What to do when you lose a big client | TechRepublic

January 28, 2013, 4:54 AM PST

Takeaway: If you have one or two big consulting contracts, here are five things to keep in mind when you eventually lose their business.

If you?re in the consulting business for any length of time, you?ll experience the vicissitudes of the feast or famine phenomenon. As you go through its ups and downs, sooner or later one of those downs will take you by surprise. When a large contract suddenly goes away or gets drastically reduced, you might find it hard to pay the bills. You could even begin to wonder whether you can make it as a consultant after all. Here are some things to remember.

Don?t panic

If you don?t have other prospects already lined up, you could find this situation rather frightening. You might want to jump at the first thing that comes along, or even leave consulting for the supposed security of a salaried position. You might think about drastically slashing your rates in order to quickly attract new business. Keep your head cool and think about what?s best for your business. You don?t want to find yourself a year from now slaving on low-paying projects that keep you too busy to find anything better. The skills that got you the client you just lost will help you find others.

Don?t blame yourself

This event can easily become the entrance theme for a magnum performance by the Impostor Syndrome. Some of his best lines include:

• If you were for real, you would have kept that client.
• They dropped you because they finally saw through you.
• You allowed your skills to stagnate, so now you won?t be able to find new work.
• It?s time you quit pretending to know what you?re doing.

Those are all BS. The truth is that nobody knows everything about their job, especially in IT. We?re all learning all the time, just to do our jobs. We can?t keep up with everything in the field, so there will always be some domain of knowledge about which we think, ?I should have already learned about that.? Even though that may be true, beating yourself up about it isn?t going to help. It will only paralyze you.

Analyze your mistakes

Without blaming yourself, think about whether there were things you might have done differently to keep the client. Then ask yourself whether that is likely to apply to other clients as well. We can all stand to improve ourselves in one way or another. We may need to learn new skills, or work on our interpersonal communications. Did you fail to remove some false dilemma that made the client think that they either had to let you go or suffer some worse consequence? Did you miss or ignore any warning signs that this was about to happen? It?s always good to examine ourselves for the cause of our difficulties, but don?t forget that sometimes circumstances have nothing to do with anything we did or could have done.

Find new work

Even though you may feel compelled to work extra hard for your remaining clients, you probably need to set aside some time to deliberately seek new business. If you try to make up your losses on your existing clients, you may overburden their budgets and create problems in those relationships. When looking for new work, keep a cool head. Desperation doesn?t sell. Stick to your proven methods of finding work, or innovate thoughtfully ? but don?t grasp at straws.

Prepare for the next time

These downtimes are never fun. Wouldn?t it be nice if you could ride through them more comfortably? There are at least two things that you should do. First, set aside some money on a regular basis in a fund specifically designated for getting through these rainy days. Second, keep your client base diverse. If each client is only a small fraction of your business, then losing one or even two at the same time becomes a speed bump instead of a ?bridge out ahead!?

Conclusion

A dozen years ago I lost a client who had been with me for ten years, and who at the time accounted for almost 50% of my business. I didn?t recover quickly. It took years to build my revenue again by piecing together smaller contracts. I had become too comfortable with that regular chunk of income every month.

How about you? Do you have one or two big contracts that are making you complacent? What could you do to soften the blow when they eventually go away?

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Source: http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/project-management/what-to-do-when-you-lose-a-big-client/5481

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Egyptian president calls for dialogue with political forces to resolve latest crisis

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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/egyptian-president-calls-dialogue-political-forces-resolve-latest-195911823--spt.html

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Bipartisan Senate group proposes immigration plan (reuters)

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Keith Rabois Leaves Top Operating Role At Square

Long-time investor and valley executive Keith Rabois is leaving his chief operating officer position at payment company Square, in a surprise announcement by the company tonight.?Chief financial officer Sarah Friar will be acting COO as it looks for a replacement.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/_nppm6ZFNl4/

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Coordinated Health opening women&#39;s center - Lehigh Valley Health ...

January 24, 2013

Posted by Tim Darragh at 10:15:36 AM on January 24, 2013

The Lehigh Valley's newest health care facility specifically for women is hosting an open house this evening.

Coordinated Health, the integrated hospital network, is welcoming the public to visit its new Women?s Health facility at 1405 Cedar Crest Blvd., Suite 201, South Whitehall Township, this evening from 6-8 p.m. The center is just north of the Route 22 interchange at Cedar Crest.

Gynecologists Bruce Viechnicki, Gayllyn Faust Rakos, and Deborah Villeneuve will provide a full range of care throughout the spectrum of a woman?s life, from adolescent gynecology through menopausal management and geriatric medicine, Coordinated Health said in a news release.

Cosmetic and reconstructive surgeon Gregg Guilfoyle also will be on staff, it said. He will offer several same-day procedures such as Botox, Juvederm, and VASER Shape in addition to traditional cosmetic and plastic surgery procedures for both men and women, it said. He also will work closely with Coordinated Health?s breast care team to perform breast reconstruction.

