Sales rise at Detroit's Big Three automakers

Chrysler outpaced its Detroit rivals with a 27 percent increase in sales in October, led by strong demand for its Jeep and Chrysler brands. Ford sales gained 6 percent while GM, the largest of the Big Three, ran third with a 2 percent rise in sales.

Chrysler had its best October sales since 2007, selling more than 114,000 cars and trucks last month compared with 90,000 a year earlier.

Ford said Tuesday its U.S. sales were helped by strong demand for its pickups and SUVs. Car sales dropped 8 percent at the automaker, however. Only the subcompact Fiesta and the midsize Fusion saw small increases from last October.

GM's sales were led by the Chevrolet Cruze compact and Equinox crossover. Cruze sales nearly tripled from last year, Equinox sales rose 18 percent.

The automaker's overall sales suffered from rough comparisons with the strong sales it reported at the same time last year.

GM sold nearly 187,000 cars and trucks last month. Car sales were up 4 percent and trucks were up 2 percent. But sales of the company's crossover sport utility vehicles fell 1 percent.

Sales overall had been expected to rise last month to the best pace in two years. People who put off buying cars last summer because Japanese brands were in tight supply returned to the market in October.

Car information site Edmunds.com predicts sales of more than 1 million cars and trucks for the month. When adjusted for seasonal factors, that would be the best pace since the Cash for Clunkers program in August 2009. J.D. Power and Associates also says October sales finished strong, although it forecast a slightly slower pace.

Edmunds economist Lacey Plache called October a "mini-bubble" and said she expects the sales pace to fall off a bit once pent-up demand is satisfied. But Edmunds still expects total U.S. sales to rise by nearly 1 million vehicles to 13.5 million in 2012 compared to 2011. An improving economy, better credit availability and an aging fleet of vehicles on the road all point to higher sales in 2012.

Pent-up demand drove October sales. Many buyers were waiting for Japanese car inventories to improve after the March earthquake and tsunami in Japan cut supplies. Toyota Motor Corp., Honda Motor Co. and Hyundai Motor Co. will be the biggest market share gainers in October, Edmunds said.

The Japanese automakers had yet to report sales.

Because they had more vehicles at dealerships, Japanese carmakers also offered more deals, which drew in buyers. TrueCar.com estimated that Toyota's incentives were up 13 percent from last October, while Honda's were up 18 percent. Detroit automakers showed little change in their incentive levels. The average incentive offer was $2,669 per vehicle in October, up 5 percent from last year, TrueCar said.

Truck buyers also were out in force in October, drawn partly because of automakers' traditional "Truck Month" promotions. That's a good sign for the economy, since large truck buyers are generally people who need trucks for construction or other work.

Falling gas prices might also be helping push some buyers off the fence and into dealerships. Gas prices now average $3.46 per gallon nationwide, down from a peak of nearly $4 in May.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45117817/ns/business-autos/

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Are Google Apps An Equal Alternative For Microsoft Products?

convert FLV to AVI

Software program and purposes make it possible for businesses to carry out day by day actions rapidly and efficiently. Many businesses imagine that Google Apps can be utilized as a replacement for Microsoft products. However, this isn?t at all times the case. Oftentimes folks jump to the conclusion that Google Apps can save their firm money with out fully understanding the influence that Google Apps may have on their business. You will need to learn about these impacts and the advantages of selecting to use Microsoft merchandise comparable to a hosted Microsoft Exchange Server.

There?s a Distinction Between Support and SLA
Google claims to have a Service Stage Settlement (SLA) that is financially backed. Unfortunately, for the users of Google Apps, this SLA is service credit primarily based and would not embody any downtime of 10 minutes or less. Because of this customers can experience a limiteless number of instances monthly of downtime so long as they are below 10 minutes. It?s also important for companies to know that new options launched within the Google Apps are actually categorized below Google Labs which is not covered by the SLA.

