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The 'Domain Rights Dozen' ? ICA's RPM Revision Review Principles ...
[unable to retrieve full-text content]The principle that rights protections ?should protect the existing rights of trademark owners, but neither expand those rights nor create additional legal rights by trademark law? was key to work of the Implementation ...
Foreclosure activity declining in US but Florida is seeing second surge
By Dennis Norman, on October 11th, 2012
According to a report released by RealtyTrac this morning, foreclosure activity in the U.S. fell in the third quarter of this year to the lowest level in five years which is great news for the housing market.? However, as I often mention, real estate is local, so not all markets are created equal.? According to the report, some states are not having the good fortune the U.S. as a whole is experiencing in terms of declining foreclosure activity.? Most notable are the states of Florida, Arizona and California, all of which saw both month over month, as well as year-over-year, increases in foreclosure activity in September.?
September 2012 RealtyTrac Foreclosure Report Highlights
- The national decrease in September and the third quarter was driven mostly by sizable decreases in the non-judicial foreclosure states such as California, Georgia, Texas, Arizona and Michigan.
- Several judicial foreclosure states ? including Florida, Illinois, Ohio, New Jersey and New York ? continued to buck the national trend, registering substantial year-over-year increases in foreclosure activity in September and the third quarter.
- U.S. foreclosure starts in the third quarter decreased both from the previous quarter and a year ago, reversing a bump in foreclosure starts in the second quarter.
- California foreclosure starts (NOD) in September decreased 18 percent from the previous month and were down 45 percent from a year ago to a 69-month low, although the state?s foreclosure rate still ranked in the top three for the month and quarter.
- Florida foreclosure starts (LIS) in September increased 24 percent on a year-over-year basis, the 11th consecutive month with an annual increase, and the state?s foreclosure rate ranked highest nationwide for the first time since April 2005.
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- U.S. Foreclosure activity decreasing in the west and on the rise in the midwest and east
- Foreclosure activity is down for first half of year; ?New foreclosures are up
- Foreclosure Activity Decreases 9 Percent in April
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Academic achievement improved among students active in structured after-school programs
ScienceDaily (Oct. 9, 2012) ? School-age children who participate in structured after-school activities improve their academic achievement, according to a new study from Southern Methodist University, Dallas.
The study by researchers in SMU's Simmons School of Education and Human Development measured academic performance of students enrolled in Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Dallas.
"Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Dallas and other structured programs are really having a positive impact," said Ken Springer, an associate professor. "We believe that the homework support that the clubs consistently provide students may be a key factor. Now we plan to extend the study and take into account more variables."
The study looked at data on 719 students in second through eighth grade who participated in after-school activities at one of 12 clubs during the 2009-2010 academic year.
Among elementary and middle-school children who participated frequently in club activities, the researchers saw grades improve from the start of the year to the end of the year. That was especially true for elementary students. The researchers also saw improved school attendance for both age groups.
Among elementary students who participated in a greater variety of activities, the researchers observed that the students' grade point averages improved, "but only among elementary students, and only when program participation was substantial," said the authors.
Afterschool care can provide children with sense of success
Afterschool care activities can provide a child with a sense of success, even if that child isn't necessarily successful in the classroom, said Deborah Diffily, co-author on the study and an associate professor in Simmons.
"For children who live in poverty -- often those who attend Boys and Girls Clubs -- the clubs can ameliorate the pressures of poverty, such as living in an overcrowded apartment or a lack of after-school snacks," Diffily said.
The authors reported their findings in "The Relationship Between Intensity and Breadth of After-School Program Participation and Academic Achievement: Evidence from a Short-Term Longitudinal Study," in the Journal of Community Psychology.
Springer and Diffily both teach within Simmons' Department of Teaching and Learning.
Study considered how frequently children participated and the volume of activities
About 15 percent of American students participate in some sort of structured, supervised program outside of school, say the authors. Another 30 percent would participate if quality programming were available, they report.
"After-school programs are increasingly viewed as a means of supporting children's physical, academic, social and behavioral development," according to Springer and Diffily. Increasingly, federal funding is tied to empirical evidence that proves programs are beneficial.
Within the scientific literature, the psychological and social benefits of programs are well-documented, the authors said. Benefits observed include better social skills, greater motivation, better classroom behavior, higher self-esteem and lower rates of criminal activity.
However, evidence of any academic benefits is mixed. Some studies show benefits for grades or achievement test scores, while others don't, said the authors. Those discrepancies have been attributed to variations in study methodologies. Rarely have studies considered intensity and breadth, as in the current study.
