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While there is much work yet to be done on Conference Buddy on the client side, it isnt too early to start thinking about how well store data on a server. One option that might be ideal would be to ? Continue reading ?For the complete article and hyperlinks, please visit my blog at http://JesseLiberty.com ...
TUESDAY, Jan. 29 (HealthDay News) ? People who like to eat lunch late in the afternoon may have more trouble shedding pounds than those who dine earlier, a new study suggests.
Researchers found that of 420 people in a weight-loss program, the late-lunch crowd lost about 25 percent less weight than those who usually lunched before 3 p.m.
The findings, reported Jan. 29 in the International Journal of Obesity, come with caveats. The researchers cannot be sure that a late lunch itself thwarts people?s diets. And the study participants were from Spain, where lunch is the biggest meal of the day.
It?s not clear if the findings would translate to a country like the United States, where most people eat a lighter lunch and save their main meal for dinner, said senior researcher Frank Scheer, an assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School in Boston.
It is a common belief that it?s better to have your big meal earlier in the day. Scheer pointed to the popular advice to eat breakfast like a king and dinner like a pauper. But there hasn?t been much scientific evidence that the timing of your main meal matters in the battle of the bulge.
?This is the first large-scale, long-term study to show that it is an important factor in weight-loss success for overweight and obese individuals,? Scheer said.
It?s uncertain why a late lunch would be related to slower weight loss. One possibility, though, is that at least some late lunchers were going too long between meals, which might have effects on metabolism.
Some studies have suggested that evenly spaced meals ? eating every three to four hours ? are helpful in weight control, noted Connie Diekman, director of university nutrition at Washington University in St. Louis.
In this study, the late-lunch group was more likely to eat a light breakfast or skip breakfast altogether. Almost 7 percent of later lunchers did so, versus less than 3 percent of people who ate lunch earlier.
So the findings show a ?potential connection between going too long between meals and weight gain,? said Diekman, who was not involved in the study. ?But given the study design, more studies are needed to determine if there is a cause-and-effect connection.?
The problem is that people who hold off on lunch may differ from other dieters in many ways ? including ways that could hinder their weight loss.
Scheer?s team did account for some of those possibilities. They found that the early- and late-lunch groups ate a similar number of calories and burned a similar amount (based on their reported activity levels). The two groups also averaged about the same amount of sleep each night, which is important because sleep loss has been linked to a higher risk of obesity and less weight-loss success.
Still, that?s not enough to prove the late lunch caused the slower weight loss, Scheer and Diekman pointed out.
The findings are based on 420 overweight and obese Spanish adults who took part in a five-month weight-loss program. They were encouraged to follow a traditional Mediterranean diet, which includes plenty of fish, olive oil, vegetables and whole grains, but goes light on red meat and butter.
They got no advice, however, on the timing of their meals.
In the end, the half of the group that usually ate lunch after 3 p.m. lost an average of 17 pounds. That compared with 22 pounds in the early-lunch group.
As is typical in Spain, lunch was the biggest meal of the day. The dieters downed 40 percent of their daily calories at lunchtime, on average ? whether they ate early or late.
In contrast to the lunch findings, there was no evidence that the timing of people?s breakfast or dinner affected their weight loss. (Half of the group ate their dinner after 9:30 p.m.)
So in a culture where the biggest meal of the day is dinner, would it matter if you ate it at 9 p.m. or 6 p.m.? ?It?s hard to say, based on these data,? Scheer said. Further research is needed to answer that question, he added.
For now, the current findings are in line with animal research showing that meal timing seems to affect weight, Scheer said.
It may have to do with effects on the body?s circadian rhythms, which influence a range of functions, including the sleep-wake cycle and metabolism. There is a ?master clock? in the brain that coordinates those rhythms, but there are also ?peripheral clocks? in tissue and cells throughout the body, Scheer explained.
In animals, unusual feeding times seem to disrupt some of those peripheral clocks and throw them out of sync with the master clock. In theory, that clock ?decoupling? could affect weight control.
More research is still needed, though, to see whether the timing of a person?s main meal directly influences weight ? and how important that influence really is, Scheer said.
?We need to know if this has clinical relevance,? he said.
Diekman said the findings support the notion that meal timing matters, but she agreed that the ultimate importance to weight loss remains to be seen.
?As a registered dietitian, this study helps me feel comfortable with recommendations about the importance of meal spacing,? she said. ?But it does not give an answer to why or what impacts that might have on weight.?
More information
Learn more about weight-loss dieting from the U.S. National Institutes of Health.
Study: Husbands who do more traditionally female housework have less sexPublic release date: 30-Jan-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Daniel Fowler pubinfo@asanet.org 202-527-7885 American Sociological Association
WASHINGTON, DC, January 24, 2013 Married men who spend more time doing traditionally female household tasksincluding cooking, cleaning, and shoppingreport having less sex than husbands who don't do as much, according to a new study in the February issue of the American Sociological Review.
"Our findings suggest the importance of socialized gender roles for sexual frequency in heterosexual marriage," said Sabino Kornrich, the study's lead author and a junior researcher at the Center for Advanced Studies at the Juan March Institute in Madrid. "Couples in which men participate more in housework typically done by women report having sex less frequently. Similarly, couples in which men participate more in traditionally masculine taskssuch as yard work, paying bills, and auto maintenancereport higher sexual frequency."
The study, "Egalitarianism, Housework, and Sexual Frequency in Marriage," which considers heterosexual married couples in the United States, relies on nationally representative data from the National Survey of Families and Households. Men in the study reported having had sex an average of 5.2 times in the month prior to the survey while women reported 5.6 times on average. But, both men and women in couples with more gender-traditional divisions of household labor reported having had more sex than those with more egalitarian divisions.
"The results suggest the existence of a gendered set of sexual scripts, in which the traditional performance and display of gender is important for creation of sexual desire and performance of sexual activity," said Kornrich, who co-authored the study with two University of Washington researchers, Julie Brines, an associate professor of sociology, and Katrina Leupp, a doctoral candidate in sociology.
The researchers also investigated, and ultimately ruled out, a number of other possible explanations for their findings. For example, they explored the possibility that couples with more traditional divisions of labor had more sex because the husbands in those relationships were sexually coercive. "Wives' reported satisfaction with their sex life has the same relationship to men's participation in household labor as sexual frequency," Kornrich said. "Had satisfaction with sex been low, but frequency high, it might have suggested coercion. However, we didn't find that."
In addition, the researchers found that happiness, religion, gender ideology, and a range of other variables did not affect the relationship between more traditional divisions of labor and more frequent sexual activity.
"The importance of gender has declined over time, but it continues to exert a strong influence over individual behaviors, including sexual frequency within marriage," Kornrich said.
But, for husbands who might see the study as justification for not cooking, cleaning, shopping, or performing other traditionally female household tasks, Kornrich issued a warning. "Men who refuse to help around the house could increase conflict in their marriage and lower their wives' marital satisfaction," he said. "Earlier research has found that women's marital satisfaction is indeed linked to men's participation in overall household labor, which encompasses tasks traditionally done by both men and women."
