flowerpot metronomic: 2013

Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Israeli ex-foreign minister cleared in graft trial

Former Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman arrives in the courtroom before hearing the verdict in his trial on Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2013, at the Magistrates Court in Jerusalem. The Israeli court on Wednesday found Lieberman innocent of all charges in the graft trial, clearing the way for the powerful hard-line politician to return to his post as the nation's top diplomat. (AP Photo/Emil Salman, Pool)

Former Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, center, walks towards a courtroom at the Magistrate Court in Jerusalem, Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2013. An Israeli court has found former Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman not guilty of all charges in a graft trial. (AP Photo/Ronen Zvulun, Pool)

Former Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman waits in the courtroom before hearing the verdict in his trial on Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2013, at the Magistrates Court in Jerusalem. The Israeli court on Wednesday found Lieberman innocent of all charges in the graft trial, clearing the way for the powerful hard-line politician to return to his post as the nation's top diplomat. (AP Photo/Emil Salman, Pool)

Former Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, left, enters the courtroom to hear the verdict in his graft trial at the Magistrate Court in Jerusalem Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2013. An Israeli court on Wednesday found Lieberman innocent of all charges, clearing the way for the powerful hard-line politician to return to his post as the nation's top diplomat. (AP Photo/Ronen Zvulun, Pool)

JERUSALEM (AP) — An Israeli court on Wednesday found former Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman innocent of all charges in a graft trial, clearing the way for one of Israel's most powerful and polarizing figures to return to his post as the nation's top diplomat and raising his clout in a bitterly divided government.

The decision handed the 55-year-old Lieberman a resounding victory in a case that had threatened to derail his political career and reshape the makeup of the coalition government. Instead, he could return to the political arena stronger than ever.

"This chapter is behind me. And I am focusing on the challenges ahead, and there are plenty of challenges," the triumphant Lieberman said outside the courtroom after the verdict.

After leaving the court, the fiercely secular Lieberman donned a prayer shawl and skullcap and worshipped at the Western Wall, Judaism's holiest prayer site. "It's a very good day," he told The Associated Press as he left the site.

Lieberman, an ally and sometime rival of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, was forced to step down as foreign minister early this year to face the charges. Lieberman would not say whether he intends on returning to the job, but it appears to be only a matter of time.

Since a parliamentary election in January, Netanyahu has left the post vacant for Lieberman while awaiting a verdict. In the meantime, Lieberman was permitted to keep his seat in parliament.

Following the ruling, Netanyahu called Lieberman to congratulate him and said he was looking forward to Lieberman's "return to the government," according to a statement from the premier's office.

Lieberman, an immigrant from the former Soviet republic of Moldova, has long been dogged by allegations of corruption. This case was the first time he had been accused of criminal behavior.

He was charged with fraud and breach of trust for allegedly trying to advance the career of a former diplomat who relayed information to him about a separate criminal investigation into Lieberman's business dealings.

The court verdict said "the defendant acted improperly," but was not guilty of criminal activity. Prosecutor Michal Sibel-Darel said her office respected the decision and would study it before deciding whether to appeal.

Following the verdict, opposition leader Shelly Yachimovich said the Israeli public "is left with a corrupt man in a key senior position." She called on the attorney general to appeal and urged Netanyahu not to re-appoint Lieberman.

"It is impossible to shake the feeling that Lieberman succeeded in fooling the justice system in Israel and manipulating it," she said.

Lieberman gained political popularity through a hard-line stance that has appealed to nationalistic Israelis.

With a tough-talking message that has questioned the loyalty of Israel's Arab minority, criticized the Palestinians and confronted Israel's foreign critics, he has at times alienated Israel's allies while becoming an influential voice at home.

During his stint as foreign minister, he pushed a series of legislative proposals that critics said were discriminatory against Israel's Arab minority, including a failed attempt to require Israelis to sign a loyalty oath or have their citizenship revoked.

He also embarrassed Netanyahu by expressing contrary views to the government, including skepticism over the odds of reaching peace with the Palestinians.

Wednesday's decision coincided with a visit by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, who is in the region trying to promote faltering Israeli- Palestinian peace talks.

A longtime skeptic of the peace process, Lieberman is likely to become more outspoken in his criticism of the Palestinians following his acquittal.

Before the January election, Lieberman led his nationalist Yisrael Beitenu into a merger with Netanyahu's Likud Party. But the alliance, meant to solidify a victory by Israel's hardline bloc, backfired and the combined list fared poorly.

Lieberman is now considering whether to break up the merger. Israeli media said Yisrael Beitenu would likely hold a vote on the matter on Nov. 24.

Such a move could increase his influence since he could potentially rob Netanyahu of his parliamentary majority.

He might also pressure Netanyahu to shuffle the coalition to bring in hardline religious parties and get rid of the more moderate factions in the government — which would mean trouble for peace efforts.

"I am happy that Lieberman will return to the Foreign Ministry so we can cooperate," said Cabinet Minister Naftali Bennett, leader of the religious nationalist party Jewish Home.

Lieberman rose to prominence as the engineer of Netanyahu's successful run for prime minister in 1996, and he later became Netanyahu's chief of staff. He is a powerful behind-the-scenes mover who lives in a West Bank settlement.

He created the Yisrael Beiteinu party in 1999 to represent the more than 1 million immigrants from the former Soviet Union.

But his standing has suffered, in part because much of his power base integrated so well into mainstream Israeli society over the years. He also was embarrassed last month when a close ally lost the mayoral race in Jerusalem. Lieberman had invested considerable time and effort promoting his candidate.

Associated PressSource: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-11-06-ML-Israel-Lieberman-Trial/id-c32f504be1364dcdb4be1f5fdaa69b3e
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Why KitKat can't help older Android hardware

Android 2.3 Gingerbread has become Google's Windows XP: the very popular but outdated OS version that just won't go away. Lots of older smartphones run Gingerbread, which debuted in December 2010, but unlike many older PCs that can be upgraded from Windows XP to Windows 7, most Gingerbread-era smartphones can't run either of the Android 4 versions (Ice Cream Sandwich and Jelly Bean). Their hardware isn't capable enough. By contrast, Apple's iPhone 4 and iPad 2 from the same era can run today's iOS 7, though a bit slowly and with some capabilities removed, such as Siri support and home-screen background effects.

