Loni Edwards is Founder and CEO of Stitch Collective Inc, Co-Chair of the Harvard Law Entrepreneurs Network, and Mentor at Andover Thought in Action. Formerly an attorney at Quinn Emanuel LLP. Graduate of Harvard Law School, Cornell University, and Phillips Academy Andover. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Forbes Latest
On June 18, Adam Marcus and Daniel A. Spielman of Yale University, along with Nikhil Srivastava of Microsoft Research India, announced a proof of the Kadison-Singer conjecture, a question about the mathematical foundations of quantum mechanics. Ten days later, they posted, on Cornell University’s arXiv open-access e-prints site, a manuscript titled Interlacing Families II: Mixed Characteristic Polynomials and The Kadison-Singer Problem. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Phys.org
In the search for understanding how some magnetic materials can be transformed to carry electric current with no energy loss, scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory, Cornell University, and collaborators have made an important advance: Using an experimental technique they developed to measure the energy required for electrons to pair up and how that energy varies with direction, they’ve identified the factors needed for magnetically mediated superconductivity-as well as those that aren’t. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Phys.org
By Joanne Camas We’ve all been there: The overloaded restaurant buffet, stacked with steaming trays of rich food, just beckoning us, “Eat! Eat! Eat!” Resistance is futile. However, there are tricks and tips to manage the buffet without going full-on glutton. Yesterday Harvard HealthBeat newsletter shared research on buffet stratgies from Brian Wansink, professor of consumer behavior at Cornell University, and fellow researcher Mitsuru Shimizu. They supervised 30 observers who watched how more than 300 people tackled all-you-can-eat Chinese restaurant buffets. They monitored how quickly the diners served themselves, what size of plate they chose, where their table was, and whether they faced the buffet, among other factors. Their report in this month’s American Journal of Preventive Medicine revealed that diners who walked around the buffet to see what their options were before serving themselves and those who used smaller plates made fewer trips to the buffet and probably ate less. “Consistent with the idea that small changes might lessen one’s tendency to overeat, deliberative thought about what to serve oneself, and using a smaller plate, may reduce overeating in buffets,” the researchers noted. How do you approach buffet dining? Can you resist all that tempting food? Does your strategy change if it’s an all-you-can-eat, one-price deal rather than a buffet with restrictions?
A Cornell University wrestler has been charged after a woman said she woke up to find him raping her, and the woman’s partner later took a photo that led to his arrest.
Peter Mesko, of Honesdale, Pa., was charged Tuesday with first-degree rape. He was freed on $5,000 bail, to appear in court Friday. Police didn’t know if the 22-year-old had a lawyer. His phone number is unlisted and a call to his parents’ home on Thursday wasn’t answered.
The Ithaca Journal reported that court papers say the two women were sleeping early Saturday when one awoke to find a stranger on top of her. The women fought him off and ran upstairs.
Investigators say the victim’s partner went back to the bedroom and took two pictures of the man lying on the bed, which the women later used to identify Mesko by looking him up on the athletic department’s website.
Officer Jamie Williamson of Ithaca Police said Thursday that the assault took place at a residence off campus, but he declined to say whether the victim was a Cornell student.
The court document describes the women as partners and gave the following account:
The two women had gone out for drinks around 11 p.m. Friday and the alleged victim told police she had had two beers, a shot of tequila and a whiskey and Coke. The couple went to her partner’s residence at around 1 a.m., went to the partner’s bedroom and quickly fell asleep.
The partner was awakened around 1:30 a.m. by the noise of her housemates and their friends playing drinking games outside her room. She noticed some Cornell wrestlers among them when she went out to ask them to quiet down.
The other woman said she woke up at 4:45 a.m. to find a stranger raping her, and her cries awoke her partner. The partner said she recognized the man as a wrestler but didn’t know his name. The couple shoved the man off and ran from the room. The partner returned about 10 minutes later to take a photo of his face, then ran back upstairs.
