You can't say that! Or can you? - Business Management Daily

Election season often increases the volume and vociferousness of political conversations. Widening ideological gulfs, dissected and fueled by pundits, have made politics seem like a contact sport more than ever. While some political activities can be prohibited in the workplace, some actions are protected.

According to Vault.com?s ?Poli??tics in the Workplace Survey,? 66% of survey respondents said co-workers discussed politics in the workplace and 46% had witnessed a political argument between co-workers.

The resulting hurt feelings, resentment and anger can decrease worker productivity and raise the workplace temperature. And political disputes can cause problems at work between co-workers, between workers and managers and even between workers and visiting customers who may be offended by conversations they overhear. A spirited debate can escalate into a claim of discrimination or a hostile work environment.

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Source: http://www.businessmanagementdaily.com/33339/you-cant-say-that-or-can-you-discussing-politics-in-the-workplace

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6 Major drains on baby boomer bank accounts : BoomerCaf? ...

[unable to retrieve full-text content]You are here: Home ? Baby Boomers ? 6 Major drains on baby boomer bank accounts. banner ad ... A report by the National Center for Policy Analysis has investigated how much baby boomers are spending on things like education, entertainment and clothing, and how that has changed over the past 20 years. ... ?This reflects the growth of health care spending, which has essentially wiped out the gains in median family income over the past decade,? Villarreal said.

Source: http://www.boomercafe.com/2012/10/27/6-major-drains-on-baby-boomer-bank-accounts/

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Some fans boo Madonna for praising Obama

Alexander Demianchuk / AP

Madonna in concert in Russia.

By Associated Press

Madonna drew boos and triggered a walkout by several concertgoers after she touted President Barack Obama on her "MDNA Tour" in New Orleans.

The Material Girl asked during Saturday night's performance: "Who's registered to vote?" She added: "I don't care who you vote for as long as you vote for Obama."

Drawing boos in touting Obama over Republican Mitt Romney, Madonna followed: "Seriously, I don't care who you vote for ... Do not take this privilege for granted. Go vote."

Madonna is often outspoken. Some Colorado fans, mindful of a mass shooting there, complained she used a fake gun to shoot a masked gunman in a recent concert act in Denver. A Madonna concert in Paris in July drew ire when a video showed a swastika on a politician's forehead.

Evan Agostini / AP

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? 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://entertainment.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/10/28/14759578-madonna-booed-after-praising-obama-at-new-orleans-concert?lite

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Badminton: "Facebook me!" Chong Wei invites fans to wedding

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Mexico City school seeks to dignify mariachi music

MEXICO CITY (AP) ? In the golden age of mariachi, thousands of music lovers would crowd into theaters and fancy restaurants or fill the Plaza Garibaldi in the heart of the capital just to hear their favorite tunes played on guitar and violin. On a recent evening in the same plaza, that golden age was a distant memory.

Roving bands of musicians chased down cars on one of the city's busiest avenues, leaning into windows to bargain over the price of a song. Black-clad musicians in cowboy boots then assembled ragtag groups that played out of tune while singers hoarsely belted out mournful ballads about love and heartbreak.

The aching music may remain one of Mexico's top cultural exports, by which the country is known worldwide, but its fortunes have fallen in its homeland, with few well-trained musicians and few decent venues to play in.

A new mariachi school in Mexico City is seeking to revive a music that has lost ground over the years and that sometimes seems relegated to commercial jingles and elevator Muzak. Called the Mariachi School Ollin Yoliztli, meaning life and movement in indigenous Nahautl, the school teaches folk bands how to play professionally while grooming a new generation of songwriters and composers.

"What this school will do is dignify mariachi music," said director Leticia Soto.

Housed in a former nightclub on the plaza, it's Mexico's first professional school dedicated to the genre. Eventually, Soto said, she hopes to offer Mexico's first university-level degree in the music. Another school in the western state of Jalisco, the birthplace of mariachi, offers workshops but not a degree.

The goal is to formalize a music that has largely been passed down among the generations, without formal instruction. Last year, UNESCO recognized mariachi as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, and the city has tried to protect that heritage by both cleaning up the plaza and helping set up the school.

Most of the more than 2,000 musicians who ply their trade at the newly renovated colonial plaza learned to play traditional favorites such as "Cielito Lindo" and "Guadalajara" from their parents or other relatives. Most of the players there can't read music and run through the songs by ear.

Miguel Martinez remembers a different time. The 91-year-old began playing the trumpet 78 years ago in the Plaza Garibaldi, when there were only five mariachi groups working there, with only two including trumpet.

He joined the Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlan, Mexico's top ensemble, in 1940, when the music was featured almost daily on the radio. Hundreds also packed the Blanquita Theater for shows that included some of the top singers of ranchera, another, more guitar-based genre.

"It makes me very sad to see what these mariachis have done to the music that el Mariachi Vargas did so much to honor," Martinez said. "The truth is that I would leave this world very happy if I could see that our folklore will continue, because we were losing it."

With that in mind, he called the school "a fantastic idea and something that authorities should have done a long time ago."

For guitarist Arlette Gudino, one of a dozen women accepted at Ollin Yoliztli, playing mariachi music is a passion passed down by her trumpet-playing great-grandfather.

"There are places outside of Mexico where people get more excited to listen to mariachi than here," said the 23-year-old actress. "I would like to do something to get people to value the musical treasure we have."

The 102 members of the first class range from a 14-year-old junior high school student to a 68-year-old retired nurse. They started school last week and are scheduled to graduate in three years with a technical degree.

During that time, they'll learn music theory and mariachi history and be taught how to sing as well as play the trumpet, guitar, violin and the round-backed guitar called the vihuela.

Trumpet player Raul Rosas, 38, who waits in the plaza for clients, admitted he and the other musicians there could use some training.

"We all should go that school because we don't play the music like it should be played," said Rosas, one of nine brothers who play in mariachi bands. "We're musicians who play by ear, why fool ourselves?"

The first mariachi bands, in the 18th century, played only stringed instruments and dressed in white cotton fabric, huarache sandals and wide-brimmed straw hats ? the clothing of Mexican farm workers of the time.

Trumpets were added in the early 20th century, and mariachi bands began wearing the more elegant charro, or cowboy, outfits familiar to modern audiences: a short, embroidered jacket, snug-fitting pants with shiny buttons along the legs, fluffy bow ties and the iconic wide-brimmed sombreros.