In contrast to Google?s SLA, Microsoft Online has a 99.9% financially backed SLA and never restricts downtime. Experimental options aren?t given to users of Microsoft merchandise earlier than they?re tested and deemed reliable.

Security Past the Basics
It?s true that Microsoft and Google each have strong physical safety for information center access. In addition they each have customary trade certifications.. Although they?re comparatively similar with reference to those points, Microsoft takes a extra comprehensive stance on security. As an illustration, Google does not permit customers to ship emails securely with rules similar to ?view solely? or ?don?t forward.? Because these guidelines aren?t included into Google?s safety, electronic mail and documents can easily be shared or leaked. In addition to flawed e mail safety, paperwork created with watermarks may be stripped of those security markers as soon as converted to Google Docs.

A hosted Microsoft Change Server permits customers to mark emails with digital signatures. It also enforces rights management and permits customers to flag by message type. Alternate also fully supports safety for mobile phones. It can be crucial for companies to recognize the danger, and potential bills that may very well be incurred sooner or later if safety were to be breached, when utilizing such Google Apps.

Watch out for Outlook Assist from Google
Google provides the Google App Sync for Microsoft Outlook(R) which claims to assist users retain the Outlook interface whereas changing the hosted Microsoft Alternate network with the Google Apps network. This sync device falls in need of full synchronization and can sometimes pressure users to handle {two} separate inboxes. This software may cause a substantial amount of complexity and headache to make sure proper functionality. In the end, companies might lose money on productiveness and pay extra to train users.

The ?Offline? Resolution May Not Be a Solution
Google has claimed to solve ?offline? needs with the Google Apps expertise out there by means of Google Gears. Google Gears is a browser add-wherein must be deployed to every single user. It is usually not lined by the Google Apps SLA. Once the offline expertise is ready up, it merely gives the person with view-solely options. Which means that users cannot create or edit documents while using it.

With SharePoint companies, you?ll be able to synchronize recordsdata to work offline. Then, when you reconnect, it will transmit solely delta adjustments with the document. Even with Outlook you?ll be able to work offline without worries.

Google Docs and Spreadsheets Replace SharePoint Providers?
Google does provide some choices for users of Google Docs and Spreadsheets to extend collaboration and compatibility. This consists of the ability to upload many different file varieties into Google Apps. However, that is where the compatibility ends. Google limits file sizes and can convert paperwork into HTML. This results in altered content and layouts. This could imply more time and money spent while attempting to fix the issues.

SharePoint companies and Microsoft?s Office Internet Apps give customers full collaboration with a high quality Net-primarily based experience. Paperwork can be shared with out worry of issues occurring. As well as, SharePoint companies and Office Net Apps can be used on premises or in the cloud.

Total, Google Apps cannot carry out to the requirements that high quality Microsoft merchandise can. They may be helpful as a temporary repair however could cause problems with long term use. It is best to hold out business operations properly the primary time round rather than having to choose up the pieces of incapable products.

About The Creator

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Bob Beaumont, Who Popularized Electric Cars, Dies at 79

[unable to retrieve full-text content]Mr. Beaumont, appalled by the United States? appetite for oil, sold some 2,000 electric cars, decades before General Motors and Nissan created their own versions.

Source: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=7edf5327a39778b4c59a883e8b949267

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Samsung Italy apparently confirms what we already guessed -- new Tabs, Galaxy S II, and Galaxy note to get Ice Cream Sandwich

Samsung

According to the Italian blog Android.HD, Samsung has confirmed that they will be providing the Ice Cream Sandwich update to their latest top-tier devices. Phones and tablets set to get a bit of the latest tasty treat are:

This is a pretty obvious list, and we came up with something very similar ourselves.  Samsung is playing it safe by not announcing an ICS update for devices like the Galaxy W, or the original Galaxy S line, which we never really expected to see the Android 4.0 update anyway.  While there's no official timeline, expect the updates to start rolling out early next year -- then again in 2013 for the US carrier versions.  Yeah, I went there.