Boys and Girls Clubs' unique structure is comprehensive, has history of success
Springer and Diffily looked specifically at children who are members of Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Dallas, which is part of Boys and Girls Clubs of America, one of the nation's oldest after-school programs.
A nonprofit organization, Boys and Girls Clubs of America comprises about 4,000 community-based clubs that serve more than 4 million children after school every weekday. Annual membership costs are low and cover daily access, homework support and choice of age-appropriate activities.
Each club's programs span five areas: Character and Leadership; Education and Career; Health and Life Skills; Arts; and Sports, Fitness and Recreation.
During a daily, designated homework period, staff and volunteers divide the students into groups by age and help them complete their homework.
Methodology tapped BGCGD data logged for each participant
The study relied on absences and students' grades for English, math and science from the first six weeks and the final six weeks of the school year.
Besides looking at grades and attendance, the researchers also calculated overall GPA and overall school absences.
Springer and Diffily found that the more frequent the participation, the greater the improvement in overall GPA. That correlation was stronger for elementary students, and for grades as opposed to school attendance.
Likewise, the researchers observed a positive correlation between activity and GPA. The more activities attended, the greater the increase in overall GPA among elementary students. Breadth wasn't associated with improved GPA among middle-schoolers. Also, breadth didn't impact absences for either age group.
Academic benefits may be the result of club influences or to shielding students from negative influences outside the clubs, or both, said Springer and Diffily.
"Children benefited from the clubs regardless of the extent of participation in any one program," the authors said, "but the more programs for which they attended the majority of meetings, the greater the benefits.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Southern Methodist University. The original article was written by Margaret Allen.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Journal Reference:
- Ken Springer, Deborah Diffily. The Relationship Between Intensity and Breadth of After-School Program Participation and Academic Achievement: Evidence from a Short-Term Longitudinal Study. Journal of Community Psychology, 2012; 40 (7): 785 DOI: 10.1002/jcop.21478
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.
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Abortion rights yacht sails around Moroccan port
Women's rights activists sail a small boat around a yacht harbor in Smir, northern Morocco on Thursday Oct 4 2012 to raise awareness about safe abortions, despite officials? efforts to seal the port and anti-abortion protests on land. Organizers had initially said a large ship offering abortion information and services was on its way from the Netherlands on Thursday. In response, police sealed the port for what it called ?military maneuvers? and denied journalists access. But in the afternoon, organizers admitted that they already had stationed a sailboat in the port several days ago, fearing that authorities would close the port. And that sailboat took off around the harbor bearing banners. Meanwhile, on land, about 200 protesters targeted the activists from "Women on Waves," the Dutch organization behind the boat. (AP Photo/Paul Schemm).
Women's rights activists sail a small boat around a yacht harbor in Smir, northern Morocco on Thursday Oct 4 2012 to raise awareness about safe abortions, despite officials? efforts to seal the port and anti-abortion protests on land. Organizers had initially said a large ship offering abortion information and services was on its way from the Netherlands on Thursday. In response, police sealed the port for what it called ?military maneuvers? and denied journalists access. But in the afternoon, organizers admitted that they already had stationed a sailboat in the port several days ago, fearing that authorities would close the port. And that sailboat took off around the harbor bearing banners. Meanwhile, on land, about 200 protesters targeted the activists from "Women on Waves," the Dutch organization behind the boat. (AP Photo/Paul Schemm).
Anti-abortion protesters mob Rebecca Gomperts, centre, the Dutch founder of Women on Waves, an abortion advocacy group, on Oct. 4, 2012 in the port of Smir, Morocco . Moroccan authorities sealed off the port where a Dutch abortion ship was set to arrive at , while demonstrators protested against its arrival in the Mediterranean port town where Gomperts was waiting to greet it. Abortion is illegal in most cases in Morocco and it also is forbidden to give out information about such procedures. (AP/Paul Schemm).
Women's rights activists sail a small boat around a yacht harbor in Smir, northern Morocco on Thursday Oct 4 2012 to raise awareness about safe abortions, despite officials? efforts to seal the port and anti-abortion protests on land. Organizers had initially said a large ship offering abortion information and services was on its way from the Netherlands on Thursday. In response, police sealed the port for what it called ?military maneuvers? and denied journalists access. But in the afternoon, organizers admitted that they already had stationed a sailboat in the port several days ago, fearing that authorities would close the port. And that sailboat took off around the harbor bearing banners. Meanwhile, on land, about 200 protesters targeted the activists from "Women on Waves," the Dutch organization behind the boat. (AP Photo/Paul Schemm).