By the mid-20th century, mariachi music had become a widely popular symbol of Mexican culture, played by radio stations and featured in charro films during the country's Golden Age of cinema, from 1935 to 1959. By then, the music had become popular in Central and South America and the United States.

The 1980s saw the genre fade as radio buzzed with more commercially successful music such as norteno and banda, which includes lyrics about drug trafficking, or pop music.

Now, few hit songs are done in the mariachi style, and only a handful of places in this metropolis of 20 million feature live, professional mariachi bands.

The genre's absence in the mass media and intellectual circles also contributed to its decline, said anthropologist Jesus Jauregui, the top expert on the music in Mexico.

"The place mariachi bands get in movies nowadays is not very dignified because they are usually second-rate characters who are accompanying the singer," Jauregui said. "Another factor is the contempt with which the Mexican intelligentsia treats mariachi. No historian or sociologist, musicologist or folklore expert has done studies on mariachi music."

Nonetheless, mariachi retains deep roots in Mexican culture, with many people knowing by heart longtime favorites. Almost every big event in Mexico, from weddings and funerals to Mother's Day celebrations, includes a mariachi band, and abroad, the music offers a tie for many Mexicans to their native land. Most of that music is amateurish at best.

The handful of top mariachi stars left can nonetheless still fill auditoriums in Mexico, and fans can catch the best mariachi at occasional festivals.

"In the United States, the music is viewed with more respect and that has to do with the fact that they teach it in junior high schools and in high schools and that doesn't happen in Mexico," Jauregui said.

Soto's school has tried to turn that around by hiring some of the best musicians in the business, including former members of the group Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlan, which continues to tour worldwide, often performing with classical orchestras and symphonies.

If anything, the market has shown it'll pay more for higher quality mariachi, said Victor Lemus, 44, who has played violin with Los Emperadores in Plaza Garibaldi for the last 22 years.

Many in the 14-member ensemble have taken private music classes, and they practice twice a week. That lets them charge twice the average rate of $8 (100 pesos) per song for bands with six members.

Still, on a recent night, none of the Mexican and foreign revelers dancing to the energetic two-step rhythms at the plaza seemed to mind that most of the bands lacked polish, instead requesting songs until they ran out of money or energy.

"Most mariachis right now just put on the charro suit and go out to the street to play and they forget that after the flag, the mariachi is what best represents Mexico," Lemus said. "But if the new generations learn to play it like it should be, they will ennoble the music."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/mexico-city-school-seeks-dignify-mariachi-music-153013221.html

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Fishing for answers off Fukushima

Friday, October 26, 2012

Japan's "triple disaster," as it has become known, began on March 11, 2011, and remains unprecedented in its scope and complexity. To understand the lingering effects and potential public health implications of that chain of events, scientists are turning to a diverse and widespread sentinel in the world's ocean: fish.

Events on March 11 began with a magnitude 9.0 earthquake, the fourth largest ever recorded. The earthquake in turn spawned a massive 40-foot tsunami that inundated the northeast Japanese coast and resulted in an estimated 20,000 missing or dead. Finally, the wave caused catastrophic damage to the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant, resulting in the largest accidental release of radiation to the ocean in history, 80 percent of which ended up in the Northwest Pacific Ocean.

In a Perspectives article appearing in October 26, 2012, issue of the journal Science, WHOI marine chemist Ken Buesseler analyzed data made publicly available by the Japanese Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) on radiation levels in fish, shellfish and seaweed collected at ports and inland sites in and around Fukushima Prefecture. The picture he draws from the nearly 9,000 samples describes the complex interplay between radionuclides released from Fukushima and the marine environment.

In it, Buesseler shows that the vast majority of fish caught off the northeast coast of Japan remain below limits for seafood consumption, even though the Japanese government tightened those limits in April 2012. Nevertheless, he also finds that the most highly contaminated fish continue to be caught off the coast of Fukushima Prefecture, as could be expected, and that demersal, or bottom-dwelling fish, consistently show the highest level of contamination by a radioactive isotope of cesium from the damaged nuclear power plant. He also points out that levels of contamination in almost all classifications of fish are not declining, although not all types of fish are showing the same levels, and some are not showing any appreciable contamination.

As a result, Buesseler concludes that there may be a continuing source of radionuclides into the ocean, either in the form of low-level leaks from the reactor site itself or contaminated sediment on the seafloor. In addition, the varying levels of contamination across fish types points to complex methods of uptake and release by different species, making the task of regulation and of communicating the reasons behind decision-making to the fish-hungry Japanese public all the more difficult.

"To predict the how patterns of contamination will change over time will take more than just studies of fish," said Buesseler, who led an international research cruise in 2011 to study the spread of radionuclides from Fukushima. "What we really need is a better understanding of the sources and sinks of cesium and other radionuclides that continue to drive what we're seeing in the ocean off Fukushima."

To help achieve this, Buesseler and his colleague Mitsuo Uematsu at the University of Tokyo are organizing a scientific symposium in Tokyo on November 12 and 13 to present the most current findings available about how radionuclides from Fukushima Dai-ichi have affected the ocean, marine life, seafood, policy decisions, and media coverage to date. The event will also include a free public colloquium in Tokyo on November 14 to help spread information about the lessons learned to the broadest possible audience.

###

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution: http://www.whoi.edu

Thanks to Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution for this article.

This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.

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World Series showcases deceptive Detroit revival

Carlos Osorio / AP

When baseball's World Series returns to Detroit this weekend for Game 3, television viewers will see vibrant crowds and skyline shots of the city. But the city's public finances remain unstable, thousands of homes sit vacant, homicides are on the rise and many residents have left or want to leave.

By Corey Williams and Ed White, Associated Press

DETROIT ??An ace pitcher and some of the game's best sluggers are the winning combination that has put the Detroit Tigers in the World Series for the second time since 2006. But miles away from Comerica Park, much of the city still seems many seasons from its own grand slam.?

When the Series returns to Detroit on Saturday for Game 3, TV viewers will get a glimpse of a vibrant downtown, including Comerica, the General Motors towers, popular restaurants and flashy casinos. High-end grocer Whole Foods is building its first Detroit store north of Comerica, and wealthy investors are snapping up vacant buildings and filling them with workers.?

