Jane Lauder zur Position des Global President, General Manager für Origins und Ojon befördert, Fortsetzung einer starken Familientradition bei Estée Lauder Companies Inc.

July 2, 2010 By Leave a Comment

NEW YORK–(Business Wire)–
The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) gaben heute bekannt, dass Jane Lauder
zur Position des Global President, General Manager für Origins und Ojon
befördert wurde. Mit Wirkung vom 1. Juli 2010 wird Lauder für die
gesamtstrategische Richtung und globale Entwicklung sowie Management und
Wachstum beider Marken zuständig sein. Lauder wird weiterhin an Global President
Lynne Greene berichten, die die Marken Clinique, Origins und Ojon beaufsichtigt.
Jane Lauder gehört auch dem Board of Directors der Estée Lauder Companies an.

Lauder hat bereits eine höchst erfolgreiche Laufbahn vorzuweisen. Seit Juli 2008
war sie Senior Vice President/General Manager der Marke Origins. In dieser Rolle
war Lauder maßgeblich an der Leitung einer Reihe von Origins’ jüngsten
Erfolgsprojekten beteiligt, beispielsweise der Entwicklung und Umsetzung der
neuen strategischen Richtung von Origins unter dem Motto „Kraftvoll durch Natur,
Wirkungsvoll durch Wissenschaft”, an der unlängst erfolgten Einführung von
Origins in China und der Einführung mehrerer außergewöhnlicher
Hautpflegeprodukte, einschließlich der Augencreme GinZing, der
Feuchtigkeitscreme Starting Over und dem Teintaufhellerserum Brighter by Nature.

Fabrizio Freda, President und Chief Executive Officer der Estée Lauder Companies
Inc., vermerkt: „Ich möchte Jane ganz herzlich zu ihren hervorragenden
Ergebnissen bei Origins beglückwünschen. Sie hat einen erheblichen Beitrag zu
unserer Unternehmensstrategie geleistet und repräsentiert die Familienwerte, die
den Kernpunkt unseres Unternehmens bilden. Ich bin stolz darauf, Jane zur
Position des Global President, General Manager der Marken Origins und Ojon zu
befördern, und ich weiß genau, dass sie weiterhin bedeutende Führungsarbeit
leisten und unser Unternehmen voranbringen wird.”

„Jane Lauders dynamische Führungsqualitäten, ihre Kreativität im
Marketingbereich und ihre Finanzkompetenzen waren kritische Faktoren beim
Wachstum der Marke Origins und tragen erheblich zum Erfolg des Unternehmens bei.
Sie hat die strategische Innovation geleitet, mit der die Marke in der
Markenlandschaft für natürliche und nachhaltige Schönheitsprodukte neu
positioniert wurde. Ihre ausgezeichneten Fachkenntnisse und ihr Urteilsvermögen
werden weiterhin dazu beitragen, die weltweite Präsenz der Marke Origins
auszudehnen und das Ojon-Geschäft strategisch weiterzuentwickeln”, so Lynne
Greene.

Bevor Jane Lauder zu Origins kam, war sie seit Juli 2006 Senior Vice President
für Global Marketing bei Clinique. In dieser Rolle war sie für das
gesamtstrategische Marketing und die Positionierung der Marke verantwortlich,
darunter auch für die Produktentwicklung und Ausdehnung der Marke in neue Kanäle
und Kategorien weltweit. Vor ihrer Tätigkeit für Clinique stand Lauder als Vice
President für Marketing bei BeautyBank an der Spitze der Entwicklung und
Einführung der Marken American Beauty und Flirt! In dieser Position
beaufsichtigte sie die Positionierung, Produktentwicklung und kreative Richtung
beider Marken.

Jane Lauder absolvierte ihr Studium an der Stanford University und trat 1996
nach einer Tätigkeit in der Werbebranche in die Estée Lauder Companies ein. Sie
ist eine Enkelin der Unternehmensgründerin, die den Estée Lauder Companies ihren
Namen gab, und die Tochter von Ronald S. Lauder, Chairman, Clinique
Laboratories, LLC.

Origins wird in mehr als 20 Ländern und Gebieten verkauft. Einige seiner
bekanntesten Produktlinien sind Dr. Andrew Weil for Origins, A Perfect World und
Origins Organics, die erste vollständige Serie renommierter Haut-, Körper- und
Haarpflegeprodukte, die die Öko-Zertifizierung der USDA erhielt.

Ojon® entwickelt hoch wirksame Schönheitspflegeprodukte mit natürlich gewonnenen
Rohstoffen aus den Regenwäldern der Erde. Dank jahrhundertealter Ernteverfahren
soll die Lebensart der Ureinwohnergemeinschaften erhalten werden, indem alte
Traditionen geschützt werden und ihre natürliche Umwelt erhalten bleibt. Ojon®
ist seit 2003 in den USA auf dem Markt und wird derzeit in vier weiteren Ländern
- Großbritannien, Kanada, Australien und Deutschland – verkauft.

