The corn in Kansas farmer Mark Bergkamp's hands has risen in value thanks to the current drought.
By Jane Wells, cnbc.com
There's no question there will be less corn for sale than expected in the U.S. this year, and that has driven grain prices to record levels.
?The U.S. Department of Agriculture said despite the current drought, it predicts net farm income will rise 3.7 percent this year to more than $122 billion, as high grain prices offset loss of production.
CNBC.com: Who?s benefiting from the drought?
"You know, some of these small ones can fool you," said Carol Miller, pointing to an ear of corn not nearly as large as she'd like. "You start counting the kernels and the length, and there might be more than you think."
Miller farms a thousand acres of corn with her husband Randy, north of Des Moines. They'll begin harvesting perhaps as soon as the end of this week. That's earlier than usual, but the corn has "dented" (the kernels pucker), showing it's starting to dry out and is ready to pick.
CNBC.com: Hurricane Isaac?s impact on drought
It's fast becoming judgment day across the corn belt, as farmers like Miller pick the crop and discover just how big the yield is?? or isn't. Most grain and oil seed farmers have taxpayer-subsidized crop insurance which will cover, on average, 70?80 percent of their loss of "average production."It is also becoming apparent that most farmers will still have some corn they can sell at top prices, if they haven't precontracted too much of it back when corn was $5 a bushel instead of $8.
"In fact, some farmers will make more money this year having crop insurance than they would have if there was a normal yield because we planted so many corn acres," said Sterling Liddell of Rabobank. "Livestock producers, on the other hand ? this is potentially explosive for them."
CNBC.com: Drought aid for farmers runs dry in Washington, D.C.
That's because livestock producers don't have the same kind of insurance.
Perhaps it's no surprise, then, that 225,000 people were expected to attend the Farm Progress Show in Boone, Iowa, this week, the largest outdoor farm equipment show in the country.
"We really don't see any impact on our business," said Jim Walker, senior vice president of Case IH, about equipment sales in the drought.
CNBC.com: Agriculture secretary: We promise to help drought-stricken
Rival AGCO is projecting a record year, though its North America general manager, Bob Crain, said, "There's a lot of wait-and-see right now."
Crain expects some sales of combines and tractors that might normally happen in the fall will be delayed until November or December, as farmers see how much they are reimbursed from crop insurance.
The biggest losers in this drought may be the insurers, a list which includes the federal government, as well as companies like Endurance Specialty Holdings, American Financial Group and Ace Limited. All three have underperformed the broader market year to date.
As for farmer Carol Miller's purchasing decisions, "We're going to hold back," she said. "We want to know what we have and what we can afford."
Amazingly, after all the heat and lack of rain, this year may not be so bad.
"We feared it wasn't going to be a good crop at all," she said. "It's improved. The hybrid vigor and the genetics, I think, made the crop what it is, because if we had the same genetics 20 years ago, you probably wouldn't have had a crop."
Finding the best local business marketing is needed to promote the business effectively. This needs to be planned and executed carefully to get the best results. This is a very important aspect of a business that can be a big factor on its success or failure. The best strategy can bring in more clients and profits consequently, to the company.
There are different media that are available for the company to use. The oldest form of which might be the printed materials and advertisements. Aside from that, there are also the TV and radio promotions. With the widespread use of technology nowadays, the World Wide Web has also become an important medium for a lot of companies that aim to reach as many viewers as possible.
Since there are several options, there are some things that you must do to make sure you use the right strategies for your company. First and foremost, you have to determine the needs of the company and set the goals you want to achieve. These are very essential to the planning of your strategy.
You also have to conduct some research regarding this matter. You have to learn the most about these strategies so that you will know what to do about them. You also have to learn about the current needs of the public so you can incorporate it properly to your plan and make it effective by answering those needs.
If there are other aspects of the business that you have to handle aside from this matter, you have to find professionals who can do it for you. There are already numerous agencies that offer this kind of service because of the demand for their services. To choose the best among them, you have to consider some qualifications that they must possess.
You have to make sure that you find professionals with the right and relevant experience in the field. An agency that has handled various projects from different clients and different ranges in media is advantageous for you. This is a good sign that they are flexible and trustworthy to handle the affairs of your company. You should also be sure that they are reputable in the field by researching about them and asking their former clients, if possible.
You should also be sure that the agency is knowledgeable about the different strategies that are available for your use. You should be sure that they are updated when it comes to the changes that are often experienced in the field. They should also be skilled when it comes to the execution of such strategies.
Before hiring one, it is advisable to consult at least 3 or 4 professionals. During this time, you can ask them about their plans for the marketing of your products or services. Based on their presentations and other qualifications, you have to determine whose working style suits your needs the most.
Since local business marketing is essential for your company, you have to weigh your options carefully. You have to take note of all the information that you gathered. You have to determine the pros and cons of each agency and strategy so that you can make a well-informed decision about such an important matter.
A mutual fund can be defined as an entity that pools cash from a variety of investors for the sole purpose of investing the cash in shares, bonds, treasury bills etc (all together called a portfolio of investments). The profit derived from the diversified pool of investments are shared to investors in the funds annually or semi annually or as stipulated in the fund prospectus.
Who operates a mutual fund?
Mutual funds are operated by professional investment firms made up of people who are savvy with the money and capital market. Mutual Fund, as in Nigeria, can be operated by the investment arm of banks, stock brokerage firms, investment banks etc.
How is it different from a stockbroking firm?
A stockbroking firm is simply a company that on your behalf and instruction uses its licence to buy and/or sell shares on the stock market. With a stock brokerage firm, you give them an instruction to buy or sell shares of your choice. You also keep tabs on the performance of your stocks on a daily basis and monitor its performance independently. For a mutual fund, however, operators determine which Investment decisions to make rather than you giving instruction as to what shares should be bought for you or which you intend to sell. The shares you buy with the mutual fund is that of the fund and not that of the companies quoted on the stock exchange or indeed any quoted investments.
What do they invest in?
They invest in the money and capital market. Money Market instruments are Treasury Bills, Certificate of Deposits, Commercial Paper etc. In Nigeria, Banks and discount houses issue these instruments. Capital Markets are where Bonds, Stocks (Shares) are traded on a daily basis. Most mutual funds usually outline the type of investments they hope to make with money in their prospectus.
How much can I invest?
