Bulls May Take A Breather; Global Cues Mixed

Stocks are likely to remain in a consolidation mode on Friday after a sharp rally in the previous session. The market is likely to take cues from the Asian markets which had a tepid start.

US stocks rose on Thursday, with the Nasdaq turning positive for the year-to-date, as a batch economic data that was not as dire as expected fed optimism the economy's worst days were behind.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 174.75 points, or 2.25 per cent, to 7,924.56. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index gained 18.98 points, or 2.33 per cent, to 832.86 and the Nasdaq Composite Index added 58.05 points, or 3.80 per cent, to 1,587.00.

Stocks across the Asia Pacific were trading mixed following cues from Wall Street. The Nikkei climbed 0.8 per cent, Topix rose 0.93 per cent, Hang Seng edged 0.04 per cent lower and Straits Times fell 1 per cent.

Back home, bulls were on a rampage fourth day running Thursday, helping the Sensex reclaim the 10,000 mark. The Nifty also tested the 3100 mark during the day but retreated towards the fag end of the session.

The market opened trade on a firm footing, and then there was no looking back. In step with strong global markets and boosted by short-covering on the last day of monthly derivatives contracts, the Indian stock market marched northward.

Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensex settled at 10,003.10, up 335.20 points or 3.47 per cent. The index soared to an intra-day high of 10,061.36 after opening trade at 9,739.93. This is the first time since January 7, 2009 that the 30-share index scaled the 10000 mark.

National Stock Exchange’s Nifty advanced 3.28 per cent or 97.4 points to 3082.25. The 50-share index rose to a high of 3103.35 during the day. Midcaps and smallcaps space was also buzzing with activity. The BSE Midcap Index was up 1.16 per cent and the BSE Smallcap Index rose 0.69 per cent.

ForMoreInfo: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/4321856.cms

Drop Charges Against Zuma

he leader of the ruling ANC Jacob Zuma, will have more than 700 counts of fraud and corruption charges against him dropped soon.

This follows representations made by Mr. Zuma's lawyers to the National Prosecution Authority(NPA), which has instituted the charges against the ANC leader.

The representations follow a recent rejection by the Appeal Court against a ruling by the Pietermaritzburg High Court that the charges be thrown out. Mr. Zuma subsequently made representations to the Constitutional Court, which ruled that

Mr. Zuma should be entitled to make representations to the NPA and that the ANC could be a friend of Zuma in court.

Mr. Zuma has been charged with fraud and corruption after his Indian-origin financier and comrade, Schabir Shaik, was convicted of bribing Zuma to the tune of more than 25,0000 USD over a ten year period since 1995. Shaik was released three weeks ago on medical parole after only serving two years of a 15-year sentence.

Mr. Zuma is scheduled to appear in court again in August, four months after he's expected to be elected President of the country.

The wide speculation about the dropping of charges against Zuma has reached a feverish level in South Africa after Shaik's brother, Mo Shaik, told a university students meeting in Pretoria yesterday that newspapers would report that the NPA would drop the charges against Mr. Zuma.

Carroll Helps Missouri Pull Away From Texas Tech

Oklahoma City, OK (Sports Network) - DeMarre Carroll led the way with 19 points and five rebounds, as 14th-ranked Missouri returned some order to the Big 12 Tournament, blitzing Texas Tech, 81-60, in a quarterfinal matchup at the Ford Center.

A 31-31 halftime tie quickly turned into a 50-point second half for the Tigers, who used the full court press and efficient execution to overwhelm the Red Raiders (14-19).

J.T. Tiller and Matt Lawrence added 13 points apiece for the Tigers (26-6), who are the only top-four seed remaining after the wild quarterfinals. Kansas, Oklahoma and fourth-seeded Kansas State all fell on Thursday, leaving Baylor, Oklahoma State, Texas and Missouri left in Oklahoma City.

Missouri will face Oklahoma State in the semifinals.

Mike Singletary, one day after scoring 29 straight points as part of a 43- point effort, managed only 17, while Nick Okorie added 13 points for Texas Tech.