Android 4.4 KitKat, unveiled last Thursday, is supposed to bring these older phones into the modern Android world. Google said that goal was the big rationale for KitKat, in fact. After all, Gingerbread can't run many newer Android apps -- including, not so coincidentally, Google's own data-mining apps like Google Now on which its business is based.

The problem is that KitKat won't in practice bring most older Android smartphones into the modern Android world, partly for reasons outside Google's control.

The big change in KitKat to allow it to run on Android smartphones stuck with Gingerbread is that its memory footprint and application set have been shrunk and restructured so that KitKat can run in devices that have as little as 512MB of RAM. Furthermore, Google took many core components of Android and now delivers them as separately upgradable components in KitKat. That way, future OS upgrades will be less cumbersome for carriers to deliver to end-users.

In the Android world, Google has no ability to make OS updates available to users -- that's up to each carrier, which have a poor track record of updating users' devices. One reason is economics: In the United States, carriers like to keep their customers locked into service contracts, so they tend to dangle new smartphones toward that goal. Providing timely upgrades would lessen customers' incentives, while testing and distributing those upgrades on the wide range of older Android models would cost those carriers money. Outside the United States, where phones are rarely subsidized, the economics favor keeping operational costs low, which again leads to avoiding the cost of handling OS update testing and distribution for old devices. The bottom line: There's little incentive for carriers to deploy KitKat to those Gingerbread smartphones. Likewise, there's no incentive for Android device makers to test KitKat on those old devices, much less update their proprietary OS extensions to be compatible with it.

Some users might install the new KitKat anyhow using a third-party service like CyanogenMod (technically a hack that kills your warranty, but these phones are typically out of warranty anyhow). But these users may find they didn't get much for their troubles. As Cyanogen itself has pointed out, "[KitKat] does not mean a sudden resurrection of older hardware, [since] there are dependencies beyond the RAM." In other words, Google's slimdown approach doesn't address all the hardware issues that keep some smartphones stuck on Gingerbread.

Over time, those Gingerbread smartphones will get retired as they fail or as customers feel left too far behind, forcing them to get new devices. But right now, it's a bad idea to look at KitKat as a silver bullet to make these old smartphones do what new ones can.

This story, "Why KitKat can't help older Android hardware," was originally published at InfoWorld.com. Get the first word on what the important tech news really means with the InfoWorld Tech Watch blog. For the latest developments in business technology news, follow InfoWorld.com on Twitter.

Source: http://podcasts.infoworld.com/t/android/why-kitkat-cant-help-older-android-hardware-230152?source=rss_infoworld_top_stories_
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Your Top Plays for Today

Novak Djokovic of Serbia celebrates his win against Roger Federer of Switzerland at the end their ATP World Tour Finals single tennis match at the O2 Arena in London Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2013. (AP Photo/Sang Tan)

Ryan Riess holds up two bricks of $100 bills after winning the World Series of Poker Final Table, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2013, in Las Vegas. Riess defeated runner up Jay Farber for an $8.4 million payout (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson)

Phillipp Lahm, right, of Bayern Munich shoots past Daniel Kolar, left, of Viktoria Pilsen during their Champions League Group D soccer match between Viktoria Pilsen and Bayern Munich in Pilsen, Czech Republic, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2013. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

Your Top Plays for Today: AP's Sports Guide

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--DJOKOVIC BEATS FEDERER AT ATP TOUR FINALS

Novak Djokovic inflicts a three-set defeat on Roger Federer at the ATP Tour finals.

http://apne.ws/HFg3Pf

--RIESS WINS $8.4 MILLION WORLD SERIES OF POKER MAIN EVENT

Ryan Riess, a 23-year-old American poker professional, takes out the $8.4 million World Series of Poker Main Event.

http://apne.ws/1cPqyco

--BAYERN, MAN CITY ADVANCE IN EUROPEAN CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

Defending champion Bayern Munich confirms place in last 16 of European Champions League, as does big-spending Manchester City, which snaps its run of continental failures.

http://apne.ws/1gpXixn

--LEBRON JAMES JOINS EXCLUSIVE CLUB AS HEAT OVERCOMES RAPTORS

LeBron James scores 35 points to lead Miami Heat to 104-95 win over Toronto Raptors, and in the process becomes fifth player in NBA history to score 10 points or more in 500 consecutive games

http://apne.ws/1cPa3Nm

--ONCE STATE-OF-THE-ART, HOUSTON ASTRODOME FACES DEMOLITION

The Houston Astrodome, once a groundbreaking domed arena, faces the wrecking ball after voters refuse government redevelopment plan.

http://apne.ws/179huRf

Associated PressSource: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2013-11-06-Sports-Top%20Plays/id-6a702cd00050431ebad7e9fecf21d81e
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Detroit voters elect Duggan mayor of broke city

DETROIT (AP) — A former medical center chief defeated a county sheriff to become the next mayor of financially troubled Detroit, though the job holds little power while the city is being run by a state-appointed emergency manager.

Unofficial returns showed Mike Duggan defeating Wayne County Sheriff Benny Napoleon 55 percent to 45 percent. Napoleon conceded defeat late Tuesday in a race where he was outspent by Duggan by about 3-to-1 heading into Tuesday's election.

Both candidates had said during the campaign that the state-appointed emergency manager should leave the city and allow the new mayor to fix Detroit's finances when he takes office in January.

"I'm going to try to shorten Kevyn Orr's stay," Duggan told The Associated Press heading into the election.

But the reality is that Duggan will have little power under emergency manager Kevyn Orr, who in July filed to take Detroit into bankruptcy.

Duggan, an ex-county prosecutor and former chief of the Detroit Medical Center, said he wants to convince Orr's boss, Gov. Rick Snyder, to allow him to develop a team and a plan to resuscitate the city's fiscal condition if elected mayor.

Both Duggan and Napoleon campaigned on fixing Detroit's deteriorating neighborhoods and reducing the high crime rate in a city that struggles to respond to 911 calls on time. Detroit has more than 30,000 vacant houses and buildings. Bing's administration has demolished about 10,000 empty and dangerous houses during his four-year term.

But anything the new mayor wants done that requires money must first get Orr's approval.

Snyder did not endorse a candidate, but after testimony last week in bankruptcy court, he held firm in his decision to appoint Orr and keep him in place until Detroit emerges from bankruptcy and its finances are fixed.

