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বৃহস্পতিবার, ৩১ জানুয়ারী, ২০১৩
Cleverbug: A Drugstore Section of Birthday Cards on Your iPhone
বুধবার, ৩০ জানুয়ারী, ২০১৩
10 Things to Know for Wednesday
Your daily look at late-breaking news, upcoming events and the stories that will be talked about Wednesday:
1. OBAMA VOWS TO FAST-TRACK IMMIGRATION OVERHAUL
He says he'll send his own legislation to Capitol Hill if lawmakers don't act quickly.
2. WHAT CAUSED THE BRAZIL NIGHTCLUB FIRE
The flares for the band's onstage pyrotechnic display were meant only for outdoor use. They cost $1.25 each ? while an indoor flare costs $35.
3. KERRY BREEZES TO CONFIRMATION AS SEC'Y OF STATE
Even Republicans praise him as Clinton's ideal successor.
4. CHUCK HAGEL AIMS FOR ZERO
The likely next secretary of defense supports an international movement that favors eliminating all nuclear weapons.
5. AN URGENT SUMMONS FOR SYRIAN AID
Officials plan to seek $1.5 billion from the international community to help up to 1 million refugees and twice that number of people inside the country.
6. BP CLOSES BOOK ON CRIMINAL PROBE OF GULF OIL SPILL
A judge agrees to let the company plead guilty to manslaughter charges for the deaths of 11 rig workers and pay a record $4 billion in penalties.
7. FURY IN EGYPT
Nation on the threshold of revolt against an Islamist president buries its dead as political violence intensifies.
8. EYES IN THE AFRICAN SKY
The Obama administration plans to locate a drone base in Niger to monitor al-Qaida as concerns about extremists there deepen.
9. A-ROD DENIES CLAIMS HE BOUGHT HUMAN GROWTH HORMONE
Miami newspaper alleges the three-time AL MVP used a now-defunct clinic to buy PEDs.
10. HOW TO TELL THE HARBAUGHS APART
Jim's the intense competitor. Older brother John is more engaging.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/10-things-know-wednesday-103500895.html
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'Star Wars' And J.J. Abrams: The Inside Story Revealed
Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy aggressively pursued 'Star Trek' director in December, according to a new report.
By Josh Wigler
J.J. Abrams
Photo: Getty Images
Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1701066/star-wars-jj-abrams-inside-story.jhtml
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মঙ্গলবার, ২৯ জানুয়ারী, ২০১৩
Sharon's brain scans show leaps in science of comas
LONDON (Reuters) - The state-of-the-art brain scans that allowed doctors to look inside the head of former Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon show how advances in neuroscience are forcing a rethink of what it means to be in a long-term coma.
Neurologists who performed the tests said they hinted that Sharon, who has been in a coma since suffering a stroke in 2006, may have a degree of consciousness and be able to hear sounds or make out pictures.
"It's encouraging to find these signs because it opens up the possibility of some meaningful communication," said Paul Matthews, a professor of neurology at Imperial College London.
Until recently, he said, it had been assumed that many comatose patients diagnosed as being in a "vegetative state" had no meaningful awareness of their surroundings.
Yet progress in the use of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scanners - machines that measure brain activity by detecting changes in blood flow - and in reading the signals they give has begun to change that view.
Compared with other "vegetative state" patients who have had similar tests and been described in scientific papers, Sharon's responses were very faint, said Martin Monti, a cognitive psychologist from the University of California Los Angeles, who co-led the American-Israeli team that scanned Sharon's brain.
There is little or no likelihood of a rapid recovery by Sharon, a former general, hawkish defense chief and leader of the right-wing Likud party who suffered his stroke weeks after leaving Likud to found a centrist group to pursue peace with the Palestinians.
But with more tests and research to devise a way for him to signal whether he is processing external information, it is possible that he, like others, could one day respond to questions about his state of mind and whether he is in pain.
"If it turns out that these signals are more robust, then there's no doubt that we could use things like brain-computer interfaces (to communicate)," Monti told Reuters in an interview as he travelled from Israel back to the United States.
AWARENESS DETECTED
The science behind such possibilities has made significant advances in recent years, allowing some patients previously thought to be completely unaware to show they are in fact conscious and able - with help - to communicate.
A study published by Monti and colleagues in 2010 in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) was among the first to show how fMRI scans allowed doctors to detect awareness and communicate with patients in a long-term coma.
"The technology is still very new and we haven't by any means optimized this kind of work yet," said Steve Williams, of King's College London's centre for neuroimaging sciences.
"But if you do see something, it must give so much hope. And if you can get robust and consistent activation of the brain ... then you can take it a lot further."
The experiments use imagery tasks - such as asking a patient to imagine playing tennis or walking from room to room in their home. The fMRI scanner maps the distinctive activity of the brain when each task is performed.
The patient is then asked to equate one of the imagery tasks to the answer "yes" and another to the answer "no", and apply them to simple yes-or-no questions.
These tests "give us a lot of information about how we can contact these patients and stimulate them", said Alon Friedman, a neurological director at Israel's Soroka Medical Centre in Beersheba, who worked with Monti on Sharon's scans.
Of the 54 patients described in the NEJM study, all diagnosed as being in a vegetative or minimally conscious state, five were able to "wilfully modulate their brain activity", the researchers said, and one was able to answer yes-or-no questions during the scan.
EEG CAPS TO AID COMMUNICATION?
In the 84-year-old Sharon's case, evidence that he was able to perform the imagery tasks "was there but was not as strong as we have seen in other patients", Monti said.
"We're very cautious. There is a little evidence that he might have been doing some of the things we asked of him, but it was extremely weak and faint so it is difficult to interpret."
If further tests on Sharon were to detect a more robust response, scientists say the next step would be to investigate ways to make communication easier.
One possibility being explored in some vegetative state patients who show an ability to control brain processes is the use of electroencephalography (EEG) caps, which attach electrodes to the scalp and record electrical brain activity.
Research published in 2011 showed that scientists using these devices were able to communicate with people who had been considered to be in a vegetative state for more than a year.
Because the caps are mobile, they allow communication to be more frequent, since putting a patient into an fMRI scanner every time doctors want to ask a question is invasive, disruptive and expensive.
"If you can put an EEG cap on somebody's head, and the computer is trained to recognize different brain states, that's like having a language," Monti said. "You could then imagine we could proceed from there."