Yet beyond this pocket of revitalization, much of Detroit still is struggling to make a comeback after the Great Recession sent the city and the auto industry on a perilous plunge. Public finances are unstable, thousands of homes sit vacant, homicides are on the rise and many residents have left or want to leave.

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"In '06, it wasn't as intense as it is now," said barber Thomas Carter, referring to the Tigers' last trip to the World Series as he cut hair at the C-Spot, 15 miles northwest of Comerica Park. "The city is in more desperation today. The blight and the black eyes weren't as bad."

Indeed, life in the neighborhoods seems a world away from downtown. The area around the ballpark has been a bright spot for the otherwise struggling city, and its success has been difficult to replicate.

Downtown revitalization
Downtown's rise took years to take hold. Tigers' owner Mike Ilitch reopened the rehabbed Fox Theatre in 1988, starting a slow revival along the historic, brick-paved artery, Woodward Avenue. In 2000, Ilitch moved the Tigers to a new stadium across the street from the Fox. Others have followed, including the Detroit Lions and its Ford Field, home of the 2006 Super Bowl.

The area is now buzzing. The new owners of Detroit Medical Center are investing hundreds of millions of dollars in hospitals. Employers are successfully offering subsidies to get workers to live downtown or in Midtown. Quicken Loans founder Dan Gilbert has acquired nearly a dozen buildings and other properties, even luring Chrysler as a tenant and renaming the building after the automaker.

"Government is in terrible shape but entrepreneurs are thriving," said Joel Landy, who has no-vacancy signs on his rehabbed apartment buildings in and near downtown. "It's the proximity to large institutions and the central business district, and the fact that we're surrounded by five freeways with the ability to get in and out. ... It's slower out in the neighborhoods but remember: Detroit is 140 square miles."

Downtown shines partly because its attractions - sports teams, casinos, fine arts - are enjoyed by suburbanites who head out of the city as soon as the show or game is over. To former council member Sheila Cockrel, the distinction between downtown and the neighborhoods is a modern day "tale of two cities."

"There's exciting momentum going on. But on the other hand, we've had what's now close to a collapse of city services," said Cockrel, who teaches at Wayne State University.

City government staved off a state takeover last spring after agreeing on many reforms, including an independent board to oversee public finances, which are burdened by more than $12 billion in pension obligations and dwindling tax revenue.

Mayor Dave Bing this week pleaded with the City Council to hire turnaround firms to examine city operations. The police chief recently quit because of an affair with another officer, forcing the city to search for a fifth top cop in four years. There were 311 homicides through Oct. 21, more than at the same point in 2011, and vast stretches of deserted neighborhoods have become a dumping ground for bodies.

30,000 vacant homes
In places, the city is almost pockmarked. Under the flashy neon lights of the MotorCity Casino in Corktown, one of Detroit's oldest neighborhoods, a half dozen newer and vibrantly painted homes stand at the corner of Harrison and Sycamore amid a few empty lots and vacant houses.

An older home with peeling pink paint over red bricks holds down one corner, tucked between two vacant houses next door. Blue spray paint indicates water was shut off "8/2/11"ahead of a wrecking ball that never swung. Across the street is a yellow house with a tidy yard, protected by a 6-foot stockade fence from the vacant house with crumbling porch and high weeds on the other side.

Carlos Osorio / AP

A broken streetlight base can be seen on a sidewalk east of downtown Detroit.

More than 30,000 houses are empty. Though pockets of Detroit are relatively stable, others are flat-out dangerous, with the abandoned homes breeding drug trafficking and other crimes. The city's population has dropped 25 percent since 2000, and a recent survey found four out of every 10 residents plan to dash, too.

Reliable bus service is a chronic complaint. William Smith, 43, helped his girlfriend board a bus on the west side this week to a nursing job in the suburbs. While waiting, she sat on a broken light pole that rested on the sidewalk.

Smith, a laborer, said he's unemployed after having his van and tools worth $7,000 stolen from his driveway.

"If you ain't got a car, you're out of luck when it comes to finding many jobs. There ain't no jobs in the city," he said.

Lanard Strong, 38, was shot in the arm and leg in 2008 while withdrawing cash from an ATM. Tired of blight and corruption, he doubts he can sell his house on the west side. "I've always wanted to just leave," he said.

Despite the obstacles, a can-do spirit always seems to be in the next block. On Saturday, just hours before Game 3, volunteers will haul plywood and swing hammers to board up 150 abandoned homes near a high school on the west side. The goal is to save homes that could be occupied in better times, as well as improve safety for kids who walk past urban wrecks.

And back at the C-Spot, they're rooting for the Tigers.

"We're hungry for something to laugh and smile about," owner Crystal Jackson said. "We live in such hard times right now in the city of Detroit. Something as small as sport is looked at bigger than it actually should be."?

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Source: http://bottomline.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/10/26/14726287-world-series-showcases-misleading-detroit-revival?lite

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German publisher Burda makes offer for social network Xing

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Suicide bomber kills 40 at Afghan mosque during Eid

MAZAR-E-SHARIF, Afghanistan (Reuters) - A suicide bomber killed at least 40 people in a mosque in Afghanistan's relatively peaceful north on Friday as worshippers gathered for prayers marking the Muslim Eid al-Adha holiday, police officials said.

The attack in Maimana, capital of Faryab province, also wounded 40, regional police chief General Abdul Khaliq Aqsai said, pinning the blame on the Taliban. A Taliban spokesman said they were investigating to find out who was responsible.

"The suicide bomber detonated explosives when our countrymen were congratulating each other on the Eid holiday," said Lal Mohammad Ahmadzai, spokesman for the police in the Afghan north, adding that almost half of the dead were police.

He said Aqsai appeared to be the target. "As soon as the police chief got in his vehicle, the bomber detonated his explosives," Ahmadzai said

About 20 bodies, some in police uniform, lay in front of the mosque's gates as smoke billowed above.

The attack, at around 9 a.m. local time on the first day of Eid, came just before President Hamid Karzai repeated his call for the Taliban to join the government.

"If you (Taliban) want to come to the government, you are welcome. You have rights as an Afghan and as a Muslim," he said in a speech marking Eid in the capital, Kabul.

