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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/teachers-credited-saving-students-okla-210521403.html
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Thursday, May 23, 2013
Wednesday, May 22, 2013
'Return Of The Jedi' 1981 Story Conference Teases Prequel Storylines, Suggests Yoda Shouldn't Fight
A new book, "The Making of Star Wars: Return of the Jedi" by J.W. Rinzler, is hitting shelves just in time for the 30th anniversary of "Episode VI," and in the lead-up to the book's release, the Huffington Post has posted a fascinating excerpt. The passage comes from a transcript taken from a 1981 story [...]
Source: http://moviesblog.mtv.com/2013/05/22/return-of-the-jedi-1981-story-meeting/
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Will The Internet of Things Make Our Lives Any Easier?
The "Internet of Things" is shaping up to be the buzzphrase of the year as more and more of our machines take off their dunce caps. But as history has shown us, a smarter gadget doesn't necessarily mean an easier life.
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Tuesday, May 21, 2013
With high-tech guns, users could disable remotely
SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) ? A high-tech startup is wading into the gun control debate with a wireless controller that would allow gun owners to know when their weapon is being moved ? and disable it remotely.
The technology, but not an actual gun, was slated to be demonstrated Tuesday at a wireless technology conference in Las Vegas and was shown to The Associated Press in advance. It comes at a time when lawmakers around the U.S. are considering contentious smart gun laws that would require new guns to include high-tech devices that limit who can fire them.
The new Yardarm Technologies LLC system would trigger an alarm on an owner's cellphone if a gun is moved, and the owner could then hit a button to activate the safety and disable the weapon. New guns would come with a microchip on the body and antennas winding around the grip. It would add about $50 to the cost of a gun, and about $12 a year for the service.
"The idea is to connect gun owners more directly with their guns, no matter what the circumstance," said Yardarm CEO Robert Stewart.
The Yardarm system is one of several recently introduced high-tech offerings: the iGun only fires if it recognizes a ring on a finger, the Intelligun uses a fingerprint locking system and TriggerSmart uses radio frequency identification.
The first smart guns were proposed more than 20 years ago, but they failed to take off for several reasons: questionable technology, added costs and concerns from some gun rights about limitations on Second Amendment rights.
Recent high-profile shootings, combined with new technologies, have revived interest. Sandy Hook Promise, a nonprofit created by Newtown, Conn., community members, is offering venture capital for new gun safety technologies, and President Barack Obama included smart guns as part of his plan to reduce gun violence.
Stewart said his company has addressed privacy concerns about its system, which would not only include live tracking but also a history of where a gun has been. Yardarm has an exclusive telephony network to avoid hackers and spotty wireless systems, and gun owners could "self-destruct" the technology on the guns themselves if they wish, he said.
National Rifle Association spokesman Andrew Arulanandam said his organization is concerned about added costs and the reliability of smart guns in general.
"We believe that the technology does not exist today where a so-called smart gun can operate with 100 percent or close to it reliability," he said, "and a firearm that does not function when it is required to is not a smart gun."
The added costs are "a luxury tax on self-defense," Arulanandam said.
At this point, there are no guns that can be wirelessly tracked or disabled, but there are systems that can locate and disable stolen cars. In 2011, one such company, OnStar LLC, came under fire for continuing to track customers' locations even after they discontinued their service. The company reversed the policy after a barrage of privacy complaints.
Last week, lawmakers in California and Massachusetts considered proposals to require gun makers to add high tech safety devices that allow only their owners to fire them. New Jersey has adopted a similar law.