The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. ist ein weltweit führendes Unternehmen, das sich
auf Herstellung und Vermarktung hochwertiger Haut- und Haarpflegeprodukte,
Makeup-Artikel und Parfums konzentriert. Die Produkte des Unternehmens werden in
über 140 Ländern und Gebieten unter den folgenden Markennamen verkauft: Estée
Lauder, Aramis, Clinique, Prescriptives, Lab Series, Origins, M·A·C, Bobbi
Brown, Tommy Hilfiger, Kiton, La Mer, Donna Karan, Aveda, Jo Malone, Bumble and
bumble, Darphin, Michael Kors, American Beauty, Flirt!, Good Skin, Grassroots
Research Labs, Sean John, Missoni, Daisy Fuentes, Tom Ford, Coach und Ojon

Eine elektronische Version dieser Pressemitteilung finden Sie auf der Website
des Unternehmens unter www.elcompanies.com.

Fotos/Multimedia-Galerie unter:

http://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/mmg.cgi?eid=6346503〈=de

Die Ausgangssprache, in der der Originaltext veröffentlicht wird, ist die
offizielle und autorisierte Version. Übersetzungen werden zur besseren
Verständigung mitgeliefert. Nur die Sprachversion, die im Original
veröffentlicht wurde, ist rechtsgültig. Gleichen Sie deshalb Übersetzungen mit
der originalen Sprachversion der Veröffentlichung ab.

The Estée Lauder Companies Inc.
Medienbeziehungen:
Alexandra Trower
(212) 572-4430
oder
Investorbeziehungen:
Dennis D`Andrea
(212) 572-4384

Copyright Business Wire 2010

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Jane Lauder fue ascendida al cargo de presidente mundial, gerente general de Origins y Ojon, continuando con la tradición de liderazgo familiar en Estée Lauder Companies Inc.

July 2, 2010 By Leave a Comment

NUEVA YORK–(Business Wire)–
Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) anunció hoy que Jane Lauder fue ascendida
al cargo de presidente mundial, gerente general de Origins y Ojon. A partir del
1 de julio de 2010, Lauder estará a cargo de la dirección estratégica general,
el desarrollo mundial, la administración y el crecimiento de ambas marcas.
Lauder seguirá trabajando bajo las órdenes de Lynne Greene, presidente mundial,
quien supervisa las marcas Clinique, Origins y Ojon. Lauder es miembro de la
Junta Directiva de Estée Lauder Companies.

Lauder tiene una importante trayectoria de éxitos para enriquecer su nueva
función. Desde julio de 2008, se ha desempeñado como vicepresidente principal y
gerente general de la marca Origins. En dicho cargo, Lauder ejerció una función
clave dirigiendo los últimos logros de Origins, incluyendo el desarrollo y
ejecución de la nueva dirección estratégica de Origins, denominada “Powered by
Nature, Proven by Science”, el lanzamiento reciente de Origins en China y la
presentación de una serie de productos excepcionales para el cuidado de la piel,
entre ellos la crema para ojos GinZing, la crema humectante Starting Over y el
serum para corregir el tono de la piel Brighter by Nature.

Fabrizio Freda, presidente y director general de Estée Lauder Companies Inc.,
señaló: “Quisiera felicitar a Jane por sus excelentes resultados en Origins y
por su notable contribución a nuestra estrategia corporativa, y por representar
los valores familiares que constituyen los pilares de nuestra empresa. Estoy
orgulloso de promover a Jane al cargo de presidente mundial, gerente general de
las marcas Origins y Ojon, y estoy seguro que seguirá siendo fundamental para el
desarrollo de la empresa”.

Greene comentó: “La capacidad que tiene Jane para ejercer un liderazgo dinámico,
su creatividad para el marketing y su experiencia en finanzas han sido vitales
para el crecimiento de la marca Origins y significan un aporte importantísimo
para el éxito de la empresa. Se encargó de conducir la innovación estratégica
implementada para redefinir el posicionamiento de la marca hacia el sector de la
belleza natural y sustentable. Las ideas extraordinarias y el buen juicio de
Jane seguirán ampliando la impronta global de la marca Origins y contribuirán a
desarrollar el negocio de Ojon de forma estratégica”.