(Additional reporting by Allyn Fisher-Ilan in Israel; Editing by Kevin Liffey)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/sharons-brain-scans-show-leaps-science-comas-113820189.html
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Mali targets July 31 for elections - interim president
ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - Mali is hoping to organise elections on July 31, Mali's interim President Dioncounda Traore said on Tuesday as French and Malian forces consolidated the hold on northern towns recaptured during a two-week offensive against Islamists.
"I'd like to reiterate our commitment here to conduct the transition in Mali with one agenda, one programme, which is to recover the north and also in particular, bring Mali back to a normal situation," Traore told a donor's conference in Ethiopia.
(Reporting by Aaron Maasho; Writing by David Lewis; Editing by Pascal Fletcher)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/mali-targets-july-31-elections-interim-president-140523900.html
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Symmetricom Delivers Precise Time to Next ... - GPS World
Symmetricom, Inc., a precision time and frequency technologies company, today announced a new timing solution that meets the stringent microsecond accuracy requirements of Smart Grid substations. Specifically designed for substation operations, such as wide area measurement systems, traveling wave fault locators and sampled values, the Symmetricom SyncServer SGC-1500 Smart Grid Clock offers power utility companies accurate, secure and reliable timing and synchronization for their mission-critical operations. This means companies like Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) will be able to mitigate outages with real-time monitoring for grid stress, frequency instability, voltage instability and reliability margins.
The Smart Grid has brought about power technology advancements that fundamentally change substation operations. Power equipment and their data networks are shifting from simple, reactive control and reporting to proactive, real-time management and operations control, making advanced synchronization and timing more critical than ever, according to Symmetricom. The SGC-1500 Smart Grid Clock is designed to address this need, enabling power equipment to operate more efficiently and closer to its operational limits. For example, one microsecond accuracy is required by the phasor measurement unit (PMU) for real-time network situational awareness and overall operational efficiency. Without accurate time stamps, PMU data has limited value. For power utility companies, that translates into enhanced network utilization rates as well as smarter management and mixing of renewable and traditional power sources.
?Power and utility companies are increasingly looking to source the latest technology innovations in order to modernize their infrastructure,? said Greg Neichin, executive vice president, Cleantech Group. ?Over the past three years, we have tracked more than $700 million in venture investment committed to companies developing smart grid products. These are all data-intensive applications that will rely heavily on precise timing and synchronization, as well as more advanced analytics to process these vast streams of new information.?
?The Smart Grid architecture and related standards require a new approach to timing distribution across the overall network,? said Manish Gupta, vice president of marketing and business development for Symmetricom. ?Symmetricom brings extensive experience in delivering precise time to the communications, government, and enterprise markets. Serving the power utility telecom network over the past 10 years, Symmetricom is ideally positioned to meet the emerging timing requirements of the Smart Grid.?
The SyncServer SGC-1500 meets key requirements of Smart Grid substations, including:
- Microsecond accuracy and resiliency ? referencing GPS satellite signals, the Symmetricom Smart Grid Clock distributes timing with microsecond accuracy over the local area network (LAN) using the IEEE 1588 v2 Precision Time Protocol (PTP) Power Profile or IRIG-B time code.
- IEC 61850 ? the International Electrotechnical Commission?s (IEC) standards for the design of electrical substation automation, which requires microsecond timing to identify and mitigate a potential fault condition in real time. This standard also identifies important electrical hardening requirements for substation environments.
- NERC CIP ? the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) reliability and security standards for Critical Infrastructure Protection (CIP), which calls for high strength security protocols.
The SyncServer SGC-1500 comes with additional industry leading capabilities such as a built-in IEEE 1588 v2 Telecom Profile input option. This enables the Smart Grid Clock to derive time from the communications wide area network (WAN), thus eliminating the need to have GPS at every substation and PMU. The Rubidium atomic clock option offers holdover capability in the event of GPS disruption. These options result in a highly cost effective and resilient solution for power utilities.
Source: http://www.gpsworld.com/symmetricom-delivers-precise-time-to-next-generation-smart-grid/
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French, Mali forces head toward Timbuktu
SEVARE, Mali (AP) ? French and Malian forces pushed toward the fabled desert town of Timbuktu on Sunday, as the two-week-long French mission gathered momentum against the Islamist extremists who have ruled the north for more than nine months.
So far the French forces have met little resistance, though it remains unclear what battles may await them farther north. The Malian military blocked dozens of international journalists from trying to travel toward Timbuktu.
Lt. Col. Diarran Kone, a spokesman for Mali's defense minister, declined to give details Sunday about the advance on Timbuktu citing the security of an ongoing operation.
Timbuktu's mayor, Ousmane Halle, is in the capital, Bamako, and he told The Associated Press he had no information about the remote town, where phone lines have been cut for days.
A convoy of about 15 vehicles transporting international journalists also was blocked Sunday afternoon in Konna, some 186 miles (300 kilometers) south of Timbuktu.
The move on Timbuktu comes a day after the French announced they had seized the airport and a key bridge in Gao, one of the other northern provincial capitals under the grip of radical Islamists.
Meanwhile, French and African land forces also were making their way to Gao from neighboring Niger.
French and Malian forces were patrolling Gao Sunday afternoon searching for remnants of the Islamists and maintaining control of the bridge and airport, said Kone, the Mali military spokesman.
The French special forces, which had stormed in by land and by air, had come under fire in Gao from "several terrorist elements" that were later "destroyed," the French military said in a statement on its website Saturday.
In a later press release entitled "French and Malian troops liberate Gao" the French ministry of defense said they brought back the town's mayor, Sadou Diallo, who had fled to the Malian capital of Bamako far to the west.
However, a Gao official interviewed by telephone by The Associated Press said late Saturday that coalition forces so far only controlled the airport, the bridge and surrounding neighborhoods.
And in Paris, a defense ministry official clarified that the city had not been fully liberated, and that the process of freeing Gao was continuing.
Both officials insisted on anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly on the matter.
Gao, the largest city in northern Mali, was seized by a mixture of al-Qaida-linked Islamist fighters more than nine months ago along with the other northern provincial capitals of Kidal and Timbuktu.
The rebel group that turned Gao into a replica of Afghanistan under the Taliban has close ties to Moktar Belmoktar, the Algerian national who has long operated in Mali and who last week claimed responsibility for the terror attack on a BP-operated natural gas plant in Algeria.
