International Journal of Ad hoc, Sensor & Ubiquitous Computing ...

ISSN : 0976 ? 1764 (Online); 0976 ? 2205 (Print)
http://airccse.org/journal/ijasuc/ijasuc.html

Scope & Topics

International Journal of Ad hoc, sensor & Ubiquitous Computing (IJASUC) will provide an excellent international forum for sharing knowledge and results in theory, methodology and applications of Ad Hoc & Ubiquitous computing. Current information age is witnessing a dramatic use of digital and electronic devices in the workplace and beyond. Ubiquitous Computing presents a rather arduous requirementof robustness, reliability and availability to the end user. Ad hoc, Sensor & Ubiquitous computing has received a significant and sustained research interest in terms of designing and deploying large scale and high performance computational applications in real life.

Topic of Interest

Authors are solicited to contribute to this journal by submitting articles that illustrate research results, projects, surveying works and industrial experiences that describe significant advances in the following areas, but are not limited to

Ad Hoc Computing

* Ad Hoc Networks of Autonomous Intelligent Systems
* Addressing and location management
* Architectures, protocols, and algorithms
* Data management issues
* Distributed technology
* Mobile ad hoc learning
* Mobile and wireless ad hoc networks
* Mobile agents for ad hoc networking
* Network design and planning
* Novel Architectures for Ad Hoc and Sensor Networks
* Performance Analysis and Simulation of Protocols
* Power-aware and energy-efficient designs
* Quality of service
* Resource allocation
* Security and privacy
* Self-configuring and self-healing schemes
* Services and applications
* Wireless & Mobile network Security
* Wireless sensor network

Sensor Networks

* Architectures, protocols and algorithms
* Data allocation and information
* Deployments and implementations
* Embedded, network-oriented operating systems
* Energy optimization
* Hardware aspects of sensor design
* Location management and placement
* MAC protocols for wireless sensor networks
* Middleware and software tools
* Modeling and Performance evaluation
* Radio Issues with other wireless/mobile systems
* Resource allocation, services, QoS and fault tolerance
* Scalability of wireless sensor networks
* Security and dependability issues
* Sensor circuits and devices
* Software, applications and programming
* Under water sensors and systems
* Visualization of sensor data
* Work models

Ubiquitous Computing

* Architectural structure, design decisions and philosophies
* Autonomic management of ubiquitous systems
* Context and location awareness, context based and implicit computing
* Distributed Computing
* Ubicomp Human-computer Interaction for devices
* Intelligent devices and environments
* Internet Computing and Applications
* Interoperability and large scale deployment
* Middleware services and agent technologies
* Personalized & special field applications
* Security Issues and Applications
* Service discovery mechanisms and protocols
* Software infrastructures
* System support infrastructures and services
* Ubiquitous systems and trust
* User interfaces and interaction models
* Virtualization over networks of devices
* Wearable computers and technologies
* Wireless networking and mobile, pervasive and ubiquitous computing
* Wireless/mobile service management and delivery
* Mobile Computing
* Network Protocols & Wireless Communication

Paper Submission

Authors are invited to submit papers for this journal through E-mail : ijasucjournal@airccse.org or ijasucjournal@yahoo.com. Submissions must be original and should not have been published previously or be under consideration for publication while being evaluated for this Journal.

Important Dates:

Submission deadline : 30 December, 2012
Acceptance notification : 25 January, 2013
Final manuscript due : 31 January, 2013
Publication date : determined by the Editor-in-Chief

For other details please visit http://airccse.org/journal/ijasuc/ijasuc.html

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The Benefits Of The DDS-4 Tape Format Engineered By Quantum

Here at Odsi we're more than a competitive online reseller of brand name tape media. We focus on all of the things that are of interest to our customers, not only in saving you money but also in saving you time.

View all articles by Mark Paul Backup technology is a necessity in the world of today. Many people lose important information when a hacker hacks into their databases or when viruses attack the software. Indeed anti-virus softwares and programmes are available to deal with these but when a new virus is on the loose these become ineffective. Often newer viruses tend to be more dangerous and resistant to older anti-virus softwares because those who create these tend to know of how such softwares combat the older ones. So, the newer ones tend to be resistant to these.

When a company stores information on to their database, this is not always safe because when one goes online, the software can be affected by anyone via online and/or offline networks. Once the online network is logged onto the software is open to viruses, hackers and other such disruptions from cyberspace. It is difficult to ensure that no virus enters the computer or to try and get rid of hackers. So, it is important to take precautionary measures in order to minimize the damage caused by such threats and the way to do that is to back up the information on something other than the computer software.

