Christians in Mideast celebrate Easter

Iraqi Christians congratulate each other after Easter mass at Mar Youssif Chaldean Church in Baghdad, Iraq, Sunday, March 31, 2013. The Chaldean Church is an Eastern Rite church affiliated with the Roman Catholic Church. (AP Photo/ Karim Kadim)

Iraqi Christians congratulate each other after Easter mass at Mar Youssif Chaldean Church in Baghdad, Iraq, Sunday, March 31, 2013. The Chaldean Church is an Eastern Rite church affiliated with the Roman Catholic Church. (AP Photo/ Karim Kadim)

Iraqi Christians pray during Easter mass at Mar Youssif Chaldean Church in Baghdad, Iraq, Sunday, March 31, 2013. The Chaldean Church is an Eastern Rite church affiliated with the Roman Catholic Church. (AP Photo/ Karim Kadim)

Iraqi Christians pray during Easter mass at Mar Youssif Chaldean Church in Baghdad, Iraq, Sunday, March 31, 2013. The Chaldean Church is an Eastern Rite church affiliated with the Roman Catholic Church. (AP Photo/ Karim Kadim)

JERUSALEM (AP) ? Catholics and Protestants through the Holy Land and broader Middle East flocked to churches to celebrate Easter Sunday, praying, singing and rejoicing.

It was the first Easter since the election of Pope Francis in Rome, and many Catholics said they hoped their new spiritual leader would help strengthen communities that often feel themselves cut off from their countries' Muslim-majority societies.

At the St. Joseph Chaldean Church in Baghdad, some 200 worshipers attended an Easter mass led by the Rev. Saad Sirop, held behind concrete blast walls and a tight security cordon. Militants have in the past attacked Baghdad churches.

"We pray for love and peace to spread through the world," said worshiper Fatin Yousef, 49, who arrived immaculately, dressed for the occasion: her hair tumbling in salon-created curls, wearing a tidy black skirt, low-heeled pumps and a striped shirt. "We hope Pope Francis will help make it better for Christians in Iraq."

In the holy city of Jerusalem, Catholics worshiped in the church of the Holy Sepulcher, built on the hill where tradition holds Jesus was crucified, briefly entombed and then resurrected. The cavernous, maze-like structure is a series of different churches belong to often-rival sects crammed into different nooks and even on its roof.

Clergy in white and gold robes led the service held around the Edicule, the small chamber at the core of the church marking the site of Jesus' tomb. Many foreign visitors were among the worshippers.

"It's very special," said Arthur Stanton, a visitor from Australia. "It represents the reason why we were put on this planet, and the salvation that has come to us through Jesus."

Israel's Tourism Ministry said it expects some 150,000 visitors during holy week and the Jewish festival of Passover, which coincide this year. A similar number arrived for the holidays last year, the ministry said. It is one of the busiest times of the year for the local tourism industry.

Protestants held Easter ceremonies outside Jerusalem's walled Old City at the Garden Tomb, a small, enclosed green area that some identify as the site of Jesus' burial. Another service was held at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, Jesus' traditional birthplace.

Catholics and Protestants, who follow the new, Gregorian calendar, celebrate Easter on Sunday. Orthodox Christians, who follow the old, Julian calendar, will mark it in May.

There are no precise numbers on how many Christians there are in the Middle East. Census figures that show the size of religious and ethnic groups are often hard to obtain.

Christian populations are thought to be shrinking or at least growing more slowly than their Muslim compatriots in much of the Middle East, largely due to emigration as they leave for better opportunities and to join families abroad. Some feel more uncomfortable amid growing Muslim majorities that they see as becoming more outwardly pious and politically Islamist over the decades.

In Iraq, since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, Christians have suffered repeated attacks by Islamic militants and hundreds of thousands have left the country, with church officials estimating their communities have at least halved. The worst attack was at Baghdad's soaring Our Lady of Salvation church in October 2010 that killed more than 50 worshipers and wounded scores more.

There are an estimated 400,000 to 600,000 Christians in Iraq, with most belonging to ancient eastern churches. There has been no census in Iraq for 16 years, making precise numbers difficult to get.

Some two-thirds of Iraq's Christians are Catholics of the Chaldean church and the smaller Assyrian Catholic church. Worshipers of both churches chant in dialects of ancient Aramaic, the language that Jesus spoke.

Yousef, the worshipper in Baghdad, said lingering fear pushed her to send her son to live with relatives in Arizona last year. Yousef said she was arranging for her other daughter and son to immigrate.

"There's still fear here, and there's no stability in this country," she said.

Iraqi officials have made efforts to secure churches since the violence of 2010.

High blast walls topped with wire netting and barbed wire surrounded the St. Joseph Church in Baghdad in the middle-class district of Karradeh. Blue-khaki clad Iraqi police guarded roads surrounding the church and checked papers of passersby as worshipers filtered inside.

Four Iraqi Christian volunteers, two men and two women, stood at the church entrance, double-checking people entering.

White-robed church volunteers marched down the church aisle behind Father Sirop, who waved incense and chanted in the white-painted church adorned with three ornate chandeliers and a series of simple paintings illustrating the life of Christ.

Worshipers stood for lengthy passages of Sirop's mass, at one point bursting into applause when he told them, "Celebrate! You are Christians!"

____

Diaa Hadid reported from Baghdad. Follow Hadid on twitter.com/diaahadid and Goldenberg on twitter.com/tgoldenberg

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-03-31-Mideast-Easter/id-577d8b29d87c4a908d216d4c3c97434a

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Business, Labor Reach Deal on Guest Worker Program

Immigration debate

WASHINGTON - Business and labor leaders reached an agreement late Friday night on a guest worker program for low-skilled immigrants, a senior Democratic Senate aide tells ABC News, marking a key moment in the immigration debate.

The agreement involves the guest worker provision for low-skilled immigrants, which is one of the most critical pieces of the legislation. The accord between the Chamber of Commerce and the A.F.L.-C.I.O marks the first time the dueling sides have come together around the size and scope of the guest worker program.

"This issue has always been the dealbreaker on immigration reform, but not this time," Sen. Chuck Schumer said in a statement Saturday night.

Schumer, D-N.Y., one of the leading Senate negotiators on the agreement, briefed White House chief of staff Denis McDonough on the deal this afternoon, ABC News has learned.

"We are very close, closer than we've ever been," he said. "We are very optimistic, but there are a few issues remaining."

The agreement between business and labor was reached shortly after 9 p.m. Friday, when Schumer convened a conference call with the top labor leader, Richard Trumka, and the chamber head, Tom Donohue. The three agreed to have dinner soon to commemorate the accord, one official tells ABC news.

The sticking point in earlier negotiations centered on determining pay levels for future immigrant workers coming to the country on new visas. The unions wanted employers to pay an average wage for occupations rather than assigning salary by skill levels, while the business side called for paying low skilled workers at the lowest rate.

