The Rawls Career Management Center (CMC) and its Student Business Group will host the first Rawls Networking Group event on February 12 at 6 p.m. in the Rawls Atrium to help students hone their networking skills.
Ryan Todd, associate director for student development, said having the ability to effectively network in a business environment is one of the most important skills the CMC can teach students.
?Success would be difficult for any new graduate who does not have the ability to cultivate relationships with business partners and attendees at business events,? said Todd.
The Rawls Networking Group will be held once a month each semester. These events will be conducted just as if they were real business networking situations.
For each event a guest speaker will present topics on networking or business etiquette. Business members from the community will be invited, and open networking time will be made available for students to practice their networking skills.
This month?s event will feature Dean Nail and members of the Lubbock Chamber of Commerce. For more information on the Rawls Networking Group, visit the CMC event website.
DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran has called for foreign help to recover a $40 million gas platform from the Gulf seabed, its Mehr news agency reported, in a rare request by an industry isolated by sanctions.
The South Pars project to develop Iran's part of the world's largest gas field has been hampered by a withdrawal of international energy companies, under pressure from U.S. and European governments, and difficulties in acquiring technology due to sanctions on trade.
The platform's huge metal support jacket plunged 80 meters below the surface after a crane broke during installation.
The structure, one of four planned for South Pars, weighs well over 1,000 tonnes, and the companies involved - state-run service company Sadra and a National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) subsidiary - have asked for foreign companies to help rescue it, Mehr said on Wednesday.
"Without the help of foreign companies ... it is forecast that it won't be possible to retrieve the jacket for several months," an unidentified NIOC official told Mehr.
An official with Pars Oil and Gas Company, Sepehr Sepehri, earlier told Mehr that crisis groups had been set up on the site and in Tehran and that steps to recover the giant structure could begin when the weather and sea conditions improved.
But the NIOC official told Mehr that calls for help had been sent out to several international companies that might have the specialized equipment needed, without having received any response by Wednesday afternoon.
Tight banking restrictions, which Western governments have imposed to pressure Tehran to stop its disputed nuclear program, have made it difficult for companies to get paid for supplying goods and services to Iran.
The sanctions-battered energy industry has pushed on without them. Most of the parts are now manufactured inside Iran, Iranian industry officials say, but the need to develop in-house equipment has slowed projects.
According to Pars Oil and Gas, the Iranian portion of the offshore gas field, which it shares with Qatar, is estimated to contain some 14 trillion cubic meters of gas.
For its part of the field, Qatar has become one of the world's richest countries thanks to the rapid development together with U.S. and European energy giants of complex liquefied natural gas (LNG) export facilities.
Meanwhile, Iran's international isolation has prevented it from completing any LNG export facilities and limited its potentially huge exports to modest exports by pipeline mainly to Turkey.
(Reporting by Daniel Fineren, Marcus George and Yeganeh Torbati; editing by Jane Baird)
Cyclone did not cause 2012 record low for Arctic sea icePublic release date: 31-Jan-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Hannah Hickey hickeyh@uw.edu 206-543-2580 University of Washington
It came out of Siberia, swirling winds over an area that covered almost the entire Arctic basin in the normally calm late summer. It came to be known as "The Great Arctic Cyclone of August 2012," and for some observers it suggested that the historic sea ice minimum may have been caused by a freak summer storm, rather than warming temperatures.
But new results from the University of Washington show that the August cyclone was not responsible for last year's record low for Arctic sea ice. The study was published online this week in Geophysical Research Letters.
"The effect is huge in the immediate aftermath of the cyclone, but after about two weeks the effect gets smaller," said lead author Jinlun Zhang, an oceanographer in the UW's Applied Physics Laboratory. "By September, most of the ice that melted would have melted with or without the cyclone."
Recent research showed that the Arctic cyclone was the most powerful ever seen during the month of August, and the 13th most powerful of all Arctic storms in more than three decades of satellite records.
"The storm was enormous," said co-author Axel Schweiger, a polar scientist in the Applied Physics Laboratory. "The impact on the ice was immediately obvious, but the question was whether the ice that went away during the storm would have melted anyway because it was thin to begin with."
The UW team performed the climate scientist's equivalent of a forensic exam: They ran a computer simulation of last summer's weather and compared it against a second scenario that was identical except that there was no cyclone.
Results showed the storm caused the sea ice to pass the previous record 10 days earlier in August than it would have otherwise, but only reduced the final September ice extent by 150,000 square kilometers (almost 60,000 square miles), less than a 5 percent difference. By comparison, the actual minimum ice extent was 18 percent less than the previous record set in 2007.
The study also revealed a surprising mechanism for the cyclone-related melting. Earlier discussions about the cyclone's effect had focused on winds breaking up the ice or driving ice floes into areas of warmer water. The results suggest that neither process led to much increase in melting.
Relatively recent research shows that in the summertime, thin ice and areas of open water allow sunlight to filter down to the water below. As a result, while a layer of ice-cold fresh water sits just beneath the sea ice, about 20 meters (65 feet) down there is a layer of denser, saltier water that has been gradually warmed by the sun's rays.
Blowing on polar water is less like blowing on a cup of tea and more like blowing on a layered cocktail. When the cyclone swept over the drifting ice floes, underside ridges churned up the water to bring sun-warmed seawater to the ice's bottom edge. The model suggests that during the cyclone there was a quadrupling of melting from below, and that this was the biggest cause for doubling ice loss during the three-day storm.
"We only looked at one big storm. If we want to understand how storms will affect the ice cover in the future we need understand the effect of storms in different conditions," said co-author Ron Lindsay.
More sunlight reaches the water in a year with unusually thin summer ice, such as 2012, so this process is a potential multiplier effect for sea-ice melting.
The results are of interest beyond understanding climate change. As sea ice thins and melts, economic and political concerns require better sea-ice forecasts to protect ships and instruments that might travel in those waters.
"One thing we are working on, and that needs to be included in future computer simulations, is how bigger waves created by wind blowing over more extensive open water help break up the sea ice into floes, and how these smaller floes respond to warm water," said co-author Mike Steele.
###
The research was funded by the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Office of Naval Research and NASA.
For more information, contact Schweiger at 206-543-1312 or axel@apl.washington.edu.
[ | 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.