His fighters are believed to include Algerians, Egyptians, Mauritanians, Libyans, Tunisians, Pakistanis and even Afghans.
Meanwhile, the Pentagon said late Saturday that Defense Secretary Leon Panetta told Le Drian the United States will aid the French military with aerial refueling missions.
U.S. aerial refueling planes would be a boost to air support for French ground forces as they enter vast areas of northern Mali, the size of Texas, that are controlled by al-Qaida-linked extremists.
The U.S. was already helping France by transporting French troops and equipment to the West African nation. However, the U.S. government has said it cannot provide direct aid to the Malian military because the country's democratically elected president was overthrown in a coup last March.
The Malian forces, however, are now expected to get more help than initially promised from neighboring nations.
Col. Shehu Usman Abdulkadir told The Associated Press that the African force will be expanded from an anticipated 3,200 troops to some 5,700 ? a figure that does not include the 2,200 soldiers promised by Chad.
Most analysts had said the earlier figure was far too small to confront the Islamists given the huge territory they hold.
Since France began its military operation, the Islamists have retreated from three small towns in central Mali: Diabaly, Konna and Douentza. However, the Islamists still control much of the north, including the provincial capital of Kidal.
The Mali conflict will dominate the African Union summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Sunday and Monday.
___
Associated Press writer Rukmini Callimachi contributed to this report.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/french-mali-forces-head-toward-timbuktu-085610699.html
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Banner/Text Sales for Large Entertainment Website | Advertising ...
Tax Type Tax Rate Tax ID or Company no.
eg. VAT, GST ? Registration no.
Source: http://www.freelancer.com/projects/Internet-Marketing-Sales/Banner-Text-Sales-for-Large.html
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সোমবার, ২৮ জানুয়ারী, ২০১৩
Rockville Auto Repair Shops: Finding a Shop Which You Can Trust
If you experience problems running your car and you are not quite sure how to repair it, then visiting various Rockville auto repair shops is beneficial since these have experts who can offer you the best automotive repair help. Expert technicians and mechanics are employed in these shops and they have enough expertise and experience diagnosing the problems of any vehicles and finding the most suitable solution for it. Note, however, that there are hundreds of auto repair shops in Rockville so you might get confused about which to choose. Here are some tips that can make the process of selecting a reliable and trustworthy shop easier for you:
1. Avoid shopping for price alone. This means that instead of finding an automotive repair shop which offers the lowest prices for all its services, you have to also spend time evaluating the quality of their offered services. You should remember that you will not only be paying for the repairs needed, the new auto parts that require to be installed and the specific amount of time needed to install it. You will also be paying for the technician's technical expertise and professionalism so be vigilant when it comes to choosing.
2. Figure out if the shop is fully equipped with the necessary repair tools and equipment. A good Rockville auto repair shop has all the equipment and materials needed in properly diagnosing the problems of different car models. A wise tip is to choose any of those shops that have computer controlled systems that are primarily designed to improve the efficiency of a car's engine, aid in troubleshooting engines and reduce emissions. If you pick a repair company which does not have all the necessary repair tools and equipment, then your car
problems are at risk of not being completely fixed.
3. Choose a shop with technicians certified by ASE. A good automotive technician is someone who undergoes testing and training every 5 years as a means of maintaining his ASE certification. Technicians who have this certification are well-trained in the field of auto repairs so you have a guarantee that they are capable of accurately doing their job. You have to look for the symbol of ASE which is often prominently displayed by auto repair shops if they have highly skilled and certified automotive repair technicians.
4. Ask for referrals from your dealership. Keep in mind that while the automotive industry is competitive, it still operates based on profitable business relationships. All companies and services in this industry can expect to generate benefits from referring one another so your dealership can definitely offer you information about the best deals in auto repair. This will allow you to find a shop which offers high quality auto repair services at reasonable costs.
5. Gather information from business directories or from the web. While this is time-consuming, this is still considered by many as the most reliable way to find legitimate Rockville auto repair shops. Through this method, you get the chance to find business directories and establish a list containing shops that suit your specific needs. Contact each shop on your list and figure out which among them offers the best ratio between service quality and cost. This can definitely help you when attempting to choose the best shop.
Are you looking for more information regarding rockville auto repair? Visit http://www.parkroadautorepair.com today!
Are you looking for more information regarding rockville auto repair? Visit http://www.parkroadautorepair.com today!
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রবিবার, ২৭ জানুয়ারী, ২০১৩
Claims Examiner - Workers Compensation - Insurance Claims Jobs
Claims Examiner
Workers Compensation
CLAIM YOUR FUTURE AS A GREAT PERFORMER!
Providing both satisfying and challenging work along with a highly professional and friendly work atmosphere, Sedgwick has a strong commitment to its colleagues and its clients. If you are seeking place where you can do great things for those whose lives you touch while maximizing your own career possibilities, Sedgwick is the place for you. As the largest and most innovative Third Party Administrator in the claims industry and the first and only TPA to receive both recognition as the Best TPA in America and the coveted Employer of Choice designation, we invite you to come be a part of our team and, ?Claim Your Future.?
PRIMARY PURPOSE : To analyze complex or technically difficult claims to determine benefits due; to work with high exposure claims involving litigation and rehabilitation; to ensure ongoing adjudication of claims within service expectations, industry best practices and specific client service requirements; and to identify subrogation of claims and negotiate settlements.
ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS and RESPONSIBILITIES
ADDITIONAL FUNCTIONS and RESPONSIBILITIES
QUALIFICATION
Education & Licensing
Baccalaureate degree from an accredited college or university preferred. Professional certification as applicable to line of business preferred. Licenses as required.
Experience
Four (4) years of claims management experience or successful completion of Claims Examiner II training required. BS/BA degree may substitute for two (2) years of required experience.
Skills & Knowledge
- In-depth knowledge of appropriate insurance principles and laws for line of business handled, recoveries offsets and deductions, claim and disability duration, cost containment principles including medical management practices and Social Security and Medicare application procedure as applicable to line of business
- Excellent oral and written communication, including presentation skills
- PC literate, including Microsoft Office products
- Analytical and interpretive skills
- Strong organizational skills
- Good interpersonal skills
- Excellent negotiation skills
- Ability to work in a team environment
- Ability to meet or exceed Service Expectations
WORK ENVIRONMENT
When applicable and appropriate, consideration will be given to reasonable accommodations.