The guest worker deal reached by business and labor will now be presented to the bi-partisan Gang of Eight senators involved in the immigration talks. The senators are also working on fine tuning the path to citizenship and border security components of the plan.

"Senate negotiators are making good progress on immigration reform, but we're not done yet," Alex Conant, a spokesman for Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., tweeted today.

While the group of senators works on the details of the immigration plan, President Obama said this week that he is optimistic the group will produce a bill in April.

"I'm actually optimistic that when they get back they will introduce a bill," Obama said during an interview with Univision earlier this week. "My sense is that they have come close and my expectation is that we'll actually see a bill on the floor of the Senate next month."

Also Read

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/business-labor-reach-deal-guest-worker-program-210608347--abc-news-politics.html

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Kleiner-Backed Fisker Mulls Bankruptcy as Investor Search Persists ...

NEW YORK/DETROIT, March 28 (Reuters) ? Fisker Automotive, the U.S.-backed maker of luxury plug-in hybrid sports cars, has hired law firm Kirkland & Ellis to advise it on a possible bankruptcy filing, a source said on Thursday, while executives continue their search for a strategic investor.

The company, based in Anaheim, California, furloughed its U.S. work force this week to preserve cash.

Fisker, founded in 2007, has raised more than $1 billion in venture capital, according to Thomson Reuters (publisher of peHUB).?Most recently, the company raised $103.67 million in September 2012 from Advanced Equities Inc., Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, New Enterprise Associates and one undisclosed firm, Thomson Reuters reports. KP has participated in all but one of the company?s 14 financing rounds, while NEA has participated in seven, according to Thomson Reuters.

Anup Sathy, a bankruptcy lawyer at Kirkland who handled the Chapter 11 filings of General Growth Properties and Innkeepers USA Trust, is advising Fisker, the source said.

On Wednesday, two sources said the company was considering bankruptcy while it pursued alternatives.

All of the sources declined to be named because the matter is not public.

A Fisker spokesman declined to comment. Neither Kirkland & Ellis nor Sathy were immediately available to comment.

Fisker, which makes the $100,000-plus Karma plug-in hybrid, has not produced a car since July and is seeking a financial backer to help finish the development of a second plug-in hybrid, the Atlantic, and produce it at a Delaware plant.

The company?s cash crunch comes less than a month before it must make a payment on a U.S. Department of Energy loan that Fisker received in 2009. Fisker declined to divulge the amount of the payment, which is due April 22.

Fisker has faced many challenges this month, including the abrupt resignation of its founder, Henrik Fisker, over ?several major disagreements? with top management.

Its efforts to find an investor in China also stalled. The company had been in talks with Chinese automakers Dongfeng Motor Group and Zhejiang Geely Holding Group to gauge their interest in acquiring a majority stake in Fisker.

Both Geely and Dongfeng balked at the terms of Fisker?s loan agreement with the DOE. Fisker?s chief executive, Tony Posawatz, visited China this week to try to rekindle those deals, sources said this week.

?OVERLY AMBITIOUS? PLAN

Fisker was founded by Henrik Fisker and his partner Barny Koehler in 2007 shortly before a deep recession in the United States sapped consumer demand for vehicles.

Fisker has raised $1.2 billion since it was founded and has the backing of Ray Lane, a managing partner at venture firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers who is also a Fisker director.

The Karma quickly won accolades for its styling and cache with celebrities, including pop star Justin Bieber and actor Leonardo DiCaprio, who is also an investor in the company.

In 2009, the DOE awarded Fisker a $529 million loan as part of an Obama administration program to finance advanced vehicle development. Fisker used $193 million of the loan and earmarked the bulk of the funding for the Atlantic.

But the DOE froze its credit line partly due to Fisker?s delays in launching the Karma. The last payment from the DOE came in May 2011, government records show.

The resulting cash crunch made it tough for Fisker to meet what Posawatz described last year as an ?overly ambitious and aggressive? business plan.

Fisker has been flagging its interest in a strategic partner since at least April 2012, when then-CEO Tom LaSorda unveiled a concept version of the Atlantic at the New York auto show. LaSorda later left the company and was succeeded by Posawatz.

Sources said this week that Fisker now is open to selling off pieces of the company, including intellectual property rights for its plug-in electric hybrid technology.

The Wall Street Journal first reported the hiring of Kirkland & Ellis.

By Nick Brown and Deepa Seetharaman, Reuters

Additional reporting and editing by Lawrence Aragon, peHUB

Photo: The Fisker automotive electric Atlantic sedan is seen during its unveiling ahead of the 2012 International Auto Show in New York April 3, 2012. Photographed by??by?Allison Joyce, Reuters.?

Source: http://www.pehub.com/193799/kleiner-backed-fisker-mulls-bankruptcy-investor-search-persists/

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APNewsBreak: Gas trade group seeks fracking probe

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) ? A formal complaint filed with New York's lobbying board asks it to investigate whether Artists Against Fracking, a group formed by Yoko Ono and son Sean Lennon, is violating the state's lobbying law.

The complaint obtained by The Associated Press was made by the Independent Oil & Gas Association to the state Joint Commission on Public Ethics.

The energy trade group based its request for an investigation on an AP report that found that Artists Against Fracking and its advocates didn't register as lobbyists. Registration requires several disclosures about spending and activities.

A spokesman for Artists Against Fracking says the group's activities are protected because they were made during a public comment period. He also says celebrities involved in the group are protected because they are longtime activists, not lobbyists.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/apnewsbreak-gas-trade-group-seeks-fracking-probe-172054771.html

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Putin flexes Russian military muscle in naval exercise

By Alexei Anishchuk

MOSCOW (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin ordered large-scale military exercises in the Black Sea on Thursday, projecting Russian power towards Europe and the Middle East in a move that may vex neighbors.

Officials suggested the surprise drill would test reaction speed and combat readiness, but Putin's order also seemed a signal to the West of Russia's presence in the region.

Presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters Putin triggered the maneuvers as he flew back overnight from South Africa after a summit of the BRICS emerging economies.

Peskov said 36 warships and an unspecified number of planes would take part, but not how long exercises would last.

Putin has stressed the importance of a strong and agile military since returning to the presidency last May. In 13 years in power, he has often cited external threats when talking of the need for reliable armed forces and Russian political unity.

Late last month, Putin ordered military leaders to make urgent improvements to the armed forces in the next few years, saying Russia must thwart Western attempts to tip the balance of power. He said maneuvers must be held with less advance warning, to keep soldiers on their toes.

Putin, 60, has used his role as commander-in-chief to cast himself as a strong leader for whom national security is foremost. State media emphasized he ordered the exercises from a plane in the dead of night.

Russia's Black Sea Fleet, whose main base is in the Ukrainian port of Sevastopol, was instrumental in a war with ex-Soviet neighbor Georgia in 2008 over the Russian-backed breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

In addition to Georgia and Ukraine, Russia shares the Black Sea with Turkey, Bulgaria and Romania.