Source: Android.HD


Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/BuyDmQL1f1E/samsung-confirms-what-we-already-guessed-new-tabs-galaxy-s-ii-and-galaxy-note-get-ice-cream-sandwich

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Chevron profit jumps, tops Wall Street forecast (Reuters)

(Reuters) ? Chevron Corp said its quarterly earnings more than doubled, beating Wall Street forecasts, as the second-largest U.S. oil company benefited from high oil prices and strong refinery margins.

Chevron's profit rose to $7.8 billion, or $3.92 per share, from $3.8 billion, or $1.87 per share, a year earlier.

Analysts had expected $3.48 a share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Sales rose 26 percent to $61.26 billion .

Chevron reported 2.6 million barrels of oil equivalent per day (bpd) of output, down from 2.74 million a year-ago.

Benchmark Brent crude averaged $112 per barrel in the quarter, down from $117 in the second quarter but up from $77 a year before.

On Thursday, Exxon Mobil Corp and Royal Dutch Shell Plc reported sharp increases in quarterly profits that came in ahead of analysts' forecasts.

Chevron recorded a one-time gain of about $500 million from the sale of its Pembroke refinery to Valero Energy Corp.

In July, Chevron said a slower Gulf of Mexico project ramp-up and a Thai pipeline problem would trim its 2011 production by about 30,000 bpd.

Chevron shares were down slightly in premarket trading.

(Reporting by Braden Reddall in San Francisco and Matt Daily in New York, editing by Dave Zimmerman)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/business/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111028/bs_nm/us_chevron

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Clash with police stirs Oakland economic protest (Reuters)

OAKLAND, Calif (Reuters) ? Over 1,000 activists protesting economic inequality and corporate greed massed on Wednesday night in a downtown Oakland plaza from which they had been evicted a day earlier in clashes with police that left 85 people arrested and one critically hurt.

The severe injury of Scott Olsen, 24, a former U.S. Marine who friends said served two tours of duty in Iraq, became a rallying cry among Occupy Wall Street supporters in Oakland and elsewhere as organizers took to Twitter and other social media urging protesters back into the streets.

In Portland, Oregon, a crowd estimated to number at least 1,000 joined in a march organized by the AFL-CIO labor federation in support of the anti-Wall Street movement. And Twitter buzz suggested the turnout may have gotten a boost from outrage generated by news of the injured Oakland veteran.

Supporters in New York voted on Wednesday to send $20,000 and 100 tents to their peers in Oakland, according to a Twitter message from a protester identified as J.A. Myerson and re-tweeted by the Occupy Wall Street group.

The liberal activist group MoveOn.org said it was creating a "rapid response ad" from video footage of the "brutal crackdown" Tuesday night in which Olsen was hurt.

Rally organizers said Olsen was struck in the head by a tear gas canister fired by police at protesters trying to move back into a downtown plaza where a makeshift encampment had been forcibly removed earlier.

A spokesman for Highland General Hospital in Oakland confirmed Olsen was in critical condition from injuries sustained in the protest but could not say how he was hurt.

INVESTIGATION LAUNCHED

Acting Oakland Police Chief Howard Jordan told a news conference his department was investigating the injury to Olsen as a "level one" incident, the highest priority for an internal police inquiry.

He declined to confirm whether Olsen was struck with a projectile fired by law enforcement but said Oakland police did launch tear gas and so-called "bean bag" munitions on Tuesday when demonstrators defied orders to disperse.

Jordan, acknowledging his department has received complaints of excessive force during the protests, said his officers were under orders to accommodate peaceful rallies and marches. But he added that "no camping will be allowed overnight" on public property.

The altercations erupted on Tuesday when about 1,000 activists sought to retake an outdoor plaza adjacent to City Hall that police had cleared earlier that day. Police arrested 85 people.

