Durham, NH —March 21, 2011— According to a new study from the Journal of Management Studies, corruption, which is endemic in many countries, can benefit the performance of some companies. Without doubt, corruption stands as a corrosive influence on investment and economic growth, but the corrosive nature of corruption does not necessarily hamper all companies equally. Indeed, companies with an advantage in operating in corrupt countries are likely to be pre-disposed to protecting that advantage. Attempts to eliminate government corruption therefore must be mindful of ...

Recently, survivors of the Rwandan genocide shared their stories of healing and hope to participants of the Canadian Truth and Reconciliation Commission. It's a process that author Dan Green says is critical to healing the deep wounds left by decades of abuse and alienation amongst First Nations' and Metis people across Canada. The Residential School experience is one that left a heart-breaking legacy. Tens of thousands of Aboriginals and Metis were ripped from their families and put into state care, forced to forsake their culture and language and subjected to physical, ...

Monash University researchers are working on a vaccine that could completely cure asthma brought on by house dust mite allergies. If successful, the vaccine would have the potential to cure sufferers in two to three doses. Allergies to house dust mites is a leading cause of asthma and the respiratory condition affects more than 2 million Australians and costs more than $600 million in health expenditure each year. Currently, people allergic to house dust mites must continually clean their environments to remove the microscopic creatures from soft furnishings to avoid ...

SANTA FE, N.M. – Garbage mounds left by prehistoric humans might have driven the formation of many of the Florida Everglades' tree islands, distinctive havens of exceptional ecological richness in the sprawling marsh that are today threatened by human development. Tree islands are patches of relatively high and dry ground that dot the marshes of the Everglades. Typically a meter (3.3 feet) or so high, many of them are elevated enough to allow trees to grow. They provide a nesting site for alligators and a refuge for birds, panthers, and other wildlife. Scientists have ...

In the wake of the devastating loss of life in Japan, the urgent question is where the next big earthquake will hit. To answer it, geologist Prof. Zvi Ben-Avraham and his doctoral student Gal Hartman of Tel Aviv University's Department of Physics and Planetary Sciences in the Raymond and Beverly Sackler Faculty of Exact Sciences are examining coral reefs and submarine canyons to detect earthquake fault zones. Working with an international team of Israelis, Americans and Jordanians, Prof. Ben-Avraham and his team are developing a new method to determine what areas in a ...

COLUMBUS, Ohio – A daily dose of safflower oil, a common cooking oil, for 16 weeks can improve such health measures as good cholesterol, blood sugar, insulin sensitivity and inflammation in obese postmenopausal women who have Type 2 diabetes, according to new research. This finding comes about 18 months after the same researchers discovered that safflower oil reduced abdominal fat and increased muscle tissue in this group of women after 16 weeks of daily supplementation. This combination of health measures that are improved by the safflower oil is associated with metabolic ...

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Saying a prayer may help many people feel less angry and behave less aggressively after someone has left them fuming, new research suggests. A series of studies showed that people who were provoked by insulting comments from a stranger showed less anger and aggression soon afterwards if they prayed for another person in the meantime. The benefits of prayer identified in this study don't rely on divine intervention: they probably occur because the act of praying changed the way people think about a negative situation, said Brad Bushman, co-author of ...

MANHATTAN, KAN. -- One of Kansas' most abundant natural resources may hold the key to preventing major power outages. A team of Kansas State University engineers is researching ways to use Kansas wind and other distributed energy sources to avoid cascading failures. Sakshi Pahwa, doctoral student in electrical and computer engineering, India, explored the topic for her recently completed master's project, "Distributed Sources and Islanding to Mitigate Cascading Failures in Power Grid Networks." The project was a winner at the recent Capitol Graduate Research Summit in ...