But Russian foreign affairs analyst Fyodor Lukyanov said the exercises were "more likely part of a wider attempt to reconfirm that Russia's navy and military forces in the south are still able to play a political and geopolitical role."

"It is flexing muscles and may have more to do with what is happening in the Mediterranean, around Syria, than in the Black Sea," said Lukyanov, editor of journal Russia in Global Affairs.

REGIONAL ROLE

Russia's modest naval maintenance and supply facility in Syria is its only military base outside the former Soviet Union, and the Defense Ministry recently announced plans to deploy a naval unit in the Mediterranean on a permanent basis.

Russia has clashed diplomatically with the West throughout a two-year conflict that has killed more than 70,000 people in Syria, using its U.N. Security Council veto to block Western efforts to push President Bashar al-Assad from power.

Moscow-based military analyst Alexander Golts said unannounced exercises are good for Russia's military, but the location could raise questions among Russia's neighbors.

"We will be watching these exercises very closely as Georgia has its own experience with Russia," Tedo Japaridze, head of the Georgian parliament's foreign relations committee, told Reuters. He said all Black Sea nations have the right to hold exercises.

The Kremlin portrays Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili as a bellicose leader, and Russia said last week annual U.S.-Georgian training exercises that began this month in Georgia, far from the Black Sea coast, put peace at risk.

Meanwhile, disputes with Ukraine over Moscow's continued lease of the Black Sea navy base have been a thorn in relations with its former Soviet neighbor.

Peskov said the number of servicemen participating was short of the threshold requiring Russia to notify other nations of its plans, but Russian news agency Itar-Tass quoted a spokesman for Ukraine's foreign minister, who was in Moscow on Thursday, as saying Ukraine had been informed in advance.

A NATO official said the Western alliance was not given notice and that "exercises are part of what the military do. NATO also conducts regular military exercises, which are not directed at anyone". But he said NATO would like to see greater openness from Russia, including on military exercises.

(Additional reporting by Gabriela Baczynska in Moscow, Pavel Polityuk in Kiev, Margarita Antidze in Tbilisi and Adrian Croft in Brussels; Writing by Alissa de Carbonnel and Steve Gutterman; Editing by Jason Webb)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/putin-flexes-russias-military-muscle-black-sea-exercises-150222901.html

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What matters (and what doesn't) when buying a gaming desktop ...

Want to game on a PC? Buy a desktop. While notebooks have come a long way over the last decade, they are, to this day, an inherently compromised solution. Fast processors and video cards consume gobs of power and produce tons of heat, so mobile systems have to cut back on performance while packing on the pounds.

That leaves desktops to bear the weight of PC gaming. Even a modest system can put current consoles to shame and run today?s most demanding games at 1080p. Want more? You can have it. The most powerful gaming rigs are several times faster than the least powerful, and every gradation of performance between those extremes is available.

Yet, there?s more to the equation than raw horsepower. Upgradability, storage, and add-on cards also deserve thought. This guide will help you cut through the confusion and buy an amazing gaming desktop computer at a surprisingly low price.?

One size doesn?t fit all

Most gamers start with the hardware inside a computer. We?ll cover that soon enough, but, before we get there, let?s talk about the exterior.

Gaming computers now come in many shapes and sizes. There are small systems like the?Falcon Northwest Tiki, mid-size towers like the?Acer Predator,?and monoliths like the?Origin Genesis.

Small systems are, well, small. They are unobtrusive and fit where larger systems simply can?t. They?re ideal for gamers who lack a large desks or want to use the desktop in a home theater. Going small can limit future upgrade options, however, and some pint-sized PCs?make a lot of noise.

Mid towers are a good compromise and are ideal for most people. They?re small enough to fit under, on, or in a typical desk, yet large enough to offer upgradability and acceptable cooling. Flair, or lack thereof, is the only flaw. Most mid towers look like any other ho-hum desktop.

Finally, we come to the monoliths known as full towers. These are often so large that they won?t fit on top of a desk without hanging off the front or rear, and a few full towers are so tall they won?t even fit under a desk. A full tower system can also carry a slightly higher premium over a mid tower. However, full towers are easy to upgrade and can handle hardware that won?t fit in smaller PCs.

Some custom manufacturers, like Origin and CyberPower, offer a selection of cases during customization. We recommend the full tower if you can find room for it, but make sure you understand the size before buying. Otherwise, a mid tower is best. Smaller systems can be great, but are also a niche solution. You should only buy one if space is at a premium or you?re dead set on a small system for aesthetic reasons.

Start with the heart: The processor

When you buy a gaming desktop, be it a customized model from a boutique or a pre-made model from Dell or HP, the processor will be the first specification you see ? and for good reason. The processor determines how a system will perform in most software.

Your first choice will be between dual- or quad-core processors. We recommend a quad unless your budget is extremely low ($1,500 or less). A dual-core processor is often fine, but some modern games make use of additional cores and can be crippled by a dual-core CPU.

Gamers with a lot of money may be lured in by Intel?s six-core processors. These are priced at a premium and not worthwhile for gaming. We only recommend them to buyers who have absolutely no concern about a rig?s final price. The same can be said of Intel?s Extreme Edition processors.

Also, we suggest you avoid AMD. Though potentially competitive at a few price points, and boasting up to eight cores, all of the company?s processors fail to offer solid single-thread performance. That?s a problem for games because most place their heaviest load on just one or two cores.

A great GPU makes a great gaming PC

The video cards sit side-by-side with the processor in importance. This one component is entirely responsible for drawing the beautiful graphics you see onscreen. Faster video cards allow better, smoother graphics and a more immersive experience.

As a gamer, you?ll want to stay away from low-end cards. In Nvidia?s stable, this means you want to stay away from products that have a 20, 30, or 40 in their model number (like the GT 630). In AMD?s product line, you want to stay away from cards that have a 4, 5, or 6 as the second digit in the model number (like the Radeon 6670).

The price-performance sweet spot usually sits with mid-range cards like the Nvidia GTX 660 and AMD Radeon HD 7850. These can handle almost any game in 1080p with full detail. If you want to make sure that games run well, or you want to play at an even higher resolution, like 2560 x 1600, you should move up to an even more powerful card.

While shopping, you may sometimes find yourself with a choice between two cards that are similar but offer different memory. More memory does not have a significant impact on overall performance by itself, but more memory does allow a video card to handle more data before choking. We recommend at least 1GB of memory if you have a display below 1080p resolution, and at least 2GB of memory if your display is 1080p or above.

We don?t recommend multiple video cards. Though potentially quick, multi-card configurations often run into driver or game support issues that prevent them from unlocking their full potential. They?re also louder and hotter than a single card.

Don?t waste money on too much RAM

Our recent review of the?Acer Predator?provided the perfect example of how marketing is sometimes placed before performance. That system, which is relatively affordable, came to us with 32GB of RAM. Thirty-two! As in 30, and then two more.