Mutual Funds typically have an investment band depending on the nature of the fund. Some can be as low as a minimum of N5,000, whilst some can be N100,000 and others N1,000,000.
What kind of dividends can I expect?
This depends on your risk appetite. For example, if you have N1,000.00 and think you can invest it in any business of your choice and get a profit of N20 per cent, then investing in a mutual fund that promises 14 per cent returns may not be a good idea for you. The return a mutual fund promises you should also be compared to returns one can get on risk free investments such as treasury bills etc. For example, if a Mutual Fund promises a minimum return of 12 per cent per annum and government pays interest of 14 per cent on Treasury Bills, then investing your self may just be a better idea. In general mutual funds will typically offer minimum returns that are benchmarked above inflation rates.
Do I pay tax on dividends received and when I liquidate my investment?
Yes, dividends from Mutual Funds in Nigeria are not tax-free. Withholding tax will be deducted before dividends are paid to you. However, you do not pay capital gains tax when you sell your shares in the fund. Losses from Mutual Fund investment cannot also be used to offset taxable profits.
What are open and closed mutual funds?
Open Ended Mutual Funds are funds that are open to continuous issuance of shares to investors. Operators of the fund continue to issue shares to the public to buy into the fund. Investors in the fund who do not wish to participate any further will simply resell their shares to the fund at the subsisting Net Asset Value. They can also reinvest in the funds whenever they want. Some Open Ended Funds also mandate you to keep your money with them for a specified period of time before you can sell or request for your money back. Open Funds are mostly unregulated and are not traded on the floor of the stock exchange. They are mostly floated by reputable organisations with a track record for performance
Closed Ended funds on the other hand are funds that have limited number of shares that are sold at the initial public offering (IPO). Once the IPO is over, the fund closes sale of its shares to the public. Being a regulated fund, the shares are traded on the stock exchange like the shares of any quoted company. So, if an investor decides he wants his money back he will simply put up his shares for sale. The share price of a closed fund is determined by both the value of the portfolio as well as the sentiments of investors towards demand and supply. This is unlike the Open Funds that are determined by simply dividing the value of the portfolio by the number of shares issues by the fund. The Securities and Exchange Commission as well as the NSE regulates closed ended funds. They play by the rules set by the regulatory authorities. Their share prices are also published daily on the pages of newspapers and can also be found on the Internet.
The innovative cubes feature touch-sensitive LCD screens and the ability to interact with one another
Gaming isn't what it used to be... and that's a good thing. With motion-based systems like the Kinect leading the charge, play is no longer confined to traditional controllers ? and in the case of Sifteo Cubes, you don't need a console either. The modular blocks, which are equipped with full-color LCD screens, motion sensors, and a knack for communicating with each other, are their very own platform, and that platform's about to get way cooler.
Sifteo just announced the second generation of its clever little puzzle-gaming building blocks, which are on pre-sale now for a November release. According to Sifteo co-founder Dave Merrill, "The next-generation Sifteo Cubes are?the next step in Sifteoâ????s mission to make classic play interactive." Most notably, the?new wave of Sifteo cubes doesn't require proximity to a computer, making it much more of a true portable gaming system. Instead, the cubes now play nice with a mobile wireless base station, which saves games in progress and plays back audio.
Sifteo also announced a partnership with kid-friendly network?Nickelodeon and the nerd-friendly creator of perennial geek fave "Magic: The Gathering." But the real good news is that Sifteo will open up its developer kit on October 1st, meaning that anyone with the right know-how can craft a game employing the cubes' unique mechanics.
The new Sifteo Cube set and base station will retail at $129.95, and that nets you three cubes. You can now play with up to 12 cubes (adding more "unlocks new levels, puzzles, and?special characters"), but extras will set you back $29.95 a piece. We hope to see the prices drop over time, but they're worthy of a look for puzzle-fiends and gamers hungry for innovation ? especially if you've got a?clever game idea up your sleeve.
This article was written by Taylor Hatmaker and originally appeared on Tecca
Life is made up of a series of complex organic molecules, including sugars. A team of astronomers led by researchers from the Niels Bohr Institute, have now observed a simple sugar molecule in the gas surrounding a young star and this discovery proves that the building blocks of life were already present during planet formation. The results have been published in the scientific journalAstrophysical Journal Letters.
The star was observed with the new large international telescope, Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) in northern Chile. The ALMA telescopes are able to zoom in and study the details of newly formed stars and their rotating discs of dust and gas, which subsequently clumps together and forms planets. Among other things, the astronomers would like to investigate the gas for the presence of water vapour and examine the chemical composition for complex molecules.
Sugar around new stars
"In the protoplanetary disc of gas and dust surrounding the young, newly formed star, we found glycolaldehyde molecules, which are a simple form of sugar. It is one of the building blocks in the process that leads to the formation of RNA and the first step in the direction of biology," explains astrophysicist Jes J?rgensen, Associate Professor at the Niels Bohr Institute and the Centre for Star and Planet Formation at the University of Copenhagen.
He explains that at first the gas and dust cloud is extremely cold (only around 10 degrees above absolute zero at minus 273 degrees C) and simple gases such as carbon monoxide and methane settle on particles of dust and solidify as ice. Here on the particles of dust, the otherwise volatile gases come close to each other and can bond together and form more complex molecules. When the star has been formed in the middle of the gas and dust cloud, it emits heat, and the inner parts of the rotating cloud surrounding the star is heated to around room temperature, after which the chemically complex molecules on the particles of dust evaporate as gas. This gas emits radiation as radio waves at low frequencies and it is this radiation that researchers can observe with the ALMA telescopes.
Precursors for biology before planets
The star is located only 400 light years from us ? so, seen in an astronomical context, it is right in our own neighbourhood. With the very high resolution of the new telescopes, researchers now have the opportunity to study the details of the dust and gas clouds, and in addition to the sugar molecules the researchers also saw signs of a number of other complex organic molecules, including ethylene-glycol, methyl-formate and ethanol.
"The complex molecules in the cloud surrounding the newly formed star tell us that the building blocks of life may be among the first formed. One of the big questions is whether it is common that these organic molecules are formed so early in the star and planet formation process ? and how complex they can become before they are incorporated into new planets. This could potentially tell us something about the possibility that life might arise elsewhere and whether precursors to biology are already present before the planets have been formed," explains Jes J?rgensen.
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University of Copenhagen: http://www.ku.dk
Thanks to University of Copenhagen for this article.