Mental: Clear and conceptual thinking ability; excellent judgment, troubleshooting, problem solving, analysis, and discretion; ability to handle work-related stress; ability to handle multiple priorities simultaneously; and ability to meet deadlines
Physical: Computer keyboarding, travel as required
Auditory/Visual: Hearing, vision and talking
NOTE : Credit security clearance, confirmed via a background credit check, is required for this position.
The statements contained in this document are intended to describe the general nature and level of work being performed by a colleague assigned to this description. They are not intended to constitute a comprehensive list of functions, duties, or local variances. Management retains the discretion to add or to change the duties of the position at any time.
Sedgwick is an Equal Opportunity Employer
and a
Drug-Free Workplace
Additional Information: State Jurisdictions or Licenses Required: Arizona
Requisition #: 11610
Source: http://jobs.insuranceclaimsweb.com/c/job.cfm?site_id=1635&jb=12097681
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What you need to know about cell phone unlocking
Did you know that as of Jan 26, 2013, it's "illegal" to unlock your phone? Of course you did. You've seen the "Sky is falling!" headlines
It's not quite that simple, but that's what you'll hear around the Internets today. The too-long-didn't-read simple version is that you'll likely not be affected in any way (minus the personal freedom aspect). But after seeing so many people worried, and some of the poor information they were receiving, we knew it was time to talk about it a bit.
In 1998 Congress passed a law that provides copyright protection to the software (and software means written code, remember) that locks your cell phone to a certain carrier. This has nothing to do with rooting, or bootloader unlocking. It only covers locking your phone to a GSM carrier through software. As a provision of this law, the Librarian of Congress (which I imagined as a totally hot babe with her hair in a bun, and was quickly disappointed when I investigated) is allowed to grant exceptions, and did until his October 2012 decision to allow the DMCA to regulate cell phone locking. Fast forward to today, when the exceptions expired, and now the software used to lock phones is covered under the same copyright laws as most other software.
It sounds scary. But it's really not. Let's have a look.
 |  |
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/fU9cj9yVK5k/story01.htm
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Nokia intros Music+ subscription service with unlimited downloads, web listening
Most of the bigger streaming music services have both a free tier for casual listeners and a paid level for truly committed music fans. Nokia doesn't want to be the exception to the rule. It's launching Nokia Music+, a paid version of its existing platform. Paying €4 per month ($4 in the US) gives perks that you'd normally expect from a more expensive alternative like Spotify or Slacker's premium tier: the upgrade ratchets up the audio quality, adds lyrics, allows unlimited skips in Mix Radio and enables as many downloads for offline play as the phone can hold. Aren't you suddenly glad that you picked up a 32GB Lumia 920? Not that you'll always need it to tune in -- Music+ adds web streaming for anything with a suitably capable browser. Nokia hasn't said just which countries beyond the US will get the more advanced service, but it should make a formal debut within the next few weeks.
Filed under: Cellphones, Portable Audio/Video, Internet, Mobile, Nokia
Source: Conversations by Nokia
Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/WrqO_Mycdik/
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শনিবার, ২৬ জানুয়ারী, ২০১৩
Al Shabaab says enemies closed its Twitter account
MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Al Shabaab on Friday said its Christian enemies had closed its Twitter account, which the Somali militant group used to parade hostages, mock rivals and claim responsibility for bombings and assassinations.
The group's official Twitter account, which has thousands of followers, was offline on Friday with a message saying "Sorry, that user is suspended".
It was not immediately clear why the account, which was created in 2011 under the HSM PRESS Twitter handle, was suspended. The account was still unavailable as of 1233 GMT.
On Wednesday the al Qaeda-aligned rebels used the social media site to threaten to kill several Kenyan hostages and on January 17 announced the execution of a captive French agent after a French commando mission to rescue him failed.
"The enemies have shut down our Twitter account," al Shabaab's most senior media officer, who refused to be named, told Reuters.
"They shut it down because our account overpowered all the Christians' mass media and they could not tolerate the grief and the failure of the Christians we always displayed (online)."
Al Shabaab wants to impose their strict version of sharia, or Islamic law, across Somalia. However, it has lost significant territory in the southern and central parts of the country in the face of an offensive by African Union troops.
Twitter said it does not comment on individual accounts and the Kenyan government denied it had filed any request for the account to be taken down.
"It's an emphatic no. We would not try to negotiate or have anything to do with the Al Shabaab. We didn't even know the account was suspended," said government spokesman Muthui Kariuki.
Al Shabaab posted on the account on Wednesday a link to a video of two Kenyan civil servants held hostage in Somalia, telling the Kenyan government their lives were in danger unless it released all Muslims held on "so-called terrorism charges" in the country.
"Kenyan government has three weeks, starting midnight 24/01/2013 to respond to the demands of HSM if the prisoners are to remain alive," the group said.
Despite the closure of the Twitter account, al Shabaab said it would continue to "display the loss and grief of Christians no matter what means we use," al Shabaab's spokesman said.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/somalia-militants-twitter-account-down-hostage-threat-094612564.html
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Direct marketers struggle for viability | TribLIVE
By Tory N. Parrish
Published: Saturday, January 26, 2013, 12:01?a.m.
Updated 6 hours ago
The recession, postal rate hikes, targeted mailings and increased use of the Internet have cut into direct-mail advertising, and some marketers say they?re bracing for another hit when the Postal Service increases rates again on Sunday.
?Many direct marketers have a fixed budget ? and as postage goes up, they can mail fewer pieces, and that means they won?t mail as far down their mailings lists,? said Jerry Cerasale, senior vice president of government affairs with the Direct Marketing Association.
He said increased costs of printing and paper also have spurred advertisers to cut back.
For some people, less direct-mail advertising is a good thing.
?I?m always excited about the idea of less junk in my mail,? said Dawn Meling, 28, of Ross.
The Postal Service posted a $15.9 billion loss in fiscal 2013.
The latest increase will be its third in three years. Prices for all types and classes of mail will increase overall by 4 percent; a first-class stamp will go up a penny to 46 cents, and bulk-mail rates will rise 2.6 percent.
Bulk mailers are among the best customers.