Antes de incorporarse a Origins, Lauder se desempeñó como vicepresidente
principal de Global Marketing Clinique, cargo que ocupó desde julio de 2006. En
esta función, fue responsable del marketing estratégico general y del
posicionamiento de la marca, incluyendo el desarrollo de productos y la
expansión de la marca hacia nuevos canales y categorías a nivel mundial. Antes
de Clinique, Lauder dirigió la creación y el lanzamiento de las marcas American
Beauty y Flirt! como vicepresidente de Marketing BeautyBank, donde supervisó el
posicionamiento de ambas marcas, el desarrollo de productos y la dirección
creativa.

Egresada de la Universidad de Stanford, Lauder se incorporó a Estée Lauder
Companies en 1996 luego de trabajar en la industria publicitaria. Es nieta de la
fundadora y homónima de la empresa Estée Lauder Companies, e hija de Ronald S.
Lauder, presidente de Clinique Laboratories, LLC.

Origins se comercializa en más de 20 países y territorios. Algunas de las líneas
de productos más conocidos son Dr. Andrew Weil for Origins, A Perfect World y
Origins Organics, la primera línea prestigiosa de productos para el cuidado de
la piel, el cuerpo y el cabello reconocida por la USDA como orgánica.

Ojon® crea rituales de belleza extremadamente poderosos que contienen
ingredientes derivados en forma natural de elementos crudos encontrados en las
selvas del mundo. Los procesos milenarios de cosecha ayudan a mantener el estilo
de vida de las comunidades indígenas, protegiendo las antiguas tradiciones y
protegiendo su entorno natural. Presentada en Estados Unidos en 2003, Ojon® se
comercializa actualmente en cinco países, incluyendo el Reino Unidos, Canadá,
Australia y Alemania.

Estée Lauder Companies Inc. es una empresa líder a nivel mundial que se dedica a
fabricar y comercializar productos de calidad para el cuidado de la piel,
cabello, maquillaje y fragancias. Los productos de la empresa se comercializan
en más de 140 países y territorios bajo las siguientes marcas: Estée Lauder,
Aramis, Clinique, Prescriptives, Lab Series, Origins, M·A·C, Bobbi Brown, Tommy
Hilfiger, Kiton, La Mer, Donna Karan, Aveda, Jo Malone, Bumble and bumble,
Darphin, Michael Kors, American Beauty, Flirt!, Good Skin, Grassroots Research
Labs, Sean John, Missoni, Daisy Fuentes, Tom Ford, Coach y Ojon.

Se puede consultar una versión electrónica del presente comunicado en el sito
Web de la empresa, www.elcompanies.com.

Fotos y galería multimedia disponibles
en:http://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/mmg.cgi?eid=6346503〈=es

El texto original en el idioma fuente de este comunicado es la versión oficial
autorizada. Las traducciones solo se suministran como adaptación y deben
cotejarse con el texto en el idioma fuente, que es la única versión del texto
que tendrá un efecto legal.

The Estée Lauder Companies Inc.
Relaciones con los medios:
Alexandra Trower
(212) 572-4430
o
Relaciones con los inversores:
Dennis D`Andrea
(212) 572-4384

Copyright Business Wire 2010

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Sea ice loss major cause of warming in Arctic

April 29, 2010 By Leave a Comment

London, Apr 29 (ANI): According to a University of Melbourne, Australia study, melting sea ice has been shown to be a major cause of warming in the Arctic.

Published in Nature, the study revealed the rapid melting of sea ice has dramatically increased the levels of warming in the region in the last two decades.

Lead author Dr James Screen of the School of Earth Sciences at the University of Melbourne says the increased Arctic warming was due to a positive feedback between sea ice melting and atmospheric warming.

“The sea ice acts like a shiny lid on the Arctic Ocean. When it is heated, it reflects most of the incoming sunlight back into space. When the sea ice melts, more heat is absorbed by the water. The warmer water then heats the atmosphere above it. ”

“What we found is this feedback system has warmed the atmosphere at a faster rate than it would otherwise,” he says. (ANI)

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NATO says aircraft down in Afghanistan

April 10, 2010 By Leave a Comment

KABUL, April 9 (Reuters) – A NATO aircraft has crashed in southern Afghanistan, a spokesman for the NATO-led force said.

Major Marcin Walczak gave no immediate details of the type of aircraft or the nature of the incident, and had no information about casualties. (Editing by Alex Richardson)

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Pursuit of status and affection behind bullies”” behavior

March 25, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Washington, Mar 25 (ANI): Most bullies are motivated by the pursuit of status and affection, says a new study.

The longitudinal study was conducted by researchers at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands. It appears in the March/April 2010 issue of the journal Child Development.

In their work, the researchers questioned almost 500 elementary-school children ages 9 to 12. Based on their findings, they conclude that bullies generally choose to gain status by dominating their victims. But at the same time, they try to reduce the chances that they””ll end up on the outs with other classmates by choosing as victims children who are weak and not well-liked by others. In short, even bullies care a lot about others”” affection and don””t want to lose it.