Kabul and Washington have been seeking separate peace negotiations with the Taliban as the 2014 deadline looms for most foreign troops to leave.

Karzai condemned the mosque attack in a statement.

Violence is intensifying across the country 11 years into the NATO-led war, sparking concerns over how the 350,000-strong Afghan security forces, often the target of the Taliban, will manage once most foreign troops leave.

The Taliban, in a statement released to media on Friday, said two Afghan soldiers were behind the attack in western Farah province on Thursday that killed one Italian soldier.

One of them later joined the Taliban, the statement said, along with the policeman who killed two U.S. soldiers in southern Uruzgan province on Thursday.

That attack was the latest insider attack, when Afghan security forces turn their weapons on their foreign mentors and partners. At least 54 members of the NATO-led force have been killed this year so far in insider attacks, which have been eroding trust between Kabul and its western backers.

(Additional reporting by Mirwais Harooni, writing by Amie Ferris-Rotman; Editing by Nick Macfie)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/suicide-bomber-kills-37-mosque-afghanistan-070925392--sector.html

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Clarkson grand marshal for pre-Mardi Gras parade

NEW ORLEANS (AP) ? Pop star Kelly Clarkson will ride as celebrity grand marshal when the Krewe of Endymion parade rolls on the Saturday before Mardi Gras in 2013.

Clarkson was the first winner of the Fox reality show "American Idol" in 2002. Her hits include "A Moment Like This" and "Because of You."

Organizers say she'll perform at Endymion's ball at the Superdome after the parade.

Clarkson may be upstaged at the Feb. 9 parade by a float that organizers say will be the largest and most elaborate in Carnival history.

The super float will be 250 feet long and carry more than 200 riders. Its design focuses on Pontchartrain Beach, the amusement park that entertained generations on the New Orleans lakefront before closing in 1983.

Mardi Gras is Feb. 12.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2012-10-25-Mardi%20Gras-Kelly%20Clarkson/id-6166350ba83642928490c34ffb78f978

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Brainwave training boosts network for cognitive control and affects mind-wandering

Brainwave training boosts network for cognitive control and affects mind-wandering

Thursday, October 25, 2012

A study conducted in Canada has found that training of the well-known brainwave in humans, the alpha rhythm, enhances a brain network responsible for cognitive-control. The training technique, termed neurofeedback, is being considered as a promising new method for restoring brain function in mental disorders. Using several neuroimaging methods, a team of researchers at the Western University and the Lawson Health Research Institute have now uncovered that functional changes within a key brain network occur directly after a 30-minute session of noninvasive, neural-based training. Dysfunction of this cognitive-control network has previously been implicated in a range of brain disorders including attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, schizophrenia, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder.

During neurofeedback, users learn to control their own brain activity with the help of a brain-computer interface. In the simplest case, this consists of a computer that records brainwaves through surface sensors on the scalp, known as an EEG (electroencephalogram). The system is then able to process and simultaneously represent a user's real-time brain activity, displayed from moment-to-moment during a training game on a computer. This setup is known as a neurofeedback loop, because information of brain activity is continually fed-back to a user reflecting their level of control. Such real-time feedback allows users to reproduce distinct brain states under physiologically-normal conditions, promising to be an innovative way to foster brain changes without adverse effects. This is possible because of neuroplasticity, a natural property of the brain that enables it to reorganise after continual training, resulting from adjustments to its own activity.

The new findings firstly help to address a long-standing issue in the field: whether neurofeedback training can trigger any brain changes at all? "The effects we observed were durable enough to be detected with functional MRI up to 30 minutes after a session of neurofeedback which allowed us to compare brain and behavioral measures more closely in time," says Tomas Ros, PhD, lead author of the study, now at University of Geneva. "We were excited to find that increased metabolic coupling within a key cognitive network was reflected in the individual level of brainwave change provoked by neurofeedback. The same measures were found to be tightly correlated with reductions in mind-wandering during an attention task. Amazingly, this would imply that the brain's function may be entrained in a direction that is more attentive and quiet. In other words, our findings speak for the exquisite functional plasticity of the adult brain, whose past activity of little more than 30 minutes ago can condition its future state of processing. This has already been hinted at in meditation research, but we arrived at a direct and explicit demonstration by harnessing a brain-computer interface."

Senior author Dr. Ruth Lanius, a professor in the Department of Psychiatry at Western's Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry and a scientist with Lawson Health Research Institute adds: "Compared to the lack of significant findings in the control group that received training with false feedback, our findings are unambiguously supportive of a direct and plastic impact of neurofeedback on a central cognitive-control network, suggesting a promising basis for its use to treat cognitive disorders. We hope that our observations will stimulate more research by the science community in order to fully evaluate EEG neurofeedback as a viable and potentially revolutionary approach for the treatment of brain disorders. We are very excited by this promise and anticipate a host of new studies in this direction, particularly for cognitive disorders. Our current work has now moved into the clinical domain to examine whether patients with post-traumatic stress disorder may benefit from this advance." The study was directed by Lanius and Dr. Jean Theberge.

###

The research study has been published in the online issue of Neuroimage

University of Western Ontario: http://www.uwo.ca

Thanks to University of Western Ontario for this article.

This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/124775/Brainwave_training_boosts_network_for_cognitive_control_and_affects_mind_wandering

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Saturn Moon Titan Has a 'Hot Cross Bun' in NASA Photo

A NASA spacecraft has spied some unusual terrain on Saturn's moon Titan ? a giant cracked mound that resembles a cosmic hot cross bun, scientists say.

NASA's Cassini probe captured the new radar images of Titan of the 40-mile-long (70 kilometer-long) feature during a May 22 flyby. Researchers believe baking-hot plumes of magma might have lifted and fractured Titan's surface, creating the cross-shaped fissures, much like steam causes bread in the oven to rise and crack.

Rosaly Lopes, a Cassini scientist based at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., said astronomers have never before seen this type of feature on?Titan.

"The 'bun' may be the result of what is known on Earth as a laccolith, an intrusion formed by magma pushing up from below," Lopes explained in an Oct. 16 statement. "The Henry Mountains of Utah are well-known examples of this geologic phenomenon."

