Our voracious appetite for technology and social media has brought on a wave of employees, who would like to connect to work with their personal devices. This wave brings with it both opportunity and risk for those of us who are tasked with managing and securing business information.
This phenomenon has been going on for some time. Many of you have already made some adjustments for the BYOD or Bring Your Own Device movement, maybe without even giving it much thought. Some of your workers may have even gained access to your business network without formal approval.
What is Good about BYOD?
First and foremost, people tend to be more productive, if you let them work remotely on their own devices. For example, some choose to deal with the influx of email from their armchair in the morning or evening via iPads or tablet. It extends their work hours in a way that they choose, and makes them more productive during business hours. Secondly, many organizations are calculating the cost savings of allowing users to provide their own devices. This is most common for sales and other workers who work remote or travel. In addition, BYOD often creates a higher level of job satisfaction. This is particularly true of younger workers who view their device as an extension of their personality, or as a symbol of their tech savvy. Using their own device is actually a source of pride and satisfaction.
The downside of BYOD is quickly recognized, if you ask any IT manager. The traditionalist will say absolutely not. The dangers are many, with the biggest being theft of information. Depending on your business, this may be enough to stop you from going further. Other dangers relate to loss of production from viruses or spyware that come from unprotected devices, or even loss of time supporting devices that are not under the control of the company.
For most, there are ways to create a balanced strategy that allows for BYOD and address security concerns.
Top 5 Considerations for Creating a BYOD Strategy.
1. Create a policy to direct your actions and those of your employees. Include items like required password protection, limitation of stored data, restriction on sharing of the device with others, restrictions against jail-broken devices, anti-virus requirements, notification if device lost or stolen, allowed devices, and scope of support that will be provided by the company when issues arise.
2. Consider using mobile device management. Mobile device management is a way of controlling sensitive data on phones, tablets, iPads and other devices. It allows for remote support of these devices, GPS tracking, loss recovery, and even remote data wipe. Some of these features are built in to business grade mail servers, and some require an additional management tool that can be acquired through a monthly subscription.
3. Match your method of access to your security needs. There are several strategies for controlling data that reaches personal devices. The Federal Digital Services Advisory Group identifies three. The first is ?Virtualization? which keeps all the data at the server level and does not allow any to migrate down to the user?s device. This offers the highest level of data security. The second is ?Walled Garden?, which limits data on the user?s device to a certain designated area so that it can be easily controlled. The third is ?Limited Separation? which is a more open approach that allows data to be comingled but puts policies in place to address security. Each of these requires different types of technology to implement.
4. Define your program. Is it voluntary or mandatory? Will you reimburse for data charges or for any part of device? Are all employees included, or just certain job classifications?
5. Make sure you are not violating any privacy requirements of your industry or customers. For instance, personal information like social security, medical, health, and credit card information should never be stored unencrypted on any machine whether company owned or a personal device. Protected information like health and financial information must be encrypted at all times. This can be accomplished with a managed disk encryption solution, but may be more difficult to implement on a personal device . The BYOD demand from employees is challenging the best practices of data security that have been adhered to by IT professionals for years. This demand is in the rise, and will continue to increase as the workforce is impacted by a more tech engaged generation. For some businesses where security is paramount, preventing access by users from their own devices is still an absolute. However, with careful planning some businesses will be able to take advantage of a balanced strategy for BYOD.
Scott enjoys helping companies get to the next level with technology. Solving tough technology issues, implementing strategy, IT management and leveraging technology are all in a day's work. He has over 20 years of technology experience and is the President of CTAccess/Computer Technologies of WI, Inc. When he is not working, he enjoys renovation projects and spending time with his family.
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Contact: Natasha Pinol npinol@aaas.org 202-326-6440 American Association for the Advancement of Science
Students learn how mutations help reveal the function of particular genes
When Pamela Padilla's professors owned up to not knowing the answers to many questions in biology, she saw that as an opportunity, a door opening into interesting realms. "I liked that professors said, 'Well, we don't know that,'" says Padilla, now an associate professor of biology at the University of North Texas (UNT). Throughout her career, Padilla has tried to lead other would-be scientists to such opportunities, "to make students think more independently about what we don't know."
Padilla's lab module Worm Mutants allows students to formulate their own questions and lay out their own experimental plans. Because of its effectiveness at getting students to think about and experience the processes and concepts involved, rather than having them learn them by rote, Worm Mutants has been selected to win the Science Prize for Inquiry-Based Instruction (IBI).
