Many people today prefer to build a conservatory as a part of their gardening area in order to be their sitting area where they can get soothing and comfortable zone. It is right that conservatory is a great answer of the need of spacious zone while having no rest space at your master home. Conservatory is one item which is versatile by which it has several purposes in use. For instance, it can provide you more space to get relaxed after hectic time in the office while drinking a cup of hot tea. That is why it can be so much amazing to be there to enjoy your time with the panorama offered.
In addition to be your additional patio above, you can also make this one as your shed. However, it is rather rare to find that people use this item as a shed, but it can still. If you have abundance of appliances and equipment while having no idea where to place all the stuff, conservatory unattached on your master home can be one solution then. It can avoid your room to be messy because of the unused items and gives more space in your room. Thanks to Selfbuildconservatories.co.uk, you are now able to build your conservatory. DIY Conservatories are now available in huge range of materials, designs and sizes on the store.
Through your purchase on the store, you have cut your money for the affordable DIY Conservatory price offered and save time for the easily-installed features. There will be tons of Self Build Conservatories available on the store for many purposes. Wooden conservatories might be best for your gardening area as it can fit so perfect. In addition, it is easy to be cleaned adorned by natural elements such as ponds for the surrounding, plants for the front side, or hanging pots for the terrace. How adorable it is.
We have a lot in common with orang-utans. Not only do we share more than 96 per cent of our DNA with them, it turns out we are also similarly fascinated by gadgets.
Now, some famous folks who have locks in common with these orange apes are banding together to raise funds to protect them from extinction. From outspoken comedian Tim Minchin, to actress Nicole Kidman and former Spice Girl Geri Halliwell, the Jungle VIP Auction has a line-up of well-known redheads, selling everything from t-shirts declaring ?96.4% Orangutan? to autographed posters and evening gowns. Hosted on eBay beginning 1 March, members of the public are also invited to contribute items to the auction.
Run by the Sumatran Orangutan Society (SOS), the auction will raise money to help protect the dwindling Sumatran orang-utan (Pongo abelii) population, which has been devastated by illegal hunting and deforestation. As a report last year compiled by the United Nations Environment Program highlights, orang-utans are now confined to a smattering of locations on the island of Borneo, and a small area in the north-west of the Indonesian island of Sumatra. Yet, more than 11,000 years ago, the great orange apes could be found across much broader terrain, as far north as southern China, and as far south as the island of Java. In the past century, orang-utan populations have fallen by close to 92 per cent. According to the SOS, today there are fewer than 7,000 left in the wild - though even in such small numbers, they do have an encouragingly diverse genetic breakdown.
Wondering why orangutans are orange ? or if their name has anything to do with their colour? Though it may seem that bright ginger fur would be problematic for blending in out in the wild, it turns out that in the peat-swamp forests where the apes live, the water tends to be a muddy orange colour. As Mark Harrison of the Orangutan Tropical Peatland Project told The Last Word, ?sunlight reflected off this water can give the forest an orange cast, making orangutans surprisingly hard to see in dappled light.? The name orang-utan, alas, has nothing to do with the English word orange. According to Cambridge linguist David Willis, orang-utan comes from Malay and means ?person of the forest?.
The Jungle VIP auction run by the Sumatran Orangutan Society will be open on eBay from 1 - 11 March. www.ebay.co.uk/JungleVIP
Andrew Bird has been a favourite of DiS? for many years so it?s with great pleasure we premiere his new album _Break It Yourself_.
drownedinsound
Revolver ? Get Around Town
Astrolabe geographical plate Photo Mugs
The arrangement of the strapwork on the rete helps to place the manufacture of this astrolabe to the town of Lyon at around 1550. At this time, Lyon was one of Europes leading centres for clock- and watchmakers and Jean Naze was a maker of such instruments. He also made astrolabes and there is a signed example in the Musee des Beaux-Arts in Lyon. Although the NMM astrolabe is unsigned, the arrange?
Astrolabe mounted obverse Photo Mugs
The arrangement of the strapwork on the rete helps to place the manufacture of this astrolabe to the town of Lyon at around 1550. At this time, Lyon was one of Europes leading centres for clock- and watchmakers and Jean Naze was a maker of such instruments. He also made astrolabes and there is a signed example in the Musee des Beaux-Arts in Lyon. Although the NMM astrolabe is unsigned, the arrange?
Astrolabe mounted reverse Photo Mugs
The arrangement of the strapwork on the rete helps to place the manufacture of this astrolabe to the town of Lyon at around 1550. At this time, Lyon was one of Europes leading centres for clock- and watchmakers and Jean Naze was a maker of such instruments. He also made astrolabes and there is a signed example in the Musee des Beaux-Arts in Lyon. Although the NMM astrolabe is unsigned, the arrange?
Every Great Motown Hit of Marvin Gaye
$6.96
This compilation includes 15 of Marvin Gaye?s signature songs, including 9 No. 1 soul-chart hits. It?s a handy compression of his Motown career, but those who want a deeper understanding of the artist should opt at the very least for the packed double-disc Best of Marvin Gaye. ?Rickey Wright ?
The Vogues ? Greatest Hits
$5.94
No Description AvailableNo Track Information AvailableMedia Type: CDArtist: VOGUESTitle: GREATEST HITSStreet Release Date: 03/29/1988?
Baby Einstein ? Baby?s Favorite Places ? First Words Around Town
$9.99
A playful introduction to words and sign language ? my street to main street!? Exposes babies to words and sign language? Presents a fun way for parents and little ones to ?go exploring?As babies turn one year old, they continue to develop their communication skills. Meanwhile, with you as their guide, they also begin to explore the world beyond their front door. Baby?s Favorite Places presents?