A similar feature was spotted on Venus in a dome-shaped region about 20 miles (30 kilometers) across at the planet's Kunapipi Mons volcano, the researchers said. The findings were presented Tuesday (Oct. 16) at the American Astronomical Society's Division of Planetary Sciences conference in Reno, Nev.

?

Other images from the May 22 flyby supplied scientists with new evidence about the stability of the hydrocarbon lakes in Titan's northern hemisphere.

A group of researchers led by Ellen Stofan, based at Proxemy Research, Rectortown, Va., compared new pictures of the lakes with Cassini images taken of the same region about six years earlier (one Titan season). They found that the shorelines stayed about the same.

Liquid bodies on other parts of Titan are more transient, the researchers said, noting that parts of the moon's equator darkened after a rainstorm in 2010. The team also presented their research Tuesday in Reno.

The?Cassini spacecraft?launched in 1997 and arrived in orbit around Saturn in 2004. The mission was supposed to last four years, but it's still going strong at more than double its projected lifetime. The probe regularly passes by Titan, beaming new images of Saturn's massive moon back to Earth.

Follow SPACE.com on Twitter?@Spacedotcom. We're also on?Facebook and?Google+.

Copyright 2012 SPACE.com, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/saturn-moon-titan-hot-cross-bun-nasa-photo-115055181.html

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Bob Faith's Mission to Buy, Build, Manage Drives Greystar ...

October 18, 2012

By Paul Rosta, Senior Editor

For someone who once seemed to be headed for a career as a petroleum engineer, Bob Faith has enjoyed a journey that may be as improbable as any real estate CEO?s today. Sidetracked from his planned profession by a recession three decades ago, Faith went on to found the nation?s most prolific multi-family management firm and contribute greatly to the sophistication of the sector and the participation of institutional players.

Along the way, he has also developed office and industrial buildings; co-founded one of the nation?s most powerful diversified investment management companies; and even spent four years as a South Carolina cabinet secretary?a tour of duty he pulled off while keeping his day job as a real estate CEO.

No less impressive than that balancing act, Faith has risen to the top of the multi-family sector while embodying that most coveted of qualities: the ability to inspire excellence and loyalty through unflagging high spirits, good humor and genuine consideration for his team. ?He?s just one of the most likable guys in the industry,? said Tony Dona, co-founder & principal of Thackeray Partners, a Dallas-based investment management company that partners regularly with Greystar. ?People love working for Bob and are loyal to him because he likes his people and he?s loyal to them.?

Since founding Greystar in 1993, Faith has built the company on a three-legged stool of property management services, acquisitions and development. For the second year in a row, Greystar?s management portfolio of more than 190,000 residential units?90 percent of them operated for third-party clients?made the company the top manager in the multi-family business, according to the National Multi Housing Council?s annual ranking. Last year, Greystar closed a $600 million acquisition fund?the firm?s seventh?and its national development pipeline exceeds 40 projects. ?The synergy of all three (business lines) is as good as, or better than, any in the industry,? Dona contends.

The Great Recession vindicated Faith?s belief that diversification offers maximum flexibility through market ups and downs. ?No matter where we are in the cycle, there?s a time to buy, there?s a time to build and there?s a time to hunker down and manage,? he said. Even if the investment market suffers a downturn in a given area, Greystar has the option of disposing of its assets there while maintaining its property management business. ?What that allows us to do is to keep our team together,? he explained. ?That way, I can recruit the best people.? As Greystar?s local eyes and ears, the ground-level property management team provides market intelligence that serves as the basis for future investment and development decisions, Faith added.

?He really understands the capital markets and the operating business in a way that most people don?t,? said Robert Whitman, who first got to know Faith in the 1980s, while serving as CFO of Trammell Crow Co. ?I think it?s an unusual thing to be able to balance both,? added Whitman, currently the CEO of Franklin Covey.

Although management may be an ancillary service for some multi-family investors, Faith has always considered it an essential building block. ?Bob?s (vision) was to build a truly outstanding service platform,? Dona observed. Greystar?s management business serves 105 markets through 20 local offices that stretch from Boston to Seattle.

During the the past few years, Greystar has grown its management portfolio at a stepped-up pace. The company doubled the number of its multi-family properties in the Northeast and Middle Atlantic states to 46 during the first three quarters of 2011. In the process, it increased its scope from slightly fewer than 6,000 units to nearly 16,500. That robust expansion came on the heels of Greystar?s selection by Archon Group L.P. in 2010 to manage a 27-property, 7,600-unit portfolio in Virginia, Florida, Texas, Arizona, Nevada and California.

A turning point came with the 2008 acquisition of JPI Management Services, an affiliate of Irving, Texas-based JPI Multifamily Partners L.L.C. In a single stroke, Greystar?s property management arm became a truly national business for the first time. The acquisition created economies of scale and expanded Greystar?s footprint in California, the Midwest and the Northeast. In all, the deal added about 41,000 units to the company?s management portfolio. That acquisition was made possible in large part by a capital infusion from Goldman, Sachs & Co., which bought a 20 percent stake in Greystar five years ago.

Greystar has steadily expanded its property management portfolio in the four years since the JPI acquisition. The deal also gave it an entr?e into the burgeoning student housing niche through an affiliate that was rebranded Greystar Student Living. Recent assignments include Circle West Campus, a 477-bed project near the University of Texas? campus in Austin.

A Time to Build
While continuing to expand its third-party services, Greystar is carrying out an aggressive development strategy. ?The best opportunities are always happening at these inflection points as markets move,? he explained. Faith targets vibrant, transit-oriented, pedestrian-friendly urban settings that tend to attract young urban professionals.

In July, Greystar kicked off construction of Elan Uptown, a 591-unit mid-rise property in Downtown Minneapolis. The two-phase development process is scheduled for completion in 2014. Also in the pipeline is Elan Town Center, a 134-unit apartment community scheduled for completion next year in the Seattle suburb of Redmond, Wash., and Elan Midtown, a 200-unit project underway in Greystar?s home city of Charleston. Elsewhere, Greystar?s development pipeline includes Lakewood Apartments, a 435-unit complex in suburban Dallas, and the Ascent, a 404-unit, 26-story project in Tysons Corner, Va.