“To understand the complex nature of acceptance and rejection, it””s necessary to distinguish the gender of the bully, the gender of the target, and the gender of the classmates who accept and reject bullies and victims,” according to René Veenstra, professor of sociology at the University of Groningen, who led the study. (ANI)

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Alex Reid turns to spiritual healer to ease pressures of fame

March 24, 2010 By Leave a Comment

London, Mar 24 (ANI): Katie Price a.k.a. Jordan’s hubby Alex Reid is said to have turned to a spiritual healer as he struggles to cope with the pressures of fame.

Reid, 34, has been seeing Denis Fleming, a self-development and belief specialist, and he says the Emotional Freedom Technique treatment has helped him keep calm when “everyone is attacking us”.

He admitted he and Jordan, 31, have struggled with the negative publicity their relationship and marriage has received.

EFT is a gentle treatment, similar to acupuncture, said to enable the release of trapped emotions.

“Denis’s work has allowed me to not only be myself, but to cultivate my nature and be proud of who I really am,” the Daily Star quoted him as saying.

“I am eternally grateful for that because it’s so easy to get lost in everything that’s going on.

“I’m pacing myself more and have a deeper connection with Kate as I feel more positive influences are rubbing off on her,” he added. (ANI)

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Sandra Bullock curbs her spending habits after “expensive” mistakes

March 17, 2010 By Leave a Comment

London, March 17 (ANI): Sandra Bullock says she has learnt from “painful mistakes” of spending money on useless items and insists she now keeps a tab on her spendthrift nature.

The 45-year-old Oscar-winning star is now extra careful when she spends on dresses and accessories.

“I”ve learned from painful mistakes about the pressure in the store to pay exorbitant amounts for stuff that isn”t right.

“Five years later, it”s still in your closet with the tag on it. I have 900-dollar guilt shoes. I”m thinking about putting them on a shelf with a spotlight on them to remind me about such mistakes,” the Daily Express quoted Bullock, as saying. (ANI)

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When status on the mind, people forgo luxury for green products

March 16, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Washington, Mar 16 (ANI): People will choose a more environmentally friendly product over one with more comfortable features in order to improve their own reputations, claims a researcher.

“Green purchases are often motivated by status,” says Vladas Griskevicius, assistant professor of marketing at the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management. “People want to be seen as being altruistic. Nothing communicates that better than by buying green products that often cost more and are of lower quality but benefit the environment for everyone.”

In the recently published paper “Going Green to Be Seen: Status, Reputation, and Conspicuous Conservation,” Griskevicius and co-authors find that people will forgo luxury and comfort for a green item.

“Many green purchases are rooted in the evolutionary idea of competitive altruism, the notion that people compete for status by trying to appear more altruistic,” says Griskevicius.

His research finds that when people shop alone online, they choose products that are luxurious and enhance comfort. But when in public, people’s preferences for green products increases because most people want to be seen as caring altruists.

“A reputation for being a caring individual gives you status and prestige. When you publicly display your environmentally friendly nature, you send the signal that you care,” states Griskevicius.

Interestingly, the study also shows that status motives increased desirability of green products especially when such products cost more—but not less—relative to non-green products.

The paper “Going Green to Be Seen: Status, Reputation, and Conspicuous Conservation,” has been published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. (ANI)

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2000-year-old Roman amphitheatre discovered in Israel

September 20, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Washington, September 19 (ANI): A team of archaeologists has discovered a 2000-year-old Roman amphitheatre near Tiberias in Israel.

According to a report in the Haaretz newspaper, Archeologist, Doctor Valid Atrash, from the Israel Antiquities Authority, said that the remnants of the Roman amphitheatre peaks from 15 meters below ground.

The 1990 findings came as a surprise to the archeologists digging near Mount Berniki in the Tiberias hills as there are no references to such a place anywhere in scriptures.

Only at the beginning of 2009, 19-years after the primary discovery, did the uncovering of the theatre in its entirety begin.

The late Professor Izhar Hirshfeld and Yossi Stefanski, the archeologists heading the excavation, initially assessed the remains to belong to the 2nd or 3rd century CE, but quickly realized that they go all the way back to the beginning of the 1st century CE, closer to the founding of Tiberias.

“The most interesting thing about the amphitheatre is its Jewish context,” said Hirshfeld upon the discovery.

“Unlike Tzipori, which was a multi-cultural city, Tiberias was a Jewish city under Roman rule. The findings demonstrate the city’s pluralistic nature and cultural openness, a fact uncommon in those days,” Hirshfeld added.

According to Atrash, in light of the findings, Tiberias appears as particularly liberal for a city that was established over 2000 years ago.

