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Football World Cup 2014 Fear

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Washington : Scientists have introduced an early warning system to alert the risk of dengue infections in 553 micro regions of Brazil for the Football Worldcup . Calculations show that the risk of an outbreak of dengue is quite an opportunity to justify a warning on high alert in the three sites northeast (Natal , Fortaleza, Recife ) , but probably is generally low in all 12 host cities.

Dr. Rachel Lowe, the lead author, of the Catalan Institute of Climate Sciences based in Barcelona , Spain, says recent concerns about dengue in Brazil at the World Cup has great dramatic headlines, but these estimates are based solely on the average last cases of dengue.

She informed about the possibility of a major outbreak of dengue fever during the World Cup, can infect visitors and spread of dengue in their home countries , depends on a combination of several factors , including a large number of mosquitoes, a susceptible population and a high degree of contact with human-mosquitoes.

The climate has a significant effect on the transmission of dengue in epidemic -prone areas where temperatures and rainfall drive both mosquito and transmission dynamics of the virus. The risk of an epidemic raises shortly after a season of heavy rain , as happened in the Amazon over the summer in Brazil.

Dr. Lowe said their goal was to make available data on seasonal precipitation and temperature forecasts in real time transmission dynamics and social and environmental variables ( eg urbanization) , and combine it with the last card and mathematical modeling to produce robust estimates of risks of the 12 host cities where matches will be played .

LG G Pad 3 New Android Tablets Announced, Screensize 7 to 10 inches

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LG Electronics (LG) has announced three new tablet devices in its G Pad series, offering more options for tablet lovers. The three new devices are named as LG G Pad 7.0, G Pad 8.0 and G Pad 10.1. LG will launch these devices at Monaco on May 13 at the MedPI tradeshow.

All the three tablets will come in different screen sizes. LG G Pad 7.0 will have a screen size of 7inch, G Pad 8.0 will have 8 inch screen and G Pad 10.1 will have a screen size of 10.1inch. There isn’t any information about their specs except the screen sizes. But LG has confirmed to publish them on May 13.

Not satisfied with their only tablet device, LG G Pad 8.3, LG has taken a step to add more tablet devices to G Pad range. This decision was also taken because of the fact they want to compete their rivals like Samsung in Android tablets.

President and CEO of LG Electronics Mobile Communications Company, Dr. Jong-seok Park said “Customers tell us that they want a wider range of devices that offer sizable screens without compromising portability. Unlike smartphones, tablets are not one size fits all. So we designed the G Pad Series for a diverse target audience, some who prioritize portability while others want the best multimedia experience possible. G Pad delivers on all counts.”

The new LG G Pad Tablets will include LG’s unique features like Knock Code and QPair 2.0 (updated version). All the three new  tablets will run on latest version of Android. Also with QPair you can connect your tab to smartphone via Bluetooth and receive all notifications such as SMS and incoming calls on your tablet itself. Knock Code is a feature which allows users to unlock the phone by tapping on the phone in a custom pattern anywhere on the screen. This feature offers more security as it has 80,000 different combination of custom patterns.

According to LG, more details about new LG G Pad tablets will be available in coming weeks.

John Boehner Expects to Become Speaker

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The Speaker of the house John A.Boehner said on Monday that he’s willing to run again to lead the Republican colleagues in the House – but on the other hand, showed the possibility that he might not be able to complete the next term.

During his long conversation about policies and politics organized by the San Antonio Chamber of Commerce, Boehner in addition to it also said that he’s running for re-election and expected to be a speaker after November’s elections.
john Boehner

If Boehner wins the reelection in November, he stopped short of committing to serve a full term.

Considering other matters, Boehner also said that he’ll remain out of this race for the GOP’s 2016, the presidential nomination, but mentioned that “Jeb bush is my good friend, I think he’d be a great president and I’ve been nudging him for a long time.” When asked about if Ohio Republican Gov.John Kasich will run, Boehner said: “I love John Kasich. We play golf together.”

“I’m not going to endorse anyone,” he said about potential candidates of presidential. “We’ll let them sort it out themselves.”

New Server App Migration Tools Relieve IT Pros

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The new server application migration tools built for the Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager are all set to put IT pros at ease by providing them some relief from oft painful migration process.

With the recent mobile and big data releases, Microsoft provides a glimpse into the future of its upcoming products.