To capitalize the projects, Greystar regularly teams up with institutional investors. Prudential Real Estate Investors is the capital partner for Elan Midtown and the Ascent. For Elan Uptown in Minneapolis, Greystar recruited Multi-Employer Property Trust, which manages real estate investments for some 360 public and private retirement funds. And Greystar brought the Carlyle Group on board for a 288-unit high-end property scheduled for completion next year in Woodbridge, Va., a Washington, D.C., suburb.

A connecting thread among these diverse projects is a balance between quality and affordability. Greystar typically tailors its projects to younger, active professionals who tend to spend much of their time outside of home. For these residents, a big apartment tends to be less important than a location convenient to work, transportation and cultural amenities. A relatively compact floor plan allows Greystar to strike a balance between attractive amenities and affordable rental prices. At Elan Town Square in Redmond, Wash., the 134 units will average 872 square feet in size.

Detour to Success
Faith?s path to real estate began as something of a detour. He had every intention of taking up his father?s profession and pursuing a career in the oil business. But by the time he received his engineering degree from the University of Oklahoma in the early 1980s, a recession had thrown a monkey wrench into the job market. So Faith came up with a Plan B and applied to graduate programs. ?I couldn?t get a job as a petroleum engineer,? he recalled, ?but I did get into Harvard Business School, so I guess that?s a pretty good fallback.?

Upon earning his MBA from Harvard, Faith joined Trammell Crow Co., which liked to hire newly minted MBAs from the nation?s top business schools and quickly give them challenging assignments, explained Whitman. Then a prolific developer, Trammell Crow was in the midst of sorting out deals that had run aground in the wake of the savings-and-loan crisis. For his first assignment, Faith was posted to Oklahoma and asked to find workouts and exit strategies for troubled projects. Even then, colleagues say, he demonstrated a knack for untying difficult knots with not only a penetrating intellect but also high spirits and good humor that raised the morale of everyone around him. ?He could make things seem like, ?Hey, this isn?t so bad,?? Whitman explained.

After impressing higher-ups by completing a series of difficult assignments, Faith was sent next to Charlotte, N.C. His challenge was to re-energize a team shaken up by the departure of senior partners. Along with his partner, Bill Maddux?now Greystar?s COO?Faith earned trust and loyalty in a difficult situation.?He also got his first taste of development, overseeing a series of office and warehouse projects.

By 1990, the savings-and-loan crisis had taken a heavy toll on Trammell Crow?s development pipeline, and Faith moved on. In 1991, he joined forces with fellow rising star Barry Sternlicht, an acquaintance from Harvard Business School, to co-found Starwood Capital L.L.C. Faith started Greystar two years later, initially managing 9,000 apartment units in Houston.

In building the company, Faith drew on the practices he learned during his time at Trammell Crow, starting with an emphasis on local knowledge. ?There?s no replacement for living there,? Faith asserts. ?People that live in these markets know them better than someone who?s flying in from the outside.? Further, he took to heart the Trammell Crow emphasis on creating a culture of partnership, a principle embodied by Faith?s own upbeat, outgoing personality.

Like Crow himself, Faith made a practice of recruiting talented, energetic young people and quickly giving them significant responsibility for operations and execution. While trusting his team with a high degree of autonomy, he chose a more centralized policy for capital allocation than he had encountered at Trammell Crow. Faith also understood the opportunity for professionalization in an industry that was often viewed as a mom-and-pop business.

By the end of the 1990s, Greystar?s management footprint extended across much of the Sunbelt. At the same time, Greystar was bringing an institutional approach to acquisition. A milestone arrived in 2000, when it established a $300 million fund with the Oregon Public Employees Retirement System. By the time the company closed its seventh and latest fund in 2011, Greystar?s pool of investors extended to Europe.

While the company was headquartered in Houston, Faith made regular visits to family in Charleston, and took a liking to the city?s setting and vibrant atmosphere. In 1998, he relocated both his home and Greystar?s corporate headquarters there. Today, Charleston houses the holding company and corporate-level operations, and offices in Houston, Dallas, Tampa and Phoenix handle back-office functions.

A different kind of opportunity arose in 2002, when Faith served as a volunteer fundraiser for the successful gubernatorial campaign of his friend Mark Sanford. The governor-elect asked Faith to bring his business acumen and enthusiasm to the cabinet as secretary of commerce, the state?s top economic development official.

For a token salary of $1 per year, Faith crisscrossed the state, met with business leaders and was instrumental in securing some big wins for the state (see ?Double Duty? ). ?It really did stretch me to run the company and be secretary of commerce,? Faith said. After four years of well-regarded service, he stepped down at the end of Sanford?s first term. Although he has yet to return to public service, Faith continues to keep his hand in politics, periodically volunteering for campaigns.

In reflecting on Faith?s varied accomplishments, colleagues remark on the deceptively simple balancing act that he has pulled off in a scrappy, volatile business. ?Bob?s style is to be very likeable and very nice, but at the same time, he?s obviously very driven,? observed Dona.

As Faith?s smart, spirited leadership has earned the respect of his peers, it brings to mind the caustic comment made famous by baseball?s Leo Durocher. ?Nice guys finish last,? the combative Hall of Fame manager and player once declared. Clearly, Durocher never met Bob Faith.

Source: http://www.cpexecutive.com/business-management/executiveprofiles/bob-faiths-mission-to-buy-build-manage-drives-greystar/

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Serbia Adds Hate Crime to Criminal Code :: Balkan Insight

Serbia's Ministry of Justice has decided to incorporate hate crime into draft amendments to the criminal code.

That draft says that if a criminal act is based on hatred for another person?s race, religion, national or ethnic background, gender, sexual orientation or gender identity, the court should take it as an aggravating circumstance.

However, hate crime as an individual crime is not listed. The draft amendments also do not stipulate different penalties for crimes committed from hate.

?The fact that hate crime is included is a success that we welcome. However, the fact that a crime is a hate crime is not further developed," Milan Antonijevic, from the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights, YUCOM, an NGO, said.

?Our aim was that the draft amendments should include a range of penalties for each crime when the fact that a crime is committed from hatred is taken as an aggravating circumstance,? he added.

In February, YUCOM and the Gay Straight Alliance, GSA, an NGO, sent out recommendations for draft amendments to the criminal code to all MPs' group leaders from the previous parliament, the Ministry of Justice and other state institutions.