The Legend of Fong Sai Yuk [Blu-ray]
$7.05
Synopsis: Item Type: BLU-RAY DVD MovieItem Rating: RStreet Date: 08/10/10Wide Screen: yesDirector Cut: noSpecial Edition: noLanguageENGLISHForeign Film: yesSubtitlesyesDubbed: noFull Frame: noRe-Release: noPackaging: Sleeve Please note: This supplier will be closed on 11/24, 11/25, 12/26, 1/2 for the holidays. The shipping cut off is 12/10 to try and have the products delivered by Christmas?.
Wallies Peel and Stick Wall Play Mural
$16.50
Wallies Peel & Stick Wall Play Around Town mural is made of durable, self-adhesive backed vinyl that can be removed and repositioned easily. Have fun using your colorful Wallies Around Town Wall Play mural to decorate your child’s room. To use, simply peel the pieces off of the backing in the package and apply to any clean, smooth surface or painted dry wall. This product is not recommended f?
This entry was written by admin, posted on February 28, 2012 at 2:12 am, filed under Animation Art & Characters and tagged around town, around town bikes, around town driving school, around town entertainment, around town kids, around town kids allen, around town kids mckinney, around town kids plano, around town magazine, around town scavenger hunt. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post. Both comments and trackbacks are currently closed.
The mobile phone is important communication tool in daily life, due to the promotion of the smartphone, more and more people are used to thinking of mobile phones as a record of life around at any time convenient tools. But the phone is lost or damaged or various other reason often make we stored in the mobile phone is lost an important data and material. What are the effective ways and methods can find important data and material? The author to some cell phone store and mobile customer service and mobile communication professionals understand, summarized the following mobile data recovery method.
In recent years, Android has become the highest mobile phone market share, with the user group continues to expand, mobile phone data recovery growing demand, mistaken delete text messages, the address book will sometimes give users to bring a lot of inconvenience or even is a great loss. The current Android mobile phones generally USES the Ext4 as the default file system to store data and the user?s message and the address book is usually for centralized storage on a particular data file. When the user mistaken delete text messages or address book, the file system has not been will text or address book thoroughly, but will the marked deleted state, then if users can discover in time and stop the use of text messages or update address book, the data will not be deleted by further damage, restore possibilities is very big. A few days ago, our company released the iphone Mobile phone data recovery forensics system (enterprise beta), compatible with current Iphone prison break Mobile, online can download experience, by numerous apple customers., wifi access to records for analysis, and other functions, application scope will be more widely, with the mac hard drive recovery software you can recover your lost photos, videos, documents, email and archive files from Mac based hard drive, or external hard drive, iPod, USB drive, SD card, digital camera, etc. In addition, the data recovery for mac software can also recover lost photos, videos, SMS, contacts, note, calendar and call history from iTunes backup file for your iPhone. So powerful!
In recent years, the mobile phone is developing very rapidly, and especially smart phones, have occupies the market leading position, and iPhone, Android mobile phones, Blackberry, Blackberry, more with the more friendly human-machine interaction and all kinds of new technology sprung up, and become the market. These smart phones, the function is all ready, easy to use, has successfully replaced the function of the part of a computer, tens of thousands of users start unintentionally cell phone use save very important personal or business information. However, due to incorrect operation, incorrect delete, mobile phone damage and other various reasons, the user will often be stored in the mobile phone is lost an important data and material. Therefore, the mac data recovery software is also the mobile phone data recovery, as information security last a protective screen, are particularly important.
So, the mobile phone material loss, they can only ?the bad luck?? Not! Information security experts point out that, through professional data recovery tools, can successfully recovering lost data, in fact, at present mobile data recovery technology has a wide range of applications, as early as in a few years ago, have a U.S. company said, the phone to delete the information can be easily recover, and related software online can free downloads, therefore, the company also warned that mobile phone users around the world, out of old phones may leak privacy or commercial secrets. To prove its authenticity, the reporter specially to survey, there are data recovery dealers said to restore to delete the information by mobile phone, after the demonstration, reporters inside mobile phone for nearly two days to be delete information, and to send the number of information in a glance,
In fact, cell phone information can be accidentally deleted, would have not new, online input ?cell phone data loss? ?accidentally deleted? and other key words will pop up many of the relevant information, in addition to some, like ?I accidentally deleted the cell phone memory card folder, many material all have no, sorrow!? ?The phones call this, and some information, pictures, MP3 and so on, can be back? Hurry! Hurry! Hurry? like the thread, and news reports, mobile data security issues, have become a large number of cell phone users of the biggest threat. With the rapid development of information technology, mobile phone function also continually upgrade perfect, its application scope will also be more extensive, and mobile data recovery technology, whether charges or not, the function is perfect or not, will take up information safety data recovery industry greater proportion, become a information security industry the development of an important pillar.
Mobile phone memory card and computer connected to recover. Mobile phone monopoly personnel told the author, this is a kind of the most primitive commonly used methods of mobile data once lost, but mobile phones is still in hand, you might as well use this method to try his luck. Now every mobile phone have data interface, can be Windows platform normal recognition, after connecting a computer can be identified mobile phone operator dish, through the computer to check not through the phone display data information. Such fault recovery is relatively easy, and the cost is low, the success rate is the highest.
nio, McAllen, Texas, Orlando, Florida, California, North Carolina (PRWEB) January 11, 2012 Houston, Austin, Dallas, San Anto While the economy leans over the edge, the Federal Reserve Funding for VA Home Loans are expected to grow in mass production due to the increased amount of veterans and active-duty military members becoming eligible for activating their [...]
nio, McAllen, Texas, Orlando, Florida, California, North Carolina (PRWEB) January 11, 2012
Houston, Austin, Dallas, San Anto While the economy leans over the edge, the Federal Reserve Funding for VA Home Loans are expected to grow in mass production due to the increased amount of veterans and active-duty military members becoming eligible for activating their VA benefits, which are benefits promised and administered by the Department of Veteran Affairs. This trend is especially true for those purchasing a home in Texas. With the help of mortgage companies like Security America Mortgage, Inc., who sponsor VA Loans by providing VA services, lending services, and real estate services, those military members needing a VA home loan will continue to get the right support they need in order to receive the best home mortgage financing options available to them. Ultimately, moving military members into the home of the home of their dreams can all be achieved by using VA Home Loans. That being said, the spotlight company in Texas spreading the dream tell their core clients why the VA loan lending won?t stop in 2012.