In 2012, advertising mail was the agency?s largest industry segment in volume at 50 percent, accounting for 25 percent of revenue at $16.4 billion.
?I think the post office is making it difficult for themselves and for us, because direct marketing is actually very viable and is actually growing in my company,? said Dave Jones, owner of Crafton-based Allegra Pittsburgh, which provides direct mail, marketing and other services for mostly business clients.
Direct mail generates revenue for businesses, and the consumer response rate for direct mail exceeds that of email marketing, according to the Direct Marketing Association, a New York City-based trade organization.
Yet some customers consider catalogues and brochures in their mailboxes an intrusion.
Catalog Choice, one of the largest mail preference companies in the United States, since 2007 has processed 26 million ?opt out? requests for consumers who want to be removed from mailing lists.
?I don?t think we?re in favor or not in favor of direct mail. What we?re in favor of is giving consumers a choice of whether they want to receive that mail,? said spokeswoman Lyn Chitow Oakes.
Between 2007 and 2012, annual advertising mail volume declined 23 percent from 103.5 billion to 79.5 billion pieces.
The Postal Service attributes some of the decline to companies using more targeted mailings based on data about customers, rather than casting a wide net with generalized advertising.
Some companies that frequently use mail advertising said they aren?t ready to scale back but will watch how they spend money.
Mt. Lebanon-based Rollier?s Hardware mails about 20,000 newsletters to customers four times a year and includes fliers in mailed publications, said Derek Satterfield, floor manager.
?We still look at advertising on the basis of how much we?re getting back in return,? he said.
Tory N. Parrish is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. She can be reached at 412-380-5662 or tparrish@tribweb.com.
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Subscribe today! Click here for our subscription offers.Source: http://triblive.com/news/allegheny/3253256-74/mail-direct-advertising
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The Cost-Benefit Analysis of Delivering Great Customer Service ...
The search for new customers is an expensive business. So why not invest your resources into building a lasting and profitable business relationship with your existing customers? The answer lies in delivering an unparalleled level of customer service.
According to a National Federation of Independent Business Study, having good customer service ranked higher in assessing business success than either having a price advantage over your competitors or having a unique and valuable product or service. If you simply sell a quality product at a reasonable price, you are just like 95% of all other businesses out there doing what you do. People don?t buy products or services. They buy solutions to their problems. By adding exceptional customer service to the mix, you now offer a competitive advantage that acts to instill a sense of trust between business and consumer.
In business, you may have come across the phrase, ?The customer is king,? or ?The customer is always right.? Given the experiences you may have had in the past dealing with those who have unrealistic expectations or requests, outrageous claims, or downright dumb questions, it often becomes a nuisance to cater to the wants and needs of each and every customer. Whether you like it or not, your customers pay your bills.
It?s interesting to note that, based on a Harvard study, an unhappy customer will likely become a repeat customer 80% of the time if you are able to rectify the issues that they have encountered with your product or service. People are far more willing to spend their time and money where they are appreciated and valued.
Developing a customer service strategy for dealing with customers is really a no-brainer. The way that your customer service department manages the queries or complaints of current or prospective consumers has a direct impact on their perception of your business and its growth potential. There are limitless ways that you can deliver a positive customer service experience, but I will go ahead and just jot down a few to get you started.
- Encourage customer feedback and welcome suggestions whenever possible
- Go the extra mile and fulfill all customer requests within reason
- Don?t ever overpromise something NOT within your means
- Know when and how to apologize
- Send thank you notes and periodic follow up emails
- Conduct after sale and customer service surveys
The necessity of maintaining long term relationships with your customer database is discussed further in a blog entitled,?It?s Time to Start Dating Your Customers.
Adopting a consumer centric approach will allow you attract more business while spending less on marketing. Allowing your customers to do the selling for you through referrals will further your word-of-mouth marketing strategy, the ?holy grail? of positive brand recognition.
Individuals are far more apt to trust recommendations from people they know rather than from the advertisements of promotions that they see. Implement a service-first culture and mentality throughout your organization so that everyone is aware of the commitment they must make to your customers to ensure that they are valued and respected in all circumstances.
A good salesperson can sell anything to anyone once. Good customer service can bring them back, time and time again.
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Microsoft reports Q2 2013 earnings: posts record revenue of $21.5 billion, $6.38 billion profit (update)
This isn't the end of earnings season, but this is the final member of the unholy trinity. Microsoft is reporting that during the second quarter of its 2013 financial year it set a revenue record by raking in $21.5 billion. Of that $6.38 billion was pure profit, lining shareholder's pockets to the tune of $0.76 per share. While EPS was down year-over-year, net income was up dramatically from $5.87 billion a year ago and $5.31 billion last quarter. The Windows division accounted for roughly $5.9 billion of Redmond's revenues, up 24 percent from a year ago, largely thanks to the release of Windows 8. That division is also home to the Surface, which still hasn't seemed to gain much traction with consumers. Interestingly, while Windows was surging, its business division was suffering a not inconsequential drop off -- seeing revenues fall 10 percent to $5.7 billion year-over-year. But the Server & Tools department also helped offset some of those declines, with revenue jumping up 9 percent to $5.19 billion.
In a sign that it might be time for a bit of a console refresh, the Entertainment and Devices division saw revenues continue to sink, despite the strong holiday sales. While the $3.77 billion in revenue was a stark increase over Q1's paltry $1.95 billion, it's still a 7 percent fall from the same time period last year. Thankfully, its Online Services continued to grow, reaching $869 million in revenue -- an 11 percent growth year-over-year, and a sign that it's various web services aren't sinking ships. Most notably ad revenue was up 15 percent thanks largely to an increase in revenue-per-search.
Revenue growth over Q2 2012 wasn't huge, but it was certainly notable and net income didn't drop dramatically. And, perhaps most importantly for investors, results were pretty much inline with Wall Street expectations. It's also worth noting that some revenue has been deferred, $1.3 billion to be exact, thanks to various upgrade offers and video game deals -- though, the company did report previously deferred revenues due to pre-sales of Windows 8. There's PR after the break but, if you want to dig through all the detailed tables of financial data you'll have to hit up the source link. And check back in for updates when the earnings call gets under way at 5:30PM ET.
Updates:
5:36PM CFO, Peter Klein says that 60 percent of computers worldwide are running Windows 7 while the company has managed to push out 60 million Windows 8 licenses.