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About the American Sociological Association and the American Sociological Review
The American Sociological Association, founded in 1905, is a non-profit membership association dedicated to serving sociologists in their work, advancing sociology as a science and profession, and promoting the contributions to and use of sociology by society. The American Sociological Review is the ASA's flagship journal.
The research article described above is available by request for members of the media. For a copy of the full study, contact Daniel Fowler, ASA's Media Relations and Public Affairs Officer.
[ | 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.
Study: Husbands who do more traditionally female housework have less sexPublic release date: 30-Jan-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Daniel Fowler pubinfo@asanet.org 202-527-7885 American Sociological Association
WASHINGTON, DC, January 24, 2013 Married men who spend more time doing traditionally female household tasksincluding cooking, cleaning, and shoppingreport having less sex than husbands who don't do as much, according to a new study in the February issue of the American Sociological Review.
"Our findings suggest the importance of socialized gender roles for sexual frequency in heterosexual marriage," said Sabino Kornrich, the study's lead author and a junior researcher at the Center for Advanced Studies at the Juan March Institute in Madrid. "Couples in which men participate more in housework typically done by women report having sex less frequently. Similarly, couples in which men participate more in traditionally masculine taskssuch as yard work, paying bills, and auto maintenancereport higher sexual frequency."
The study, "Egalitarianism, Housework, and Sexual Frequency in Marriage," which considers heterosexual married couples in the United States, relies on nationally representative data from the National Survey of Families and Households. Men in the study reported having had sex an average of 5.2 times in the month prior to the survey while women reported 5.6 times on average. But, both men and women in couples with more gender-traditional divisions of household labor reported having had more sex than those with more egalitarian divisions.
"The results suggest the existence of a gendered set of sexual scripts, in which the traditional performance and display of gender is important for creation of sexual desire and performance of sexual activity," said Kornrich, who co-authored the study with two University of Washington researchers, Julie Brines, an associate professor of sociology, and Katrina Leupp, a doctoral candidate in sociology.
The researchers also investigated, and ultimately ruled out, a number of other possible explanations for their findings. For example, they explored the possibility that couples with more traditional divisions of labor had more sex because the husbands in those relationships were sexually coercive. "Wives' reported satisfaction with their sex life has the same relationship to men's participation in household labor as sexual frequency," Kornrich said. "Had satisfaction with sex been low, but frequency high, it might have suggested coercion. However, we didn't find that."
In addition, the researchers found that happiness, religion, gender ideology, and a range of other variables did not affect the relationship between more traditional divisions of labor and more frequent sexual activity.
"The importance of gender has declined over time, but it continues to exert a strong influence over individual behaviors, including sexual frequency within marriage," Kornrich said.
But, for husbands who might see the study as justification for not cooking, cleaning, shopping, or performing other traditionally female household tasks, Kornrich issued a warning. "Men who refuse to help around the house could increase conflict in their marriage and lower their wives' marital satisfaction," he said. "Earlier research has found that women's marital satisfaction is indeed linked to men's participation in overall household labor, which encompasses tasks traditionally done by both men and women."
###
About the American Sociological Association and the American Sociological Review
The American Sociological Association, founded in 1905, is a non-profit membership association dedicated to serving sociologists in their work, advancing sociology as a science and profession, and promoting the contributions to and use of sociology by society. The American Sociological Review is the ASA's flagship journal.
The research article described above is available by request for members of the media. For a copy of the full study, contact Daniel Fowler, ASA's Media Relations and Public Affairs Officer.
[ | 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.
"Apps have nothing to do with marketing. They are all tools or toys." This was said by my friend Andy of Orbit Media. He seems to think that mobile apps have no power to connect brands with customers. Let's disabuse him of the notion with a list of ten apps that are part of kick-ass marketing campaigns.
Yes, these apps are all ?tools and toys.? Most of these were created and promoted to build a closer relationship with existing customers, and not necessarily to connect with a new audience.
But every marketer knows the value of branding, client retention, subsequent sales, and referrals. These are the cornerstones of marketing to an existing customer base. You might not call them marketing apps, but each was built with marketing in mind and each yielded huge marketing results.
Department stores were hit in the kneecaps in 2011 by ?showrooming? apps like Price Check by Amazon and eBay?s RedLaser. Tackiness didn?t prevent shoppers from ordering merchandise they could touch and feel at the store via their smartphones for a cheaper price. Last holiday season, Macy?s struck back by updating its app to include exclusive sales (triggered minutes after shoppers entered their stores) and in-store navigation at its flagship New York City location. This app is both cool and a tool for self-preservation.
Some Hollywood studio apps offer little more than cheesy intros and trailers. This gem from Paramount and producer J.J. Abrams goes deeper. The app serves as a Super 8 camera emulator for your iDevice. Amateur and seasoned film auteurs alike took to the app and its myriad filters to make retro video clips. These were, of course, shared - along with Super 8 film propaganda - with Facebook and Twitter friends.
Ever visit a restaurant or home of an acquaintance only to find yourself envying the colors they have painted on their walls? Brighten up your outlook with this clever app, which identifies the exact Benjamin Moore color of paint that you photograph from your device. =
There are plenty of free and easy recipes offered in this nicely-designed interactive cookbook. It generates a shopping list based on what recipes you tag and conveniently points you to Kraft ingredients.
Depositing checks is less of a drag when you don?t have to wait in line at the bank. It?s downright cool when you can just snap pics of your checks and deposit them with this app.
Once a customer gets used to a feature like this one, it?s hard to imagine switching to another bank. When Chase stays out in front of the pack with an app like this, customer retention is a likely outcome.
The last thing over-caffeinated professionals need is the ability to score their Starbucks fix from their mobile devices. Quick and easy payments along with store locators (as if you couldn?t find one otherwise!) is the essence of this app. Passbook integration in iOS 6 serves as an extra shot of Espresso.
Urban hipsters who embraced Zipcar from the beginning also appreciate the ability to honk the horn and unlock the doors of that borrowed car they can?t locate in the parking lot.
Being able to refill an existing prescription just by scanning the barcode of a pill bottle is just what the doctor ordered. The Walgreens app also sends push notifications when a prescription is about to expire, and lets users upload photos to their photo album and pick up prints minutes later.
The folks at Procter & Gamble extend their marketing mastery to mobile devices. The Pregnancy Calendar features rich content about what to expect ?- for both mommies and babies - while expecting. Of course, once the baby is born Pampers already has a hook into your diaper decision.
We can?t really tell you how growing a virtual moustache relates to buying auto insurance. Yet like most other GEICO commercials and promotions, we somehow find ourselves talking about the brand anyway.