One main reason why VA Home Loans continue to bring in success stories for military families is because companies like Security America Mortgage, Inc. find that VA Loans are the easiest home loans to get funding for. VA Loans can also be obtained for any of the seven reasons:
1. To buy or build a new home
2. To buy a residential condominium unit
3. To buy a residential cooperative housing unit
4. To repair, alter, or improve a residence owned by the veteran and occupied as a home
5. To refinance an existing home loan
6. To buy a manufactured home and/or lot
7. To install a solar heating or cooling system or other energy-efficient improvements
On December 30, 2011 Jason Noble, who is a VA Loan Originator at the Security America Mortgage, Inc. corporate office located in Houston, outlined helpful tips by explaining to military veterans who are buying a home how easily they could profit from financing their home mortgage using a VA Home Loan. Being a VA Industry Expert, Noble shared his advice in a clever way by providing military homebuyers the best information they would need to know, listing the VA Loan Benefits.
These are ?The Top 10 VA Loan Advantages?, straight from the VA Loan Experts in Texas!
1. VA Home Loans Require No Money Down
There is no down payment required for a VA loan. If the veteran chooses to do so, they may put a down payment. However, the down payment is not a requirement for purchase. Many other Conventional Loans and FHA Loans have a down payment that is 3.5% of the purchase price to 20% of the purchase price for conventional loans. Recently, 100% financing was offered for conventional loans but this caused the housing crisis. Currently, the VA Home Loans are the only 100% financing offered.
2. VA Home Loans Require No Closing Costs
There are many closing costs that are required with conventional and FHA Loans that VA loans can get by with not paying. Closing costs include:
-Homeowners Insurance
-Title Insurance
-Inspection Fees
-Escrow Fees
-Taxes
-Real Estate Commissions, ect?
If the buyer structures a VA home loan offer to purchase the ideal way, the closing costs will be paid for by the seller and not the buyer. On average, the closing costs can exceed 3-5% of the purchase price of the home. This can equal thousands of dollars. If you purchase a home using a conventional loan, you may be required to pay $ 30,000 or more for closing costs. With a VA home loan, you may not have to pay anything!
3. The VA Regulates the Limitations of Non Allowable Closing Costs on VA Home Loans
Even if the buyer chooses to pay the closing costs (or the seller refuses to pay), the VA will limit what closing costs the buyer can pay. In a conventional purchase transaction, the buyer may be charged for the following:
-Loan closing or settlement fees
-Document preparation fees
-Preparing loan papers or conveyance fees
-Attorneys services: photographs, interest rate lock in fees, postage and other mailing charges, stationery, telephone calls and other overhead, amortization schedules, and membership or entrance fees), escrow charge fees, notary charge fees, preparation and assignment of mortgage to other secondary market purchasers, trustees fees or charges, ect.
-Loan application processing fees:fees for preparation of truth-in-lending disclosure statement, fees charges by loan brokers, finders or other third parties, and tax service fees).
With the VA Home Loan, all of these costs are limited to what is allowed and what is too much to charge.
4. The VA Provides a Free Certificate of Reasonable Value (CRV) to the Homebuyer
When purchasing a home using a conventional loan or using cash, you will have to pay for the appraisal to evaluate and prove the property?s worth or value. With VA loans, the Department of Veteran Affairs ?Veteran Administration? will issue a free Certificate of Reasonable Value, which takes care of the appraisal portion for you. The CRV will not expire and can be used for up to six months, which means it is valid for use by all eligible military members/home buyers until the six months is through.
5. The VA Issues Home Inspections which are Free to the Homebuyer
During the time when an appraisal is performed, a VA Inspector will be delegated the task to verify that the property meets all VA codes and regulations that outline the property habitable conditions. The VA Inspector protects the home buyer from buying a property that is in bad condition examine, the roof, the furnace, the plumbing etc. If the property is not up to the VA code, the Veterans Administration will require that repairs are made to the home at no cost to the VA buyer.
6. VA Streamline Refinance Loans Provide Lower Rates (monthly mortgage payments)
If the VA homebuyer purchased a home using a VA loan to finance, they can choose to refinance in order to lower their monthly mortgage payments and interest rate, significantly. The VA Streamline Loans allows refinancing without a credit check, without paying closing costs, and without needing an appraisals (in most cases).
7. VA Home Loans Have No Prepayment Penalties
Most Conventional Loans and FHA Loans require a prepayment penalty which means if the homebuyer refinances or sells the home, the lender may charge them additional fees for doing so. In some cases, this can be as much as tens of thousands of dollars on money VA loans regulate.
8. The VA Requires ?Points Capped? with VA Home Loans
Most lenders or loan brokers will charge a service fee to originate a loan. These are commonly referred to as points. The VA has a set limit on loan origination fees. The VA will not allow a lender to charge you above what they feel is reasonable.
9. The VA Loan Requirements Regulate Assume-ability on VA Home Loans
All VA loans can be assumed by other veterans. Conventional loans require that a new buyer obtain a new loan. The VA will allow you to sell your property and have the new buyer take over your old loan.