"Detroit's fiscal crisis was six decades in the making," Snyder said in a statement. "My job is to make the tough decisions to resolve the problems we face today, not ignore them."

Detroit's mayor cannot remove Orr. Under state law, that only can be done by the governor or an act of the state legislature. However, once Orr's 18-month contract ends a supermajority vote by the city council and mayor can choose not to renew it.

Current Mayor Dave Bing did not seek re-election. He has always been opposed to Detroit having an emergency manager and has been frustrated by the relationship he has with Orr, saying that Orr hasn't communicated well with the mayor's office.

Duggan becomes Detroit's first white mayor since the early 1970s. The city is more than 80 percent black.

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Associated Press writers Mike Householder, Jeff Karoub and David Runk contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/detroit-voters-elect-duggan-mayor-broke-city-040914876--politics.html
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Casinos, pot, secession among US ballot measures

Brian Vicente, chairman of the Yes on Prop. AA campaign, right, and campaign staffer Christie Nima, look at vote returns on a laptop during an election party for those in favor of Proposition AA, to impose specific taxes on recreational marijuana use, at a hotel bar in Denver, Tuesday Nov. 5, 2013. Voters in Colorado went to the polls Tuesday to decide on how much tax, if any, to levy on the state's soon-to-be-legal recreational marijuana sales (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley)

In this Nov. 6, 2012 photo, Chelsea Corbridge, left, signs a petition for Rebecca Saldivar, trying to get the issue of alcohol sales in Hyde Park, Utah onto the ballot. Residents can vote to lift a long-standing ban on the sale of alcohol in Tuesday’s election. Hyde Park, population 4,000, is among a handful of dry cities left in a state known for its tee totaling ways. (AP Photo/The Herald Journal, Eli Lucero)

FILE- In this May 21, 2012 file photo, the Astrodome sits gathering dust and items for storage in Houston. A coalition of local and national preservation groups is taking its efforts to save the iconic but now shuttered Houston Astrodome to the streets. On Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2013, voters will decide whether to approve a referendum authorizing up to $217 million in bonds to turn the stadium that once hosted both baseball and football games into a giant convention center and exhibition space.(AP Photo/Pat Sullivan, File)

Voters across the country faced ballot measures Tuesday ranging from whether to approve seven casinos in New York to the fate of Houston's iconic Astrodome. Here's a look at some of the questions.

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MARIJUANA AND ALCOHOL

COLORADO: Voters approved a 25 percent tax on newly legal recreational marijuana to fund school construction. Opponents argued the tax rate would benefit black market sales.

MAINE: Voters in Portland, Maine's largest city, declared victory on a measure to legalize possession of recreational amounts of marijuana.

MICHIGAN: Voters in Ferndale, Jackson and Lansing approved proposals offering some legal protection to users of small amounts of marijuana.

UTAH: Residents in the small town of Hyde Park are voting on whether to allow beer sales in a proposal that has divided the conservative, mostly Mormon city. Hyde Park is among a handful of dry cities left in the state, and the ordinance would only allow the sale of beer with the alcohol content of 3.2 percent.

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SECESSION

COLORADO: Eleven rural Colorado counties delivered a divided vote on an effort to form a 51st state called North Colorado. Six counties voted against the idea — including Weld County, whose commissioners spearheaded the effort, citing frustration with the Democrat-led state government that they claim neglects rural interests. Five counties voted for it.

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GAMBLING

NEW YORK: New York voters bet big on casino gambling as an economic energy shot, agreeing to let seven Las Vegas-style gaming palaces be built around the state, including eventually in New York City.

MASSACHUSETTS: Voters in Palmer rejected Mohegan Sun's plan for a $1 billion resort casino and entertainment complex. And Suffolk Downs says it will reassess plans to build a resort casino at the 78-year-old thoroughbred race track after voters in a Boston neighborhood rejected its proposal and residents of a neighboring community approved it.

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ASTRODOME'S FUTURE

TEXAS: Voters rejected a plan to authorize bonds to turn the Houston Astrodome, the world's first multipurpose domed stadium, into a giant convention and event center and exhibition space. The outcome means the stadium is likely to be torn down.

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MINIMUM WAGE

WASHINGTON STATE: Early returns showed voters in the small Seattle suburb of SeaTac were passing a measure that would raise the minimum wage for workers at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport and nearby large hotels to $15 an hour. Washington state already has the highest minimum wage at $9.19.

NEW JERSEY: Voters approved a constitutional amendment raising the state's minimum wage by $1, to $8.25 an hour, and to provide for automatic cost-of-living increases, as 10 other states already do.

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HEALTH AND ENVIRONMENT

MAINE: Residents of South Portland rejected a proposal aimed at blocking the flow of tar sands oil from western Canada to the city. Environmentalists say the thick, gooey oil is more difficult to clean up than conventional crude oil, contains harmful chemicals and releases more greenhouse gases. Supporters of a pipeline say a ban would hamper the growth of existing petroleum-based businesses.

WASHINGTON STATE: A measure that would require mandatory labeling of genetically engineered foods was failing with more than 980,000 ballots counted in unofficial returns. Washington would be the first state to put such requirements in place, and the campaign has shaped up to be one of the costliest in state history.

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GAY RIGHTS

MICHIGAN: Residents of the Detroit suburb of Royal Oak approved an ordinance making it illegal to discriminate based on sexual orientation and a number of other factors.

___

SCHOOL FUNDING

COLORADO: A kindergarten-through-12th-grade school-finance overhaul was rejected; it would have increased income taxes about $1 billion a year and revived a progressive income tax structure abandoned in the 1980s.

Associated PressSource: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2013-11-06-US-Ballot-Measures/id-255bf2f61f86412aad3017149cb45e02
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Christie, McAuliffe, winners in slate of elections

Virginia Democratic Governor-elect Terry McAuliffe address his supporters, as his sons Jack, 20, left, and Peter, 11, right, look on, during an election victory party in Tysons Corner, Va., Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2013. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)

Virginia Democratic Governor-elect Terry McAuliffe shakes hands with supporters during his election victory party in Tysons Corner, Va., Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2013. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)

Republican New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie waves as he stands with his son Andrew as they celebrate his election victory in Asbury Park, N.J., Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2013, after defeating Democratic challenger Barbara Buono . (AP Photo/Mel Evans)

Republican New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie reacts to shouts from the crowd as he stands with his wife Mary Pat Christie, center right, and their children, Andrew, back right, Bridget, front right, Patrick, left, and Sarah, second left, as they celebrate his election victory in Asbury Park, N.J., Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2013, after defeating Democratic challenger Barbara Buono . (AP Photo/Mel Evans)

ASBURY PARK, N.J. (AP) — The 2016 overtones were clear in this year's two most high-profile elections.