Wes Miller, an analyst with Directions on Microsoft said, “My expectation is most news to be around Windows Server, Systems Center and perhaps a little Azure.”

microsoft appzero servers image

Indeed, several vendors are set to unveil a host of server tools and preview SCCM add-on modules next week.

AppZero, based in Andover, Mass., will unveil AppZero V6.0 at Tech Ed, to help IT professionals migrate server-based applications from Windows Server 2003 R2 to a new version of the server operating system.

Just as Windows XP hit its end of extended support nearly a month ago, Windows Server 2003 R2 will face the same obstacle on July 14, 2015, according to Microsoft’s product life cycle support page.

AppZero V6.0 includes a number of new features that reduce server application migrations to minimal or little downtime. Among the new updates to reduce migration time are the ability to extract files, registry and configuration data and place them on a new server or in the cloud while the source application continues running. The updated tool also now automates the synchronization of the production machine and migration machines to reduce downtime.

The AppZero Integration Pack will enable migrations to be driven by Microsoft’s System Center Configuration Manger, service provider or Azure management platform, the company said. The software serves as an add-on to Microsoft’s System Center 2012 Orchestrator, which provides IT administrators the ability to scale the server application migrations.

Phuong Nguyen, senior IT architect for IBM in Houston has been using AppZero’s tool since 2012. His team migrates servers and applications for large clients to the IBM product line.

Nguyen’s deployment of AppZero saves him vast amounts of time when he performs his migration tasks. In one large migration, Nguyen conducted a migration without using AppZero. It took 17 hours to complete. Using AppZero, the migration time dropped dramatically to only 45 minutes, he said.

Imation also will preview a management tool add-on for Microsoft’s SCCM for managing the USB-based Windows to Go devices. Although the tool is initially an on-premise version, the product could eventually have a cloud-based version in the future, according to a company spokesman.

Meanwhile, Perfecto Mobile, a tools automation provider based in Woburn, Mass. will preview its MobileCloud Platform lab management tool running the new Windows Phone 8.1 beta. The testing and automation tool enables developers and organizations to create Windows Phone and other iOS and Android-based smart phone applications in the cloud without having to purchase or host their own devices on-premise.

Most organizations do primary testing with a dozen devices and up to 30 for compatibility testing, said a company spokesperson.

Perfecto Mobile expects to make available the tool supporting the Windows Phone 8.1 in the late first half of 2014 when Microsoft makes Windows Phone 8.1 generally available as well.

In addition, Perfecto Mobile said it received a $20 million investment from FTV Capital and its existing investors today.

Argyll Captain Hourihane Promises To Be Better Next Season

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Argyll Team Captain, Conor Hourihane anticipates a ‘bigger and better’ season for Plymouth Argyll next year.
In 2013/14 League Two campaign, the pilgrims landed at 10th position after a draw with Portsmouth at the Fratton Park on Saturday.

Argyll thrice came from behind in action-packed ‘Dockyard Derby’ giving Hourihane two solid goals. One of them was the 88th minute equaliser, that ensured Argyll that the season did not end in a defeat for them.

Torquay United v Plymouth Argyle – npower Football League Two

Captain Hourihane told the press: “It was a full house and, to be fair, they (Portsmouth) were probably the better team. We went behind three times but the lads showed their character and it was nice to get a point. I know we were aiming for the play-offs and we didn’t get there but to finish in the top 10 was good.

“If we had dropped down to 12th or 13th it would have been disappointing, but to see ourselves in the top 10 is nice. It’s a big improvement on the last two seasons. We haven’t had any relegation six-pointers or anything like that.”

Approximately 18,026 spectators were present at the Fratton Park, including Green Army members amounting to 1,594 who were treated to an exciting spectacle.

Danny Hollands made a superb hat-trick for Portsmouth in 16 minutes of the half-time. But unfortunately, it was not enough to secure good points for Pompey because of Argyll indomitable display.

Hourihane said: “It was a fantastic game to play in and a great way to finish the season. These are the two biggest teams in League Two by a million miles, and you want to play in atmospheres like that. It’s something we want more of next season. We will come back bigger and better.

“We will be looking to improve on our 10th position, and minimum of the play-offs. Fingers crossed. Portsmouth have got a fantastic fanbase and some good players in their team. I’m sure both of us will be fighting for similar spots next season.”