10. Federal Reserve Funding = Low Interest Rates for Government Entities = Low VA Loan Rates
The VA Home Loans are guaranteed to have extremely low interest rates compared to any other type of mortgage loan due to the Federal Reserve playing a role in deciding the interest rates on anything being financed with Government funded agencies, such as the Department of Veteran Affairs. While conventional loans with adjustable rates starting out at 3% (that may exceed 12%), VA loans usually have fixed interest rates that will never increase.
When people ask, ?What is a VA Loan?, Security America Mortgage, Inc. advocate them in comparison when regular Conventional Loans and FHA Loans are put in the mix. ?All our success in finding the perfect home and VA Home Loan for military members could not be accomplished without the wide availability of VA Loans in the great State of Texas!? (J. Noble, 2011). With the wonderful benefits offered on VA Home Loans, the veterans lead the way toward the lowest interest rates available in the Mortgage and Real Estate industries. Securing monthly mortgage payments that can be easily affordable for as many military members as possible is the sole duty for the company Loan Originators to achieve in 2012. For veterans and military servicemembers, it is a dream come to have access to all these multiplying VA Home Loan Benefits, not to mention, VA Home Loans offer a number of open doors such as the easy Credit Pre-Approval Process, qualifying process for veterans, it?s no wonder why Security America Mortgage, Inc. and their dedicated VA Loan Specialists, like Jason Noble, keep a high score in approving VA Loans for thousands of military members wanting to buy and/or refinance a home in Texas.
Learn more about VA Loan Services offered by Security America Mortgage, Inc. Here!
Learn more about the Real Estate Services offered by Security America Realty, Inc. Agents Here!
National Academy of Inventors holds inaugural annual conferencePublic release date: 27-Feb-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Keara Leach info@academyofinventors.org 813-974-5862 University of South Florida (USF Health)
US Patent and Trademark Office Director Kappos speaks on changes, improvements to patent process
Tampa, Fla. (Feb 27, 2012) Speaking at the Inaugural Annual Conference of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI), held Feb. 16-17 at the University of South Florida in Tampa, David Kappos, Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office, spoke on changes and improvements at the USPTO since he was appointed director by President Barack Obama in August, 2009.
"We're building out a dynamic IT infrastructure and we've been hiring more examiners to aggressively tackle our patent backlog," said Kappos. "We have made superb progress in reducing the backlog, with an emphasis on resolving the oldest cases as expeditiously as possible. While reducing the backlog is an important goal in itself, it is absolutely critical to our agency's mission of fostering innovation, competitiveness and economic growth. Our daily work is vital to the nation's economic recovery. "
As head of the USPTO, Kappos advises the President and the Secretary of Commerce on matters of intellectual property. He directs more than 10,000 employees in an agency that provides incentives to encourage technological advancement and helps businesses protect their investments, promote their goods and services and acts to safeguard against deception in the marketplace.
The USPTO is fully self-funded, receiving no federal dollars.
Kappos was introduced by Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn.
"When the President selected David Kappos to lead the USPTO, he knew he was choosing someone who would shake up the agency," said Buckhorn. "Mr. Kappos is the ideal person to lead the USPTO when it is charged with implementing the America Invents Act, milestone legislation passed last year that brings the most sweeping changes to patent law in generations."
Before joining the USPTO, Kappos served as vice president and assistant general counsel for intellectual property at IBM, where he managed worldwide property operations. He has served on numerous boards and held other leadership roles in the intellectual property field. He received his law degree from the University of California Berkeley in 1990 and has over 23 years of experience in intellectual property issues.
NAI Conference Highlights
The two-day conference featured an address by Dr. Thomas J. Fogarty, famed heart surgeon, entrepreneur and pioneer inventor of the cardiac balloon catheter, who was inducted as the NAI's first Fellow. Fogarty spoke about roadblocks to innovation and gave a frank assessment of the institutional barriers to innovation that can exist in top notch research environments. Drawing from his own life experience in the discovery of the balloon catheter, he emphasized the need for persistence in the face of naysayers and the importance of making connections across different problems. He also paid tribute to his mentors, who were crucial in his quest for innovative solutions.
The conference also featured a poster session and reception with 75 posters presented by inventors from the NAI's Charter Member Institutions, including posters from 33 undergraduate and graduate students and postdoctoral scholars who received fellowships to attend.
Twenty-four oral presentations by Charter Members focused on outstanding science and technology transfer. Among them were:
"Innovation and the Value Balance"
Creativity, invention and innovation, often used interchangeably, are not the same, argued Len Polizzotto, vice president of Draper Laboratory. What is creative is new to many, but not to those 'skilled in the art;' invention is something novel but not obvious to someone skilled in the art; innovation is both creative, inventive and has 'customer value.' Five elements to 'value' include customer value; organizational value; employee value; investor value; and environmental value. These five values must be in balance or the system collapses.
"Accelerating the Innovative Economy by a Strong Coupling of the Academic Research Enterprise to Industry"
According to M.J. Soileau, vice president at the University of Central Florida, two important questions are: Can the university research base be better coupled to industry in order to accelerate the innovative economy? And, if the answer is yes, what collaboration approaches are needed? The answer to the second question begs questions about the 'boundary conditions that constrain universities.'
"Faculty Entrepreneurship at a State-Funded University: A VP for Research Perspective"
Sandra Degan, former vice president for research at the University of Cincinnati, discussed rewarding faculty entrepreneurship and supporting economic development initiatives in Ohio. She noted that due to budget cuts, the intellectual property office had to develop a new way of doing business that was both responsive and creative in identifying and using resources.
