In the world of literature, 2012 will go down in history as the year of self-publishing success. Kickstarted by E.L. James, the year has also seen a dramatic rise in both the image and popularity of erotic fiction. Putting these concepts to the test is a nationally-acclaimed author - writing under an unknown pen-name. Jamie Fawkes, who refuses to reveal his/her true identity, has decided to test the erotic flash-fiction market, through the self-published route. The reason for anonymity is simple - to not let his/her famed name influence the result. "After 50 ...

Audiences are set to gasp as Pompey's corpse lies splattered on the stage - just one scene from world famous Handel's operatic portrayal of history's beloved Roman Emperor, Julius Caesar. First staged in 1979, this new production of a classic story returns to London care of the English National Opera. Full details, including tickets, seating and booking hotels in London can be found on LondonTown.com. Directing this new production of Julius Caesar is world famous choreographer, Michael Keegan-Dolan. Returning to the English National Opera with his own Fabulous Beast ...

SIIG, Inc., a leading manufacturer of IT and AV connectivity solutions, is proud to announce the latest addition to their growing line of A/V and Digital Signage Solutions, the HDMI Extender over Single CAT5/6 with IR/RS-232 & Auto EDID coming soon. To better serve the needs of device management, SIIG's new HDMI Extender integrates a RS-232 serial port into the unit, giving users the additional option to control source and display units remotely, in addition to its IR controllability feature. This new feature enables full duplex bi-directional IR pass-through support, ...

King Ice, a popular online hip hop jewelry retailer, has added several new styles to their pinky rings collection. New styles include gold, silver, and black plated rings encrusted with colorful cubic zirconium diamonds. New designs resemble pieces worn by hip hop artists Jay-Z, Lil' Wayne, and Rick Ross. For King Ice, pinky rings are a stark contrast to common bling bling fashion. "With hip hop jewelry it's generally accepted that more is better," said Derek of King Ice. "Rappers will usually wear multiple rings, chains, and bracelets. With pinky rings ...

A new Compact Fluorescent Lamp (CFL) recycling container from VaporLok Products LLC, Mankato, MN, can safely hold up to four 13-watt, or up to three 23-watt used CFLs, protecting consumers from hazardous mercury vapors if the fragile bulbs inside are broken from mishandling. With the average CFL containing approximately 4 milligrams of mercury, a single broken bulb can release vapor levels dangerous to consumers' health. Exposure to mercury can cause neurological, kidney and brain damage in adults, children and fetuses. Especially significant, this CFL recycling solution ...

Hamilton Equipment, Inc. - 800-733-0275 - will be showing Tanco Bale Wrappers and Shears at booth EH S01 the 2012 World Dairy Expo in Madison, WI. Or view our great video of the Tanco 1320 Bale Wrapper in action! Hamilton Equipment, Inc. is the exclusive importer and distributor of Tanco bale wrapping products for the United States. Hamilton Equipment stocks Tanco bale wrappers, bale shears, and all Tanco parts. Call us at 800-733-0275 for pricing and delivery. Hamilton Equipment stocks the following units, and PARTS for: 1530 EH Single Arm Round & Square ...

PaydayLoansOnline.net, the leading online short-term loan comparison and consumer finance advisory service, announces the publication of a new advice guide. Entitled, "How to Make the Month in Five Easy Ways," the guide is primarily aimed at those individuals that need help paying the rent and managing their outgoings more successfully each month. The tips are also useful to those who consider themselves to be reasonably financially savvy; despite the best efforts to cover all expenses, unexpected bills may still arise and present a challenge. The website ...

Sound Physicians, a leading hospitalist organization focused on driving improvements in quality, satisfaction, and financial performance of inpatient healthcare delivery, joins Press Ganey in hosting the complimentary webcast "Redefining Patient Experience: Improving Satisfaction, Quality and Financial Outcomes," on Oct. 15, 2012 at 10 a.m. PST (1 p.m. EST). Press Ganey, a recognized leader in performance improvement, partners with more than 10,000 healthcare organizations globally, helping them better understand and transform the entire patient experience. The ...