5:40 Microsoft doesn't seem particularly worried about the declining PC market as Windows revenues outpaced sales of x86 machines by a significant margin.
5:45 Windows Phone sales were four times what they were last year.
5:53 Microsoft stands by its story that Surface is "just one part of the Windows 8 story." Though, it did say that it will "expand retail distribution and availability" so don't expect the in-house slate to go quietly into that good night.
Microsoft Reports Record Revenue of $21.5 Billion in Second Quarter
Strong business demand and key product launches drive record revenue.
REDMOND, Wash. - Jan. 24, 2013 - Microsoft Corp. today announced quarterly revenue of $21.46 billion for the quarter ended December 31, 2012. Operating income, net income, and diluted earnings per share for the quarter were $7.77 billion, $6.38 billion, and $0.76 per share.
These financial results reflect the net deferral of revenue for the Windows Upgrade Offer, Office Upgrade Offer and Pre-sales, and the Entertainment and Devices Division Video Game Deferral, partially offset by the recognition of previously deferred revenue for Windows 8 Pre-sales. The following table reconciles these financial results reported in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) to non-GAAP financial results. We have provided this non-GAAP financial information to aid investors in better understanding the company's performance.
"Our big, bold ambition to reimagine Windows as well as launch Surface and Windows Phone 8 has sparked growing enthusiasm with our customers and unprecedented opportunity and creativity with our partners and developers," said Steve Ballmer, chief executive officer at Microsoft. "With new Windows devices, including Surface Pro, and the new Office on the horizon, we'll continue to drive excitement for the Windows ecosystem and deliver our software through devices and services people love and businesses need."
The Windows Division posted revenue of $5.88 billion, a 24% increase from the prior year period. Adjusting for the net deferral of revenue for the Windows Upgrade Offer and the recognition of the previously deferred revenue from Windows 8 Pre-sales, Windows Division non-GAAP revenue increased 11% for the second quarter. Microsoft has sold over 60 million Windows 8 licenses to date.
"We saw strong growth in our enterprise business driven by multi-year commitments to the Microsoft platform, which positions us well for long-term growth," said Peter Klein, chief financial officer at Microsoft. "Multi-year licensing revenue grew double-digits across Windows, Server & Tools, and the Microsoft Business Division."
The Server & Tools business reported $5.19 billion of revenue, a 9% increase from the prior year period, driven by double-digit percentage revenue growth in SQL Server and System Center.
"We see strong momentum in our enterprise business. With the launch of SQL Server 2012 and Windows Server 2012, we continue to see healthy growth in our data platform and infrastructure businesses and win share from our competitors," said Kevin Turner, chief operating officer at Microsoft. "With the coming launch of the new Office, we will provide a cloud-enabled suite of products that will deliver unparalleled productivity and flexibility."
The Microsoft Business Division posted $5.69 billion of revenue, a 10% decrease from the prior year period. Adjusting for the impact of the Office Upgrade Offer and Pre-sales, Microsoft Business Division non-GAAP revenue increased 3% for the second quarter. Revenue from Microsoft's productivity server offerings - collectively including Lync, SharePoint, and Exchange - continued double-digit percentage growth.
The Online Services Division reported revenue of $869 million, an 11% increase from the prior year period. Online advertising revenue grew 15% driven by an increase in revenue per search.
The Entertainment and Devices Division posted revenue of $3.77 billion, a decrease of 11% from the prior year period. Adjusting for the Video Game Deferral, the division's non-GAAP revenue decreased 2% for the second quarter. Xbox continues to be the top-selling console in the United States. During the quarter, Microsoft launched Windows Phone 8 with a broad array of carriers and devices.
Business Outlook
Microsoft reaffirms fiscal year 2013 operating expense guidance of $30.3 billion to $30.9 billion.
Webcast Details
Peter Klein, chief financial officer, Frank Brod, chief accounting officer, and Chris Suh, general manager of Investor Relations, will host a conference call and webcast at 2:30 p.m. PST (5:30 p.m. EST) today to discuss details of the company's performance for the quarter and certain forward-looking information. The session may be accessed at http://www.microsoft.com/investor. The webcast will be available for replay through the close of business on Jan. 24, 2014.
Adjusted Financial Results and Non-GAAP Measures
For second quarter fiscal year 2013 GAAP revenue, operating income, and earnings per share growth included the net deferral of revenue for the Windows Upgrade Offer, the Office Upgrade Offer and Pre-sales, and the Entertainment and Devices Division Video Game Deferral, and the recognition of previously deferred revenue for Windows 8 Pre-sales. These items are defined in our Form 10-Q for the quarterly period ended December 31, 2012. In addition to these financial results reported in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), we have provided certain non-GAAP financial information to aid investors in better understanding the company's performance. Presenting these measures without the impact of these items gives additional insight into operational performance and helps clarify trends affecting the company's business. For comparability of reporting, management considers this information in conjunction with GAAP amounts in evaluating business performance. These non-GAAP financial measures should not be considered as a substitute for, or superior to, the measures of financial performance prepared in accordance with GAAP.
Source: Microsoft
Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/mcRZ9VLqZoU/
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Cold Snap Shakes Up Winter Weather Outlook
Copyright ? 2013 NPR. For personal, noncommercial use only. See Terms of Use. For other uses, prior permission required.
IRA FLATOW, HOST:
This is SCIENCE FRIDAY. I'm Ira Flatow. I was having a d?j? vu this week. Looking back at our news archives, I discovered that almost exactly two years ago to this day, in 2011, we were hit by a frigid cold snap in the same parts of the country, the same parts of the U.S. that were hit this week. We're seeing freezing temperatures stretching from Midwest to the Northeast, snowstorms across the pond in England.
But what makes this weather weirder is that usually cold-weather Arctic cities like Oslo and Anchorage are actually warmer. They're warmer than the Lower 48. What the heck is going on? It turns out unusual activity over the Arctic Circle is to blame for the dropping temperatures. It's a phenomenon called Sudden Stratospheric Warming. And it could bring weeks of brutally cold weather. Better bundle up.
Jeff Weber is a climatologist and atmospheric scientist at the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado. He joins us by phone. Welcome to the program.
JEFF WEBER: Thank you very much, Ira, it's an honor to be on your show.
FLATOW: Well, you're welcome. Tell us: What is this Sudden Stratospheric Warming? It sounds like it's getting warmer, should not be getting colder.