"Development of a Strategic Plan for a Technology Transfer Office"
Michael F. Moore, associate vice president at the University of North Dakota, highlighted the need for strategic planning in an academic-based technology transfer office. He reported that a committee at the University of North Dakota comprised of faculty, technology transfer officers, and state and local economic development professional identified five key goals: developing a campus wide culture that supports technology transfer and economic development; contribute to public benefit; serve the faculty; facilitate economic development and; license technology for fair value.
"This was a great first meeting to bring together our Charter Member Institutions to set the stage for our organization's future growth and provide an opportunity for NAI members to work with the USPTO," said Dr. Paul R. Sanberg, president of the NAI. "We greatly value the growing relationship between the NAI and the USPTO. In addition to their active participation in the conference, we are pleased that the USPTO has started to contribute an article to each issue of our journal."
All of the abstracts, along with invited papers from the conference, will be published in the journal, Technology and Innovation Proceedings of the National Academy of Inventors. The NAI will hold their second annual conference in Tampa in February 2013.
"The NAI is a breakthrough for our country," said Kappos. "It couldn't be more timely to have an organization like this to be championing innovation."
###
The National Academy of Inventors is a 501(c)(3) organization comprised of U.S. and international universities and non-profit research institutes. It was founded in 2010 at the University of South Florida to recognize and encourage inventors with a patent issued from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, enhance the visibility of academic technology and innovation, encourage the disclosure of intellectual property, educate and mentor innovative students, and translate the inventions of its members to benefit society. Email info@academyofinventors.org; web www.academyofinventors.org
The editorial offices of Technology and Innovation are located at the University of South Florida, Office of Research and Innovation, 3702 Spectrum Blvd., Suite 175, Tampa, Florida, 33612 USA. Tel: +1-813-974-1347. Email TIjournal@research.usf.edu
News Release by Randolph Fillmore, Florida Science Communications, www.sciencescribe.net
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
National Academy of Inventors holds inaugural annual conferencePublic release date: 27-Feb-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Keara Leach info@academyofinventors.org 813-974-5862 University of South Florida (USF Health)
US Patent and Trademark Office Director Kappos speaks on changes, improvements to patent process
Tampa, Fla. (Feb 27, 2012) Speaking at the Inaugural Annual Conference of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI), held Feb. 16-17 at the University of South Florida in Tampa, David Kappos, Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office, spoke on changes and improvements at the USPTO since he was appointed director by President Barack Obama in August, 2009.
"We're building out a dynamic IT infrastructure and we've been hiring more examiners to aggressively tackle our patent backlog," said Kappos. "We have made superb progress in reducing the backlog, with an emphasis on resolving the oldest cases as expeditiously as possible. While reducing the backlog is an important goal in itself, it is absolutely critical to our agency's mission of fostering innovation, competitiveness and economic growth. Our daily work is vital to the nation's economic recovery. "
As head of the USPTO, Kappos advises the President and the Secretary of Commerce on matters of intellectual property. He directs more than 10,000 employees in an agency that provides incentives to encourage technological advancement and helps businesses protect their investments, promote their goods and services and acts to safeguard against deception in the marketplace.
The USPTO is fully self-funded, receiving no federal dollars.
Kappos was introduced by Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn.
"When the President selected David Kappos to lead the USPTO, he knew he was choosing someone who would shake up the agency," said Buckhorn. "Mr. Kappos is the ideal person to lead the USPTO when it is charged with implementing the America Invents Act, milestone legislation passed last year that brings the most sweeping changes to patent law in generations."
Before joining the USPTO, Kappos served as vice president and assistant general counsel for intellectual property at IBM, where he managed worldwide property operations. He has served on numerous boards and held other leadership roles in the intellectual property field. He received his law degree from the University of California Berkeley in 1990 and has over 23 years of experience in intellectual property issues.
NAI Conference Highlights
The two-day conference featured an address by Dr. Thomas J. Fogarty, famed heart surgeon, entrepreneur and pioneer inventor of the cardiac balloon catheter, who was inducted as the NAI's first Fellow. Fogarty spoke about roadblocks to innovation and gave a frank assessment of the institutional barriers to innovation that can exist in top notch research environments. Drawing from his own life experience in the discovery of the balloon catheter, he emphasized the need for persistence in the face of naysayers and the importance of making connections across different problems. He also paid tribute to his mentors, who were crucial in his quest for innovative solutions.
The conference also featured a poster session and reception with 75 posters presented by inventors from the NAI's Charter Member Institutions, including posters from 33 undergraduate and graduate students and postdoctoral scholars who received fellowships to attend.
Twenty-four oral presentations by Charter Members focused on outstanding science and technology transfer. Among them were:
"Innovation and the Value Balance"
Creativity, invention and innovation, often used interchangeably, are not the same, argued Len Polizzotto, vice president of Draper Laboratory. What is creative is new to many, but not to those 'skilled in the art;' invention is something novel but not obvious to someone skilled in the art; innovation is both creative, inventive and has 'customer value.' Five elements to 'value' include customer value; organizational value; employee value; investor value; and environmental value. These five values must be in balance or the system collapses.
"Accelerating the Innovative Economy by a Strong Coupling of the Academic Research Enterprise to Industry"
According to M.J. Soileau, vice president at the University of Central Florida, two important questions are: Can the university research base be better coupled to industry in order to accelerate the innovative economy? And, if the answer is yes, what collaboration approaches are needed? The answer to the second question begs questions about the 'boundary conditions that constrain universities.'
"Faculty Entrepreneurship at a State-Funded University: A VP for Research Perspective"
Sandra Degan, former vice president for research at the University of Cincinnati, discussed rewarding faculty entrepreneurship and supporting economic development initiatives in Ohio. She noted that due to budget cuts, the intellectual property office had to develop a new way of doing business that was both responsive and creative in identifying and using resources.