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Craigslist?has just started integrating maps into some of its listings, but instead of going with Google or Microsoft, the site?went with the crowdsourced OpenStreetMap. The changes are live right now if you're in Portland, Oregon or the San Francisco Bay Area.
Craigslist is famous for never updating its look and feel, meaning things are quick and clean if?a bit stark. But with apartment listings especially, mapping the location is such a standard action that people looking for a new place would be opening dozens of browser?tabs for Google Maps.
In fact, the process of looking at Craigslist ads by location became both so popular and so difficult that a site called PadMapper started up as a way to let people do it more easily. Craigslist actually asked them to stop in June, but clearly they also took the point that maps are now critical information for apartment searches.
But using something like Google Maps institutionally (as opposed to individually) would come with significant cost ? so Craigslist decided to use OpenStreetMap, a system that, like Wikipedia, is created from publicly available information and the?contributions of users.
The good news is that it's free. The bad news is that unlike Google and Microsoft, OpenStreetMap doesn't have millions of dollars to spend on mapping small towns and rural areas, or for checking the accuracy of existing maps. Their community is constantly revising and adding to the database, but their information simply isn't as complete as the bigger, more well-funded services.
That doesn't mean it isn't a perfectly good map of much of the world ? but it doesn't have bells and whistles like driving directions or Street View. It's certainly good enough for Craigslist's purposes, but for now the company is only rolling it out to Portland and the Bay Area, since those areas are well-mapped and have plenty of housing?listings with which?to test the service.
There's no indication of when the integrated maps will come to other areas (or perhaps be rolled out universally), but if they're well-received it seems likely they'll soon be activated for any areas Craigslist feels are represented accurately by the maps. If you're in a big, tech-savvy city like New York or Los Angeles, that will likely be soon, but for smaller towns, it could be a while. In the meantime, you can test it out by browsing housing in either of the areas currently covered.
Devin Coldewey is a contributing writer for NBC News Digital. His personal website is coldewey.cc.
There are a lot of hybrid tablets coming out this fall. But while the ones we've seen seem to be splitting the difference, Dell seems to be focusing on the best parts of either laptop or tablet. Its XPS 10 is the tablet end of that bargain. More »
A lot of lower back pain is due to muscle mass personal injuries. Pressure towards the muscle groups and problems for ligaments may harm your back again in numerous methods. This article will provide you with a variety of back pain ideas. Although it can be hard to deal with, back problems normally will ease off after some time.
Acquire frequent smashes when driving for very long intervals. Chill out your back again, stretch out and have inside a small physical exercise. Be sure to calculate all the stops that you can make just before hitting your destination.
Yoga exercise is a great option for anybody going through lower back pain. It is actually an awesome therapeutic process. This will help to realign your backbone naturally. Furthermore, it aids you in loosening any tight joint parts or muscle tissues which you have, which in turn causes your body to be more enjoyable. A lot of gyms offer you sessions.
You will probably find that cutting back on caffeine may help relieve back pain. Coffee may cause back again spasms along with adding to muscle tissue inflammation within your rear. You should restriction the amount of coffee or green tea you happen to be consuming if you wish to lessen the level of back problems you experience.
Immobility from back problems may be helped by mild expands of your muscle tissues round the back. If the muscles within your again are tight, the pain could affect your whole body. Try to stretch out muscle groups around the area also.
Focus on posture! Your lower back pain will increase when you can become more conscious of your healthy posture and change it to line up appropriately during the day. Many rear concerns are due to straightforward poor pose as a result policing your own personal healthy posture rewarding, particularly if you already have rear problems. Whenever you locate little approaches to reward yourself for sustaining greater healthy posture, the newest actions will take maintain more quickly.
Should you be ten pounds or even more heavy, you might like to think about weight-loss prepare. More weight will enhance your body?s centre of gravity, particularly if that body weight is about your middle. This will stress the rear, and lead to back pain.
To guard on your own from needless back pain, even when resting, always maintain good posture. Accidents are the initial thing people think of when seeing and hearing that somebody is stricken with back pain. Actually, improper position whilst seated for long intervals might cause muscles problems and firmness inside the rear. This really is a common problem for folks concentrating on their laptop or computer.
Find out correct position while focusing on sitting up right. Failing to implement good posture can damage your spinal column and again. If sitting for very long durations can be a need in your life, do this inside a seat that facilitates your back comfortably. Having an exercising ball to sit on will help your pose and help build your encouraging again muscles.
Particular exercise applications assist take care of again issues. Yoga and fitness, and also other exercises that encourage overall flexibility, can keep you from stressing a muscle tissue. If you must do a lot of weighty picking up, exercises that improve the muscle groups inside your belly and again can certainly help to prevent traumas while you are continuously picking up hefty objects.
If you may be seated for really awhile, try and go across your legs. By crossing your legs, you make use of your again muscles. This keeps them active. Make certain you move legs now and then if you go across your thighs and legs, so that you can balance the muscle tissue suited for your right and left ends.
As they are apparent with the info on this page, many options exist to manage and relieve the anguish inside your back again and the interruptions in everyday life it causes. Use these suggestions to assist free yourself from unpleasant signs. You deserve an existence without the need of back pain. It depends on you to turn this into determination.
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SAN FRANCISCO (AP) ? Families waiting for San Francisco's cable cars on a recent morning couldn't help but notice Kenny the Clown, who wore a curly rainbow wig as he twisted brightly colored balloons into animal shapes for visitors, blasting Michael Jackson's "Smooth Criminal" from an iPad at his feet.
Little did the clown know that the tablet doubling as his stereo would turn out to have been stolen from the home of the late Steve Jobs.
"The thing that is embarrassing to me is I'm a huge fan of Steve Jobs," said Kenneth Kahn, 47, a professional entertainer who police say unwittingly received a silver 64GB iPad pilfered from the home of the Apple co-founder last month. "It's just bizarre."
Kahn's friend, Kariem McFarlin, 35, of Alameda was arrested on suspicion of breaking into Jobs' Palo Alto residence on Aug. 2.
The pair had been planning a vacation to Hawaii, and when their trip fell through, Kahn said McFarlin gave him the iPad in exchange for money he had borrowed.
"He owed me $300 for the plane tickets, so he said he had an Apple computer that he wasn't using anymore. I said fine, not having any clue what the hell was going on," Kahn told The Associated Press on Friday.