WEBER: Yes, the stratosphere and the troposphere are two layers of our atmosphere, and they're kind of inversely related. So as the stratosphere warms, the troposphere can cool. The real dynamics of this situation, though, is that as the stratosphere has gone through this Sudden Stratospheric Warming event, as the stratosphere warms, it tries to then, in the air in the stratosphere, it descends back into what we call the polar vortex, which is where all of the cold air over the Arctic kind of usually kind of polls up and sits during the winter months.
Now as that bubble of stratospheric air comes down and descends into the polar vortex, it disrupts the circulation, and all that very cold Arctic air is then able to spill out from the Arctic down into the Lower 48 or into Europe.
FLATOW: And how long can you expect this to last for?
WEBER: Well, these events are very hard to forecast. What they do is they kind of disrupt the circulation around the planet, what we call the jet stream or the planetary wave. And that's one of the key factors that we use to do our forecasting. And so that jet stream being disrupted, it's very hard to forecast how long this is going to persist.
Generally, the Sudden Stratospheric Warming events tend to disrupt the polar vortexes for at least a month.
FLATOW: At least a month?
WEBER: Yes.
FLATOW: So the jet stream is dipped way down?
WEBER: Exactly right. The jet stream - if you remember last year, when we kind of had a winter with no winter, we had a jet stream that was very zonal, meaning it came across the time zones from west to east, and it kind of stayed right along the Canadian-U.S. border, and that's kind of the separation between the cold air and the warm air. So we were on the southern part of the jet stream, and so we were very warm all winter long.
Now with this Sudden Stratospheric Warming event and the disruption of the circum-polar vortex, our jet stream has started to buckle and meander quite a bit. And so now instead of going primarily from west to east, we have a big north and south component of that jet stream, allowing cities like Anchorage to be very warm while New York City or even areas in Georgia are much colder than Anchorage.
Georgia was 32 degrees when Anchorage was 48.
FLATOW: Wow, is this the same thing that happened a couple of years ago, or am I just imagining this?
WEBER: Now, we've had actually more stratospheric warming events in the past decade than we generally have in the past. This is somewhat of a new science, we've only been able to study the stratosphere since the '50s. So we don't really have any statistically significant time periods to be looking at. But we are seeing that these are occurring now almost every year. We're seeing them about every two years in the past. Now we're seeing them almost every year for the past decade.
And so this is becoming a more common event. So I'm not exactly sure what timeline you were looking at, but we did have a stratospheric warming event in 2011.
FLATOW: Yeah, is there some event that actually triggers this to happen?
WEBER: Yes, there is. There needs to be some sort of either dynamic, thermal dynamic or aerographical forcing down here in the troposphere to get this energy to go up into the stratosphere. Generally there's almost no interchange between the troposphere and the stratosphere, and so there needs to be some sort of forcing.
And so there was a huge storm, very similar to Hurricane Sandy, off of the east coast of Japan in the Kamchatka Peninsula of Russia, and it was actually a little bit more intense than Hurricane Sandy. It had a central pressure of 932 millibars, whereas Sandy was 942. So it was a very deep system, and it was a very broad system. It was about 1,400 miles in length.
And so you had this huge system off of the northeast coast of Japan that allowed that atmospheric wave to propagate upward into the stratosphere.
FLATOW: And so once you get this sort of conveyor belt going, well, you don't know when it's going to stop.
WEBER: Yeah, well, I think at this point in time the actual flux or the flow into the stratosphere has kind of been diminished. And so now we need to have the stratosphere kind of get back into its healthy state and re-radiate all that energy back out into space and quit disrupting our circumpolar vortex.
FLATOW: You tell it to do that for us, would you?
WEBER: I'll pull the lever.
(LAUGHTER)
FLATOW: So once you change the flow, and you don't need the stimulus, you don't need that storm anymore, you just try to wait for it to rebound, and that rebound could take weeks is what you're saying.
WEBER: Exactly right. Right now we have a very meandering, very non-definitive jet stream, and so that's allowing a lot of this cold air to just kind of flow out of the poles down into the continental United States. And so until that circumpolar vortex re-establishes itself, that cold air is going to be free to spill out all across the planet. And depending upon where these dips in the jet stream occur, that's where the cold air will flow out.
And so I see a new cold event for the East Coast around the end of January, into February. It's going to be preceded by a very warm event, a very warm rain event, up into the 60s, and then as that wraps around that storm, we're going to get that cold snap behind it. So you're going to have a very dramatic change from February 1st, from like January 31st we'll be like 60 and rainy and then February 1st it's going to be in the single digits again and very cold.
So we're going to have a very warm, cold, kind of a very diverse pattern for the next month.
FLATOW: You know, you sound like an early Punxsutawney Phil here.
(LAUGHTER)
WEBER: (Unintelligible) February 1st and that's very close to Groundhog Day.
(LAUGHTER)
FLATOW: Well, one last question about this because there is speculation that this weather may be due to the loss of ice during the summertime at the polar region. Is there any evidence for that being the trigger?
WEBER: No, that has a lot of other dramatic effects on our climate, but for stratospheric warming events, what we're looking at are very large systems, such as the one that was off of the northeast coast of Japan. Also it's been correlated to sunspot activity. So that's kind of a factor that doesn't affect the troposphere so much, but it does involve some (unintelligible) content action in the stratosphere. So we're seeing a correlation between a solar activity and then these big, very unstable systems late in the season like we saw off the northeast coast of Japan.
FLATOW: All right, well, people always blame stuff on sunspots, so...
WEBER: That's right, it's hard to prove them wrong.
(LAUGHTER)
FLATOW: Thank you very much for taking time to be with us, Jeff.
WEBER: My pleasure, Ira.
FLATOW: Jeff Weber is a climatologist and atmospheric scientist at the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado.
Copyright ? 2013 NPR. All rights reserved. No quotes from the materials contained herein may be used in any media without attribution to NPR. This transcript is provided for personal, noncommercial use only, pursuant to our Terms of Use. Any other use requires NPR's prior permission. Visit our permissions page for further information.
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Source: http://www.npr.org/2013/01/25/170267853/cold-snap-shakes-up-winter-weather-outlook?ft=1&f=1007
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Matt Damon Takes Over 'Kimmel': Our Fave Moments!