Republican Gov. Chris Christie's resounding re-election victory in Democratic-leaning New Jersey sets the opening argument for a possible White House run while Terry McAuliffe's gubernatorial victory gives fellow Democrats — if not his confidante Hillary Rodham Clinton, herself — a road map for success in the pivotal presidential swing-voting state.

Christie became the first Republican to earn more than 50 percent of the New Jersey vote in a quarter-century. McAuliffe is the first member of the party occupying the White House to become Virginia governor since 1977.

Among a slate of off-year balloting from coast to coast, New York City voters also elected Bill De Blasio, making him the first Democrat to lead the nation's largest city since 1989. Colorado agreed to tax marijuana at 25 percent, and Houston rejected turning the Astrodome into a convention hall, likely dooming it to demolition. Alabama Republicans chose the establishment-backed Bradley Byrne over a tea party-supported rival in a special congressional runoff election in the conservative state.

Turnout was relatively light — even in the most hard-fought races. Without presidential or congressional elections on the books, voters were primarily hard-core partisans. But to win, both gubernatorial victors sounded a tone of pragmatic bipartisanship — at a time of dysfunctional divided government in Washington — and, because of that pitch, they managed to cobble together a diverse cross-section of voters from across the political spectrum.

In Virginia, McAuliffe eked out a smaller-than-expected victory over conservative Republican Ken Cuccinelli. Exit polls found Cuccinelli fared well among core right-flank constituents — tea partyers, gun owners and rural voters. But the victor, McAuliffe, held advantages among unmarried women, voters who called abortion a top issue and the vote-rich Washington suburbs.

"Over the next four years most Democrats and Republicans want to make Virginia a model of pragmatic leadership," said McAuliffe, a Democrat taking the helm in a state where Republicans control the Legislature. "This is only possible if Virginia is the model for bipartisan cooperation."

Democrats won the top two offices in Virginia, while the attorney general's race was too close to call. Democrats, who already control both Senate seats, hoped this election would give them control of all major statewide offices for the first time since 1970, a rejection of the conservatism that has dominated for the past four years.

"Virginia's on its way becoming reliably blue," Democratic National Committee chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz said.

In New Jersey, Christie coasted to a second term, defeating little-known Democratic state Sen. Barbara Buono.

He assembled a winning coalition with broad support among constituencies that don't reliably vote Republican. Exit polls show that Christie carried a majority of women and split Hispanics with Buono. He improved on his share of the vote among blacks in 2009 by more than 10 percentage points.

Christie's advisers saw his ability to draw support from Democrats, independents and minorities as a winning argument ahead of 2016, pitching him as the most electable candidate in what could be a crowded presidential primary field.

"As your governor, it has never mattered where someone is from, whether they voted for me or not, what the color of their skin was, or their political party. For me, being governor has always about getting the job done, first," Christie told supporters inside a rowdy convention hall in Asbury Park, N.J., just steps away from the same Jersey Shore that was devastated by Superstorm Sandy a year ago.

Taken together, the results in individual states and cities yielded no broad judgments on how the American public feels about today's two biggest national political debates — government spending and health care — which are more likely to shape next fall's midterm elections.

Even so, Tuesday's voting had local impact.

Other races of note:

—In Alabama, the GOP's internal squabbles played out in the special congressional runoff primary election. Bradley Byrne, a veteran politician and the choice of the GOP establishment, won against tea party favorite Dean Young. The race was the first test of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's promise to try to influence primaries. The group had pumped at least $200,000 into supporting Byrne.

—Big city mayors: In New York, de Blasio cruised to victory over Republican Joe Lhota after Michael Bloomberg's 12-year tenure. Atlanta, Boston, Detroit, Minneapolis, Seattle and other cities also chose mayors.

—Colorado: Voters agreed to tax marijuana at 25 percent and apply the proceeds to regulating the newly legalized drug and building schools. And 10 rural counties refused to approve secession from the state. One county narrowly voted to secede, but it was a symbolic gesture.

___

Elliott reported from Virginia. Associated Press Director of Polling Jennifer Agiesta, and writers Bill Barrow and Christina Almeida Cassidy in Georgia, Kristen Wyatt in Colorado, Chris Grygiel in Washington state, Corey Williams in Michigan, Thomas Beaumont in Iowa and Nedra Pickler in Washington contributed to this report.

Associated PressSource: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2013-11-06-Election%20Rdp/id-28373fb031374c99800d28024db570e4
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A Wakeup Call for Republicans

By Stephen Stromberg, Washington Post - November 6, 2013

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Source: http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2013/11/06/a_wakeup_call_for_republicans_319350.html
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Swedish cinemas launch feminist movie rating

STOCKHOLM (AP) — You expect movie ratings to tell you whether a film contains nudity, sex, profanity or violence. Now movie theaters in equality-minded Sweden are introducing a new rating to highlight gender bias, or rather the absence of it.

To get an "A'' rating, a movie must pass the so-called Bechdel test, which means it must have at least two named female characters who talk to each other about something other than a man.

"The entire 'Lord of the Rings' trilogy, all 'Star Wars' movies, 'The Social Network,' 'Pulp Fiction' and all but one of the 'Harry Potter' movies fail this test," said Ellen Tejle, the director of Bio Rio, an art-house movie theater in Stockholm's trendy Sodermalm district.

Bio Rio is one of four Swedish movie theaters that launched the new rating last month to draw attention to how few movies pass. Most visitors have reacted positively to the initiative "and for some people it has been an eye-opener," said Tejle, reclining in one of Bio Rio's cushy red seats.

Beliefs about women's roles in society are influenced by the fact that movie watchers rarely see "a female superhero or a female professor or person who makes it through exciting challenges and masters them," Tejle said, noting that the rating doesn't say anything about the quality of the film. "The goal is to see more female stories and perspectives on cinema screens."

