Reputation: Words written: Words per post: Joined: Last visit: Location: Website:
They think it's just a rumor. Do you believe everything you hear?
Owner:
Game Masters:
This topic is an Out Of Character part of the roleplay, ?A Haunted Drive?. Anything posted here will also show up there.
Topic Tags:
Forum for completely Out of Character (OOC) discussion, based around whatever is happening In Character (IC). Discuss plans, storylines, and events; Recruit for your roleplaying game, or find a GM for your playergroup.
First post: ? 1 post ? Page 1 of 1
This is the auto-generated OOC topic for the roleplay "A Haunted Drive"
You may edit this first post as you see fit.
SoberlyATeen
Member for 0 years
First post: ? 1 post ? Page 1 of 1
Post a reply
RolePlayGateway is a site built by a couple roleplayers who wanted to give a little something back to the roleplay community. The site has no intention of earning any profit, and is paid for out of their own pockets.
If you appreciate what they do, feel free to donate your spare change to help feed them on the weekends. After selecting the amount you want to donate from the menu, you can continue by clicking on PayPal logo.
Our Sponsors
RolePlayGateway is proudly powered by obscene amounts of caffeine, duct tape, and support from people like you. It operates under a "don't like it, suggest an improvement" platform, and we gladly take suggestions for improvements or changes.
The custom-built "roleplay" system was designed and implemented by Eric Martindale as of July 2009. All attempts to replicate or otherwise emulate this system and its method of organizing roleplay are strictly prohibited without his express written and contractual permission; violators will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
? RolePlayGateway, LLC | with the support of LocalSense
We've all heard of 'keeping up with the Joneses.' But maybe its time for a new, more frugal family to enter the lexicon.?
By Trent Hamm,?Guest blogger / June 29, 2013
Andr?e Collier Zaleska works in her garden in the Jamaica Plain neighborhood of Boston in 2011. Hamm recommends 'keeping up with the Smiths' ? neighbors interested in community involvement and friendships, rather than flashy possessions.
Melanie Stetson Freeman
Enlarge
We?ve all heard the phrase ?keeping up with the Joneses.? I think it?s time to add a new but similar phrase to the lexicon.
Skip to next paragraph Trent Hamm
The Simple Dollar is a blog for those of us who need both cents and sense: people fighting debt and bad spending habits while building a financially secure future and still affording a latte or two. Our busy lives are crazy enough without having to compare five hundred mutual funds ? we just want simple ways to manage our finances and save a little money.
Click Here for your FREE 30 DAYS of The Christian Science Monitor Weekly Digital Edition
The Smiths are the frugal family you know.
They don?t drive the new car. They drive an older one.
They don?t wear flashy new clothes. In fact, the husband seems to often be wearing the same suit. It?s a nice suit, but it?s not the latest, sharpest thing.
They?re often at community events. Sometimes they seem to have some kind of role in helping put that event on.
They seem to know lots of people in the community. In fact, you know them because they introduced themselves to you one of the first times you ever saw them and they often say hello to you.
Their house is usually an older one that?s well maintained and, if you ask them, you?d be very unsurprised to find that it?s paid for. They usually have a garden, too.
This profile immediately brings to mind a few people in my area. They?re wonderful people, each of them. They go out of their way to help others, to know them, and to make them comfortable.
Almost always, people like this turn out to be the ones with a lot of money in the bank or are well along the road to getting there.
The thing is, they?re just not flashy.
Keeping up with the Joneses means accumulating gadgets and shiny new things. Keeping up with the Smiths means focusing on accumulating net worth.
Keeping up with the Joneses means having the right associates. Keeping up with the Smiths means having lots of friends.
Keeping up with the Joneses means never having enough because there?s always more that you can get. Keeping up with the Smiths happens when you realize you already have plenty.
I used to dream of being one of the Joneses. Any more, I?d be happy to be a Smith.
The Christian Science Monitor has assembled a diverse group of the best economy-related bloggers out there. Our guest bloggers are not employed or directed by the Monitor and the views expressed are the bloggers' own, as is responsibility for the content of their blogs. To contact us about a blogger, click here. To add or view a comment on a guest blog, please go to the blogger's own site by clicking on www.thesimpledollar.com.
Dan Bylsma, coach of the National Hockey League's Pittsburgh Penguins, was named head coach of the 2014 U.S. Olympic men's ice hockey team, USA Hockey announced on Saturday.
Bylsma, who won NHL coach of the year honors in 2011, steered the Penguins to the best record in the Eastern Conference during the 2012-13 season and to the conference finals before being swept by the Boston Bruins.
"We're thrilled to have Dan as coach of our men's Olympic team," USA Hockey president Ron DeGregorio said in a statement.
"He's rapidly established himself as one of the most prominent coaches in our country today and we know he'll help put us in the best position of achieving our ultimate goal of bringing home the gold medal."
The United States were runners-up to Canada on the ice at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, losing 3-2 in overtime on a gold-medal winning goal by Sidney Crosby, a member of Bylsma's Penguins team.
Bylsma, who has no international coaching experience, won the 2009 Stanley Cup with the Penguins and Crosby.
"It's an unbelievable honor to be selected to represent our country," Bylsma said. "Together with our coaching staff and management group, I will do everything I can to prepare our team to be in a position to win gold in Sochi."
Bylsma, who employs a flowing offensive style that could be suited to the international game, will be working closely with team general manager David Poile, the GM of the Nashville Predators, and Brian Burke, director of player personnel.
USA Hockey plans to conduct an orientation camp the last week of August at the Washington Capitals' practice facility for prospective players.
The Winter Olympics are scheduled for Feb 7-23 in Sochi, Russia.
Polycom's (Nasdaq: PLCM) RealPresence Access Director (RPAD) session border controller recently passed a 35-point security evaluation?conducted?by ICSA Labs, a third-party testing lab owned by Verizon (NYSE: VZ).
ICSA Labs assessed the RPAD on its ability to maintain the security and integrity level of the network while adding SIP and H.323 videoconferencing functionality.
"We developed evaluation criteria in seven or eight different areas," explained Brian Monkman, technology programs manager at ICSA Labs.