Science's IBI Prize was developed to showcase outstanding materials, usable in a wide range of schools and settings, for teaching introductory science courses at the college level. The materials must be designed to encourage students' natural curiosity about how the world works, rather than to deliver facts and principles about what scientists have already discovered. Organized as one free-standing "module," the materials should offer real understanding of the nature of science, as well as providing an experience in generating and evaluating scientific evidence. Each month, Science publishes an essay by a recipient of the award, which explains the winning project. The essay about Worm Mutants will be published on October 26.
"We want to recognize innovators in science education, as well as the institutions that support them," says Bruce Alberts, editor-in-chief of Science. "At the same time, this competition will promote those inquiry-based laboratory modules with the most potential to benefit science students and teachers. The publication of an essay in Science on each winning module will encourage more college teachers to use these outstanding resources, thereby promoting science literacy."
Padilla grew up around a ranch in New Mexico, becoming interested in animals and science from an early age. She loved biology but was also interested in geology, astronomy and engineering. On her way to becoming the first person in her family to attend college and the first scientist in her extended family, Padilla had reached her sophomore year in high school when a geology teacher told her she should consider science as a career.
She credits a graduate school mentor at the University of New Mexico, who had a degree in poetry as well as in the sciences, and a post-doc mentor at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center with demonstrating an aspect of science that often gets overlooked: creativity. "If you're interested in being a scientist, then you need to ask your own questions," Padilla says. "How do you teach creativity? I always ask myself that."
Padilla says she feels strongly that it is her responsibility to teach and lead others to research. "I have been helped along the way," she says. "I didn't have the resources to get a PhD. I have to pay that back. Anyone who gets grants, scholarships, we're responsible to do this."
Unlike most genetics classes, in which known outcomes are re-created through a series of steps, Worm Mutants gets students to think about what regulates certain traits of Caenorhabditis elegans at a genetic level. Students choose a biological process that interests them, such as how neurons function to regulate muscle movement. They then try to identify a worm mutant that doesn't move normally. They communicate about their work by writing a research proposal describing background, hypotheses, methods, preliminary data collection (identifying their mutants), data interpretation, and possible future work. The final research proposals, which include the students' own ideas and conclusions, show an understanding of the concept of a genetic screen as well as the nature of scientific inquiry.
"Through application of approaches used by geneticists," says Melissa McCartney, editorial fellow at Science, "students determine the parameters of their experiments, collect and analyze data that they deem necessary, and draw their own conclusions."
Because there is no guarantee that students will be able to identify a mutant demonstrating the trait in which they are interested, there are no right or wrong answers in the lab module. There is only inquiry and experimentation, with no predetermined outcome, and students are graded on participation, proposal content, and a team-based presentation. "It challenges them," says Padilla, "because they're so used to, 'Learn this, and you'll get such and such a grade.' This is about learning how to think."
Most students rise to the occasion, though, and are "really happy that we trust them to do something that's scientifically interesting," Padilla says. They often like the idea that they can find something new, and learn about the collaboration and work associated with real research. They also learn that mutants aren't necessarily freakish sci-fi creatures with three heads. To encourage students' creativity, Padilla allows them to present their work using smart phones and video, resulting in some humorous YouTube videos, including one entitled, "Geneticists Say the Darndest Things" and a rap about Drosophila.
Ultimately, the students learn key genetic concepts through the Worm Mutants course. "I think we teach them more in this class that I was exposed to," says Padilla. "They do learn and appreciate genetic models."
Regarding her IBI award and the corresponding essay that will be published in Science, Padilla says that she hopes, "it could spark other faculties' interest to improve the delivery of information, so that students are encouraged to think creatively. I'm especially thinking about students in large classes and the state universities that might not have the best funding.
"How do we reach the students at big school like UNT? I'm interested in reaching large numbers of students."
###
The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is the world's largest general scientific society, and publisher of the journal, Science as well as Science Translational Medicine and Science Signaling. AAAS was founded in 1848, and includes some 262 affiliated societies and academies of science, serving 10 million individuals. Science has the largest paid circulation of any peer-reviewed general science journal in the world, with an estimated total readership of 1 million. The non-profit AAAS is open to all and fulfills its mission to "advance science and serve society" through initiatives in science policy; international programs; science education; and more. For the latest research news, log onto EurekAlert!, www.eurekalert.org, the premier science-news Web site, a service of AAAS.