Cyclone did not cause 2012 record low for Arctic sea icePublic release date: 31-Jan-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Hannah Hickey hickeyh@uw.edu 206-543-2580 University of Washington
It came out of Siberia, swirling winds over an area that covered almost the entire Arctic basin in the normally calm late summer. It came to be known as "The Great Arctic Cyclone of August 2012," and for some observers it suggested that the historic sea ice minimum may have been caused by a freak summer storm, rather than warming temperatures.
But new results from the University of Washington show that the August cyclone was not responsible for last year's record low for Arctic sea ice. The study was published online this week in Geophysical Research Letters.
"The effect is huge in the immediate aftermath of the cyclone, but after about two weeks the effect gets smaller," said lead author Jinlun Zhang, an oceanographer in the UW's Applied Physics Laboratory. "By September, most of the ice that melted would have melted with or without the cyclone."
Recent research showed that the Arctic cyclone was the most powerful ever seen during the month of August, and the 13th most powerful of all Arctic storms in more than three decades of satellite records.
"The storm was enormous," said co-author Axel Schweiger, a polar scientist in the Applied Physics Laboratory. "The impact on the ice was immediately obvious, but the question was whether the ice that went away during the storm would have melted anyway because it was thin to begin with."
The UW team performed the climate scientist's equivalent of a forensic exam: They ran a computer simulation of last summer's weather and compared it against a second scenario that was identical except that there was no cyclone.
Results showed the storm caused the sea ice to pass the previous record 10 days earlier in August than it would have otherwise, but only reduced the final September ice extent by 150,000 square kilometers (almost 60,000 square miles), less than a 5 percent difference. By comparison, the actual minimum ice extent was 18 percent less than the previous record set in 2007.
The study also revealed a surprising mechanism for the cyclone-related melting. Earlier discussions about the cyclone's effect had focused on winds breaking up the ice or driving ice floes into areas of warmer water. The results suggest that neither process led to much increase in melting.
Relatively recent research shows that in the summertime, thin ice and areas of open water allow sunlight to filter down to the water below. As a result, while a layer of ice-cold fresh water sits just beneath the sea ice, about 20 meters (65 feet) down there is a layer of denser, saltier water that has been gradually warmed by the sun's rays.
Blowing on polar water is less like blowing on a cup of tea and more like blowing on a layered cocktail. When the cyclone swept over the drifting ice floes, underside ridges churned up the water to bring sun-warmed seawater to the ice's bottom edge. The model suggests that during the cyclone there was a quadrupling of melting from below, and that this was the biggest cause for doubling ice loss during the three-day storm.
"We only looked at one big storm. If we want to understand how storms will affect the ice cover in the future we need understand the effect of storms in different conditions," said co-author Ron Lindsay.
More sunlight reaches the water in a year with unusually thin summer ice, such as 2012, so this process is a potential multiplier effect for sea-ice melting.
The results are of interest beyond understanding climate change. As sea ice thins and melts, economic and political concerns require better sea-ice forecasts to protect ships and instruments that might travel in those waters.
"One thing we are working on, and that needs to be included in future computer simulations, is how bigger waves created by wind blowing over more extensive open water help break up the sea ice into floes, and how these smaller floes respond to warm water," said co-author Mike Steele.
###
The research was funded by the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Office of Naval Research and NASA.
For more information, contact Schweiger at 206-543-1312 or axel@apl.washington.edu.
[ | 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.
During President Obama's meeting with police chiefs and sheriffs today, the law enforcement officials focused on the need for background checks and closing the gaping reporting holes.
By Nedra Pickler,?Associated Press / January 28, 2013
(L-R) Minneapolis Police Chief Janee Harteau, Hennepin County Minnesota Sheriff Richard W. Stanek, and President Barack Obama met today with other representatives from the Major Cities Chiefs Association and Major County Sheriffs Association to discuss President Obama's policies to reduce gun violence.
Carolyn Kaster / AP
Enlarge
Law enforcement leaders who met with President Barack Obama Monday urged him to focus on strengthening gun purchase background checks and mental health systems, but did not unify behind his more controversial gun control efforts.
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The message from sheriffs and police chiefs gathered at the White House reflected the political reality in Congress that the assault weapons ban in particular is likely to have a hard time winning broad support. The president appeared to recognize the challenge of getting everything he wants from Congress as well, participants in the meeting said.
"We're very supportive of the assault weapons ban," as police chiefs, said Montgomery County, Md., Police Chief J. Thomas Manger in an interview with The Associated Press. "But I think everybody understands that may be a real tough battle to win. And one of the things that the president did say is that we can't look at it like we have to get all of these things or we haven't won."
Opinions over an assault weapons ban and limits on high capacity magazines ? two measures the president supports ? were divided in the room. While Manger said the police chiefs from the large cities support that kind of gun control, some of the elected sheriffs who were in the meeting may not.
"I think what was made clear was that gun control in itself is not the salvation to this issue," said Sheriff Paul Fitzgerald of Story County, Iowa, one of 13 law enforcement leaders who met with the president, vice president and Cabinet members for more than an hour, seated around a conference table in the Roosevelt Room.
Among the participants included three chiefs that responded to the worst shootings of 2012, including Aurora, Colo., where 12 were killed in July; Oak Creek, Wis., where six died in an assault on a Sikh temple, and Newtown, Conn., scene of the most recent mass tragedy that left 20 first-graders dead.
The White House recognizes that police are a credible and important voice in the debate over guns that has developed following last month's elementary school shooting in Connecticut. Obama opened the meeting before media cameras and declared no group more important to listen to in the debate.
"Hopefully if law enforcement officials who are dealing with this stuff every single day can come to some basic consensus in terms of steps that we need to take, Congress is going to be paying attention to them, and we'll be able to make progress," Obama said.
Obama urged Congress to pass an assault weapons ban, limit high capacity magazines and require universal background checks for would-be gun owners in a brief statement to the reporters. But participants said after the media was escorted from the room, the focus was not on the assault weapons ban.
A team of Swedish scientists has discovered that dung beetles climb on dung balls and dance around in circles before taking off. This dance is not one of joy, however ? the insects are checking out the sky to get their bearings. Melissa Block and Audie Cornish have more.
Copyright ? 2013 NPR. For personal, noncommercial use only. See Terms of Use. For other uses, prior permission required.
MELISSA BLOCK, HOST:
From NPR News, this is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I'm Melissa Block.
AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:
And I'm Audie Cornish. And we have a story now about celestial navigation - that is, looking to the sky for guidance.
BLOCK: But before we get too lofty, this story also happens to be about dung beetles. And so we start with this lowly central unpleasant fact about dung beetles.
ERIC WARRANT: Dung beetles and their grubs eat dung and everything about dung beetles has to do with dung in some form.
BLOCK: That's professor Eric Warrant. He's an Australian professor of zoology teaching at the University of Lund in Sweden.
CORNISH: Five years ago, he and a group of other scientists began studying the remarkable navigational skills of dung beetles. These insects harvest material from a fresh pile of feces in the desert. They shape their bounty into a sphere and roll it away.
WARRANT: They have to get away from the pile of dung as fast as they can and as efficiently as they can because the dung pile is a very, very competitive place with lots and lots of beetles all competing for the same dung. And there's very many lazy beetles that are just waiting around to steal the balls of other industrious beetles and often there are big fights in the dung piles.
BLOCK: That's right - lazy dung beetles. Now, the dung beetles need to plot a direct course or they might accidentally circle back and thus lose a precious dung ball to another beetle.
WARRANT: It's a little bit like kicking the ball back into your own goal posts.
BLOCK: Which means no food to feed the next generation. As you can see, there's a lot riding on the beetles making a beeline to the place they hope to roll their ball.
CORNISH: Beeline it, wrong bug, I think.
BLOCK: Yeah, maybe a beetle line. Anyway, professor Eric Warrant and his colleague have just published conclusion about how the dung beetles keep to a straight path.
WARRANT: What we discovered was that dung beetles can roll their balls of dung in straight lines by using the Milky Way as a compass queue.
BLOCK: The Milky Way, billions of stars that form a white streak across the sky, serve as a guide for these little harvesters of waste. It was understood earlier that both the sun and the moon serve as guides, but no one knew how dung beetles could follow a straight path when the moon isn't out. So at the edge of the Kalahari, professor Warrant and the team built a small arena.
WARRANT: We tested them with and without a little cardboard hat, which we put on top of their head with a piece of tape. And this little cardboard hat effectively blocked out the view of the starry sky. And when we did this, they rolled around and around and around in circles. They couldn't keep a straight path.
BLOCK: The Swedish scientists also tested dung beetles at a planetarium. They altered the star pattern on the ceiling and watched what the beetles did. Without the Milky Way, the beetles could not walk the straight and narrow.
CORNISH: Professor Warrant suspects other creatures also navigate using the Milky Way, but currently only dung beetles are known to do so.
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What is personal development all about? Self improvement Colin Kaepernick Jersey depends on your endeavours. Getting a genuine review your daily life and taking into consideration the alternatives could be mind-boggling in the beginning, but understand that self improvement is definitely an physical exercise in believe. This short article will describe some tips that could help you with your day to day lifestyle.
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CAIRO (AP) ? Egypt's army chief warned Tuesday of the "the collapse of the state" if the political crisis roiling the nation for nearly a week continues.
The warning by Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, who is also defense minister, were the first comments by the powerful military since the country's latest crisis began last week around the second anniversary of Egypt's uprising. They came days after President Mohammed Morsi ordered the army to restore order in the Suez Canal cities of Port Said and Suez ? two of three cities now under a 30-day state of emergency and night curfew.
The attempts by Morsi to stem a wave of political violence appear to have made no headway as the country sinks deeper into chaos and lawlessness. So far, nearly 60 people have been killed in five days of unrest.
"The continuation of the conflict between the different political forces and their differences over how the country should be run could lead to the collapse of the state and threaten future generations," el-Sissi said in an address to military academy cadets. His comments were posted on the armed forces' official Facebook page.
On Sunday night, Morsi slapped a monthlong state of emergency and a night curfew on Port Said, Suez and Ismailiya, another city on the Suez canal.
Nevertheless, troops stood by and watched Monday night as thousands took to the streets chanting against Morsi in all three cities in direct defiance of the curfew just as it came into force for the first night at 9 p.m. The display of contempt for the president's decision was tantamount to an outright rebellion that many worried could spread.
Some of the demonstrators in Port Said waved white-and-green flags they said were the colors of a "new and independent state" in the city. Such a secession would be unthinkable in Egypt, but the move underlined the depth of frustration in the strategic city on the Mediterranean coast at the northern tip of the Suez Canal.
El-Sissi, who was named defense minister in August, acknowledged the difficult challenges facing his troops in the cities where they deployed.
"The deployment of the armed forces poses a grave predicament for us insofar as how we balance avoiding confrontations with Egyptian citizens, their right to protest and the protection and security of vital facilities that impact Egypt's national security," he said.
Morsi is the first freely elected president in Egypt. But since coming to office nearly seven months ago, he has failed to tackle the country's massive political, social and economic problems ranging from an economy in free fall to surging crime, chaos on the streets and lack of political consensus.
The wave of unrest has touched cities across the country since Thursday, including Cairo, the three Suez Canal cities, Alexandria on the Mediterranean in the north and a string of cities in the Nile Delta.
The violence first erupted Thursday and accelerated Friday when protests marking the two-year anniversary of the 2001 uprising turned to clashes around the country that left 11 dead, most of them in Suez.
The next day, riots exploded in Port Said after a court convicted and sentenced to death 21 defendants ? mostly locals ? for a mass soccer riot in the city's main stadium a year ago. Rioters attacked police stations, clashed with security forces in the streets and shots and tear gas were fired at protester funerals in mayhem that left 44 people dead over the weekend.
PARIS (Reuters) - PSA Peugeot Citroen will continue negotiating 8,000 job cuts with unions despite a court ruling that may delay their implementation, the struggling French carmaker said on Tuesday.
"The negotiations are not suspended and will continue to make progress," a company spokesman said.
In a court ruling on Monday, the Paris Appeal Court ordered a temporary suspension of the restructuring until the group completes worker consultations at two sites belonging to parts division Faurecia.
But the court rejected an application by the CGT union to halt the entire plan and consultations that are required by law before its implementation.
Peugeot shares were down 1.6 percent in midday trading, wiping out a gain of about 1 percent prior to the ruling being made public.
Peugeot is still in formal talks over its decision announced last July to close the Aulnay plant near Paris and cut 8,000 jobs in addition to hundreds of positions eliminated under an earlier plan.