The women said Mesko went upstairs where they were barricaded in another room and tried to get in, but the door was locked. About a half-hour later, the women said, they dashed downstairs, dressed and left the residence, where Mesko was asleep on a futon.
The victim went to an emergency room to have a rape kit done, then contacted police.
University officials said they couldn’t comment on the case.
According to the Cornell athletics department website, Mesko is a junior enrolled in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. Last year, he took third place in the New York State Intercollegiate Tournament. He competed as a wrestler and a football fullback and linebacker at Honesdale High School.
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox US News
A 22-year-old Cornell University wrestler has been charged after a woman said she woke up to find him raping her, and the woman’s partner later took a photo that led to his arrest.
Peter Mesko, of Honesdale, Pa., was charged Tuesday with first-degree rape. Mesko was freed on $5,000 bail, to appear in court Friday. Police didn’t know if he has a lawyer.
The Ithaca Journal reports (http://ithacajr.nl/11reBpb) that court papers say the women were sleeping early Saturday when one awoke to find a stranger on top of her. The women fought him off and ran upstairs.
Investigators say the victim’s partner went back to the bedroom and took two pictures of the man lying on the bed, which the women used to identify Mesko by looking him up on the athletic department’s website.
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox US News
By Business Wirevia The Motley Fool
Filed under: Investing
WebMediaBrands’ Inside 3D Printing Conference & Expo Features Three Keynotes, Comprehensive Tutorials, and Exhibitors 3D Systems, MakerBot, and Stratasys
NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)– WebMediaBrands Inc. (NAS: WEBM) today announced that Avi Reichental, President & CEO of 3D Systems, Terry Wohlers, Principal Consultant and President of Wohlers Associates, Inc., and Peter Weijmarshausen, CEO & Co-Founder of Shapeways, are keynoting at Inside 3D Printing Conference & Expo, taking place at the Javits Convention Center in New York City on April 22-23, 2013.
Dr. Hod Lipson, associate professor and director of the Creative Machines Lab at Cornell University and author of Fabricated: The New World of 3D Printing, developed the conference program with a robust lineup of speakers. In addition to comprehensive tutorials, Inside 3D Printing Conference & Expo offers sessions covering the use of 3D printing in medicine, fashion, food, design, architecture, manufacturing, and more.
Inside 3D Printing Conference & Expo also features a wide range of industry-leading exhibitors demonstrating the latest 3D printing equipment and services, including 3D Systems, MakerBot, Stratasys, Mcor Technologies, Sculpteo and more.
For complete information on the Inside 3D Printing Conference & Expo, please visit http://inside3dprinting.com.
For exhibiting and sponsorship information, please contact Marilyn Reed at 3dprinting.sponsors@mediabistro.com or 518-793-8167.
About WebMediaBrands Inc.
WebMediaBrands Inc. (NAS: WEBM) (http://www.webmediabrands.com) is a leading Internet media company that provides content, education, and career services to social media, traditional media, and creative professionals through a portfolio of vertical online properties, communities, and trade shows. The Company’s online business includes: (i) mediabistro.com, a leading blog network providing content, education, community, and career resources (including the industry’s leading online job board) about major media industry verticals including new media, social media, Facebook, TV news, advertising, public relations, publishing, design, and mobile; (ii) InsideNetwork.com, a leading network of online properties providing original market research, data services, news, and job listings on the Facebook platform, on social gaming, and on mobile applications ecosystems; and (iii) SemanticWeb.com, a leading blog providing content, education, community resources and career resources on the commercialization and application of Semantic Technologies, Linked Data, and Big Data. The Company’s online business also includes community, membership and e-commerce offerings including a freelance listing service, a marketplace for designing and purchasing logos (stocklogos.com) and premium membership services. The Company’s …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance
(Phys.org) —As is the case in all areas of science, our understanding of evolutionary biology is… well, evolving. Two such areas are macroevolution (any evolutionary change at or above the level of species – that is, on a scale of separated gene pools) and microevolution (any evolutionary change below the level of species, such as the effect of changes in allele frequency on phenotype). Interestingly, macroevolution and microevolution can be seen as describing fundamentally identical processes on different time scales. Through their divergent effects on population genetics, sexual reproduction strategies could significantly influence phenotypic expression – but the impact of mating system transitions has not been well understood. Recently, however, scientists at Cornell University have shown that the repeated, unidirectional transition from self-incompatibility to self-compatibility (increased inbreeding) leads to the evolution of an inducible (a gene whose expression is responsive to environmental change) – as opposed to a constitutive (a gene that is always expressed) – strategy of plant resistance to herbivores, as well as a strategy in which the loss of self-incompatibility is associated with the evolution of increased specificity in induced plant resistance. Moreover, they demonstrate that these two defense strategies represent evolutionary alternatives, leading to a macroevolutionary tradeoff whose magnitude is dependent on the mating system. The scientists conclude that the evolution of sexual reproductive variation may have profound effects on plant–herbivore interactions, suggesting a new hypothesis for the evolution of two primary plant defense strategies. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Phys.org
By Business Wirevia The Motley Fool
Filed under: Investing
Marsh & McLennan Companies Appoints Helen Shan Treasurer
NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc. (NYS: MMC) , a global professional services firm providing advice and solutions in risk, strategy, and human capital, announced today that Helen Shan will join the Company as Vice President and Treasurer.
Ms. Shan’s appointment is effective April 15. In her new role, she will oversee all areas of the Company’s global treasury organization, including capital management, pensions, investments, and cash management. She will report directly to Chief Financial Officer J. Michael Bischoff.
Ms. Shan joins Marsh & McLennan Companies from Pitney Bowes, where she began as Vice President and Treasurer in 2005 and assumed the additional role of Vice President, Finance, along with responsibility for Corporate Development and Investor Relations, in 2010. Prior to Pitney Bowes, she spent 11 years at JPMorgan Securities, where she served in a variety of roles, including Managing Director, Diversified Industries. Ms. Shan began her career as a Quantitative Analyst/Controller at Salomon Brothers.
“Helen is a proven leader whose deep experience and broad financial expertise make her well suited to implement the Company’s long-term growth and capital allocation strategies,” said Mr. Bischoff. “We look forward to her contributions as a key member of the finance team.”
Ms. Shan holds an MBA from Johnson at Cornell University and dual undergraduate degrees from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business and School of Applied Science and Engineering.
About Marsh & McLennan Companies
MARSH & McLENNAN COMPANIES (NYS: MMC) is a global professional services firm offering clients advice and solutions in the areas of risk, strategy, and human capital. Marsh is a global leader in insurance broking and risk management; Guy Carpenter is a global leader in providing risk and reinsurance intermediary services; Mercer is a global leader in talent, health, retirement, and investment consulting; and Oliver Wyman is a global leader in management consulting. Marsh & McLennan Companies’ approximately 54,000 colleagues worldwide provide analysis, advice, and transactional capabilities to clients in more than 100 countries. The Company prides itself on being a responsible corporate citizen and making a positive impact in the communities in which it operates. Visit www.mmc.com for more information.
By David Lee Smith, The Motley Fool
Filed under: Investing
It’s clear that, as has been the case since time immemorial, the eyes of Texas are on the oil and gas industry.
As last week wound down, a study emerged from the University of Texas predicting steady growth for U.S. natural gas production during the next few decades. That is — and this is my caveat, not one emanating from the folks in Austin — unless hydraulic fracturing becomes entombed by the stream of opposition that’s designed to thwart its progress.
Iterative studies, it seems, have become the order of the day regarding fracking, or TransCanada‘s proposed Keystone XL pipeline, or any other activity judged verboten by environmentalists.
We won’t get rid of this gas for a while
The Texas study focused on the Barnett Shale, which sits in a north Texas expanse generally surrounding Fort Worth. Funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the study, the first to comprehensively focus on the geology and economics of shale drilling, examined 15,000 wells that have been drilled in the Barnett.
As The Wall Street Journal noted, Scott Tinker, director of the Bureau of Economic Geology at the university said at the conclusion of the study, which he helped to lead: “We are looking at multi, multi decades of growth.”