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Contact: Natasha Pinol npinol@aaas.org 202-326-6440 American Association for the Advancement of Science
Students learn how mutations help reveal the function of particular genes
When Pamela Padilla's professors owned up to not knowing the answers to many questions in biology, she saw that as an opportunity, a door opening into interesting realms. "I liked that professors said, 'Well, we don't know that,'" says Padilla, now an associate professor of biology at the University of North Texas (UNT). Throughout her career, Padilla has tried to lead other would-be scientists to such opportunities, "to make students think more independently about what we don't know."
Padilla's lab module Worm Mutants allows students to formulate their own questions and lay out their own experimental plans. Because of its effectiveness at getting students to think about and experience the processes and concepts involved, rather than having them learn them by rote, Worm Mutants has been selected to win the Science Prize for Inquiry-Based Instruction (IBI).
Science's IBI Prize was developed to showcase outstanding materials, usable in a wide range of schools and settings, for teaching introductory science courses at the college level. The materials must be designed to encourage students' natural curiosity about how the world works, rather than to deliver facts and principles about what scientists have already discovered. Organized as one free-standing "module," the materials should offer real understanding of the nature of science, as well as providing an experience in generating and evaluating scientific evidence. Each month, Science publishes an essay by a recipient of the award, which explains the winning project. The essay about Worm Mutants will be published on October 26.
"We want to recognize innovators in science education, as well as the institutions that support them," says Bruce Alberts, editor-in-chief of Science. "At the same time, this competition will promote those inquiry-based laboratory modules with the most potential to benefit science students and teachers. The publication of an essay in Science on each winning module will encourage more college teachers to use these outstanding resources, thereby promoting science literacy."
Padilla grew up around a ranch in New Mexico, becoming interested in animals and science from an early age. She loved biology but was also interested in geology, astronomy and engineering. On her way to becoming the first person in her family to attend college and the first scientist in her extended family, Padilla had reached her sophomore year in high school when a geology teacher told her she should consider science as a career.
She credits a graduate school mentor at the University of New Mexico, who had a degree in poetry as well as in the sciences, and a post-doc mentor at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center with demonstrating an aspect of science that often gets overlooked: creativity. "If you're interested in being a scientist, then you need to ask your own questions," Padilla says. "How do you teach creativity? I always ask myself that."
Padilla says she feels strongly that it is her responsibility to teach and lead others to research. "I have been helped along the way," she says. "I didn't have the resources to get a PhD. I have to pay that back. Anyone who gets grants, scholarships, we're responsible to do this."
Unlike most genetics classes, in which known outcomes are re-created through a series of steps, Worm Mutants gets students to think about what regulates certain traits of Caenorhabditis elegans at a genetic level. Students choose a biological process that interests them, such as how neurons function to regulate muscle movement. They then try to identify a worm mutant that doesn't move normally. They communicate about their work by writing a research proposal describing background, hypotheses, methods, preliminary data collection (identifying their mutants), data interpretation, and possible future work. The final research proposals, which include the students' own ideas and conclusions, show an understanding of the concept of a genetic screen as well as the nature of scientific inquiry.
"Through application of approaches used by geneticists," says Melissa McCartney, editorial fellow at Science, "students determine the parameters of their experiments, collect and analyze data that they deem necessary, and draw their own conclusions."
Because there is no guarantee that students will be able to identify a mutant demonstrating the trait in which they are interested, there are no right or wrong answers in the lab module. There is only inquiry and experimentation, with no predetermined outcome, and students are graded on participation, proposal content, and a team-based presentation. "It challenges them," says Padilla, "because they're so used to, 'Learn this, and you'll get such and such a grade.' This is about learning how to think."
Most students rise to the occasion, though, and are "really happy that we trust them to do something that's scientifically interesting," Padilla says. They often like the idea that they can find something new, and learn about the collaboration and work associated with real research. They also learn that mutants aren't necessarily freakish sci-fi creatures with three heads. To encourage students' creativity, Padilla allows them to present their work using smart phones and video, resulting in some humorous YouTube videos, including one entitled, "Geneticists Say the Darndest Things" and a rap about Drosophila.
Ultimately, the students learn key genetic concepts through the Worm Mutants course. "I think we teach them more in this class that I was exposed to," says Padilla. "They do learn and appreciate genetic models."
Regarding her IBI award and the corresponding essay that will be published in Science, Padilla says that she hopes, "it could spark other faculties' interest to improve the delivery of information, so that students are encouraged to think creatively. I'm especially thinking about students in large classes and the state universities that might not have the best funding.