The CGT union had challenged the plan in court by arguing that it had failed to consult workers at two Faurecia sites that would be directly affected by the Aulnay closure and other cutbacks at the parent company.
The French automaker, which is struggling to return to profit by 2015, will begin consultations at Faurecia without delay, in compliance with the ruling, the spokesman said.
Under its terms, the Faurecia talks will have to be completed before Peugeot can carry out the broader restructuring program it had hoped to finalize by February or March.
Ongoing negotiations with the main Peugeot workforce will continue as planned on February 5 and 12, the spokesman added, without giving a new time frame for completion.
(Reporting by Laurence Frost; Editing by Christian Plumb)
NEW YORK (AP) ? New York City's "Don't Honk" signs are coming down, but it's still against the law to blow a car horn unnecessarily.
The city Department of Transportation says all the signs will be removed by the end of the year.
According to The New York Times (http://nyti.ms/117Avza ), city officials say the decision is part of an effort to de-clutter the streets of signs that generally go ignored.
Unnecessary honking carries a $350 fine but is rarely enforced.
The DOT says complaints about honking have declined 63 percent since 2008.
But City Councilwoman Gale Brewer said in a letter to the DOT: "I can't tell you how many requests I get for 'no honking' signs."
The signs were introduced during Mayor Ed Koch's administration.
___
Information from: The New York Times, http://www.nytimes.com
by Erin Lawley on January 29, 2013 | in Networking, Uncategorized
After more than a year of working remotely,?I?ve?become a full believer in the benefits of telecommuting. The studies that say those of us logging hours from off-site locations are more productive and have higher morale and job satisfaction than when we were office dwellers ? they sound right to me.
But that?s not to say that anyone can just grab a laptop, ditch the office, and achieve employee nirvana. There are multiple potential pitfalls on both the employee (did someone say snooze button?) and the employer side of the telecommuting equation. For me, the key has been maintaining constant, open lines of communication with my colleagues at Lovell?s home office. ??
For any company or individual considering a remote-office situation, effective internal communication is absolutely essential to success. Specifically, I?d offer these tips:
Discuss expectations. Without the ability to pop into an employee?s office once a day, or snag a few minutes of casual conversation in the lunch room, how?s a super visor to know whether their worker is actually working? Before beginning a telecommuting arrangement, the employer and employee must discuss their expectations for how the employee?s performance will be monitored and gauged. For my situation, Lovell?s system for tracking work hours is extremely effective. Based on the amount of time I log, it?s clear? to me, and my supervisors ? whether I?ve got a healthy workload.
Pick up the phone.? I love email as much as the next person, but there?s no substitute for the real-time collaboration and problem-solving that can happen over the phone or via a video call (Skype is your friend). Dialing a coworker at the office lets me get the answers/insight/assistance I?m looking for quickly, and it helps me feel connected to what?s happening at Lovell Central. Especially on days where I?m working on solitary projects, a quick chat with a coworker helps me feel re-energized about my work. For those supervising remote employees, a quick phone call is a good way to check in on the status of any outstanding projects, convey information about a complicated or sensitive assignment, or just remind the remote worker that they are part of the team. Communication is a critical component of engagement, and in turn, productivity.
Don?t be a stranger. While a phone or Skype call can give both the employer and employee a boosted feeling of connection and collaboration, face time is still important. I?ve found that spending a couple days in the office every couple of months is essential for team building and my ongoing skills development (because I work with some super smart people). In addition, there times when it?s essential that everyone is in the same room ? all-day meetings are one example, and holiday parties and retreats are another.
Stay in the loop. When an employee can?t physically attend important staff or client meetings, they should join via phone or video conference. These meetings often cover a lot of ground that?s not easy to relay after the meeting has ended. For employers, be sure to notify your telecommuter(s) quickly of any news or announcements that happen outside of scheduled meetings ? and keep workers in the loop if folks are out of the office on sick or vacation time.
When in doubt, over communicate. Pick up the phone. Send the email. My sense is that telecommuting can be an extremely successful strategy for many individuals and companies, so long as they make communication a top priority.
What do you think? Have any telecommuting success or horror stories to share? Leave a comment below.
This entry was posted in Networking, Uncategorized. Bookmark the permalink.
?An old maid writes with the detachment of a god.?
In honor of the bicentennial of the publication of ?Pride and Prejudice,? I give you the above words, by D. A. Miller, America's most swashbuckling reader of Jane Austen.
That?s the central mystery of Jane Austen?s novels. And what a mystery it is. The author?s voice, though we?re always reminded it belonged to a sour-faced spinster who couldn?t score a husband to save her life, flatly refuses to make itself meek. Meek? Jane Austen?s voice doesn?t even make itself human.
Rather, the Austen world spirit sweeps in omnisciently to ?Pride and Prejudice,? which turns 200 today, laying down universal truths like Solomon or HAL. From there it manipulates the pouts and slaps and rosy countenances of all the single ladies?the Catherines and Elizabeths and Emmas?all the coquettes, ing?nues and hysterics for whom Jay McInerney and all of us wild-eyed Janeites still pine.
The sadistic Austen voice brings authority, stern judgment and only the ghost of a chance for redemption: Her girls, after all, are always caught in the gears of a tightly engineered Austen marriage plot, from whose bourn. No traveler returns.
The Austen voice can mock, rig and savor that plot only because it?that Austen-god?suspends itself well outside the life-threatening grip of courtship and matrimony.
This, anyway, is the argument of Miller in his book, ?Jane Austen, or the Secret of Style.? I can think of no better way to celebrate the bicentennial of ?Pride and Prejudice,? Austen?s great novel of bulimia (among other matters) than with Miller?s book, which like anything good?Mr. Darcy, strong tea, food?can make the brain ache in big doses.
?Great novel of bulimia?? That?s right. Professor Miller, who taught me in graduate school to see the god in the spinster, also showed me what a tyrant Austen was about the importance of being thin and brief (good) versus being fat and prolix (bad, very bad). (Worse than you know.)
His lecture on this subject led to my fascination with the character of Charlotte, Elizabeth?s would-be best friend. You?ll recall that Elizabeth Bennet is the heroine of ?Pride and Prejudice,? the witty resourceful daughter of an emotionally abusive dad who likes Elizabeth best because she?s kind of a tomboy, and smart; she also sucks up to him by slagging off her sisters. In that way, Elizabeth reminds many female reader-types of ourselves?trying to upstage other maybe prettier girls as frivolous nitwits in the name of winning the attention of Important Men. Oh, and then hating ourselves for it.