The state-funded Swedish Film Institute supports the initiative, which is starting to catch on. Scandinavian cable TV channel Viasat Film says it will start using the ratings in its film reviews and has scheduled an "A'' rated "Super Sunday" on Nov. 17, when it will show only films that pass the test, such as "The Hunger Games," ''The Iron Lady" and "Savages."

The Bechdel test got its name from American cartoonist Alison Bechdel, who introduced the concept in her comic strip "Dykes to Watch Out For" in 1985. It has been discussed among feminists and film critics since then, but Tejle hopes the "A'' rating system will help spread awareness among moviegoers about how women are portrayed in films.

In Bio Rio's wood-paneled lobby, students Nikolaj Gula and Vincent Fremont acknowledged that most of their favorite films probably wouldn't get an "A'' rating.

"I guess it does make sense, but to me it would not influence the way I watch films because I'm not so aware about these questions," said Fremont, 29.

At least one Hollywood star sounded excited by the idea when asked about it by The Associated Press.

"A feminist ratings system? That's so interesting!" actress-producer Jada Pinkett Smith said in Beverly Hills, California, where she was attending a benefit dinner for gender equality. "I say, hey, let's see if it works!"

The "A'' rating is the latest Swedish move to promote gender equality by addressing how women are portrayed in the public sphere.

Sweden's advertising ombudsman watches out for sexism in that industry and reprimands companies seen as reinforcing gender stereotypes, for example by including skimpily clad women in their ads for no apparent reason other than to draw eyeballs.

Since 2010, the Equalisters project has been trying to boost the number of women appearing as expert commentators in Swedish media through a Facebook page with 44,000 followers. The project has recently expanded to Finland, Norway and Italy.

For some, though, Sweden's focus on gender equality has gone too far.

"If they want different kind of movies they should produce some themselves and not just point fingers at other people," said Tanja Bergkvist, a physicist who writes a blog about Sweden's "gender madness."

The "A'' rating also has been criticized as a blunt tool that doesn't actually reveal whether a movie is gender-balanced.

"There are far too many films that pass the Bechdel test that don't help at all in making society more equal or better, and lots of films that don't pass the test but are fantastic at those things," said Swedish film critic Hynek Pallas.

Pallas, who moved from communist Czechoslovakia to Sweden in the 1970s, also criticized the state-funded Swedish Film Institute — the biggest financier of Swedish film — for vocally supporting the project, saying a state institution should not "send out signals about what one should or shouldn't include in a movie."

Research in the U.S. supports the notion that women are underrepresented on the screen and that little has changed in the past 60 years.

Of the U.S. top 100 films in 2011, women accounted for 33 percent of all characters and only 11 percent of the protagonists, according to a study by the San Diego-based Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film.

Another study, by the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania, showed the ratio of male to female characters in movies has remained at about two to one for at least six decades. That study, which examined 855 top box-office films from 1950-2006, showed female characters were twice as likely to be seen in explicit sexual scenes as males, while male characters were more likely to be seen as violent.

"Apparently Hollywood thinks that films with male characters will do better at the box office. It is also the case that most of the aspects of movie-making — writing, production, direction, and so on — are dominated by men, and so it is not a surprise that the stories we see are those that tend to revolve around men," Amy Bleakley, the study's lead author, said in an email.

In 2010, Kathryn Bigelow became the first woman to win the Academy Award for Best Director for "The Hurt Locker." That movie — a war film about a bomb disposal team in Iraq — doesn't pass the Bechdel test.

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Associated Press writer Sandy Cohen contributed to this report from Los Angeles.

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Online: http://www.a-markt.se/

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Malin Rising is on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/malinrising

Associated PressSource: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-11-06-Sweden-Feminist%20Movie%20Rating/id-6d2aac16db994140af72bd704d0353c3
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Philips Adds a New Bulb To The Hue Lineup

The first bulbs in Philips' color-changing, app-controlled Hue line were designed to mimic the unidirectional shine of standard A19 light bulbs. This made them ideal for conventional lamps, but wasted a large portion of their light when installed in recessed ceiling fixtures. But today, Philips has announced the new Hue BR30 downlight bulb.

Journalist Andrew Blum's deep spelunking tour through the geography of the internet—the crawlspaces

Journalist Andrew Blum's deep spelunking tour through the geography of the internet—the crawlspaces and warehouses where the wires and cables really go, the actual, physical "tubes" of international data transfer—is on sale today at Amazon for only $1.99 (the Kindle edition). Consider whispersyncing a copy of your own before the day is over...

Niantic Opens Ingress to AR Gamers Hot to Trot for Exotic Matter

Google's location-based massively multiplayer online game Ingress is now open to anyone with an Android device and a yen to join the Enlightened or the Resistance. A keen interest in science fiction would be a plus, as would having the time to travel to real-world portals to hunt for Exotic Matter. Ingress would work well with Google Glass, suggested gaming analyst Ted Pollak.

Google's Niantic Labs on Monday announced that it was lifting the invitation-only restriction on its augmented reality game Ingress.

The game launched in beta about a year ago, and interested players needed an invitation code to participate. Now all Android users can download the free massively multiplayer game from Google Play.

The game will officially exit beta status on Dec. 14. In preparation for the launch, Niantic Labs has organized player events, dubbed "Operation #13MAGNUS," in 39 cities around the world.

In the game, players must choose a side -- Enlightened or Resistance. The teams fight for control of the game's energy, or "Exotic Matter," which is stationed in portals around the world. When players visit those real-life portals -- places such as city landmarks, sculptures or famous buildings -- they collect the energy and can score points for their team.

As more players join the game, they can work with fellow teammates to create more portals. The response so far has been positive, according to Niantic Labs. The Ingress app has been downloaded more than 1 million times by users in 200 different countries, and more than 1 million portals have been discovered and submitted.

Google's Helping Hand

Working within Google could help Niantic Labs produce a successful -- albeit perhaps niche -- game, said Ted Pollak, senior gaming analyst at Jon Peddie Research.

"When it comes to location-based gaming, Google has very few potential competitors because of their Maps and Earth products," he told TechNewsWorld. "A game like this would also work well with Google Glass."

The benefits for Google's core business could be significant, said Dan Roy, founder of Skylight Games.