This is where backup technology is a necessity. Such technology helps preserve important information in case threats from cyberspace attack the computer and backup technology devices can also be used if the database is destroyed due to a natural disaster. Backup technology would give companies a separate medium on to which they can store information. Many companies have come up with DDS tapes, USBs, LTO tapes and other such devices that would enable companies to protect vital information on to these. The best part about these devices is that they are long-lasting, effective and affordable!

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Quantum tape drive is required to perform operations on this compact DDS4 cartridge. Massive volume of information can be retrieved and preserved for longer time period. The tape drive comes with a durable write/read head and can stream data without any interruption.

So if anything happens to your on-site data, the tapes will be there to help you bounce back and retrieve important information. In conclusion the tape provides businesses with a separate device on to which information can be stored and protected from viruses, hackers and other such threats. Small-scale business can surely trust Quantum DDS4 media storage solution and grow cost effectively.

DDS-4 tape cartridges are very robust, reliable and cost efficient. High performance SDLT tapes, LTO tapes, DDS tapes, AIT tapes, RDX cartridges and Maxell 200200, DDS3 tapes are available at Odsi.co.uk, at low price. Mark Paul Online Digital Solutions LLC, 39 Southend Road, East Ham London E62AL Tel: 0203 005 9500 Email: sales@odsi.co.uk

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Source: http://www.articlesbd.com/articles/288481/1/The-Benefits-Of-The-DDS-4-Tape-Format-Engineered-By-Quantum/Page1.html

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Exclusive: Lil Wayne To Executive Produce Juelz Santana Album

Santana reveals to 'RapFix Live' that Weezy will oversee his Born to Lose, Built to Win LP next year.
By Rob Markman, with reporting by Sway Calloway


Lil Wayne
Photo: Daniel Boczarski/ Getty Images

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1698412/lil-wayne-executive-producing-juelz-santana-album.jhtml

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Astronaut, cosmonaut brace for whole year in space

NASA astronaut Scott Kelley listens to a question about his scheduled mission aboard the International Space Station during a briefing Wednesday, Dec. 5, 2012, at Johnson Space Center in Houston. Kelly and Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko will spend an entire year aboard the International Space Station beginning in 2015. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

NASA astronaut Scott Kelley listens to a question about his scheduled mission aboard the International Space Station during a briefing Wednesday, Dec. 5, 2012, at Johnson Space Center in Houston. Kelly and Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko will spend an entire year aboard the International Space Station beginning in 2015. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

NASA astronaut Scott Kelley answers a question about his scheduled mission aboard the International Space Station during a briefing Wednesday, Dec. 5, 2012, at Johnson Space Center in Houston. Kelly and Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko will spend an entire year aboard the International Space Station beginning in 2015. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

NASA astronaut Scott Kelley answers a question about his scheduled mission aboard the International Space Station during a briefing Wednesday, Dec. 5, 2012, at Johnson Space Center in Houston. Kelly and Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko will spend an entire year aboard the International Space Station beginning in 2015. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

NASA astronaut Scott Kelley listens to a question about his scheduled mission aboard the International Space Station during a briefing Wednesday, Dec. 5, 2012, at Johnson Space Center in Houston. Kelly and Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko will spend an entire year aboard the International Space Station beginning in 2015. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

(AP) ? The two men who will spend an entire year together aboard the International Space Station are already bracing for a challenging mission.

NASA astronaut Scott Kelly said Wednesday it will be like spending a whole year at the office. And you never get to leave.

Kelly and Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko (korn-YENK-oh) will blast off in 2015 for the longest mission ever at the space station. NASA and the Russian Space Agency want to see how all that weightlessness affects the men.

Russia already has experience with yearlong space travel. But it's limited to the old Mir space station and more than a decade has passed.

Kelly says his 9-year-old daughter screamed "awesome" when she learned the news. Kornienko's wife cried.

Kelly is the brother-in-law of former congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/b2f0ca3a594644ee9e50a8ec4ce2d6de/Article_2012-12-05-Year%20in%20Space/id-bcf08c1bf1644164ac77167009a67c0d

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10 powerful people who run the world

5 hrs.

What do the president of the United States, the pope and the founder of Facebook all have in common? They?re all featured on Forbes? 2012 ranking of the World?s Most Powerful People ??an annual look at the heads of state, financiers, philanthropists and entrepreneurs who truly run the world.