On Wednesday night, a crowd of at least 1,000 demonstrators were allowed back into the square. Some immediately ripped down a fence erected to close off a grassy area after authorities had removed tents and sprayed disinfectant chemicals.

But the crowd was otherwise peaceful and activists met to discuss strategy, including a proposal to call for a general citywide "strike" next week. Except for a helicopter hovering overhead, police remained absent from view.

BADLY HURT AFTER TWO TOURS IN IRAQ

Keith Shannon, who said he served with Olsen in Iraq, told Reuters his friend suffered a 2-inch skull fracture and brain swelling and had been sedated in the hospital's emergency room trauma center while neurosurgeons decided whether to operate.

The hospital declined to comment on those medical details.

"The irony is not lost on anyone here that this is someone who survived two tours in Iraq and is now seriously injured by the Oakland police force," said his friend, Adele Carpenter, who spoke to Reuters by phone from the hospital waiting room.

The "Occupy Wall Street" protests, which began in New York City on September 17, take issue with a financial system they say benefits corporations and the wealthy. They are critical of U.S. government bailouts of big banks, high unemployment and economic inequality.

Loosely organized protest groups have since sprung up across the United States and in countries around the world. Tensions were building in several cities where authorities have been treading a fine line between allowing peaceful protest and addressing concerns about trespassing, noise and safety.

In an early morning raid in Atlanta, police evicted dozens of protesters from a downtown park and arrested 53 who refused to leave. They were allowed to camp in the park for three weeks but Mayor Kasim Reed said he decided to evict the protesters because of fire code violations and crowd control issues.

In Orlando, demonstrators had been complying with orders to vacate a park overnight and left their belongings, only to have police confiscate the property. And in Baltimore, the city ordered protesters to drastically reduce the number of people who camped overnight from roughly 200 to two people in a single tent. Protesters were given a Wednesday deadline to comply.

In the birthplace of the demonstrations, New York City, authorities have largely averted confrontation. Over 700 protesters loudly but peacefully marched through lower Manhattan on Wednesday to denounce for-profit healthcare.

The New York demonstrators are camped in a privately owned park in the city's financial district, and Mayor Michael Bloomberg has said there was little the city could do until the park owners, Brookfield Office Properties, file a complaint.

(Additional reporting by Mary Slosson in Los Angeles, Barbara Liston in Orlando, David Beasley in Atlanta, Dan Cook in Portland, Jason Tomassini in Baltimore and Chris Francescani in New York; Writing by Steve Gorman and Barbara Goldberg; Editing by Greg McCune and Jackie Frank)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/iraq/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111027/us_nm/us_usa_wallstreet_protests_oakland

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31 Creative Business Card Designs for Your Inspiration | You the ...

We?ve already posted quite a number of business card collections in this blog. But with designers actively coming up with innovative designs, we make it a point to provide you with fresh ideas as often as we can. Majority of the samples we?ve included in this new collection were released by designers from various design portfolio sites?just this October and September. Since so many business card samples were uploaded in such a short period, we?ve chosen to include only 31 of the most creative designs of the batch.

With the new year fast approaching, you may want to start contemplating changes on your business card?s design . Checkout this collection of ?very attractive?business cards?to get some much needed inspiration.

?

Wooden Business Card

Creative-Business-Card-Designs-01

Nick Tryer
View Source

?

Sound Designer Card

Creative-Business-Card-Designs-02

Johannes Klotz
View Source

?

Optical Illusion Card

Creative-Business-Card-Designs-03

Youngha Park
View Source

?

?Invisible? Business Card

Creative-Business-Card-Designs-04

Estudio Invisible
View Source

?

Casino Style Business Card

Creative-Business-Card-Designs-05

Activa Media
View Source

?

Luxury Business Card

Creative-Business-Card-Designs-06

Luxury Business Card
View Source

?

Plastic Business Cards

Creative-Business-Card-Designs-07

Frantisek Krivda
View Source

?