"How do we reach the students at big school like UNT? I'm interested in reaching large numbers of students."
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Rake, the legal drama that has Greg Kinnear attached to star and co-executive produce, has landed at Fox with a pilot production commitment with series penalty. The deal comes after interest from both broadcast and cable networks.Paul Attanasio, originally attached as showrunner when Rake was taken out a month ago, is no longer involved because of other TV and feature commitments; just last week, he was tapped to rewrite a Scarface remake for Universal. Rake is closing in on a new showrunner.
The project, a U.S. version of the popular Australian comedic drama, is produced by Sony Pictures TV and Essential Media, the company behind the original series, and will be written by the Australian series? co-creator Peter Duncan. It follows the chaotic world of a criminal defense lawyer, Cleaver Greene (Kinnear). Brilliant, iconoclastic and innately self-destructive, he has a mind-numbing lack of discretion and a total inability to pause before speaking his mind. From bigamists to cannibals and everything in between, the clients Cleaver loves most are those whose cases appear to be utterly hopeless without him realizing that he, himself, is perhaps the most desperate case of all. With its procedural setting, comedic overtones and a brilliant but self-destructive character at the center, the project is reminiscent of Fox?s long-running medical drama House, making the network a suitable home for Rake.
Related: Greg Kinnear To Star In Legal Drama Project; All Nets Interested
Executive producing the U.S. adaptation are Duncan and Essential Media?s Richard Roxburgh and Ian Collie.
The original series, co-created by Duncan, Roxburgh and Charles Waterstreet and co-written by Duncan and Andrew Knight, premiered on Australia?s ABC 1 in 2010 and is airing its second season. It stars Roxburgh and has been able to attract high-profile talent as guest stars (as evident from the trailer below) including Rachel Griffiths, Hugo Weaving and Sam Neill.
Since his early days as a talk-show host, Kinnear has been focused on features, earning an Oscar nomination for As Good As It Gets. He tested the TV waters the last two years with a starring role in the miniseries The Kennedys and a guest spot on Modern Family. Both earned him Emmy nominations. Kinnear, whose latest movie Writers premiered at the Toronto Film Festival, and Duncan are with CAA.
TOKYO - Senior Japanese and Chinese diplomats have met to discuss a dispute over East China Sea islets hat both countries claim, the Japanese government said on Wednesday, underscoring willingness to talk despite a sharp deterioration in ties.
Sino-Japanese relations took a dive after the Japanese government bought the islands, called Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China, from a private Japanese owner in September, triggering violent protests and calls for boycotts of Japanese products across China.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura confirmed talks between Tokyo and Beijing after domestic media reported that Japanese Vice Foreign Minister Chikao Kawai secretly met senior Chinese officials, probably including his counterpart, Zhang Zhijun, in Shanghai last week to discuss the dispute.
Anti-Japan demonstrators damaged a car carrying U.S. ambassador Gary Locke outside the American embassy in Beijing. The protest was in response to an ongoing territorial dispute between China and Japan. NBCNews.com's Alex Witt reports.
"I am aware of the reports. That was part of the communications going on between Japan and China in various forms and at various levels," Fujimura told a regular news conference without giving details.
"It just shows we are in constant contact at many levels."
Following Japan's purchase of the islands, China sent fishery patrol and marine surveillance vessels to waters near the islets, raising concern that confrontation with Japanese patrol ships could escalate into a broader conflict.
Protesters in China rally in Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong in response to a territorial dispute with Japan. NBCNews.com's Dara Brown reports.
The row with China, the world's second-largest economy and Japan's largest trading partner, has prompted the Bank of Japan to cut its outlook for economies in the region.?
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Just a day after introducing the iPad mini, a revised iMac, a 4th-generation iPad and a retooled Mac mini, the company is outing its Q4 2012 earnings -- and it looks as if it has narrowly fell short of Wall Street estimates. Revenue was pegged at $36 billion (compared to estimates of $35.08 billion), with net profit at $8.2 billion. For the sake of comparison, the outfit's fourth quarter of 2011 saw $28.27 billion in revenue alongside $6.62 billion net profit -- at the time, those comically large numbers were actually not up to Wall Street's comical expectations. If you're looking for a quarter-over-quarter comparison, the company's Q3 2012 report showed $35 billion in total revenue, with $8.8 billion in net profits.