Andy Crestodina is the Strategic Director of Orbit Media, a web design company in Chicago. He?s also the author of Content Chemistry, An Illustrated Guide to Content Marketing You can find Andy on
It's no secret that the Internet has a hard time taking things seriously. "Best. Gulag. Ever.', raved Google user, C. Quinn, about Yodok North Korean prison. Google Chairman Eric Schmidt probably expected his recent high-profile visit to the isolated dictatorship to have a more sobering impact on online discourse. But, after Google asked users to help identify important roads and landmarks for the newly mapped country, it should have expected that the Internet would act like, well, the Internet. We're collected the most, er, thoughtful, reviews below.
First of all ? I?m going to be signing ?Heroes at Home? at MCRD (Marine Corp Recruiting Depot) in San Diego at the MCS from 2:00 to 4:00 on January 31, 2013. So please come by and say hello and I?ll be happy to answer any military family finance questions you may have!
We lived in eleven different military houses in the first thirteen years of marriage. We weren?t exactly thinking about the American dream of owning our own home, we were just satisfied if the carpet came with the house and we could get enough bedrooms to have the kids only sleep two to a room! But, eventually, we slowed down our military moves long enough to buy a home and it was worth the wait.
Whether you are a reservist, guard or active duty, you may be in a position to ask a very common question in today?s economy?is now a good time to invest in a home or should you rent? Here are some ideas to help you determine the housing climate for your situation.
Sunny Skies for a $5,000 Grant for YOU
The ?Dream Makers? program from the PenFed Foundation?offers grants up for $5,000 to first time homebuyers of modest means who work in the service of our country?s defense. So go to this site to see if you qualify to be one of those who make home ownership a dream come true!
Dark Clouds Dissipating
Is the housing market finally starting to recover? Larry Shover, author of Trading Options in Turbulent Markets and a regular expert on Fox News says, ?The sheer fact that median rental yields are more than 1.5% higher than the average 30-yr fixed rate mortgage should help support property prices.? People are starting to invest in housing again, whether they are buying it for a family home or as investment property to rent. So now can be a very good time to buy if you plan on keep the home at least three years or if you live in an area where you have the potential to rent out the home when you PCS.
Christine Francis, military spouse of a retired Marine and a current realtor in the Camp Pendleton area says, ? Now is definitely the time to buy because the interest rates are at an all time low. Sometimes military families can get into a home for only a $500 deposit. My agency has been able to get that $500 back by using a VA loan and financing the total amount. When the sellers are paying closing costs, many of my military clients are getting into their new homes for zero down.?
The Perfect Storm : Unemployment and Underemployment
The primary problem that could potentially ruin your sunny days is unemployment, which is expected to remain well above 8% for the rest of the year. If you are active military and plan on staying in the military, then this would not have a great impact unless you depend on the spousal employment to meet the mortgage obligation. However, if you are a Guard or Reserve family or if you are active and plan to separate and find a new job near the house you just purchased, then unemployment is something to take into consideration. The same is true for underemployment: if you don?t get the salary you need to meet your monthly payments. If either of these conditions are on your horizon, then it becomes a riskier endeavor to take the plunge in the housing market.
Clearing Skies ?Interest rates and VA Loans
According to VA data, there are 23.8 million U.S. Veterans and less than 10 percent of them?2.1 million?have VA loans. ?A VA loan is very attractive to most mortgage brokers,? says a representative from USAA home mortgages specializing in U.S. Department of VA loans. He adds, ?VA loans have looser underwriting standards than conventional and even Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loans. With a VA loan, veterans can get 100 percent financing without private mortgage insurance (PMI) and lower interest rates.? Plus, you can get up to $3100 when you buy and sell your home through MoversAdvantage with USAA.
Christine Francis says her clients have been getting 3.75% interest rates on VA loans. The other advantage is that sellers are allowed to cover all closing costs, prepaid items and discounts. This lets borrowers essentially walk into their new home with no down payment, no closing costs and a 30 year fixed rate with no mortgage insurance.
Sunny Days ? Housing Inventories
??? In many parts of the country, home prices are so far below their peak that millions of homeowners owe more on their homes than they?re worth. This means that prices are continuing to drop, and may have even bottomed out according to Moody?s Economy.com. Consequently, it continues to be a buyer?s market in terms of value. Christine Francis says, ?Without a crystal ball, it?s hard to tell [where house prices are trending], but I do believe that we are at the bottom of housing prices and the only place we can go is up.?
Plus, with values expected to rise even more toward the end of 2013, the home you buy low, is likely to increase in value almost as soon as you close the deal.
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WASHINGTON (AP) ? U.S. demand for long-lasting manufactured goods rose sharply in December, helped by a strong gain in volatile aircraft orders. But companies slowed orders for computers and other goods that signal investment plans, indicating manufacturing could stay weak in 2013.
The Commerce Department said Monday that overall orders for durable goods increased 4.6 percent in December compared with November. The gains were led by a 56.4 percent increase in military aircraft orders and a 10.1 percent increase in commercial aircraft orders.
Orders for machinery, communications equipment and primary metals such as steel also showed increases.
Still, demand for core capital goods, a measure of business investment plans, rose just 0.2 percent. That followed two straight monthly gains of 3 percent.
Orders for durable goods, which are expected to last at least three years, can fluctuate from month to month. For all of 2012, durable goods orders rose 4.1 percent. But demand for core capital goods fell 0.3 percent for the year.
Slower growth in business orders has hurt manufacturing, which struggled to gain momentum in 2012. While orders for durable goods rebounded in the final months of last year, economists expect the overall trend to stay weak this year.
"The strength in durable goods orders for December is a most welcome development," said Dan Greenhaus, an analyst at BTIG. "Going forward though, despite the better numbers, we still expect business investment ... to slow yet again in 2013. This is a trend that remains in place given the weaker demand environment."
Paul Ashworth, chief U.S. economist at Capital Economics, said the growth rate of business investment in equipment and software in the October-December quarter should come in close to 5 percent, an encouraging sign.
Ashworth, however, is worried about an increase in Social Security payroll taxes, which hit Americans in January and is expected to slow consumer spending at the start of the year. That could make businesses nervous and further slow economic growth.
The economy grew at an annual rate of 3.1 percent in the April-June quarter. The government will provide its first look at overall economic growth in the October-December quarter on Wednesday. Many analysts believe growth slowed in the final three months of last year to less than 2 percent.
The government releases its first estimate of economic growth for the fourth quarter on Wednesday.
WEST HOLLYWOOD, Calif. (AP) ? Grammy-winning singer Chris Brown is under investigation for an alleged assault in a West Hollywood parking lot, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department said early Monday.
Deputies responding to a report of six men fighting Sunday night found the scene clear, but were told by witnesses there had been a brief fight over a parking space.
"The altercation allegedly led to Chris Brown punching the victim," the department said in a statement released early Monday morning.
The "victim" wasn't identified, but the celebrity website TMZ, which first reported the fight outside the Westlake Recording Studio, said it also involved Frank Ocean, one of the top nominees at the Grammy Awards next month.
