An increase in female representation in local politics has caused a significant rise in documented crimes against women in India, new research has found. That is good news, say the authors of the study carried out at the Centre for Competitive Advantage in the Global Economy (CAGE) at the University of Warwick in the UK, Harvard Business School and the IMF, who argue that the increase is down to greater reporting of crimes against women, rather than greater incidence of crimes against them. The research examined the impact of the Panchayati Raj reform passed in 1993, ...

Washington, D.C. -- The crushing pressures and intense temperatures in Earth's deep interior squeeze atoms and electrons so closely together that they interact very differently. With depth materials change. New experiments and supercomputer computations discovered that iron oxide undergoes a new kind of transition under deep Earth conditions. Iron oxide, FeO, is a component of the second most abundant mineral at Earth's lower mantle, ferropericlase. The finding, published in an upcoming issue of Physical Review Letters, could alter our understanding of deep Earth dynamics ...

Known for her poetry, letters, love affair and marriage to Robert Browning, Elizabeth Barrett Browning also left a legacy of unanswered questions about her lifelong chronic illness. Now, a Penn State anthropologist, with the aid of her daughter, may have unraveled the mystery. Born in 1806, Barrett Browning suffered throughout her life from incapacitating weakness, heart palpitations, intense response to heat and cold, intense response to illnesses as mild as a cold, and general exhaustion in bouts that lasted from days to months or years. Her doctors were unable to diagnose ...

RunningShoes.com is hosting a giveaway to get runners geared up for the upcoming new year. The online retailer has teamed up with Brooks to give away the latest style of its Adrenaline GTS running shoes. Launching in January 2012, the Brooks Adrenaline GTS 12 is the twelfth iteration of its No. 1 selling shoe. Through the years, this stability shoe has received numerous accolades for its smooth ride. Most recently Runner's World deemed the 11th version of the Adrenaline GTS the "Best Update" in its winter shoe guide. For those not familiar with Brooks running ...

This press release is available in German. Cancer growth normally follows a lengthy period of development. Over the course of time, genetic mutations often accumulate in cells, leading first to pre-cancerous conditions and ultimately to tumour growth. Using a mathematical model, scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization in Göttingen, University of Pennsylvania and University of California San Francisco, have now shown that spatial tissue structure, such as that found in the colon, slows down the accumulation of genetic mutations, thereby ...

Photosynthesis is considered the 'Holy Grail' in the field of sustainable energy generation because it directly converts solar energy into storable fuel using nothing but water and carbon dioxide (CO2). Scientists have long tried to mimic the underlying natural processes and to optimize them for energy device applications such as photo-electrochemical cells (PEC), which use sunlight to electrochemically split water – and thus directly generate hydrogen, cutting short the more conventional approach using photovoltaic cells for the electrolysis of water. Traditionally, PEC ...

A Queen's University study has found that when people think about having children, men want boys and women want girls. "Gender neutrality - a lack of preference - is now a standard cultural norm embraced within most wealthy developed countries like Canada," says Lonnie Aarssen, a Queen's biology professor and co-author of the study. His results, though, reveal a strong gender bias, despite the researchers' prediction that they would find evidence of a well-established contemporary culture of gender neutrality. As a way of explaining these findings, Dr. Aarssen says the ...

New research has found that a protein associated with learning and memory plays an integral role in changing the behaviour of locusts from that of harmless grasshoppers into swarming pests. Desert Locusts are a species of grasshopper that have evolved a Jekyll-and-Hyde disposition to survive in their harsh environment. In their solitary phase, they avoid other locusts and occur in very low density. When the sporadic rains arrive and food is more plentiful, their numbers increase. However, as the rains cease the locusts are driven onto dwindling patches of vegetation. ...

Healthcare providers' ability to deliver care is more contingent upon people than any other variable, according to the KLAS report, "Human Capital Management: Finding the Right Vendor Mix." KLAS found that many providers are feeling tremendous pressure to replace, acquire, or interface human capital management (HCM) solutions to improve the recruitment, training, utilization, and retention of staff. While most providers already have an HR/Payroll application--the foundation of an HCM system--as well as Time & Attendance (TA) and Staff Scheduling systems ...

Alexandria, VA -- Children may have a better quality of life (QOL) and diminished cardiovascular disease risk from the decreased endothelin 1 (ET-1) levels after adenotonsillectomy, according to new research published in the December 2011 issue of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery. SDB is an increasingly common indication for tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy due to obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS). Cardiovascular (CV) disease frequently has been reported in patients with moderate to severe OSAS, related abnormalities include: systematic hypertension, pulmonary ...

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Drinking enough alcohol to become intoxicated increases aggression significantly in people who have one particular personality trait, according to new research. But people without that trait don't get any more aggressive when drunk than they would when they're sober. That trait is the ability to consider the future consequences of current actions. "People who focus on the here and now, without thinking about the impact on the future, are more aggressive than others when they are sober, but the effect is magnified greatly when they're drunk," said ...

Ohio Attorneys John Sherrod and W. Mark Jump, of Jump Legal Group, have filed a class action lawsuit against Bank of America on behalf of Ohio homeowners who have been wrongfully foreclosed on by Bank of America despite never missing a single payment. The suit alleges Bank of American improperly diverted homeowners' trial loan modification payments (watch video). The initiation of the class action lawsuit came after Bank of American foreclosed on a Canal Winchester, Ohio, couple who were shocked when a process server appeared at their door with foreclosure papers. Attorney ...

