us or use our problem submission form, we CANNOT guarantee we'll receive your notice!
PARIS (Reuters) - A French magazine ridiculed the Prophet Mohammad on Wednesday by portraying him naked in cartoons, threatening to fuel the anger of Muslims around the world who are already incensed by a film depiction of him as a womanizing buffoon.
The French government, which had urged the magazine not to print the images, said it was temporarily shutting down premises including embassies and schools in 20 countries on Friday, when protests sometimes break out after Muslim prayers.
Riot police were deployed to protect the Paris offices of satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo after it hit the news stands with a cover showing an Orthodox Jew pushing the turbaned figure of Mohammad in a wheelchair.
On the inside pages, several caricatures of the Prophet showed him naked. One, entitled "Mohammad: a star is born", depicted a bearded figure crouching over to display his buttocks and genitals.
Initial reaction from Muslim countries was critical.
"Of course it will anger people further. It will raise tensions that were already dangerously high," said Sheikh Nabil Rahim, a leading Salafist cleric in Lebanon.
"We will try to keep things managed and peaceful, but these things easily get out of hand. I fear there could more targeting of foreigners, and this is why I wish they would not persist with these provocations."
In Egypt, Essam Erian, acting head of the powerful Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party, told Reuters: "We reject and condemn the French cartoons that dishonor the Prophet and we condemn any action that defames the sacred according to people's beliefs."
DEADLY PROTESTS
The posting of a short film on You Tube last week that mocked Mohammad as a lecherous fool has sparked protests in many countries, some of them deadly.
The U.S. ambassador to Libya and three other Americans were killed in an attack in Benghazi, and U.S. and other foreign embassies were stormed in cities in Asia, Africa and the Middle East by furious Muslims. Afghan militants said a suicide bombing that killed 12 people on Tuesday was carried out in retaliation for the film, which was made with private funds in California.
The furor has emerged as an issue in the U.S. presidential election campaign and sparked a wider international debate over free speech, religion and the right to offend. Many Muslims consider any representation of Allah or the Prophet Mohammad blasphemous.
"We have the impression that it's officially allowed for Charlie Hebdo to attack the Catholic far-right but we cannot poke fun at fundamental Islamists," said editor Stephane Charbonnier, who drew the front-page cartoon.
"It shows the climate - everyone is driven by fear, and that is exactly what this small handful of extremists who do not represent anyone want - to make everyone afraid, to shut us all in a cave," he told Reuters.
One cartoon, in reference to the scandal over a French magazine's decision to publish topless photos of the wife of Britain's Prince William, showed a topless, bearded character with the caption: "Riots in Arab countries after photos of Mrs. Mohammad are published."
Charbonnier said he expected to double the usual 35,000-copy print run to meet demand.
BEEFED UP SECURITY
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius criticized the magazine's move as a provocation.
"We saw what happened last week in Libya and in other countries such as Afghanistan," Fabius told a regular government news conference. "We have to call on all to behave responsibly."
A Foreign Ministry spokesman said France was closing its embassies, consulates, cultural centers and schools in 20 countries on Friday as a "precautionary measure".
Charlie Hebdo has a long reputation for being provocative. Its Paris offices were firebombed last November after it published a mocking caricature of Mohammad, and Charbonnier has been under police guard ever since.
Speaking outside his offices in an eastern neighborhood with many residents of North African origin, Charbonnier said he had not received any threats over the latest cartoons. In a message on its Twitter account, Charlie Hebdo said its website had been hacked, but referred readers to a blog it also uses.
The French Muslim Council, the main body representing Muslims in France, accused Charlie Hebdo of firing up anti-Muslim sentiment at a sensitive time.
"The CFCM is profoundly worried by this irresponsible act, which in such a fraught climate risks further exacerbating tensions and sparking damaging reactions," it said.
Richard Prasquier, head of the body representing France's Jewish community - Europe's largest - said religious censorship was wrong but added: "Publishing Mohammad cartoons at this time, in the name of freedom, is irresponsible".
In 2005, Danish cartoons of the Prophet sparked a wave of violent protests across the Muslim world that killed at least 50 people.
The decision to temporarily close some embassies comes at a time when France is already on heightened alert over possible attacks by al Qaeda on French interests in West Africa.
A diplomatic source said this week Paris recently foiled attacks on economic and diplomatic targets and had credible evidence that more were planned. "Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb is a direct and immediate threat," the source said.
Separately, French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said the authorities had rejected a request to hold a march against the Mohammad film in Paris.
Social media had circulated calls for a protest on Saturday against the film, after police arrested about 150 people who tried to take part in an unauthorized protest near the U.S. Embassy in Paris last week.
(Additional reporting by Sreya Banerjee, Thierry Chiarelly, Brian Love and John Irish, and Marwa Awad in Cairo; writing by Mark John, Editing by Mark Trevelyan)
Yep, one more Leica camera to tell you about from this year's Photokina show floor. It's the V-Lux 4 -- a big new superzoom addition to the company's line. Though its got a similar name to the V-Lux 40, the camera's body is a good deal larger -- closer in size and shape to a small DSLR, but still reasonably lightweight. As with the smaller model, the V-Lux 4 features an all black design, with a bright red Leica logo on the front -- in this case, just next to the curving textured handle. Also on top is a pop-out flash that you trigger with a devoted button.
The V-Lux 4 is capable of continuous f2.8 zoom, accessible via two buttons -- one on top and the other next to the lens. Also on the rear, you get two viewfinders -- optical on top and a swiveling electronic three-inch display. The camera is available now in Europe for a pricey €699.
![[ Back to EurekAlert! ]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_tZ05pZjfqZxHSLY0BUf4dlQ82zLCkco0GeEWYRiUZiko84GWz_3Apz-FyU0tdOqaxYZ9jsKrK2jGf4ZRgqkr2DDuhYSgpnNbZvghx43bs=s0-d){kind=small}
Public release date: 20-Sep-2012
Share ] 