Moroccan women protest the scheduled arrival of a Dutch ship advocating safe and legal abortions in Smir, Morocco Thursday oct 4 2012. Their signs read "no to abortion." Moroccan authorities sealed a port where a Dutch abortion ship was set to arrive , while demonstrators protested against its arrival . (AP Photo/Paul Schemm).
Moroccan women protest the scheduled arrival of a Dutch ship advocating safe and legal abortions in Smir, Morocco Thursday oct 4 2012. Their signs read "no to abortion." Moroccan authorities sealed a port where a Dutch abortion ship was set to arrive , while demonstrators protested against its arrival . (AP Photo/Paul Schemm).
SMIR, Morocco (AP) ? Moroccan police Thursday escorted from its waters a small yacht carrying women's rights activists claiming to be able to perform abortions on board, after anti-abortion protesters jeered them on land.
The Dutch group Women on Waves sailed the boat around the northern Moroccan harbor with banners advertising an information hotline about abortion, which is illegal in most cases in this North African country.
A day earlier, the group had said that a ship that can provide "safe, legal, medical abortions" up until 6.5 weeks of pregnancy was on its way from the Netherlands. Medical professionals have traveled before to European nations to raise awareness; the group's founder said that abortions had been performed aboard ship in international waters off of Poland.
The trip in the harbor of the Mediterranean coastal town of Smir was the abortion rights group's first event in a Muslim country.
Abortion in Morocco is illegal, except in rare cases where the mother's life is threatened and it is also illegal to give out information about it. Moroccan officials had said the boat would not be allowed in to the harbor and police sealed the port for what they called "military maneuvers," denying journalists access.
But in the afternoon, activists from Women on Waves said they already had stationed a sailboat in the harbor several days ago, fearing the port would be shut down. That boat took off around the harbor, about an hour after the group's founder approached crowds of protesters on the ground, trying to hand out fliers on abortion in Arabic and French to crowds of protesters.
Police later boarded the Dutch-flagged yacht and escorted it out of the marina. No one was charged.
"We launched a hotline that gives information to women here in Morocco, because the ship can never solve the problem here for everyone," said Rebecca Gomperts, the organization's founder. The hotline contains a recorded message explaining which easily available medication in Morocco can be used to perform an abortion.
Some 200 protesters in Smir targeted the activists outside the sealed gates of the marina. The protesters, some in conservative Muslim robes and headscarves, carried pictures of bloody embryos and shouted "Terrorist!" and "Assassin!" at Gomperts.
"We are here because we cannot accept these values, the values of massacre," said protester Abdessamad Zilali, 23. "It is not part of our tradition to kill the unborn."
Police pushed back shouting protesters who tried to get closer to Gomperts, and said she was escorted away for her own protection.
The Women on Waves boat was invited to Morocco by a local women's rights organization seeking the legalization of abortion in this North African kingdom.
Founded in 1999, Women on Waves aims to spread information about safe medical abortions induced by medication and has previously angered authorities in conservative Catholic countries.
The group traveled to Ireland in 2001, Poland in 2003 and Spain, and was banned from entering Portugal's waters in 2004.
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FTC Shuts Down Six Tech Support Scams from India
Have you ever got a call from an individual claiming to be from Microsoft, a security company, or a general tech support company who insists you have a virus? Here?s the typical scenario: a telemarketer masquerades as major computer company, cons you into believing your computer is infected with malware, and then charges you hundreds of dollars to remotely access and ?fix? the ?problem.? We have some good news: these individuals may finally be brought to justice for their scamming, courtesy of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).
The commission yesterday finally ended its first massive scareware case, after four years of fighting individuals who tricked 1 million users into thinking their PCs had malware. That was just a warm up. The FTC today announced a major international crackdown on fake call centers.
At the FTC?s request, a US judge in the Southern District of New York ordered the halt of six alleged tech support scams pending further hearings, and has frozen the assets of the companies, which operated mainly from India. The commission is targeting 14 corporate defendants and 17 individual defendants in six legal filings against Pecon Software, Finmaestros, Zeal IT Solutions, Virtual PC Solutions, Lakshmi Infosoul Services, and PCCare247. They were all charged with violating the FTC Act, which bars unfair and deceptive commercial practices, the Telemarketing Sales Rule, and with illegally calling numbers on the Do Not Call Registry.
The FTC charged that the operations target English-speaking consumers Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, the UK, and the US. Five of the six firms used telemarketing ?boiler rooms? to call consumers while the sixth lured victims by placing ads on Google which appeared when they searched for their computer company?s tech support phone number.