Seed Paper Business Cards

Creative-Business-Card-Designs-08

Aster Avenue Inc.
View Source

?

Black & White Cards

Creative-Business-Card-Designs-09

Ruwedata
View Source

?

Pachica Paper Cards

Creative-Business-Card-Designs-10

Pata Pri
View Source

?

Razor?s Edge Business Card

Creative-Business-Card-Designs-11

Taste of Ink
View Source

?

Soho Cafe & Bakery

Creative-Business-Card-Designs-12

Jason Silvers
View Source

?

GREENPAC Identity Card

Creative-Business-Card-Designs-13

GreenPac Design Team
View Source

?

Erik Brandt Letterpress

Creative-Business-Card-Designs-14

Elegant Press
View Source

?

Mais Pilates

Creative-Business-Card-Designs-15

MarketData Direct & Digital
View Source

?

Junpiter Football

Creative-Business-Card-Designs-16

Bravo Company
View Source

?

Business Card for: Brent Clowater

Creative-Business-Card-Designs-17

Brent Clowater
View Source

?

Business Card for: Javier Garcia

Creative-Business-Card-Designs-18

Javier Garcia
View Source

?

Business Card for: David Caval

Creative-Business-Card-Designs-19

David Caval
View Source

?

Business Card for: AppWare

Creative-Business-Card-Designs-20

Richard Eaton
View Source

?

Business Card for: Common

Creative-Business-Card-Designs-21

Erik Cox
View Source

?

Making Business Cards

Creative-Business-Card-Designs-22

Nancy Heathman
View Source

?

Title

Creative-Business-Card-Designs-23

?

Creative-Business-Card-Designs-24

Kristina Plummer
View Source

?

LETTERPRESS BUSINESS CARDS

Creative-Business-Card-Designs-25

?

Creative-Business-Card-Designs-26

Juan Madrigal
View Source

?

Piotr Kierat ID

Creative-Business-Card-Designs-27

Nina Gregier
View Source

?

?? NEW ?? Judy Wainwright

Creative-Business-Card-Designs-28

G-Man
View Source

?

Business Card Design: Pediatric ID Society

Creative-Business-Card-Designs-29

RM Harrison
View Source

?

WHBV Business Cards

Creative-Business-Card-Designs-30

?

Creative-Business-Card-Designs-31

Jason Snell
View Source

?

Creative-Business-Card-Designs-33

sweet
View Source

?

Creative-Business-Card-Designs-33

ATOMICvibe
View Source

?

Creative-Business-Card-Designs-34

Andrew Sithimorada
View Source

?

Imagen Institucional

Creative-Business-Card-Designs-35

Dimol Group
View Source

?

Personal Branding | Letterpress Business Cards

Creative-Business-Card-Designs-36

Virginia Faircloth
View Source

Source: http://www.youthedesigner.com/2011/10/28/31-creative-business-card-designs-for-your-inspiration/

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South Tel Aviv school is a model for language intervention

[ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 27-Oct-2011
[ | E-mail | Share Share ]

Contact: George Hunka
ghunka@aftau.org
212-742-9070
American Friends of Tel Aviv University

Tel Aviv University researchers give children of immigrants and foreign workers a chance to overcome language barriers

Bialik-Rogozin, a school in South Tel Aviv with an underprivileged student body hailing from 48 different countries, is the subject of the 2011 Oscar-winning documentary short Strangers No More. But before the cameras rolled, researchers at Tel Aviv University had been helping its students overcome the barriers to language development that often handicap children raised by immigrants or refugees.

Their program, which involves group and one-on-one sessions with clinicians and Tel Aviv University students, is run by Prof. Liat Kishon-Rabin of TAU's Department of Communication Disorders at the Sackler Faculty of Medicine. Her program takes a multipronged approach to help students improve in different areas of language acquisition, including comprehension skills, vocabulary, and writing.