In any case, Elizabeth has a friend, Charlotte. Charlotte is plainer than Lizzie, with no game in the drawing room. In short, she?s nowhere near as cool as Lizzie, so Lizzie bestows confidences on her?huge emotional outpourings of shame and remorse that she reserves for Charlotte alone, believing, in the immemorial way of popular girls, that the plainer girl is lucky to hear even the snotty, hiccupping self-pity of a superstar like Elizabeth Bennet.
Of course, Lizzie never reciprocates by listening to Charlotte, which is why she is appalled to find out that Charlotte is not with her in lockstep on her oft-repeated resolution not to marry a loser. Charlotte, who?s been an obedient sidekick to Lizzie for half the novel, turns the tables and boldly elopes with a loser?a former suitor of Lizzie?s, in fact?and Lizzie is absolutely crushed. Deservedly so. She can?t control everyone! (Only her maker, Austen, can.) It?s a horror when you realize this; take it from me.
How is this bulimia? I?ll tell you. Lizzie is all about being brief and witty; only goofy girls or sententious men talk too much. To monopolize conversations is like eating whole cakes. It shows no restraint and it?s disgusting. At the same time there?s much talk of Lizzie?s light-footedness and general low body weight. This is in contrast to the droning bore, Miss Bates, who is coded as fat and also can?t shut up.
But how does Lizzie keep her conversation and her figure in fighting shape? Does she have naturally modest appetites for food and attention? No. She is roiling with the same hungers everyone has, but she?s put herself in an empire-waist straitjacket of wit, wit and more wit, so she has nowhere to go when she just wants to babble and sob. To binge. To purge.
That?s where Charlotte comes in. By expressing herself to Charlotte at length and in sordid hues?gorging on cupcakes of emotion and then barfing them up in the silent, yielding bin of her friend?Lizzie frees herself up to impress Mr. Darcy by seeming slim and tart. (Is that the acid reflux?)
Go back and read ?Pride and Prejudice? and see for yourself. It?s about courtship, all right, but it?s also about the ways we try vainly to keep ourselves aloof from emotions and the whims and longings of our mortal bodies. Some of that, in younger years especially, involves using our friends. (Susanna Sonnenberg explores this and more in her beautiful and unsparing new book, ?She Matters: A Life in Friendships.?) And some of it involves becoming authors ourselves and hoping that that will, once and for all, immunize us from being human. Here?s to that effort, vain and tender. Happy birthday, ?Pride and Prejudice.?
Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev says that despite earlier hopes and Barack Obama's promises, Washington?s position on the missile shield is still driving the two countries apart.
?No ease in relations over missile defense, no flexibility arose. We stand at the same positions?? the position of the United States is one, the position of the Russian Federation is, unfortunately, different. And the convergence of these positions is not happening,? Medvedev told CNN.
Speaking to the ?Fareed Zakaria GPS? program at the World Economic Forum in Davos, the prime minister expressed his concerns over the on-going anti-missile defense program provided by NATO, involving several countries bordering on Russia.
?We clearly understand that if we do not have guarantees such as the pairing of our programs, that means that missile defense could also work against the Russian nuclear arsenal. What does this mean? This means that the parity, which we recorded with President Obama by signing the New START treaty (a very important and very helpful treaty, by the way: I think this is the achievement of the so-called reset), [the parity] is being cracked by that, because the missile defense?? is a direct continuation of nuclear offensive capability, combat nuclear weapons,? emphasized Medvedev.
Assad?s chances of retaining power get ?smaller and smaller?
Discussing the ongoing civil war in Syria, which has seen around 60,000 people killed there during almost two years, Medvedev said that Syrian President Bashar Assad's chances of retaining power are getting "smaller and smaller" every day.
"President Assad made a mistake in carrying out political reforms. He had to do everything much more quickly, attracting to his side part of the moderate opposition, which was ready to sit with him at the same table. This is a considerable mistake, maybe a fatal one," said Medvedev adding that Assad's days could be numbered.
Medvedev reiterated calls for talks between the government and its foes and repeated Moscow's position that Assad must not be pushed out by external forces.
?Therefore, the task of the international community and all countries?? and the United States and the Europeans, and regional powers, such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar and other countries?? to put parties together at the negotiating table, but not just demand that Assad should leave, and then he is either executed like Gaddafi, or carried on a stretcher at the hearing, as they are carrying now Hosni Mubarak,? concluded the PM.
?US adoption ban is not retaliation? to Magnitsky Act
?Medvedev was also asked about Russia?s recent decision to halt US adoptions of Russian children. The law was motivated by cases of mistreatment of Russian orphans adopted by Americans, and wasn?t retaliation for US actions in the case of Sergey Magnitsky, said the PM.
?A big number of American families, who have adopted Russian children, provide them with proper care, training and education. In this sense, their actions are worthy of the highest praise, it is a highly moral behavior. But, unfortunately, in our country we know a large number of cases, when children adopted by American parents, were killed, tortured, lost their health in the United States. Even one such case would be enough to make a draft for discussion,? said Medvedev.
The so-called Dima Yakovlev law, named after a Russian boy who died of heatstroke after being left in a car by his adoptive American parents, contains ban on US citizens adopting Russian orphans. On more general terms it bans entry to Russia for those Americans, who are somehow involved in violations of human rights or crimes against Russian citizens. President Putin signed it on December 28, 2012. Four days later it came into force. The adoption of the law caused a mixed reaction among Russian politicians and public figures.
The PM said that the adoption ban is not connected with Washington?s Magnitsky Act "neither legally nor factually."?
?This law expresses concerns of the Russian parliament, the Russian State Duma and the Federal Council over destiny of our children? Therefore, despite the fact that many saw it as actions targeting aimed at individual American citizens, who want to adopt Russian children, there?s nothing like that in here,? Medvedev told CNN.
?75 per cent of Russian citizens are against foreign adoptions,? underlined the PM.
Medvedev believes that Russia should do everything to ensure that the country doesn?t have any un-cared for orphans. Russian citizens should be motivated to adopt Russian children who don?t have parents and create right and proper conditions for them, he said.?