To compile the list, we considered hundreds of candidates from various walks of life all around the globe, and measured their power along four dimensions. First, we asked whether the candidate has power over lots of people. Pope Benedict XVI, ranked #5 on our list, is the spiritual leader of more than a billion Catholics, or about 1/6th of the world?s population. Michael Duke (#17), CEO of Wal-Mart Stores, employs two million people.

Next we assessed the financial resources controlled by each person. Are they relatively large compared to their peers? For heads of state we used GDP, while for CEOs, we looked at measures like their company?s assets and revenues. When candidates have a high personal net worth ??like the world?s richest man, Carlos Slim Helu (#11)?? we also took that into consideration. In certain instances, like Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz al Saud, we considered other valuable resources at the candidate?s disposal ??like 20 percent of the world?s known oil reserves.

Then we determined if the candidate is powerful in multiple spheres. There are only 71 slots on our list ? one for every 100 million people on the planet ? so being powerful in just one area is often not enough. Our picks project their influence in myriad ways: New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg (#16) has power because he?s a politician, because he?s a billionaire, because he?s a media magnate, and because he?s a major philanthropist.

Lastly, we made sure that the candidates actively used their power. Russian autocrat Vladimir Putin (#3) scored points because he so frequently shows his strength ? like when he jails protestors.

To calculate the final rankings, 10 senior Forbes editors ranked all of our candidates in each of these four dimensions of power, and those individual rankings were averaged into a composite score.

U.S. President Barack Obama emerged, unanimously, as the world?s most powerful person, for the second year running. Obama was the decisive winner of the 2012 U.S. presidential election, and now he gets four more years to push his agenda. The president faces major challenges, including an unresolved budget crisis, stubbornly high unemployment and renewed unrest in the Middle East. But Obama remains the unquestioned commander in chief of the world?s greatest military and head of its sole economic and cultural superpower.

The second most powerful person in the world also happens to be the most powerful woman: Angela Merkel, the chancellor of Germany, jumps up from #4 last year to take the runner-up spot on the list. Merkel is the backbone of the 27-member European Union and carries the fate of the euro on her shoulders; she?s shown her power through a hard-line austerity solution for? the European debt crisis.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg (#25) is one of the youngest people on the list, at age 29; he dropped significantly from last year?s top-10 ranking after Facebook?s much-anticipated IPO turned out to be a flop. Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff (#18) is one of the list?s biggest gainers: At the midpoint of her first term, Rousseff?s emphasis on entrepreneurship has prompted a slew of new startups and energized Brazilian youths.

Apple CEO? Tim Cook (#35) made a big upward move, too: A year after he succeeded iconic founder Steve Jobs, the company is the most valuable in the world. Apple stock hit an all-time high in September, at $696.82 a share: That?s up $319 from the day Jobs died in October 2011.

New members of the list include LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman (#71), the world?s most powerful venture capitalist and the most-connected man in Silicon Valley. Elon Musk (#66), the entrepreneur behind PayPal and Tesla Motors, is the most powerful man in space: His company SpaceX is a leader in the private space industry, and with that business set to boom, Musk stands to make out like a 19th-century railway tycoon.

A number of prominent people fell off the entirely. Last year?s #2, Chinese President Hu Jintao, is on his way out of office; he?s already handed over some of his duties, and will surrender the rest early next year. We? removed U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton from the list for the same reasons: They?re both not expected to return to their powerful posts for Obama?s second term.

Here is the list of the top 10:

1.???????? Barack Obama?
President, United States of America?
Age: 51

The decisive winner of the 2012 U.S. presidential election on all counts: Obama took the popular vote, the electoral college and 7 out of 7 toss-up states. Now he gets 4 more years to push his agenda past weakened congressional Republicans. Still, he faces major challenges, including an unresolved budget crisis, stubbornly high unemployment and renewed unrest in the Middle East. But Obama remains the commander in chief of the world?s greatest military and head of the sole economic and cultural superpower?literally the leader of the free world.

2.???????? Angela Merkel?
Chancellor, Germany?
Age: 58

The world?s most powerful woman is the backbone of the 27-member European Union and carries the fate of the euro on her shoulders. Merkel?s hard-line austerity prescription for easing the European debt crisis has been challenged by both hard-hit southern countries and the more affluent north, but it?and she?are still standing. Merkel has served as chancellor since 2005, but one of her biggest challenges still lies ahead: bolstering her government?s sagging popularity before the 2013 German general election.