Indeed, it’s anticipated that the Barnett alone contains another 44 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, and that gas production in the U.S. won’t plateau until 2040. Many of the nation’s future gas wells will be drilled in the giant Marcellus Shale of Pennsylvania and surrounding states — unless, of course, excessive fracking runs into a generalized roadblock.
Fracking flunks at Cornell and passes at Texas
As I told Fools a couple of years ago, a Cornell University study resoundingly turned thumbs-down on fracking. The study’s leader, Robert Howarth, a professor of ecology and environmental biology, said at the conclusion of his effort: “The take-home message of our study is that, if you do an integration of 20 years following the development of the gas, shale gas is worse than conventional gas and is, in fact, worse than coal and worse than oil.” Huh?
For the next study, we return to the home of the Longhorns. Early in 2012, UT’s Energy Institute released a report that judged the environmental risks from fracking to be minimal. That clearly was not the correct conclusion in some quarters. Thus followed a cacophony claiming the existence of a conflict of interest, since Charles Groat, the former U.S. Geological Survey leader and the major domo of the study, was a paid board member of Plains Exploration and Production . For all intents and purposes, the study’s conclusions have been tossed out like Sunday’s newspaper.
However, that same environmental chorus had, not surprisingly, become mum regarding Howarth’s apparent conflicts and flaw-laden conclusions. As Forbes contributor Jon Entine wrote subsequently:
Last April the Times ran two articles in a week heavily promoting Howarth’s …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance
By Business Wirevia The Motley Fool
Filed under: Investing
Aetna Names Jeff Brown Head of Voluntary Plans
HARTFORD, Conn.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Aetna (NYSE: AET) announced it has appointed Jeff Brown as the head of Aetna Voluntary Plans. Brown is responsible for product strategy, pricing and positioning, and overall operations for the business line. Voluntary plans provide supplemental benefits, such as critical illness or accident plans, that can be paid for through payroll deductions. These plans give consumers more flexibility to choose the coverage that meets their unique needs.
“Aetna’s voluntary plans – such as critical illness, accident and hospital indemnity plans – naturally complement Aetna’s core medical offerings and help consumers and employers balance cost and coverage needs,” said Brown. “I am very excited to have the opportunity to join the voluntary team. In addition to enhancing our consumer-directed health care offerings, the Aetna voluntary business also offers solutions for the growing part-time employee market.”
Brown joins Aetna from Colonial Life, where he served as Chief Marketing Officer and led the company in strategy, planning, product development, and other initiatives. He holds a bachelor’s degree from The University of Alabama and an MBA from Cornell University.
“We are excited to have Jeff join our team and lead our growth strategy,” said Karen S. Rohan, executive vice president and head of Local and Regional Businesses. “The voluntary benefits marketplace is expanding rapidly and Aetna is uniquely positioned to offer employers benefit solutions that help protect their employees’ physical and financial well-being.”
For more information, visit the Aetna Voluntary Plans website.
About Aetna
Aetna is one of the nation’s leading diversified health care benefits companies, serving approximately 37.3 million people with information and resources to help them make better informed decisions about their health care. Aetna offers a broad range of traditional, voluntary and consumer-directed health insurance products and related services, including medical, pharmacy, dental, behavioral health, group life and disability plans, and medical management capabilities, Medicaid health care management services and health information technology services. Our customers include employer groups, individuals, college students, part-time and hourly workers, health plans, health care providers, governmental units, government-sponsored plans, labor groups and expatriates. For more information, see www.aetna.com.