The company is guiding for $52 billion in revenues for Q1 2013, while announcing that it sold 26.9 million iPhones (up from 17.01 million a year ago), 14 million iPads (up from 11.12 million) and 5 million Macs (up from 4.89 million) in this quarter. As for the waning iPod business? Predictably, it sold just 5.3 million of those, representing a 19 percent drop from the year-ago quarter. Naturally, the company is expecting its next earnings report to be the one that blows everyone away, with holiday sales -- combined with a slew of new kit -- to propel things leading into 2013. Apple also announced that shareholders that hold stock as of November 12th will pick up a $2.65 / share dividend.
As for other specifics, we're told that gross margin was 40.0 percent compared to 40.3 percent in the year-ago quarter, while international sales accounted for 60 percent of the quarter's revenue. Peter Oppenheimer, Apple's CFO, proudly boasted: "We're pleased to have generated over $41 billion in net income and over $50 billion in operating cash flow in fiscal 2012. Looking ahead to the first fiscal quarter of 2013, we expect revenue of about $52 billion and diluted earnings per share of about $11.75." As for the outfit's current stash of on-hand cash? $121.3 billion. Yeah. The financial results call will get going at 5PM ET, and we'll be liveblogging it right here!
BAIKONUR, Kazakhstan (AP) ? A Russian spacecraft surged into clear skies over the Central Asian steppe Tuesday, carrying a three-man crew on their way to the International Space Station.
The engines of the Soyuz TMA-06M sent a powerful roar across the tinder-dry countryside of southern Kazakhstan as scheduled in the afternoon to deliver NASA astronaut Kevin Ford and Russians Oleg Novitsky and Yevgeny Tarelkin to the orbiting laboratory.
"I spoke with the astronauts after they reached orbit," Russian Space Agency chief Vladimir Popovkin said. "They feel well. Everything went fine, despite the windy conditions."
After a two-day journey, the astronauts will join U.S. astronaut Sunita Williams, Russia's Yuri Malenchenko and Aki Hoshide of Japan's JAXA agency.
The crew will face what may be the heaviest workload in the 12-year history of the space station over its first week.
Tasks will include handling the departure of a Dragon cargo vehicle and a spacewalk to carry out repair operations on the station.
Of the three in Tuesday's takeoff, only Ford has flown in space before. He spent two weeks as pilot of the space shuttle Discovery in 2009 on a mission to transport scientific equipment to the space station.
Tuesday's launch took place in unseasonably warm conditions and afforded the small crowd of space officials, well-wishers and family members of the astronauts at the viewing platform a clear sight of the rocket disappearing into the distance.
Within a few seconds of the launch, the first set of booster rockets detached as planned in a puff of smoke and fell to earth leaving a streak of black fumes in its wake.
An announcer informed the crowd of the craft's progress over a loudspeaker. After nine minutes, he announced the Soyuz had reached orbit, prompting a burst of applause for the successful start to the mission.
Televised footage showed the soft toy hippopotamus mascot dangling over the crew floating in weightlessness.
The crew will be tightly packed into the cramped Soyuz for 48 hours before finally docking with the space station.
For the first time since 1984, the manned takeoff took place from the Russian-leased Baikonur cosmodrome's launch site 31.
The pad that is normally used for such missions? the one where Yury Gagarin became the first human to travel into space in 1961, is being modernized. Site No. 1, better known as Gagarin's Start, was last overhauled in 1983.
The need for a back-up launch site became particularly acute with the decommissioning of the U.S. shuttle fleet in 2011, when Gagarin's Start became the only operating pad available for manned launches to the space station.
"We had no doubts that we could launch astronauts from here, but this has completely convinced us ... that from 2014 we will be sending people from the Gagarin Start," Popovkin said after congratulating space agency workers.
Manned launches from Baikonur take place about four times a year. Popovkin said launches of a modernized version of the craft that flew Tuesday, Soyuz-2, would begin from Gagarin Start in 2016.
Space officials have in recent weeks sought to address misgivings over billions of dollars spent to develop the International Space Station.
Ford said Monday that the bulk of the scientific benefits from the orbiting laboratory will be seen over the coming decade.
"The first 10 years were really intensive in the construction side of it, bringing all the pieces together and really getting the science enabled," Ford said.
Ford, who hails from Portland, Indiana, said the station would now enter its "utilization phase."
"We're going to learn the bulk of everything we know about the science that we're doing up there in the next decade," he said.
The growing capabilities of private space vehicle companies also have boosted hopes that NASA will be able to focus increasingly on more ambitious exploration projects.