Kahn, a well-known local street performer who has also made unsuccessful bids to become mayor of Alameda and San Francisco, said he never examined the contents of the device and had no idea where it came from.
It was unclear if Jobs had ever used it.
Kahn said he downloaded Dave Brubeck's "Take Five," the "Pink Panther," and other tunes for his clowning routine, which includes magic shows and torch juggling on a unicycle.
Kahn said he played pop songs on the iPad for a few days at several San Francisco landmarks and at an Alameda street fair before police came for it. The device has been returned to the family of Jobs, who died last Oct. 5.
Apple investigators identified McFarlin after he used the stolen device to connect to his iTunes account on the Internet, police said. He acknowledged to police that he broke into Jobs' residence, as well as other homes, and wrote an apology letter to Jobs' widow, according to a police report.
The unoccupied Palo Alto home was targeted on July 17 because it was under renovation, authorities said. When construction crews left, a burglar hopped a fence and found a spare key, the San Jose Mercury News reported.
The newspaper said the thief apparently didn't realize he was in Jobs' house until he saw a letter addressed to the Silicon Valley icon.
During the 15-hour overnight heist, Jobs' wallet and driver's license were taken as well as iPhones, iPads, iPods, Mac computers, champagne and $60,000 worth of Tiffany & Co. jewelry, police said.
Kahn said he met McFarlin when he coached him on a high school basketball team in Alameda more than a decade ago.
"Kariem and I used to talk about ethics all the time, so I thought we were on the same page," Kahn said. "I guess he just got desperate, and made a terrible decision."
McFarlin remained jailed on $500,000 bail and was expected to appear in court Monday. If convicted, he could face almost eight years in prison.
Kahn said he has not been questioned in the case. Law enforcement officials did not immediately respond to a request for further comment.
The Santa Clara County public defender's office, which is officially representing McFarlin, did not immediately provide comment. McFarlin has recently hired a private attorney who wants to remain anonymous until Monday's hearing.
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Follow Garance Burke on Twitter at http://twitter.com/garanceburke.
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Information from: San Jose (Calif.) Mercury News, http://www.mercurynews.com
Sometimes it's nice to have your smartphone at dinner, staring at the screen the entire time and avoiding the human travails of conversation and eye contact. But one LA eatery has had enough, and is offering discounts for phone surrender. More »
(Breast Cancer Survivor) on CBS ? (Breast Cancer Treatment Alternative) Hyperthermia vci.org bichercancerinstitute.com Another successful Breast Cancer Treatment with Hyperthermia combined with Low Dose Radiation at the Valley Cancer Institute, Los Angeles, California. Leslie was offered? Video Rating: 5 / 5
vci.org (Inflammatory Breast Cancer) (IBC) Cancer Treatment Options (Hyperthermia) vci.org Inflammatory Breast Cancer Treatment survival, came back to visit Valley Cancer Institute, after 3 years of finishing her Hyperthermia combined with low radiation dose (IMRT). She was offered the standard treatment care of radiation, chemotherapy, and surgery (mastectomy) (all together) which she refused, because she was more concerned about her life quality. Inflammatory Breast Cancer ? Diagnosis and Treatment Options at ? Mayo Clinic provides comprehensive screening, evaluation, education and treatment for patients with inflammatory breast cancer. ? http ? Cached ? Similar ? Inflammatory Breast Cancer: Questions and Answers ? National ? Aug 29, 2006 ? A fact sheet about the diagnosis and treatment of inflammatory breast cancer, an uncommon type of cancer in which the breast becomes red, ? www.cancer.gov ? Cached ? Similar ? The Inflammatory Breast Cancer Research Foundation Inflammatory breast cancer requires immediate aggressive treatment with chemotherapy prior to surgery and is treated differently than more common types of ? www.ibcresearch.org ? Cached ? Similar ? www.rawfoodguys.net Inflammatory Breast Cancer: Symptoms, Diagnosis & Treatment ? WebMD Offers information on inflammatory breast cancer symptoms, how it is diagnosed, and what treatments are available. www.webmd.com ? co-creativesynergy.com http youtu.be Video Rating: 5 / 5
Todd Graves, Founder, Chairman, CEO, Fry Cook and Cashier of Raising Cane?s Chicken Fingers, received the 2012 Louisiana Restaurant Association (LRA) Restaurateur of the Year award at the LRA Education Foundation (LRAEF) ?Five Star Futures? Gala Saturday, August 11, 2012 at the Hilton New Orleans Riverside.
Restaurateur of the Year is the LRA?s most prestigious award. Each year, it is presented to an individual who has contributed unselfishly to the advancement of Louisiana?s restaurant industry and has continually dedicated his services at both the local chapter and state levels.
Three other respected Louisiana business leaders received the LRA?s other annual awards: Associate Member of the Year, Advocate of the Year and Hall of Fame Inductee.
The Associate Member of the Year Award recognizes restaurant industry suppliers who display exceptional dedication to and support of the LRA. This year?s recipient is Rocky Weigand of Coca-Cola Enterprises in Harahan.
The Advocate of the Year is presented to recognize individuals who have supported the advocacy efforts of the LRA and its partner industries. This year?s honoree is the Honorable Walt Leger, III, Speaker Pro Tempore of the Louisiana House of Representatives.
Each year, the LRA recognizes a member who has given faithful, dedicated and outstanding service to the association by inducting him or her into the LRA Hall of Fame. Chef Frank Brigtsen of Brigtsen?s Restaurant in New Orleans and Charlie?s Seafood in Harahan is this year?s inductee.
Also during the gala, 14 culinary and hospitality students were awarded $40,000 in LRAEF/NRAEF co-branded and general hospitality scholarships, including the first ever Jim Funk Scholarship, which is awarded to the top recipient among the general hospitality scholarship applicants. The scholarship is named for former LRA President & CEO Jim Funk, who retired in 2010, after a 30 year career with the association.
The Louisiana Restaurant Association is one of the largest business organizations in the state, representing restaurant operations and related businesses. The restaurant industry in Louisiana is one the state?s largest private employer, providing jobs to 189,500 residents. Restaurants in Louisiana are expected to generate sales of $6.5 billion in 2012. Get up-to-date news about the LRA and the restaurant industry from lrablogs.blogspot.com.