He added that “the theatre was enormous, and being so it attracted a lot of attention. It seated over 7000 people, and appears to have been a prominent landmark for the entire area.”

Zohar Oved, Mayor of Tiberias, said that the discovery of the amphitheatre is undoubtedly “one of the most important findings in the history of the Jewish people” and is planned to open to the public as part of Tiberias archeological gardens in the near future. (ANI)

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New evidence points towards water on Moon

September 19, 2009 By Leave a Comment

London, September 19 (ANI): Two separate lunar missions have found evidence which indicates that the polar regions of the moon are chock full of water-altered minerals.

According to a report in Nature News, early results from NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), launched on June 18, are offering a wide array of watery signals.

The Moon, in fact, has water in all sorts of places: not just locked up in minerals, but scattered throughout the broken-up surface, and, potentially, in blocks or sheets of ice at depth.

“We are on the verge of a renaissance in our thinking about the poles of the Moon, including how water ice gets there,” said Anthony Colaprete, principal investigator for the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS), which on October 9, will slam into a polar crater with the intention of ploughing up a plume of water ice for many telescopic eyes to see.

The initial LRO results confirm what was long suspected as a way for ice to stay trapped on the Moon for billions of years.

A thermal mapping instrument showed that permanently shadowed regions within deep polar craters are as cold as 35o Kelvin (-238o Celsius).

Project scientist Richard Vondrak said that they are the coldest spots in the Solar System – even colder than the surface of Pluto.

Variations in the flux of neutrons suggests variability in water content among craters.

But, the surprise comes from a different instrument on LRO, which counts slow-moving neutrons as a way of measuring hydrogen abundance in the top metre or so of the surface.

This hydrogen is often interpreted as a proxy for water ice, although it could also be molecular hydrogen or hydrogen trapped in other molecules.

The LRO instrument has already found a significant excess of hydrogen at the poles.

But, with added resolution, it is seeing surprising variability within the polar regions. Some of the craters appear enriched in hydrogen. Others are not.

Stranger still, some areas outside the crater walls, which were thought to get too hot for water to linger, show an excess of hydrogen.

Vondrak said this shows that the water could have arrived more recently, or that it can persist if buried as impacts till the lunar soil.

If the LCROSS impact spews up ice, it will eliminate the last vestiges of doubt about water on the Moon.

It could also start a new hunt: to find a record of impact events, such as water-rich comet strikes, that put the ice there in the first place. (ANI)

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Tight security at Vaishno Devi shrine ahead of “Navratri”

September 19, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Katra, Sept 18 (ANI): Security has been beefed up at the famous Vaishno Devi Temple near Jammu ahead of the nine-day “Navratri” festival.

Paramilitary and police personnel are patrolling and frisking people at important points in Katra, which is thronged by thousands of devotees every year, especially during Navratri.

The nine-day Navratri festival will begin from Saturday and the authorities claim to be in full control of the situation.

“There is much fanfare in Katra during Navratra festival and the inflow of tourists also rises manifold during those days. We have made proper security arrangements. We have taken the help of the CRPF. This time, we also have one contingent of Haryana police,” said Ashok Sharma, Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP).

The devotees making their way to the shrine were also put through rigorous checking, a routine, exercised with extra care, considering the sensitive nature of the shrine and keeping recent threats in mind.

The devotees complied without complaining.

“There was not much trouble during the security check. We were checked several times but we did not face any problem. It was all done very safely,” said Vijay Kumar, a devotee.

‘Navratri’, which literally means nine nights, is observed twice a year.

The festival lasts for nine days in honour of nine manifestations of Durga, goddess of power ,and fall in the months of April-May and September-October.

It is believed that during the Navratri, Goddess Durga descends on earth to rid it of the demons and blesses her devotees with happiness and prosperity. (ANI)

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WII to host global deer conservation meet in Srinagar next month

September 17, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Srinagar, Sep 16 (ANI): The Wildlife Institute of India (WII) is hosting a five day global meeting of the deer experts here-from October 9 to discuss conservation plans for the Hangul, which is also known as Kashmir Stag.

The meeting is also expected to chalk out a long-term effective management plan for the conservation of Hangul habitat.

Hangul is one of the endangered species of the world and has been listed in the Red Data Book of International Union of Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

According to WII Director P.R. Sharma the experts would share their knowledge in the management and conservation of endangered deer species in general and Red deer and its subspecies such as Hangul in particular in the meeting.

Conservationists from Russia, East Tibet, Middle East, Afghanistan and China will deliberate on issues threatening the existence of the species and formulate strategies, take effective relocation and recovery plan at the meet.