After getting the consumers on the phone, the telemarketers allegedly claimed they were affiliated with legitimate companies, including Dell, Microsoft, McAfee, and Norton (of Symantec). They told consumers malware had been detected on their computers and convinced them it posed an imminent threat. The scammers then offered to remove the malware for fees ranging from $49 to $450. When consumers agreed to pay, the telemarketers directed them to a website to enter a code or download a software program that allowed the scammers remotely access to the consumers? computers and then further trick them into believing they had ?removed? the nonexistent malware.
The FTC says tens of thousands of consumers were fooled in this way. FTC papers filed with the court alleged that the scammers hoped to avoid getting caught by using virtual offices that were actually just mail-forwarding facilities, as well as by using 80 different domain names and 130 different phone numbers.
As mentioned, this was an international operation. The FTC received legal help from the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA), the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), the United Kingdom?s Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA), as well as investigative assistance it from Microsoft and other unnamed computer companies.
?The FTC has been aggressive ? and successful ? in its pursuit of tech support scams,? FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz said in a statement. ?And the tech support scam artists we are talking about today have taken scareware to a whole other level of virtual mayhem.?
Image credit: Carlos Chavez
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FDA: Avoid drugs from company tied to meningitis - Health & Fitness ...
By MIKE STOBBE | AP Medical Writer Modified October 04, 2012
NEW YORK ? The potential scope of the meningitis outbreak that has killed at least five people widened dramatically Thursday as health officials warned that hundreds, perhaps thousands, of patients who got steroid back injections in 23 states could be at risk.
Clinics and medical centers rushed to contact patients who may have received the apparently fungus-contaminated shots. And the Food and Drug Administration urged doctors not to use any products at all from the Massachusetts pharmacy that supplied the suspect steroid solution.
It is not clear how many patients received tainted injections, or even whether everyone who got one will get sick.
So far, 35 people in six states - Tennessee, Virginia, Maryland, Florida, North Carolina and Indiana - have contracted fungal meningitis, and five of them have died. All had received steroid shots for back pain, a highly common treatment.
In an alarming indication the outbreak could get a lot bigger, Massachusetts health officials said the pharmacy involved, the New England Compounding Center of Framingham, Mass., has recalled three lots consisting of a total of 17,676 single-dose vials of the steroid, preservative-free methylprednisolone acetate.
An unknown number of those vials reached 75 clinics and other facilities in 23 states between July and September, federal health officials said. Several hundred of the vials, maybe more, have been returned unused, one Massachusetts official said.
But many other vials were used. At one clinic in Evansville, Ind., more than 500 patients got shots from the suspect lots, officials said. At two clinics in Tennessee, more than 900 patients - perhaps many more - did.
The investigation began about two weeks ago after a case was diagnosed in Tennessee. The time from infection to onset of symptoms is anywhere from a few days to a month, so the number of people stricken could rise.
Investigators this week found contamination in a sealed vial of the steroid at the New England company, according to FDA officials. Tests are under way to determine if it is the same fungus blamed in the outbreak.
The company has shut down operations and said it is working with regulators to identify the source of the infection.
"Out of an abundance of caution, we advise all health care practitioners not to use any product" from the company, said Ilisa Bernstein, director of compliance for the FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research.
Tennessee has by far the most cases with 25, including three deaths. Deaths have also been reported in Virginia and Maryland.
Meningitis is an inflammation of the lining of the brain and spinal cord. Symptoms include severe and worsening headache, nausea, dizziness and fever.
The type of fungal meningitis involved is not contagious like the more common forms. It is caused by a fungus often found in leaf mold and is treated with high-dose antifungal medications, usually given intravenously in a hospital.
Robert Cherry, 71, a patient who received a steroid shot at a clinic in Berlin, Md., about a month ago, went back Thursday morning after hearing it had received some of the tainted medicine.
"So far, I haven't had any symptoms ... but I just wanted to double check with them," Cherry said. "They told me to check my temperature and if I have any symptoms, I should report straight to the emergency room, and that's what I'll do."
The New England company is what is known as a compounding pharmacy. These pharmacies custom-mix solutions, creams and other medications that generally aren't commercially available in the form or the dose required.
---
Associated Press writers Travis Loller in Nashville and Randall Chase in Wilmington, Del., and AP chief medical writer Marilynn Marchione in Milwaukee contributed to this story.
---
Online:
http://www.cdc.gov/meningitis/fungal.html
Source: http://www.theolympian.com/2012/10/03/2273434/rare-meningitis-cases-at-26-in.html
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NASA's infrared observatory measures expansion of universe
ScienceDaily (Oct. 3, 2012) ? Astronomers using NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope have announced the most precise measurement yet of the Hubble constant, or the rate at which our universe is stretching apart.