That?s insane, yet not uncommon. Why? RAM is currently inexpensive, so adding more makes a system seem powerful to uneducated consumers at minimal cost. But, don?t fall for it. The majority of games sold today will run well on a computer with only 4GB of RAM (as we proved in our?Steam Box build). For a serious gaming rig, however, 8GB is our recommendation. Anything on top of that is effectively useless.

Additional memory doesn?t make a game run more quickly; it merely sits unused. Any money that might be spent on RAM beyond 8GB should instead be put towards a component that matters.

Solid-state drives are expensive, but useful

Most computers sold today come with at least a 500GB mechanical hard drive and, in most cases, a 750GB or 1TB model. More space is better, but unused space isn?t needed, so our recommendation is simple: buy as much space as you need.

Whether or not you should buy a computer with a solid-state drive is a more difficult question. SSDs are many times more expensive than mechanical drives when measured by gigabyte-per-dollar. They also have no impact on in-game performance. Still, we recommend that you buy an SSD if you can afford one that offers over 200GB of storage. Why?: load times.

A solid-state drive is many times quicker than a mechanical drive. For games, this means a level that could take 30 seconds to load on a normal drive instead loads in 5 to 10 seconds. Games with short load times may sometimes load almost instantly.

If you do choose a solid-state drive, make sure it?s also the drive that contains the operating system. You?ll gain the benefit of quick boot times and fast operation in day-to-day use. This is also why we don?t recommend an SSD with less than 200GB of space. With Windows installed, a small drive can only contain a handful of games.?

Don?t lose money on the kitchen sink

?

After you?ve nailed down the processor, video card, RAM and hard drive you?ll start to browse through a wide selection of extras including sound cards, Ethernet adapters, additional USB ports, and more.

These extras aren?t required. Today?s motherboards ship with a built-in sound card, Ethernet adapter, and gobs of connectivity. Some even come with standard Wi-Fi. These have made peripheral cards far less of a necessity.

That doesn?t mean they?re useless, but skip it if you don?t already?know?that you need a certain add-on card for a specific reason.

Conclusion

As you browse computers and choose custom hardware, you should always return to one question: ?Does this make games look and play better??

A gaming desktop is a balancing act. No one component should dominate without bringing the others up to par, and unnecessary hardware should be axed to keep the price down. For example, a system with 32GB of RAM and a dual-core processor doesn?t make sense. The money spent on memory could be far better spent on a fast quad-core.

Restraint is required to perfect the balance. When you buy a gaming desktop, you?ll be bombarded by ads, both on manufacturer websites and elsewhere, that insist what you?really?want is a fancy Ethernet card that allegedly improves multiplayer games, or a triple-GPU rig, or a computer the size of a cat.

As you browse computers and choose custom hardware, you should always return to one question: ?Does this make games look and play better?? The information in this guide will help you answer that question, and if the answer is no, you don?t need it.?

Source: http://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/how-to-buy-a-gaming-desktop/

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Lenovo IdeaTab Lynx K3011

Lenovo has another entry into the Windows 8 pantheon of touch-enabled Windows devices, with the Lenovo IdeaTab Lynx K3011. An Atom-powered Windows tablet of the same ilk as the HP Envy X2 (11-g012nr) or the Asus VivoTab Smart ME400C, the IdeaTab Lynx is designed for the touch-curious at a price that won't break the bank. It's not enough on its own to be your only Windows machine, but as a second or third device, it's not too shabby.

Design
Like the Asus VivTab Smart, the IdeaPad Lynx is sold as a tablet alone. You'll need to purchase the docking keyboard separately ($149.99 list) if you're after a laptop-like portable experience, like the one on the HP Envy X2. The IdeaTab Lynx is lightweight and portable, weighing only 1.4 pounds, but it's still surprisingly sturdy, thanks to a magnesium alloy internal frame inside the chassis, which acts like a roll cage to protect the components within. The polycarbonate chassis is nowhere near as luxurious or sturdy as the all-metal HP Envy X2, but it at least feels sturdy, unlike the Asus VivoTab Smart, which felt lightweight and cheaply made.

The 11.6-inch In-Plane Switching (IPS) display looks good even when cradled close in a lap or the crook of an arm, with 1366-by-768 resolution. With five-point capacitive touch, you'll be able to use the tablet with multiple fingers using one or two hands, and the IPS display offers wide viewing angles, so there's no worry about having to hold the tablet at a specific angle.

Like most of the tablets we've seen, the sound on the IdeaTab Lynx is wimpy at best?it's really more of a headphone-friendly device anyway. The sound is quite weak, even at high volume, and when we tested the speakers with The Knife's bass-heavy Silent Shout, it sounded like an entirely different song because there was almost no bass at all. When using earbuds or a headset, however, the sound was just fine.

Features
On the edges of the tablet you'll find two ports to speak of, a micro HDMI port on the side, and a micro USB 2.0 port on the bottom. The micro USB port looks a little different, as it doubles as a docking port for the accessory keyboard, but it will still work with any micro USB cable. For those instances when you need to connect a USB drive using a full-size port, there is a micro-to-full size USB adapter included with the tablet. There's no micro HDI adapter, so you'll need to acquire one yourself before you can hook it up to your HDTV?it's irksome, but we have yet to see a manufacturer bundle in a micro HDMI adapter. Additionally, there is a microSD card slot, but it's recessed and set behind a port cover, putting it out of convenient reach and making it difficult to remove the memory card once it's in the slot.

The IdeaTab Lynx is also equipped with a front-facing 2-megapixel webcam and two digital microphones for use with Skype and the like, but despite the tablet design, there is no rear-facing camera, so you won't be using the Lynx to shoot snapshots at tourist attractions. Despite this, there are several sensors more common to smartphones and Android tablets that Windows machines, like an accelerometer, ambient light sensing to adjust screen brightness automatically and proximity sensing, and an e-compass. The more familiar 802.11n Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.0 provide the wireless connectivity you'll need to get online and pair wireless mice and keyboards without the need for a USB adapter.

The tablet is equipped with a 64GB solid-state drive (SSD), though some of that is occupied by the operating system and included software. In addition to Windows 8 (32-bit), the IdeaTab Lynx comes with an array of apps and programs already installed. Lenovo makes sure to include genuinely useful services and apps, like Lenovo Cloud by SugarSync, which makes it easier to automatically share files between the Lynx and your laptop or desktop. Microsoft Office Starter gives you limited Word and PowerPoint, with the option to upgrade, and a 30-day trial of Norton Internet Security and Norton Studio. On the Start Screen you'll find several apps, including Skype, Evernote, Amazon's Kindle Reader, Encyclopedia Britannica, and Merriam Webster Dictionary. Finally, Lenovo covers the IdeaTab Lynx with a one-year warranty, though you can purchase extended protection that stretches it to two or three.

Performance
Like most 10- and 11-inch Windows tablets on the market today, the IdeaTab Lynx is equipped with a dual-core 1.8GHz Intel Atom Z2760 processor, with 2GB of RAM. The use of an Atom processor means you'll be running Windows in 32-bit mode instead of the 64-bit found in standard laptops and desktops, but you'll still be able to run most programs, albeit with slower performance than you may be used to.