"When you think about Google, it's an advertising company, so the location element of this could play in very well with Google's overall core business of mobile search and location-based offers," he told TechNewsWorld. "Right now, that's not integrated into the game, but that is one of the possible synergies that could come from working with a company like Google."

Attracting the Right Crowd

For any kind of advertising strategy to work, the company's first priority must be helping marketers provide a valuable deal to players, said Wanda Meloni, president and founder of M2 Research.

"There is a real opportunity for advertising in gaming, because from a general consumer brand perspective many companies are interested but just haven't figured out a way to do it that is adding real value to the consumer," she told TechNewsWorld. "It will be interesting to see if they can make an ad that is filtered properly and can provide players with a valuable location-based deal."

In the case of Ingress, that consumer base likely is not going to be a large, mainstream crowd -- which could actually help advertisers narrow the playing field and more efficiently target the gamers, said Roy.

"I don't think this is a broad general audience game," he noted. "It's very location-based, which makes it niche, and it being Android-only makes it a little harder to access for some people, too. The theme and stylization is very tech, hacker and sci-fi oriented, and that again is a smaller subset of the population. It's also a very time-intensive game, so that usually means it's the younger, tech-savvy people that have the time to play it long-term."

Even if Niantic Labs isn't able to effectively monetize that consumer base, Google is not taking a big risk in hoping that it can, said Pollak.

"Google wouldn't even feel a prick if this didn't take off," he pointed out, "but if it does, it could have measurable benefits."

Source: http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/79346.html
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Rosie Huntington-Whiteley Stars in Marks & Spencer Holiday Ad: Watch Here!

We've barely finished Halloween, but Marks & Spencer has already rolled out their fantasy-themed holiday commercial starring Rosie Huntington-Whiteley.

It begins with the Victoria's Secret Angel chasing her Westie down the street before she falls into an open sewer and into an Alice in Wonderland-style tea party.

Then, she enters a gingerbread house, flies on a magic carpet with a handsome man, and awakens on the yellow brick road. Instead of finding the Wizard in the Emerald City, however, Helena Bonham Carter compliments Rosie on her shoes.

Throughout the ad, the 26-year-old model sports various winter wear, party dresses, and skimpy lingerie. Check it out in the player below.

Source: http://celebrity-gossip.net/rosie-huntington-whiteley/rosie-huntington-whiteley-stars-marks-spencer-holiday-ad-watch-here-955947
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White House asks CEOs to help explain cancelations

WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House is asking insurance companies to explain to Americans the cancellation letters they're receiving in the mail.

President Barack Obama's chief of staff, Denis McDonough, met Tuesday with CEOs from some of the largest health insurers. The White House says McDonough updated the CEOs on fixes to healthcare.gov and problems with enrollment data sent electronically to insurers. McDonough also solicited input on whether the system is getting better.

The White House says McDonough urged insurance companies to "ramp up communication and education efforts" to those who have lost their insurance.

Millions have received cancellation notices, sparking outrage because Obama repeatedly promised that those who liked their health care could keep it. The White House says many of those losing coverage have better, cheaper options through the new exchanges.

Associated PressSource: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2013-11-05-Health%20Overhaul-White%20House/id-ada7ef9e5cb5421aaa0d8fee11d5caf0
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India launches its first Mars mission, joins the interplanetary space race

India is now well on its way to having an interplanetary presence. The country has successfully launched the Mars Orbiter Mission, a satellite that will search the Martian atmosphere for elusive chemicals like methane. The spacecraft should take about 300 days to reach the Red Planet, but it's ...

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/IVzirjmqpSU/
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UFC Fight For the Troops Main Card: Rustam Khabilov vs. Jorge Masvidal

Rustam Khabilov (16-1, 2-0 UFC) vs. Jorge Masvidal (25-7, 2-0 UFC), at UFC Fight for the Troops 3

Rustam Khabilov is an exciting, young, up n comer with a tremendous upside and a affinity for throwing guys on their heads. I am sure judokas and sambo practitioners everywhere are thrilled that someone has finally proven their claim that throws can be an effective (and violent) way to finish a fight. Rustam is like most Sambo fighters in that he is good at striking and good at submissions but really excels at tossing people to the mats with ease. Being from the Russian republic of Dagestan pretty much means he was born with the ability to fight as this part of the world regularly produces world class athletes in Greco Roman and freestyle wrestling, boxing, kickboxing, Sambo, Judo, and even kyokushin karate. So far Rustam has not disappointed. Come fight night Rustam will bring relentless pressure without being reckless or sloppy. It will be interesting to see if he can hang with Masvidal on the feet and likewise, if Masvidal can keep the fight there.

Jorge Masvidal has been making south Florida street fighters proud for about a decade now. Despite his rugged start in the fight game he has acquitted himself very well amongst a host of top notch competition and has even managed to turn himself into a legitimate mixed martial artist along the way. He comes to throw hands and usually has the strength and takedown defense to be able to do just that. When he is taken down he has a solid understanding of survival based grappling and the majority of the time he can survive till the bell, force a stand up, or escape back to his feet. Despite being choked out in one of the most incredible submissions we have ever seen in MMA, Masvidal is not an easy out on the floor. He hits hard, is a good sized LW, and is as game as they come. He should be the favorite here but not by a landslide.

One of the fights I am most looking forward to on this card, is also a tough pick. Khabilov is indeed for real and should have a nice UFC career win or lose Saturday night. Masvidal is a veteran and has been expected to break through to the elite a few times now. Finally being in the biggest show, Masvidal will finally elevate himself to the next level and make a serious run. He wins a very competitive fight by late stoppage or clear cut, hard earned, Unanimous decision victory.

Front-Page Photo Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

Source: http://mmafrenzy.com/95753/ufc-fight-for-the-troops-main-card-rustam-khabilov-vs-jorge-masvidal/
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Sony Pictures Classics to Give 'Raid 2' Theatrical Release

4:53 PM PST 11/5/2013 by Borys Kit

On the eve of AFM, Sony Pictures Classics and Stage 6 Films have announced the companies will give a theatrical release to The Raid 2, the highly-anticipated (by action fans) sequel to Gareth Evans’ bone-crunching Indonesian action movie The Raid: Redemption.

