Spain just Euro 2012 final away from history

By PAUL LOGOTHETIS

AP Sports Writer

Associated Press Sports

updated 10:33 a.m. ET June 28, 2012

DONETSK, Ukraine (AP) -Spain is just one victory away from making history and securing its reputation as perhaps the greatest national side ever.

Spain labored to a penalty shootout win over Portugal to reach Sunday's final, where only Germany or Italy can keep it from winning a third straight major tournament - an unprecedented feat between World Cup and continental competitions.

"Hopefully we can achieve what nobody else has achieved," coach Vicente del Bosque said. "This would be great for everyone: for Spanish football and for our country as a whole.

"These are signs of progress taking place in Spanish sports, and hopefully it will carry over into society as well," Del Bosque added.

The record run is on course even if Spain's attack hasn't exactly lived up to high expectations, with the team's ability to grind out results becoming its trademark in Poland and Ukraine.

Spain is the only side apart from West Germany to have reached three straight finals, and the team can go one better than that West German side from the 1970s with a victory in Kiev.

"Spain has already made history and now we continue making it," captain Iker Casillas said. "I hope people remember this all their lives because who would have thought we could achieve this four years ago."

The Spanish, who started their current run by winning Euro 2008, remain on course after Cesc Fabregas netted the decisive penalty after Wednesday's game ended 0-0 after extra-time.

"I had an intuition. In the afternoon I was thinking about it, that I would have a unique opportunity and I told (assistant coach) Toni Grande that I didn't want to shoot second, that I wanted to shoot fifth," Fabregas said at the Donbass Arena. "I think I spoke to the ball, I know what I told the ball. I said 'I think we'll be together right to the final."'

Del Bosque's team has an extra rest day over its opponent, something that will surely be appreciated as the Spanish coach admitted that he replaced Xavi Hernandez against Portugal because of fatigue.

And there are no preferences for the world champions come the final.

"In either case, whichever team gets out of the semifinal will be a great team," Del Bosque said.

Spain's biggest concern going into the final will be its starting attack after surprise choice Alvaro Negredo failed to gel with his teammates against Portugal. Fabregas or Fernando Torres are the favorites, with the pair having scored two goals each and having both started twice in five games.

Despite its difficulties in finding the back of the net, Spain remains upbeat about its chances.

"Spain keeps making history, nobody has done what we have and now if we win Sunday's final we can add the exclamation point to this era," said defender Sergio Ramos, whose audacious soft chip in the penalty shootout helped put Spain in command. "I hope people appreciate how difficult it is to get to where we are. Spain won't always win every game but we hope that's not the case on Sunday."

---

Paul Logothetis can be reached at: www.twitter.com/PaulLogoAP

? 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


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Source: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/47396939/ns/sports-soccer/

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Home-based business: Advertising Fruit Cakes by way of Home ...

House parties are an incredible solution to promote your fruit cakes. Organise some parties in a month, for close relatives and friends. Invite a modest group every single time to ensure that you are going to have adequate time to speak to each and every and everyone to be able to bring up a conversation on your cakes.

Start by sending out invitations no less than two weeks in advance. You would not desire to bake great cakes and waste them by not becoming in a position to serve the amount of folks you intend to.

Next in the process is to do the essential preparation. When you are inviting persons to get a tea party, then you are going to must prepare tea and tea time treats. Prepare two or 3 various cakes, depending on the crowd. Make sure you possess a mixture of cakes, i.e, classic fruit cakes (those made using dried fruits and nuts), plain unfrosted cakes (orange cake, lemon cake, and so on) as well as rich decorated cakes (blueberry chocolate cake, mango chocolate cake, peach cake, and so on). Ideally, slice the cakes beforehand to ensure that it?s going to be simpler to serve them for your guests.

Just as in any other tea parties, you will need to set the table with a tea pot, cups and saucers. Also ensure you have sufficient spoons and forks for your guests to delight in your cakes. Because cakes are normally sweet, attempt to balance your party with 1 savoury dish like mini tuna or cheese sandwiches.
Alternatively, when you are having a dinner party, you need not make several distinct varieties of cakes. One or two will do, but be certain to decide on cakes that will make wealthy desserts like cheesecakes. Decorate the cakes well and serve them on nice cake platters or cake stands.