In PCMark 7 the Lynx produced a category leading score of 1,438 points, tied with the Asus VivoTab Smart, and beating other top-rated competitors, like the Dell Latitude 10 (1,291 points) and the HP Envy X2 (1,429 points). The Lynx's Cinebench scores are actually the best of the category (0.56) despite the fact that the same processor is found in competitors, like the Dell XPS 13 (0.46) and the Acer Iconia Tab W510-1422 (0.30). It also performed well in Handbrake, finishing in 6 minutes 26 seconds, and coming within one second of the category-leading HP Envy X2 (6:25).

The energy-efficient Atom processor does lend itself well to tablets, which require greater freedom from power cords. In our battery rundown test, the Lynx lasted 7 hours 33 minutes. While it's enough to take you through the day, it actually trails behind other tablets, like the Acer Iconia Tab W510-1422 (8:59), the Dell Latitude 10 (9:20) and even Lenovo's own ThinkPad Tablet 2 (10:11).

While the battery life is a bit short, it's still long-lasting, and the strong overall performance makes it a solid contender among Atom-powered Windows tablets. As Windows machines go, it's far from full-featured, but if you want something for content consumption and casual Windows computing, The Lenovo IdeaPad Lynx K3011 isn't a bad choice.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/wFxBeRk6_-I/0,2817,2417097,00.asp

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Smartphone users check Facebook 14 times a day, study says

Nidhi Subbaraman , NBC News ? ? ? 1 hr.

People with smartphones check their Facebook pages an average of 14 times each day. They scroll through news feeds while running errands, comment on friends' posts while shopping or at the gym, post a photo of their food plate before dinner. This adds up to an average of about 32 minutes of Facebook time on their phone ... every day.

These details come from a new study, sponsored by Facebook and conducted by data crunchers at the analytics firm IDC. The company surveyed Android and iOS users in the U.S., and 7,446 men and women between the ages of 18 and 44 shared details about their daily Facebook and smartphone habits.

On average, this group spent about two and a half hours every day on their smartphones. The most frequently used application on a smartphone? Email, followed by Facebook.

Almost half the group ? 44 percent ? used their phones as an alarm clock (I know I do), and 79 percent checked their phones within the first 15 minutes of waking up (guilty, once again).

When was the last time your phone wasn't next to you or in the same room? 25 percent of the survey group couldn't remember the last time that happened. And 79 percent of the group admitted their phones were out of reach for just two hours every day.

As you might imagine, social phone time in general doubled on weekends, when folks texted their friends and significant others, and called or emailed their parents and kids.

Seventy percent of their study group accessed Facebook from their phones ? to catch up on news feed updates, mostly ? and 61 percent used it daily. On average, Facebook took up a quarter of social time on people's phones, the rest used up mostly by calling and texting.

Do you do things differently? Let us know in the Discussion section below.

Nidhi Subbaraman writes about technology and science. Follow her on Twitter and Google+.

Source: http://feeds.nbcnews.com/c/35002/f/653377/s/2a1a2ace/l/0L0Snbcnews0N0Ctechnology0Ctechnolog0Csmartphone0Eusers0Echeck0Efacebook0E140Etimes0Eday0Estudy0Esays0E1C9125315/story01.htm

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PFT: NFL sees no increase in injuries on Thursdays

Free agency opened 15 days ago.? This year, the initial surge of cash was more limited than ever, more than a few guys settled for one-year deals, and plenty of other players are still waiting to get paid.

For some, the issue is cap space.? For many, it can?t be.? As of Tuesday, March 26, 13 teams still had more than $10 million in spending room for 2013, and five still had more than $20 million, per a source with knowledge of the NFLPA?s calculation of remaining cap room.

Leading the way are the Bengals, who despite numerous re-signings still have $28.9 million to spend.? The Browns come in a close second, with $28.7 million.

The Bucs get the bronze for saving their gold, with $26.8 million.? Also, the Jaguars have $26.6 million, and the Eagles have $26.3 million.

Others with eight figures include the Packers with $18.3 million, the Bills with $16.8 million, the Dolphins with $15.7 million, the Cardinals with $14.0 million, the supposedly spending-to-the-cap Patriots with $13.4 million, the supposedly cap-strapped Jets with $13.0 million, the Colts with $11.7 million, and the Titans with $10.7 million.

This year, teams are required to spend 89 percent of the unadjusted cap.? But that number is determined at least for now on a four-year rolling average, which essentially allows teams to pocket 44 percent of a single year?s spending limit from 2013 through 2016.? Based on the current cap numbers, some teams are well on their way to that number.

Source: http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/03/27/nfl-sees-no-increase-in-injuries-on-thursdays/related/

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Facebook expands ad targeting system to its newsfeed

Mar 26 (Reuters) - Leading money winners on the 2013 PGATour on Monday (U.S. unless stated): 1. Tiger Woods $3,787,600 2. Brandt Snedeker $2,859,920 3. Matt Kuchar $2,154,500 4. Steve Stricker $1,820,000 5. Phil Mickelson $1,650,260 6. Hunter Mahan $1,553,965 7. John Merrick $1,343,514 8. Dustin Johnson $1,330,507 9. Russell Henley $1,313,280 10. Kevin Streelman $1,310,343 11. Keegan Bradley $1,274,593 12. Charles Howell III $1,256,373 13. Michael Thompson $1,254,669 14. Brian Gay $1,171,721 15. Justin Rose $1,155,550 16. Jason Day $1,115,565 17. Chris Kirk $1,097,053 18. ...

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/facebook-expands-ad-targeting-system-newsfeed-220112897--sector.html

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My Top 5 NZ Series for Kids and Teens | My Best Friends Are Books

March 26, 2013 ? 8:00 am

Like many kids I?m a fan of series.? There?s nothing better than sinking your teeth into a great series and being able to read more than one book featuring your favourite characters.? While there aren?t a heap of New Zealand series for kids and teens there are some that really stand out for me.? Some of them make me laugh again and again, while others take me to different times and places.? Here are my Top 5 NZ series for kids and teens.

• The Karazan Quartet by V.M. Jones

I was excited when the first book in the series, The Serpents of Arakesh, came out.? The idea of an orphan boy getting the chance to test a new computer game and go into this game to retrieve a magical object sounded fantastic, and I wasn?t disappointed.? As soon as I started I knew I was going to love this book, and the other three books in the series just got better and better.? It?s one of my favourite fantasy series and just writing about it now makes me want to go back and read it all over again.? After publishing this series and a couple of great contemporary (and award-winning) novels, V.M. Jones seems to have disappeared.? I really miss her writing and I wonder what she?s doing now.

If you have this series in your library, get it out on display and promote it to your Year 5+ kids, especially the boys.