Earlier this month, California-based SpaceX successfully delivered supplies to the space station on a craft called Dragon, the first official shipment under a $1.6 billion contract with NASA. It calls for 12 such shipments.
The Ford, Novitsky and Tarelkin stay on the station also will see the first ever arrival of "Cygnus," a commercial cargo vehicle from the Orbital Sciences Corp., of Dulles, Virginia, scheduled for December.
"These companies ... are themselves learning a lot about getting to and from low-earth orbit and picking up that task so that NASA can indeed begin to concentrate on things out of earth orbit and going out further into our solar system," Ford said.
CAIRO (AP) ? An Egyptian court on Tuesday asked the country's highest tribunal to rule on whether to disband the body tasked with writing a new constitution. That could give Islamists time to finish drafting the document before a legal ruling.
It's the latest twist in a bitter struggle between Islamists and their secular rivals over the constitution. The Islamists, who dominate the constitutional assembly, are racing to put a draft before a public referendum before the judges rule.
The work and the composition of the 100-member constitutional assembly have been the subject of a fierce debate. The focus is the potential for stricter implementation of Islamic Shariah law and empowerment of religious scholars that liberals fear could signal a turn toward an Iran-style theocratic state.
Along with the contentious role of religion in the nation's affairs, Islamists and liberals are haggling over other proposed articles relating to women rights, freedom of worship, presidential powers, immunity for the military from civilian oversight and undercutting the powers of the Supreme Constitutional Court.
Supporters of the panel say it was set up by an elected parliament and broadly represents Egypt's political factions. Critics counter that the process is dominated by majority Islamists, such as the Muslim Brotherhood of Egypt's new president, Mohammed Morsi, and more radical groups.
A new constitution would be a key step in establishing a democracy to replace the regime of longtime President Hosni Mubarak, who was ousted last year in an uprising led by progressive, secular activists. They rallied public anger over poverty, Mubarak's tight grip on power, rampant corruption and widespread abuses by security and intelligence agencies.
But in the nearly 20 months since then, Islamists have emerged as the strongest political force. Morsi was elected president after the Brotherhood and the even more conservative Salafis party swept parliamentary elections, leaving the liberals with minimal representation. The parliament was later disbanded.
Instead of ruling on a petition submitted by liberals challenging the legitimacy of the panel, Judge Nazih Tangho of the High Administrative Court on Tuesday sent the case to Egypt's Supreme Constitutional Court.
The decision sets up a new showdown between the Supreme Constitutional Court, packed with secularist judges, and Egypt's ruling and powerful Brotherhood. The same court dissolved the Brotherhood-led parliament, ruled the election law unconstitutional and turned down Morsi's attempt to restore it upon his election in June.
Last week, the Constitutional Court criticized the panel's move to strip the court's power right to rule on laws passed by parliament. The proposed articles also maintain the president's grip over the court, as he appoints its head and members.
It was not known when the top court would rule on the petition. However, the ruling could come after the people have voted on the constitution.
Tangho said he referred to the case to the Constitutional Court to look into a law Morsi passed in July that gave the constitutional panel legal immunity.
"The law was meant to prevent the High Administrative Court from looking into appeals ... against the panel," he said.
A senior Brotherhood member, Ahmed Abu Baraka, said, "the court here is saying that this is not my business and I am not interfering in the writing of the constitution nor its panel, in respect to the principle of separation between powers."
"This is a realistic decision and ends political maneuvers that dragged courts and judiciary in the middle of it," he said.
The Muslim Brotherhood's political arm, Freedom and Justice Party, praised the ruling as ushering "a new meeting point to all spectrum of the Egyptian society." In a statement, the party called upon its rivals to get involved in the writing of the constitution.
The constitution panel was disbanded once before, in April, after the High Administrative Court ruled against inclusion of lawmakers as members.
With the nation increasingly polarized, and mistrust between Islamists and other groups growing, Egypt's judiciary has emerged as a final refuge for settling key disputes.
More than 40 legal challenges have been presented to the top administrative court demanding the dissolution of the panel writing the charter.
"We are going to witness a new phase of confrontation between the Muslim Brotherhood and the Constitutional Court," said Ziad Abdel Tawab, a legal expert with Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies. "The process will linger, for sure."
The fourth Tinker Bell movie is now available on DVD and in 3D on Blu-Ray, a first for the Disney Fairies franchise. Secret of the Wings is a cute, funny tale that could have easily been a hit in theaters, had it not been a home movie release.