?We are very excited about our new women?s health facility and the convenience we can now offer the community by having gynecology and plastic, cosmetic and reconstructive surgery all under one roof,? said Director of Medical Physician Services Heidi Signore.

Visitors this evening can receive free osteoporosis and cancer screenings and enter for a chance to win more than $1,000 in free cosmetic services.

For more information on gynecology or cosmetic, plastic and reconstructive surgery, visit www.coordinatedhealth.com or call Coordinated Health?s Solution Center at (877) 247-8080.

Leave A Comment

NOTE: Please express your opinions in a civil and respectful manner. Insensitive, inflammatory and derogatory comments will be removed at our discretion.

Source: http://blogs.mcall.com/health/2013/01/coordinated-health-opening-womens-center.html

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Europe finance tax to net tens of billions of euros: France

PARIS (Reuters) - France plans to implement a tax on financial transactions at the end of 2014 and believes the levy to be rolled out by 11 European countries will raise "tens of billions of euros" a year, its finance minister said.

The 27-member European Union gave the go-ahead on Tuesday to 11 countries pledging to impose a tax that was proposed 40 years ago by American economist James Tobin but never got off the ground internationally.

Paris will give itself a year or so to think about how the tax will work and aim to have a law in place by the end of 2014, Moscovici said in an interview on BFM TV.

"It'll take about two years, most probably," Finance Minister Pierre Moscovici said. "The calendar is deliberations in 2013 and implementation from the end of 2014 undoubtedly.

"I note in passing France already has a trading tax that generated an extremely small take of 246 million euros," the minister said.

The new tax was inspired by a political drive to make the financial industry contribute more heavily after a financial crisis in 2007 sparked a global economic downturn. It is due to be rolled out with 10 other European countries, including Germany and Italy but not Britain.

Critics say such a tax can only work if it is imposed worldwide, or at least Europe-wide, and that its adoption in around 2015 risks pushing trading and jobs elsewhere.

"The total tax take could be several tens of billions of euros," said Moscovici.

Moscovici said he was keen to see the proceeds go into the pan-European budget and a "significant share" of it used for international development aid.

Britain, which is Europe's largest financial centre and has its own duty on the trading of shares, registered its protest by abstaining when EU finance ministers were asked to endorse the tax move by 11 EU countries in a vote on Tuesday.

Luxembourg, the Czech Republic and Malta also abstained, EU officials said.

The European Commission, the Brussels-based executive body that proposes EU legislation, plans to produce a blueprint for such a tax in February. One EU official has said the levy could raise 35 billion euros ($46.50 billion) a year.

($1 = 0.7526 euros)

(Reporting by Brian Love; Editing by Leigh Thomas and Catherine Evans)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/europe-finance-tax-net-tens-billions-euros-france-101211656--business.html

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Immigrants: Highly educated, underpaid

Public release date: 23-Jan-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Clea Desjardins
clea.desjardins@concordia.ca
514-848-2424 x5068
Concordia University

Job-education mismatch hurts earnings of new Canadians, Concordia research proves

This press release is available in French.

Montreal, January 22, 2013 The cab driver who was an engineer in his home country, the gas station attendant who used to teach physics, the cashier who trained as a pediatrician. Time and again, new immigrants find themselves in jobs for which their level of education outstrips the requirements, meaning a major loss for the economy.

In a paper recently published in the peer-reviewed open-access journal ISRN Economics, Mesbah Sharaf, an assistant professor in Concordia's Department of Economics, found that two-thirds of recent immigrants to Canada possess more education than their jobs call for. But time and effort can shift the numbers. Sharaf's results show that increased proficiency in English or French, combined with post-immigration education and training can significantly increase the likelihood of landing a job that matches one's qualifications.

Using data from the most recent Longitudinal Survey of Immigrants to Canada, Sharaf measured job-education mismatch for new Canadians. He found that six months after their arrival, 76.3 per cent of men and 71.8 per cent of women have more education than their jobs require. Four years after arrival, the figures improve slightly, with 70.4 per cent of men and 64.6 of women over-educated for their jobs. Compare that with Canadian-born workers, who are around 44 per cent over-qualified for the work they do.

Sharaf explains that, "when searching for a job that matches their qualifications, new immigrants face barriers like lack of work experience and having few contacts in the Canadian labour market. They often don't possess the necessary language skills and lack the social networks that could help in finding better jobs."

Other reasons for the job-education mismatch include lack of recognition for foreign experience and credentials, costly accreditation and licensing requirements by professional associations, and poor source-country schooling quality. "As a result, many immigrants are left with no option other than survival jobs," says Sharaf.

But there is reason for hope. Sharaf's research proves that the incidence and intensity of over-education decrease with the length of an immigrant's stay in Canada. "Alongside a social network that naturally widens as one spends more time in the new country, post-immigration education and training increase the likelihood of employment while reducing the probability of being over-educated," Sharaf explains.