3.???????? Vladimir Putin?
President, Russia?
Age: 60

Re-elected for a third six-year term as president in March after a few years swapping posts with Prime Minister Dmitri Medvedev, Putin officially regains the power that no one believes he truly gave up. This October the ex-KGB strongman?who controls a nuclear-tipped army, a permanent seat on the UN Security Council and some of the world?s largest oil and gas reserves?turned 60. That?s Russia?s retirement age, but who?s got the nerve to tell him to quit?

4.???????? Bill Gates?
Co-chair, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation?
Age: 57

The world?s second-richest man is worth $65 billion?and that?s after giving away more than $28 billion. Gates?s post-Microsoft mission includes eliminating many infectious and deadly diseases: By his own estimates, that could translate into 8 million lives saved by 2020. But the quintessential activist billionaire doesn?t stop there: Gates continues to persuade his peers to sign the ?Giving Pledge,? promising to give away half their wealth or more.

5.???????? Pope Benedict XVI?
Pope, Roman Catholic Church ??
Age: 85

How?s this for a job description? According to the doctrine of Papal Supremacy, the pope enjoys ?supreme, full, immediate, and universal power? over the souls of 1.2 billion Catholics around the world. They turn to the Vicar of Christ for the final word on life?s most personal decisions, including birth control, abortion, marriage and euthanasia. As the leader of Vatican City, he?s also a head of state. Of course, the pope faces dissent anyway?recently from ?radical feminist? American nuns.

6.???????? Ben Bernanke?
Chairman, U.S. Federal Reserve?
Age: 59

Big Ben has been on a buying spree: In a third round of quantitative easing, the Fed is now snapping up $40 billion a month of mortgage-backed securities and $45 billion of Treasurys. Result: modest economic recovery and a near-record $2.9 trillion on the Fed?s balance sheet. The American economy?s ?adult in the room? recently warned that there is only so much the Fed can do; politicians are the ones with the power to keep us from going over that fiscal cliff.

7.???????? Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz al Saud?
King, Saudi Arabia?
Age: 88

The absolute monarch of the desert kingdom controls 20 percent of the world?s known oil reserves and guards Islam?s holiest cities. The Arab Spring didn?t shake the ruling family?s control of the kingdom, but out-of-control youth unemployment remains a threat. Aging Abdullah lost his second heir apparent in two years when his brother, Crown Prince Nayef, died in June; he?s been replaced by another brother, 76-year-old Crown Prince Salman, the former governor of Riyadh.

8.???????? Mario Draghi
President, European Central Bank?
Age: 65

With the euro lurching constantly from crisis to crisis, the European Central Bank is more important than ever. As chief banker of the world?s largest -currency area?the euro zone?s collective GDP is now more than $17.4 trillion?Draghi faces the Herculean task of trying to maintain financial unity across 17 countries. But if anyone can wrangle the interests of nations as diverse as Germany and Greece, it might be the man who navigated the minefield of Italian politics so deftly, he earned himself a nickname: ?Super Mario.?

9.???????? Xi Jinping?
General Secretary, Communist Party of China?
Age: 59

The man who will lead China for the next decade was recently promoted to the Communist Party?s top position; Xi also took over as chairman of the Party?s Central Military Commission, putting him in control of the world?s largest army. His rise to power will be complete in March, when he takes over for Hu Jintao as president and head of state. Xi?s only half of a Chinese power couple: His wife, Peng Liyuan, is a superstar folk singer.

10.??????? David Cameron?
Prime Minister, United Kingdom?
Age: 46

Two years into office, the Tory PM has gone from being the called the second coming of Margaret Thatcher to standing in the shadow of Europe?s new Iron Lady, Angela Merkel. Cameron has rejected the German Chancellor?s call to increase the EU budget and threatened to veto anything but a spending freeze. At home he faces a sustained economic downturn, a disillusioned electorate and rumblings from his own party over Britain?s future.

More from Forbes

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/business/worlds-most-powerful-people-1C7423106

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Syria says 29 students killed in mortar attack

BEIRUT (AP) ? A mortar slammed into a ninth-grade classroom in the Damascus suburbs on Tuesday, killing 29 students and a teacher, according to state media, as the civil war closed in on President Bashar Assad's seat of power.

The state-run news agency SANA blamed the attack on terrorists, the term the regime uses for rebels who are fighting to topple the government.