Writing in the journal PLoS One, the scientists have used a high resolution form of CT scanning to reconstruct two 305-million year old juvenile insects. Without the pioneering approach to imaging, these tiny insects – which are three-dimensional holes in a rock – would have been impossible to study. By placing the fossils in a CT scanner, and taking over 3,000 X-rays from different angles, the scientists were able to create 2,000 slices showing the fossil in cross section. From these slices the researchers created 3D digital reconstructions of the fossils. This process ...

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Robotic surgery though the mouth is a safe and effective way to remove tumors of the throat and voice box, according to a study by head and neck cancer surgeons at the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center – Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute (OSUCCC – James). This is the first report in the world literature illustrating the safety and efficacy of transoral robotic surgery for supraglottic laryngectomy, the researchers say. The preliminary study examined the outcomes of 13 of head and neck cancer patients ...

Southfield, MI - - Understanding and evaluating art has widely been considered as a task meant for humans, until now. Computer scientists Lior Shamir and Jane Tarakhovsky of Lawrence Technological University in Michigan tackled the question "can machines understand art?" The results were very surprising. In fact, an algorithm has been developed that demonstrates computers are able to "understand" art in a fashion very similar to how art historians perform their analysis, mimicking the perception of expert art critiques. In the experiment, published in the recent issue ...

For the first time in decades, researchers have conducted an extensive exploration for deep-sea corals and sponges in submarine canyons off the northeastern coast of the US. The survey revealed coral "hotspots," and found that a new coral habitat suitability model could help predict where corals are likely to occur. The model is being developed by the Northeast Fisheries Science Center (NEFSC) and the National Ocean Service's Biogeography Branch. Among the canyons surveyed during the July 6-18 cruise aboard the NOAA Ship Henry B. Bigelow were Toms, Middle Toms, and Hendrickson ...

Squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) is diagnosed in about 700,000 people in the United States every year. Commonly contributing to SCC is a protein called DNp63a – it goes abnormally high and the ability of a patient's body to kill cancer cells goes abnormally low. In many cases of SCC, it's just that simple. And science thought the function of DNp63a was simple, as well: the tumor suppressor gene p53 is responsible for recognizing and killing cancer cells, and in SCC, it's usually inactivated. It looked like high DNp63a repressed p53, made SCC. A University of Colorado Cancer ...

Nebulae are among the most visually impressive objects in the night sky. They are interstellar clouds of dust, molecules, hydrogen, helium and other ionised gases where new stars are being born. Although they come in different shapes and colours many share a common characteristic: when observed for the first time, their odd and evocative shapes trigger astronomers' imaginations and lead to curious names. This dramatic region of star formation, which has acquired the nickname of the Seagull Nebula, is no exception. This new image from the Wide Field Imager on the MPG/ESO ...

The most unambiguous data to date on the elusive 113th atomic element has been obtained by researchers at the RIKEN Nishina Center for Accelerator-based Science (RNC). A chain of six consecutive alpha decays, produced in experiments at the RIKEN Radioisotope Beam Factory (RIBF), conclusively identifies the element through connections to well-known daughter nuclides. The groundbreaking result, reported in the Journal of Physical Society of Japan, sets the stage for Japan to claim naming rights for the element. The search for superheavy elements is a difficult and painstaking ...

For two decades, scientists have known the biochemical factors that trigger penile erection, but not what's needed to maintain one. Now an article by Johns Hopkins researchers, scheduled to be published this week by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), uncovers the biochemical chain of events involved in that process. The information, they say, may lead to new therapies to help men who have erectile dysfunction. "We've closed a gap in our knowledge," says Arthur Burnett, M.D., professor of urology at Johns Hopkins Medicine and the senior author ...