"Development of a Strategic Plan for a Technology Transfer Office"
Michael F. Moore, associate vice president at the University of North Dakota, highlighted the need for strategic planning in an academic-based technology transfer office. He reported that a committee at the University of North Dakota comprised of faculty, technology transfer officers, and state and local economic development professional identified five key goals: developing a campus wide culture that supports technology transfer and economic development; contribute to public benefit; serve the faculty; facilitate economic development and; license technology for fair value.
"This was a great first meeting to bring together our Charter Member Institutions to set the stage for our organization's future growth and provide an opportunity for NAI members to work with the USPTO," said Dr. Paul R. Sanberg, president of the NAI. "We greatly value the growing relationship between the NAI and the USPTO. In addition to their active participation in the conference, we are pleased that the USPTO has started to contribute an article to each issue of our journal."
All of the abstracts, along with invited papers from the conference, will be published in the journal, Technology and Innovation Proceedings of the National Academy of Inventors. The NAI will hold their second annual conference in Tampa in February 2013.
"The NAI is a breakthrough for our country," said Kappos. "It couldn't be more timely to have an organization like this to be championing innovation."
###
The National Academy of Inventors is a 501(c)(3) organization comprised of U.S. and international universities and non-profit research institutes. It was founded in 2010 at the University of South Florida to recognize and encourage inventors with a patent issued from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, enhance the visibility of academic technology and innovation, encourage the disclosure of intellectual property, educate and mentor innovative students, and translate the inventions of its members to benefit society. Email info@academyofinventors.org; web www.academyofinventors.org
The editorial offices of Technology and Innovation are located at the University of South Florida, Office of Research and Innovation, 3702 Spectrum Blvd., Suite 175, Tampa, Florida, 33612 USA. Tel: +1-813-974-1347. Email TIjournal@research.usf.edu
News Release by Randolph Fillmore, Florida Science Communications, www.sciencescribe.net
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As dozens more Syrians die in a government crackdown, a few make it over the border to neighboring Turkey. NBC Chief Foreign Correspondent Richard Engel reports.
By msnbc.com staff and news services
DAMASCUS, Syria -- Syrians began voting Sunday on a new constitution that's meant by President Bashar Assad's regime to placate critics but seen by the opposition as a ploy to divert attention from a brutal government crackdown in which thousands have been killed.
Polls opened at?7 a.m. local time (9 p.m. ET), Al Jazeera reported.
Syria has defied international calls to halt attacks on rebel enclaves and at least 89 people were killed nationwide on the eve of the referendum.
Assad presented the revised charter ? which allows for at least a theoretical opening of the country's political system ? as an effort to placate critics and quell the 11-month uprising against his rule.
The new charter would create a multiparty system in Syria, which has been ruled by the same family dynasty since Assad's father Hafez seized power in a coup in 1963. Such change was unthinkable a year ago.
After 11 months of bloodshed, however, Assad's opponents say the referendum and other promises of reform are not enough and have called for a boycott of the vote.
Assad was roundly criticized Friday at a major international conference on the Syrian crisis in Tunisia, where U.S., European and Arab officials began planning a civilian peacekeeping mission to deploy after the regime falls.
President Barack Obama said Friday of Assad's rule: "It is time for that regime to move on."
Syrian rebels have tried to fight back, but they are losing the battle after being outnumbered and outgunned. NBC's Richard Engel reports.
On Saturday, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Assad's crackdown belied promised reforms.
"That kind of logic unfortunately renders any kind of reform meaningless," he said. "To fight on the one hand with your people and then to claim that there is reform is contradictory."
Still, Assad enjoys substantial support in many parts of the country. Some have benefited from his policies, others fear chaos or sectarian civil war if he falls.
The insular nature of the regime makes the extent and character of that support hard to measure, and the regime has prevented most media from operating freely in the country during the uprising.
Syrian activists: The world has abandoned us
In the capital Damascus, where Assad retains support among religious minorities and the business class, many said they were eager to vote.
"This constitution is not for one faction against the other," said Suhban Elewi, a 55-year-old businessman who trades in antiquities. "It is for the nation and for all the Syrian people."
Elewi said he planned to vote yes, and dismissed opposition calls to boycott the vote.
"The country is going forward with them or without them," he said.
Posters around town urged people to vote. "Don't turn your back on voting," one said.
Another ? showing the red, black and white Syrian flag ? touted new constitution. "Syria's constitution: Freedom of belief," it said, referring to clauses protecting religious minorities.
Syrian Interior Minster Lt. Gen. Mohammed al-Shaar said more than 14,000 voting centers have been set up for more than 14 million eligible voters across the country.
But the suggestion of political reform led by Assad's regime rang hollow in many parts of the country, where government security forces continued their deadly crackdown on rebels seeking to end Assad's rule.
The violence could also prevent the vote taking place nationwide.
An activist in a neighborhood in the central city of Homs that government forces have besieged and shelled daily for one month laughed when asked about the vote.
"How can they ask us to talk about a new constitution when they are shelling our neighborhood?" said Abu Mohammed Ibrahim from the embattled neighborhood of Baba Amr via Skype. "They are hitting us with all types of weapons. What constitution? What referendum?"
The $789M-asset company reported a loss of $4M in Q4, compared with a loss of $5.2M a year earlier; a merger may be imminent
By JACKIE STEWART
February 24, 2012
Atlantic Coast Financial Corp. in Jacksonville, Fla., reported a loss of $4 million in the fourth quarter, compared with a loss of $5.2 million a year earlier, as its expenses and loan-loss provision declined.