In the finish of it all, just before you send off your guests, give each one of them a modest cake gift. Bake your favourite fruit cake, as an example, a pineapple upside down cake, and cut it into neat squares. Wrap the sides of every cake with plastic cellophane and location them on aluminium foil. Pack every single slice in eye-catching cake boxes. You could also tie a ribbon around the boxes should you wish. By carrying out this, you might be showing them how cakes ordered from you?ll be packed and delivered. Above all, make sure to include your name and get in touch with facts on the boxes.

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Lawmakers reach compromise on roads, student loans

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Facing weekend deadlines for action, congressional leaders have agreed to deals overhauling the nation's transportation programs without a Republican provision forcing approval of the proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline, and avoiding a doubling of interest rates for new student loans, congressional officials said Wednesday.

The agreements underscored the pressures both parties face to avoid angering voters and facing embarrassing headlines in the run-up to this November's presidential and congressional elections. Letting road-building programs grind to a halt during an economic downturn would be a blow to the image of lawmakers, while Democrats and Republicans alike seemed eager to avoid enraging millions of students and their parents by boosting the costs of college loans.

In contrast, enactment of the transportation measure would create or save 3 million jobs, said Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., chief sponsor of the Senate version of the bill. And the student loan measure would spare an estimated 7.4 million students who get subsidized Stafford loans beginning July 1 ? this Sunday ? from facing $1,000 in higher interest costs over the lives of their loans, which typically take over a decade to repay.

Congressional leaders were planning to combine the highway and student loan measures into a single bill to reduce potential procedural obstacles and hoped for final approval this week. Lawmakers would then leave Washington for a July 4 recess.

The two-year highway bill would prevent the government's authority to spend money on highways, bridges and transit systems from lapsing on Saturday, along with its ability to collect gasoline and diesel taxes. With both parties checkmating each other's top priorities this campaign season, Democrats and Republicans say the highway measure will be Congress' top job-creation initiative until the November elections.

"This is the jobs bill for the 112th Congress," said House Transportation Committee Chairman John Mica, R-Fla.

As the price for the highway agreement, lawmakers said Republicans dropped a House-approved provision requiring the government to approve the proposed Keystone pipeline, which is to move oil from western Canada to Texas' Gulf Coast.

Pipeline approval ? which prompted a veto threat from President Barack Obama ? has been a top goal this election year for the GOP, which has pitted its claims that it would create jobs against environmental worries that it could accelerate global warming and endanger Midwestern water supplies.

Republicans also agreed to abandon language blocking the Environmental Protection Agency from regulating the toxic ash generated by coal-fired power plants, lawmakers said. The ash is used as an ingredient in some types of cement.

In return, House Republicans won Senate concessions that would halve the time allowed for environmental reviews for highway projects, and squeeze money for bike paths and pedestrian safety projects by forcing them to compete with other transportation projects, said congressional aides and environmental lobbyists.

The bill would give states more flexibility in spending federal money, impose new safety regulations and expand a federal loan guarantee program to encourage private investments in transportation projects.

Despite the measure's short-term impact, the bill delays for two years decisions about a long-term funding scheme for highway and transit programs. Gas and diesel taxes no longer cover the cost of transportation programs and are forecast to bring in less revenue as the fuel efficiency of cars and trucks increases.

President Barack Obama spent weeks this spring touring college campuses and lambasting Republicans for not pushing a freeze on student loan rates through Congress. GOP presidential challenger Mitt Romney, looking to avoid handing Obama an issue, quickly said he favored the interest rate extension and congressional GOP leaders did too, though some Republicans think the government should not spend money to keep loan rates low.

The student loan pact would keep today's 3.4 percent interest rates on subsidized Stafford loans from doubling for new loans approved beginning on Sunday, an automatic increase that Congress enacted five years ago to save money. If they did double, it would affect 7.4 million students expected to get the loans over the 12 months beginning July 1, adding $1,000 to the interest costs of the typical borrower over each loan's life.