A 35-35 stalemate turned into a 13-point Tigers lead in a flash. Leo Lyons converted two buckets from in close off the bat, Tiller scored from in close right after that and Carroll's bucket put Missouri in front, 48-35 just over five minutes in.

Alan Voskuil's free throws brought the Red Raiders back within single digits, 55-46, but they never got closer. The margin grew to 67-48 on Zaire Taylor's two free throws with 6:11 to play, and Missouri rolled from there.

Game Notes

Missouri shot 55.4 percent on the game, while Texas Tech made just 36.7 percent of its shots, including only 4-of-15 from beyond the arc...The Red Raiders bench scored more points than their starters (31 to 30).

Chris Paul Leads

New Orleans, LA (Sports Network) - Chris Paul scored 21 of his 27 points in the second half and dished out 15 assists, as the Hornets stretched their season-best winning streak to six games with a 104-88 dismantling of the Dallas Mavericks.

David West netted 19 points, 10 rebounds and three blocks for the Hornets, who also received 10 points and 11 boards from Tyson Chandler. Rasual Butler scored 18 in the win.

"We're definitely not peaking, but we're playing a lot better than we were," said Paul. "Ever since I got my big man back, we're 6-0, so I'm glad to have (Chandler) back and we're doing a good job right now."

After losing 21 straight games to the Mavericks in the all-time series, the Hornets have won four of the last six meetings, eight of the last 11 games including their 4-2 first-round playoff series win over Dallas last season.

Dirk Nowitzki had 27 points and seven rebounds for the Mavericks, who have dropped two of their last three contests. Jason Kidd added 13 points and Jason Terry scored 10 for the Mavs, who shot 39.5 percent from the field, while allowing the Hornets to make 56 percent of their attempts.

"We could never get a consistent string of shot making," said Dallas coach Rick Carlisle. "We were playing from behind all night. We just couldn't sustain them."

Nowitzki nailed a three-pointer to extend Dallas to a 51-46 lead just over two minutes into the third quarter, but the Hornets came back with a stinging 25-7 spurt to take control. Butler's three-pointer capped the burst for a 71-59 lead with barely over two minutes left in the third.

Paul and Chandler combined for 18 points in the third quarter as New Orleans shot 66.7 percent (12-of-18), while holding Dallas to 29.4 percent (5-of-17) in the period.

"In the first half, we weren't aggressive enough," said Paul. "We didn't push the tempo enough. In the second half, I knew that was my job, and that's what I tried to do. In the first half, they started switching ball screens. I was passing, deferring to my teammates. Coach told me I just needed to be more aggressive. I attacked him (Nowitzki) a few times, and finally my jump shot started falling."

Facing a 75-67 deficit entering the final quarter, the Mavs fell apart defensively as the game turned into a rout. Paul's three-pointer expanded the lead to 91-76 and that was the start of a sealing 10-0 flurry, which was culminated by a Butler three-point play.

New Orleans led 24-21 after the opening quarter and the game remained tight until the half, when it was tied at 45. Nowitzki hit a jumper at the buzzer to seemingly give Dallas the lead, but the basket was waived off as replays showed the shot barely came after the red light went on before he fully released the ball.

"In the first half I thought we played their style of basketball, they looked like the younger fresher basketball team which I wasn't really happy about," said Hornets coach Byron Scott. "So I let the guys know at halftime that we have to come out there and be more aggressive. Then we got going in the third quarter at both ends of the floor."

Boxing Championship

The Indian Boxing Federation's (IBF) request to postpone the Commonwealth Championships here from December to February-March next year has been accepted by the Commonwealth body.

The Commonwealth Boxing Federation (CBF) has agreed to reschedule the tournament in the city from December 2009 to February-March next year, the IBF said in a statement.

"The Indian Boxing Federation has now requested the International Boxing Association to allot a suitable date in February-March 2010 so that it does not clash with any other major international boxing competitions in the world," IBF secretary general PK Muralidharan Raja said.

This change was necessitated since construction work at Talkatora Stadium, venue of the boxing event for the 2010 Commonwealth Games, will be completed by November this year.

"Although NDMC has promised to hand over the stadium by December, the federation in consultation with the Organising Committee of Commonwealth Games has preferred to host the Commonwealth Boxing Championships, which will be a test event for the Commonwealth Games, in February-March 2010 rather than trying to squeeze it in December this year," Raja added.