The conference would help the Indian conservationists to enhance and updating scientific knowledge on globally successful species recovery, conservation programmes and aspects of deer ecology, Sinha said.

That the meet is being held in Srinagar itself mirrors the government’s concern to urgently save the Hangul, one of the four easternmost subspecies of Red deer that is endemic to Kashmir mountains in Jammu and Kashmir.

The population the Hangul, which is one of the four easternmost subspecies of Red deer, has declined from an estimated 2000 individuals in 1947 to about 170-200 individuals in recent years, due to poaching, excessive grazing of livestock, forest fires.

Deer are important part of woodland ecosystems and their effects are vital to the survival of plants and animals that depend on open woodlands. Their low numbers and restricted range is of great ecological concern amongst the conservationists throughout the world. (ANI)

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SunTec wins two strategic customers in Middle East

September 17, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Trivandrum/United Arab Emirates, Sept 16 (ANI/Business Wire India): SunTec, the leading provider of Relationship-based Pricing and Centralized Billing solutions, has announced two strategic wins in the Middle East region, one of which has helped the company to gain a foothold in Port Operations Billing – its fifth operating domain.

One of the largest banks in UAE has invested in SunTec’s Relationship-based and Centralized Billing solution, while a leading Port Operator of the region has signed up to SunTec to automate and centralize the pricing and billing operations for their vessels as well as cargo operations, helping them to offer a convergent bill to customers and effectively manage multiple contracts.

The solution will be implemented in multiple phases at the leading bank, and by the end of phase-I in December 2009 their ‘Customer Benefits Program’ will go live for retail banking.

The bank will thus be among the first few in UAE offering comprehensive customer benefits programs. SunTec’s solution being the pivot, the bank will be able to scale up their benefits programs to customer with ease.

Furthermore, in future, the bank will leverage SunTec’s solution for streamlining and automating their pricing and billing functions across enterprise.

The solution offers pertinent pricing innovations for the leading port operator also.

The complex multi-national operations of modern-day ports call for streamlined Relationship-based Pricing. New models like cost-based billing have become more relevant, as containerised trade is gaining prominence across the globe.

The situation demands differential pricing to be offered to customers based on the value they bring in.

“With these wins, SunTec has not only gained considerable footprint in the Middle East region, but also established its multi-industry compatibility,” said Nanda Kumar, CEO of SunTec.

“We conceptualized and created our core pricing and billing platform, horizontal in nature and flexible enough to address the pricing and billing requirements of any transaction-based vertical, all the while, helping our customers to imbibe best practices from multiple industries,” added Kumar. (ANI)

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English cave dig may yield clues as to why Neanderthals became extinct

September 14, 2009 By Leave a Comment

London, September 14 (ANI): Archaeologists have discovered teeth and bones from late Ice Age animals, including hyenas, deer and woolly rhinos at a cave in Devon, UK, which may yield clues as to why Neanderthals became extinct.

According to a report by BBC News, the dig, organised by the University of Durham and the University of Sheffield, is part of a study into Neanderthals.

The team at the helm of the privately-funded dig is trying to discover exactly when and why Neanderthals became extinct.

It is also hoping to discover when our own species first came to the UK and if it is connected to the death of Neanderthal Man, as well as finding out more about the nature of later Ice Age life in the cave.

Some items found during the dig are sent away, after cleaning, for radiocarbon dating to accurately check their age.

It is believed that the teeth and bones from the hyena could date back more than 25,000 years. eeth and bones from late Ice Age animals have been found in the cave.

“Our excavation is still in its early days but has already unearthed excellently-preserved fossils and a spearpoint of antler from the Ice Age,” said Dr Paul Pettitt, senior lecturer in archaeology at the University of Sheffield.

“Our research will dramatically improve our understanding of life between 10,000 and 50,000 years ago,” he added.

The dig at Kents Cavern, Torquay, also unearthed a 15,000-year-old spearpoint, known as a “sagaie”, which is made from reindeer antler from the same era.

The spearpoint is thought to be the first complete one found in the UK. (ANI)

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Scientists make first high-resolution 3D images of a polymer solar cell’s insides

September 14, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Washington, September 14 (ANI): Researchers from the Eindhoven University of Technology and the University of Ulm in Germany have made the first high-resolution 3D images of the inside of a polymer solar cell.

This gives them important new insights in the nanoscale structure of polymer solar cells and its effect on the performance.

The investigations shed new light on the operational principles of polymer solar cells.

These solar cells do not have the high efficiencies of their silicon counterparts yet. Polymer cells, however, can be printed in roll-to-roll processes, at very high speeds, which makes the technology potentially very cost-effective.

Added to that, polymer cells are flexible and lightweight, and therefore suitable to be used on vehicles or clothing or to be incorporated in the design of objects.