In a Twitter posting later, Ocean said he "got jumped by (Brown) and a couple guys" and suffered a finger cut.
It wasn't Brown's first problem in the run-up to the Grammys. His attack on singer Rihanna on the eve of the 2009 awards event overshadowed the show.
Last June, he was injured in a brawl with members of hip-hop star Drake's entourage at a New York nightclub.
No arrests were made. Brown was gone by the time deputies arrived but the department said the investigation is ongoing and Brown would be contacted later.
Email messages to Ocean's publicist and Brown's lawyer and representative were not immediately returned. A man answering the phone at the recording studio declined to comment.
Brown, 23, remains on probation for the attack on Rihanna and is due back in court on Feb. 6 to update a judge on his progress. Prosecutors have raised concerns about records showing that Brown has completed his community labor obligations.
Often consider the individual bankruptcy procedure severely. You need to be properly-knowledgeable about bankruptcy, when filing. Use the concepts in this piece to get started off in the correct way. Just make sure you do ample investigation so that you are a lot more well prepared for any long run obstacles.
Acquire the time to make a complete listing of your debts. You will need to have this record when you file, so it is essential for it to be as contend as feasible. Double check out all of your information so that you do not forget anything at all. Do not be careless about this step, as discharge is dependent on publishing the proper quantities to the court.
Do not use a credit score card to pay revenue taxes and then file for personal bankruptcy. Most of the time, you are not able to discharge this credit card debt. As a result, you will owe the IRS a great deal of cash. Bear this in thoughts if the tax can be discharged, then the financial debt can be as very well. If you are living in an area wherever tax can be discharged by individual bankruptcy, financing your tax bill is fairly pointless.
There are a lot of factors to consider prior to filing for individual bankruptcy. A single of these selections is customer credit rating counseling. There are even non-earnings companies that may possibly be equipped to help you. They can get the job done with both you and your collectors to locate a possible way in which your debts can be paid out off. You?ll make your payments to the firm, and the business will fork out off your creditors.
It is really crucial to do research. You could feel it?s attainable to file for personal individual bankruptcy on your individual if you can?t afford to pay for to hire a law firm. It is feasible to do this, but you require to be confident that you have the proper details to do it appropriately. When individuals do their very own particular bankruptcy, it is really simple to forget about significant information and make mistakes that could avoid your debts from being completely discharged. You want to make confident you?re doing every thing correct.
Filing for personal bankruptcy really should not be performed on a whim. Find out if you can get a lessened desire price or altered repayment strategy rather of bankruptcy submitting. You can utilize for a modification of your home finance loan if your residence is going into foreclosure. Lenders can support you in a lot of methods, by reducing curiosity rate costs and reducing off late price fees. They can also lengthen the personal loan. When all is claimed and carried out, lenders want their cash and uncover repayment plans preferable to not receiving paid at all.
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Discovering out about your private individual bankruptcy selections is the difference amongst a prosperous and an unsuccessful assert. But, filing ought not to be an automated choice, as it does have critical implications. Recognizing how to finest go by means of the bankruptcy procedure can lessen one?s troubles in the lengthy operate and make it less difficult to retain one?s possessions.
Wonderful Manual On How To Make Cash By means of The Stock Marketplace, Acquiring, Marketing, And Taking care of Stock: What You Need to have To Know
The critically acclaimed Cartoon Network series "Star Wars: The Clone Wars" along with its director Dave Filoni, producer Cary Silver and cast recently descended on Marine Corps Air Station Miramar and entertained hundreds of servicemen and women with a special USO screening spectacular. Complete with a base tour, visit to the flight line, debut of a 25-minute exclusive episode and Q&A sessions with audience members followed by autograph signings, the "Star Wars: The Clone Wars" USO visit with troops was a big success.
Arlington, VA (PRWEB) January 24, 2013
Among Those to Debut the Episodes Were Supervising Director Dave Filoni, Producer Cary Silver and Five Members of the Show?s Cast ? Including USO Tour Vet/Actor James Arnold Taylor
Twitter Pitch: @the_USO @TheClone Wars Screenings at @MCASMiramarCA a big hit, drawing hundreds of troops and their families!
The USO brought sci-fi, fantasy and animation to Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) Miramar with its screening of the critically acclaimed Cartoon Network series Star Wars: The Clone Wars (Saturdays at 9:30am ET/PT). Joining the show?s supervising director Dave Filoni and producer Cary Silver to extend their gratitude and talk galactic battles were actors Dee Bradley Baker (voice of Captain Rex, ?the clones and Bossk), Catherine Taber (voice of Padm? Amidala), James Arnold Taylor (voice of Obi-Wan Kenobi), Matt Lanter (voice of Anakin Skywalker) and Ashley Eckstein (voice of Ahsoka Tano).***Link to video and photos below***
DETAILS:
????Attended by hundreds of troops and military families stationed at MCAS Miramar and surrounding bases, the Star Wars: The Clone Wars USO Screening consisted of two 25-minute episodes featuring an exclusive premiere, followed by a Q&A session and an autograph session.
????In the hours leading up to the screening, the group took a tour of MCAS Miramar and learned about military operations. The group also visited the MCAS Miramar flight line, where they spoke to pilots, explored military aircraft and posed for dozens of photos.
????The screening marked the second USO experience for Taylor, who traveled to Japan in 2009 and will be returning to the Pacific with the USO in March 2013, and the first for the remainder of the group.
????A diehard Star Wars fan, Filoni joined Lucasfilm Animation fresh from another touchstone fantasy franchise ? Nickelodeon?s ?Avatar: The Last Airbender,? for which he served as director. Filoni began his animation career working for Film Roman?s ?King of the Hill? as well as ?Mission Hill? and ?Oblongs.? From there, he moved onto Walt Disney Television Animation.
????Baker has built an extraordinary voice-acting career spanning more than two decades. Having worked extensively in television animation, and top videogames, his feature film credits include ?Dawn of the Dead,? ?Space Jam? and ?Happy Feet.? In addition to his work on Stars Wars: The Clone Wars, his voice can be heard on ?American Dad,? ?Ben 10: Alien Force,? "Phineas and Ferb," and ?Avatar: The Legend of Korra,? among others.
????Hailed as a geek goddess among the sci-fi, fantasy and gaming communities, Taber has appeared in numerous games, films and television projects including ?The Girls Room,? ?Just Like Heaven,? and ?Metal Gear Solid.? But her favorite roles have been In a galaxy far far away! In addition to The Clone Wars, she has portrayed memorable characters in ?Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic,? ?The Force Unleashed I & II,? and ?The Old Republic.? In addition to her film career, in 2008 the Georgia native (and "Army brat") created Game For Soldiers, which collects donations of videogames and comic books that she sends to deployed soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan.