The tentative agreement was on the same package Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., had said Tuesday that they had shaken hands on, said a congressional Republican who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe the measure's status. McConnell said he expected the House to accept the agreement.

"We're moving, I think, towards an agreement on a transportation bill that would also include a one-year fix on the student loan rate increase," Boehner told reporters early Wednesday after meeting privately with House Republicans.

Some GOP lawmakers at that meeting said Boehner seemed to favor the emerging deal and said it received a positive reception.

"The general sense is there's a tremendous amount of support for getting it done," said Rep. Tom Reed, R-N.Y. "That's what's going to drive it across the finish line."

The two parties spent the last several weeks dueling over how to pay for the $6 billion cost of the student loan bill.

Under the agreement, the government would raise $5 billion by changing how companies calculate the money they have to set aside for pensions. That change would make their contributions more consistent from year to year and in effect reduce their payments initially, lowering the tax deductions they receive for their pension contributions.

Another $500 million would come from increasing the fees companies pay for the government to insure their pension plans, linking those fees to inflation.

In addition, $1.2 billion would be saved by limiting federal subsidies of Stafford loans to six years for undergraduates.

Lawmakers were discussing potentially wrapping in another Senate bill to reauthorize the national flood insurance program for five years.

The program, which provides federally backed insurance for 5.6 million households and businesses, many in flood-prone areas, has gone deeply into the red from claims after Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The Senate legislation would try to return the program to fiscal soundness through such steps as allowing premium increases and reducing subsidies for vacation homes.

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Rights group says Apple suppliers in China breaking labor laws

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Apple Inc's suppliers in China have violated local labor laws when they imposed excessive overtime and skimped on insurance, a New York-based labor rights group said.

Apple and its suppliers such as Taiwanese tycoon Terry Gou's Foxconn Technology Group have been the target of labor rights groups, which say the world's most valuable technology company are making iPhones and iPads in massive sweat shops.

"From our investigations we found that the labor rights violations at Foxconn also exist in virtually all other Apple supplier factories, and in many cases, are actually significantly more dire than at Foxconn," China Labor Watch said in a 133-page report released on Thursday.

A four-month investigation through April showed workers work up to 180 hours of overtime a month during peak periods, exceeding the legal limit of 36 hours per month, the group said, citing Riteng, a unit of Taiwan's Pegatron Corp, as an example.

Some factories also omit medical insurance as required by the law while workers are exposed to hazardous conditions, according to the report.

China Labor Watch interviewed 620 workers at 10 factories run by Apple suppliers, including Toyo Precision Appliance and BYD Electronic (International) Co.

The group also spoke with workers at factories run by units of Quanta Computer Inc, Wintek Corp and U.S.-listed Jabil Circuit Inc.

The companies couldn't be immediately reached for comment.

"As part of our ongoing supplier responsibility program, our team has conducted thorough audits at every facility in China Labor Watch's report," Kristin Huguet, an Apple spokeswoman based in Cupertino, California, said in an e-mail.

"In some places, our auditors found issues similar to those described by China Labor Watch, including overtime violations," she said, when asked to comment on the report.

DISMAL CONDITIONS

The report singled out Riteng for dismal work conditions, saying workers work almost 12 hours a day, longer than 10 hours a day at Foxconn, Apple's main supplier.

Half of Riteng's workers described safety conditions as "bad," more than Foxconn's 2 percent, according to the report.

The average hourly wage at Riteng is 8.2 yuan ($1.29), well below the average rate 10.2 yuan at Foxconn.

The Pegatron unit was not immediately available for comment.

Labor groups say wages have generally been on the rise, though the growth has been slower than inflation.

"Wages are certainly going up, but they are still a very long way from what you consider a decent wage because inflation in the major cities in southern China is going up all the time," said Geoffrey Crothall of China Labor Bulletin.

"It's generally better at the larger factories, but the problem with Foxconn and a lot of the other Taiwanese, Hong Kong-owned manufacturers, the management culture there is still very authoritarian, quite dictatorial. People say it's quasi-military."

James Wu, a spokesman for Catcher Technology Co, which was also mentioned in the report, said the proportion of short-term labor it employs without having to provide severance compensation was actually lower than that described by China Labor Watch.