The Canadian government would do well to invest in that training because the over-education problem translates to a loss of up to $5 billion a year for the economy, as estimated by the Conference Board of Canada. That's because overeducated workers suffer from high job dissatisfaction, increased absenteeism, low productivity, poor health, job instability and lower wages.

"This is a real problem for a country facing an ever-expanding deficit. It could really help the economy if the government directed resources toward closing the job-education gap for recent immigrants," says Sharaf. "I hope that my findings will inspire new policies that will help immigrants integrate into the labour market."

###

Related links:

Concordia's Department of Economics http://economics.concordia.ca/

Mesbah Sharaf's Research @ Concordia profile page http://www.concordia.ca/explore/#!/profile/6171/

Cited study: "Mesbah Fathy Sharaf (2013). Job-Education Mismatch and Its Impact on the

Earnings of Immigrants: Evidence from Recent Arrivals to Canada, ISRN Economics, vol 2013" http://www.hindawi.com/isrn/economics/2013/452358/

Media contact:

Cla Desjardins
Senior Advisor, External Communications
Concordia University
Tel: 514-848-2424, ext. 5068
Cell: 514-909-2999
e-mail: clea.desjardins@concordia.ca
Web: concordia.ca/media-relations
Twitter: twitter.com/CleaDesjardins

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Public release date: 23-Jan-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Clea Desjardins
clea.desjardins@concordia.ca
514-848-2424 x5068
Concordia University

Job-education mismatch hurts earnings of new Canadians, Concordia research proves

This press release is available in French.

Montreal, January 22, 2013 The cab driver who was an engineer in his home country, the gas station attendant who used to teach physics, the cashier who trained as a pediatrician. Time and again, new immigrants find themselves in jobs for which their level of education outstrips the requirements, meaning a major loss for the economy.

In a paper recently published in the peer-reviewed open-access journal ISRN Economics, Mesbah Sharaf, an assistant professor in Concordia's Department of Economics, found that two-thirds of recent immigrants to Canada possess more education than their jobs call for. But time and effort can shift the numbers. Sharaf's results show that increased proficiency in English or French, combined with post-immigration education and training can significantly increase the likelihood of landing a job that matches one's qualifications.

Using data from the most recent Longitudinal Survey of Immigrants to Canada, Sharaf measured job-education mismatch for new Canadians. He found that six months after their arrival, 76.3 per cent of men and 71.8 per cent of women have more education than their jobs require. Four years after arrival, the figures improve slightly, with 70.4 per cent of men and 64.6 of women over-educated for their jobs. Compare that with Canadian-born workers, who are around 44 per cent over-qualified for the work they do.

Sharaf explains that, "when searching for a job that matches their qualifications, new immigrants face barriers like lack of work experience and having few contacts in the Canadian labour market. They often don't possess the necessary language skills and lack the social networks that could help in finding better jobs."

Other reasons for the job-education mismatch include lack of recognition for foreign experience and credentials, costly accreditation and licensing requirements by professional associations, and poor source-country schooling quality. "As a result, many immigrants are left with no option other than survival jobs," says Sharaf.

But there is reason for hope. Sharaf's research proves that the incidence and intensity of over-education decrease with the length of an immigrant's stay in Canada. "Alongside a social network that naturally widens as one spends more time in the new country, post-immigration education and training increase the likelihood of employment while reducing the probability of being over-educated," Sharaf explains.

The Canadian government would do well to invest in that training because the over-education problem translates to a loss of up to $5 billion a year for the economy, as estimated by the Conference Board of Canada. That's because overeducated workers suffer from high job dissatisfaction, increased absenteeism, low productivity, poor health, job instability and lower wages.

"This is a real problem for a country facing an ever-expanding deficit. It could really help the economy if the government directed resources toward closing the job-education gap for recent immigrants," says Sharaf. "I hope that my findings will inspire new policies that will help immigrants integrate into the labour market."

###

Related links:

Concordia's Department of Economics http://economics.concordia.ca/

Mesbah Sharaf's Research @ Concordia profile page http://www.concordia.ca/explore/#!/profile/6171/

Cited study: "Mesbah Fathy Sharaf (2013). Job-Education Mismatch and Its Impact on the

Earnings of Immigrants: Evidence from Recent Arrivals to Canada, ISRN Economics, vol 2013" http://www.hindawi.com/isrn/economics/2013/452358/

Media contact:

Cla Desjardins
Senior Advisor, External Communications
Concordia University
Tel: 514-848-2424, ext. 5068
Cell: 514-909-2999
e-mail: clea.desjardins@concordia.ca
Web: concordia.ca/media-relations
Twitter: twitter.com/CleaDesjardins

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-01/cu-ihe012313.php

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17 Dead, Dozens injured by Sequence of Car Bombs In Baghdad

A series of three car bombs situated around the city of Baghdad exploded one right after another on Tuesday?right on the heels of a string of suicide attacks that claimed 30 lives last week. The current death toll from the most recent attack is 17, with more than 50 others wounded. And this isn't going to make people feel better either: al-Qaeda may be involved. "Although there was no immediate claim of responsibility, blame is likely to fall on Sunni insurgents such as al-Qaida's local franchise," according to?the Associated Press.