The Jan. 24 episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live was one for the books. While the episode was originally just supposed to mark the first ever interview with Matt Damon on the show, it turned into something much, much more amazing than that.
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Q&A: Picking Health Insurance For Your Newborn - Kaiser Health ...
Sorry, Readability was unable to parse this page for content.
Source: http://www.kaiserhealthnews.org/Multimedia/2013/January/andrews-q-and-a-newborn-coverage.aspx
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Record streaming audio from any web site and - Giveaway of the Day
January 25, 2013This audio recording software can record any sound on the computer as MP3/ WAV/ OGG/ FLAC files. Also it provides Voice Activation System, File Length Limitation System and Schedule to help you to record online audio programs even while you?re not at your PC!
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THIS SOFTWARE PRODUCT IS PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED. WITHOUT LIMITATION, TO THE FULLEST EXTENT ALLOWABLE BY LAW, END USER ASSUMES THE ENTIRE RISK AS TO THE QUALITY AND PERFORMANCE OF THE DOWNLOADED SOFTWARE PRODUCT.
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NowSmart Talkin ? Call recording software for Windows 7
NowSmart Talkin is an easy to use sound recorder software, which is designed for Windows 7 and later version. The major difference between this product and other on-market sound recorder software is that this product can record from speaker and microphone at the same time. In other words, NowSmart Talkin can record online conversation on the computer. See what it can do:
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Lightbank-Backed Boomerang Debuts A Social Gifting Platform For Brands And Businesses
Boomerang, the?Chicago-based social gifting service which sprung up this summer as a way for users to send gifts to friends (similar to Wrapp), is now moving into the B2B space with the debut of a platform for brands. At launch, Boomerang has 20 national brands on board, as well as some local businesses in Chicago, Austin, New York, and ?Indianapolis.Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/QUxm2BlAIYI/
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Plants adapt to drought but limits are looming, study finds
Thursday, January 24, 2013
Scientists with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, or USDA, and their partners have determined that water demand by many plant communities can fluctuate in response to water availability, indicating a capacity for resilience even when changing climate patterns produce periodic droughts or floods.
But their research also suggests that a limit to this resilience ultimately could threaten the survival of these plant communities. Sensitive environments such as the arid grasslands in the Southwestern U.S. already are approaching this limit.
Results from this study were published in the journal Natureby a team of Agricultural Research Service, or ARS, scientists, including three scientists affiliated with the UA. ARS is USDA's chief scientific research agency.
The study was led by UA-affiliated ARS researchers Guillermo Ponce Campos and Susan Moran and an Australian team led by Alfredo Huete from the University of Technology, Sydney.
"We found that plants have a capacity for resilience even in the face of the severe drought over the past decade," said Ponce Campos, the study's lead author. Ponce Campos led the research as part of his doctoral work at the UA and now is a research associate working with Moran.
"From grasslands to forests, plants can tolerate low precipitation, but if drought conditions continue past a certain point, this resilience will fail," said Moran, who graduated from the UA and now is a researcher with the USDA ARS Southwest Watershed Research Center and an adjunct professor in the department of soil, water and environmental science in the UA College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.
Once that limit is reached, water-starved plants lose their ability to take advantage of increased precipitation, even if the drought makes way for wetter conditions, Moran explained.
The researchers conducted their investigation using measurements made during 2000-09 at 29 sites in the United States, Puerto Rico and Australia. This provided data about precipitation patterns in the various types of environments. Globally, the 2000-09 decade ranked as the 10 warmest years of the 130-year (1880-2009) record. The team compared these data with measurements taken from 1975 to 1998 at 14 sites in North America, Central America and South America.
To calculate ecosystem water use, the scientists used satellite observations to approximate above-ground net plant productivity at each site. Then they combined these approximations with field data of precipitation and estimates of plant water loss to generate indicators of plant water use efficiency.
The team observed that ecosystem water-use efficiency increased in the driest years and decreased in the wettest years. This suggests that plant water demand fluctuated in accordance with water availability and that there is a cross-community capacity for tolerating low precipitation and responding to high precipitation during periods of warm drought.
However, the team observed that the water-use efficiency data exhibited a trend of "diminishing returns." This suggests plant communities eventually will approach a water-use efficiency threshold that will disrupt plant water use and severely limit plant production when drought is prolonged.
"Prolonged, warm drought makes a difference," Moran said. "To date, it appears there is resilience, but in the more sensitive biomes like grasslands, we are starting to see evidence of decreasing resilience. And as more and more ecosystems increase in aridity, more will reach this threshold."
The authors report that in some Australian grasslands, ecosystem resilience has decreased with the increasing aridity widely reported as a result of the prolonged warm drought over these biomes.
Moran cautioned that her team also saw the limit in some of the study areas in Utah, Arizona and New Mexico.
"We know what the resilience was in the 1980s and 1990s, and we compared it to the early 21st century," she said. "That's how we know it's decreasing. We certainly found resilience, but it is approaching the threshold."
Moran pointed out this study was only possible through the collaboration of researchers combining long-term observations at study sites across the globe to reach these conclusions, including the oldest, longest-operating range-land research facility in the world: the Santa Rita Experimental Range managed by the UA College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.
Established in 1902, the study area encompasses 52,000 acres, or about 80 square miles, on the western side of the Santa Rita Mountains south of Tucson.
"Here, scientists studying vegetation, animals and soils have documented changes in the environment as a function of land use and how weather and climate have influenced these patterns," said Mitchel McClaran, a professor in the UA's School of Natural Resources and the Environment and the range's director for research, who co-authored the study.
"Making these long-term data available to researchers across the world today is what makes studies like this possible," McClaran said. "We perform experiments and explore best management practices so they can be adopted wildlife managers, ranchers and other natural resources managers throughout the Southwest."
Work like the present study can help resource managers develop agricultural production strategies that incorporate changes in water availability linked to changing precipitation patterns.
"In the United States, much of our agricultural productivity has depended on long-term precipitation regimes. But those patterns are changing and we need information for managing the effects of those shifts," said ARS Administrator Edward Knipling. "These findings can help managers respond to the challenges of global climate change with effective strategies for maintaining agricultural productivity."
###
University of Arizona: http://uanews.org
Thanks to University of Arizona for this article.
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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/126426/Plants_adapt_to_drought_but_limits_are_looming__study_finds
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