"Our dispatch rate is 20-30 percent, lower than the rate of around 80 percent mentioned in the report," Wu said.

Catcher also put their workers through a three-day training program to prepare them for their jobs.

"In summary, our company provides benefits for workers that exceed basic requirements," Wu said.

MAKING CHECKS

Apple said it had been making checks at its supply chain partners and regularly publishes reports on workers' situation on its website (http://www.apple.com/supplierresponsibility/).>

The company, which monitors worker hours of more than 700,000 workers in its supply chain, said it had been following up to make sure suppliers comply with its labor standards.

Workers typically have little legal representation in China, where labor laws are sometimes not strictly enforced. Unions are also often not effective in providing feedback to management, labor rights groups said.

Following a spate of critical reports detailing unsafe factory practices at Foxconn plants that triggered worker deaths and suicides, Apple this year allowed the U.S.-based Fair Labor Association (FLA) to conduct a high-profile probe of Foxconn's factories in China.

"The process of change in our company continues, and competitive wages, improved living conditions and the abolition of the use of dispatched workers by our company are some examples of this," Foxconn said in an e-mailed statement.

"Our considerable investment in this process will change our industry through the positive example we are setting for other companies." ($1 = 6.3554 Chinese yuan)

(Additional reporting by Clare Jim in TAIPEI, Sisi Tang in HONG KONG and Tim Kelly in TOKYO; Editing by Ryan Woo)

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How to Find and Do Business With International Suppliers ? SMB ...

Securing a manufacturer to produce unique items or finding a trustworthy supplier to purchase large quantities of general products for your online store is a big challenge for a small business.

?When you?re a small business person, remember that each deal could be your first or last, depending on how you conduct business,? said global trade expert, Jim Angleton, president of Aegis.

The last thing you want to deal with is the cost of losing an uninsured container at sea or transacting with a fraudulent supplier. The good news is that this kind of devastating situation can be avoided when transacting business overseas.

To start, you need to find a supplier who is a good match for your business. One of the leading global trade facilitators, Alibaba.com, provides a business-to-business (B2B) marketplace that helps connect businesses with suppliers and wholesalers in more than 240 countries and territories.

Alibaba.com is a good starting point to find an ecommerce supplier for larger orders and for securing customized goods. An on-site search tool can help you find general product wholesalers, but for more complex requirements you?ll need to submit a request for quotation (RFQ) to be matched with up to 10 customized sourcing companies. Smaller businesses looking to source a smaller quantity of consumer products should look at AliExpress to find a supplier. For buyers, both sites are free to use.

Linda Kozlowski, director of global marketing and customer experience, said that small businesses often use Alibaba.com to purchase large quantities of general product, to look for complex machinery or to find a company to manufacture a new invention or product.

Alibaba.com has a number of services to help facilitate the relationship with any supplier or manufacturer you find on the site. Since most orders require customization and discussion, the transaction takes place off of the Alibaba.com platform, making it extremely important that you take the right steps to protect your business.

Once you have narrowed down the list of suppliers to the best candidates you have to investigate the company you plan to do business with to ensure it is a legitimate supplier that delivers quality product. Fraud is an issue for these types of B2B transactions, no matter what supplier or website you use.

?We always ? no matter what supplier you are using on our site, any other site or even offline ? encourage people to conduct their own due diligence. For any B2B transaction, you must look for references, ask for samples and that sort of thing,? said Kozlowski.

The Alibaba.com site was plagued with fraud issues in February 2011, related to false companies listed on the site as Gold Suppliers. The company dealt with the fraud, which resulted in the resignation of its then CEO, COO and 100 sales people, and it propelled Alibaba.com to implement a series of trust and safety services ? like options for escrow payments and inspection services ? to protect the experience of all Alibaba.com users.

The reality of doing business overseas today is that you need to have as much data as possible at your fingertips.

Describing the initial steps you should take when conducting business with international suppliers, Aegis? Jim Angleton added, ?It begins with a Google search for negative or positive business conduct by your proposed customer. You need to ask for letters of recommendation from at least two banking sources, and then you need to check those references, review customs validations or certificates and shipping.?