Aetna
Media Contact:
Katelyn Morgan, 860-273-1880
morgank3@aetna.com
or
Investor …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance
Robert C. Richardson, a Cornell University professor who shared a Nobel Prize for a key discovery in experimental physics, has died. He was 75. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Phys.org
A U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientist and his colleague at Cornell University have developed a new tool for studying how roots take shape in the soil. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Phys.org
A previously poorly investigated signalling pathway is crucial for the growth and proliferation of prostate cancer cells. An international research team discovered this when studying the enzyme “soluble adenylyl cyclase” that produces the second messenger molecule cAMP. When the scientists inhibited the enzyme, the cancer cell proliferation was suppressed. The team led by Dr. Yury Ladilov from the Department of Clinical Pharmacology at the Ruhr-Universität Bochum reported together with colleagues from the Department of Urology at the RUB and the Cornell University in New York in the Journal of Biological Chemistry.
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Phys.org
Homing pigeons are usually remarkably efficient navigators, however, on rare occasions, things go drastically wrong. So, when Jon Hagstrum of the US Geological Survey read in his local newspaper about two races when pigeons had been lost in 1998, he was reminded of a lecture by Bill Keeton that he had heard years before as an undergraduate at Cornell University.
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Phys.org
(Phys.org)—Pathogenic bacteria kill their animal or plant hosts through the production of toxic molecules. But how do animals and plants defend themselves against these toxins? Researchers from the Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research (BTI), located at Cornell University, and the University of Florida (UF) have found that the tiny nematode C. elegans chemically disables bacterial toxins: The worms attach a sugar molecule (glucose), which renders toxic bacterial molecules harmless. The paper was published in the Nov. 19 issue of ACS Chemical Biology.
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Phys.org
By simulating 25,000 generations of evolution within computers, Cornell University engineering and robotics researchers have discovered why biological networks tend to be organized as modules – a finding that will lead to a deeper understanding of the evolution of complexity.
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Phys.org
Steven Muller, who led Johns Hopkins University during a period of tremendous growth and also served as president of The Johns Hopkins Hospital for a decade, died Saturday at his Washington home. He was 85.
University spokeswoman Tracey Reeves said Muller died of respiratory failure. His wife, Jill McGovern, was at his side.
Muller had been provost of Johns Hopkins for 10 months when was tapped by trustees in 1972 to lead the Baltimore-based university, staying at the helm until 1990. He also served as hospital president from 1972 to 1983.
University officials said Muller led highly successful fundraising campaigns that raised hundreds of millions of dollars for Hopkins. Under Muller, the university broke off nursing and engineering studies into standalone schools, brought the Space Telescope Science Institute to Baltimore, and established the Johns Hopkins-Nanjing University Center for Chinese and American Studies.
Muller also created an affiliation with the Peabody Institute, helping put the well-known music school on stronger financial footing, and helped to restore and reopen the Homewood Museum and Evergreen Museum and Library.
He also presided over the expansion and modernization of Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center and the establishment of the Krieger Mind-Brain Institute.
University president Ronald J. Daniels praised Muller as “a remarkable leader whose vision and determination enhanced dramatically the institution’s national and global prominence.”
“A man of both substance and impeccable style, Dr. Muller is credited with moving the university into a new era while preserving its tradition of leadership among research institutions,” Daniels wrote in an email to the university community. “As many of you who knew him can attest, he was a no-nonsense leader who was more formal than informal. More bold than quiet. More personable than pushy.”
Born in Hamburg, Germany, Muller was a child when his family fled Nazi Germany. He spent his teenage years in Los Angeles, even acting in several Hollywood movies before enrolling at the University of California, Los Angeles, from which he graduated in 1948. He earned a degree in politics from Oxford University, where he was a Rhodes Scholar, and received a doctorate from Cornell University. Before his tenure at Hopkins, Muller served as a vice president of public affairs at Cornell and as director of its Center for International Studies.
After his retirement. Muller remained active in the Hopkins community and was awarded an honorary doctorate of humane letters in 2000.
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox US News
The electron is found in every atom and plays a key role in almost every chemical reaction. So, a complete understanding of its physical properties is vital. Researchers from the RIKEN Nishina Center for Accelerator-Based Science, together with their colleagues from Nagoya University, Japan, and Cornell University in the US, have completed the most precise calculations of the magnetic properties of the electron and a similar, heavier particle known as a muon. These results provide a stringent test of physicists’ understanding of the subatomic world.
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Phys.org