The mortar hit the al-Batiha school in al-Wafideen camp, about 25 kilometers (15 miles) northeast of Damascus, according to SANA. The camp houses 25,000 people displaced from the Golan Heights since the 1967 war between Syria and Israel.

"It's a terrorist attack on educational institutions and on students," Hassan Mohsen, the director of Quneitra Education Department, told The Associated Press.

Further details were not immediately released.

The violence comes as Syrian forces fired artillery at rebel targets in and around the capital and the international community grew increasingly alarmed about the regime's chemical weapons stocks.

Syrian rebels have made gains in recent weeks, overrunning military bases and bringing the fight to Damascus. Since Thursday, the capital has seen some of the heaviest fighting in more than four months, killing scores of people, forcing international flights to turn back or cancel flights and prompting the United Nations to withdraw most of its international staff.

"The push to take Damascus is a real one, and intense pressure to take control of the city is part of a major strategic shift by the rebel commanders' strategy," said Mustafa Alani, a Middle East analyst from the Geneva-based Gulf Research Center. "They have realized that without bringing the fight to Damascus, the regime will not collapse."

U.S. intelligence has detected signs the regime was moving chemical weapons components around within several sites in recent days, according to a senior U.S. defense official and two U.S. officials. The activities involved movement within the sites, rather than the transfer of components in or out of various sites, two of the officials said.

But this type of activity had not been detected before and one of the U.S. officials said it bears further scrutiny.

NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen warned Tuesday that "if anybody uses chemical weapons, I would expect an immediate reaction from the international community."

His comments echoed a warning on Monday from President Barack Obama that there would be consequences if Assad made the "tragic mistake" of deploying chemical weapons.

"Syrian stockpiles of chemical weapons are a matter of great concern," Fogh Rasmussen said as he arrived in Brussels.

Syria is believed to have hundreds, if not thousands, of tons of chemical agents, including mustard gas, a blistering agent, and the more lethal nerve agents sarin and VX, experts say.

Syria is party to the 1925 Geneva Protocol banning chemical weapons in war.

In July, Syria threatened to unleash its chemical and biological weapons in case of a foreign attack. The statement was Syria's first-ever acknowledgement that the country possesses weapons of mass destruction.

But the regime quickly tried to clarify its comments, saying "all of these types of weapons ? IF ANY ? are in storage and under security." That appeared to be an attempt to return to the regime's position of neither confirming nor denying whether it possessed non-conventional weapons.

NATO foreign ministers are expected Tuesday to approve member Turkey's request for Patriot anti-missile systems to bolster its defense against strikes from neighboring Syria.

Ankara, which has firmly backed the Syrian opposition, wants the Patriots to defend against possible retaliatory attacks by Syrian missiles carrying chemical warheads.

Syria is reported to have an array of artillery rockets, as well as short- and medium-range missiles in its arsenal ? some capable of carrying chemical warheads.

Fyodor Lukyanov, editor of Russia in Global Affairs foreign policy magazine, said Assad will never leave without a fight because he has so few options.

"Assad realizes that there is no way back for him," said Lukyanov, a leading Russian foreign policy expert with high-level Foreign Ministry connections. "If he tries to jump the boat, his own supporters will not forgive him for doing that. And if he loses, no one will give him any guarantees."

In the Damascus area, the Britain-based opposition activist group Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Tuesday's clashes between rebels and troops loyal to Assad were taking place in Beit Saham, Akraba and Yalda suburbs as well as near the international airport.

The Observatory relies on reports from activists on the ground.

The Damascus suburbs, which have been opposition strongholds since the uprising against Assad began in March 2011, have been the scene of heavy fighting since last week following the start of an army offensive to regain lost territory around the capital. Assad's forces have so far repelled major rebel advances on the capital, though their hold may be slipping.

SANA reported that a journalist for the state-run Tishrin newspaper was killed near his home in al-Tadhamon suburb of Damascus. Naji Assaad was "assassinated by an armed terrorist group" Tuesday morning on his way to work, SANA said. The regime refers to rebels fighting to topple Assad as terrorists.

The Syrian uprising began with peaceful protests in March 2011, but has since morphed into a civil war that activists say has killed more than 40,000 people.

Reports emerged Tuesday of at least three killings of at least a dozen people each a day earlier.

A regime shell attack on the Aleppo neighborhood of Bustan al-Qasr killed 12 men, the Observatory said. Amateur videos posted online showed bloody and dismembered bodies lying on a sidewalk in front of destroyed shops as people struggled to lift the wounded into vans and pick-up trucks.