BOSTON – In a new study, researchers have found a 44 percent increase since 2001 in the number of hospitals that offer definitive emergency care to patients with heart attack, but only a 1 percent increase in access to that care. The study, led by Thomas W. Concannon, PhD, Assistant Professor Tufts Medical Center and Tufts University School of Medicine, will be published January 1, 2012 in Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes, a journal of the American Heart Association. Patients with heart attacks caused by arterial blockages require emergency care to restore ...

As a woman ages, her chances of being diagnosed with a lower-risk breast tumor increase, according to a novel study led by UCSF which found that for women over 50, a substantial number of cancers detected by mammograms have good prognoses. The study provides the first molecular evidence of an increase in low- or ultra-low-risk cancers in the tumors when detected by screening mammography. And it provides a basis for integrating molecular profiling at the time of diagnosis to help avoid overtreatment. In their research, the UCSF scientists at the forefront of breast ...

Quantum computing -- considered the powerhouse of computational tasks -- may have applications in areas outside of pure electronics, according to a University of Pittsburgh researcher and his collaborators. Working at the interface of quantum measurement and nanotechnology, Gurudev Dutt, assistant professor in Pitt's Department of Physics and Astronomy in the Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences, and his colleagues report their findings in a paper published online Dec. 18 in Nature Nanotechnology. The paper documents important progress towards realizing a ...

Employee theft has unfortunately reached an all-time high with over $40 billion lost per year, and Phenix Investigations, a leader in corporate investigative services, has seen a sharp increase in cases involving scrap metal and raw material theft. To combat employee theft and decrease losses in the retail sector, which average around 1.6% of yearly sales, Phenix Investigations has formed a specialized team of professional investigators with the experience and resources to identify employee theft, organized retail crime and vendor fraud. Additionally, the team has expertise ...

The poll by YouGov on behalf of the Sunday Times found that far from not featuring high on consumers' list of priority, climate change and environmental issues are still very much supported by the majority of the public. Of 1696 people who responded to the poll, 56% wanted to see more wind energy capacity in the UK while 74% wanted to see solar energy capacity increased. Only 19% of survey respondents wanted to see less emphasis on wind power, which dropped to 12% for solar panels. The encouraging news comes in the wake of high profile stories in the media criticizing ...

The 12th annual Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon is slated to commence on Friday, January 27, 2012. The event will include the main marathon, scheduled to begin at 7:00 am, the 10K road race at 7:15 am and the 3K Fun Run at 10:30 am. All three races will start at the same location in downtown Dubai. The start gantry will be just outside the Pavilion at the Burj Khalifa. The races will finish at the finish gantry located on the opposite side of the street. The 2012 Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon marks the first marathon in the Middle East to be awarded Gold Label ...

On top of the Himalayan Mountains, Hunza people enjoys the best glacier water that nature offers. Captain Water researchers discovered that this glacier water is formed of perfectly structured water molecules. This means it can actually be fully absorbed to support the body instead of just going through the system and mainly being flushed out. "Most people are not aware that up to 80% of tap water and bottled water that they consume actually may not get absorbed, because it isn't structured at the molecular level properly. Our water ionizer technology directly ...

Chestnut Hill, MA – Armed with insider knowledge, managers of share-restricted hedge funds sell off their own holdings ahead of their investors in order to avoid low returns produced by an outflow of shareholder dollars, according to a new study by researchers from Boston College and EDHEC Business School in France. The practice, known as front running, pits the interests of managers against those of investors in hedge funds where shareholder actions are limited by contract and there is scant disclosure of fund details. Managers act in advance on the information they ...

Designer Fitness is hosting an Open House on January 6, 2012, to celebrate the opening of its new studio. Started by Darla O'Brien in 1989, Designer Fitness moved to 32 S. Osprey Avenue, Suite 204, from its former location on Palm Avenue. The Open House, scheduled from 5:30 to 8 pm, has a 50th Anniversary of "Breakfast at Tiffany's" theme, complete with an Audrey Hepburn look-alike contest. Designer Fitness has a unique approach to fitness training called Motion Empowered, or the ME System . Created by O'Brien and drawing from her more than 25 years of ...

Fifteen years ago, textbooks on human development stated that babies 6 months of age or younger had no sense of "object permanence" – the psychological term that describes an infant's belief that an object still exists even when it is out of sight. That meant that if mom or dad wasn't in the same room with junior, junior didn't have the sense that his parents were still in the world. These days, psychologists know that isn't true: for young babies, out of sight doesn't automatically mean out of mind. But how much do babies remember about the world around them, and what ...

WASHINGTON — A number of health and environmental issues and related risks need to be addressed when considering whether to lift the almost 30-year moratorium on uranium mining in Virginia, says a new report from the National Research Council, the operating arm of the National Academy of Sciences and National Academy of Engineering. "Internationally accepted best practices, which include timely and meaningful public participation, are available to mitigate some of the risks involved," said Paul Locke, chair of the committee that wrote the report and associate professor, ...

Facts of "Hot Coffee" Case Show True Role of Personal Injury Litigation Urban myths often do not correspond to the truth. In fact, they can be downright false -- perpetuating half-truths and outright lies. Such is the case with the infamous McDonald's "hot coffee" case, involving a woman who sought compensation for injuries caused by excessively hot coffee served in a flimsy cup at McDonald's. After the woman obtained substantial compensation in her personal injury case, critics of America's legal system tried to portray it as an example of an ...

(Chicago, IL) - Location and other geographical factors play an important role in supporting economic growth and development in emerging markets, a new study from the Consortium on Financial Systems and Poverty has found. The study, which examines growth in the Thai economy between 1986 and 1996, shows that a high concentration of enterprise in an area predicts high subsequent growth in and around that area. Entrepreneurial activity decreases virtually by the mile the further away one gets from centers of economic concentration. In addition, other geographic conditions, ...