Raid 2 was once again written and directed by Evans and picks up right where the first film left off. It follows Rama (Iko Uwais) as he goes undercover and infiltrates the ranks of a ruthless Jakarta crime syndicate in order to protect his family and uncover the corruption in his own police force.

The movie is currently in post-production.

A teaser sequence was shown during a screening a Midnight Madness movie at the Toronto International Film Festival to cheers.

The new movie was produced by Ario Sagantoro for Merantau Films, and Aram Tertzakian and Nate Bolotin of XYZ Films.

The film was executive produced by Rangga Maya Barack-Evans for Merantau Films, Irwan D. Mussry, and Nick Spicer and Todd Brown of XYZ.

The first Raid was released in March 2012 by SPC after being a hit at TIFF 2011 and SXSW 2012.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/thr/news/~3/aQe1KE5Q7qA/sony-pictures-classics-give-raid-653711
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Archos 101 XS 2 tablet slides its way into US stores this December for $279

When Archos brought the original 101 XS to the US, we chastised it for pricing a basic tablet at $400; was the included keyboard worth that much? There won't be similar grousing over the 101 XS 2. The company has announced that it will launch the second-generation 10-inch device in the US this December for a budget-friendly $279 with the keyboard in the box. As in Europe, the Android 4.2 slate is a big step up over its ancestor with a quad-core 1.6GHz ARM Cortex-A9 processor, 2GB of RAM and an IPS-based 1,280 x 800 display. If you find that the Transformer Book T100 and other keyboard-equipped tablets are out of your price range, you'll only have to wait a few weeks to try Archos' cheaper alternative.

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/11/05/archos-101-xs-2-tablet-coming-to-us/?ncid=rss_truncated
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Jessica Biel Stars in "The Truth About Emanuel": Check Out the Trailer Here!

After premiering at the Sundance Film Festival this year, a wider audience will soon get a chance to see "The Truth About Emanuel" as the first trailer hit the web on Tuesday (November 5).

In the thriller, a young woman who lost her mother at birth sees a maternal figure in a woman she babysits for in the neighborhood.

Directed by Fancesca Gregorini, the movie stars Jessica Biel, Kaya Scodelario, Alfred Molina, Frances O'Connor and Sam Jaeger.

Check out the creepy trailer below, in which Emanuel develops an unhealthy obsession with Linda and things get downright dangerous. "The Truth About Emanuel" hits theaters on January 18th.

Source: http://celebrity-gossip.net/jessica-biel/jessica-biel-stars-truth-about-emanuel-check-out-trailer-here-955909
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Samsung CEO promises to deliver devices with 'folding displays' in 2015

At Samsung's Analyst Day, alongside talking serious financial numbers, forward looking statements and such, the company has announced that it will bring fully-foldable screens to willing customers some time in 2015. The screen tech (which we've seen an incremental nudge towards with the Galaxy Round) could find its way into both typical smart devices like tablets and smartphones as well as wearables, which is something that Samsung has shown more than a passing interest in. In fact, Samsung Electronics CEO Kwon Oh Hyun, in the same statement, reiterated that there was still plenty of "room for improvement" on the Galaxy Gear. The company already posited some extra-malleable screens in its big CES press show back in January, where we snapped the above still from the concept-laden (Google Glass-baiting) video promo. We've embedded it in full, right after the break.

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/11/05/samsung-ceo-folding-screens-by-2015/?ncid=rss_truncated
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Tuesday, November 5, 2013

'Guardians Of The Galaxy': Latest On Vin, Bradley And The Scene Everyone's Talking About

Director James Gunn gives up a ton of information to MTV News on the red carpet for 'Thor.'

By Kevin P. Sullivan, with reporting by Josh Horowitz

Source:
http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1716870/guardians-of-the-galaxy-director-james-gunn.jhtml

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Dolphin genetic study provides revelations

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

4-Nov-2013

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| E-mail

]

Contact: Joe Donzelli
jdonzelli@nova.edu
954-262-2159
Nova Southeastern University

FORT LAUDERDALE-DAVIE, Fla. - The old saying goes: "Don't judge a book by its cover." Well, the same could be said about bottlenose dolphins.

Bottlenose dolphins are the most common and well-known of their kind famous in TV and movies. And while one bottlenose dolphin might look similar to another, when you take a closer look at them (really close, as in genetically,) there are differences. In fact, a recently published study in the Journal of Heredity (Vol. 104, pp 765-778) focused on groups of these animals that live in specific areas along the eastern seaboard of the United States, comparing them to other bottlenose dolphins that live offshore, in the northwest Atlantic Ocean, Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean.

Specifically, the study looked at bottlenose dolphins that lived within the Indian River Lagoon (IRL) on Florida's east coast. The IRL runs from the Jupiter Inlet at the south to the Ponce de Leon Inlet to the north. Those animals were studied from a habitat and behavioral perspective as well as genetically, with some surprising results.

"It certainly took a while for the research to be conducted, data compiled and the findings to be confirmed and published, but it was worth the wait," said Jose Lopez, Ph.D., a professor at Nova Southeastern University's Oceanographic Center who was with FAU when the study began. "This was truly a collaborative effort, with experts from across the globe participating and what we found was really fascinating."

The nearly decade-long study was a team effort that involved Nova Southeastern University, Florida Atlantic University's Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute (HBOI,) the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA); Cornell University; National Institutes of Health; and the University of Durham in England.

"Overall, this highly collaborative study now establishes a genetic baseline for the IRL dolphin population," explained Steve McCulloch, HBOI MMRC program manager. "It can be used as a foundation for future genetic studies and to assist environmental and stock management of the iconic species."

This first-of-its-kind study revealed that within the IRL, there are two different, distinct populations of bottlenose dolphins living in the waters. After the data were analyzed, researchers were able to determine that these two, genetically different groups were divided along a north-south geographic area of the IRL. Along with identifying genetic differences in the animals within the IRL, when compared to bottlenose dolphins that live in other areas, including the open oceanic waters, additional differences were found.

"This study shows evidence that while it may appear that the bottlenose dolphins within the IRL look the same, from a genetic and geographic standpoint there are differences," Lopez said. "It's akin to the Hatfields and McCoys or Capulet/Montague stories, that is, different families that are unmistakably of the same species, but for whatever reason living apart. As we work to protect the IRL, this study provides baseline data moving forward as we continue to monitor and study the wildlife that call the area home."