(Reuters) - Seeking to put an end to questions about his personal finances, Republican U.S. presidential candidate Mitt Romney said on Thursday he did not pay less than a 13 percent tax rate at any point over the last 10 years.
Democrats have criticized Romney for not releasing more than two years of tax information and openly asked whether the millionaire former private equity executive has something to hide about his wealth.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid accused Romney earlier this month of not paying taxes for 10 years, a claim the Republican denies.
"I did go back and look at my taxes, and over the last ten years, I never paid less than 13 percent," Romney told journalists in Greer, South Carolina. "I think the most recent year is 13.6 or something like that," he added.
Romney also said that when charitable donations were taken into account, his tax rate has been above 20 percent.
Debate over Romney's taxes and the Medicare health program for the elderly has taken the focus of the campaign away from Romney's top issue: jobs.
"I just have to say, given the challenges that America faces - 23 million people out of work, Iran about to become nuclear, one out of six Americans in poverty - the fascination with taxes I've paid I find to be very small-minded compared to the broad issues that we face," he said.
The Romney campaign returned to the tax issue near the end of a week in which it has been largely focused on promoting his choice of running mate, Wisconsin congressman Paul Ryan.
A Kaiser Family Foundation report said on Thursday that Medicare - one of the policy issues most associated with budget hawk Ryan - is a top election concern among voters.
Romney, a former Massachusetts governor, is one of the richest men ever to run for U.S. president. He has an estimated net worth of up to $250 million.
President Barack Obama's re-election campaign and its Democratic allies have featured Romney's wealth and refusal to divulge more tax returns in negative ads to paint the Republican as out of touch.
In January, Romney released financial information showing he had paid an effective tax rate of 13.9 percent in 2010, mostly from capital gains on investments. The top tax rate for wages is 35 percent, while capital gains are taxed at a lower rate.
Adam Jentleson, a spokesman for Senate Democratic Leader Reid, brushed off Romney's statement on Thursday that he never paid less than 13 percent.
"We'll believe it when we see it," he said. "Until Mitt Romney releases his tax returns, Americans will continue to wonder what he's hiding," Jentleson said.
(Additional reporting by Thomas Ferraro; Editing by Alistair Bell and Jackie Frank)
SEOUL/TOKYO (Reuters) - South Korean President Lee Myung-bak on Wednesday warned that conflicts over bitter shared history were complicating ties with former colonial master Japan and urged Tokyo to do more to resolve an emotive dispute over Korean women abducted to serve as sex slaves to wartime Japanese soldiers.
Underscoring how history haunts Japan's ties with neighboring South Korea and China, two Japanese cabinet ministers paid homage at a controversial Tokyo shrine for war dead on the 67th anniversary of the end of World War Two.
Despite close economic ties, memories of Japanese militarism run deep in China and South Korea.
Recent feuding over rival claims to rocky islands are the latest sign of how the region has been unable to resolve differences over its past nearly seven decades after its defeat and the end of the occupation and colonization of its neighbors.
Lee, whose Friday visit to an island claimed by both Seoul and Tokyo frayed ties between the two U.S. allies, on Wednesday called Japan an "important partner that we should work with to open the future".
But in remarks commemorating Korea's liberation from Japan's 1910-1945 rule, Lee also said the countries' tangled history was "hampering the common march toward a better tomorrow".
He urged Tokyo to do more to resolve a dispute over compensation for Korean women abducted to serve as sex slaves for wartime Japanese soldiers, known by the euphemism "comfort women" in Japan and long a source of friction.
"It was a breach of women's rights committed during wartime as well as a violation of universal human rights and historic justice. We urge the Japanese Government to take responsible measures in this regard," Lee said.
Japan says the matter was closed under a 1965 treaty establishing diplomatic ties. In 1993, Tokyo issued a statement in the name of its then-chief cabinet secretary and two years later set up a fund to make payments to the women, but South Korea say those moves were not official and so not enough.
The feuds reflect skepticism among Japan's Asian neighbors over the sincerity of its apologies for wartime and colonial excesses. On Tuesday, Lee told a meeting of teachers that Japanese Emperor Akihito should apologize sincerely if he wants to visit South Korea, saying a repeat of his 1990 expression of "deepest regrets" would not suffice.
Speaking at a ceremony marking the war's end on Wednesday, Noda acknowledged the "enormous damage and suffering" caused by Japan to other countries, especially in Asia.
"We deeply reflect upon (that) and express our deepest condolences to the victims and their families," he said, vowing that Japan would never go to war again.
DOMESTIC DYNAMICS
Tapping into anti-Japanese sentiment remains a way to seek public support in South Korea and China, which face leadership changes in coming months. And some experts see a new strain of nationalism surfacing in Japan amid frustration at the country's stagnant economy and disappointment with Noda's ruling party three years after it surged to power on hopes for change.
In a sign of the domestic pressures in Japan, National Public Safety Commission Chairman Jin Matsubara and Transport Minister Yuichiro Hata visited the Yasukuni shrine for war dead, defying Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda's urgings to stay away.
Many in the region see the shrine as a symbol of Japan's past militarism because 14 Japanese wartime leaders convicted as war criminals by an Allied tribunal are honored there along with Japan's war dead.
Wednesday's visit was the first by a cabinet minister since the Democrats swept to power in 2009, promising to forge warmer ties with the rest of Asia. Pilgrimages by then-Premier Junichiro Koizumi to Yasukuni during his 2001-2006 term in office fueled anger in both China and South Korea.
The China Daily, the country's main English-language newspaper, warned that the shrine visits risked "putting hard-won diplomatic relations with China in jeopardy."
"Some Japanese politicians are trying to distract the Japanese public from domestic problems by creating conflicts with China," said a commentary in the newspaper. "But this is just doubling down on a bad bet."
The Chinese government allowed a rare and brief protest in front of Japan's embassy, where a small group of people shouted anti-Japanese slogans before peacefully dispersing.
The Japanese ministers' defiance was another sign of Noda's weak grip on his fractious party, which has recently suffered defections over his signature plan to raise the sales tax.
Japan's ties with South Korea, where resentment over its 1910-1945 colonization of the peninsula remains strong, took a sharp turn for the worse after Lee visited an island -- known as Dokdo in Korea and Takeshima in Japan and near potential seabed gas deposits -- claimed by both countries last Friday.
Relations with China, where memories of Japan's occupation of large parts of the country in the 1930s and 1940s still rankle, have also been strained by renewed bickering over uninhabited islands in the East China Sea that are near potentially huge oil and gas resources.