Nearby, dozens of men stood in what the unnamed cameraman said was a bread line.

"We still see people standing in a long line despite a massacre to get bread," the cameraman says.

The Observatory also reported 13 dead in a separate attack in Aleppo's Halak neighborhood.

The group said at least 17 unidentified bodies were found in the Damascus suburb of Thiyabiyeh.

In an online video showing the dead lined up on a floor, many of their heads bloody, an off camera voice says they were shot after being detained at a government checkpoints.

The videos appeared genuine and corresponded to other reports on the incidents.

Washington has so far declined to intervene in the crisis, saying doing so could worsen the conflict.

On Monday, U.S. officials said the White House and its allies were weighing military options to secure Syria's chemical and biological weapons.

Syria is believed to have several hundred ballistic surface-to-surface missiles capable of carrying chemical warheads, and a U.S. defense official said American and allied intelligence officials have detected activity around more than one of Syria's chemical weapons sites in the last week.

As the battles rage on the ground, there was growing speculation about the fate of a top Syrian spokesman who has become a prominent face of the regime.

Lebanese security officials say Jihad Makdissi, the Foreign Ministry's spokesman, flew Monday from Beirut to London. But it was not clear whether Makdissi had defected, quit his post, or been forced out. Syria had no official comment on Makdissi, who speaks fluent English and has defended the regime's crackdown on dissent.

___

AP writers Slobodan Lekic in Brussels and Kimberly Dozier and Pauline Jelinek in Washington contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/syria-says-29-students-killed-mortar-attack-150156188.html

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Stocks edge lower as budget talks continue

FILE - In this Nov. 15, 2012, file photo, traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange, in New York. World stock markets meandered Tuesday, Dec. 4, as traders weighed a surprise drop in U.S. factory production against hopes that the U.S. will avoid the so-called fiscal cliff. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)

FILE - In this Nov. 15, 2012, file photo, traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange, in New York. World stock markets meandered Tuesday, Dec. 4, as traders weighed a surprise drop in U.S. factory production against hopes that the U.S. will avoid the so-called fiscal cliff. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)

(AP) ? Stocks were edging lower on Wall Street in midday trading Tuesday as budget talks continued in Washington.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 14 points to 12,952 as of 1:01 p.m. Eastern. The Standard and Poor's 500 was down four points at 1,405. The Nasdaq composite was down 16 points at 2,985.

Investors are waiting on developments from Washington in the budget talks aimed at avoiding the "fiscal cliff," a series of sharp government spending cuts and tax increases scheduled to start Jan. 1 unless an agreement is reached to cut the budget deficit. The measures, if implemented, could push the U.S. into recession, economists say.

Republicans, led by House Speaker John Boehner, have balked at President Barack Obama's proposal of $1.6 trillion in higher taxes over a decade, a possible extension of the temporary Social Security payroll tax cut and heightened presidential power to raise the national debt limit. The GOP on Monday proposed its own 10-year blueprint to President Barack Obama that calls for increasing the eligibility age for Medicare and lowering cost-of-living increases for Social Security benefits.

"Politicians are doing their negotiating dance. They both start out on their extreme positions. The question is how long until they get into the middle," said Rex Macey, Chief Investment Officer at Wilmington Trust Investment Advisors, in Atlanta. "The markets have discounted the information, so we're not seeing much movement."

Among stocks making big moves, Darden Restaurants fell $5.58 to $46.84 after the owner of the Olive Garden, Red Lobster and LongHorn Steakhouse restaurant chains revised its earnings outlook for fiscal 2013. Separately, analysts at Credit Suisse said that restaurant goers would "quickly lose their appetite," if the U.S. went over the "cliff," because the job cuts that would likely follow would curb discretionary spending.

Bill Gross, the managing director of fund manager PIMCO, told investors in his regular newsletter that they should expect annualized bond returns of 3 to 4 percent at best in the future and equity returns that are "only a few percentage points higher." The S&P 500 index has risen 12 percent so far this year. High debt levels and slowing global growth will weigh on the economy, Gross said.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell 2 basis points to 1.6 percent.

Other stocks making big moves;

? Big Lots gained $3.34 to $31.38 after the discount retailer reported a loss that wasn't as bad as analysts had forecast. The company also raised its full-year earnings forecast.

? Pep Boys fell $1.46 to $9.22 after posting a loss on weak sales at the company's auto stores and reporting rising costs.