In these hybrid solar cells, a mixture of two different materials, a polymer and a metal oxide are used to create charges at their interface when the mixture is illuminated by the sun.

The degree of mixing of the two materials is essential for its efficiency.

Intimate mixing enhances the area of the interface where charges are formed but at the same time obstructs charge transport because it leads to long and winding roads for the charges to travel.

Larger domains do exactly the opposite.

The vastly different chemical nature of polymers and metal oxides generally makes it very difficult to control the nanoscale structure.

The Eindhoven researchers have been able to largely circumvent this problem by using a precursor compound that mixes with the polymer and is only converted into the metal oxide after it is incorporated in the photoactive layer.

This allows better mixing and enables extracting up to 50 percent of the absorbed photons as charges in an external circuit.

The importance of the degree of mixing was clearly demonstrated by visualization of the structure of these blends in three dimensions.

Traditionally such visualization has been extremely challenging, but by using 3D electron tomography, the team has been able to resolve the mixing with unprecedented detail on a nanoscale.

From these images, the researchers at the Institute of Stochastics in Ulm have been able to extract typical distances between the two components, relating to the efficiency of charge generation, and analyze the percolation pathways, that is, how much of each component is connected to the electrode.

These quantitative analyses of the structure matched perfectly with the observed performance of the solar cells in sunlight. (ANI)

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Master gene that switches on disease-fighting cells identified

September 14, 2009 By Leave a Comment

London, Sep 14 (ANI): British scientists have identified the master gene, called E4bp4, that causes blood stem cells to turn into disease-fighting ‘Natural Killer’ (NK) immune cells.

The discovery, by researchers at Imperial College London, UCL and the Medical Research Council’s National Institute for Medical Research, could one day help scientists boost the body’s production of these frontline tumour-killing cells, creating new ways to treat cancer.

By ‘knocking out’ E4bp4 in a mouse model, the researchers created the world’s first animal model entirely lacking NK cells, but with all other blood cells and immune cells intact.

The breakthrough model should help solve the mystery of the role that Natural Killer cells play in autoimmune diseases, such as diabetes and multiple sclerosis.

According to many scientists, these diseases are a result of malfunctioning NK cells that turn on the body and attack healthy cells, which cause disease instead of fighting it.

They believe that clarifying NK cells’ role could lead to new ways of treating these conditions.

Natural Killer cells – a type of white blood cell – are a major component of the human body’s innate, quick-response immune system, providing a fast frontline defence against tumours, viruses and bacterial infections.

The gene E4bp4 is the ‘master gene’ for NK cell production, which means it is the primary driver that causes blood stem cells in the bone marrow to differentiate into NK cells.

Led by Dr Hugh Brady, the researchers are hoping to progress with a drug treatment for cancer patients which reacts with the protein expressed by their E4bp4 gene, causing their bodies to produce a higher number of NK cells than normal, to increase the chances of successfully destroying tumours.

“If increased numbers of the patient’s own blood stem cells could be coerced into differentiating into NK cells, via drug treatment, we would be able to bolster the body’s cancer-fighting force, without having to deal with the problems of donor incompatibility,” Nature quoted Brady as saying.

The researchers proved the pivotal role E4bp4 plays in NK production when they knocked the gene out in a mouse model.

Without E4bp4 the mouse produced no NK cells whatsoever but other types of blood cell were unaffected.

“Now finally, with our discovery of the NK cell master gene and subsequent creation of our mouse model, we will be able to find out if the progression of these diseases is impeded or aided by the removal of NK cells from the equation. This will solve the often-debated question of whether NK cells are always the ‘good guys’, or if in certain circumstances they cause more harm than good,” said Brady.

The study has been published in Nature Immunology. (ANI)

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Climate change is faster in Arctic than in any other location on Earth

September 14, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Washington, September 13 (ANI): Researchers at the University of Helsinki in Finland have participated in two new studies, which indicate that climate change is progressing faster in Arctic areas than in any other location on Earth.

The study results indicate that the Arctic eco-system has experienced immense changes in the last twenty years.

At many levels, the changes impact the eco-system services that the environment provides for people: the effects extend to the adequacy of natural resources, food production, climate temperature, and result in changes to the landscape.

The changes in the northern nature can be interpreted as an advance warning of what is to be expected on all latitudes.

The results show that spring begins considerably sooner than before.

The blossoming and pollination period of plants starts as much as twenty days sooner in comparison to the situation ten years ago.

Predators are in dire straits because nutrition is now available too soon in relation to the otherwise favourable nesting period.

The distribution of many insects has moved even more north. European winter moths, for example, have destroyed extensive birch areas in Lapland after moving north.