Recommended for 9+

• The Juno series by Fleur Beale
  • Book 2 ? Fierce September
  • Book 3 ? Heart of Danger

Once I got in to Juno of Taris I couldn?t put it down.? Fleur Beale?s strength with this series is her characters, the strong bonds between them and also the conflict between them.? Fleur really makes you feel for her characters and the strange situation that they are in.? After reading the first book, I would have been satisfied to leave the characters as they were, then Fleur wrote two sequels.? I really enjoyed following these characters as they settled into their new life, and it was great to find out more about the other characters in the series.

Recommended for 11+

• Dinosaur Rescue series by Kyle Mewburn and Donovan Bixley
  • Currently 8 books in the series, starting with T-wreck-asaurus

Prehistoric toilet humour ? what more can you ask for!? These books are full of dinosaur farts, dinosaur poo, caveman vomit and partial caveman nudity.? Not only are they disgusting and hilarious, you also learn heaps about dinosaurs and prehistoric life.? The challenge is trying to figure out what is factually accurate or just a huge whopper.? Kyle and Donovan are too of the wackiest people to ever be thrown together to create a series and it?s a truly winning combination.? If your children haven?t discovered this series yet they are seriously missing out.

Recommended for 7+

• My New Zealand Story series by various authors

The My New Zealand Story series from Scholastic New Zealand introduces children to different events and periods of New Zealand?s history.? I love this series because it gives a snapshot of the life of a fictional character (based on real people) and how they cope with life in the goldfields, or in colonial New Zealand, or how they react to a disaster like the Napier Earthquake.? These books also highlight how different the lives of the characters is to the lives of children today.? They really bring history alive for young readers and connect them with the history of their country.? The latest in the series is Cyclone Bola by Kath Beattie and my school librarian friend, Desna, has a book in the series coming out next year.

Recommended for 9+

• Tales of Fontania series by Barbara Else
  • The Traveling Restaurant
  • The Queen and the Nobody Boy

Barbara Else?s Tales of Fontania series is a fantasy series that stands out from the crowd.? Barbara has an incredible imagination and her world and characters jump off the page.? Her tales are full of adventure, danger, royalty, spies, flying trains, a floating restaurant, stinky trolls, poisonous toads and much, much more.? You never know what who or what you?re going to meet next.? Thanks to the stunning covers by Sam Broad the books jump off the shelf and grab your attention.? I have it on good authority that there are more Tales of Fontania to come too.

Recommended for 9+

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Filed under authors, books, children, New Zealand, NZ Book Month 2013

Tagged as children's series, My Top 5 NZ Series for Kids and Teens, New Zealand authors, NZ Book Month, NZ Book Month 2013, series, Top 5 NZ series

Source: http://bestfriendsrbooks.com/2013/03/26/my-top-5-nz-series-for-kids-and-teens/

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You Must Mosh While Using the Rock 'n Roll Veggie Peeler

This veggie peeler is simply fun. Why would you get something boring and basic when you could have something that encourages you to rock out while you're making dinner. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/TVeX8EZ8RDA/you-must-mosh-while-using-the-rock-n-roll-veggie-peeler

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Man killed in Texas called suspect in Colo slaying

This undated photo released by the Colorado Department of Corrections shows paroled inmate Evan Spencer Ebel. Ebel, 28, is the man who led Texas authorities on a 100 mph car chase that ended in a shootout Thursday, March 21, 2013, and may be linked to the slaying of Colorado's state prison chief. (AP Photo/Colorado Department of Corrections)

This undated photo released by the Colorado Department of Corrections shows paroled inmate Evan Spencer Ebel. Ebel, 28, is the man who led Texas authorities on a 100 mph car chase that ended in a shootout Thursday, March 21, 2013, and may be linked to the slaying of Colorado's state prison chief. (AP Photo/Colorado Department of Corrections)

Emergency personnel are on the scene of a crash and shootout with police involving the driver of a black Cadillac with Colorado plates in Decatur, Texas, Thursday, March 21, 2013. The driver led police on a gunfire-filled chase through rural Montague County, crashed his car into a truck in Decatur, opened fire on authorities and was shot, officials said. Texas authorities are checking whether the Cadillac is the same car spotted near the home of Colorado prisons chief Tom Clements, who was shot and killed when he answered the door Tuesday night. (AP Photo/Wise County Messenger, Joe Duty) MANDATORY CREDIT, MAGS OUT

Emergency personnel are on the scene of a crash and shootout with police involving the driver of a black Cadillac with Colorado plates in Decatur, Texas, Thursday, March 21, 2013. The driver led police on a gunfire-filled chase through rural Montague County, crashed his car into a truck in Decatur, opened fire on authorities and was shot, officials said. Texas authorities are checking whether the Cadillac is the same car spotted near the home of Colorado prisons chief Tom Clements, who was shot and killed when he answered the door Tuesday night. (AP Photo/Wise County Messenger, Jimmy Alford) MANDATORY CREDIT, MAGS OUT

Emergency personnel carry the driver of a black Cadillac with Colorado plates who was involved in a high speed chase and shootout with police in Decatur, Texas, Thursday, March 21, 2013. The driver led police on a gunfire-filled chase through rural Montague County, crashed his car into a truck in Decatur, opened fire on authorities and was shot, officials said. Texas authorities are checking whether the Cadillac is the same car spotted near the home of Colorado prisons chief Tom Clements, who was shot and killed when he answered the door Tuesday night. (AP Photo/Wise County Messenger, Jimmy Alford) MANDATORY CREDIT, MAGS OUT

This undated image provided by the Colorado Department of Corrections shows its director, Tom Clements. Sheriff's Lt. Jeff Kramer says Clements was shot to death around 8:30 p.m. Tuesday night, March 19, 2013 when he answered his front door in Monument, Colo., north of Colorado Springs. Police are searching for the shooter. (AP Photo/Colorado Department of Corrections)

DENVER (AP) ? Colorado investigators are saying for the first time that a former prison inmate who was killed in a gunfight with Texas authorities is a suspect in the death of Colorado's state prison system chief.

The evidence gathered in Texas after the death of Evan Spencer Ebel provides a "strong, strong lead" in the fatal shooting of Colorado Department of Corrections director Tom Clements, who was killed at his front door, El Paso County sheriff's spokesman Lt. Jeff Kramer said Saturday.

Kramer also confirmed Ebel had been a member of the 211s, a white supremacist prison gang in Colorado. It was not known if Ebel knew who Clements was and that he was the state's top prison official, Kramer said.

A darkly ironic connection emerged among Ebel, Clements at Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper when the governor confirmed Friday he was a longtime friend of Ebel's father, attorney Jack Ebel.

Jack Ebel had testified before Colorado lawmakers two years ago that solitary confinement in a Colorado prison was destroying his son's psyche.

When Hickenlooper interviewed Clements for the top prison job in Colorado, he mentioned the case as an example of why the prison system needed reform, but did not mention Ebel by name. Later, Clements eased the use of solitary confinement in Colorado and tried to make it easier for people held there to re-enter society.