????Known for his versatile vocal range, Taylor is one of the most sought-after voice-actors working today. Taylor is heard worldwide daily, having voiced promos for the Fox Broadcasting Network, national ad campaigns and some of today?s hottest video games. From Obi-Wan Kenobi to Fred Flintstone, Leonardo the Ninja Turtle to Johnny Test, Taylor is able to sound more than 150 difference voices.
????Slated to become one of the industry?s most desirable leading men, Lanter has appeared in such hit shows as ?Grey?s Anatomy,? ?CSI,? ?Heroes,? and ?Commander and Chief,? among others. In addition to lending his voice to Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Lanter currently stars in the popular CW hit ?90210? as Liam Court. Having starred in such major motion pictures as The Roommate and Disaster Movie, his recent film credits include ?A Chance of Rain? and ?Liars All? (both pending release).
????Born in Louisville, KY and raised in Orlando, FL, Eckstein made her television debut on ?JAG.? Since then, she has starred in ?Blue Collar TV,? ?Drake and Josh,? ?That?s So Raven,? ?Alice Upside Down? and ?Sydney White.? In addition to several hosting specials and videogames, Eckstein founded Her Universe, a merchandise line featuring fashionable, feminine apparel and accessories for female fans. Eckstein can currently be heard as the voice of ?Mia? the Bluebird on Disney Junior's new hit show ?Sofia The First.?
QUOTES:????
Attributed to Dave Filoni:
?To have the opportunity to entertain the families stationed at Miramar for a short while, and take them to our galaxy far, far away, was a real privilege. They do so much for us every day, it was an honor to be asked to do something for them.?
Attributed to Dee Bradley Baker:
"The stories we tell in "The Clone Wars" resonate in a special way with military fans. It's incredible to see! I've had officers serving in the Middle East tell me they love our show and how they've turned their platoon on to our show and the clones in particular. They are as into our show as anyone I've ever met! I've met with dads and their kids who show me the incredibly accurate clone armor they've made. It's such an honor to meet these folks and thank them for their service. The characters we portray in our show are heroic, but these service men and women are real heroes in my eyes and it's truly exciting to meet them and share their enthusiasm for Star Wars: The Clone Wars!"
Attributed to Catherine Taber:
?The USO event was amazing! From seeing the jets fly over, to sitting in the pilot seat of the Osprey, it was a fantastic time. But the best part of day and the heart of it all really, was meeting the servicemen and women, their families and the children and spouses of deployed soldiers. I hope they enjoyed the event as much as we did and know how truly grateful we are for their sacrifices. Thank you USO for making it happen!?
Attributed to James Arnold Taylor:
"As someone who has worked with the USO in the past, I was thrilled to combine forces with our Clone Wars cast and bring an event to our troops that was family-friendly and just plain fun! It's an honor to be a part of anything that supports our men and women of the U.S. Military."
Attributed to Matt Lanter:
I have such a fondness and supreme respect for our troops who protect our freedom and their families who endure. To be able to give back in a small way was such a privilege for me and I would love to continue supporting the USO however I can in the future.
Attributed to Ashley Eckstein:
It was truly an honor to have the opportunity to share Star Wars The Clone Wars with the troops and their families at MCAS Miramar. This was a very small way that we could say Thank You for the service that these amazing men and women provide for us everyday. The Force is Strong with MCAS Miramar!
MULTI-MEDIA:
Tour Photos: http://bit.ly/Y7og4V
Tour Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WeYAG8ixNJE&list=UUT7XEsWeo9V8VNblnZfj2Kw&index=1
USO Fact Sheet: http://bit.ly/yaebvo
###
About the USO
The USO (United Service Organizations) lifts the spirits of America?s troops and their families millions of times each year at hundreds of places worldwide. We provide a touch of home through centers at airports and military bases in the U.S. and abroad, top quality entertainment and innovative programs and services. We also provide critical support to those who need us most, including forward-deployed troops, military families, wounded warriors and their families and the families of the fallen.
The USO is a private, nonprofit organization, not a government agency. All of our programs and services are made possible by the American people, support of our corporate partners and the dedication of our volunteers and staff. In addition to individual donors and corporate sponsors, the USO is supported by President?s Circle Partners: American Airlines, AT&T, Clear Channel, The Coca-Cola Company, jcpenney, Kangaroo Express, Kroger, Lowe?s, Northrop Grumman Corporation, Procter & Gamble, and TriWest Healthcare Alliance and Worldwide Strategic Partners: BAE Systems, The Boeing Company, Lockheed Martin, Microsoft Corporation and TKS Telepost Kabel-Service Kaiserslautern GmbH & Co. KG. We are also supported through the United Way and Combined Federal Campaign (CFC-11381). To join us in this patriotic mission, and to learn more about the USO, please visit uso.org.
Oname Thompson USO (703) 908-6471 Email Information
By Jonathan Allen NEW YORK, Jan 26 (Reuters) - The carcass of a dolphin that died after becoming mired in a notoriously toxic New York City canal has been removed and will be sent for a necropsy, a marine research group said on Saturday. The animal, a common dolphin, was first spotted in Brooklyn's Gowanus Canal on Friday morning, where it was described as looking disoriented and unwell as it struggled to avoid getting bogged down in the canal's muddy floor. Biologists from the Riverhead Foundation for Marine Research and Preservation, who monitored the dolphin with police and a crowd of onlookers, hoped the animal might be able to free itself and head back out to the harbor as waters rose. It died Friday evening before high tide. "The option that gave the animal the best chance for a positive outcome was waiting," Robert DiGiovanni, Riverhead's executive director and senior biologist, said on Saturday. "If an animal wasn't going to be able to survive through the next tide cycle then it was an animal that was compromised and wouldn't make it." Approaching the dolphin by boat would have been difficult in the shallow, polluted canal and may have achieved little besides adding to the animal's distress, he said. A necropsy will be performed on the adult dolphin, estimated to weigh about 200 pounds, on Sunday at Riverhead's laboratory on Long Island, he said. The findings and tissue samples will be shared with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Common dolphins are social animals that travel in groups known as pods. To see a solitary common dolphin, especially so far inland, is unusual, and is a sign that the animal is sick or dying, biologists and other marine officials said. The dolphin's unusual trek into Brooklyn - DiGiovanni could not recall a dolphin coming so far into New York City in at least two decades - brought wide attention to one of the city's dirtier and most malodorous corners. The Environmental Protection Agency declared the Gowanus Canal a Superfund site in 2010, calling it one of the country's "most extensively contaminated water bodies." Mayor Michael Bloomberg had opposed the designation, arguing the city's own plan would have cleaned the canal in less time. The canal is laced with heavy metals, coal tar wastes and other pollutants from the factories and tanneries that have lined its banks, the EPA says. The EPA is still working on its plan, which is currently open to public comment, to spend an estimated $300 million to $400 million of federal money to clean up the canal. (Editing by Paul Thomasch and Doina Chiacu)
MOSCOW (AP) ? Officials say that a 63-year old municipal legislator campaigning for protection of a forest just outside Moscow is in intensive care after being stabbed several times by an unidentified assailant.