Boban Stojanovic, from Belgrade?s Pride Parade, also welcomed the fact that the criminal code will in future recognise hate crime, but says that some groups have been left out.

?The Ministry of Justice should include other bases for hate crime, such as invalidity, education, social status, age or other personal characteristics, which are specifically mentioned in anti-discrimination law,? Stojanovic said.

Source: http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/serbia-incorporates-hate-crime-to-criminal-code

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China shows signs economic recovery taking shape

Workers collect cauliflowers for exporting at a farm in Juxian county in east China's Shandong province on Wednesday Oct. 17, 2012. China's economic growth tumbled to the lowest in more than three years in the latest quarter but retail sales and other activity accelerated in a sign a recovery from the painful downturn is taking shape. (AP Photo) CHINA OUT

Workers collect cauliflowers for exporting at a farm in Juxian county in east China's Shandong province on Wednesday Oct. 17, 2012. China's economic growth tumbled to the lowest in more than three years in the latest quarter but retail sales and other activity accelerated in a sign a recovery from the painful downturn is taking shape. (AP Photo) CHINA OUT

In this June 21, 2012 photo, workers assemble cars at the manufacturing base of Chinese automaker Geely in Cixi, China. China?s economic growth has fallen to a 3 1/2 year low but retail sales and investment improved in a possible sign the slowdown is stabilizing. The government said Thursday, Oct. 18, 2012 economic output grew 7.4 percent in the three months ending in September. That is a decline from the previous quarter?s 7.6 percent and the lowest level since the first quarter of 2009. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

FILE - In this Sept. 21, 2012 file photo, an elderly Chinese couple look at a model of a property on sale during the China Property and Investment Show in Beijing. China?s economic growth has fallen to a 3 1/2 year low but retail sales and investment improved in a possible sign the slowdown is stabilizing. The government said Thursday, Oct. 18, 2012 economic output grew 7.4 percent in the three months ending in September. That is a decline from the previous quarter?s 7.6 percent and the lowest level since the first quarter of 2009. (AP Photo/Andy Wong, File)

BEIJING (AP) ? China's worst slump since the global financial crisis leveled out in the latest quarter and retail sales picked up in a sign an economic rebound is taking shape, adding to hopes for a global recovery.

The world's second-largest economy grew 7.4 percent from the year before in the three months ending in September, data showed Thursday. That was slower than the second quarter's 7.6 percent growth but the decline was much gentler than in earlier quarters. Economists also pointed to quarter-on-quarter growth of 2.2 percent, the biggest such gain in a year, as a sign of recovery.

"This confirms that the economy is rebounding," said Dariusz Kowalczyk, senior economist for Credit Agricole CIB in Hong Kong. "There is no room and no need for further major stimulus."

The Chinese improvement came after unexpectedly strong U.S. housing starts boosted confidence that the world's biggest economy is mending after five years in the doldrums. The U.S. Commerce Department said Wednesday that builders started construction on new single-family houses and apartments at the fastest pace in more than four years. The U.S. and Chinese numbers are rare good news for the world economy, which has slowed as Europe's chronic debt crisis worsened and the American economy stagnated.

Beijing has cut interest rates twice since early June and is injecting money into the economy through higher investment by state companies and spending on building subways and other public works. But authorities have avoided a major stimulus after huge spending in response to the 2008 global crisis fueled inflation and a wasteful building boom.

Retail sales rose 14.4 percent, accelerating from the first half's 14.1 percent growth. Investment in factories and other fixed assets improved, rising 20.5 percent in the first nine months of the year, up from a 20.2 percent rate for the first eight months.

"We can see a clear sign of steady economic growth," said Sheng Laiyun, spokesman for the National Bureau of Statistics. "There is a smaller margin of decline and some major indicators have been growing faster."

A rebound in Chinese growth would be good news for economies such as Australia, Brazil and African countries that supply its factories with iron ore and other commodities.

The slowdown over the past year and a half is due largely to government curbs imposed to cool an overheated economy and reduce reliance on exports by encouraging more domestic consumption. The slump worsened last year after global demand for Chinese goods plunged unexpectedly.

In line with the government's hopes, retailing and other service industries aimed at Chinese consumers are growing relatively strongly while manufacturing and heavy industry have been battered by weak global demand and government curbs on construction. The government says stronger activity in services industries has helped to limit job losses.

Pan Wenhao, a 25-year-old wedding photographer in the tourist town of Lijiang in China's southwest, said his photo studio's revenues are up 50 percent compared with this time last year. He said tourism in Lijiang has grown by about 20 percent from last year.

"I expect my business to be much better in the future and I am confident about that," Pan said.

But conditions are still tough for manufacturers that had relied mostly on exporting are now trying to sell more to China's own consumers.

Xie Jun, owner of Dongguan Jincai Real Co. in the southern city of Dongguan, which manufactures headphones, mobile phones and computer accessories, said he is losing 100,000 to 200,000 yuan ($15,000-$30,000) a month and had to lay off 30 of his 100 employees. He began trying to make more sales in China a few years ago "but the market is limited."

"We get less business, and even if the factory is running, we cannot make money from that," Xie said. "Most of the businesspeople I know here have the same problem as me."

China's expansion is strong compared with the United States and Japan, where this year's growth is forecast in low single digits, but the slowdown has been painful for companies that depend on high growth to drive demand for new factories and other goods.

The slump raised the risk of job losses and unrest, posing a challenge to the ruling party as it prepares for a once-a-decade handover of power to younger leaders. The further quarterly decline had been expected after officials including President Hu Jintao warned that growth might slow further before recovering.

Premier Wen Jiabao, the country's top economic official, said Wednesday growth appeared to be stabilizing and expressed confidence China can meet its official targets for the year. Wen gave no growth forecast or a possible time frame for a recovery.

A Chinese recovery could help to boost demand for commodities but otherwise its contribution to global growth will be limited because the country meets much of its demand from its own factories, said Kowalczyk. He said that was reflected in the relatively weak September import growth of just 2.4 percent, well below the double-digit rates earlier this year.

"The impact on the rest of the world will be more psychological rather than real, major growth," he said. "But it is good to know the risks from China to the global economy are sharply lower."

___

AP researcher Fu Ting in Shanghai contributed.