Although viewers won?t find out the true secret of the wings until the end of the movie, I?ll give a minor spoiler warning right here. There?s another secret that even Tinker Bell didn?t know about that is a major part of the plot. So stop now if you want to be totally surprised.
Tinker Bell is not only a tinkerer, she also is very curious and that often gets her in trouble. That?s the case when she journeys into the Winter Fairy?s domain ? a no-no in fairy world. She heads to this cold land to find The Keeper, the author of a book about fairy wings to find out why her wings were recently glowing. Tinker Bell not only finds The Keeper, she also finds something she didn?t know she had ? a twin sister.
The rest of the movie has Tinker Bell and her new found sister, Periwinkle, exploring each other?s worlds and trying to find a way to unit them and stay together.
The voice acting is spot on, the visuals are great (get the 3D version if you have a 3D TV) and the music fits well. This movie isn?t just for little girls. Everyone in the family will enjoy it. (Adults may recognize The Keeper?s voice as a great imitation of Tim Conway?s Mr. Tudball on The Carol Burnett Show.)
?Secret of the Wings? voice cast includes Academy Award-Winner Anjelica Huston (TV?s ?Smash?), Timothy Dalton (TV?s ?Chuck?, The Living Daylights), Lucy Liu (TV?s ?Southland?, Charlie?s Angels), Raven-Symon? (TV?s ?That?s So Raven?), Megan Hilty (TV?s ?Smash?), Pamela Adlon (TV?s ?Californication?), Matt Lanter (TV?s ?90210?), Debby Ryan (TV?s ?Jesse?) and Mae Whitman (TV?s ?Parenthood?), and Periwinkle, voiced by Lucy Hale (TV?s ?Pretty Little Liars?). A DisneyToon Studios production, the film is directed by Peggy Holmes, co-directed by Bobs Gannaway, and produced by Michael Wigert. John Lasseter serves as executive producer.
BLU-RAY Bonus Features ? Combo Pack includes Blu-ray + DVD + Digital Copy + Bonus Adventure + Blu-ray 3D ? Pixie Hollow Games ? Never-before-seen Pixie Preview: ?Fright Light? ? All-New Music Video ? Zendaya ?Dig Down Deeper? Music Video
DVD Bonus Features ? All-New Music Video ? Zendaya ?Dig Down Deeper? Music Video
Guests can meet Tinker Bell and Periwinkle in a Winter-transformed Tinker Bell?s Magical Nook in the Magic Kingdom and at Disneyland. Here?s a look:
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California Property Management For owners of residential, commercial, or industrial real estate, working with a Property Management Pros will be a great resource. Property management works the same as management in any other business by monitoring the care and financial needs of any property. They work to locate quality tenants who respect and care for the property and always pay promptly. We will act as a mediator between you and the tenant easing the responsibility of owners who already have busy lives. Selecting a responsible property management company can make real estate ownership easy. We have the skills and know-how to make every aspect of the process easy and pain-free. Take comfort in the knowledge that we will always treat your real estate as if we own it ourselves. Property Management Pros
TOKYO (AP) ? Japan's trade deficit widened in September, the third straight month of shortfall, as exports plunged 10.3 percent from a year earlier, weighed down by Europe's debt crisis and a surge in antagonisms with China that have damaged close economic ties.
The deficit for September was 558.6 billion yen ($7.2 billion), the Finance Ministry said Monday, higher than the forecasts of many analysts and bigger than a deficit of about $3.7 billion a year earlier. The deficit in August was $9.6 billion.
September's exports totaled 5.4 trillion yen ($68.7 billion). Imports rose 4 percent from a year earlier to 5.9 trillion yen ($75.9 billion), continuing to be inflated by additional imports of oil and other fuels for power generation as most nuclear reactors remain offline in the aftermath of last year's Fukushima nuclear disaster.
The ministry figures show exports to all regions falling, apart from a meager 0.4 percent year-on-year gain in shipments to North America. Exports to crisis-stricken Europe plummeted 26 percent.
A territorial dispute with China that sparked anti-Japanese riots in September took a heavy toll, with exports to China sinking 14 percent from a year earlier to 953.4 billion yen ($12.2 billion). Imports from China climbed 3.8 percent to 1.28 trillion yen ($16.4 billion).
The rise in antagonisms over disputed islands in the East China Sea has been especially hard on the auto industry. Auto exports fell 15 percent in September from the year before
The strong Japanese yen has hurt the country's export competitiveness, while demand has evaporated as growth slowed in most regions. Exports of consumer electronics, a mainstay, fell by double-digit figures from a year earlier.