The stabbing of Lyudmila Garifulina is the latest in a series of attacks on environmental defenders who have opposed plans to chop down forests outside Moscow to pave the way for construction projects.
Garifulina, a member of the legislature in the town of Staraya Kupavna, was attacked outside her apartment building late Wednesday. Her Just Russia party say Garifulina was also injured in a previous attack in November.
Police confirmed Friday that they have opened a probe into the attack but have yet to comment on possible motives.
When you are looking at hotels for your next trip, you need to look at what is available as well as what you want. No matter where you go or what you are doing, you are going to want to be comfortable and to feel at home when you are on the road. Whether it is for vacation or business, you want to stay some place where you know you will be rested and have a good time when the day is over.
Consider In Room Amenities
Amenities in hotels are more than simply a bed and a bathroom. You need to look at what is available in the room that would make you want to stay there. This comes down to things like type of TV, bed, and pillows. Amenities also include things like room service, as well as in room refrigerators. With regard to the refrigerators, you might want to see whether they are stocked or not. You will also want to look at aspects like the view as well.
Look At What Is On The Grounds
You will also want to look at what the hotels have to offer on their grounds. Consider options such as a swimming pool, restaurant, or fitness center. These are just some of the things there that can make your trip and stay all that more enjoyable. The closer you feel to being at home and the more comfortable you feel, the more you will want to go there.
See What Else They Offer
If you are on vacation or you will have downtime on your trip, you may want to see what other activities are available. Look to see if they offer tours of areas close to the hotels. See if they provide transportation or can arrange for you to get to where you want to go with little or no help. See what they are willing to do to make your stay more enjoyable and to make you want to come back again.
There are a number of different things you need to look at when it comes to choosing the right hotels. You need to decide what it is you want to see and do that will make your trip more enjoyable. Look to see if they have what you want and if it will meet your needs. Consider your options and decide where you will want to stay on your next trip.
Position Summary: Reporting to the Associate Director for Strategic Sourcing, the Sourcing Manager is responsible for
effectively managing the supply and demand for a specific set of commodities, primarily Laboratory Equipment/Supplies/Chemicals and Computer
Hardware/Software/Peripherals. This position is expected to be well informed of market trends and strategies for these commodities, and use
data and analysis to make informed decisions to achieve ideal outcomes.
The Sourcing Manager partners with key stakeholders to understand the business strategy, identify the sourcing requirements for goods and
services, perform industry and supplier analyses, execute competitive bidding processes, recommend options that optimize mix of cost and
quality, select suppliers, and negotiate supplier pricing and terms.
This position will manage/facilitate contracting and negotiation, as well as supplier on-boarding. This includes negotiating payment terms
and methods in support of Accounts Payable objectives. The Sourcing Manager will benchmark, measure, and manage supplier performance to
ensure accurate pricing and effective levels of service.
This position serves as a liaison between the Office of Finance & Treasury, suppliers, and campus departments. The Sourcing Manager
meets frequently with campus constituents to review business plans, identify savings and service opportunities, monitor contract compliance
and facilitate the exchange of commodity and contract information.
Primary duties include the following:
Develop effective sourcing strategies and action plans for new or improved supplier
agreements as well as internal demand management and purchasing behavior changes. Collaborate with Sourcing Managers, campus customers, and
other key stakeholders to produce best-in-class supplier contracts that will result in cost savings and operational efficiencies.
Develop strategic sourcing business cases through detailed analysis of contracts, spend data, usage patterns, future demands, and
benchmark data. The business cases must tell a compelling story related to the savings opportunity and potential change management
considerations.
Develop strategies and lead supplier negotiations. Analyze supplier proposals and recommend appropriate next steps in
the negotiation process. Facilitate all formal activities related to competitive bidding events. Proactively promote the adoption and
utilization of online competitive bidding technology where appropriate.
Develop requests for proposals and manage the competitive
bidding process.
Collaborate with campus stakeholders to implement sourcing solutions including establishing the contract, on-boarding
new suppliers, overseeing establishment of catalogues, and coordinating training and communication as part of the deployment.
Manage the
end-to-end supplier relationship, including quarterly reviews of supplier performance, contract compliance, and pricing.
Meet quarterly
with campus constituents to identify savings and service opportunities, monitor contract compliance and facilitate the exchange of commodity
and contract information.
Support the University's sustainability objectives and represents the Purchasing team on various institutional
sustainability initiatives.
Review, evaluate, and approve purchase orders within the departmental limits, including ensuring process and
policy compliance.
Route orders that exceed approval limit of $50,000 to the Associate Director for Strategic Sourcing for review and
approval.
Negotiate supplier pricing and terms, thoroughly calculate cost savings, and document purchase transactions in compliance with
University policy and industry best practice.
Essential Qualifications: Position Requires:
Bachelor's
degree in a relevant field or equivalent work experience
5 to 7 years of experience in purchasing including strategic sourcing
Advanced negotiation skills
Strong understanding of legal terms and conditions
Sourcing and contracting experience within the
Laboratory Equipment/Supplies/Chemicals and Computer Hardware/Software/Peripherals commodities
Advanced proficiency with Microsoft
Office Tools (Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Access)
Adept at working with large and complex datasets to gain insight
Proficient with
analytical, reporting, and dash boarding tools
Experience with procure-to-pay technologies
Experience managing compliance with
internal and external policies/ requirements (e.g. Sponsored Research, Environmental\Health and Safety, Tax Reporting)
Experience
measuring supplier performance
Experience with using automated purchasing applications
Excellent project management skills
Strong communication skills
Proven ability to develop and maintain influential and collaborative relationships
Education Required: Bachelor's Degree
Preferred Qualifications: Preferred:
CPM or CPSM certification
Experience working in a higher education
environment
Experience with on-line bidding
Experience with the PeopleSoft purchasing application
The final candidate is required to successfully pass a background check.
Princeton University is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer.
Contact: David Ruth david@rice.edu 713-348-6327 Rice University
Rice University-based team analyzes physics of epithelial cell cooperation
Like flocks of birds, cells coordinate their motions as they race to cover and ultimately heal wounds to the skin. How that happens is a little less of a mystery today.
Researchers once thought only the cells at the edge of a growing patch of wounded skin were actively moving while dividing cells passively filled in the middle. But that's only part of the picture. Rice University physicist Herbert Levine and his colleagues have discovered that the process works much more efficiently if highly activated cells in every part of the patch exert force as they pull their neighbors along.
There's a need to understand how cells cooperate to protect the site of a wound in the hours and days after injury, said Levine, who has introduced the first iteration of a computer model to analyze the two-dimensional physics of epithelial sheets. He hopes it will give new insight into a process with long-term implications not only for healing but also for understanding cancer, a prime motivator in his research since joining Rice under a grant from the Cancer Research and Prevention Institute of Texas.