Aegis also provides research and due diligence services to businesses when they go offshore by running checks on the companies, the banks involved, brokers and any other individual or company involved in the transaction that you might not have the resources to investigate on your own.

Global ecommerce

Alibaba.com, a B2B marketplace,? connects businesses with suppliers and wholesalers in more than 240 countries.

Another important thing to do is make sure the global trade partner can deliver the goods as promised. This usually requires and on-site inspection ? and there are a number of services and contractors who can help small businesses with on-site inspections in many countries.

Aegis has its own ground troop of expert inspection agents on its payroll. On Alibaba.com, the service lists more than 30 pre-screened inspection service vendors that small businesses can contact to perform on-site inspections on their behalf. Alibaba.com offers its Inspection Service for $1 as a time-limited promotion price to encourage small businesses to become familiar with using an inspection service to ensure quality products are manufactured and delivered.

Aside from knowing whether a company is legit, you also need to secure payments overseas and to make sure the goods are as described. To help facilitate the trade process, Alibaba.com recently launched an escrow service to hold payment until the supplier ships the goods and you confirm the order is received in good working condition.

Kozlowski advises buyers to use escrow payments on Alibaba.com, especially for the first transaction with a new supplier. The escrow service carries a three percent fee, but it helps establish a good relationship with a supplier and can prevent a fraudulent transaction from taking place.

Aegis offers a different solution to help manage transactions using a secure corporate card system. A primary card is held by the small business and a second card on the corporate account is sent to the international supplier. The business loads funds on the card that is held in an account that your global trade partner can see. When the products are shipped, payment is released and the supplier can pick it up by using the second card at their own bank.

Angleton said that no fee is charged to the small business for loading the card, and small business owners also benefit from controlling the transaction in the currency they choose.

Purchasing the right shipping insurance is another common concern. Angleton said he advises clients to obtain adequate shipping insurance, especially on container shipments. Without proper insurance, if there?s an accident or a container gets swept out to sea, the loss is damaging to a small business.

The cost of conducting global trade varies ? but above the actual product purchase you have to consider the cost of due diligence, shipping, insurance and other transaction fees related to payments and escrow services, if you use one.

In today?s world, Angleton said that you can expect to pay upward of $3,000 for the most expensive and comprehensive set of due diligence and to send a qualified person in for the on-site inspection. Depending on the product and situation the inspection could be a lengthy process.

While that might be steep for some ecommerce businesses, in the end it could save you hundreds of thousands of dollars in embarrassment and litigation. And it can potentially keep you from sinking your business in bad deal when conducting business with international suppliers.

Based in Nova Scotia, Canada, Vangie Beal has spent the last decade contributing featured articles and reviews to more than 20 technology-focused publications, including Webopedia and Ecommerce-Guide. You can tweet with her online @AuroraGG.

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U.S. court upholds EPA's authority to regulate greenhouse gases

WASHINGTON ? A federal appeals court has upheld the Environmental Protection Agency's authority to regulate gas emissions from power plants and vehicles, dealing a setback to fossil fuel industries, states and lobbying groups that have fought for years to delay taking steps to address climate change.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on Tuesday dismissed four sweeping lawsuits that asserted that the Clean Air Act did not give the EPA the authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions. Such emissions have been identified as the major driver of climate change by a majority of scientists.

The plaintiffs, led by states such as Texas and Virginia, theU.S. Chamber of Commerceand fossil fuel interests, contended that the agency's determination that greenhouse gases endanger human health was capricious and arbitrary.

Led by the conservative Chief Judge David B. Sentelle, the three-member appeals panel found that the EPA's approach to regulating greenhouse gases has been "unambiguously correct."

Continually facing litigation from environmentalists and industry alike on a multitude of issues, the EPA welcomed the court's decision.

"I am pleased that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit found that EPA followed both the science and the law in taking common-sense, reasonable actions to address the very real threat of climate change by limiting greenhouse gas pollution from the largest sources," agency Administrator Lisa P. Jackson said.

Plaintiffs decried the decision and warned that the economy could be hurt if the EPA continued to regulate greenhouse gas emissions.