RELATED: Five Best Monday Columns

Tuesday's bombs hit in the town of Mahmoudiya, the Baghdad suburb of Taji, and one more hit the Shia district in North Baghdad, reports the BBC. There's a switch that goes off in our brains anytime bombs and al-Qaeda are involved?just 11 days ago Presidents Obama and Karzai met and stressed that the big reason the withdrawal of troops in 2014 is happening is because al-Qaeda's grip on the region has weakened. A local al-Qaida affiliate, the Islamic State of Iraq, has taken responsibility for several recent attacks, including the assassination of a Sunni lawmaker who spoke out against them,?reports the AP.?

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/17-dead-dozens-injured-sequence-car-bombs-baghdad-122714595.html

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Marshall Elder and Estate Planning Blog: Getting Care at Home ...

As I get older I find that there are many fine attributes of aging. (Personally, I think wisdom is one of them - though my children seem to disagree).? Unfortunately, aging also increases our risk of frailty and illness and advances the potential that we may someday need the assistance of others to help us be able to remain at home.

Most seniors who need help with their daily care needs are able to live at home, either in their own home or that of a close relative. Their care needs are most often met through the unpaid help of family members. An estimated 16 percent of American adults, or 33.9 million adult caregivers, provide unpaid care to a recipient age 50 and older. (National Alliance for Caregiving Report, Caregiving in the United States). According to a 2011 survey by the National Caregivers Association, more than two-thirds of caregivers are 45-64 years of age, nearly one-half have household incomes less than $40,000 and about one-third are employed full time. A typical caregiver is a married woman in her mid-forties, who provides 20 hours of care-giving per week, often while working full-time.

Despite the love, sacrifice and often heroic efforts of family, there may come a time when a care recipient?s needs overwhelm the unpaid family caregivers. The family may have to look to supplement the care it can provide with paid assistance.?

A family seeking paid in-home help to care for Mom or Dad faces a complicated array of issues and options.? Where do you start?? How can you find quality help?? How are you going to pay for it?

Assessing Needs

An early step should be to assess the situations of the senior and the family caregivers, and create a realistic plan. You may wish to seek the advice of the care recipient?s physician, and seek help from your local Area Agency on Aging (AAA). The government-funded AAAs will provide a care manager at no charge to assess the senior?s needs and help create a plan to provide in-home services. A listing of Pennsylvania AAAs by county is available here and at the Department of Aging website: www.aging.state.pa.us. If the care recipient is being discharged from a hospital, limited discharge planning assistance should be available from the facility. In some localities, a private geriatric care manager (GCM) can be hired to help assess an older individual?s needs, create a care plan, and locate the assistance required to implement the plan.? Unfortunately, GCMs may be unavailable in more rural areas.

Finding caregiving services that are suited to your needs is complicated and requires thought and research. You can start by making a listing of which types of services will be needed. In searching for home care providers consider the level and quality of care they can provide, their availability and ability to provide the services you need, their training and experience, and how to pay for the care.

Finding Paid Caregivers

Once you have assessed needs and created a plan, the next step is to locate individuals and companies who can fill those needs. In some cases you will need to decide whether to try to hire help yourself or go through an agency.?

The main advantage of handling this task yourself is that privately hired caregivers are usually less expensive.? And you have the flexibility to hire family members or friends who are already known by the senior. But if you hire the home care worker yourself, you are responsible for the burden of dealing with employment rules and taxes. In some cases families choose to pay caregivers illegally ?under the table.? This is not recommended. ?

If you need help in locating paid caregivers, you may turn to either a home care registry or a home care agency. Both home care registries and home care agencies help supply families with paid caregivers who care provide ?unskilled? assistance with needs such as:

• Assistance with self-administered medications

• Personal care such as assistance with personal hygiene, dressing, and feeding

• Homemaking such as assistance with household tasks, housekeeping, shopping, meal planning and preparation, and transportation

• Providing a respite for unpaid family caregivers

??

Registries are a kind of ?matchmaker? that provide a list of names of people interested in providing home care services. The registry is typically paid a fee for its services but does not employ or supervise the worker. Those responsibilities remain with the family.? If you use a registry it is important to note that the workers you hire are subject to employment taxes for which you are responsible.? You may need an accountant?s help to set up your books.?