The $789 million-asset company also reiterated on Thursday that it is reviewing its strategic alternatives, which could include merging with another bank or raising additional capital. The company has now lost money in 14 consecutive quarters and its bank unit remains under an enforcement order to boost its Tier 1 leverage ratio to 7% of assets. At Dec. 30, that ratio stood at 5.83%.
Atlantic Coast first announced in November that it had hired the investment bank Stifel Nicolaus & Co. to help explore its strategic options. It needed special approval to retain an investment bank because it completed a stock sale last year and thrifts are typically barred from selling themselves within three years of a public offering.
For the year, the bank said it loss narrowed to $10.3 million, from $14.2 million in 2010.
The company's fourth-quarter loan-loss provision declined about 25%, to $5.2 million, from a year earlier. Its interest expense fell roughly 19%, to $4 million, and noninterest income totaled $6.6 million, down almost 3% from a year earlier.
Atlantic Coast's fourth-quarter net interest income slid 10%, to $5.3 million, from a year earlier because of a lower level of interest-earning assets as the company continued to shrink its balance sheet. Noninterest income totaled $2.1 million, down 22% from a year earlier.
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Last month, while we were skiing in Angel Fire, New Mexico, we hopped over the mountain to have dinner with my cousin Margie, who lives in a really lovely adobe home in Taos.? I would have loved to share pictures of her home, but it was dark when we were there, so I didn't take any.? Margie was nice enough to show us around, though, and tell us about adobe construction.? It seemed clear that this mixture of sand, clay, and straw was ideally suited to New Mexico's hot, dry climate -- that's why Santa Fe is almost totally made of adobe structures like these:
Apparently there's an ordinance that all construction in the city (or some central area that seems to be pretty broad) has to be adobe.? It makes for a really unique town, quaint in its own special way.
But back to Taos.? Margie told us about a special feature of her house that also makes it well-suited to northern New Mexico winters, too.? It has a wall like this on the south side:
It's called a "Trombe wall," named after Felix Trombe, who developed the concept for use in modern homes.? It ain't pretty, but covering a thick stone/brick wall with glass (with a small air space in between) allows heat to build up in the wall and radiate into the structure over a period of several hours to keep the house warm throughout the evening (Margie's house has small wood-burning stoves, but no central heat).? Because heat radiating into your house through the walls is exactly what you don't want during the summer, Trombe walls are generally built with an overhang that shields the summer sun (which travels higher in the sky) but allows the lower winter sun to work its magic on the glass; appropriately placed deciduous bushes/trees can also be effective in blocking the summer sun but allowing the sun through the branches to the wall during the winter.Adobe obviously predates the concept of green building, and Trombe walls date back to the 19th century (before Monsieur Trombe worked out the kinks in the 1960s), but the concept of using, essentially, dirt to defend against cold weather has been around for thousands of years.? On the way to Angel Fire, we saw an example of that at Pecos National Historic Park, the site of Pecos Pueblo and Spanish Mission ruins.
Those are the ruins of the 18th century Spanish mission church.
I don't know if this method of construction was technically adobe, but it was definitely made from what they had on hand -- red clay dirt, formed into bricks, stacked, and then covered over with a layer of...more red clay dirt.
I'm not going to claim the former residents were exactly toasty during the cold winter months, but you know they were industrious and used the most insulating wall design possible.
Yeah, those walls were THICK.
This is an underground area (don't remember what it's called) where the people would go for various rituals.
This?? Not historic at all.? It's the back porch area of the Visitor Center.? I just thought it looked cool.
[unable to retrieve full-text content]AP - Actor Tony Danza says he's disheartened by the reality of major budget cuts this year in the district of a Philadelphia high school where he starred in a reality TV show.
Resist the urge to splurge on cigarettes if you truly value skin that is fresh and healthy. Smoking is not good for the face because it reduces the size of blood vessels and decreases blood flow. The facial movements that accompany smoking may also lead to formation of wrinkles.
Dry and flaky skin can clog pores and lead to blackheads, use an exfoliating product to help prevent these issues. Exfoliating expedites the process in which dead skin cells slough off. This leaves you with a more glowing, healthy-looking complexion.
You can talk to your dermatologist for prescription if you want a better skin repair cream. Certain medications are FDA-approved, and have been proven to get rid of wrinkles and fine lines. Unfortunately, many anti-aging creams are not suitable for pregnant women, nursing women or people taking certain medications.
Use products to reduce oil secretion if you have oily skin. Remove excess oil gently with a daily toner. Buying a moisturizer specifically made for people with oily skin will eliminate all of these issues.
Your skin will thank you if you avoid tanning beds. Although these dangerous machines try to advertise ?safe tanning,? there is no such thing as safe tanning. No matter the type of rays emitted, your skin will be exposed to high amounts of radiation. If you avoid tanning beds, you avoid premature aging and decrease your chance of developing Melanoma.
Flawless skin is obtainable if you are willing to try, but it doesn?t require the use of expensive luxury products or fanciful restorative methods. Healthy skin is the result of knowing proper treatment methods. By using the tips you?ve learned, you will be on your way to radiant skin.
ScienceDaily (Feb. 22, 2012) ? New research has established the "miracle material" called graphene as the world's thinnest known coating for protecting metals against corrosion. Their study on this potential new use of graphene appears in ACS Nano.
In the study, Dhiraj Prasai and colleagues point out that rusting and other corrosion of metals is a serious global problem, and intense efforts are underway to find new ways to slow or prevent it. Corrosion results from contact of the metal's surface with air, water or other substances. One major approach involves coating metals with materials that shield the metal surface, but currently used materials have limitations. The scientists decided to evaluate graphene as a new coating. Graphene is a single layer of carbon atoms, many layers of which are in lead pencils and charcoal, and is the thinnest, strongest known material. That's why it is called the miracle material. In graphene, the carbon atoms are arranged like a chicken-wire fence in a layer so thin that is transparent, and an ounce would cover 28 football fields.