? MetroPCS fell 82 cents to $9.95 after Reuters reported that Sprint isn't currently considering making a counter offer for the cellphone business. MetroPCS and T-Mobile said in October that they had agreed to combine their businesses.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2012-12-04-Wall%20Street/id-f9ee8fd8f35141dda8da087571256e95

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50 overplayed hits make for one catchy song

By Kurt Schlosser, NBC News

If you spent a lot of time and money listening to?and accumulating the?year's hottest pop hits, a new video mashup might make you wonder if it was all worth it. Sigh. Oh, sorry. Meant to say PSY.

We're not saying that because the crop of music in 2012 was?particularly bad. (Someone is no doubt saying that, probably very loudly, but it's not us). We're just saying that when cobbled together into one 8-minute superhit, the year's music all sounds pretty much the same. You could have waited for this one song.

"Pop Danthology 2012" by Daniel kimaginati0n Kim features more than 50 songs and their accompanying video clips. Adele, Chris Brown, Rihanna, Katy Perry, One Direction, Ke$ha, Flo Rida, Kelly Clarkson, Maroon 5, Pink, Justin Bieber and PSY are some of those who made the cut.

How many times did you hear "Gangnam Style" or "Call Me Maybe" or "Somebody That I Used To Know" this year? Taken on their own, none of those songs really deserves another click. Mashed with the same-sounding hooks and Auto-Tuned vocals of Usher or Christina Aguilera or Jennifer Lopez or whomever, the new?song/video becomes oddly entrancing. You might find this treatment helps make a lot of these songs fresh and enjoyable again.

If 8 minutes of dance pop was a walk in the park for your ears, maybe you're game for trying 11 hours worth of music on for size. BuzzFeed?mines different genres for its Ultimate 2012 Playlist. "There's enough variety here that pretty much anyone is bound to run into a lot of stuff they either haven't heard, or perhaps had dismissed in some way," the site says. Start listening ...

More music news:

Source: http://entertainment.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/12/04/15674465-pop-music-mashup-puts-fresh-spin-on-2012s-overplayed-hits?lite

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Chinese data helps miners lift FTSE

LONDON (Reuters) - The FTSE 100 edged higher on Monday after a rise in manufacturing data from China, the world's top metals consumer, boosted sentiment towards mining stocks.

However, traders had mixed views over whether or not the UK stock market would advance much further due to uncertainty over the U.S. "fiscal cliff" - a combination of spending cuts and tax rises due to be implemented in early 2013 that could tip the U.S. economy back into recession.

The blue-chip FTSE 100 index was up by 0.3 percent, or 19.19 points higher, at 5,886.01 points in early morning trade.

British fund management group Schroders was the top-performing FTSE 100 stock, rising 3.6 percent on the back of broker Bank of America Merrill Lynch upgrading the stock to "buy" from "neutral."

The improvement in the Chinese manufacturing data also pushed the FTSE 250 mining index up by 1 percent.

Miners Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton added the most points to the FTSE 100, with Rio rising by 1.3 percent to 3,133.50 pence.

Hartmann Capital trader Basil Petrides said he would consider buying Rio stock at 3,070 pence and would use any pull-backs on the FTSE 100 to buy equities, as they could rise further ahead of any traditional rally around Christmas time.

"I would be a buyer of the market on dips, there is the potential for a push to the upside on a Christmas rally," said Petrides.

However, JN Financial investment manager Edward Smyth said any failure by the FTSE 100 to rise and hold above 5,900 could result in the index losing ground again.

"If we struggle to break through and hold above 5,900 and break below and hold below 5,865, this is a sign that the market does not have the strength to hold above 5,900 and we could see a correction," he said.

"There is major resistance between 5920-5940 and it would require an event or a headline of relatively special circumstance to achieve sustainable price action above these levels," he added.

(Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta; editing by Patrick Graham)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/miners-help-buoy-ftse-china-data-081656410--finance.html

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Why School?: How Education Must Change When Learning and ...

?This special offers of Why School?: How Education Must Change When Learning and Information Are Everywhere (Kindle Single) [Kindle Edition] is only for limited time, We have found most affordable price, Check out now when stock last to avoid disappointment!?