ScienceDaily (Oct. 23, 2012) ? For the first time, scientists have observed how droplets within solids deform and burst under high electric voltages.
This is important, the Duke University engineers who made the observations said, because it explains a major reason why such materials as insulation for electrical power lines eventually fail and cause blackouts. This observation not only helps scientists develop better insulation materials, but could also lead to such positive developments as "tunable" lenses for eyes.
As the voltage increases, water droplets, or air bubbles, within polymers slowly change from their spherical shape to a more tubular shape, causing extremely large deformation within the material. Over time, this can lead to cracking and failure of the polymer, the researchers said. Polymers are a class of "soft" materials that can be found almost everywhere, most commonly as an insulator for electrical wires, cables and capacitors. Droplets or bubbles can be trapped in these polymers as defects during fabrication.
"The effects of electric voltage on droplets in air or in liquid have been studied over decades,' said Xuanhe Zhao, assistant professor of mechanical engineering and materials science at Duke's Pratt School of Engineering. "We take advantage of the understanding of these electrified drops in air or liquid every day, such as in the use of ink-jet printers.
"Conversely, no one has actually observed the effects of electric voltages on droplets in solids," Zhao said.
The results of Zhao's experiments were published online Oct. 23, 2012, in the journal Nature Communications. His work is supported by and the National Science Foundation's Research Triangle Materials Research Science and Engineering Center, National Science Foundation's Materials and Surface Engineering program and National Institutes of Health.
In air or liquid, droplets subjected to increased voltage tend to transform into a cone shape that eventually emits tiny droplets from the pointed end of the cone. This is the basic phenomenon that is taken advantage of in inkjet printers and similar technologies.
"Changes in electrified drops in solids have not been well studied, because it has been very difficult to observe the process as the solid would usually break down before droplet transformation could be captured," Zhao said. "This limitation has not only hampered our understanding of electrified droplets, but has hindered the development of high-energy-density polymer capacitors and other devices."
This knowledge becomes especially important, Zhao said, as scientists are developing new polymers designed to carry higher and higher loads of electricity.
Zhao's experiments involved droplets, or bubbles, encapsulated within different types of polymers. Using a special technique developed by Zhao group, the team observed and explained how increased voltage caused the droplet to form a sharp "tip" before evolving into the tubular shape.
"Our study suggests a new mechanism of failure of high-energy-density dielectric polymers," Zhao said. "This should help in the development of such applications as new capacitors for power grids or electric vehicles and muscle-like transducers for soft robots and energy harvesting."
The experiments also showed how polymers "deformed," or changed shapes, at different voltages before they failed.
"It appears that it could be possible, just by varying voltages, to change the shape of a particular polymer," Zhao said. "One of the new areas we are now looking into is creating lenses that can be custom-shaped and used in ophthalmic settings."
Other members of the team were Qiming Wang, Zhao's graduate student, and Zhigang Suo, Harvard University.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Duke University, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.
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Journal Reference:
Qiming Wang, Zhigang Suo, Xuanhe Zhao. Bursting drops in solid dielectrics caused by high voltages. Nature Communications, 2012; 3: 1157 DOI: 10.1038/ncomms2178
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Our voracious appetite for technology and social media has brought on a wave of employees, who would like to connect to work with their personal devices. This wave brings with it both opportunity and risk for those of us who are tasked with managing and securing business information.
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Public release date: 25-Oct-2012
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Rake, the legal drama that has Greg Kinnear attached to star and co-executive produce, has landed at Fox with a pilot production commitment with series penalty. The deal comes after interest from both broadcast and cable networks. Paul Attanasio, originally attached as showrunner when Rake was taken out a month ago, is no longer involved because of other TV and feature commitments; just last week, he was tapped to rewrite a Scarface remake for Universal. Rake is closing in on a new showrunner.
pause before speaking his mind. From bigamists to cannibals and everything in between, the clients Cleaver loves most are those whose cases appear to be utterly hopeless without him realizing that he, himself, is perhaps the most desperate case of all. With its procedural setting, comedic overtones and a brilliant but self-destructive character at the center, the project is reminiscent of Fox?s long-running medical drama House, making the network a suitable home for Rake.
Although viewers won?t find out the true secret of the wings until the end of the movie, I?ll give a minor spoiler warning right here. There?s another secret that even Tinker Bell didn?t know about that is a major part of the plot. So stop now if you want to be totally surprised.