The Hubble constant is named after the astronomer Edwin P. Hubble, who astonished the world in the 1920s by confirming our universe has been expanding since it exploded into being 13.7 billion years ago. In the late 1990s, astronomers discovered the expansion is accelerating, or speeding up over time. Determining the expansion rate is critical for understanding the age and size of the universe.
Unlike NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, which views the cosmos in visible light, Spitzer took advantage of long-wavelength infrared light to make its new measurement. It improves by a factor of 3 on a similar, seminal study from the Hubble telescope and brings the uncertainty down to 3 percent, a giant leap in accuracy for cosmological measurements. The newly refined value for the Hubble constant is 74.3 plus or minus 2.1 kilometers per second per megaparsec. A megaparsec is roughly 3 million light-years.
"Spitzer is yet again doing science beyond what it was designed to do," said project scientist Michael Werner at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. Werner has worked on the mission since its early concept phase more than 30 years ago. "First, Spitzer surprised us with its pioneering ability to study exoplanet atmospheres," said Werner, "and now, in the mission's later years, it has become a valuable cosmology tool."
In addition, the findings were combined with published data from NASA's Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe to obtain an independent measurement of dark energy, one of the greatest mysteries of our cosmos. Dark energy is thought to be winning a battle against gravity, pulling the fabric of the universe apart. Research based on this acceleration garnered researchers the 2011 Nobel Prize in physics.
"This is a huge puzzle," said the lead author of the new study, Wendy Freedman of the Observatories of the Carnegie Institution for Science in Pasadena. "It's exciting that we were able to use Spitzer to tackle fundamental problems in cosmology: the precise rate at which the universe is expanding at the current time, as well as measuring the amount of dark energy in the universe from another angle." Freedman led the groundbreaking Hubble Space Telescope study that earlier had measured the Hubble constant.
Glenn Wahlgren, Spitzer program scientist at NASA Headquarters in Washington, said infrared vision, which sees through dust to provide better views of variable stars called cepheids, enabled Spitzer to improve on past measurements of the Hubble constant.
"These pulsating stars are vital rungs in what astronomers call the cosmic distance ladder: a set of objects with known distances that, when combined with the speeds at which the objects are moving away from us, reveal the expansion rate of the universe," said Wahlgren.
Cepheids are crucial to the calculations because their distances from Earth can be measured readily. In 1908, Henrietta Leavitt discovered these stars pulse at a rate directly related to their intrinsic brightness.
To visualize why this is important, imagine someone walking away from you while carrying a candle. The farther the candle traveled, the more it would dim. Its apparent brightness would reveal the distance. The same principle applies to cepheids, standard candles in our cosmos. By measuring how bright they appear on the sky, and comparing this to their known brightness as if they were close up, astronomers can calculate their distance from Earth.
Spitzer observed 10 cepheids in our own Milky Way galaxy and 80 in a nearby neighboring galaxy called the Large Magellanic Cloud. Without the cosmic dust blocking their view, the Spitzer research team was able to obtain more precise measurements of the stars' apparent brightness, and thus their distances. These data opened the way for a new and improved estimate of our universe's expansion rate.
"Just over a decade ago, using the words 'precision' and 'cosmology' in the same sentence was not possible, and the size and age of the universe was not known to better than a factor of two," said Freedman. "Now we are talking about accuracies of a few percent. It is quite extraordinary."
The study appears in the Astrophysical Journal. Freedman's co-authors are Barry Madore, Victoria Scowcroft, Chris Burns, Andy Monson, S. Eric Person and Mark Seibert of the Observatories of the Carnegie Institution and Jane Rigby of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., manages the Spitzer Space Telescope mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Science operations are conducted at the Spitzer Science Center at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. Data are archived at the Infrared Science Archive housed at the Infrared Processing and Analysis Center at Caltech. Caltech manages JPL for NASA. For more information about Spitzer, visit http://spitzer.caltech.edu and http://www.nasa.gov/spitzer .
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Story Source:
The above story is reprinted from materials provided by NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Journal Reference:
- Wendy L. Freedman, Barry F. Madore, Victoria Scowcroft, Chris Burns, Andy Monson, S. Eric Persson, Mark Seibert, Jane Rigby. Carnegie Hubble Program: A Mid-Infrared Calibration of the Hubble Constant. The Astrophysical Journal, 2012; 758 (1): 24 DOI: 10.1088/0004-637X/758/1/24
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/space_time/nasa/~3/Sm4pfJzh-Zc/121003134808.htm
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