Why School?: How Education Must Change When Learning and Information Are Everywhere (Kindle Single) [Kindle Edition] Description :

?Why School? How Education Must Change When Learning and Information are Everywhere is mandatory reading for anyone who cares about the education of their children. It is the perfect jumping off point for anyone interested in beginning or continuing a conversation on the long overdue changes that are schools need to undergo in order to provide a relevant learning experience for our students.? ~Patrick Larkin, Assistant Sup. for Learning, Burlington (MA) Public Schools

?As a teacher, father, and educational visionary, Will Richardson tears down the walls around the classroom and rethinks what schools can and should be. Listen to him. Learn from him.? ~Jeff Jarvis, Author, What Would Google Do?

?Will Richardson beautifully and disturbingly captures the new reality of learning. Why School? shows us an exciting future unfolding before our very eyes, and leaves you breathless about what to do about it! ~Michael Fullan, Professor Emeritus, OISE/University of Toronto

?A must read for parents! Why School? is the right text to help frame important conversations between parents and schools, students and teachers, teachers and administrators, school districts and communities. Right Question ?..Right Time!? ~Lisa Brady, Superintendent, Dobbs Ferry (NY) Schools

?Written by a parent, an educator, and a teacher of teachers, Why School? offers a set of useful tools for thinking about the fundamental and crucial question posed by the very title of this book?. ~Howard Rheingold, Author, Net Smart

?Why School offers bigger dreams for the networked age, where we use new technologies to envision and design entirely new models of teaching and learning, where we seek to fulfill human potential rather than covering a dusty curriculum.? ~Justin Reich, Harvard Graduate School of Education

More features from Why School?: How Education Must Change When Learning and Information Are Everywhere (Kindle Single) [Kindle Edition] :

  • File Size: 222 KB
  • Print Length: 51 pages
  • Publisher: TED Conferences (September 10, 2012)
  • Language: English
  • ASIN: B00998J5YQ
  • Text-to-Speech: Enabled
  • X-Ray: Enabled
  • Lending: Not Enabled
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,469 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
  • #1 in?Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Nonfiction > Education > Education Theory > Aims & Objectives
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  • #2 in?Books > Education & Reference > Schools & Teaching > Computers & Technology
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Costumers reviews for Why School?: How Education Must Change When Learning and Information Are Everywhere (Kindle Single) [Kindle Edition]

Why School? is a superb summary of why schools need to be different. We now live in a world where the rule is abundance, not scarcity. Where teachers are from all around the world, not just in those buildings down the street. Where students can make and do and share, not just sit passively and regurgitate.

There are lots of insights in this short text. I read the entire book in a sitting of an hour or two. But the ideas within will last much, much longer?

A few quotes to whet your appetite:

1. ?let?s scrap open-book tests, zoom past open-phone tests asking Googleable questions, and advance to open-network tests that measure not just if kids answer a question well, but how literate they are at discerning good information from bad and tapping into the experts and networks that can inform those answers. This is how they?ll take the real-life information and knowledge tests that come their way, and it would tell us much more about our children?s preparedness for a world of abundance.?

2. ?Discovering the curriculum changes the teacher?s role in the classroom. It becomes less about how well the teacher develops the lesson plan and what that teacher knows (though those ingredients are still important). Instead, they must inspire students to pursue their own interests in the context of the subject matter. Teachers need to be great at asking questions and astute at managing the different paths to learning that each child creates. They must guide students to pursue projects of value and help them connect their interests to the required standards. And they have to be participants and models in the learning process.?

3. ??How do your teachers learn?? Most answers I get follow along traditional lines: ?They go to conferences.? ?They take after-school workshops.? ?They read books.? They see their teachers? learning as an event, not an ongoing process.?

4. ?We saved every bit of paper that came home in the Friday Folders that year, and they grew to a three-foot-high stack in the corner of our bedroom. It was an impressive collection of stuff that my kids never again looked at once it was added to the stack. Countless hours spent filling in those worksheet blanks, working those test problems, finishing off those projects, and Tess and Tucker had literally zero investment in any of it after their grades and our signatures were in place. Zero.?

5. ?I?d articulate the shift to teachers like this: Don?t teach my child science; instead, teach my child how to learn science ? or history or math or music. With as many resources as they have available to them today (not to mention what they?ll have tomorrow), kids had better know how.?

Make school different. Start by reading this book. I?ve already ordered multiple copies as gifts for colleagues, friends, and family members, with plans to expand the circle even further. If you like this book ? and you will ? do the same for your own circles. And then start talking with each other about what school could (and should) be.

[Now if I only could get legislators to read this!]

from your own site.

Source: http://alrevisacademy.com/why-school-how-education-must-change-when-learning-and-information-are-everywhere-kindle-single-kindle-edition/

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