Species invading new areas might supersede the original species in the area, which is already happening to Arctic foxes, which are currently being overrun by red foxes.

Ivory gulls, ringed seals, polar bears and narwhals are examples of species with a small distribution and specialized habitats, and such species will be the first ones to suffer from the changes.

Climate change also has indirect effects that appear in the interaction between different species.

Olivier Gilg and academy professor Ilkka Hanski from the University of Helsinki have teamed up with Benoit Sittler, a researcher from the University of Freiburg, and studied the waning of the previously cyclical population dynamics of the collared lemming in Greenland.

With mathematical models, the researchers showed that the drastic change in the population dynamics of collared lemmings is explained by the fact that snow melts sooner than before.

The lemmings do not procreate as long as before below the snow, and are also easier for predators to hunt.

In addition, frost-melt events in winter form ice layers in the snow layer or at the tundra’s surface, which is why the lemmings are unable to find food like they used to. (ANI)

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Soon, ‘robobees’ that mimic bees’ behaviour

September 14, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Washington, Sep 13 (ANI): A Northeastern University neurobiologist is collaborating with Harvard University researchers to develop micro flying robots that will emulate the bees’ brain, body and collective behaviour.

Biology professor Joseph Ayers would create robots, called the robobees, which would mimic the communal feeding behaviour of bee colonies.

The project will draw on the knowledge of computer scientists, engineers, and biologists to construct an electronic nervous system, a supervisory architecture and a high-energy source to power the innovative robots.

“This project will integrate the efforts and expertise of a diverse team of investigators to create a system that far transcends the sum of its parts. We expect substantial advances in basic science at the intersection of these seemingly disparate disciplines to result from this effort,” said Ayers.

Inspired by the biology of the bee and the insect’s colonial behaviour, the project aims to advance miniature robotics and the design of compact high-energy power sources.

The project would also spur innovations in ultra-low-power computing and electronic “smart” sensors that mediate biomimetic control.

In addition, it would refine coordination algorithms to manage multiple, independent machines.

Ayers is widely known for his work in biomimetics- the science of adapting the control systems found in nature to inform design of engineered systems to solve real-world problems-including the development of RoboLobster and RoboLamprey.

The autonomous, biomimetic underwater robotic models emulate the operations of the animals’ nervous systems using an electronic controller based on nonlinear, moving models of neurons and synapses.

“Animals have evolved to occupy every environmental niche where we would hope to operate robots, save outer space. They provide proven solutions to problems that confound even the most sophisticated robots, and our challenge is to capture these performance advantages in engineered devices,” said Ayers. (ANI)

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Phulan Rani, the ageless painter of Punjab

September 12, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Amritsar, Sep.11 (ANI): Defying her age, octogenarian Phulan Rani today stands as a tall figure that inspires the youth by her love for painting and deep urge to give creative expressions to her thoughts and observations of the world around her.

A resident of Amritsar, Phulan Rani works in both oils and water colour and paints realistic landscapes and portraits of local leaders.

“I was born on Dec 12, 1923 and have seen various ups and downs during my life span. I have been inspired to paint from all good things in life and the thoughts and the preaching of the gurus that I have heard,” said Phulan Rani, the painter. She is a nature lover by heart.

“Nature is like an open book as we can see many beautiful things through it. Like honeybees collecting nectar from the flowers and then constructing hives. It inspires an artist to paint. The inspiration also comes from beautiful faces, flowers, landscapes and the teachings of the gurus,” she says.

Phulan Rani is full of pride when she realizes how her work has reached in different parts of the world.

“A person can be successful in any sort of work if he or she gets full support from his life partner and children. You can imagine the work done by me through the paintings hanging on the walls of my house. I have sold a number of paintings, but I had enough time to paint replicas of those sold paintings to keep at home. My paintings have reached across the world,” says Phulan.

The sixth President of India, Neelam Sanjiva Reddy, had released Phulan Rani’s book of ‘Painting visions of beauty’ in 1981. By Ravinder Singh Robin(ANI)

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Deputy Commissioner Leh visits border areas

September 12, 2009 By Leave a Comment

New Delhi, Sep 11(ANI): The Deputy Commissioner of Leh, Ajit Kumar Sahu, had visited the site where the Chinese intrusion was reported recently. He is undertstood to be sending a report to the Government.

Defence authorities had disclosed that China had intruded into Indian territory on July 31 near Mount Gya, almost 1.5 km inside the Indian territory.

It was reported that Chinese intruders wrote the word “China” in Cantonese in red spray paint on the rocks and returned. A Chinese helicopter had also entered the Indian airspace.

The Minister for External Affairs, S.M. Krishna, had indicated yesterday that incidents do happen along the border and a machinery exists between India and China to discuss incidents of this nature. (ANI)

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