As part of the settlement reached between the federal government and the 14 largest U.S. banks involved in wrongful foreclosures, a program was established to help homeowners obtain independent reviews of their cases. Depending on the extent of errors discovered, those wrongfully foreclosed upon could receive $500 to $125,000. Under the consent orders issued by the Office of the Comptroller of Currency (OCC), the Federal Reserve Board, and the Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS), engagement letters were sent to affected homeowners to notify them about their rights and ...

In the first half of 2012, the national foreclosure rate dropped by 11 percent. Unfortunately, Florida was not so lucky. RealtyTrac's 2012 mid-year report shows that Florida's foreclosure rate actually increased in all but two of the state's major metropolitan areas. Among the worst hit, Orlando foreclosures were up by 44 percent, the Tampa/St. Petersburg area saw a 47 percent jump while Tallahassee and the Melbourne/Titusville area each rose more than 130 percent. Florida still has over one million distressed sales just waiting to come on the market. The state's foreclosure ...

"Just text me." How many times have you heard a conversation end with those words? Sending text messages has become an increasingly common method of communication. What began as a trend among teenagers and 20-somethings has increased in popularity across age brackets in recent years. New research shows the expectations associated with sending text messages differ from other forms of communication. A study conducted by AT&T showed that after sending a text message, 89 percent of teens believed they should receive a reply in five minutes or less. The immediacy ...

If you've ever spent an afternoon in front of the TV you've probably seen them: the foreboding music, the scripted dialogue and the prospect of compensation for your injuries. Television commercials for law firms, especially personal injury attorneys, have been on the air for years. Daniel Pogoda, Managing Attorney at the Boston personal injury firm Dane Shulman Associates, LLC, recently spoke about these advertisements on WERS 88.9. The "Lawyers Advertising" segment is part of WERS' "Jury as the Story," a feature examining legal issues from the ...

Law enforcement officers posed as minors or their guardians in order to find the accused men in the investigation called Operation Take Two. They set up the potential meetings at an empty home in Tavares. The arrested individuals ranged in age from 19 to 69. While most lived in the area or in nearby counties, one man arranged to travel from Georgia for the meeting. The men were from all walks of life, including a school volunteer, a pilot and a contractor. Many of them brought alcohol, marijuana or condoms. One man had a weapon in his vehicle. Police impounded four ...

A Delaware jury awarded a $2.86 million verdict today to the family of Michael Galliher, who died from mesothelioma, a rare and aggressive cancer caused by exposure to asbestos fibers. Simmons Firm attorneys Randy Cohn, Conard Metcalf and Bill Kohlburn represented Galliher's family, including his wife, sons and four grandchildren, against RT Vanderbilt In re Asbestos Litigation Michael Galliher, No. 10C-10-315 (Del. Super. Ct., New Castle City.). It is the largest asbestos verdict against a single defendant in Delaware in over a decade. Michael Galliher, of Mansfield, ...

Many people learn as children that the proper thing to do when they injure another person is to apologize. When a doctor injures a patient, conventional wisdom has long held that the doctor should do just the opposite, since apologizing may be seen as admitting liability in a medical malpractice lawsuit. Some hospitals have been changing the way they approach medical errors by developing medical apology programs However, while these programs may seem to be a more caring way to deal with medical errors that result in injuries and to put patients' needs at the forefront, ...

In spite of all the strides that neuroscience and psychology have made we are still far from understanding the true nature of emotional intelligence. Nothing illustrates this point better than the statement from Steven Pinker, the leading cutting edge expert on the mind. He says, "First, we don't understand how the mind works ... certainly not well enough to design Utopia or to cure unhappiness." The mind works on emotional intelligence and if we know emotional intelligence we will know at least how to make the mind happy and even design Utopia. Emotional intelligence ...

Product Support Services, Inc. (PSSI), a specialized provider of service supply chain and reverse logistics solutions for the electronics industry, today announced the company has secured the services of Russell Joly as General Manager for its embedded repair operation in Illinois. Joly brings more than 30 years of aftermarket services experience to his role at PSSI, where he will oversee PSSI's embedded reverse logistics, repair and refurbishment operations in Illinois. The operation, started in October of 2011, supports the repair and refurbishment of product returns ...

SBR Forum, the leading sports betting resource for free NFL picks, has released its 2012 NFL Strength of Schedule series helping sports bettors identify which teams on this year's NFL schedule have the most value. Your first step is finding your own Strength of Schedule, which according to our own Bobby Brooks comes from any major sports website like ESPN. Once you've found a schedule you'd like to work with, next would be to tune into your analytical side. Brooks claims that the typical Strength of Schedule comes from last season's win-loss record which in many ...

FINDINGS: UCLA researchers found that older adults who regularly used a brain fitness program played on a computer demonstrated significantly improved memory and language skills. The team studied 59 participants with an average age of 84, recruited from local retirement communities in Southern California. The volunteers were split into two groups: the first group used a brain fitness program for an average of 73.5 (20 minute) sessions across a six-month period while a second group played it less than 45 times during the same period. Researchers found that the first ...

One of the most invasive species on the planet is able to source food from the land as well as its usual food sources in the water, research from Queen Mary, University of London has found. Scientists analysed the behaviour of red swamp crayfish in Kenya's Lake Naivasha and found that when the water level of the lake was low, the crayfish found additional food sources on land. The study was published in the journal PLoS ONE today (3 August 2012). Lead author Dr Jonathan Grey from Queen Mary, University of London explained: "These crayfish are incredible survivors; our ...

