Fair Franchising Bills Gain Steam Across U.S.; New York Could Be Next The franchisor-franchisee relationship is meant to be a mutually beneficial partnership. Franchisees get to put a tested business model into action under a well-known name, while franchisors reap the financial rewards of licensing fees and an expended national presence. Yet, even in such a symbiotic relationship, conflicts can arise. In recent years, some small business owners, franchise attorneys and commerce groups have voiced concern over franchise agreements that seem to be increasingly lopsided ...

Bankruptcy Offers Help for Small Business Owners The first years of a new business can be difficult. Businesses typically open as small enterprises hoping to grow larger. The challenge for many is managing the costs of operating a business as it develops. Small businesses often face greater challenges than large businesses because they lack the financial cushion to weather fluctuations in the market and economy. Unfortunately, this is the reason many small businesses fail. To get credit for a business venture, business owners frequently have to sign a personal ...

Johnson & Johnson to Stop Selling Certain Vaginal Mesh Products The Ethicon unit of Johnson & Johnson recently told a federal judge that the company has plans to discontinue the sale of some of its vaginal mesh products after a number of lawsuits were filed. The brand names to be removed from the market are Prolift, Prolift+ M, TVT Secur and Prosima. Dangers of Vaginal Mesh Products Vaginal mesh products, which are used to treat urinary incontinence and pelvic organ prolapse, have been under scrutiny in recent years. Hundreds of women have sued Johnson ...

Grades for New York Hospitals: Goal Is To Improve Patient Care Grades are a basic component of a culture that values performance. In school, students get report cards. In business, it typically takes the form of an annual review. For years, healthcare organizations were insulated from these periodic reality checks. In the abstract, doctors and patients are committed to patient care. Far too often, however, putting on the white lab coats seemed to also entail taking a vow of secrecy. Fortunately, that is now beginning to change. This article will discuss how several ...

UPDATE: A Lifetime Behind Bars for Juvenile Offenders Dealt Huge Blow On June 25, 2012, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a ruling in the consolidated cases Jackson v. Hobbs and Miller v. Alabama. In a hotly contested 5-4 decision, the justices struck down mandatory life sentences without parole for juvenile offenses as a violation of the Eighth Amendment prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment. The new ruling does not mean life without parole may no longer be imposed on offenders for crimes committed as a juvenile. Instead, it invalidates the mandatory sentencing ...

Core Assets Group, the international children's services provider, has announced the acquisition of Carter Brown Associates Ltd, the UK's leading family expert witness firm. This latest acquisition brings greater depth and breadth to the Core Assets existing portfolio of services as it continues to expand in the children and families sector. Established in 2001, Carter Brown Associates delivers bespoke expert witness services to legal professionals who operate in the family courts. With headquarters in Mansfield, the company employs 25 staff who support a network ...

According to an online cosmetic surgery resource, breast reduction surgery can boost your confidence and improve your outlook on life. Cosmetic Surgery Guru - which provides information and advice regarding both surgical and non-surgical procedures - has highlighted the physical and psychological benefits of such procedures and has claimed they can "greatly improve" the mobility of those with an extraordinarily large bust. Commenting on breast reduction surgery, Isabella Franklin, a spokeswoman for the site said: "During the operation fat, glandular ...

FOURTH 21ST CENTURY BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY DAY "Conserve, Go Green, Be Healthy: The Winning Edge For Your Business" Crowne Plaza Anaheim Hotel, 12021 Harbor Blvd., Garden Grove, CA 92840 The Filipino American Chamber of Commerce of Orange County is a non-profit organization dedicated to helping small to medium business organizations grow their companies through events such as workshops, procurement opportunities, mixers, mentorship, and other programs to network and connect our members with successful business professionals. The events they organize have ...

Sporty's Health is a retailer of sports-related nutrition supplements. The company offers a wide range of products, most of which are formulated to help individual's maximize the results of their workout routines. More specifically, such supplements sold through Sporty's include products that promise to provide energy boosts for maximum intensity workouts; other supplements are aimed at helping users "bulk up." In fact, one of Sporty's banners says "Size matters," and this emphasis on muscle size is the focus of many of Sporty's supplements. While ...

This July, Ohio-based Velvet Ice Cream will mark National Ice Cream Month by offering free ice cream to anyone who visits the Ye Olde Mill weekdays from 1-3 p.m. The promotion celebrates July's standing as National Ice Cream Month and July 15 being dubbed National Ice Cream Day. Visitors can sample a free sample of fresh ice cream right off of the Velvet production line throughout the month of July. Along with free ice cream, visitors to Velvet Ice Cream's Ye Olde Mill can enjoy tours of the Utica, Ohio ice cream factory, check out the ice cream and milling museums ...

Many years in the making and recorded at various corners of the globe, Arun Shenoy Music Publishing (ASMP), Singapore is delighted to announce the worldwide release of the highly anticipated new record from Arun Shenoy on August 30, 2012. Titled, "Rumbadoodle", this explosive world fusion record offers a bold new perspective on the Rumba Flamenco, combining elements of the traditional art form with a myriad of popular music. Recorded almost entirely live across the globe, the record is an exploratory journey, doodling across genre boundaries as we know it today, ...

A new e cigarette review website that was launched just a few months ago has announced that they are different from any other review site in the e cigarette industry. The claim comes from their rating system that does not cover opinion based factors like packaging, presentation or sales hype. The website lays out in plain language how and why they claim to have the best e cigarette reviews on the web. The information states that five factors are used in determining the rating of each e cigarette company reviewed. Price, customer service, warranty, selection and deceptive ...