Facebook Unveils Journalists Site

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Newsrooms and journalists have long used Facebook as a platform that shares and publishes content. However, the social media company based in Menlo Park, California now wants to be a source of news as well.

Facebook launched late last week FB Newswire, a new featured that is aimed at making the site a better resource in real time for newsrooms and journalists.

FB Newswire aggregates content that is newsworthy from notable organizations or people in a format making it easy to share and embed into news media.

This new feature will include original videos, photos as well as status updates to be shared on both the Facebook page of FB Newswire and Twitter.

It is a bit ironic that a rival social media site is being used by Facebook to publish its own new content. Twitter Inc however, has been long used by as a newswire by journalists and new FB Newswire is an effort by the social media site Facebook to challenge Twitter as a news source in real-time while tacitly letting it be known that Twitter is better setup for releasing breaking news.

If that was not ironic enough, Twitter has also just completed the redesign of profile pages that look much more similar to Facebook.

FB Newswire is run by Storyful, a project covering social news launched back in April of 2010 by Mark Little a journalist from Ireland that was acquired by News Corp in December for over $25 million.

Facebook news and globe media director Andy Mitchell said the social media giant was pleased to entered into this new business with a partner that has a proven track record for understanding the social web potential as a resource for media and with the tools that are needed by the newsrooms to utilize it.

Facebook has put a great deal of effort into constructing partnerships with different media organizations. As well as licensing content to media groups and making a community for journalists, the social media site uses its feature of Trending Topics to promote its content and its News Feed to highlight different articles.

Facebook has said that traffic to different media sites originally from Facebook increased fourfold in 2013.

Tequila Sweetener Could Help With Diabetes

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A natural sweetener that is derived from agave plants, which are used in making Tequila, could protect against diabetes and obesity, according to new research.

A study was presented by a research group to the ACS – American Chemical Society, which found that agavins the natural sweetener could trigger the production of insulin and lower the level of blood sugar when it was administered to mice in laboratory testing.

Researchers in the study fed groups of different mice a daily standard diet and added the agavins to their drinking water. The majority of mice who drank the agavins were discovered to have eaten less, lost weight and have levels of blood glucose lower when compared to other types of sweeteners like fructose, glucose, agave syrup, aspartame and sucrose.

The leader of the study said researchers believe the agavins have a big potential as sweeteners since in reality they are sugar, highly soluble, there glycemic index is low and their taste is neutral. However, most important is they are not metabolized by humans.

This in turn, said scientists, puts the agavins in a very good position for consumption by diabetic and obese people.

The recent study’s lead researchers Mercedes Lopez is from the Centro de Investigacion y de Estudios Avanzados located in Guanajuato, Mexico.

Lopez said that the researchers found that since the agavins are able to reduce levels of glucose they also increase the quantity of insulin.

Agavins, said Lopez, are not very expensive and there are no side effects that are known when they are consumed.

Type 2 diabetes effects an estimated population in the U.S. of 26 million.

One potentially challenging part of working with agavins is they are not available to many. In addition, while the agavins have 50% of the calories of regular sugars, they are less sweet said Lopez. The latter is able to be solved partially be the use of hydrolysis, said Lopez.

Somehow, people must understand it is hard to have the best of both worlds, in terms of locating an alternative sweetener that is very sweet.

Citigroup Fails Stress Test, Falls 5%

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Citigroup saw its shares fall by nearly 5% on Thursday, after plans by the bank and another four banks to increase payments in dividends and stock buybacks, were rejected by the Federal Reserve.

The Fed announced that the management practices or the cushion in capital were not sufficiently robust to withstand an economic downturn that was severe.

The Fed announced that 25 other banks, which had also taken part in the annual “stress test” of the Fed, received green lights for their share repurchases and dividend payouts.

Goldman Sachs and Bank of America initially were short of the requirements for minimum capital but then met the standards following a reduction of their planned payments for dividends and share buybacks this past week.

Capital plans for HSBC North America holdings, Citigroup, RBS Citizens and Santander Holdings were all rebuffed due to flaws in the oversight practices in their banks or what was called by the Feds qualitative concerns.

Zions Bancorporation’s bank plan had been turned down due to it falling short of the capital required in the event of a recession.