A paper on the research by Levine, based at Rice University's BioScience Research Collaborative, and colleagues at the University of California at San Diego and in Germany and France appears this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science.
Levine and his colleagues create computer models of processes seen by experimentalists to flesh out the rules that govern biological systems. "Here, we're combining experimental observations from single cells with general notions from the physics literature to create an integrated way of thinking about this multicellular system," he said.
The new models were prompted by a recent Harvard study showing "that even in the middle of a sheet, cells were dynamically creating heads and tails and were actively moving rather than being passively carried along," Levine said. "This data convinced us that we needed a different way to start to think about the problem."
The body marshals an astounding array of forces to heal wounds, Levine said. Many have to do with cell biology, the internal and external signals that tell a cell when to move, when to stop, when to split and when to die. His team's intent was to focus first on the cell's physical interactions with its neighbors and study what happened if all those complicating factors are eliminated from the simulations.
"We try to unravel what is physics and what is biology," Levine said. "We want to know which parts of the phenomenon don't require sophisticated signaling networks."
In the physics approach to cell motility, he said, "the first thing to do is see how far we can get if we assume that all the cells are following the same rules. Then the only thing that's creating the dynamics of the system is that they're interacting with each other. This is the type of problem that physicists have studied before, usually in nonbiological contexts."
In the Harvard experiment, he said, "They had taken a millimeter-sized tissue that was spreading and showed it wasn't just cells on the end that were pulling on the tissue while the others were spectators." But that work didn't explain how cells in the center of the tissue knew the direction of the edge.
Levine's team looked to the skies for inspiration. "Birds look around and decide which way all their neighbors are flying," Levine said. "The idea that they would move as independent birds but also coordinate is where the idea of flocking came from. This way of thinking hadn't been applied to epithelial tissue motility in wound healing."
What cells "see" are their sticky neighbors, which pull and tug them as they move on lamellipodia, thin sheets that serve as "feet" powered by actin filaments that act something like the treads on a tank. The overlapping lamellipodia of adjacent cells influence each other. "The cells have to figure out which way to go based on competing tendencies: their own tendency to push on the ground and propel themselves forward, and the tendency of their neighbors to try to pull them in various directions," Levine said. "Our basic notion is that as time goes on, these tendencies become correlated as the cell 'tries' to accommodate its conflicting inputs."
The Harvard experimentalists saw that loosely packed cells in the middle of a growing colony tend to swirl in a disorganized manner, and the simulations confirmed this. These swirls are analogous to what is seen in other examples of flocking. But when a wound is introduced, the swirls disappear and cells begin to match direction and velocity and pull toward a common goal. The ones on the edge immediately know which way to go, and everyone else learns from their example. Surprisingly, Levine said, "stickier" cells tend to push forward unevenly, with finger-like protrusions at the leading edge, much like what experimentalists often see.
The simulation model has a long way to go, Levine said. "It's rough around the edges. Biologists who read this will immediately say, 'You've left out all sorts of interesting things we know are happening.'
"Yes, there will be experiments for which this approach will not be sufficient," he said. "It will teach us that in those cases, biology has to exert a more specific role in creating the structures and the motion."
Levine hopes to match the models to current work by experimentalists on motility in cells related to the metastatic spread of breast cancer. "We're a long way from saying anything about this problem," he said. "But that's my overall agenda -- to push my research to where it can make contact with the cancer community."
###
Co-authors of the new paper are postdoctoral researcher Markus Basan and senior scientist Wouter-Jan Rappel of the Center for Theoretical Biological Physics, University of California at San Diego; Jens Elgeti, a member of the scientific staff at the Institute of Complex Systems, Jlich, Germany; and Edouard Hannezo, a graduate student at the Curie Institute, Paris. Levine is the Karl F. Hasselmann Professor in Bioengineering at Rice and co-director of the Rice-based Center for Theoretical Biological Physics.
The National Science Foundation and its Center for Theoretical Biological Physics supported the research.
Read the abstract at http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2013/01/16/1219937110.abstract
Follow Rice News and Media Relations via Twitter @RiceUNews
Related Materials:
Center for Theoretical Biological Physics: https://ctbp.ucsd.edu
Herbert Levine bio: http://bioengineering.rice.edu/Content.aspx?id=4294967400
Physical forces during collective cell migration: http://www.nature.com/nphys/journal/v5/n6/full/nphys1269.html#abs
A sequence of images shows epithelial cells marching forward from the top and bottom to heal a wound. View a time-lapsed movie of the process here. (Credit: Assaf Zaritsky/The Cell Image Library)http://news.rice.edu/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/0128_LEVINE-6-WEB.jpg
A simulation of epithelial cell growth shows how a wound heals from both sides when the individual cells move in a flock to repair the damage. Rice University researcher Herbert Levine said the cells that are "stickier" tend to push forward unevenly, with finger-like protrusions at the leading edge. In the left simulation, the cells were subject to the kind of adhesion they experience in real healing. At right, the adhesive properties of cells in the simulation were removed, resulting in much smoother -- though not necessarily advantageous -- growth. (Credit: Markus Basan/University of California at San Diego)
Located on a 300-acre forested campus in Houston, Rice University is consistently ranked among the nation's top 20 universities by U.S. News & World Report. Rice has highly respected schools of Architecture, Business, Continuing Studies, Engineering, Humanities, Music, Natural Sciences and Social Sciences and is home to the Baker Institute for Public Policy. With 3,708 undergraduates and 2,374 graduate students, Rice's undergraduate student-to-faculty ratio is 6-to-1. Its residential college system builds close-knit communities and lifelong friendships, just one reason why Rice has been ranked No. 1 for best quality of life multiple times by the Princeton Review and No. 2 for "best value" among private universities by Kiplinger's Personal Finance. To read "What they're saying about Rice," go to http://tinyurl.com/AboutRice.
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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.
Contact: David Ruth david@rice.edu 713-348-6327 Rice University
Rice University-based team analyzes physics of epithelial cell cooperation
Like flocks of birds, cells coordinate their motions as they race to cover and ultimately heal wounds to the skin. How that happens is a little less of a mystery today.
Researchers once thought only the cells at the edge of a growing patch of wounded skin were actively moving while dividing cells passively filled in the middle. But that's only part of the picture. Rice University physicist Herbert Levine and his colleagues have discovered that the process works much more efficiently if highly activated cells in every part of the patch exert force as they pull their neighbors along.
There's a need to understand how cells cooperate to protect the site of a wound in the hours and days after injury, said Levine, who has introduced the first iteration of a computer model to analyze the two-dimensional physics of epithelial sheets. He hopes it will give new insight into a process with long-term implications not only for healing but also for understanding cancer, a prime motivator in his research since joining Rice under a grant from the Cancer Research and Prevention Institute of Texas.
A paper on the research by Levine, based at Rice University's BioScience Research Collaborative, and colleagues at the University of California at San Diego and in Germany and France appears this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science.