?We should take all the necessary decisions so that there are no orphans in Russia, the US does not have such a problem. Many European countries do not have this problem. We have a good society already and we have people who are well off enough, they are able to give food and shelter to our children. This is the reason that stands behind the decisions we have made,? said Medvedev.
?I believe that Congress made a mistake, when, together with the abolition of the Jackson-Vanik amendment, they adopted the Magnitsky Act. Regarding the case itself I?ve already told you what I think of it. Speaking of acts of Congress, I think this?? generally it?s very bad, when a foreign parliament decides on another state,? he added.
The PM has criticized Washington's move to sanction a number of Russian officials for alleged crimes, which no court has found them guilty of.
?Each country has the right to deny any country?s citizen an entry visa to its territory. This is something normal, something that corresponds with international conventions, without having to explain the reasons for it. The United States could and still can prohibit any Russian official?s entrance to America, the same way they can examine their accounts and whatever else they have in America. This is exactly what Russia can do as well. But when it becomes a public campaign, with Congress saying, it will draw up a list of individuals who?ve been involved in a crime, what do you think it is, if not an extrajudicial execution that convicts these individuals without any trial or prosecution,? Medvedev said.
Speaking of Magnitsky?s death, Medvedev said he was ?sincerely sorry? for him and other person, who died in prison. But PM had an "absolutely different evaluation" of the late lawyer?s actions in the capacity of his work, saying that he had never fought corruption and was "just a corporate accountant and a lawyer".
Sergey Magnitsky died in a Moscow prison in November 2009. He was remanded in pre-trial detention on charges of aiding a major tax evasion scheme. A number of prison staff were fired and the former deputy chief of the prison doctor Dmitry Kratov, where lawyer Sergey Magnitsky died, faced trial on accusations of negligence. But a Russian court acquitted him on December 28, 2012, as a judge ruled there was not enough evidence.
WASHINGTON (AP) ? Congress is sending a $50.5 billion emergency relief measure for Superstorm Sandy victims to President Barack Obama for his signature.
The Senate on Monday cleared the bill, 62-36. Northeast lawmakers say the money is desperately needed to help recovery efforts from the one of the region's worst storms. The House passed the bill two weeks ago.
The measure is aimed primarily at helping residents and businesses as well as state and local governments rebuild from the Oct. 29 storm. It passed despite opposition from fiscal conservatives worried about adding to deficits.
Sandy roared up the East Coast and has been blamed for more than 130 deaths and billions of dollars in residential and business property damage.
Steampunk, Dieselpunk, Cyberpunk...These are neat and all, but they are basically just variations of ice cream. What if I want a dang sandwich instead of more dessert? Biopunk! Something I haven't really seen done. Now, I'm not talking genetic mutation of humans or any of that vanilla garbage. I'm talking machines that breed, buildings that grow, and technology that evolves organically!
My idea: Alternate timeline universe where technology as we know it never occurred. Since the dawn of sentient life, all forms of "technology" have been simply animals or plants that were cultivated into tools. Over the eons the level of sophistication has grown to be far more advanced than we have today, but at the same time, many things we take for granted don't exist.
There is no electricity, nor cell phones, computers, the internet, or other convenience items. There are many things which can take place of that though.
For long distance communication, stations that resemble phone booths are grown as twins, then separated and transported to the locations they are needed. The booths are plantlike, and psychically linked to each other. Inside there is a patch of growth that is bio-luminescent and able to produce colors similar in to the manner of a cuttlefish, effectively making a television screen. The booths also have a device that temporarily grafts to the back of the user's neck, enabling them to hear the thoughts of the occupant in the adjoined booth. Obviously, since this method of communication isn't portable, each meeting needs to be scheduled ahead of time.
For that purpose, small mouse like creatures are also bred. They, too, are psychically linked, and when one is activated, all others from the same litter will light up as well. This makes these creatures invaluable to special operations teams, businessmen, married couples, and anyone who needs to keep in contact with others instantaneously.
There are no cars, trains or planes. Several different types of transportation exist, from simple four legged mounts to encapsulating tank like creatures, and no two are exactly the same(unless they are twins of course). Each has a different method of control, as well as their own temperament and personality.
Much of the world is vegetarian, due mostly to the fact that nearly all animal life tastes horrible and is slightly toxic. There is no economy system, nor currency. Most services are free of charge, such as inns, restaurants and bath houses. Goods such as clothing or mounts can be traded for using seeds or breeding animals.
These are some of the ideas I come up with, but I still don't have a definitive plot or detailed mechanisms yet. If anyone has ideas to offer, I'd be very grateful. Let me know what you all think!
A solar venture says it has developed a ?spin cell? technology using specialized lensing and a rotating conical shape that could generate five times more electricity from a given amount of land than conventional solar methods. It says the electricity would cost only 8 cents per kilowatt-hour, compared with 10 to 15 cents for electricity generated by conventional photovoltaic panels. [Clean Technica]
A federal appeals court in Denver refuses to reconsider its decision to uphold the Obama administration?s withdrawal of dozens of federal oil and gas drilling leases that were sold in the waning days of the George W. Bush administration. [The Salt Lake Tribune]
A dolphin with a curved spine and impaired swimming skills gets a warm welcome from a group of sperm whales. Researchers suggest that the dolphin had been bullied or ostracized by its own, faster peers. [Science]
A start-up has developed a thermal battery that will be used to cool milk in Indian dairies, compensating for frequent blackouts on the nation?s grid. [M.I.T. Technology Review]
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Nearly the entire genetic landscape of the most common form of brain tumor can be explained by abnormalities in just five genes, an international team of researchers led by Yale School of Medicine scientists report online in the Jan. 24 edition of the journalScience. Knowledge of the genomic profile of the tumors and their location in the brain make it possible for the first time to develop personalized medical therapies for meningiomas, which currently are only managed surgically.
Meningioma tumors affect about 170,000 patients in the United States. They are usually benign but can turn malignant in about 10 percent of cases. Even non-cancerous tumors can require surgery if they affect the surrounding brain tissue and disrupt neurological functions.
Approximately half of the tumors have already been linked to a mutation or deletion of a gene called neurofibromin 2, or NF2. The origins of the rest of the meningiomas had remained a mystery.
The Yale team conducted genomic analyses of 300 meningiomas and found four new genetic suspects, each of which yields clues to the origins and treatment of the condition. Tumors mutated with each of these genes tend to be located in different areas of the brain, which can indicate how likely they are to become malignant.