(Additional reporting by Kaori Kaneko in Tokyo and Ben Blanchard in Beijing)
?It started last week and really picked up steam this week: Calls and walk-in questions to HR departments around the country from confused employees who received letters?or, in some cases, unexpected rebate checks?from their health insurer.
The New York Times called it the ?Great Health Insurance Giveback?: $1.1 billion in premiums returned to policyholders under a provision in the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The ACA requires the refunds when insurance companies spend more than 15% of premiums they collect on administrative costs, like salaries and advertising.
The rebates average $151 per covered employee and more than 12.7 million policyholders will benefit, says the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. This is the first year the rebate provision has taken effect, and insurers were required to dole out the rebates to employers by Aug. 1.
As the letters from insurers explained, the ?Medical Loss Ratio? rule could result in reduced premiums for the upcoming year or a direct check rebate. Employers had the choice.
In fact, the law actually gives employers up to three months to decide how to give back the employees? money, says The New York Times. And it gives them considerable discretion. Some employers plan on creating ?premium holidays? that increase take-home pay or spending the refund on wellness programs.
Employees, understandably, want to know whether this is a pay-me-now or a pay-me-later situation. Thus, the flood of calls and visits to HR.
Smart HR departments headed off these questions with preemptive letters or an email blast to employees explaining what the rebate means and how they'll see the benefits. ?
If your company received a refund, how did you pay it back ? how did you spread the word to employees ? and what reaction have you received?
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NEW YORK (AP) ? The federal government has finalized its settlement with Facebook to resolve charges that the social network exposed details about users' lives without getting the required legal consent.
Facebook Inc. didn't admit wrongdoing, but agreed to submit to government audits of its privacy practices every other year for the next two decades. The company committed to getting explicit approval from users ? a process known as "opting in" ? before changing the types of content it makes public.
The settlement, announced in November, is similar to agreements the Federal Trade Commission reached separately with Google Inc. and Myspace.
The FTC approved the settlement Friday after a public comment period. It comes a day after the FTC fined Google $22.5 million to resolve allegations that Google didn't comply with the earlier settlement.
Jessica K Dyson, Gastroenterology, North Tyneside General Hospital, Rake Lane, North Shields, Tyne and Wear NE29 8NH, United Kingdom.
Abstract
The association between inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and colorectal?cancer?(CRC) has been recognised since 1925 and still accounts for 10%-15% of deaths in IBD. IBD-associated CRC (IBD-CRC) affects patients at a younger age than sporadic CRC. The prognosis for sporadic CRC and IBD-CRC is similar, with a 5-year survival of approximately 50%. Identifying at risk patients and implementing appropriate surveillance for these patients is central to managing the CRC risk in IBD. The increased risk of colorectal?cancer?in association with IBD is thought to be due to genetic and acquired factors. The link between inflammation and?cancer?is well recognised but the?molecular?biology, immune pathobiology and genetics of IBD-CRC are areas of much ongoing research. This review examines the literature relating to IBD-CRC, focusing on the incidence of IBD-CRC and examining potential risk factors including age at diagnosis, gender, duration and extent of colitis, severity of inflammation, family history of sporadic CRC and co-existent primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC). Confirmed risk factors for IBD-CRC are duration, severity and extent of colitis, the presence of co-existent PSC and a family history of CRC. There is insufficient evidence currently to support an increased frequency of surveillance for patients diagnosed with IBD at a younger age. Evidence-based guidelines advise surveillance colonoscopy for patients with colitis 8 to 10 years after diagnosis, with the interval for further surveillance guided by risk factors (extent of disease, family history of CRC, post-inflammatory polyps, concomitant PSC, personal history of colonic dysplasia, colonic strictures). There is a move away from using random colonic biopsies towards targeted biopsies aimed at abnormal areas identified by newer colonoscopic techniques (narrow band imaging, chromoendoscopy, confocal microendoscopy).
Boys appear to be more vulnerable than girls to the insecticide chlorpyrifosPublic release date: 8-Aug-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Timothy S. Paul tp2111@columbia.edu 212-305-2676 Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health
Lower IQs seen in boys exposed in the womb to comparable amounts of the chemical
A new study is the first to find a difference between how boys and girls respond to prenatal exposure to the insecticide chlorpyrifos. Researchers at the Columbia Center for Children's Environmental Health (CCCEH) at the Mailman School of Public Health found that, at age 7, boys had greater difficulty with working memory, a key component of IQ, than girls with similar exposures. On the plus side, having nurturing parents improved working memory, especially in boys, although it did not lessen the negative cognitive effects of exposure to the chemical.
Results are published online in the journal Neurotoxicology and Teratology.
In 2011, research led by Virginia Rauh, ScD, Co-Deputy Director of CCCEH, established a connection between prenatal exposure to chlorpyrifos and deficits in working memory and IQ at age 7. Earlier this year, a follow-up study showed evidence in MRI scans that even low to moderate levels of exposure during pregnancy may lead to long-term, potentially irreversible changes in the brain. The latest study, led by Megan Horton, PhD, explored the impact of sex differences and the home environment on these health outcomes.
Dr. Horton and colleagues looked at a subset of 335 mother-child pairs enrolled in the ongoing inner-city study of environmental exposures, including measures of prenatal chlorpyrifos in umbilical cord blood. When the children reached age 3, the researchers measured the home environment using the Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment (HOME) criteria, including two main categories: 1) environmental stimulation, defined as the availability of intellectually stimulating materials in the home and the mother's encouragement of learning; and 2) parental nurturance, defined as attentiveness, displays of physical affection, encouragement of delayed gratification, limit setting, and the ability of the mother to control her negative reactions. The researchers tested IQ at age 7.
While home environment and sex had no moderating effect on IQ deficits related to chlorpyrifos exposure, the researchers uncovered two intriguing findings related to sex differences, albeit of borderline statistical strength: first, that chlorpyrifos exposure had a greater adverse cognitive impact in boys as compared to girls, lowering working memory scores by an average of three points more in boys than girls (96.5 vs. 99.8); and second, that parental nurturing was associated with better working memory, particularly in boys.
"There's something about boys that makes them a little more susceptible to both bad exposures and good exposures," says Dr. Horton. "One possible explanation for the greater sensitivity to chlorpyrifos is that the insecticide acts as an endocrine disruptor to suppress sex-specific hormones. In a study of rats, exposure to the chemical reduced testosterone, which plays a critical role in the development of the male brain."