Levine and his colleagues create computer models of processes seen by experimentalists to flesh out the rules that govern biological systems. "Here, we're combining experimental observations from single cells with general notions from the physics literature to create an integrated way of thinking about this multicellular system," he said.
The new models were prompted by a recent Harvard study showing "that even in the middle of a sheet, cells were dynamically creating heads and tails and were actively moving rather than being passively carried along," Levine said. "This data convinced us that we needed a different way to start to think about the problem."
The body marshals an astounding array of forces to heal wounds, Levine said. Many have to do with cell biology, the internal and external signals that tell a cell when to move, when to stop, when to split and when to die. His team's intent was to focus first on the cell's physical interactions with its neighbors and study what happened if all those complicating factors are eliminated from the simulations.
"We try to unravel what is physics and what is biology," Levine said. "We want to know which parts of the phenomenon don't require sophisticated signaling networks."
In the physics approach to cell motility, he said, "the first thing to do is see how far we can get if we assume that all the cells are following the same rules. Then the only thing that's creating the dynamics of the system is that they're interacting with each other. This is the type of problem that physicists have studied before, usually in nonbiological contexts."
In the Harvard experiment, he said, "They had taken a millimeter-sized tissue that was spreading and showed it wasn't just cells on the end that were pulling on the tissue while the others were spectators." But that work didn't explain how cells in the center of the tissue knew the direction of the edge.
Levine's team looked to the skies for inspiration. "Birds look around and decide which way all their neighbors are flying," Levine said. "The idea that they would move as independent birds but also coordinate is where the idea of flocking came from. This way of thinking hadn't been applied to epithelial tissue motility in wound healing."
What cells "see" are their sticky neighbors, which pull and tug them as they move on lamellipodia, thin sheets that serve as "feet" powered by actin filaments that act something like the treads on a tank. The overlapping lamellipodia of adjacent cells influence each other. "The cells have to figure out which way to go based on competing tendencies: their own tendency to push on the ground and propel themselves forward, and the tendency of their neighbors to try to pull them in various directions," Levine said. "Our basic notion is that as time goes on, these tendencies become correlated as the cell 'tries' to accommodate its conflicting inputs."
The Harvard experimentalists saw that loosely packed cells in the middle of a growing colony tend to swirl in a disorganized manner, and the simulations confirmed this. These swirls are analogous to what is seen in other examples of flocking. But when a wound is introduced, the swirls disappear and cells begin to match direction and velocity and pull toward a common goal. The ones on the edge immediately know which way to go, and everyone else learns from their example. Surprisingly, Levine said, "stickier" cells tend to push forward unevenly, with finger-like protrusions at the leading edge, much like what experimentalists often see.
The simulation model has a long way to go, Levine said. "It's rough around the edges. Biologists who read this will immediately say, 'You've left out all sorts of interesting things we know are happening.'
"Yes, there will be experiments for which this approach will not be sufficient," he said. "It will teach us that in those cases, biology has to exert a more specific role in creating the structures and the motion."
Levine hopes to match the models to current work by experimentalists on motility in cells related to the metastatic spread of breast cancer. "We're a long way from saying anything about this problem," he said. "But that's my overall agenda -- to push my research to where it can make contact with the cancer community."
###
Co-authors of the new paper are postdoctoral researcher Markus Basan and senior scientist Wouter-Jan Rappel of the Center for Theoretical Biological Physics, University of California at San Diego; Jens Elgeti, a member of the scientific staff at the Institute of Complex Systems, Jlich, Germany; and Edouard Hannezo, a graduate student at the Curie Institute, Paris. Levine is the Karl F. Hasselmann Professor in Bioengineering at Rice and co-director of the Rice-based Center for Theoretical Biological Physics.
The National Science Foundation and its Center for Theoretical Biological Physics supported the research.
Read the abstract at http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2013/01/16/1219937110.abstract
Follow Rice News and Media Relations via Twitter @RiceUNews
Related Materials:
Center for Theoretical Biological Physics: https://ctbp.ucsd.edu
Herbert Levine bio: http://bioengineering.rice.edu/Content.aspx?id=4294967400
Physical forces during collective cell migration: http://www.nature.com/nphys/journal/v5/n6/full/nphys1269.html#abs
A sequence of images shows epithelial cells marching forward from the top and bottom to heal a wound. View a time-lapsed movie of the process here. (Credit: Assaf Zaritsky/The Cell Image Library)http://news.rice.edu/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/0128_LEVINE-6-WEB.jpg
A simulation of epithelial cell growth shows how a wound heals from both sides when the individual cells move in a flock to repair the damage. Rice University researcher Herbert Levine said the cells that are "stickier" tend to push forward unevenly, with finger-like protrusions at the leading edge. In the left simulation, the cells were subject to the kind of adhesion they experience in real healing. At right, the adhesive properties of cells in the simulation were removed, resulting in much smoother -- though not necessarily advantageous -- growth. (Credit: Markus Basan/University of California at San Diego)
Located on a 300-acre forested campus in Houston, Rice University is consistently ranked among the nation's top 20 universities by U.S. News & World Report. Rice has highly respected schools of Architecture, Business, Continuing Studies, Engineering, Humanities, Music, Natural Sciences and Social Sciences and is home to the Baker Institute for Public Policy. With 3,708 undergraduates and 2,374 graduate students, Rice's undergraduate student-to-faculty ratio is 6-to-1. Its residential college system builds close-knit communities and lifelong friendships, just one reason why Rice has been ranked No. 1 for best quality of life multiple times by the Princeton Review and No. 2 for "best value" among private universities by Kiplinger's Personal Finance. To read "What they're saying about Rice," go to http://tinyurl.com/AboutRice.
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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.
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Public release date: 30-Jan-2013
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Department stores were hit in the kneecaps in 2011 by ?showrooming? apps like Price Check by Amazon and eBay?s RedLaser. Tackiness didn?t prevent shoppers from ordering merchandise they could touch and feel at the store via their smartphones for a cheaper price. Last holiday season, Macy?s struck back by updating its app to include exclusive sales (triggered minutes after shoppers entered their stores) and in-store navigation at its flagship New York City location. This app is both cool and a tool for self-preservation.
There are plenty of free and easy recipes offered in this nicely-designed interactive cookbook. It generates a shopping list based on what recipes you tag and conveniently points you to Kraft ingredients.
Being able to refill an existing prescription just by scanning the barcode of a pill bottle is just what the doctor ordered. The Walgreens app also sends push notifications when a prescription is about to expire, and lets users upload photos to their photo album and pick up prints minutes later.
It's no secret that the Internet has a hard time taking things seriously. "Best. Gulag. Ever.', raved Google user, C. Quinn, about Yodok North Korean prison. Google Chairman Eric Schmidt probably expected his recent high-profile visit to the isolated dictatorship to have a more sobering impact on online discourse. But, after Google asked users to help identify important roads and landmarks for the newly mapped country, it should have expected 