As part of the testing, "we make sure that the documentation is complete and accurate. We look at the administration capabilities to ensure that the product can be administered securely. We look at whether all of the management functions are available and that there can't be unauthorized access to the management function to use as an attack vector," Monkman told?FierceEnterpriseCommunications.
"We verify that the platform is secure from exploitation or exposure and that it doesn't introduce any known vulnerabilities to the network? We verify that the product is able to implement its functionality in a secure manner, and then we verify that there are log-in capabilities and that the product provides the administrator the means necessary to audit security-related events," Monkman added.
During the testing, ICSA Labs found that the RPAD was vulnerable to a well-known denial of service attack (DoS) in which a secure sockets layer/transport layer security (SSL/TLS) renegotiation attack could render parts of the RPAD inoperable.
"If the attack was executed from a public host against the RPAD on TCP port 8443, the administrative GUI [graphical user interface] was unable to be accessed until the attack had stopped. Furthermore, if the attack was run on TCP port 443, no mobile clients would be able to authenticate, rendering them unable to make calls through the RPAD," ICSA explained in the report.
ICSA informed Polycom of the vulnerability and the company fixed the problem, explained Monkman. "We were then able to attest that they met all of the evaluation requirements," he added.
A. E. Natarajan, senior vice president for worldwide engineering at Polycom, said in a?statement: "This independent security evaluation by ICSA Labs demonstrates Polycom's commitment to providing high levels of security and assurance for our customers? As organizations deploy video in more and more business applications, particularly on mobile devices, to keep their global workforce connected, our successful completion of this rigorous evaluation shows that they do not sacrifice their security in doing so."
Polycom has a?26.5 percent share of the enterprise videoconferencing and telepresence equipment market, behind Cisco (Nasdaq: CSCO) with a 43.4 percent market share. The market totaled $563.4 million in revenues for the first quarter, the worst revenue figure since the second quarter of 2010, according to recent IDC stats.
For more: - read the ICSA Labs?report - check out Polycom's?release - see IDC's?stats
Related articles: Dedicated videoconferencing system sales decline 26% in Q1, says Infonetics Cisco, Polycom, Logitech's LifeSize lead healthcare videoconferencing market IDC: Cisco, Polycom post double-digit declines in videoconferencing revenues
ALMOST 20 years into democracy and with R500-million spent by SA Rugby, transformation efforts in the sport are floundering as government is failing to come to the party.
At school rugby level, where the most rugby development should take place, large rugby unions like the Blue Bulls are accused of the "wholesale" poaching of players from the Western Cape to bolster their quotas.
Players' school fees are paid by the schools and the players can hope for a possible contract at the rugby union after school.
While this brings players out of poor, underdeveloped communities, Western Cape principals said they spent thousands on the development of these players, just for the Bulls to poach them.
In the Craven Week for high schools ? being hosted in Polokwane, Limpopo, from July 8 to 13 ? nine out of each squad of 22 players should be "players of colour".
"Everybody does it," Johan Schoeman, manager of rugby development at the Blue Bulls rugby union, said about the recruitment from other provinces.
"If the circumstances are so that you walk into a brick wall, and you can't get the talent you need in your own communities, then you go and search for it in the Cape," he said.
Dirk Marais, principal of the Swartland Ho?rskool in Malmesbury, said the Bulls made frequent recruitment forays to the Western Cape to fill their quotas.
"I have lost my whole blackline," Marais said about the Bulls' most recent recruiting drive.
"I spent R35000 to develop one of my top players, Duncan Matthews, and Heyneke Meyer personally came and recruited him."
Pretoria's Garsfontein Ho?rskool has even set up a Section 21 company to fund the recruitment and development of players.
Schoeman said while the Bulls were spending "millions" in trying to develop the game in underprivileged areas, they were getting no support from either the Education Department or Sports and Recreation Department.
"There are no facilities. The teachers are not willing to participate in extramural activities and there are no funds," he said.
The Sports and Recreation Department ? which spent R46-million last year on their Sports Awards Gala Dinner ? signed a memorandum of understanding with the Education Department 1? years ago, taking over all responsibility for sports development at schools.
However, except for a series of national tournaments for the top schools, the department had not contributed a "single cent" to rugby development, Schoeman said.
The department could not be reached for comment.
The Blue Bulls have increased the number of "underdeveloped" schools playing rugby by 40%, and now have up to 3000 children competing in games in townships. "But our Springboks come from private and city schools," Schoeman said.
VATICAN CITY (AP) -- The troubled Vatican bank says it is cooperating with Italian investigators who arrested a Vatican official over an alleged plot to bring 20 million euros ($26 million) into Italy from Switzerland illegally.
Monsignor Nunzio Scarano, a recently suspended accountant in one of the Vatican's main finance departments, was arrested early Friday along with a secret service agent and a financier.
Vatican bank spokesman Max Hohenberg said the bank was cooperating and that its board had launched an internal investigation.
CHICAGO (AP) ? This city, where violent street gangs shoot it out dozens of times a week despite some of the nation's toughest restrictions on guns, now faces a new challenge: Well-meaning citizens with the legal right to hit the streets with loaded firearms, whenever they want.
As Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn mulls whether to sign off on eliminating the country's last concealed carry ban, the question in Chicago is whether it will matter in the crime-weary city. Will a place that long had some of the nation's tightest restrictions on handguns be more at risk? Or will it be safer with a law that can only add to the number of guns already on the street?
Neighborhood leaders, anti-crime activists and police officials worry about additional mayhem in Chicago. But other residents, including some who live in Chicago's more violent areas, believe more guns will allow them to defend themselves better.
"We just had a weekend where something like 48 people were shot, seven died," said Otis McDonald, 79, one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit that ended with the U.S. Supreme Court tossing out Chicago's strict gun ban three years ago. "Now law abiding citizens like myself ... can carry them when they want to and not carry them when they don't want to, and the people out there who will do us harm won't know when we got them and when we don't."
At City Hall, where Chicago's anti-gun campaign has centered for years, the reaction to concealed carry legislation has been relatively quiet. The reasons seem to boil down to this: The city can do little about stopping the law because a federal appeals court ordered Illinois to end its public possession ban by this summer.
"We would prefer to have the (gun) bans we've always enacted... (but) it's the best we could do based upon the mandate we have," said Alderman Patrick O'Connor.