In another development, the first international (16th AK Mishra) boxing tournament will be held in Chandigarh from March 11-15 this year.

Researchers for HIV work

Even as Connecticut considers reducing funding for AIDS programs, state public health researchers are winning accolades for their work with those living with HIV.

A program developed at the University of Connecticut's Center for Health, Intervention and Prevention is among a group of eight intervention programs commended recently by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Under the program, known as "Options," clinicians are trained to counsel HIV-positive patients during routine medical appointments to avoid risky behavior, such as unprotected sex and drug use, developing a list of behavioral prescriptions for patients to follow as they live with the virus.

"Most interventions focus on people not infected with HIV and not likely to become infected," said Jeffrey D. Fisher, a social psychology professor at UConn and director of the intervention center. "But we also need to help people who have HIV to practice safer sex and drug use."

Such precautions are necessary not just to protect the health of those living with HIV or AIDS, which make patients substantially more susceptible to infection and disease, but also to ensure that continued risky behavior doesn't spread HIV to those with whom diagnosed people share needles or have sex.

Fisher developed the program in the late 1990s with his brother, Bill Fisher, a professor at the University of Western Ontario, and three other researchers from CHIP and Yale University.

The Options program was developed from current behavioral theory and a process of collaboration with those struggling with HIV diagnosis and problems with substance abuse or risky sex, Fisher said. The intervention plan asks clinical workers to work with patients to develop strategies for reducing risk, and to evaluate each patient's willingness to change.

The program was included this year in "The 2008 Compendium of Evidence-based HIV Prevention Interventions," which is compiled annually by the CDC, and recognizes programs that have proven successful at reducing HIV infection and behavior that can increase the chance of contracting sexually transmitted diseases.

The CDC estimates that 46,000 people were infected with HIV in the U.S. in 2006, the most recent year for which data was available.

Source: theday.com/re.aspx?re=76b88ed9-71a3-4510-a675-6361d367da02

Language

A language is a dynamic set of sensory symbols of communication and the elements used to manipulate them. Language can also refer to the use of such systems as a general phenomenon. Strictly speaking, language is considered to be an exclusively human mode of communication. Although other animals make use of quite sophisticated communicative systems, sometimes casually referred to as animal language, none of these are known to make use of all of the properties that linguists use to define language.

In Western Philosophy, language has long been closely associated with reason, which is also a uniquely human way of using symbols. In Ancient Greek philosophical terminology, the same word, logos, was used as a term for both language or speech and reason, and the philosopher Thomas Hobbes used the English word "speech" so that it similarly could refer to reason, as will be discussed below. More commonly though, the English word "language", derived ultimately from lingua, Latin for tongue, typically refers only to expressions of reason which can be understood by other people, most obviously by speaking.

CD Logical structure

The largest entity on a CD is called a track. A CD can contain up to 99 tracks (including a data track for mixed mode discs). Each track can in turn have up to 100 indexes, though players which handle this feature are rarely found outside of pro audio, particularly radio broadcasting. The vast majority of songs are recorded under index 1, with the pre-gap being index 0. Sometimes hidden tracks are placed at the end of the last track of the disc, often using index 2 or 3. This is also the case with some discs offering "101 sound effects", with 100 and 101 being indexed as two and three on track 99. The index, if used, is occasionally put on the track listing as a decimal part of the track number, such as 99.2 or 99.3. (Information Society's Hack was one of very few CD releases to do this, following a release with an equally-obscure CD+G feature.) The track and index structure of the CD carried forward to the DVD as title and chapter, respectively.

Genetic diversity

Genetic diversity is a level of biodiversity that refers to the total number of genetic characteristics in the genetic makeup of a specie. It is distinguished from genetic variability, which describes the tendency of genetic characteristics to vary.:)

The academic field of population genetics includes several hypotheses regarding genetic diversity. The neutral theory of evolution proposes that diversity is the result of the accumulation of neutral substitutions. Diversifying selection is the hypothesis that two subpopulations of a species live in different environments that select for different alleles at a particular locus. This may occur, for instance, if a species has a large range relative to the mobility of individuals within it. Frequency-dependent selection is the hypothesis that as alleles become more common, they become less fit. This is often invoked in host-pathogen interactions, where a high frequency of a defensive allele among the host means that it is more likely that a pathogen will spread if it is able to overcome that allele.