Going forward, Dr. Horton will look at how sex and the home environment may influence the effects of prenatal exposure to other environmental toxicants, such as those found in air pollution. "I expect this information will be useful in efforts to develop new interventions to protect children from the potentially negative consequences of early exposure to harmful chemicals," says Dr. Horton.
The insecticide chlorpyrifos was widely used in homes until 2001 when the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency restricted indoor residential use, permitting continued commercial and agricultural applications. Since that time, a drop in residential levels of chlorpyrifos has been documented by Robin Whyatt, DrPH, Co-Deputy Director of CCCEH. The chemical continues to be present in the environment through its widespread use in agriculture (food and feed crops), wood treatments, and public spaces such as golf courses, some parks, and highway medians. People near these sources can be exposed by inhaling the chemical, which drifts on the wind. Low-level exposure can also occur by eating fruits and vegetables that have been sprayed with chlorpyrifos. Although the chemical is degraded rapidly by water and sunlight outdoors, it has been detected by the Columbia researchers in many urban residences several years after the ban went into effect. Many developing countries continue to use chlorpyrifos in the home setting.
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The study was supported by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences Grants 5P01ES09600, P50ES015905, and 5R01ES08977, as well as pilot funding through ES009089; EPA STAR Grants RD834509, RD832141, and R827027; National Institute of Mental Health Grants MH068318 and K02-74677; and the John and Wendy Neu Family Foundation.
Additional co-authors included Linda G. Kahn, Frederica P. Perera, and Virginia Rauh, Mailman School; and Dana BoydBarr, Emory University.
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Boys appear to be more vulnerable than girls to the insecticide chlorpyrifosPublic release date: 8-Aug-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Timothy S. Paul tp2111@columbia.edu 212-305-2676 Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health
Lower IQs seen in boys exposed in the womb to comparable amounts of the chemical
A new study is the first to find a difference between how boys and girls respond to prenatal exposure to the insecticide chlorpyrifos. Researchers at the Columbia Center for Children's Environmental Health (CCCEH) at the Mailman School of Public Health found that, at age 7, boys had greater difficulty with working memory, a key component of IQ, than girls with similar exposures. On the plus side, having nurturing parents improved working memory, especially in boys, although it did not lessen the negative cognitive effects of exposure to the chemical.
Results are published online in the journal Neurotoxicology and Teratology.
In 2011, research led by Virginia Rauh, ScD, Co-Deputy Director of CCCEH, established a connection between prenatal exposure to chlorpyrifos and deficits in working memory and IQ at age 7. Earlier this year, a follow-up study showed evidence in MRI scans that even low to moderate levels of exposure during pregnancy may lead to long-term, potentially irreversible changes in the brain. The latest study, led by Megan Horton, PhD, explored the impact of sex differences and the home environment on these health outcomes.
Dr. Horton and colleagues looked at a subset of 335 mother-child pairs enrolled in the ongoing inner-city study of environmental exposures, including measures of prenatal chlorpyrifos in umbilical cord blood. When the children reached age 3, the researchers measured the home environment using the Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment (HOME) criteria, including two main categories: 1) environmental stimulation, defined as the availability of intellectually stimulating materials in the home and the mother's encouragement of learning; and 2) parental nurturance, defined as attentiveness, displays of physical affection, encouragement of delayed gratification, limit setting, and the ability of the mother to control her negative reactions. The researchers tested IQ at age 7.
While home environment and sex had no moderating effect on IQ deficits related to chlorpyrifos exposure, the researchers uncovered two intriguing findings related to sex differences, albeit of borderline statistical strength: first, that chlorpyrifos exposure had a greater adverse cognitive impact in boys as compared to girls, lowering working memory scores by an average of three points more in boys than girls (96.5 vs. 99.8); and second, that parental nurturing was associated with better working memory, particularly in boys.
"There's something about boys that makes them a little more susceptible to both bad exposures and good exposures," says Dr. Horton. "One possible explanation for the greater sensitivity to chlorpyrifos is that the insecticide acts as an endocrine disruptor to suppress sex-specific hormones. In a study of rats, exposure to the chemical reduced testosterone, which plays a critical role in the development of the male brain."
Going forward, Dr. Horton will look at how sex and the home environment may influence the effects of prenatal exposure to other environmental toxicants, such as those found in air pollution. "I expect this information will be useful in efforts to develop new interventions to protect children from the potentially negative consequences of early exposure to harmful chemicals," says Dr. Horton.
The insecticide chlorpyrifos was widely used in homes until 2001 when the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency restricted indoor residential use, permitting continued commercial and agricultural applications. Since that time, a drop in residential levels of chlorpyrifos has been documented by Robin Whyatt, DrPH, Co-Deputy Director of CCCEH. The chemical continues to be present in the environment through its widespread use in agriculture (food and feed crops), wood treatments, and public spaces such as golf courses, some parks, and highway medians. People near these sources can be exposed by inhaling the chemical, which drifts on the wind. Low-level exposure can also occur by eating fruits and vegetables that have been sprayed with chlorpyrifos. Although the chemical is degraded rapidly by water and sunlight outdoors, it has been detected by the Columbia researchers in many urban residences several years after the ban went into effect. Many developing countries continue to use chlorpyrifos in the home setting.
###
The study was supported by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences Grants 5P01ES09600, P50ES015905, and 5R01ES08977, as well as pilot funding through ES009089; EPA STAR Grants RD834509, RD832141, and R827027; National Institute of Mental Health Grants MH068318 and K02-74677; and the John and Wendy Neu Family Foundation.
Additional co-authors included Linda G. Kahn, Frederica P. Perera, and Virginia Rauh, Mailman School; and Dana BoydBarr, Emory University.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Compared with open farmland, wooded "shade" plantations that produce coffee and chocolate promote greater bird diversity, although a new University of Utah study says forests remain the best habitat for tropical birds.
The findings suggest that as open farmland replaces forests and "agroforests" ? where crops are grown under trees ? reduced number of bird species and shifts in the populations of various types of birds may hurt "ecosystem services" that birds provide to people, such as eating insect pests, spreading seeds and pollinating crops.