They found that graphene, whether made directly on copper or nickel or transferred onto another metal, provides protection against corrosion. Copper coated by growing a single layer of graphene through chemical vapor deposition (CVD) corroded seven times slower than bare copper, and nickel coated by growing multiple layers of graphene corroded 20 times slower than bare nickel. Remarkably, a single layer of graphene provides the same corrosion protection as conventional organic coatings that are more than five times thicker. Graphene coatings could be ideal corrosion-inhibiting coatings in applications where a thin coating is favorable, such as microelectronic components (e.g., interconnects, aircraft components and implantable devices), say the scientists.
The researchers acknowledge funding from the National Science Foundation.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by American Chemical Society.
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Journal Reference:
Dhiraj Prasai, Juan Carlos Tuberquia, Robert R. Harl, G. Kane Jennings, Kirill I. Bolotin. Graphene: Corrosion-Inhibiting Coating. ACS Nano, 2012; : 120210091939005 DOI: 10.1021/nn203507y
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.
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More and more vendors are recognizing that the old three-PC security suite subscription model is fast becoming obsolete. Modern users have more than three PCs, or a mix of PC, Mac, and mobile devices. When first released, Bitdefender Sphere ($99.95, direct) offered protection for three PCs, three Macs, and three Android devices. I'm pleased to say that last month the company upgraded the product to cover all the devices you own. Specifically, it covers all devices owned by up to three individuals in a household.
Not Unique Bitdefender's protection is similar to that of McAfee All Access ($99.95 direct for? licenses, 4.5 stars), which protects all devices owned by an individual or, for $50 more, by a household of up to five individuals. McAfee does offer more choices for protection as well as an online console to manage all components of the subscription.
Norton One, now in pre-release pilot testing, protects five devices for $149.95, with an as-yet-unspecified incremental cost to add more devices. Like McAfee it features a comprehensive online console; premium-level tech support for all security problems is also included.
Kaspersky ONE Universal Security ($79.95 direct for three licenses, 3.5 stars) comes in three-, five-, and ten-license editions and lets the user allocate licenses to any combination of device types. Trend Micro Titanium Maximum Security Premium Edition ($99.95 direct for? licenses, 3 stars) is a bundle of three licenses apiece for PC, Mac, and Android. If your devices don't come in threes, you might need two subscriptions.
Bitdefender and McAfee, with protection for any number and any type of devices, are clearly the most flexible of this crowd. Norton comes close with the option to add more devices for a fee, especially if the fee turns out to be small.
Full-Scale PC Protection On each of your PCs, Bitdefender Sphere installs Bitdefender Total Security 2012 ($79.95 direct for three licenses, 4 stars). This full-featured suite takes a bigger chunk of disk space than most, but if you run it in Auto Pilot mode it takes care of security with no hassle. The independent test labs love Bitdefender, though its performance in my own antimalware tests was just average. Its phishing protection, on the other hand, is the best I've seen, even better than Norton 360 Version 6.0 ($79.99 direct for three licenses, 4.5 stars).
This suite's firewall handles security issues itself, without posing confusing conundrums for the untrained user. It accurately filters out spam while leaving good mail alone. An app for Facebook and Twitter identifies dangerous links and even offers to notify friends whose posts contain those inks. Online backup, file encryption and shredding, and system tune-up round out this impressive suite.
Antivirus Protection for Mac Norton One and McAfee All Access can install a full protective suite for Macs; McAfee All Access will optionally install antivirus alone. Like Kaspersky One and Trend Micro Premium, Bitdefender Sphere offers straight antivirus protection for Macs. Bitdefender Antivirus for Mac will scan for threats on demand, on schedule, and in real time. It also detects and eliminates PC viruses. True, these can't harm your Mac, but you wouldn't want to pass them around to PCs on the network.
The very famous antivirus company Threat Fire started with the name of Cyber Hawk and eventually got its name under the PC Tools. This is somewhat different from the other antiviruses because it is Unrelated Anti- virus from its side but it is also Harmonizing Catalyst to the other antiviruses. The question comes that when you have an anti- virus then why do you need such software. The prevailing antivirus can only detect the malicious program on one condition that the data base has its signature. When the antivirus gets the update then the signature is created. After it the anti- virus will be able to detect it and identify it as the virus and fully protect your system. But what can be the case if the signature has been altered. In such cases your system can be infected by the virus even if you are having an anti- virus installed.
But the way for theworking of Threat fire is somewhat differentfrom other normal anti- viruses. It protects your PC against any type of threats constantly by detecting any type of doubtful behavior of malicious programs. It not only searches for the known threats but also looks for the doubtful behavior from the other programs.
All the above descriptions do not specify that it will fully protect the computer. It does not identify the signature based viruses like the others but it works on the changing activities of the programs. In case the system is already infected by such programs then the Threat Fire will quarantine the active parts. The Active Defense of Threat Fire automatically quarantines the bad applications and programs which generates the alert. And when both the Threat Fire and the traditional anti- virus programs comes in action then it provides cent percent protection from each and every thing which may cause any type of problem to your system.
Talking about the main feature of the software the Threat Fire is an Anti- Rootkit and also anti- spyware.
It stops all types of phishing attacks and guards you from other such programs and provides you full protection. It facilitates with real time scanning. It also has firewall enabled which blocks the unwanted programs. This software is based on changing behavior of the other programs. It gives highly technical support on the alerts which it gives and provides the needful support.
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Public release date: 27-Feb-2012
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