The bank now has 90 days for addressing what the Fed identified as weakness and can resubmit their dividend and plans for their buyback of shares.

Shares of Citigroup dropped 4.7% in trading on Thursday morning. The decision by the Fed was part of its yearly checkup that it requires banks that have over $50 million in assets to go through ensuring they could endure the shocks similar to those that upended the banking system, which led to huge bailouts by the government in the financial crisis of 2008.

Citigroup received the largest bailout by the federal government during the financial crisis with $45 billion of cash infusions and many other billions in guarantees.

The Federal Reserve said rejecting Citigroup’s plans reflected the significantly heightened expectations for the most complex and largest holding companies of banks.

The Central Bank said that Citigroup had made significant progress improving risk management and its control practices over the last few years, but its plan for capital contained deficiencies.

The Fed for example questioned the ability of Citigroup to project revenues and losses for the material parts of the company’s global operations.

Train in California Hits Teen Couple

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A couple who were walking along a set of railroad tracks on their way to a dance were hit by a train in California. Mateus Moore died saving Mickayla Friend his girlfriend said authorities. Pedestrians being hit by trains have been on the rise across the U.S.

Moore and Friend were walking to the Sadie Hawkins Dance on Friday in Marysville, California.

Reports have suggested the two were walking in the direction that the train was traveling and did not notice it had been approaching them until the last second.

At that time, Mateus was able to push his girlfriend from the tracks, which saved her life, according to people who witnessed the tragedy while watching a Little League game close by.

Mickayla was transported to a nearby hospital with injuries but was expected to survive. Mateus however was killed at the scene.

Accidents with trains involving pedestrians have dramatically increased over the past year. The fatality rate has also been the highest in over the past 10 years.

A local newspaper has reported that accidents involving pedestrians and trains are a problem that does not have a solution that is easy.

Railroad tracks are listed as private property, which means the victims of the accidents are trespassing and at their own risk. However, operators of trains take little if any measures attempting to mitigate the many risks. Fences are not built to block access by trespassers in some areas that are high traffic, said the report.

A new phenomenon has taken hold as well known as distracted walking. Many pedestrians now lose track of the surroundings they are in as they are busy chatting or texting on their mobile devices.

Reports of distracted walkers being treated for injuries at emergency rooms of hospitals had quadrupled over the last seven years.

An investigation into the accident on Friday is being conducted by the Union Pacific, who is the owners of the tracks where the accident occurred. Thus far, there is no evidence the couple was wearing headphones or was intoxicated.

The railway company said there had been plenty of time for the two to escape unharmed after the train’s horn had blown, but they do not know why they did not.

Trial to Start on Sex Charges Against General

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Brigadier General Jeffrey Sinclair was at one time a rising star amongst the top battle commanders in the U.S. Army. However, now he is fighting charges of sexual assault that could put him in a military prison for life if he is convicted.

Sinclair was the 82nd Airborne’s deputy commander, but will appear in a courtroom at Fort Bragg on Tuesday to face criminal charges in a court martial that he physically forced a captain, who is female to perform oral sex. The female captain was under his direct command.

Lawyers for Sinclair, who is a married father of two children, deny the accusation, but admit he had an extramarital affair for three years while with the officer in Afghanistan and Iraq in war tours. The admission he had an extramarital affair will likely end his career in the Army.

Sinclair, who is 51, pleaded not guilty to the eight charges against him including indecent acts, forcible sodomy, unbecoming conduct and violating orders.

Sinclair is believed to be the military’s most senior member to ever face a sexual assault trial. His case comes while the Pentagon is grappling with many revelations involving sexual misconduct and rape within the service.

In hearings prior to the trial, prosecutors painted Sinclair a sexual predator who abused the position he had obtained so he could prey on his subordinate who had been trained to follow orders.

Prosecutors said Sinclair threatened to kill both the captain and her family if she mentioned their affair to anyone.

Lawyers for the defense suggest the general is the one who is the victim, both of an ex-lover who was jealous and prosecutors who are overzealous facing great pressure from the top rankings to send a message that sexual misconduct would not be tolerated.

The lead prosecutor resigned for the military only weeks prior to the beginning of the trial. His resignation followed a pre-trial hearing that was contentious. In a pre-trial hearing last January the defense contended that the captain perjured herself.

Outside the court proceedings, prosecutors declined any comment.

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