"Combining knowledge of these mutations with the location of tumor growth has direct clinical relevance and opens the door for personalized therapies," said Murat Gunel, the Nixdorff-German Professor of Neurosurgery, professor of genetics and of neurobiology, and senior author of the study. Gunel is also a member of Yale Cancer Center's Genetics and Genomics Research Program.
For instance, two of the mutations identified ? SMO and AKT1 ? have been linked to various cancers. SMO mutations had previously been found in basal cell carcinoma and are the target of an already approved drug for that form of skin cancer. Another, KLF4, activates a suite of genes and is known for its role in inducing stem cell formation, even in cells that have fully differentiated into a specific tissue type. Mutations in a TRAF7, a gene not previously associated with cancer, were found in approximately one-fourth of tumors. Meningiomas with these mutations are found in the skull base and are unlikely to become cancerous. In contrast, NF2 mutant tumors that flank the brain's hemispheres are more likely to progress to malignancy, especially in males.
Doctors may be able to use targeted chemotherapy on patients with non-NF2 mutations, especially those with recurrent or invasive meningiomas and those who are surgically at high risk. Individualized chemotherapies could also spare patients irradiation treatment, a risk factor for progression of these generally benign tumors. Gunel said it may also be possible to extend these approaches to more malignant tumors.
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Yale University: http://www.yale.edu
Thanks to Yale University for this article.
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Jan. 25, 2013 ? The language and reading comprehension skills of low-income upper elementary-school students -- especially English-language learners -- can improve markedly if trained literacy coaches engage teachers in conducting interactive text discussions with students, according to a three-year University of Pittsburgh study.
The Pitt researchers report in the journal Learning and Instruction that language and reading comprehension showed measurable improvement for young students when their teachers had worked "at-elbow" with content-specific literacy coaches to foster a more interactive learning environment during class reading assignments.
In the study -- one of the first of its kind -- the coaches were trained using a professional development system designed at Pitt's Institute for Learning called the Content-Focused Coaching Model? that has coaches provide teachers with the tools they need to implement rigorous, standards-based lessons. Teachers can then use the knowledge they've gained to train other teachers in their schools.
"Our goal was to create a method for closing the literacy gap between more privileged and low-income students," said study principal investigator Lindsay Clare Matsumura, a research scientists in Pitt's Learning Research and Development Center and an associate professor in Pitt's School of Education. "We found that a well-structured and content-specific approach to literacy coaching shows strong evidence of being able to really make an impact on classroom text discussion and reading achievement in these upper elementary grades -- a critical time for students to develop their higher-level reading skills."
This content-specific method, developed at Pitt's Institute for Learning within the University's Learning Research and Development Center, also lends itself to adherence of the Common Core State Standards, a national campaign aiming to increase the quality of the country's education system.
"Changing discussion patterns in classrooms is a big undertaking," said Donna DiPrima Bickel, a fellow in Pitt's Institute for Learning and codeveloper and leader of the Content-Focused Coaching Model?. "The Common Core State Standards require a broader and deeper level of comprehension from students at all grade levels beyond first grade. It's imperative that teachers learn ways of supporting students to interact effectively with a range of different types of texts. Teachers engaged with coaches trained in the Content-Focused Coaching Model? valued the support they received in helping them learn to facilitate text discussion on rigorous texts."
In a group-randomized trial, Matsumura -- along with Helen Garnier, a consultant with Pitt's Learning Research and Development Center, and Jessaca Spybrook of Western Michigan University -- investigated the effects of the Content-Focused Coaching Model?, zeroing in on the quality of text discussions in the classroom.
The researchers worked with 29 schools in a Texas school district that serves a high percentage of low-income and English-language-learning students. Half of the schools adopted the Content-Focused Coaching Model?, which entailed highly trained coaches entering schools and providing professional development training to upper elementary school teachers. The other half continued in their previously assigned literacy plan, which included the involvement of literacy coaches untrained in the coaching model.
"Many literacy coaches don't receive a lot of training on how to work effectively with teachers," said Matsumura. "So our goal was to work intensively with these coaches by teaching them how to model instructional strategies and work with teachers to better plan reading lessons. We provided them with effective strategies to share with teachers so they could boost their engagement with students."
During the study's first year, Pitt researchers collected baseline data on the quality of classroom discussions, teachers' participation in professional development, and students' reading achievement. Soon after, the coaches were placed in schools and began working with teachers on "Questioning the Author," one approach to the Content-Focused Coaching Model? in which students answer critical questions about the author and text. "Questioning the Author" was developed at Pitt's Learning Research and Development Center by Emeritus Professor Isabel Beck and Research Scientist Margaret McKeown.
Under this literacy approach, students are asked to stop throughout the reading of a book and answer thought-provoking questions. If a text is written unclearly, said Matsumura, the teacher will pause to make sure students understand what is happening and also review any unknown vocabulary. The approach is meant to result in more interactive discussions leading to better comprehension and retention, and it entails "quite a bit of planning" on the part of teachers for it to be effective, Matsumura said.
In the Pitt study, the coaches began by leading a classroom discussion while teachers observed. After several months of observation, the teachers adopted the technique into their classroom for the rest of the study. Students' reading scores were evaluated through a series of tests throughout the three years.
The team found that schools participating in the coaching intervention had a positive effect on students' reading achievement -- specifically for English-language learners, who made up 40 percent of the study's sample. English-language learners with trained teachers scored .48 of a standard deviation higher on the state reading rest than those in the comparison schools. A standard deviation is the average distance between any score in a distribution and the mean of the distribution.
"One of our suppositions is that in having these kinds of interactive discussions, you're really getting kids to talk and learn to use new vocabulary actively," said Matsumura. "Nevertheless, our study highlights the need for usage of literacy-coaching programs -- like the Content-Focused Coaching Model? -- to promote student reading achievement."
In addition to improving students' literacy at an individual level, the study had a larger, across-the-board success.
"Anyone can provide you with an anecdote about how one coach has helped one teacher but the real story here is in the systematic results," said Bickel. "Lindsay and her team retrieved data that clearly show that schools with coaches trained in the Content-Focused Coaching Model? improved literacy skills far beyond those where teachers worked with coaches who were not trained in this method. And, as a result of this study, we are able to better describe the components of an effective coaching program."