Researchers at Moffitt Cancer Center, concerned that women who quit smoking during their pregnancies often resume smoking after they deliver their baby, tested self-help interventions designed to prevent postpartum smoking relapse. "We'd first like to see more women quit smoking when they become pregnant," said Thomas H. Brandon, Ph.D., senior member at Moffitt and chair of the Department of Health Outcomes and Behavior. "However, even among those who do quit, the majority return to smoking shortly after they give birth." According to the researchers, nearly 50 percent ...

Jewish women who were severely exposed to hunger during World War Two were five times more likely to develop breast cancer than women who were mildly exposed, according to research in the October issue of IJCP, the International Journal of Clinical Practice. The study also found that women who were up to seven-years-old during that period had a three times higher risk of developing breast cancer than women who were aged 14 years or over. Sixty-five women diagnosed with breast cancer between 2005 and 2010 were compared with 200 controls without breast cancer. All ...

Ants that are held as slaves in nests of other ant species damage their oppressors through acts of sabotage. Ant researcher Professor Dr. Susanne Foitzik of Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) in Germany first observed this "slave rebellion" phenomenon in 2009. According to the latest findings, however, this behavior now appears to be a widespread characteristic that is not limited to isolated occurrences. In fact, in three different populations in the U.S. states of West Virginia, New York, and Ohio, enslaved Temnothorax longispinosus workers have been observed to ...

This press release is available in German. The hippocampus represents an important brain structure for learning. Scientists at the Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry in Munich discovered how it filters electrical neuronal signals through an input and output control, thus regulating learning and memory processes. Accordingly, effective signal transmission needs so-called theta-frequency impulses of the cerebral cortex. With a frequency of three to eight hertz, these impulses generate waves of electrical activity that propagate through the hippocampus. Impulses of a different ...

Washington D.C., September 26, 2012 – The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP) is proud to announce its new Practice Parameter on issues related to and affecting gay, lesbian, bisexual, and gender variant youth. Gay, lesbian, bisexual, and gender variant children and adolescents face unique developmental challenges and stressors that can influence their mental health and wellbeing. Social issues such as stigma, bullying, and discrimination, and personal factors like internalized prejudice and feelings of being different are just a few of the concerns ...

The combination of two neuroprotective therapies, voluntary physical exercise, and the daily intake of melatonin has been shown to have a synergistic effect against brain deterioration in rodents with three different mutations of Alzheimer's disease. A study carried out by a group of researchers from the Barcelona Biomedical Research Institute (IIBB), in collaboration with the University of Granada and the Autonomous University of Barcelona, shows the combined effect of neuroprotective therapies against Alzheimer's in mice. Daily voluntary exercise and daily intake ...

What does a yoghurt look like over time? The food industry will soon be able to answer this question using a new fluid simulation tool developed by the Department of Computer Science (DIKU) at the University of Copenhagen as part of a broad partnership with other research institutions. An epoch-making shift in the way we simulate the physical world is now a reality. A five-year collaboration between the University of Copenhagen, the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) and the Alexandra Institute on simulating fluids in movement is now bearing fruit, and has earned the ...

Over millions of years, biological organisms – from the chameleon and cuttlefish to the octopus and squid – have developed color-changing abilities for adaptive concealment (e.g., camouflage) and communication signaling (e.g., warning or mating cues). Over the past two decades, humans have begun to develop sophisticated e-Paper technology in electronic devices that reflect and draw upon the ambient light around you to create multiple colors, contrast and diffusion to communicate text and images. And given the more than 100 million years head start that evolution has ...

The process for preparing frozen, par-fried potato strips — distributed to some food outlets for making french fries — can influence the formation of acrylamide in the fries that people eat, a new study has found. Published in ACS' Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, the study identifies potential ways of reducing levels of acrylamide, which the National Toxicology Program and the International Agency for Research on Cancer regard as a "probable human carcinogen." Acrylamide forms naturally during the cooking of many food products. Donald S. Mottram and colleagues ...