Presented at the annual Israeli Speech and Hearing Association Conference by senior clinician Shira Cohen, this model can be implemented across the globe, the researchers say. Many countries are home to such immigrant or refugee families, where children could be getting increased support for language development. The program, funded by the Landa Foundation, has been an unqualified success.

A multilingual background means multiple challenges

The population of the school at Bialik-Rogozin is made up of a large number of refugees fleeing their home countries to make a better life for themselves abroad. With often tumultuous pasts that include few educational opportunities, these children are facing many challenges among them low socioeconomic status, behavior issues, and delayed language development.

"Many of these children don't actually have a 'mother tongue,'" says Prof. Kishon-Rabin, explaining that often, parents emigrate from separate countries, and do not share a common first language to pass on to their children. "At home, their parents often speak broken English or Hebrew, and the child is only exposed to this pigeon-like speech. They're exposed to three or more languages, but none of them are spoken properly." Intervention began when a group at Tel Aviv University decided to offer the students hearing tests, and during these tests the researchers discovered how poor the students' language development was.

Beginning with a group of 24 students in first grade, Prof. Kishon-Rabin and her team, which included Cohen, Dr Shoshie Rabinowitz, and other trained speech therapists as well as students from TAU's Department of Communications Disorders, provided weekly sessions with special emphasis on natural and social language skills to help the children develop efficient communication in and outside of the classroom.

Over the course of the year-long program, the students not only showed an improvement in their language skills, their overall academic performance improved as well. The teachers noted an increase in the students' verbal communication, self confidence, participation and progress in reading and writing when compared to a control group.

Stepping up educational support

Relying on funding from outside sources, the program is currently limited in its reach, says Prof. Kishon-Rabin. This is an issue that schools all over the world face as well. Many schools are not even allocated speech therapy hours, and those that do have such courses are extremely limited in their scope.

School boards should make more of an effort to meet the language needs of their multicultural populations, she suggests. Some positive steps would include the hiring of full time clinicians, the provision of better training for teachers on language development, and the incorporation of this content into the normal curriculum. Such programs also help train the next generation of clinicians, who receive hands-on experience. The Tel Aviv University students who have volunteered experience high satisfaction from the help they provide, reports Prof. Kishon-Rabin. "It's a win-win situation," she observes.

Currently, the program is going full steam ahead into the next academic year, and Prof. Kishon-Rabin hopes that the necessary funding will follow. She is also pioneering another community project set to start in the fall which will encourage greater involvement from teachers, parents, and other community members. "The more the parents are involved, the better the outcome of therapy with the children will be," she says.

###

American Friends of Tel Aviv University (http://www.aftau.org) supports Israel's leading, most comprehensive and most sought-after center of higher learning. Independently ranked 94th among the world's top universities for the impact of its research, TAU's innovations and discoveries are cited more often by the global scientific community than all but 10 other universities.

Internationally recognized for the scope and groundbreaking nature of its research and scholarship, Tel Aviv University consistently produces work with profound implications for the future.



[ Back to EurekAlert! ] [ | E-mail | Share 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.


[ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 27-Oct-2011
[ | E-mail | Share Share ]

Contact: George Hunka
ghunka@aftau.org
212-742-9070
American Friends of Tel Aviv University

Tel Aviv University researchers give children of immigrants and foreign workers a chance to overcome language barriers

Bialik-Rogozin, a school in South Tel Aviv with an underprivileged student body hailing from 48 different countries, is the subject of the 2011 Oscar-winning documentary short Strangers No More. But before the cameras rolled, researchers at Tel Aviv University had been helping its students overcome the barriers to language development that often handicap children raised by immigrants or refugees.

Their program, which involves group and one-on-one sessions with clinicians and Tel Aviv University students, is run by Prof. Liat Kishon-Rabin of TAU's Department of Communication Disorders at the Sackler Faculty of Medicine. Her program takes a multipronged approach to help students improve in different areas of language acquisition, including comprehension skills, vocabulary, and writing.