While there were many findings identified, this study also provides important management implications since it's clear the role of the habitat, and subsequent modifications, can directly shape bottlenose dolphin structure.

###

About Nova Southeastern University: Situated on 314 beautiful acres in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, Nova Southeastern University (NSU) is a dynamic fully accredited research institution dedicated to providing high-quality educational programs at all levels. NSU is a not-for-profit independent institution with an enrollment of 27,000 students. NSU awards associate's, bachelor's, master's, specialist, doctoral and first-professional degrees in a wide range of fields. NSU is classified as a research university with "high research activity" by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, and it is one of only 37 universities nationwide to also be awarded Carnegie's Community Engagement Classification. For more information, please visit http://www.nova.edu

About NSU's Oceanographic Center: The Oceanographic Center provides high-quality graduate education programs (i.e. masters, doctoral, certificate) in a broad range of marine science disciplines. Center researchers carry out innovative, basic and applied marine and research programs in coral reel biology, ecology, and geology; fish biology, ecology, and conservation; shark and billfish ecology; fisheries science; deep sea organismal biology and ecology; invertebrate and vertebrate genomics, genetics, molecular ecology, and evolution; microbiology; biodiversity; observation and modeling of large scale ocean circulation, coastal dynamics, and ocean atmosphere coupling; benthic habitat mapping; biodiversity; histology; and calcification. For more information, please visit http://www.nova.edu/ocean

About FAU's Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute: Founded in 1971, Florida Atlantic University's Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute is a research community of marine scientists, engineers, educators and other professionals focused on Ocean Science for a Better World. The institute drives innovation in ocean engineering, at-sea operations, drug discovery and biotechnology from the oceans, coastal ecology and conservation, marine mammal research and conservation, aquaculture, ocean observing systems and marine education. For more information, please visit http://www.fau.edu/hboi

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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.

Dolphin genetic study provides revelations

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

4-Nov-2013

[

| E-mail

]

Share
Contact: Joe Donzelli
jdonzelli@nova.edu
954-262-2159
Nova Southeastern University

FORT LAUDERDALE-DAVIE, Fla. - The old saying goes: "Don't judge a book by its cover." Well, the same could be said about bottlenose dolphins.

Bottlenose dolphins are the most common and well-known of their kind famous in TV and movies. And while one bottlenose dolphin might look similar to another, when you take a closer look at them (really close, as in genetically,) there are differences. In fact, a recently published study in the Journal of Heredity (Vol. 104, pp 765-778) focused on groups of these animals that live in specific areas along the eastern seaboard of the United States, comparing them to other bottlenose dolphins that live offshore, in the northwest Atlantic Ocean, Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean.

Specifically, the study looked at bottlenose dolphins that lived within the Indian River Lagoon (IRL) on Florida's east coast. The IRL runs from the Jupiter Inlet at the south to the Ponce de Leon Inlet to the north. Those animals were studied from a habitat and behavioral perspective as well as genetically, with some surprising results.

"It certainly took a while for the research to be conducted, data compiled and the findings to be confirmed and published, but it was worth the wait," said Jose Lopez, Ph.D., a professor at Nova Southeastern University's Oceanographic Center who was with FAU when the study began. "This was truly a collaborative effort, with experts from across the globe participating and what we found was really fascinating."

The nearly decade-long study was a team effort that involved Nova Southeastern University, Florida Atlantic University's Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute (HBOI,) the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA); Cornell University; National Institutes of Health; and the University of Durham in England.

"Overall, this highly collaborative study now establishes a genetic baseline for the IRL dolphin population," explained Steve McCulloch, HBOI MMRC program manager. "It can be used as a foundation for future genetic studies and to assist environmental and stock management of the iconic species."

This first-of-its-kind study revealed that within the IRL, there are two different, distinct populations of bottlenose dolphins living in the waters. After the data were analyzed, researchers were able to determine that these two, genetically different groups were divided along a north-south geographic area of the IRL. Along with identifying genetic differences in the animals within the IRL, when compared to bottlenose dolphins that live in other areas, including the open oceanic waters, additional differences were found.

"This study shows evidence that while it may appear that the bottlenose dolphins within the IRL look the same, from a genetic and geographic standpoint there are differences," Lopez said. "It's akin to the Hatfields and McCoys or Capulet/Montague stories, that is, different families that are unmistakably of the same species, but for whatever reason living apart. As we work to protect the IRL, this study provides baseline data moving forward as we continue to monitor and study the wildlife that call the area home."

While there were many findings identified, this study also provides important management implications since it's clear the role of the habitat, and subsequent modifications, can directly shape bottlenose dolphin structure.

###

About Nova Southeastern University: Situated on 314 beautiful acres in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, Nova Southeastern University (NSU) is a dynamic fully accredited research institution dedicated to providing high-quality educational programs at all levels. NSU is a not-for-profit independent institution with an enrollment of 27,000 students. NSU awards associate's, bachelor's, master's, specialist, doctoral and first-professional degrees in a wide range of fields. NSU is classified as a research university with "high research activity" by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, and it is one of only 37 universities nationwide to also be awarded Carnegie's Community Engagement Classification. For more information, please visit http://www.nova.edu

About NSU's Oceanographic Center: The Oceanographic Center provides high-quality graduate education programs (i.e. masters, doctoral, certificate) in a broad range of marine science disciplines. Center researchers carry out innovative, basic and applied marine and research programs in coral reel biology, ecology, and geology; fish biology, ecology, and conservation; shark and billfish ecology; fisheries science; deep sea organismal biology and ecology; invertebrate and vertebrate genomics, genetics, molecular ecology, and evolution; microbiology; biodiversity; observation and modeling of large scale ocean circulation, coastal dynamics, and ocean atmosphere coupling; benthic habitat mapping; biodiversity; histology; and calcification. For more information, please visit http://www.nova.edu/ocean

About FAU's Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute: Founded in 1971, Florida Atlantic University's Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute is a research community of marine scientists, engineers, educators and other professionals focused on Ocean Science for a Better World. The institute drives innovation in ocean engineering, at-sea operations, drug discovery and biotechnology from the oceans, coastal ecology and conservation, marine mammal research and conservation, aquaculture, ocean observing systems and marine education. For more information, please visit http://www.fau.edu/hboi

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| 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.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-11/nsu-dgs110413.php
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