The bill sitting on Quinn's desk is a hard-fought compromise between conservative downstate lawmakers who opposed most gun restrictions and anti-gun lawmakers from Chicago and other urban areas. The legislation requires state police to issue a concealed-carry permit to any gun owner with a state-issued Firearm Owners Identification card, and who passes a background check, pays a $150 fee and undergoes 16 hours of training.
It's not as stringent as concealed carry laws in California, New York and a handful of others states, which give law enforcement authorities more power to deny permits. But it's more restrictive than earlier proposals by gun rights advocates, including one that would have superseded all local gun restrictions. For example, it won't wipe out Chicago and Cook County's ban on assault weapons.
Most significantly for gun control advocates, the legislation does prohibit guns in places like schools, buses, trains, bars and government buildings.
"If you think about all the prohibited places there are ... I don't think you will see an overwhelming number of people actually (carrying weapons) because it becomes such a headache," said state Sen. Kwame Raoul, a Chicago lawmaker and lead negotiator on the bill who represents President Barack Obama's former state senate district.
But other city officials aren't so assured. Superintendent Garry McCarthy calls a requirement that people go through only 16 hours of training before they are issued a concealed carry permit "woefully inadequate" because about the only thing people can learn in that time is how to "point and fire a weapon" and not when they can legally do so.
"Our officers receive six months of training in the police academy and then three months on the streets and at the end of the day we make mistakes frequently," he said.
Another concern by Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart is the provision in the bill that calls for law enforcement and prosecutors to object to a governor-appointed panel if they suspect applicants are dangerous. In Cook County, where there are 358,000 registered gun owners, Dart said he's worried gang members and others who shouldn't have guns will slip through the cracks and be granted permits.
Quinn, a Chicago Democrat, has been quiet on his intentions with the legislation, his office saying he's "reviewing the bill carefully." But what he decides may be moot, given that the Legislature passed it by wide enough margins to override any veto.
Once the law is in place, Dart said he expects a flood of applications for permits, something that happened in November 2011 in Wisconsin, where within hours of becoming the 49th state to have a concealed carry law, tens of thousands of people downloaded applications. By the end of 2012, the state had issued nearly 110,000 permits.
During 2012, the first full year the law was in effect, Milwaukee's total for homicides and rapes remained virtually the same as the year before. As for robbery, the kind of crime that concealed carry supporters say would be reduced if more regular citizens had weapons, Milwaukee saw a 17.2 percent drop between 2011 and 2012. But police say so far this year the number of robberies has climbed by 19 percent.
Whether the law will have similar effects in Chicago is a matter of contention. Rev. Michael Pfleger, a Catholic priest and activist on the city's South Side, doesn't believe criminals will hesitate out of some concern their victims might be armed.
"You are going to see a lot more gun fights and you are going to see people using guns as their first line of defense when they are confronted. To think guns are suddenly going to be the answer to violence in the city or the state, it's absurd," Pfleger said.
But Richard Pearson, Illinois State Rifle Association executive director, predicts Chicago's crime rate will fall. He argues that both sides in the gun debate will be watching closely what transpires.
"What goes on in Chicago is a very big deal because of their history of resisting firearm use," Pearson said.
We constantly grow new skin and slough off the old. Until now, scientists have never agreed on exactly how this works, but new research from the University of Sheffield may provide the answer.
Engineers and biologists at the University of Sheffield have shown how a recent theory-- that skin has 'sleeping' stem cells which can be woken up when required-- best explains how our skin constantly regrows. The research-- conducted in collaboration with The Procter & Gamble Company (P&G), makers of Olay, and published in Nature Scientific Reports-- has implications for combating the effects of aging and perhaps even skin cancer.
The Sheffield/P&G team developed an "in silico" (computer) model of human skin biology, capturing how the outer layers of the skin are developed and maintained over time. This model simulation or "virtual" skin was then used to test the three most popular theories of how skin cells function to regenerate our skin, the largest human organ, over a three-year period. When the simulation was run according to two of the theories, the virtual skin failed to fully regenerate. Only one theory enabled the virtual skin to still be in good shape after three years, as Dr. Xinshan Li (University of Sheffield Faculty of Engineering) and Dr. Arun Upadhyay (P&G), the lead co-authors explained in their research.
"The theory which seems to fit best says that skin has a population of 'sleeping' stem cells, which sit in the lowest layer of the skin but don't constantly divide to make new cells," Dr. Li said. "However, these sleeping cells can be called into action if the skin is damaged, or if the numbers of other types of more mature skin cells decrease, ensuring that the skin can be constantly regenerated under all conditions."
The model showed that we gradually lose these sleeping stem cells over time-- which would explain why our ability to regenerate our skin reduces as we age. "Each time we wake up these cells, to heal a wound or replenish stocks of other cells, a few of them don't go back into sleep mode, so the population slowly reduces," says Dr. Li. "This explains why older skin is slower to heal and in part why our skin changes as we age. By understanding this mechanism better, it might be possible to find ways to combat the effects of aging on our skin."
Computer modelling of skin biology is the latest step in the evolution of skin science. It allows scientists to project the activity of tissues like skin that are difficult to follow in live systems for extended periods. Currently, 3-dimensional cultures of engineered human skin are viable for only a few weeks and clinical studies in humans are only practical for a few months. With the development of in silico models scientists can predict for the first time what happens in skin as it ages year by year even as it ages decade by decade.
"These models permit exploration of hypotheses in very short periods of time, relative to the lab based bench work," says Dr. Upadhyay. "In silico modelling can significantly shorten R&D programs, and help focus subsequent lab or clinical work on the options with the greatest likelihood of succeeding. This is another reason why in silico models are an effective complement to more established research tools and methods."
The ability to follow virtual skin models over decades may be especially important to skin cancer research. Environmental damage caused by UV exposure or chronic wounding can cause sleeping cells to harbor the mutations which cause skin cancers such as basal cell carcinoma, a very aggressive type of skin cancer.
"The stem cells can harbor mutations throughout the years, but with no effect if they're still in sleep mode," explains Dr. Li. "However, when they start to divide to heal a wound for example, this could trigger the cancer. If it's possible to study this phenomenon for long periods of time it may be possible to find ways to prevent the activation of mutated cells and therefore reduce the risk of developing the disease."