Presented at the annual Israeli Speech and Hearing Association Conference by senior clinician Shira Cohen, this model can be implemented across the globe, the researchers say. Many countries are home to such immigrant or refugee families, where children could be getting increased support for language development. The program, funded by the Landa Foundation, has been an unqualified success.

A multilingual background means multiple challenges

The population of the school at Bialik-Rogozin is made up of a large number of refugees fleeing their home countries to make a better life for themselves abroad. With often tumultuous pasts that include few educational opportunities, these children are facing many challenges among them low socioeconomic status, behavior issues, and delayed language development.

"Many of these children don't actually have a 'mother tongue,'" says Prof. Kishon-Rabin, explaining that often, parents emigrate from separate countries, and do not share a common first language to pass on to their children. "At home, their parents often speak broken English or Hebrew, and the child is only exposed to this pigeon-like speech. They're exposed to three or more languages, but none of them are spoken properly." Intervention began when a group at Tel Aviv University decided to offer the students hearing tests, and during these tests the researchers discovered how poor the students' language development was.

Beginning with a group of 24 students in first grade, Prof. Kishon-Rabin and her team, which included Cohen, Dr Shoshie Rabinowitz, and other trained speech therapists as well as students from TAU's Department of Communications Disorders, provided weekly sessions with special emphasis on natural and social language skills to help the children develop efficient communication in and outside of the classroom.

Over the course of the year-long program, the students not only showed an improvement in their language skills, their overall academic performance improved as well. The teachers noted an increase in the students' verbal communication, self confidence, participation and progress in reading and writing when compared to a control group.

Stepping up educational support

Relying on funding from outside sources, the program is currently limited in its reach, says Prof. Kishon-Rabin. This is an issue that schools all over the world face as well. Many schools are not even allocated speech therapy hours, and those that do have such courses are extremely limited in their scope.

School boards should make more of an effort to meet the language needs of their multicultural populations, she suggests. Some positive steps would include the hiring of full time clinicians, the provision of better training for teachers on language development, and the incorporation of this content into the normal curriculum. Such programs also help train the next generation of clinicians, who receive hands-on experience. The Tel Aviv University students who have volunteered experience high satisfaction from the help they provide, reports Prof. Kishon-Rabin. "It's a win-win situation," she observes.

Currently, the program is going full steam ahead into the next academic year, and Prof. Kishon-Rabin hopes that the necessary funding will follow. She is also pioneering another community project set to start in the fall which will encourage greater involvement from teachers, parents, and other community members. "The more the parents are involved, the better the outcome of therapy with the children will be," she says.

###

American Friends of Tel Aviv University (http://www.aftau.org) supports Israel's leading, most comprehensive and most sought-after center of higher learning. Independently ranked 94th among the world's top universities for the impact of its research, TAU's innovations and discoveries are cited more often by the global scientific community than all but 10 other universities.

Internationally recognized for the scope and groundbreaking nature of its research and scholarship, Tel Aviv University consistently produces work with profound implications for the future.



[ Back to EurekAlert! ] [ | E-mail | Share 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.


Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-10/afot-sta102711.php

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Radioactive Used Cars Are Being Illegally Sold in Japan [Japan]

No longer able to sell and ship many used cars to Russia, South America, Australia and the U.S. due to their high levels of radiation from the Fukushima Daiichi meltdown, some dealers in Japan have instead resorted to registering them under new plates and illegally selling them domestically. More »


Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/iEVzEggON-k/radioactive-used-cars-are-being-illegally-sold-in-japan

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Doctor: Jackson asked about IV sleep meds in 2009 (AP)

LOS ANGELES ? A doctor has told jurors that Michael Jackson asked him about intravenous sleep medications roughly two months before the pop superstar's death.

Defense attorneys for Dr. Conrad Murray called Dr. Allan Metzger to testify Monday.