Hickenlooper's spokesman said Clements did not know specifically who Ebel was.

Clements was shot Tuesday night when he answered the door of his home in a wooded, rural area north of Colorado Springs.

Kramer said investigators were trying to determine whether the 211 gang was involved in Clements' death.

Denver police say Ebel is also a suspect in the March 17 slaying of pizza delivery man Nathan Leon. Texas authorities found a Domino's pizza delivery box and a jacket or shirt from the pizza chain in the trunk of the car Ebel was driving.

Authorities previously said that car was similar to one seen not far from Clements' home the night he was killed, and bullets Ebel fired at Texas police were the same caliber and brand as the bullet or bullets that killed Clements. But until Saturday they had stopped short of saying Ebel was a suspect.

Kramer stressed that investigators have not yet confirmed a link between Ebel and Clements' death. Tests were under way to determine if the weapon used to kill Clements was the same one recovered from Ebel in Texas.

Results could be available Monday, Kramer said.

Ebel, who was paroled from a Colorado prison in January, was fatally shot by authorities in Texas Thursday after a pursuit reaching 100 mph.

There was no indication that Hickenlooper's relationship with the Ebels played a role in the shooting. Hickenlooper said he did not having any role in Evan Ebel's parole.

State prisons spokeswoman Alison Morgan said Evan Ebel was paroled Jan. 28 as part of a mandatory process after serving his full prison term. He had most recently been sentenced to four years for punching a prison guard in 2008, according to state records.

___

Contributing to this report were Associated Press writers Nicholas Riccardi, P. Solomon Banda, Nicholas Riccardi, Colleen Slevin, Catherine Tsai and Kristen Wyatt in Denver and Angela K. Brown in Decatur, Texas.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-03-23-US-Corrections-Director-Killed/id-57f80ac426e543faa82bdf74eb72f3af

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Microsoft reportedly prepping significant first-party app updates for Windows 8 and Windows RT

A batch of first-party app updates could be incoming for Windows 8 very soon that have nothing to do with Microsoft's cross-platform Blue crush. That's according to CNet's Mary Jo Foley, whose sources have indicated that the refresh, previously rumored to arrive by month's end, would also apply to Windows RT. Microsoft's yet to officially comment on the matter, but as you can see from the screen above, users have already reported seeing a list of "installation ready" applications within the System log now. As for that round of major OS revamps, Foley says that's still on track and should begin to rollout sometime this summer.

Filed under: Software, Microsoft

Comments

Source: CNet

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/F0-B_JdOyVQ/

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Obama ends Mideast trip with tour of ancient Petra

U.S. President Barack Obama tours the Treasury in the ancient city of Petra, Jordan, Saturday, March 23, 2013. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

U.S. President Barack Obama tours the Treasury in the ancient city of Petra, Jordan, Saturday, March 23, 2013. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

U.S. President Barack Obama looks up during his tour of the ancient city of Petra, Jordan, Saturday, March 23, 2013. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

U.S. President Barack Obama looks up as he walks through the Siq during a visit to the ancient city of Petra, in south Jordan, Saturday, March 23, 2013. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

U.S. President Barack Obama visits the ancient city of Petra, Jordan, Saturday, March 23, 2013. (AP photo/Mohammad Hannon)

U.S. President Barack Obama pauses with Dr. Suleiman A.D. Al Farajat, right, a tourism professor with the University of Jordan, at the Ancient Shrine in the Siq during a visit to the ancient city of Petra, in south Jordan, Saturday, March 23, 2013. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

PETRA, Jordan (AP) ? President Barack Obama set aside the Middle East's tricky politics Saturday to marvel at the beauty of one of the region's most stunning sites, the fabled ancient city of Petra.

"This is pretty spectacular," he said, craning his neck to gaze up at the rock faces after emerging from a narrow pathway into a sun-splashed plaza in front of the grand Treasury. The soaring facade is considered the masterpiece of the ancient city carved into the rose-red stone by the Nabataeans more than 2,000 years ago.

Obama's turn as tourist capped a four-day visit to the Middle East that included stops in Israel and the West Bank, as well Jordan. The White House set low policy expectations for the trip, and the president was returning to Washington with few tangible achievements to show. Aides said his intention instead was to reassure the region's politicians and people ? particularly in Israel ? that he is committed to their security and prosperity.

Curious residents and picture-taking tourists lined the streets of modern Petra as Obama's motorcade wound toward the entrance to the ancient city. The president, dressed in khaki pants, a black jacket and hiking boots, began his walking tour at the entrance to the Siq, a narrow, winding gorge cutting between two soaring cliffs.

The path opened into a dusty plaza with the massive columned Treasury as its centerpiece. Obama declared the carved monument is "amazing."

The Bedouins named the building the Treasury because they believed that urns sculpted on top of it contained great treasures. In reality, the urns represented a memorial for Nabataean royalty. Over time, historians have disagreed on the Treasury's purpose. However, a recent excavation proved that a graveyard exists underneath it.

The Nabataeans established Petra as a crucial junction for trade routes linking China, India and southern Arabia with Egypt, Syria, Greece and Rome. The city flourished until trade routes were redirected in the seventh century, leading to Petra's demise.

Petra is Jordan's most popular tourist attraction, drawing more than a half million visitors yearly since 2007. It may be familiar to many people who saw the 1989 movie, "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade." Some scenes were filmed in the ancient city.

High winds and overcast skies nearly grounded Marine One, the presidential helicopter, in the Jordanian capital of Amman, which would have forced Obama to scrap the tourist stop. But the weather cleared enough for him and his delegation to make the hour-long flight across Jordan's rugged landscape, arriving in Petra under bright sunshine.

The president departed Jordan after the tour and was due back in Washington late Saturday.

___

Follow Julie Pace at http://twitter.com/jpaceDC

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-03-23-ML-Obama/id-d543277594d241bd977e18414d881338

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Making axons branch and grow to help nerve regeneration after injury

Mar. 22, 2013 ? One molecule makes nerve cells grow longer. Another one makes them grow branches. These new experimental manipulations have taken researchers a step closer to understanding how nerve cells are repaired at their farthest reaches after injury.

The research was recently published in the Journal of Neuroscience.

"If you injure a peripheral nerve, it will spontaneously regenerate, but it goes very slowly. We're trying to speed that up," said Dr. Jeffery Twiss, a professor and head of the biology department at Drexel University in the College of Arts and Sciences, who was senior author of the paper.

But, Twiss said, scientists still have a lot to learn about how nerve cells repair themselves. He and his colleagues are especially interested in how nerve cells are repaired in their longest-reaching sections, their axons. Axons can be up to a meter long in adult human nerve cells, extending away from the cell body toward neighboring nerve cells, with which they exchange signals. Restoring length to damaged axons is essential to restoring nerve function, but coordinating these repairs at a great distance from the cell's nucleus involves a mix of complex processes within each cell. To gain insight into these processes, they have focused research, including the present study, on repair proteins that are created locally near an injury site in a nerve's axon.