Other parts of the body, such as the lung or gut lining and the cornea, also regenerate in the same way as our skin. Research is already underway at the University of Sheffield to look at the healing process of the lung lining following asthma attacks.
This study is an excellent example of how computer modelling can enhance our long-term understanding of complex processes such as skin aging. Dr. Upadhyay, a physicist-turned-computational biologist, drew inspiration from the great physicist Richard Feynman in summarizing the study, noting that, "You really don't understand something until you have built it from scratch. By building the virtual skin model from a few cells into a tissue capable of self-renewal, we have moved a big step in our understanding of stem cells and skin renewal."
###
About P&G Beauty & Grooming
P&G Beauty & Grooming offers trusted brands with innovative technologies and a full complement of impactful products that make a real difference for women and men around the world, including Pantene, Olay, Head & Shoulders, Max Factor, Cover Girl, DDF, Rejoice, Sebastian Professional, Herbal Essences, Koleston, Clairol Professional, Nice 'n Easy, Venus, Gillette, SK-II, Wella Professionals, Braun, Crest, Oral B, Always, and Tampax, as well as a leading Prestige Fragrance division that spans from point of market entry consumers to high end luxury with global brands such as Hugo Boss, Lacoste, and Christina Aguilera. With 12 billion-dollar brands, and products available in over 130 countries, P&G Beauty and Grooming delivered sales of over $37 billion in fiscal year 2011/12, making it the world's largest beauty and grooming companies. Please visit http://www.pg.com for the latest news and in-depth information about P&G (NYSE: PG) and its brands.
Media Contact
P&G: Dayna Hochstein, Spectrum
tel 202.955.6222 x2524
email dhochstein@spectrumscience.com
1. The paper covering the research is: Skin Stem Cell Hypotheses and Long Term Clone Survival Explored Using Agent-based Modelling X. Li, A. K. Upadhyay, A. J. Bullock, T. Dicolandrea, J. Xu, R. L. Binder, M. K. Robinson, D. R. Finlay, K. J. Mills, C. C. Bascom, C. K. Kelling, R. J. Isfort, J. W. Haycock, S. MacNeil & R. H. Smallwood Scientific Reports 3, Article number: 1904 doi:10.1038/srep01904
2. P&G serves approximately 4.6 billion people around the world with its brands. The Company has one of the strongest portfolios of trusted, quality, leadership brands, including Pampers, Tide, Ariel, Always, Whisper, Pantene, Mach3, Bounty, Dawn, Fairy, Gain, Charmin, Downy, Lenor, Iams, Crest, Oral-B, Duracell, Olay, Head & Shoulders, Wella, Gillette, Braun, Fusion, Ace, Febreze, Ambi Pur, SK-II, and Vicks. The P&G community includes operations in approximately 75 countries worldwide. Please visit http://www.pg.com for the latest news and in-depth information about P&G and its brands.
3. The Faculty of Engineering at the University of Sheffield-- the 2011 Times Higher Education's University of the Year-- is one of the largest in the UK. Its seven departments include over 4,000 students and 900 staff and have research-related income worth more than 50M per annum from government, industry and charity sources. The 2008 Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) confirmed that two thirds of the research carried out was either Internationally Excellent or Internationally Leading.
The Faculty of Engineering has a long tradition of working with industry including Rolls-Royce, Network Rail and Siemens. Its industrial successes are exemplified by the award-winning Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC) and the new 25 million Nuclear Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (NAMRC).
The Faculty of Engineering is set to ensure students continue to benefit from world-class labs and teaching space through the provision of the University's new Engineering Graduate School. This brand new building, which will become the center of the facultys postgraduate research and postgraduate teaching activities, will be sited on the corner of Broad Lane and Newcastle Street. It will form the first stage in a 15 year plan to improve and extend the existing estate in a bid to provide students with the best possible facilities while improving their student experience.
To find out more about the Faculty of Engineering, visit: http://www.shef.ac.uk/faculty/engineering/
[ | 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.
Virtual skin model reveals secrets of skin agingPublic release date: 26-Jun-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
We constantly grow new skin and slough off the old. Until now, scientists have never agreed on exactly how this works, but new research from the University of Sheffield may provide the answer.
Engineers and biologists at the University of Sheffield have shown how a recent theory-- that skin has 'sleeping' stem cells which can be woken up when required-- best explains how our skin constantly regrows. The research-- conducted in collaboration with The Procter & Gamble Company (P&G), makers of Olay, and published in Nature Scientific Reports-- has implications for combating the effects of aging and perhaps even skin cancer.
The Sheffield/P&G team developed an "in silico" (computer) model of human skin biology, capturing how the outer layers of the skin are developed and maintained over time. This model simulation or "virtual" skin was then used to test the three most popular theories of how skin cells function to regenerate our skin, the largest human organ, over a three-year period. When the simulation was run according to two of the theories, the virtual skin failed to fully regenerate. Only one theory enabled the virtual skin to still be in good shape after three years, as Dr. Xinshan Li (University of Sheffield Faculty of Engineering) and Dr. Arun Upadhyay (P&G), the lead co-authors explained in their research.
"The theory which seems to fit best says that skin has a population of 'sleeping' stem cells, which sit in the lowest layer of the skin but don't constantly divide to make new cells," Dr. Li said. "However, these sleeping cells can be called into action if the skin is damaged, or if the numbers of other types of more mature skin cells decrease, ensuring that the skin can be constantly regenerated under all conditions."
The model showed that we gradually lose these sleeping stem cells over time-- which would explain why our ability to regenerate our skin reduces as we age. "Each time we wake up these cells, to heal a wound or replenish stocks of other cells, a few of them don't go back into sleep mode, so the population slowly reduces," says Dr. Li. "This explains why older skin is slower to heal and in part why our skin changes as we age. By understanding this mechanism better, it might be possible to find ways to combat the effects of aging on our skin."
Computer modelling of skin biology is the latest step in the evolution of skin science. It allows scientists to project the activity of tissues like skin that are difficult to follow in live systems for extended periods. Currently, 3-dimensional cultures of engineered human skin are viable for only a few weeks and clinical studies in humans are only practical for a few months. With the development of in silico models scientists can predict for the first time what happens in skin as it ages year by year even as it ages decade by decade.