Metzger told jurors he knew Jackson had difficulty sleeping for at least 15 years before Jackson's June 2009 death.

Metzger told jurors that he didn't provide Jackson with any IV medication, and that he warned the singer that IV anesthetics should never be administered outside a hospital setting.

Murray has pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter. Authorities contend Murray gave Jackson a lethal dose of the anesthetic propofol as a sleep aid.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

Defense attorneys for the doctor accused of killing Michael Jackson began their case Monday after prosecutors presented a portrait of the physician as the inept, distracted engineer of the King of Pop's death.

Among the first defense witnesses were Dan Myers and Orlando Martinez ? two Los Angeles police detectives who worked on the Jackson case.

Defense attorney Nareg Gourjian asked both about statements given by Jackson's bodyguard Alberto Alvarez, who previously testified that defendant Dr. Conrad Murray told him to place some medical equipment and vials in a bag before calling 911.

The defense has contended that Alvarez may have changed his story to fit details released by coroner's officials.

The lawyers also noted previously that the bodyguard did not mention that Murray told him to place the items in a bag until more than two months after Jackson's death.

The first defense witness was Dona Norris, a records custodian for the Beverly Hills Police Department, who identified time stamps on records of the 911 call received on the day Jackson died.

The lawyers also questioned Alexander Supall, a Los Angeles Police Department surveillance expert who retrieved grainy surveillance footage shot outside Jackson's home on the day of his death.

Supall, told jurors he only collected a few minutes of footage taken around the time Jackson arrived home after a June 25, 2009, rehearsal for his comeback concerts.

The defense, in a conference at the judge's bench, made a routine motion for a directed verdict of acquittal for Murray, but it was not argued and the judge rejected it, saying he would allow the jury to decide the case.

Defense lawyers have said they will have 15 witnesses but have not publicly revealed whether they will call Murray to testify.

Jurors have heard from the doctor through a more than two-hour interview with police, and it seems unlikely his attorneys would subject their client to what would be blistering questioning from prosecutors.

Prosecutors rested their case earlier in the day after four weeks of testimony from 33 witnesses.

The defense then began its effort to counter damaging testimony that cast Murray as an opportunistic doctor who broke legal, ethical and professional guidelines to satisfy a patient who was paying him $150,000 a month.

Murray, a Houston-based cardiologist, has pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter.

Dr. Steven Shafer, an expert on the anesthetic propofol who wove a net of scientific evidence around Murray, was the final prosecution witness. The defense has said it will present testimony from its own propofol expert to counter Shafer's opinions.

Shafer previously testified that he thinks a propofol overdose killed Jackson. But he said Murray kept no records about how much of the drug he gave the singer.

Under defense cross-examination, Shafer remained steadfast in his position that that Murray was solely responsible for Jackson's death. He portrayed the doctor as grossly negligent and "clueless" in what to do when his famous patient stopped breathing.

In his last minutes on the stand, Shafer, who had testified for nearly five days, was challenged by defense attorney Ed Chernoff on whether the mathematical models on which he based his conclusions actually applied to the doses of propofol given to Jackson by Murray.

Shafer said his mathematical simulations were difficult because Murray kept no records.

He based his reconstruction on Murray's police interview in which he said he had been dosing Jackson with the drug nightly for six weeks.

"There is almost no precedent for this amount of propofol exposure," Shafer said under questioning.

Shafer has said the only possible explanation for Jackson's death based on the evidence was that Murray put the singer on an IV drip of propofol then left the room after the singer appeared to be asleep.

Shafer never retreated from his position that Murray is solely responsible for Jackson's death and that the cardiologist committed 17 egregious violations of medical practices that each could have either led to Jackson's serious injury or death.

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AP Entertainment Writer Anthony McCartney contributed to this report.

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McCartney can be reached at http://twitter.com/mccartneyAP

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/music/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111024/ap_en_mu/us_michael_jackson_doctor

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