Home Care Agencies differ from registries in that agencies directly employ the care workers. This can free the family from bookkeeping and tax responsibilities and generally makes life easier for the family. Agencies handle all of the paperwork involving payroll and related taxes. The agency will find the workers, screen them, and monitor their work. If an agency offers a full range of services, the care may be better coordinated and more comprehensive. An individual care worker?s sudden unavailability can be better managed, since the agency can fill the gap.

Although the names are confusingly similar, Home Health Care Agencies (also known merely as ?Home Health Agencies?) are different from home care registries and home care agencies. A Home health agency can deliver skilled care like nursing, physical therapy, and occupational and speech therapy, along with unskilled assistance. Importantly, Medicare, Medicaid, and your private insurance plans may pay for services that are provided by a licensed home health agency. Payment will depend on whether the care is medically necessary and you meet qualification criteria. You may opt to pay out-of-pocket for services that are not covered by other sources.? Your local Area Agency on Aging (AAA) may also be able to help the family locate and retain the services of paid caregivers.? Find a list of Pennsylvania AAAs here.

Paying for Care ???

Seniors needing home care assistance can use private funds to pay for the care. Some commercial insurance policies may help with the cost of care. Some specialized ?long term care insurance? policies specifically designed to pay for long term care may cover some home care costs.? But few seniors currently own this type of policy.?

Reverse mortgages may also provide a funding source for private payment of home care. A "reverse" mortgage is a loan against your home that you do not have to pay back for as long as you live there.

There are many publicly funded programs that may also help families pay for needed care.

Medicare ? This program has some home health care coverage which can be of importance to seniors who require skilled care at home. Home health agencies are very familiar with Medicare and can help the senior qualify for any available benefits. The recipient must be homebound and require skilled care which is ordered by a physician. The official U.S. government booklet about Medicare home health care benefits for people with Original Medicare is available here.? Medicaid ? Medicaid is an increasingly important source of payment for home care for seniors. In addition to the services provided under regular Medicaid, Pennsylvania?s Aging Waiver program can provide home care to individuals over age 60 who would otherwise require institutional care in a nursing facility.? For those who qualify, there are no co-payments. Your AAA will have information available about the Aging Waiver and an elder law attorney may be able to help seniors qualify for Medicaid Aging Waiver benefits.? Veteran?s Benefits ? Unfortunately, these benefits are often overlooked. Older veterans (and the spouses of deceased veterans) may qualify for VA pension benefits even though they don?t have a service connected disability.? Benefits are increased if the veteran is homebound or in need of the aid and attendance of another person. Office of Aging ? several additional programs like Pennsylvania?s Caregiver Support program are operated through your local AAA.? A combination of unpaid family care supplemented by privately or publicly paid services can allow a frail senior to remain in the home for as long as possible.? Publicly funded programs often have financial qualification limitations.? A knowledgeable elder law attorney can often help the senior find out about programs and meet qualification requirements.???

Source: http://marshallelder.blogspot.com/2013/01/getting-care-at-home-how-to-find-and.html

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Family Home and Life: Some of my Favorites from 2012

Here are six of my favorite post from 2012.

1. I love this Tooth Fairy Pillow Book I made for my grand daughter.

2. Here's how to easily ?personalize a clock?for yourself or a gift.

3.?Butter Buns;?need I say more?

4. I really loved designing and making this cloth?Photo Album. It was fun and turned out great.

5. I am having more fun making these?Pancakes?different ways. Use apple sauce or any fruit puree, use oil instead of cream cheese, add more flour and switch up the spices. Very versatile and so good.

6. I like?making my own scrapbook papers using PicMonkey. It's a great creative outlet and it was free; ?PicMonkey now charges for some of it's features. ?I have used?Ribbet?on occasion too.




?If you are reading this post anywhere else but at Family Home and Life then it was used without permission! Please report it! Copyright? Family Home and Life 2012 All Rights Reserved

Source: http://www.familyhomeandlife.com/2013/01/some-of-my-favorites-from-2012.html

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Just add water: How scientists are using silicon to produce hydrogen on demand

Jan. 22, 2013 ? Super-small particles of silicon react with water to produce hydrogen almost instantaneously, according to University at Buffalo researchers.

In a series of experiments, the scientists created spherical silicon particles about 10 nanometers in diameter. When combined with water, these particles reacted to form silicic acid (a nontoxic byproduct) and hydrogen -- a potential source of energy for fuel cells.

The reaction didn't require any light, heat or electricity, and also created hydrogen about 150 times faster than similar reactions using silicon particles 100 nanometers wide, and 1,000 times faster than bulk silicon, according to the study.

The findings appeared online in Nano Letters on Jan. 14. The scientists were able to verify that the hydrogen they made was relatively pure by testing it successfully in a small fuel cell that powered a fan.

"When it comes to splitting water to produce hydrogen, nanosized silicon may be better than more obvious choices that people have studied for a while, such as aluminum," said researcher Mark T. Swihart, UB professor of chemical and biological engineering and director of the university's Strategic Strength in Integrated Nanostructured Systems.