"These models permit exploration of hypotheses in very short periods of time, relative to the lab based bench work," says Dr. Upadhyay. "In silico modelling can significantly shorten R&D programs, and help focus subsequent lab or clinical work on the options with the greatest likelihood of succeeding. This is another reason why in silico models are an effective complement to more established research tools and methods."
The ability to follow virtual skin models over decades may be especially important to skin cancer research. Environmental damage caused by UV exposure or chronic wounding can cause sleeping cells to harbor the mutations which cause skin cancers such as basal cell carcinoma, a very aggressive type of skin cancer.
"The stem cells can harbor mutations throughout the years, but with no effect if they're still in sleep mode," explains Dr. Li. "However, when they start to divide to heal a wound for example, this could trigger the cancer. If it's possible to study this phenomenon for long periods of time it may be possible to find ways to prevent the activation of mutated cells and therefore reduce the risk of developing the disease."
Other parts of the body, such as the lung or gut lining and the cornea, also regenerate in the same way as our skin. Research is already underway at the University of Sheffield to look at the healing process of the lung lining following asthma attacks.
This study is an excellent example of how computer modelling can enhance our long-term understanding of complex processes such as skin aging. Dr. Upadhyay, a physicist-turned-computational biologist, drew inspiration from the great physicist Richard Feynman in summarizing the study, noting that, "You really don't understand something until you have built it from scratch. By building the virtual skin model from a few cells into a tissue capable of self-renewal, we have moved a big step in our understanding of stem cells and skin renewal."
###
About P&G Beauty & Grooming
P&G Beauty & Grooming offers trusted brands with innovative technologies and a full complement of impactful products that make a real difference for women and men around the world, including Pantene, Olay, Head & Shoulders, Max Factor, Cover Girl, DDF, Rejoice, Sebastian Professional, Herbal Essences, Koleston, Clairol Professional, Nice 'n Easy, Venus, Gillette, SK-II, Wella Professionals, Braun, Crest, Oral B, Always, and Tampax, as well as a leading Prestige Fragrance division that spans from point of market entry consumers to high end luxury with global brands such as Hugo Boss, Lacoste, and Christina Aguilera. With 12 billion-dollar brands, and products available in over 130 countries, P&G Beauty and Grooming delivered sales of over $37 billion in fiscal year 2011/12, making it the world's largest beauty and grooming companies. Please visit http://www.pg.com for the latest news and in-depth information about P&G (NYSE: PG) and its brands.
Media Contact
P&G: Dayna Hochstein, Spectrum
tel 202.955.6222 x2524
email dhochstein@spectrumscience.com
1. The paper covering the research is: Skin Stem Cell Hypotheses and Long Term Clone Survival Explored Using Agent-based Modelling X. Li, A. K. Upadhyay, A. J. Bullock, T. Dicolandrea, J. Xu, R. L. Binder, M. K. Robinson, D. R. Finlay, K. J. Mills, C. C. Bascom, C. K. Kelling, R. J. Isfort, J. W. Haycock, S. MacNeil & R. H. Smallwood Scientific Reports 3, Article number: 1904 doi:10.1038/srep01904
2. P&G serves approximately 4.6 billion people around the world with its brands. The Company has one of the strongest portfolios of trusted, quality, leadership brands, including Pampers, Tide, Ariel, Always, Whisper, Pantene, Mach3, Bounty, Dawn, Fairy, Gain, Charmin, Downy, Lenor, Iams, Crest, Oral-B, Duracell, Olay, Head & Shoulders, Wella, Gillette, Braun, Fusion, Ace, Febreze, Ambi Pur, SK-II, and Vicks. The P&G community includes operations in approximately 75 countries worldwide. Please visit http://www.pg.com for the latest news and in-depth information about P&G and its brands.
3. The Faculty of Engineering at the University of Sheffield-- the 2011 Times Higher Education's University of the Year-- is one of the largest in the UK. Its seven departments include over 4,000 students and 900 staff and have research-related income worth more than 50M per annum from government, industry and charity sources. The 2008 Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) confirmed that two thirds of the research carried out was either Internationally Excellent or Internationally Leading.
The Faculty of Engineering has a long tradition of working with industry including Rolls-Royce, Network Rail and Siemens. Its industrial successes are exemplified by the award-winning Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC) and the new 25 million Nuclear Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (NAMRC).
The Faculty of Engineering is set to ensure students continue to benefit from world-class labs and teaching space through the provision of the University's new Engineering Graduate School. This brand new building, which will become the center of the facultys postgraduate research and postgraduate teaching activities, will be sited on the corner of Broad Lane and Newcastle Street. It will form the first stage in a 15 year plan to improve and extend the existing estate in a bid to provide students with the best possible facilities while improving their student experience.
To find out more about the Faculty of Engineering, visit: http://www.shef.ac.uk/faculty/engineering/
[ | 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.
Kate Gosselin has spoken out about the controversial photo in which she dons a plastic geisha-style wig and pulls her eyes up at the corners to imitate the look of an Asian person.
"This was a happy memory of mine," Gosselin wrote on her website. A fan had sent the plastic wig, Gosselin said, and she and husband Jon took turns wearing it and snapping photos. Gosselin added a photo of Jon in the wig to her site. "Naturally, I 'slanted' my eyes to show him my best Asian impression, which made him smile," she wrote.
Jon Gosselin was born in Wisconsin, and his parents are a mix of European and Korean descent.
"At that time, a common topic of our show was 'everybody?s Asian' ? except for mommy, so a thoughtful fan figured she?d help me look Asian too," Gosselin wrote.
"I married an Asian," she said in the post. "I have eight biracial children therefore I?m quite certain that I?m the last person that could be called a racist."
The photo of Gosselin making the gesture was distributed Sunday by someone calling him or herself "KatieDeen." That person created a fresh account on Twitter on Sunday evening, and posted just one item -- this picture, with the accompanying caption information suggesting that Gosselin "makes fun of Asians with 8 half Korean children."
Gosselin did not say if she knew who had published the photo, but did write that it "was taken and misused without my permission and opportunistically turned into something that it never was intended to be."