Texas Atty. Gen. Greg Abbott said the ruling "failed to rein in the unelected bureaucrats at the agency who are holding our country's energy independence and fragile economy hostage to a radical environmental agenda."

The EPA introduced rules curtailing greenhouse gases after a landmark 2007 Supreme Court ruling, Massachusetts vs. EPA, that held that the gases could be regulated as pollutants under the Clean Air Act. In the U.S., vehicles, power plants and industries such as oil refining account for the greatest emissions. After years of battling regulation, the auto industry reached a deal with the Obama administration to boost fuel economy standards and cut emissions sharply starting this year and extending to 2025.

Other industries, various states and lobbyists, however, continued the fight against regulation, launching the four lawsuits that the federal appeals court dismissed.

The court's ruling also answered claims by the plaintiffs that the EPA relied on faulty science by determining that greenhouse gases endanger public health and welfare.

In developing its "endangerment finding," the EPA relied on scientific assessments by entities such as the National Academies of Science and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Climate change contrarians, including those who brought the challenges, dismiss the findings by those bodies as ideologically driven, alarmist and unreliable.

The court responded that the "EPA simply did here what it and other decision-makers often must do to make a science-based judgment: It sought out and reviewed existing scientific evidence to determine whether a particular finding was warranted.... This is how science works."

The fuel economy standard crafted with the auto industry, built on EPA's decision to regulate greenhouse gases, may have been the signature environmental accomplishment of the Obama administration.

But the EPA's greenhouse gas efforts may end up being curtailed down the line. Presumptive Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has vowed, if elected, to strip the EPA of its authority to regulate the emissions.

neela.banerjee@latimes.com

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Eating Vegetables May Protect Pancreas, Study Suggests

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Ancient human ancestors had unique diet

Wednesday, June 27, 2012

When it came to eating, an upright, 2-million-year-old African hominid had a diet unlike virtually all other known human ancestors, says a study led by the Max Planck Institute of Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany and involving the University of Colorado Boulder.

The study indicated that Australopithecus sediba -- a short, gangly hominid that lived in South Africa -- ate harder foods than other early hominids, targeting trees, bushes and fruits. In contrast, virtually all other ancient human ancestors tested from Africa -- including Paranthropus boisei, dubbed "Nutcracker Man" because of its massive jaws and teeth -- focused more on grasses and sedges, said CU-Boulder doctoral student Paul Sandberg, a co-author on the new study.

The A. sediba diet was analyzed using a technique that involved zapping fossilized teeth with a laser, said Sandberg. The laser frees telltale carbon from the enamel of teeth, allowing scientists to pinpoint the types of plants that were consumed and the environments in which the hominids lived. The carbon signals from the teeth are split into two groups: C3 plants like trees, shrubs and bushes preferred by A. sediba, and C4 plants like grasses and sedges consumed by many other early hominids.

The teeth from the two A. sediba individuals analyzed in the study had carbon isotope values outside the range of all 81 previously tested hominids. "The lack of any C4 evidence, and the evidence for the consumption of hard objects, are what make the inferred diet of these individuals compelling," said Sandberg.

"It is an important finding because diet is one of the fundamental aspects of an animal, one that drives its behavior and ecological niche. As environments change over time because of shifting climates, animals are generally forced to either move or to adapt to their new surroundings," said Sandberg of CU-Boulder's anthropology department.

The researchers concluded from their scientific tests that bark and other fracture-resistant foods were at least a seasonal part of the A. sediba diet. While bark and woody tissues had not been previously documented as a dietary component of any other ancient African hominids, such foods are consumed by many contemporary primates and contain both protein and soluble sugars. The diet of A. sediba may have been similar to that of today's African savanna chimpanzees, Sandberg said.

One unique aspect of the project was the analysis of microscopic, fossilized particles of plant tissue known as phytoliths trapped in ancient tooth tarter, a hardened form of dental plaque, said corresponding study author Amanda Henry of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.

"The fact that these phytoliths are preserved in the teeth of 2-million-year-old hominids is remarkable and speaks to the amazing preservation at the site," said Sandberg. "The phytolith data suggest the A. sediba individuals were avoiding the grasses growing in open grasslands that were abundant in the region at the time."