Primary care doctors are less likely to refer short girls than short boys for diagnostic testing that can reveal underlying medical reasons for their short stature, according to a new study of an urban pediatric population in Philadelphia. Girls with medical conditions causing their short stature may go undiagnosed, or may be diagnosed later than boys, limiting timely treatment. Researchers from The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia published their study online today in the April 2011 issue of Pediatrics. The study team analyzed referral patterns for growth faltering ...

La manta "responsabilidad del edificio" abarca una amplia variedad de lesiones que occurren en la propiedad de otra persona. La propiedad puede ser propiedad de una pequena empresa, familia, corporacion gigante o municipio, pero independientemente, cada propietario tiene la obligacion de mantener sus tierras en condiciones razonablemente seguras para proteger a las personas que puedan entrar en el. Que es la Responsabilidad del Edificio? Como se ha senalado, el termino "responsabilidad del edificio" se puede utilizar para describir una serie de diferentes causas legales ...

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Engineers at Ohio State University have invented a lens that enables microscopic objects to be seen from nine different angles at once to create a 3D image. Other 3D microscopes use multiple lenses or cameras that move around an object; the new lens is the first single, stationary lens to create microscopic 3D images by itself. Allen Yi, associate professor of integrated systems engineering at Ohio State, and postdoctoral researcher Lei Li described the lens in a recent issue of the Journal of the Optical Society of America A. Yi called the lens a ...

Motorcycle riders nationwide are eagerly awaiting the outcome of a lawsuit in federal court in New York challenging motorcycle-only checkpoints. The lawsuit is the first in the country to raise constitutional objections to the law enforcement practice of setting up checkpoints to stop all motorcyclists traveling to or from popular motorcycle events. Police began using these checkpoints in New York State in 2008, using grant money from the Governor's Traffic Safety Committee. Recently, the federal government has begun funding motorcycle-only checkpoint initiatives in ...

New York, 21 March 2011 – Stress can change the balance of bacteria that naturally live in the gut, according to research published this month in the journal Brain, Behavior, and Immunity. "These bacteria affect immune function, and may help explain why stress dysregulates the immune response," said lead researcher Michael Bailey. Exposure to stress led to changes in composition, diversity and number of gut microorganisms, according to scientists from The Ohio State University. The bacterial communities in the intestine became less diverse, and had greater numbers ...

COLUMBIA, Mo. ¬— The Tuamotu Kingfisher is a multicolored, tropical bird with bright blue feathers, a dusty orange head, and a bright green back. The entire population of these birds – less than 125 – lives on one tiny island in the south Pacific, and without serious intervention, they will no longer exist. One University of Missouri researcher is trying to stop the birds' extinction by working with farmers and residents on the island inhabited by the kingfishers. "If we lose these birds, we lose 50,000 years of uniqueness and evolution," said Dylan Kesler, assistant professor ...

Austin-based writer Phil West has recognized the up-and-coming hard rock band, Whiskey Six, in his article on South by Southwest (SXSW) for the national news website, Huffington Post. SXSW is the largest annual showcase for the music industry and features a week of independent and flourishing artists in all genres of music. Industry honchos from all over the world attend SXSW hoping to discover the latest trends in music and fresh talent. The band was featured in the Texas Rockfest, a showcase specifically geared towards rock and heavy metal bands. In his review, ...

VIDEO: The most common ailment to affect a horse is lameness. A University of Missouri equine veterinarian has developed a system to effectively assess this problem using motion detection.... Click here for more information. The most common ailment to affect a horse is lameness. A University of Missouri equine veterinarian has developed a system to effectively assess this problem using motion detection. This system has been referred to as "Lameness Locator." Kevin ...

MIAMI – March 21, 2011 -- Marine biologists have solved a conundrum that has stumped them for years – how to count reef fish. It may sound simple, but the task is actually complex and critical in helping to evaluate the state of our oceans, coral reefs and the marine life that populate them. In an article published in the journal Fisheries Research scientists from the University of Miami (UM) and NOAA Fisheries Service have collaborated to create a framework that extends and increases the effectiveness of reef monitoring techniques. The new methodology uses a probabilistic ...