The gesture has caused controversy for others in the past, including in 2008 when the Spanish Olympic Team were photographed en masse for an advertisement making the gesture.
We got to see quite a bit of iOS 7 back at WWDC 2013, but we only saw it working on an iPhone. Well, we've got some good news for big screen Apple devs, as a new iOS 7 beta's been released OTA and it now works on the iPad. Of course, the new beta also brings the usual nebulous "bug fixes and improvements" for all devices, and among those improvements is the addition of the Voice Memos app and Siri's new voices in English as well. It's available now, so if you're in the beta, you best get to downloading!
WASHINGTON (AP) ? President Barack Obama says carbon pollution limits need to be set on U.S. power plants in order to curb global warming.
Obama says rules are already in place to limit pollution from arsenic, mercury, lead and other substances, but no federal limits exist on how much carbon pollution that power plants ? including many that are fired by coal ? can dump into the air.
Obama says "that's not right, it's not fair, and it needs to stop."
Obama made his remarks Tuesday in a speech at Georgetown University, where he announced measures he intends to take to limit pollution that is trapping gases in the atmosphere.
A Minnesota state representative has apologized for a tweet in which he referred to black Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas as "Uncle Thomas."
Shortly after the Supreme Court's 5-4 decision striking down a key provision of the Voting Rights Act was announced Tuesday, Ryan Winkler, a Democratic lawmaker from Minnesota's 46th district, tweeted:
#SCOTUS VRA majority is four accomplices to race discrimination and one Uncle Thomas.
The tweet was subsequently deleted, and Winkler issued several apologies on Twitter, claiming he wasn't aware he had used a racial epithet.
"I did not understand 'Uncle Tom' as a racist term, and there seems to be some debate about it," Winkler wrote in response to a tweet linking to a blog post about his offensive message.
But there does not appear to be much debate. "Uncle Tom" refers to the faithful slave in Harriet Beecher Stowe's "Uncle Tom's Cabin," and is defined by Merriam-Webster as "a black who is overeager to win the approval of whites." Winkler's tweet suggested Thomas voted to gain the approval of his Caucasian counterparts.
"I didn't think it was offensive to suggest that Justice Thomas should be even more concerned about racial discrimination than colleagues," Winkler wrote on Twitter. "But if such a suggestion is offensive, I apologize."
According to Winkler's biography on the state House website, he earned a bachelor's degree in history at Harvard. He was elected in 2006.
In a statement posted to the site, Winkler added:
I was very disappointed today in the Supreme Court decision to roll back key provisions of the Voting Rights Act because I believe the Voting Rights Act is one of the most important steps our nation has taken to eliminate racial discrimination.
In expressing that disappointment on twitter, I hastily used a loaded term that is offensive to many. My words were inappropriate and I apologize. The implications of this Supreme Court decision are serious for our state and country and I regret that my comments have distracted from the serious dialogue we must have going forward to ensure racial discrimination has no place in our election system.
Winkler told Minnesota's Star Tribune he simply thought the epithet meant "turncoat."
"I intended to point out the fact that Justice Thomas had turned his back on African-American civil rights," Winkler said. "I did not intend it as a racially derogatory term and I probably reacted too hastily in using a word that is very loaded."
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) ? The Republican-dominated Texas Legislature pushed Monday to enact wide-ranging restrictions that would effectively shut down all abortion clinics in the nation's second most-populous state, and Democrats planned an old-fashioned marathon filibuster to stop the final vote.
After the House easily approved it Monday morning, the wide-ranging package of anti-abortion measures was headed to the Senate. But with the special session scheduled to end at 11:59 p.m. Tuesday, the clock presented a far bigger obstacle than the votes to win approval there.
Although Texas is just the latest of several conservative states to try to enact tough limits on abortions, the scope of its effort is notable both because of the combination of bills being considered and the size of the state. The proposal would ban abortions after the 20th week of pregnancy, require doctors to have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals, limit abortions to surgical centers and stipulate doctors must monitor even non-surgical abortions.
When combined in a state 773 miles wide and 790 miles long and with 26 million people, the measures become the most stringent set of laws to impact the largest number of people in the nation.
"If this passes, abortion would be virtually banned in the state of Texas, and many women could be forced to resort to dangerous and unsafe measures," said Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood Action Fund and daughter of the late former Texas governor Ann Richards.
Supporters, though, insist it will only raise the standard of health care for women seeking an abortion. Gov. Rick Perry added abortion to the special session's agenda and has promised to sign the bill if it reaches his desk.
The only way Democrats could block a vote when it goes to the Senate is if one senator filibusters it by running out the clock on the special session. Under the rules, the senator would have to speak non-stop, remain standing, restrain from bathroom breaks or even lean on anything.
Normally the Senate doesn't get a bill until 24 hours after House passage, which would set the Senate debate for Tuesday morning, effectively requiring a filibuster to last 13 ? hours.
Republicans could try to suspend the rules to force an earlier vote ? and longer filibuster. If all senators were present, that effort likely would fall one vote short. However, Democratic Sen. Leticia Van de Putte was attending a viewing Monday and funeral Tuesday for her late father, and it wasn't clear if Republican leaders would try to suspend the rules in her absence.
The first requirement of the bill is for all abortions to take place in surgical centers, facilities designed to cope with major surgeries that could lead to life-threatening complications. The majority of abortions are not surgical procedures, and only 37 of the state's 42 abortion clinics meet that standard and many would need to relocate and spend millions of dollars to reach that standard.
Those five remaining clinics are located in Dallas, Austin, San Antonio and two in Houston. A woman living along the Mexico border or in West Texas would have to drive hundreds of miles to obtain an abortion if the law passes.
Women who may currently take abortion-inducing pills at home would also be required to take those medications in front of the doctor by making to visits to the surgical center under the bill.
Abortion doctors also would need to obtain admitting privileges within 30 miles of the clinic under the measure. The lone remaining abortion clinic in Mississippi is currently suing to block this law because no hospitals in the state will grant privileges to an abortion doctor for religious reasons or to avoid political repercussions.