___

Chinese National Bureau of Statistics (in Chinese): www.stats.gov.cn

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2012-10-18-AS-China-Economy/id-49fffc2f06204089b5c0f80791f4d8e5

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Galaxy Nexus, Nexus S start receiving Android 4.1.2 over the air (Engadget)

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Five Popular Home Improvements | Visual Spaces Concept Designers

A growing number of home owners are opting to invest in home improvements instead of moving house. Some home improvements are chosen as a way to add value to a home ? perhaps with a view to selling the house in a few years when the economy (hopefully) improves. For other homeowners, the decision is made out of necessity ? perhaps they have a child on the way and need some extra living space.

The following are five popular home improvements that could add value to your home.

1. Remodelled Kitchens

The kitchen is the heart of the house and one of the rooms that people pay a lot of attention to when they?re considering buying a new home. If your kitchen is not in good shape, you could lose out on a lot of money when you put your house on the market.

Remodelling your kitchen is a fairly non-intrusive way to boost the value of your home, and it will make life a lot more pleasant for you while you still live their too.

2. Conservatories

Investing in a conservatory is an inexpensive way to increase the amount of living space you have. Conservatories are great places to sit out and relax in during the summer. If they?re well made they, can also be used in the winter. A conservatory is also a cheaper option than a full house extension, while still offering you extra space for entertaining or a place to retreat to when you need some peace and quiet.

If you?re thinking about buying a conservatory, consider how it will be used. Try to get the biggest one that you can afford and make sure that it will be able to handle the type of weather that you experience in your area.

3. Loft Conversions

If your family is growing and you need space for an extra bedroom or a small study, a loft conversion could be a good solution. Renovated loft spaces make a great investment and can add a lot of value to your home, especially if you live in an area where families are likely to move to.

4. UPVC Windows

If you still have old wooden window frames, then investing in UPVC windows with double or triple glazing makes sense from both a comfort and financial point-of-view. UPVC windows are hard-wearing, good for reducing noise levels, and offer decent insulation too.

If you still have single glazing, you may be able to get a loan or grant from your local authority to help you with the installation costs of UPVC windows.

5. Wet Rooms

A wet room is a waterproof bathroom ? the shower area is level with the floor. Wet rooms are becoming increasing popular because they are safe and east to access, spacious and comfortable, and very low maintenance. With a 100% water-proof seal from top to bottom and all the way around, there is no concern for water/moisture damage.

Whatever improvement plans you have for your home, be sure to do your research and hire reputable contractors to do the work if you are not capable or qualified to do it yourself.

About the Author

This post was written by James Harper on behalf of Stormclad who supply and build beautiful conservatories to compliment your home.

Source: http://www.visual-spaces.com/five-popular-home-improvements

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Hamazkayin Ani Dance Company at Sea Mexico, Baja Mexico Baja Mexico Fri, 19 Oct 2012 1:00PM

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Source: http://www.armeniancalendar.com/events/2012/October/6285.html

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Gasol looks to floating storage vessels in bid to bring gas to Africa http://ow....

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Missing NH college student dead; suspect charged

DOVER, N.H. (AP) ? A martial arts instructor active in community theater was charged Saturday in the death of a 19-year-old University of New Hampshire student who disappeared days earlier.

Elizabeth "Lizzi" Marriott, a marine biology major who volunteered at the New England Aquarium, is believed to be dead and law enforcement officials continued to search for her body, Assistant Attorney General James Vara said Saturday.

Seth Mazzaglia, 29, of Dover, who's charged with second-degree murder, knew Marriott, Vara said, but he declined to say how or what led to Mazzaglia's arrest. He said police had "credible" information leading them to believe Marriott is dead, though he wouldn't elaborate.

"This is the worst parents nightmare, a missing child and with an unfavorable outcome,' Marriott's family said in a statement Saturday. The family asked for prayers for rescue personnel who are looking for their daughter, saying they need to "bring her home."

A family friend, Dawn Downey of Westborough, Mass., described Marriott as an attractive young woman who was active in chorus in high school and was prom queen during her junior year. Marriott was helping to put herself through college by working at Target.

"She was just a good girl. That's probably what got her in trouble. She was too trusting and she was beautiful. Those two things will kill you," Downey said.

Marriott had attended a class Tuesday night and made plans to visit friends in Dover. Her cellphone was last used in Dover that night, according to fliers that family members posted around town. Her car was later found in a parking lot on campus in Durham.

"We were greatly saddened to learn of Lizzi's death and we extend our deepest sympathies to her family and friends," UNH President Mark W. Huddleston said in a statement. "Lizzi was a new member of the university community and will be missed in our classrooms. Our focus now will be on supporting our campus community during this difficult time."

The university was making counselors available to students. A moment of silence was planned in Marriott's honor at the school's hockey game Saturday night.

Marriott was a 2011 graduate of Westborough High School in Massachusetts. She lived with an aunt in Chester and commuted to the Durham campus. A message seeking comment was left with her parents, Robert and Melissa Marriott of Westborough.

Hundreds gathered for a vigil Saturday night in Westborough.

Robert Marriott told the crowd, "Together we created an angel, and tonight she is home in heaven."

Downey's daughter Nicole, who was Marriott's best friend, described Marriott as a "fun-loving and goofy" young woman who got along easily with others and had a wide circle of friends. She also was a good student who loved animals and science and volunteered at the New England Aquarium in Boston, Nicole Downey said.

"It was a shock to me when I found out she was missing. That was not like her at all," she said. "She was just all around a great person. I don't know why anyone would want to hurt her."

Mazzaglia, who graduated from the University of New Hampshire in 2006 with a bachelor's degree in theater, was active in the arts, performing in several dozen plays and musicals over the last decade in southern New Hampshire.

He also was a martial arts instructor who described himself on websites as having a black belt in karate and being familiar with several forms of martial arts and weapons. And he described other interests including juggling.

Robert Modee, a friend of Mazzaglia's and a martial arts instructor in Kittery, Maine, said he was struggling to comprehend how his friend could be charged with murder.

"I don't understand what's going on right now," he told the Foster's Daily Democrat in Dover, N.H. "I'm completely floored with all this."

Mazzaglia is scheduled to be arraigned Monday. A working telephone number for him could not immediately be located. It was unclear whether he had a lawyer yet.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/missing-nh-college-student-dead-suspect-charged-183828385.html

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