ORLANDO, Fla. – New technology has led to the creation of virtual humans who can interact with therapists via a computer screen and realistically mimic the symptoms of a patient with clinical psychological disorders, according to new research presented at the American Psychological Association's 120th Annual Convention. "As this technology continues to improve, it will have a significant impact on how clinical training is conducted in psychology and medicine," said psychologist and virtual reality technology expert Albert "Skip" Rizzo, PhD, who demonstrated recent advancements ...

ORLANDO, Fla. – Determining when a teenage brain becomes an adult brain is not an exact science but it's getting closer, according to an expert in adolescent developmental psychology, speaking at the American Psychological Association's 120th Annual Convention. Important changes in adolescent brain anatomy and activity take place far later in development than previously thought, and those findings could impact how policymakers and the highest courts are treating teenagers, said Laurence Steinberg, PhD. "Explicit reference to the science of adolescent brain development ...

DATA -- Straight to the source . . . Data archived at Oak Ridge National Laboratory can now be more effectively discovered, used and tracked through a new research resource from Thompson Reuters. The data citation index allows researchers to better gauge the impact of their data by readily tracking the number of times those data are used in papers. In addition, the new index will facilitate the sharing of researchers' results in the scientific community. Similar to traditional citation indices that credit papers in scientific journals, the new index will attribute the ...

A recent National Science Foundation report found that research collaboration among multiple institutions is a growing trend. The conclusion was drawn by noting increases in the amount of total expenditures for research and development that universities pass through to other institutions and receive from other institutions. During fiscal years 2000-2009, the amount of R&D funding that passed through universities to others for collaborative projects grew more rapidly than overall academic R&D expenditures. After adjustment for inflation, total academic R&D expenditures ...

Bilingual children outperform children who speak only one language in problem-solving skills and creative thinking, according to research led at the University of Strathclyde. A study of primary school pupils who spoke English or Italian- half of whom also spoke Gaelic or Sardinian- found that the bilingual children were significantly more successful in the tasks set for them. The Gaelic-speaking children were, in turn, more successful than the Sardinian speakers. The differences were linked to the mental alertness required to switch between languages, which could develop ...

Is it possible for a health care system to redesign its services to better educate patients to deal with their immediate health issues and also become more savvy consumers of medicine in the long run? The answer is yes, according to a study led by scientists at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) and San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center (SFGH) that was recently reported by the Institute of Medicine (IOM). The team's paper describes ten attributes that health care organizations should utilize to make it easier for people to better navigate ...

The fifth Atlantic Ocean tropical depression strengthened into Tropical Storm Ernesto on Thursday, August 2 at 5 p.m. EDT and tracked over St. Lucia early on August 3. NASA's Terra satellite captured an image of Ernesto from space as it approached the island. On August 2, 2012 at 1420 UTC (10:20 a.m. EDT) the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS)instrument onboard NASA's Terra satellite captured a stunning visible image of Tropical Storm Ernesto as it was approaching the Lesser Antilles. The image showed the highest, strongest thunderstorms from the northern ...

NASA's Aqua satellite captured an image of a very busy northwestern Pacific Ocean where three tropical cyclones are active. Tropical Storms Damrey and Saola are dissipating in China, while Tropical depression Haikui developed on August 3, 2012. NASA's Aqua satellite passed over the northwestern Pacific Ocean on August 3 at 0453 UTC (12:53 a.m. EDT) and the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) instrument captured all three tropical cyclones in one image. AIRS observes in infrared light, which basically provides temperature information. In respect to tropical cyclones, the ...

Abstraction and stylization algorithms are designed to deal with digital image water colorization, oil painting, cartoon style generation, and so on. Dr Li Ping and his group from the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, together with researchers from Shanghai Jiao Tong University and the Beijing Institute of Technology once dreamt of solving this problem. After four years of creative media research, they have devised a structure-aware image stylization method to generate the effects of artistic drawing and painting using ...

US-based startup Gorillized Corporation introduces Outline+, a new iPad app that enables editing and syncing Microsoft OneNote files between PC and iPad. With the great distribution of OneNote in enterprises and colleges, its users demand full support for their OneNote files on iPad. Outline+ provides a powerful and familiar iPad replacement for OneNote users in the field or class room. According to the developer, main benefits of Outline+ are: 1. Great user interface worked through to the tiniest detail. User interaction with text and notes structure is re-thought ...

The South Florida National Basketball Players Association (NRBPA) has partnered with the Police Athletic League (PAL) of North Miami to host its First Annual Back To School Event titled "Transitioning PAL "on Wednesday August 15,2012 at the Christ Fellowship Church in Downtown Miami. Former players, who understand the challenge of transitioning from on the court to off the court will participate in workshops designed to educate and inspire parents and youth ages 10-18. Former Los Angeles Laker, Irving Thomas, now the South Florida NBA Legend's Chapter President ...

Aurorae Yoga has expanded its Synergy Yoga Mat-Towel Combination line from one to five colors due to the high demand of the product. Synergy is Aurorae's unique slip-free mat-towel combination that bonds Aurorae's eco-friendly, 5mm PER yoga mat with a lush, ultra-absorbent slip-free microfiber towel. Synergy was designed for those who practice hot yoga or who perspire while they practice. Synergy is now available in the following colors: Lapis (royal blue), Sapphire (navy blue), Crown (purple), Wildness (green), and Energy (red.) This 5mm thick, 72" long yoga mat-towel ...

Sydney's boutique graphic design agency Attractivo has been nominated in the City of Sydney Business Awards 2012. A vibrant energetic agency situated in South Sydney's newest creative hub Alexandria, Attractivo has received positive media attention in the industry for its creative designs and initiatives. The recently launched Pro Bono Initiative has been well received, a program that offers up to 3 non-for-profit organisations and charities the full pro bono design of their 2011-12 annual report. "We're delighted and honoured to be nominated for the Sydney Business ...