State Sen. Glenn Hegar, R-Katy, insists the measures are intended to protect women's health by guaranteeing the best possible treatment and forcing abortion clinics to improve their facilities. But after the bill passed the Senate the first time, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst gloated on Twitter about how the bill would shut down clinics.
Rep. Jody Laubenberg, R-Parker, led the effort in the House to add a measure banning abortions after 20 weeks, shaving four weeks off current law.
"At five months, we are talking about a human being, unless you think it's still a clump of mass," she said during the floor debate.
Texas House Democrats managed to delay the voting on the bill for 15 hours Sunday night into early Monday morning, but the Republican majority voted to suspend debate, stop pending amendments and force at vote at 3:30 a.m. House Speaker Joe Straus then adjourned and called lawmakers back for the final House vote at 6:46 a.m.
Democrats, though, stayed away until 9 a.m. denying Republicans a quorum. Four Democrats joined Republicans in supporting the bill and a single Republican from Houston opposed it.
___
Online:
Texas Senate Bill 5: http://www.legis.state.tx.us/BillLookup/history.aspx?LegSess=831&Bill=SB5
___
Follow Chris Tomlinson on Twitter at http://twitter.com/cltomlinson
BOSTON (AP) ? Chicago Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville says forward Jonathan Toews is "100 percent ready to go" for Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final against the Boston Bruins.
Quenneville says the Selke Trophy winner felt fine on Sunday and in the morning skate at the TD Garden on Monday.
The Bruins are a little less certain about Patrice Bergeron, who's their top forward. He did not participate in the team's morning skate. Coach Claude Julien says he feels confident Bergeron will play, but also discussed possible replacements.
Toews left Game 5 on Saturday night after a hit to the head. Bergeron's injury was not disclosed.
Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final is Monday night. The Blackhawks have a 3-2 lead and can clinch their second NHL title in four seasons.
MADRID (AP) ? A 26-year-old woman has been arrested in the eastern Spanish city of Alicante on suspicion of attempting to murder her newborn baby who had to be rescued from inside a building's drains, the Interior Ministry said Sunday.
The ministry said the two-day old boy, who still had his umbilical cord attached and was found wrapped in plastic bags, could have been trapped for 40 hours at a point where the building's drains converged into a 1 square meter (1.2 square yard) manhole in a courtyard.
A neighbor had alerted firefighters at 2 a.m. (0100 GMT) Sunday to what was originally thought to be a meowing cat trapped inside the drains, the ministry said in a statement.
The baby, who weighed 2.1 kilograms (4.6 pounds), is said to be in a serious but not life-threatening condition in hospital, having suffered a fracture to a bone in one arm. The baby had other injuries too, which have yet to be detailed.
The ministry said police investigators have been able to determine that the unnamed woman lived in the building, but had been admitted to Alicante's General Hospital on June 21 where she told medical staff she had suffered a miscarriage.
When police arrived at the hospital to question her, the mother acknowledged to officers that she had tried to get rid of the baby but had not had enough money to pay for an abortion.
The statement said the mother was under arrest and that an investigation was under way to try and discover whether she acted alone, or if a third party could have been involved in the ditching of the baby in the building's communal drains.
Last month rescue workers in eastern China had to extract a newborn baby who had become stuck in a sewer pipe after its mother had tried to give birth in secret.
(source) by Lauren Mandel At the New York City premiere of "World War Z," Brad Pitt revealed that his son, Maddox Jolie-Pitt, will make his feature film debut alongside his dad in the new zombie horror film opening this weekend. In his cameo role, Maddox plays a very short-lived Zombie! "He gets shot in the [...]
WASHINGTON (AP) ? Edward Snowden, the former government contractor who says he revealed that the National Security Agency collects Americans' phone records and Internet data from U.S. communication companies, now faces charges of espionage and theft of government property.
Snowden is believed to be in Hong Kong, which could complicate efforts to bring him to a U.S. federal court to answer charges that he engaged in unauthorized communication of national defense information and willful communication of classified communications intelligence information.
In addition to those charges, both brought under the Espionage Act, the government charged Snowden with theft of government property. Each crime carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.
Hong Kong was silent Saturday on whether Snowden should be extradited to the United States now that he has been charged, but some of Hong Kong's legislators said the decision should be up to the Chinese government.
The one-page criminal complaint against Snowden was unsealed Friday in federal court in Alexandria, Va., part of the Eastern District of Virginia where his former employer, government contractor Booz Allen Hamilton, is headquartered, in McLean.
The complaint is dated June 14, five days after Snowden's name first surfaced as the person who had leaked to the news media that the NSA, in two highly classified surveillance programs, gathered telephone and Internet records to ferret out terror plots.
It was unclear Friday whether the U.S. had yet to begin an effort to extradite Snowden from Hong Kong. He could contest extradition on grounds of political persecution. In general, the extradition agreement between the U.S. and Hong Kong excepts political offenses from the obligation to turn over a person. Hong Kong could consider the charges under the Espionage Act political crimes.
Hong Kong had no immediate reaction to word of the charges against Snowden.
The Obama administration has now used the Espionage Act in seven criminal cases in an unprecedented effort to stem leaks. In one of them, Army Pfc. Bradley Manning acknowledged he sent more than 700,000 battlefield reports, diplomatic cables and other materials to the anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks. His military trial is underway.
Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, welcomed the charges against Snowden.
"I've always thought this was a treasonous act," he said in a statement. "I hope Hong Kong's government will take him into custody and extradite him to the U.S."
But the Government Accountability Project, a whistle-blower advocacy group, said Snowden should be shielded from prosecution by whistle-blower protection laws.
"He disclosed information about a secret program that he reasonably believed to be illegal, and his actions alone brought about the long-overdue national debate about the proper balance between privacy and civil liberties, on the one hand, and national security on the other," the group said in a statement.
Michael di Pretoro, a retired 30-year veteran with the FBI who served from 1990 to 1994 as the legal liaison officer at the American consulate in Hong Kong, said "relations between U.S. and Hong Kong law enforcement personnel are historically quite good."
"In my time, I felt the degree of cooperation was outstanding to the extent that I almost felt I was in an FBI field office," di Pretoro said.
The U.S. and Hong Kong have a standing agreement on the surrender of fugitives. However, Snowden's appeal rights could drag out any extradition proceeding.