"We found that agroforests are better overall for bird biodiversity in the tropics than open farms," says study author ?a?an H. ?ekercio?lu (pronounced Cha-awn Shay-care-gee-oh-loo), an assistant professor of biology at the University of Utah.
"This doesn't mean people should farm in intact forests," the ornithologist adds. "But if you have the option of having agroforest versus open farmland, that is better for biodiversity, with shade coffee and shade cacao [the source of cocoa and chocolate] being the prime examples."
?ekercio?lu's new study, funded by the University of Utah, is being published this month in the Journal of Ornithology. He will present the findings Thursday, Aug. 9, at the Ecological Society of America's annual meeting in Portland, Ore.
If consumers wish to support bird diversity and agroforests, "a good way is by choosing certified, bird-friendly, shade coffee or shade chocolate," he says. While such coffee or chocolate often cost more because they are more labor-intensive to produce, the certification "is usually better for the farmers' income as well."
He adds: "There are trustworthy environmental organizations that certify shade coffee," including the Smithsonian Institution, the Rainforest Alliance and the Rainforest Action Network.
Other crops grown in shade include cardamom, which is a spice, and yerba mate, which is steeped in hot water to make a beverage popular in South America.
Study Focuses on Birds of Forests, Farms or Both
An agroforest "is a type of farm where the crops are grown under trees at a reasonable density," ?ekercio?lu says. "Often, it's not like forest-forest ? it feels more like a open park," although in Ethiopia "commercial coffee is grown under full-on forests in its original native habitat."
?ekercio?lu conducted the study in two steps. First, "I used my world bird database that has information on all the 10,000-plus bird species of the world," he says. "I sorted birds based on habitat choices and compared species that prefer forests to those that prefer agricultural areas and others that prefer both forests and agricultural areas."
Next, he reviewed about 40 previously published studies that examined bird communities in forests, agroforests and open agricultural areas.
"The global analysis of all the birds species mostly agrees with the findings of detailed local bird studies," ?ekercio?lu says.
The study focused 6,093 tropical bird species, including migratory birds, in which their top three habitat choices (out of 14 possible habitats) included forests, farms or both, with the latter described as agroforest birds. So the study found 4,574 bird species that include forest but not farms in their top three habitats, 303 species that include farms but not forests in their top three habitat choices, and 1,216 agroforest species tha include both forests and farms among their top three habitats.
The findings suggest, but don't prove, that conversion of forest to farmland may reduce ecosystem services, which are services birds provide to people.
"As you go to more and more open agriculture, you lose some bird groups that provide important ecosystem services like insect control [insect eaters], seed dispersal [fruit eaters] and pollination [nectar eaters], while you get higher numbers of granivores [seed and grain eaters] that actually can be crop pests," ?ekercio?lu says. Specifically:
Insectivores or insect-eating birds do best in forests ? especially those that live near the ground in the understory, the layer of plants below the tree canopy and above the ground cover. But small and medium insect-eating birds, especially migrant and canopy species, do well in agroforests. The number of insect-eating species declines on open farms, where they help control pests.
Frugivores or fruit-eating birds, especially larger ones, "do best in forest because they have more habitat and more food, and the large ones often are hunted outside forests in agricultural settings. Overall, frugivores ? especially smaller ones ? do OK in agroforests, but the number of fruit-eating species decline significantly on open farms." Frugivores help spread the seeds of the fruits they eat.
Nectarivores or nectar-eating birds help pollinate many plants. They "tend to increase in agroforests compared with forests. A lot of nectar-eating birds obviously like flowers, and many plants flower when there's some light. When you have extensive forest its often pretty shady so not many things are in flower at any given time." The nectar eaters are less common on open farms.
Omnivores, which are birds that eat many things, "tend to do better in agroforests and especially on open farms" than in forests, because their diet is so generalized instead of specialized in certain foods.
Granivores, or grain- and seed-eating birds are "the only group that significantly increases in open agricultural areas. A lot of the seeds they eat are grass seeds, but also from crops. Some of these seed-eating bird species are major agricultural pests, and that's another reason for encouraging agroforests. In completely open agricultural systems, you have more seed-eating birds that can cause significant crop losses."
While the study found fewer species on farms than in agroforests, and fewer on agroforests than in forests, ?ekercio?lu says it doesn't answer a key question: "Does the decline in the number species translate into a decline in individuals providing a given ecosystem service?" If so, farms and agroforests have lost birds that provide important insect-control, pollination and seed-dispersal services.
"It is possible you may lose a lot of species, but some of the remaining species increase in number and compensate and for the decline in ecosystem services by the lost species," he adds. "It's one of the biggest questions in ecology."
The Trend toward Sun Coffee
Noting that the study found forests have more tropical bird species than agroforests, which in turn have more bird species that open farms, ?ekercio?lu says: "A lot of threatened species globally are found only in forests, and most of them disappear from agroforests and open agricultural areas."
He says many migratory birds that breed in the United States are in decline ? even though the nation has a law to protect them ? and not just because of U.S. environmental problems, "but due to problems in their wintering grounds in Latin America, such as loss of habitat and intensification of agriculture."
"Coffee was originally a mid- to high-elevation African forest understory plant," he adds. "For centuries in Ethiopia and parts of Central and South America, coffee has been grown as an understory plant with shade traditionally provided by native trees."
But fungi can be a problem in humid shade coffee plantations, and growers have come up with varieties that grow well in the sun with less fungus and bigger yields, so in recent decades, there has been a trend toward converting Central and South American shade-coffee forests to open farms, ?ekercio?lu says.
"As tropical forest is converted to increasingly open types of agriculture, hundreds of endangered bird species are being lost," he says. "Tropical forest is the only refuge for thousands of bird species and hundreds of endangered bird species. Although agroforest is better than open farmland, at the end of the day intact tropical forest is the only suitable habitat for thousands of bird species."
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University of Utah: http://www.unews.utah.edu/
Thanks to University of Utah for this article.
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Finding the best local business marketing is needed to promote the business effectively. This needs to be planned and executed carefully to get the best results. This is a very important aspect of a business that can be a big factor on its success or failure. The best strategy can bring in more clients and profits consequently, to the company.
It started last week and really picked up steam this week: Calls and walk-in questions to HR departments around the country from confused employees who received letters?or, in some cases, unexpected rebate checks?from their health insurer.![[ Back to EurekAlert! ]](http://www.eurekalert.org/images/back2e.gif){kind=small}
Public release date: 8-Aug-2012
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