"With further development, this technology could form the basis of a 'just add water' approach to generating hydrogen on demand," said researcher Paras Prasad, executive director of UB's Institute for Lasers, Photonics and Biophotonics (ILPB) and a SUNY Distinguished Professor in UB's Departments of Chemistry, Physics, Electrical Engineering and Medicine. "The most practical application would be for portable energy sources."

Swihart and Prasad led the study, which was completed by UB scientists, some of whom have affiliations with Nanjing University in China or Korea University in South Korea. Folarin Erogbogbo, a research assistant professor in UB's ILPB and a UB PhD graduate, was first author.

The speed at which the 10-nanometer particles reacted with water surprised the researchers. In under a minute, these particles yielded more hydrogen than the 100-nanometer particles yielded in about 45 minutes. The maximum reaction rate for the 10-nanometer particles was about 150 times as fast.

Swihart said the discrepancy is due to geometry. As they react, the larger particles form nonspherical structures whose surfaces react with water less readily and less uniformly than the surfaces of the smaller, spherical particles, he said.

Though it takes significant energy and resources to produce the super-small silicon balls, the particles could help power portable devices in situations where water is available and portability is more important than low cost. Military operations and camping trips are two examples of such scenarios.

"It was previously unknown that we could generate hydrogen this rapidly from silicon, one of Earth's most abundant elements," Erogbogbo said. "Safe storage of hydrogen has been a difficult problem even though hydrogen is an excellent candidate for alternative energy, and one of the practical applications of our work would be supplying hydrogen for fuel cell power. It could be military vehicles or other portable applications that are near water."

"Perhaps instead of taking a gasoline or diesel generator and fuel tanks or large battery packs with me to the campsite (civilian or military) where water is available, I take a hydrogen fuel cell (much smaller and lighter than the generator) and some plastic cartridges of silicon nanopowder mixed with an activator," Swihart said, envisioning future applications. "Then I can power my satellite radio and telephone, GPS, laptop, lighting, etc. If I time things right, I might even be able to use excess heat generated from the reaction to warm up some water and make tea."

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University at Buffalo. The original article was written by Charlotte Hsu.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

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Journal Reference:

1. Folarin Erogbogbo, Tao Lin, Phillip M. Tucciarone, Krystal M. LaJoie, Larry Lai, Gauri D. Patki, Paras N. Prasad, Mark T. Swihart. On-Demand Hydrogen Generation using Nanosilicon: Splitting Water without Light, Heat, or Electricity. Nano Letters, 2013; : 130117162526001 DOI: 10.1021/nl304680w

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/matter_energy/electricity/~3/UXDktS2gQZM/130122143224.htm

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SecureIT Plus (2013)

Working in the Microsoft Malware Protection Center must be tough. Here your company is among the biggest in the world, yet a little (but well-regarded) antivirus testing lab in Germany says your antivirus software doesn't cut the mustard. Not just once but twice in the last few months, Microsoft failed to receive certification from AV-Test.

Joe Blackbird, Program Manager at the Center, explained in a blog post that failing this test does not mean Microsoft's user aren't protected.

Transparency in Testing
In accord with principles of the AMTSO, AV-Test makes no secret of the methodology used in conducting their ongoing certification tests. That means Blackbird could check and verify exactly why Microsoft Security Essentials didn't pass.

The test gives equal weight to three elements of security: protection (keeping new malware from infesting a clean system), repair (clearing out malware that's already present), and usability (doing the job without slowing the system or falsely accusing valid programs). Microsoft did OK in the repair and usability areas but got just 1.5 of 6 possible points for repair.

Not Real-World?
Blackbird's main contention is that this test doesn't mirror the real-world experience of Microsoft's customers. According to AV-Test, Microsoft missed 28 of 100 zero-day threats. However, Microsoft's telemetry shows that "99.997 percent of our customers hit with any 0-day did not encounter the malware samples tested in this test." Note that he's not talking about 99.997 percent of all customers. He's saying that, of those who encountered a zero-day threat of some kind, only 0.003 percent encountered one that AV-Test actually used.

But is this necessarily an indictment of the testing method? Let's look at it the other way around. Zero-day attacks occur constantly, in huge numbers. If the 0.003 percent represents just one customer, then 300,000 customers have encountered such an attack. Of course, the number could be larger. AV-Test picked a random sample of 100 and just happened to find 28 that Microsoft can't detect. That sounds kind of bad, doesn't it?

Microsoft also missed 9 percent of the 216,000 files in the "recent malware" collection, but, said Blackbird, the missed samples "don't represent what our customers encounter. When we explicitly looked for these files, we could not find them on our customers' machines."

Customer-Focused Prioritization
"In December 2012,", Blackbird continued, "we processed 20 million new potentially malicious files, and, using telemetry and customer impact to prioritize those files, added protection that blocked 4 million different malicious files on nearly 3 million computers. Those 4 million files could have been customer-impacting if we had not prioritized them appropriately." In other words, Microsoft fared poorly in this test due to their emphasis on prioritizing files that would actively impact their customers.