Ruminantia

The biological suborder Ruminantia includes many of the well-known large grazing or browsing mammals: among them cattle, goats, sheep, deer, and antelope. All members of the Ruminantia are ruminants: they digest food in two steps, chewing and swallowing in the normal way to begin with, and then regurgitating the semi-digested cud to re-chew it and thus extract the maximum possible food value.

Note that not all ruminants belong to the Ruminantia. Camels and llamas are among the exceptions, a suborder known as Tylopoda. Also, there are a number of other large grazing mammals that, while not strictly ruminants, have similar adaptations for surviving on large quantities of low-grade food. Kangaroos and horses are examples.

Landlocked seas

• Aral Sea
• Lake Balkhash
• Caspian Sea
• Lake Chad
• Lake Chilwa
• Chott Melrhir
• Dead Sea
• Lake Eyre
• Issyk Kul
• Namtso
• Sea of Galilee
• Great Salt Lake
• Qinghai Lake
• Salton Sea
• Tonle Sap
• Lake Torrens
• Lake Turkana
• Lake Van

Leather

Leather is a material created through the tanning of hides and skins of animals, primarily cattlehide. The tanning process converts the putrescible skin into a durable, long-lasting and versatile natural material for various uses.

Together with wood, leather formed the basis of much ancient technology. The leather industry and the fur industry are distinct industries that are differentiated by the importance of their raw materials. In the leather industry the raw materials are by-products of the meat industry, with the meat having higher value than the skin. The fur industry uses raw materials that are higher in value than the meat and hence the meat is classified as a by-product. Taxidermy also makes use of the skin of animals, but generally the head and part of the back are used. Hides and skins are also used in the manufacture of glue and gelatin

Chesapeake Bay impact crater

The Chesapeake Bay impact crater was formed by a bolide that impacted the eastern shore of North America about 35.5 million years ago, in the late Eocene epoch. It is one of the best-preserved "wet-target" or marine impact craters, and the largest impact crater in the U.S. Continued slumping of sediments over the rubble of the crater have helped shape Chesapeake Bay.

Formal languages

Mathematics and computer science use artificial entities called formal languages (including programming languages and markup languages, and some that are more theoretical in nature). These often take the form of character strings, produced by a combination of formal grammar and semantics of arbitrary complexity.

Polyadenylation

Polyadenylation is the covalent linkage of a polyadenylyl moiety to a messenger RNA molecule. In eukaryotic organisms, most messenger RNA (mRNA) molecules are polyadenylated at the 3' end. The poly(A) tail and the protein bound to it aid in protecting mRNA from degradation by exonucleases. Polyadenylation is also important for transcription termination, export of the mRNA from the nucleus, and translation. mRNA can also be polyadenylated in prokaryotic organisms, where poly(A) tails act to facilitate, rather than impede, exonucleolytic degradation.

Polyadenylation occurs during and immediately after transcription of DNA into RNA. After transcription has been terminated, the mRNA chain is cleaved through the action of an endonuclease complex associated with RNA polymerase. After the mRNA has been cleaved, around 250 adenosine residues are added to the free 3' end at the cleavage site. This reaction is catalyzed by polyadenylate polymerase. Just as in alternative splicing, there can be more than one polyadenylation variant of a mRNA.

Soy milk Health benefits

Soy milk is nutritionally close to cow's milk. It naturally has about the same amount of protein (though not the same amino acid profile) as cow's milk. Natural soy milk contains little digestible calcium as it is bound to the bean's pulp, which is insoluble in a human. To counter this, many manufacturers enrich their products with calcium carbonate available to human digestion. Unlike cow's milk it has little saturated fat and no cholesterol, which is a benefit. Soy products contain sucrose as the basic disaccharide, which breaks down into glucose and fructose. Since soy doesn't contain galactose, a product of lactose breakdown, it can safely replace breast milk in children with Galactosemia.