As is the case with most large-scale projects, widespread implementation of these interventions may prove to be a challenge. Therefore, Matsumura and her colleagues are now working towards delivering this coaching online.
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Journal Reference:
Lindsay Clare Matsumura, Helen E. Garnier, Jessaca Spybrook. Literacy coaching to improve student reading achievement: A multi-level mediation model. Learning and Instruction, 2013; 25: 35 DOI: 10.1016/j.learninstruc.2012.11.001
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Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
DAVOS, Switzerland (AP) ? Algeria's foreign minister acknowledged that security forces made mistakes in a hostage crisis at a Saharan gas plant in which dozens of foreign workers were killed during Algerian military strikes.
Mourad Medelci also conceded that Algeria will need international help to fight terrorism. Algeria's decision to refuse foreign offers of aid in handling the crisis, and to send the military to fire on vehicles full of hostages, drew widespread international criticism.
"We are in the process of assessing our mistakes," Medelci told The Associated Press in an interview at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland on Friday.
He did not, however, identify any mistake or address specific criticism of the chaotic and bloody operation. But overall, he suggested that the Algerian government did the right thing.
"In that assessment we are leaning more towards establishing that the operation was a success," he said.
The Jan. 16 attack, which an al-Qaida-affiliated organization has claimed responsibility for, sent scores of foreign energy workers fleeing across the desert for their lives. A four-day siege by Algerian forces on the complex left at least 37 hostages and 29 militants dead. Some of the fatalities were badly burned, making it difficult to identify them.
The minister said Algeria is likely to reinforce security measures at sites where multinationals operate in the oil- and gas-rich country. But he insisted that foreign workers in Algeria "will continue to work in Algeria and that is the best way to answer the terrorists."
He defended the government's decision to attack instead of negotiating, pointing to its years of experience dealing with Islamist extremist violence.
"Faced with such an attitude (of terrorism), it's not just words that solve the problem. It's action," he said.
But he admitted that Algeria can't face international terrorism alone.
"It absolutely needs support," he said.
He argued that Algeria wasn't the target of the attack. Instead, he said, the terrorists were targeting investors and the foreigners who work for them.
An international group of militants led by a Mali-based warlord staged the attack. The extremists demanded an end to the French-led military operation in neighboring Mali, where al-Qaida-linked groups have seized and expanded control over the past year.
___
AP correspondent Angela Charlton contributed from Davos.
TOKYO (Reuters) - Asian shares fell on Friday, hurt by a drop in regional technology stocks and on caution ahead of the corporate earnings season, but gains in Japan and Australia limited overall losses for equities.
Upbeat manufacturing reports from the United States, Germany and China underpinned sentiment for other assets, supporting copper while curbing selling pressure in oil.
"The PMI indicators from the U.S., Europe and China should serve to keep markets tracking higher," said CMC Markets senior trader Tim Waterer in Sydney.
The MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan eased 0.5 percent, and was set for a weekly drop of 1 percent, its biggest such loss in two months.
A 1.4 percent slide in the technology sector dragged the pan-Asian index down, as tech-heavy markets such as South Korea and Taiwan fell.
Seoul shares declined 0.9 percent, weighed by weak profits for automakers, while tech shares continued to falter as Samsung Electronics announced cautious spending plans for the first time since the global financial crisis.
Shares of Apple Inc's suppliers extended their declines after Apple's below-estimate results announced earlier in the week: Taiwan's Largan Precision weakened and Samsung shares shed as much as 3.3 percent.
Hong Kong and Shanghai were the other laggards as investors took profits from recent rallies and remained cautious ahead of the upcoming earnings season.
A 0.3 percent rise in London copper to $8,118 a tonne and gold prices steadying around $1,669 an ounce helped push commodity-reliant Australian shares up 0.5 percent to a fresh 21-month high, marking an eighth straight session of gains.
U.S. crude eased 0.1 percent to $95.87 a barrel and Brent inched down 0.2 percent to $113.11.
"It now seems that the stronger tone in global equity markets, coupled with a notable easing in European and US market tensions, is leading to short-term pressure on gold," said Ed Meir, an analyst at INTL FCStone, in a research note.
European markets are seen falling, with financial spread-betters predicting London's FTSE 100, Paris's CAC-40 and Frankfurt's DAX would open down as much as 0.4 percent. U.S. stock futures were down 0.2 percent, pointing to a softer Wall Street start.
JAPAN IN SPOTLIGHT
Japan's Nikkei stock average outperformed its Asian peers with a 2.9 percent surge as the yen hit fresh lows versus the dollar and the euro on expectations Japan will continue to pursue bold policies to beat deflation and stimulate growth. The Nikkei rose for an 11th straight week.
"Trading on Japan is gaining momentum among foreign investors, centering around the dollar/yen, which has dictated Nikkei's direction," said Tetsuro Ii, the chief executive of Commons Asset Management.
The yen's slide bolsters sentiment for Japanese equities as it lifts earnings prospects for exporters, ahead of the quarterly earnings season set to start next week.
The dollar scaled its highest level since June 2010 to reach 90.695 yen early on Friday and the euro rose to 121.32, its highest since April 2011. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's new administration has made clear it wants a weaker yen, providing investors a reason to short the currency.
More than 80 percent of Japanese firms are in favour of Abe's drive for aggressive monetary easing and huge fiscal spending, though most also feared Japan would face a debt crisis within a few years, according to a Reuters poll.
The yen's two-month decline has more legs, many traders and analysts believe, noting the yen has barely caught up to levels before a potential debt default by Greece sparked the euro zone debt crisis and sent the euro plummeting nearly three years ago.
The yen was around 95 yen against the dollar and 123 yen against the euro early in May 2010 when protests flared up in Greece against its austerity steps in exchange for a bailout.
Despite the recent rallies, the Nikkei remains well below levels before the 2008 financial crisis while the Standard & Poor's 500 Index and Germany's benchmark stock index have both already exceeded that level, thanks to the weakness of the euro and the dollar, measured against a basket of currencies.
"JPY weakness should continue over the coming year driven by an expansion of the Bank of Japan's balance sheet relative to the European Central Bank and the Federal Reserve," said Kit Juckes, FX strategist at Societe Generale in a note. "I don't know how long the USD/JPY is going to pause at around 90, but a move to 100 still seems very likely in the longer run."
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Public release date: 31-Jan-2013
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