Dr. Christopher Donnelly, now a postdoctoral fellow at Johns Hopkins University, led the study as part of his dissertation work in Twiss' lab while at the University of Delaware.

Donnelly and Twiss knew from their previous research that two of the messenger RNA (mRNA) molecules involved in directing repair in injured axons compete against each other at an essential step in repairing damage. The mRNA molecules that "win" the competition get to make their particular repair-protein product.

So, experimentally, they rigged the competition between those molecules to see what would happen. Could one molecule make a difference in helping axons grow longer, faster?

The technical process of these experiments was complex, but the answers are easy to see.

They saw more branches in the axons when they added more mRNA used to make the repair protein beta-actin, while taking away the mRNA for the protein GAP-43.

This was a promising result for developing potential therapies, Donnelly said. When nerves repair themselves after injury, there is currently no way to control their pattern of regrowth. But, "if you can induce longer growth quicker, rather than branching growth, you can help reach the target of faster recovery from an injury."

Yet other modifications, selectively withholding the mRNA molecules, resulted in shorter axons, or in fewer axon branches -- and the researchers found they could experimentally and selectively restore branching or lengthening growth in those deprived cells, too. Consistent with the first experiments' results, adding more beta-actin mRNA again restored axon branching, and adding more GAP-43 mRNA again restored axon length.

But a key point in these experiments is that all of the changes only happened when they added mRNA molecules that functioned as the proteins' "local recipe" used especially for making these proteins in the nerves' axons. The "standard recipe" of mRNA, that directs cells to make those same proteins in the cell body, didn't have these distinct effects on the axons' growth.

This experimental technique to manipulate axon growth was not previously tested, the authors noted. They found most of these results using adult rat neurons in vitro, but also confirmed the principles in vivo with the developing spinal cord of chicken embryos in collaboration with Dr. Gianluca Gallo of Temple University.

"This sets some of the groundwork needed to consider using these mechanisms for improving regeneration in the future," Twiss said. This basic science research will require further testing in animals before considering any advance to humans as an eventual possibility.

Drexel University has filed a patent application for the techniques used in these experiments to selectively drive translation of mRNA molecules of interest within axons.

Note: For any inquiries related to technology commercialization, contact Dr. Heather Rose in Drexel's Office of Technology Commercialization.

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---

Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Drexel University.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

---

Journal Reference:

1. C. J. Donnelly, M. Park, M. Spillane, S. Yoo, A. Pacheco, C. Gomes, D. Vuppalanchi, M. McDonald, H. H. Kim, T. T. Merianda, G. Gallo, J. L. Twiss. Axonally Synthesized ?-Actin and GAP-43 Proteins Support Distinct Modes of Axonal Growth. Journal of Neuroscience, 2013; 33 (8): 3311 DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1722-12.2013

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.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/most_popular/~3/vQL9NmPTeT8/130322125407.htm

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Texas shooting may be linked to Colo. slaying

DENVER (AP) ? Texas authorities are investigating whether a black Cadillac that led deputies on a gunfire-filled chase through a rural county on Thursday is linked to the slaying of Colorado's state prison chief.

The car, which has Colorado plates, matches the description of the vehicle seen leaving Tom Clements' house shortly before he was fatally shot Tuesday night while answering his front door.

"There is an investigation into that right now," Montague County Sheriff Paul Cunningham said. "There's nothing confirmed."

The chase began about noon in Montague County, about 100 miles northwest of Dallas, when a deputy stopped the Cadillac, Cunningham said. He said he did not know the reason for the stop.

The car's driver fired on the deputy, then drove off, Cunningham said. The deputy alerted local law enforcement, which found the car heading south on a highway in the town of Decatur.

The Cadillac crashed into a truck, Police Chief Rex Hoskins told the Wise County Messenger in a videotaped interview. The driver opened fire on authorities and was shot, then taken to a Ft. Worth Hospital, officials said.

El Paso County, Colo., sheriff's investigators were looking for a late-model car, possibly a Lincoln or a Cadillac, that a neighbor spotted near Clements' home around the time of the shooting. Lt. Jeff Kramer refused to say what other clues may have been found after Clements' neighborhood was canvassed by officers.

Clements, 58, was killed as he answered the door to his home Tuesday night in Monument, a town of rolling hills and alpine trees north of Colorado Springs. His death stunned law enforcement colleagues in Colorado and Missouri, where he spent most of his career as a highly respected corrections official.

Police haven't said if they think his death was linked to his job.

Denver's KMGH-TV reported Thursday that Clements may have put a bicycle up for sale for $1,200 on Craigslist. Kramer told the station, "I can't speak to the efforts behind this tip, or the level we are giving it."

In recent weeks, Clements had requested chemicals to plan for the execution of a convict on Colorado's death row and denied a Saudi national's request to serve out the remainder of a sentence in his home country. Officials refused to say whether they were looking at those actions as possible motives.

Clements came to Colorado in 2011 after working three decades in the Missouri prison system. Missouri Department of Corrections spokeswoman Mandi Steele said Thursday the department was ready to help in the probe if asked.

"Tom regularly commented that corrections is inherently a dangerous business, and that's all that I'll say," said Alison Morgan, a Colorado corrections spokeswoman who worked closely with Clements.

Officials in positions like Clements' get a deluge of threats, according to people who monitor their safety. But it can be hard sorting out which ones could lead to violence. A U.S. Department of Justice study found that federal prosecutors and judges received 5,250 threats between 2003 and 2008, but there were only three attacks during that time period.

The last public official killed in Colorado in the past 10 years was Sean May, a prosecutor in suburban Denver. An assailant killed May as he arrived home from work. Investigators examined May's court cases, but the case remains unsolved.

"We were looking for anybody who had a grudge against May," Jackson said.

Steven Swensen, a former U.S. marshal who runs a company that provides security advice for court personnel, said one problem is that if someone really wants to harm a person, they usually don't send a warning.

"The person who makes a threat isn't the most likely to carry out on a threat," he said.

Glenn McGovern, a senior investigator with the Santa Clara County district attorney's office in California, tracks attacks on judges, prosecutors and senior law enforcement officials worldwide. He tabulated 133 such incidents in the U.S. since 1950.

"When I was looking at these attacks, very few gave any kind of threats," he said. "When it comes up, it's out of left field."

Mike McLelland is district attorney in Kaufman County, Texas, where one of his prosecutors was gunned down in January walking to the office through the courthouse parking lot.

McLelland said the attack was a "well-executed assassination" and that investigators have had to comb through every case the lawyer, Mark Hasse, handled. McClelland is still baffled at what might have sparked the slaying.

"Nobody is excluded and everybody is included," he said of investigations like these. "They're knocking over every rock they can."

___

Associated Press writers Colleen Slevin in Denver and Jordan Shapiro in Jefferson City, Mo., contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/texas-shootout-might-tied-colo-slaying-211419538.html

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