It's an interesting point, but other vendors manage to protect their users and also earn top scores from AV-Test. Bitdefender, F-Secure, and Trend Micro all received 6 of 6 possible point in the protection test.

I grant the point that AV-Test didn't use all of the malware actually encountered by Microsoft's users for their test. That would be impossible. Antivirus testers must do their best to use representative samples. However, my own hands-on testing with Microsoft Security Essentials, using samples that are far from zero-day, suggests that it's just not as effective as the best antivirus products.

For more from Neil, follow him on Twitter @neiljrubenking.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/sqoIF8DgWIU/0,2817,2414448,00.asp

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Countries agree UN mercury rules

21 January 2013 Last updated at 06:27 ET By Mark Kinver Environment reporter, BBC News

More than 140 countries have agreed on a set of legally binding measures to curb mercury pollution, at UN talks.

Delegates in Geneva approved measures to control the use of the highly toxic metal in order to reduce the amount of mercury released into the environment.

Mercury can produce a range of adverse human health effects, including permanent damage to the nervous system.

The UN recently published data that showed mercury emissions were rising in a number of developing nations.

The deal was agreed after all-night talks.

"After complex and often all night sessions here in Geneva, nations have today laid the foundations for a global response to a pollutant whose notoriety has been recognised for well over a century," UN Environment Programme executive director Achim Steiner said on Saturday.

"Everyone in the world stands to benefit... in particular the workers and families of small-scale gold miners, the peoples of the Arctic and this generation of mothers and babies and the generations to come."

The rules, known as the Minamata Convention and named after the Japanese town that experienced one of the world's worst cases of mercury poisoning, will open for nations to sign at a diplomatic conference later this year.

The convention will regulate a range of areas, including:

• the supply of and trade in mercury;
• the use of mercury in products and industrial processes;
• the measures to be taken to reduce emissions from artisanal and small-scale gold mining;
• the measures to be taken to reduce emissions from power plants and metals production facilities.

Ahead of the five-day meeting, Unep published a report warning that developing nations were facing growing health and environmental risks from increased exposure to mercury.

It said a growth in small-scale mining and coal burning were the main reasons for the rise in emissions.

As a result of rapid industrialisation, South-East Asia was the largest regional emitter and accounted for almost half of the element's annual global emissions.

Lasting effects

Mercury - a heavy, silvery white metal - is a liquid at room temperature and can evaporate easily. Within the environment, it is found in cinnabar deposits. It is also found in natural forms in a range of other rocks, including limestone and coal.

Mercury can be released into the environment through a number of industrial processes including mining, metal and cement production, and the burning of fossil fuels.

Once emitted, it persists in the environment for a long time - circulating through air, water, soil and living organisms - and can be dispersed over vast distances.

The World Health Organization (WHO) says: "Mercury is highly toxic to human health, posing a particular threat to the development of the (unborn) child and early in life.

"The inhalation of mercury vapour can produce harmful effects on the nervous, digestive and immune systems, lungs and kidneys, and may be fatal.

"The inorganic salts of mercury are corrosive to the skin, eyes and gastrointestinal tract, and may induce kidney toxicity if ingested."

The Unep assessment said the concentration of mercury in the top 100m of the world's oceans had doubled over the past century, and estimated that 260 tonnes of the toxic metal had made their way from soil into rivers and lakes.

Another characteristic, it added, was that mercury became more concentrated as it moved up the food chain, reaching its highest levels in predator fish that could be consumed by humans.

Campaign group Zero Mercury Working Group co-coordinator Michael Bender called the global deal a "major accomplishment", but added: "Yet the instrument is hampered by weak controls on mercury emissions from major sources like coal-fired power plants."

He said new facilities would not be required to have mercury pollution controls for five years after the treaty came into force, with existing facilities given a decade before they had to begin their control efforts.

The World Coal Association (WCA), a trade body for the industry, said that burning coal account for about 24% of global mercury emissions and the use of "adequate technologies" could reduce emissions of the metal from coal-fired power stations by up to 90%.

WCA chief executive Milton Catelin said: "[The Convention] will ensure that countries are able to address the issue of mercury emissions from their coal-fired power plants via the application of technologies which are most appropriate in a given national context and for a given facility and without having to restrict the use of coal as an energy fuel or to compromise their economic development goals."

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-21078176#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa

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Sunday Sound: Heard on 'This Week'

Tune in to the ABC News.com Live page on Monday morning starting at 9:30 a.m. EST for all-day live streaming video coverage of Inauguration 2013: Barack Obama. Live coverage will also be available on the ABC News iPad App and mobile devices.