The success or failure of any extradition proceeding depends on what the suspect is charged with under U.S. law and how it corresponds to Hong Kong law under the treaty. In order for Hong Kong officials to honor the extradition request, they have to have some applicable statute under their law that corresponds with a violation of U.S. law.
Hong Kong lawmakers said Saturday that the Chinese government should make the final decision on whether Snowden should be extradited to the United States.
Outspoken legislator Leung Kwok-hung said Beijing should instruct Hong Kong to protect Snowden from extradition before his case gets dragged through the court system.
Leung urged the people of Hong Kong to "take to the streets to protect Snowden."
In Iceland, a business executive said Friday that a private plane was on standby to transport Snowden from Hong Kong to Iceland, although Iceland's government says it has not received an asylum request from Snowden.
Business executive Olafur Vignir Sigurvinsson said he has been in contact with someone representing Snowden and has not spoken to the American himself. Private donations are being collected to pay for the flight, he said.
"There are a number of people that are interested in freedom of speech and recognize the importance of knowing who is spying on us," Sigurvinsson said. "We are people that care about privacy."
Disclosure of the criminal complaint came as President Barack Obama held his first meeting with a privacy and civil liberties board and as his intelligence chief sought ways to help Americans understand more about sweeping government surveillance efforts exposed by Snowden.
The five members of the little-known Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board met with Obama for an hour in the White House Situation Room, questioning the president on the two NSA programs that have stoked controversy.
One program collects billions of U.S. phone records. The second gathers audio, video, email, photographic and Internet search usage of foreign nationals overseas, and probably some Americans in the process, who use major Internet service providers, such as Microsoft, Google, Apple, and Yahoo.
___
Associated Press writer Jenna Gottlieb in Reykjavik, Iceland, contributed to this report.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. government watchdog is examining a contractor that conducted a 2011 background investigation into Edward Snowden, the source of recent leaks about U.S. secret surveillance programs.
Patrick McFarland, the inspector general for the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, told lawmakers on Thursday that his office is probing USIS, a Falls Church, Virginia-based company that is the largest private provider of federal government background checks.
The USIS investigation predates the Snowden scandal, but McFarland told the homeland security subcommittee hearing that there are now concerns that USIS may not have carried out its background check into Snowden in an appropriate or thorough manner.
The hearing helped underscore questions lawmakers have about the widespread use of contractors in sensitive intelligence work and the oversight of those employees.
Not only is much intelligence work handled by contractors, but private contractors also conduct roughly 75 percent of federal government background checks, according to lawmakers.
Snowden, who disclosed details of the U.S. government's vast phone and Internet surveillance, was a contractor formerly employed by Booz Allen Hamilton who worked at a National Security Agency facility in Hawaii.
USIS conducts federal employee background checks for the Office of Personnel management, the government agency primarily responsible for overseeing such investigations.
"Yes, we do believe that there - there may be some problems," McFarland said of Snowden review.
Senator Rob Portman said the government has a history of flaws in how it deals with security clearances, and said it is particularly critical to properly vet contractors. "Done poorly it can be incredibly damaging," said the Republican from Ohio.
Senator Claire McCaskill described the probe into USIS as a criminal investigation into allegations the company systemically failed to adequately conduct investigations under its contract.
But USIS said in a statement that it has never been informed that it is under "criminal investigation". It said it received a subpoena for records from McFarland's office in January 2012.
"USIS complied with that subpoena and has cooperated fully with the government's civil investigative efforts," the statement said. Regarding Snowden, USIS said it does not comment on confidential background investigations.
SECURITY CONSEQUENCES
Snowden, who is believed to be hiding in Hong Kong, went public in a video released by Britain's Guardian newspaper on June 9 as the source of documents about the U.S. government's surveillance programs.
An Icelandic businessman said on Thursday he has readied a private plane to take Snowden to Iceland if the government grants him asylum.
Snowden had a Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information level clearance.
Senators at the hearing on Thursday said they were concerned about whether people receiving top secret clearances are being properly vetted.
"It is a reminder that background investigations can have real consequences for our national security," McCaskill said of Snowden's leaks. McCaskill, a Democrat from Missouri, chairs the contracting oversight subcommittee of the Senate's Homeland Security Committee.
McCaskill said she was worried that there appears to be a pattern of falsified background checks. She pointed to how at least 18 investigators handling the checks have been convicted of falsifying investigations since 2007.
Senators also raised concerns about a 2009 watchdog investigation that found about 87 percent of OPM investigative reports used to make clearance decisions had incomplete documentation.
Merton Miller, an official in OPM's Federal Investigative Services unit, said the high number was the result of employers not cooperating or subjects being deployed to hostile areas where investigators could not conduct interviews.
He acknowledged his agency needs clearer quality standards. "Quality is in the eye of the beholder," Miller said.
Separately, Senator Bill Nelson on Thursday called for a Senate Intelligence Committee investigation into how contractors are handling employees with top secret clearance.
The Democrat from Florida is concerned there is a pattern of disturbing incidents. He pointed to a previous scandal in which Booz Allen Hamilton had hired an employee convicted of lying to the U.S. government for a position in which he would handle classified documents.
Senate Intelligence Chair Dianne Feinstein has already called for legislation that would limit contractors' access to highly classified information.
OUTSOURCING
McCaskill said USIS also has a contract to support the OPM by managing and overseeing background investigations, an arrangement she said appears to put USIS in a position of oversight of its own work. She added that the company received $200 million last year from OPM.
Security investigations for federal employees used to be conducted mainly by a large staff of full-time investigators who were civil servants at the OPM.
In 1996, the investigative functions of OPM were privatized and the resulting company, USIS, was awarded a contract with OPM to conduct background investigations for security clearances on employees of more than 95 federal agencies.
On its website, USIS says it presently has 100 federal contracts.
USIS is owned by a larger investigative company called Altegrity, which in turn is principally owned by private equity firm Providence Equity Partners.
(Reporting by Matt Haldane and Mark Hosenball; Writing by Karey Van Hall; Editing by Tim Dobbyn)
![[ Back to EurekAlert! ]](http://www.eurekalert.org/images/back2e.gif){kind=small}
Public release date: 26-Jun-2013
Share ] 