Researchers at Emory University School of Medicine have identified five rare mutations in a single gene that appear to increase the chances that a boy will develop an autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Mutations in the AFF2 gene, and other genes like it on the X chromosome, may explain why autism spectrum disorders affect four times as many boys as girls. The mutations in AFF2 appeared in 2.5 percent (5 out of 202) of boys examined. Mutations in X chromosome genes only affect boys, who have one X chromosome. Girls have a second copy of the gene that can compensate. The ...

University of Washington researchers have made a discovery that sheds light on why the human body is unable to adequately fight off HIV infection. The work, directed by Dr. Michael Gale, Jr., a professor in the Immunology Department, will be featured in the August print issue of the Journal of Virology. The researchers discovered that the viral protein vpu, which is created by HIV during infection, directly interferes with the immune response protein IRF3 to dampen the ability of the immune system to protect against virus infection. "By understanding exactly what ...

New Orleans, 11 July 2012— With the conclusion of a successful meeting of the Council of the Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) on Community and Ecosystem Resilience in North America, North America's environment ministers Administrator Jackson, Minister Kent and Secretary Elvira, announced the modernization of the Submission on Enforcement Matters Process, a strengthened commitment to initiatives to Green the North American Economy, and a continued focus on streamlining the cooperative work program of the CEC. Council welcomed dynamic participation from universities, ...

Social birds that forgo breeding to help to raise the offspring of other group members are far more likely care for their own close relatives than for more distant kin, a new study has found. The study, which looked at a highly social species from outback Australia, the chestnut-crowned babbler, also found that these birds work much harder to care for their brothers and sisters than the young of less-related group members. The findings, published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, provide new insights into understanding why some individuals cooperate with ...

An Australian study has criticized Hollywood's portrayal of menstruation, warning it's misinforming young girls and portraying periods as overly traumatic and humiliating. Researcher Dr Lauren Rosewarne, from the University's School of Social and Political Sciences, has analyzed hundreds of representations of menstruation in film and television. "The presentation of menstruation on screen is an overwhelmingly negative one," she said. The analysis included jokes, plotlines and references from popular TV shows such as The Big Bang Theory, Mad Men, Friends and Grey's ...

VIDEO: This video shows a reconstructed skull -- revised parts put together with endocast and transparent cranium. Click here for more information. South African scientists will share the country's latest fossil discovery with the world using live virtual technology. Scientists from the Wits Institute for Human Evolution based at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg will announce the discovery of a large rock containing significant parts of a skeleton of ...

SALT LAKE CITY, July 12, 2012 – University of Utah physicists invented a new "spintronic" organic light-emitting diode or OLED that promises to be brighter, cheaper and more environmentally friendly than the kinds of LEDs now used in television and computer displays, lighting, traffic lights and numerous electronic devices. "It's a completely different technology," says Z. Valy Vardeny, University of Utah distinguished professor of physics and senior author of a study of the new OLEDs in the July 13, 2012 issue of the journal Science. "These new organic LEDs can be brighter ...

EUGENE, Ore. -- (July 12, 2012) -- Archaeological work in Oregon's Paisley Caves has found evidence that Western Stemmed projectile points -- darts or thrusting spearheads -- were present at least 13,200 calendar years ago during or before the Clovis culture in western North America. In a paper in the July 13 issue of Science, researchers from 13 institutions lay out their findings, which also include substantial new documentation, including "blind-test analysis" by independent labs, that confirms the human DNA pulled earlier from human coprolites (dried feces) and reported ...

Talk about a bait-and-switch. Male representatives of the tropical fish known as swordtail characins have flag-like sex ornaments that catch mates just like the bait on a fishing rod would. What's more, a study reported online on July 12 in Current Biology, a Cell Press publication, shows just what any good fly-fisherman would know: Lures work best if they mimic the foods that fish most often eat. For some characins in the study, that means males are waving pretend ants around in hopes of getting a bite. "This is a natural example of a fishing lure designed to maximize ...

We all know that humans have domesticated plants and animals for our sustenance and enjoyment, but we've tamed various microbes as well. Now researchers reporting online on July 12 in Current Biology, a Cell Press publication, show that the mark of that domestication on microbes, and specifically on the mold used for thousands of years to brew sake and soy sauce from rice and soybeans, looks rather unique. While changes brought by domestication to plants and animals have rested largely on exaggerating physical traits, changes to microbes have occurred instead via extensive ...

The calorie-burning and heat-generating brown fat found in full-grown humans is actually not quite brown; it's beige. So says a new study reported on July 12th in the journal Cell, a Cell Press publication, in which researchers fully characterize this promising obesity-fighting tissue in both mice and humans for the first time. The findings could lead to more specific ways to address the epidemic of obesity and diabetes by giving those beige fat cells a boost, the researchers say. "We've identified a third type of fat cell," said Bruce Spiegelman of Harvard Medical ...

A century ago, the South Pole was one of Earth's last frontiers, but now the Antarctic is under threat from human activity. Led by Monash University's Professor Steven Chown, a multidisciplinary team of experts from around the globe has set out the current and future conservation challenges facing the Antarctic in a Policy Forum article published today in Science. The team analysed the effectiveness of the existing Antarctic Treaty System for protecting the region, one of the world's largest commons, from the threats of climate change and, as technology improves, increasing ...

Washington, DC —Scientists have long believed that comets and, or a type of very primitive meteorite called carbonaceous chondrites were the sources of early Earth's volatile elements—which include hydrogen, nitrogen, and carbon—and possibly organic material, too. Understanding where these volatiles came from is crucial for determining the origins of both water and life on the planet. New research led by Carnegie's Conel Alexander focuses on frozen water that was distributed throughout much of the early Solar System, but probably not in the materials that aggregated to ...