Below are some of the notable comments made Sunday on "This Week with George Stephanopoulos." Guests included ABC News' George Will and Cokie Roberts; political strategist and ABC News political analyst Matthew Dowd; former Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm, host of Current TV's "The War Room"; and 2012 Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum, chair of Patriot Voices.

POWERHOUSE ROUNDTABLE

1. Roberts says more women in the Senate may ease passage of Assault Weapons Ban ROBERTS: The assault weapons ban is obviously a huge problem, and that's what most people are pushing back against, although it is interesting, with the increased number of women in Congress, that it might have a better shot. In 1994, 29 percent of Republican men voted for the assault weapons ban and almost 70 percent of Republican women. So you could see a difference because of that.

2. Santorum tells Republicans to 'stick to our guns' SANTORUM: Oh, I think we should stick to our guns?.I think it's an even more important issue for people today, given the increasing level of violence in our society, people feel unsafe. And having a gun and gun ownership is part of how people can feel safer.

3. Granholm grills Santorum on his opposition to restrictions on armor-piercing bullets GRANHOLM: Why not armor-piercing bullets? Why do you need that?

SANTORUM: Because - because we're talking about a particular type of bullet that - that is - is and can be available to?

GRANHOLM: Deer don't wear armor. Why do you need an armor-piercing bullet?

SANTORUM: But criminals could. And having - having?

GRANHOLM: And police officers certainly do.

SANTORUM: ? the ability to defend - having the ability to defend yourself is something that is a right in our country.

4. Dowd calls the GOP a 'cult of no personality' DOWD: The Republicans are basically now a cult of no personality and no people, and they're going to have to figure out. And so each day goes forward, I think we're going to have an increasing inability for somebody to stand up and say, "I represent what the Republicans are."

5. Santorum blames Obama's 'sore winner' attitude for partisanship SANTORUM: I mean, listen to that language. I mean, Republicans extend an olive branch. "Ah, they're caving. Ah, we got them." That's not how a leader acts?.the president's a sore winner. Republicans understand that. And this president could get immigration done. He could get something done on deficits and entitlements, but he's got to move his people to do that, instead of forcing Republicans always to come his way. And that's the problem.

6. Santorum resists support of path to citizenship for illegal immigrants GRANHOLM: Immigration is going to be first up?.The real question is, will there be a consensus on a path to citizenship? ? SANTORUM: When you look back, Governor, there are 20 issues on immigration, and you just nailed the hardest one.

GRANHOLM: Right.

SANTORUM: And you're saying, OK, there's - you're only serious about doing something on immigration if you concede on the one that is the most difficult to occur.

GRANHOLM: So are you saying that won't - that won't be part of it?

SANTORUM: I think it is the toughest issue for Republicans?

7. Will suggests Republicans move to the left of Obama on immigration WILL: But here's where the Republicans are already setting themselves up for defeat. The president offers X. The Rubio program is X minus Y. All anyone is going to notice is the Y, that is, the failure to reach citizenship. So if the Republicans want to do this, they have to get to the left, if you will. They have to be more generous on immigration than the president.

8. Will asks, 'Who is innocent?' in sports WILL: The rewards of athletic excellence in this country are astonishingly high, and therefore the temptation to cheat is astonishingly high. It's a pandemic problem. And the country is wide awake to it now. Every time this happens, someone says, "Ah, the loss of innocence." Who is innocent?

Like "This Week" on Facebook here . You can also follow the show on Twitter here .

Get more pure politics at ABC News.com/Politics and a different take on the news at OTUSNews.com .

Also Read

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/sunday-sound-heard-week-195949695--abc-news-politics.html

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Acumen PR gets article published in &#39;Scotland on Sunday&#39; about ...

Kevin Dorrian, Director of Acumen PR

Scotland On Sunday?picked up on our story about Deep Heat! The company behind ?Deep Heat?, one of the UK?s iconic healthcare brands, has embarked on a collaboration with the Edinburgh Complex Fluids Partnership (ECFP) based at the University of Edinburgh, to research ways that further improve the production processes and operational efficiencies across its range of topically applied products.

Working with the East Kilbride-based Mentholatum Company Ltd, ECFP plans to examine the behaviour of Deep Heat?s physical structure to enable screening for new product development prototypes on the basis of objective evidence and hard statistical data, rather than rely solely on subjective assessments.

Edinburgh Research and Innovation (ERI), the commercialisation arm of the University of Edinburgh, was instrumental in sealing the deal with the company, having worked closely with both Mentholatum and ECFP to develop a collaborative partnership that has already led to further projects.

The Mentholatum Company Ltd has a reputation spanning over 100 years in manufacturing some iconic healthcare products, including Deep Heat?, Deep Freeze and Deep Relief?, which they supply to markets in the UK, Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

http://www.acumen-pr.net/deep-heat/

Source: http://www.powerlunchclub.co.uk/acumen-pr-gets-article-published-in-scotland-on-sunday-about-company-behind-deep-heat-product/

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