A third, independent line of study -- analyzing microscopic pits and scratches on A. sediba teeth, which reveal what they were eating at the time just prior to death -- also confirmed that at least one of the hominids was eating harder foods, said Sandberg.

A paper on the subject was published online by Nature on June 27. Other paper authors included Professor Matt Sponheimer of CU-Boulder, Peter Ungar of the University of Arkansas, Benjamin Passey of Johns Hopkins University, Lloyd Rossouw of the Bloemfontein National Museum in Bloemfontein, South Africa, Lee Berger and Marion Bamford of the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa and Darryl de Ruiter of Texas A&M University.

A. sediba is particularly intriguing to anthropologists. The first two individuals discovered -- a juvenile male and an adult female from the Malapa Cave site roughly 30 miles north of Johannesburg in 2008 --apparently had fallen into a hidden pit in the cave and died. With an upright posture and long arms, the curious creature appears to have characteristics of both primitive and modern hominids, including a human-like ankle, short fingers and a long thumb for possible precision gripping and a relatively complex brain compared to earlier hominids, according to researchers.

The jury is still out on exactly where these hominids land on the family tree. A. sediba may have been a descendant of A. africanus, which was spawned by A. afarensis, a hominid represented by "Lucy" who lived about 3 million years ago and is considered by many to be the matriarch of the human family.

The A. sediba remains at Malapa were dated to 2 million years by scientists, a precise number obtained by measuring the decay of isotopes of uranium into lead that occurred in a type of mineral deposit known as flowstone that capped the fossil-bearing layer.

Paleontological evidence, including pollen and phytoliths, shows that the region around Malapa likely was a mix of abundant grassland and woody vegetation about 2 million years ago, said Sandberg. The team's carbon isotope research on the ancient teeth of rodents and hooved mammals that inhabited the region at the time indicated they had a strong affinity for C4 grasses and sedges.

"What fascinates me is that these individuals are oddballs," said CU-Boulder's Sponheimer. "I had pretty much convinced myself that after 4 million years ago most of our hominid kin had diets that were different from living apes, but now I am not so sure. And while our sample is too small to be conclusive, the rate at which Malapa is spewing hominid fossils makes me reasonably certain we won't have to wait another 2 million years to augment our data set. "

###

University of Colorado at Boulder: http://www.colorado.edu/news

Thanks to University of Colorado at Boulder for this article.

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The Characteristics Of The Broadview Phone System - Liquipel ...

Wednesday, June 27th, 2012 at 11:19 am ?

When setting up your business, you need to make sure you properly set up the various systems needed in order to have a functional operation. One of these is the communication systems, which should be able to accommodate your business needs. You need to install a system that will be able to accommodate the volume of incoming and outgoing calls made to and from your business?s customers, clients or investors. The communication system should also be able to handle the volume of inter-facility calls within the various departments in the office. There are reliable telephone or communication specialty companies that offer office wide systems for you to utilize. The Broadview phone should be able to provide you with the communication solutions that you require for your business. You can find effective solutions offered by the Broadview Networks to set up your communication system.

One of the successful features of the systems offered by Broadview is that it utilizes a VoIP system. The internet-based communications system provide various business office phone features. This type of setup ensures that you can create a cohesive communication system for your business, even if you?re operating from different office locations. The VoIP system makes it possible to be on the road or working offsite, while still connected to the communication system. Whether you?re on or off-site, you can receive any call by setting up the system to accept calls on both your office and mobile phone units. The system can also be set up so you can answer calls from your computer.

With a VoIP system, you can also expect your office?s communication lines will continue to function even if there?s a disaster. This way, you can provide real time business decisions in reaction to emergency situations. There are also different Broadview systems phone units that you can choose from. There are phone units with LCD displays featuring 24 or 48 keys to accommodate the different extensions in your office. The company can also provide you with a conferencing unit model that you can install in your office?s meeting rooms or board rooms. If you want to be able to use your computer to accept or make calls using the communication system, then you can have the softphone software installed to get the connection. The company also features plans that doesn?t require a capital investment and monthly contract.

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Can Google Help You Guess Mitt Romney's Vice Presidential Pick?

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