It's bad enough for a business owner to be re-assessed taxes for a company that he owns, imagine being re-assessed for a company that you no longer own! That's exactly what happened to Mark (Panama City, FL) who came to the office of Blue Tax upon receiving a tax re-assessment notice for $25,000 from the IRS for a business he had already sold. Naturally, the greatest challenge for the Blue Tax team was in finding out why Mark was being assessed for a business he was no longer apart of. The Blue Tax team of attorneys set the goal for themselves to resolve the issue and ...

NEW YORK (Mar. 21, 2011) -- A new study published by researchers at Weill Cornell Medical College and the University of California, Davis, foresees improvements in patient outcomes after a major earthquake through more effective use of information technology. A control tower-style telemedicine hub to manage electronic traffic between first responders and remote medical experts could boost the likelihood that critically injured victims will get timely care and survive, according to the team's computer simulation model. "Since its introduction in the 1970s, telemedicine ...

MIAMI – March 21, 2011 -- As the North Brazil Current (NBC) moves northward along the northeastern coast of Brazil, it draws water from the South Equatorial Current and the freshwater outflow from the Amazon River, providing a source for warm, nutrient-rich water. Just northwest of Brazil, part of the NBC banks a hard right and flows east along the equator. Occasionally, the turn is especially sharp and the current loops around, pinching off an independently- traveling parcel of warm water. This portion travels northwest with a clockwise rotation, moving through the ocean ...

Mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, meatloaf…they may be bad for your arteries, but according to an upcoming study in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, they're good for your heart and emotions. The study focuses on "comfort food" and how it makes people feel. "For me personally, food has always been big in my family," says Jordan Troisi, a graduate student at the University of Buffalo. The study came out of the research program of his co-author Shira Gabriel, which has looked at social surrogates—things that make people ...

MIG BANK, the first Forex broker to have obtained a Swiss banking license in December 2009, has announced today it has been granted the Securities Dealer License by the FINMA, the Swiss Financial Market Regulatory Authority. Since its foundation in 2003, MIG BANK has been offering online Forex trading services to private and institutional clients and has become, within a short period, one of the global leaders in the area of online Forex trading. Swiss financial institutions are required to have the Securities Dealer License in order to offer securities trading facilities ...

WASHINGTON -- Recent research aboard the Space Shuttle is giving scientists a better understanding of how infectious disease occurs in space and could someday improve astronaut health and provide novel treatments for people on Earth. The research involves an opportunistic pathogen known as Pseudomonas aeruginosa, the same bacterium that caused astronaut Fred Haise to become sick during the Apollo 13 mission to the moon in 1970. Scientists studying the bacterium aboard the Shuttle hope to unlock the mysteries of how disease-causing agents work. They believe the research ...

Dr. Hilton Becker, a Board Certified Plastic Surgeon and international specialist practicing Reconstructive, Cosmetic and Corrective Surgery in Boca Raton, Florida, recently presented studies and technical data about Spectra to the Brazilian medical community. Dr. Becker spoke at the 47th Brazilian Congress of Plastic Surgery in Vitoria in the State of Espiritu Santo on November 14. Dr. Becker is the inventor of Spectra, the first adjustable aesthetic breast implant, which is considered ideal for women with breast asymmetry. Spectra's unique feature is its innovative ...

A paper announcing a breakthrough discovery in the fight against Niemann-Pick Type C, coauthored by Olaf Wiest and Paul Helquist of the University of Notre Dame's Department Chemistry & Biochemistry and Frederick Maxfield, Chair of Biochemistry at Cornell University Weill College of Medicine, appears in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences this week. The paper shows how use of a histone deacetylase inhibitor correct the damage done by the genetic disorder and allowed once-diseased cells to function normally. Niemann-PickType C (NPC) involves a genetic flaw ...