Soy milk is promoted as a healthy alternative to cow's milk for reasons including:

• Source of lecithin and vitamin E

• Lacks casein

• It is safe for people with lactose intolerance or milk allergy

• Polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats are good for the heart. (It should be noted that whole milk has just as much monounsaturated fat as soy milk; and while it has less polyunsaturated, it contains the omega-3 fatty acids EPA and DHA that soy milk lack.)

• Contains isoflavones, organic chemicals that may possibly be beneficial to health.

San Jose/Santa Clara Water Pollution Control Plant

The San Jose/Santa Clara Water Pollution Control Plant is one of the largest advanced wastewater treatment facilities in California. It treats and cleans the wastewater of over 1,500,000 people that live and work in the 300-square mile area encompassing San Jose, Santa Clara, Milpitas, Campbell, Cupertino, Los Gatos, Saratoga, and Monte Sereno.The Water Pollution Control Plant has the capacity to treat 167,000,000 gallons of wastewater per day. It is located in Alviso, at the southernmost tip of the San Francisco Bay. Originally constructed in 1956, the Plant had the capacity to treat 36,000,000 gallons of water per day and only provided primary treatment. In 1964, the Plant added a secondary treatment process to its system. In 1979, the Plant upgraded its wastewater treatment process to an advanced, tertiary system.

Graphic illustrating sources of wastewater that flow into the San Jose/Santa Clara Water Pollution Control Plant.Wastewater from sinks, toilets, and drains inside homes, businesses and schools in most of Santa Clara Valley travels through an underground pipe system, known as the sanitary sewer system, before it arrives for treatment at the San Jose/Santa Clara Water Pollution Control Plant. That journey can take up to 10 hours. About 18 hours later, 99% of the impurities have been removed through a highly sophisticated treatment process that simulates the way nature purifies water, but at a greatly accelerated rate.

Acquired brain injury

A neurological condition, Acquired Brain Injury (ABI) is damage to the brain acquired after birth. It usually affects cognitive, physical, emotional, social or independent functioning and can result from traumatic brain injury (i.e. accidents, falls, assaults, etc.) and nontraumatic brain injury (i.e. stroke, brain tumours, infection, poisoning, hypoxia, ischemia or substance abuse). Most definitions of ABI exclude neurodegenerative disorders. Acquired brain injury is not to be confused with intellectual disability. People with a brain injury may have difficulty controlling, coordinating and communicating their thoughts and actions but they usually retain their intellectual abilities. Brain injury has dramatically varied effects and no two people can expect the same outcome or resulting difficulties. The brain controls every part of human life: physically, intellectually, behaviorally, socially and emotionally. When the brain is damaged, some other part of a person's life will also be adversely affected. Even a mild injury can sometimes result in a serious disability that will interfere with a person’s daily functioning and personal activities for the rest of their life. While the outcome of the injury depends largely on the nature and severity of the injury itself, appropriate treatment will play a vital role in determining the level of recovery.

Sudbury Basin

The Sudbury Basin, also known as Sudbury Structure or the Sudbury Nickel Irruptive, is the second largest known impact crater or astrobleme on Earth, and a major geologic structure in Ontario, Canada.

The basin is located on the Canadian Shield in the city of Greater Sudbury, Ontario. The former municipalities of Rayside-Balfour and Valley East lie within the Sudbury Basin, which is referred to locally as "The Valley". The urban core of the former city of Sudbury lies on the southern outskirts of the Basin.

The Sudbury Basin is located near a number of other geological structures, including the Temagami Magnetic Anomaly, the Lake Wanapitei impact crater and the western end of the Ottawa-Bonnechere Graben, although none of the structures are directly related to each other in the sense of resulting from the same geophysical processes.

Visual modularity

In cognitive neuroscience, visual modularity is an organizational concept concerning how vision works. The way in which the primate visual system operates is currently under intense scientific scrutiny. One dominant thesis is that different properties of the visual world (colour, motion, form and so forth) require different computational solutions which are implemented in anatomically/functionally distinct regions that operate independently – that is, in a modular fashion (Calabretta & Parisi, 2005).