Josh Sugarmann, executive director of the nonprofit Violence Policy Center, said his organization has no position on smart guns. However, he said he does oppose federal tax dollars for their research because they wouldn't impact the 310 million firearms already circulating in the U.S. today.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/high-tech-guns-users-could-disable-remotely-160228048.html
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Microsoft Xbox One FAQ responds to always-on DRM, used games rumors
One of the more contentious rumors surrounding next-gen consoles has been potential changes to DRM and while Microsoft hasn't answered all our questions when it comes to the Xbox One, it took a few head on. The official FAQ starts off with the "always-on" DRM issue and also addresses used games, indicating that the box is designed "so you can play games and watch Blu-ray movies and live TV if you lose your connection," and that it does not have to always be connected. That said, it still "requires" a connection to the internet, promising cloud-based benefits for gameplay and more. Other questions answer things like whether the new console will require more power (no) and will our Xbox Live Gold subscriptions still work with the new and old hardware (yes).
When it comes to used games, the FAQ's response is also promising, stating "We are designing Xbox One to enable customers to trade in and resell games." We can still find enough wiggle room in those responses to remain curious, but it appears we should be able to avoid a SimCity-style meltdown (with our new games, since the old ones won't work.)
Update: There have been many questions about a reported "small fee" for used games, but we've asked Microsoft and received no confirmation of that. Joystiq points out that the Wired article where the tidbit originated has been updated to mention Microsoft did not detail its plans for used games, while the Xbox Support Twitter account claims there are no fees and the article is incorrect.
Filed under: Gaming, Home Entertainment, HD, Microsoft
Source: Xbox One FAQ
Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/nKl8ilQ5QJI/
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Ant study could help future robot teams work underground
May 20, 2013 ? Future teams of subterranean search and rescue robots may owe their success to the lowly fire ant, a much-despised insect whose painful bites and extensive networks of underground tunnels are all-too-familiar to people living in the southern United States.
By studying fire ants in the laboratory using video tracking equipment and X-ray computed tomography, researchers have uncovered fundamental principles of locomotion that robot teams could one day use to travel quickly and easily through underground tunnels. Among the principles is building tunnel environments that assist in moving around by limiting slips and falls, and by reducing the need for complex neural processing.
Among the study's surprises was the first observation that ants in confined spaces use their antennae for locomotion as well as for sensing the environment.
"Our hypothesis is that the ants are creating their environment in just the right way to allow them to move up and down rapidly with a minimal amount of neural control," said Dan Goldman, an associate professor in the School of Physics at the Georgia Institute of Technology, and one of the paper's co-authors. "The environment allows the ants to make missteps and not suffer for them. These ants can teach us some remarkably effective tricks for maneuvering in subterranean environments."
The research was scheduled to be reported May 20 in the early online edition of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The work was sponsored by the National Science Foundation's Physics of Living Systems program.
In a series of studies carried out by graduate research assistant Nick Gravish, groups of fire ants (Solenopsis invicta) were placed into tubes of soil and allowed to dig tunnels for 20 hours. To simulate a range of environmental conditions, Gravish and postdoctoral fellow Daria Monaenkova varied the size of the soil particles from 50 microns on up to 600 microns, and also altered the moisture content from 1 to 20 percent.
While the particle size and moisture content did produce changes in the volume of tunnels produced and the depth that the ants dug, the diameters of the tunnels remained constant -- and comparable to the length of the creatures' own bodies: about 3.5 millimeters.
"Independent of whether the soil particles were as large as the animals' heads or whether they were fine powder, or whether the soil was damp or contained very little moisture, the tunnel size was always the same within a tight range," said Goldman. "The size of the tunnels appears to be a design principle used by the ants, something that they were controlling for."
Gravish believes such a scaling effect allows the ants to make best use of their antennae, limbs and body to rapidly ascend and descend in the tunnels by interacting with the walls and limiting the range of possible missteps.
"In these subterranean environments where their leg motions are certainly hindered, we see that the speeds at which these ants can run are the same," he said. "The tunnel size seems to have little, if any, effect on locomotion as defined by speed."
The researchers used X-ray computed tomography to study tunnels the ants built in the test chambers, gathering 168 observations. They also used video tracking equipment to collect data on ants moving through tunnels made between two clear plates -- much like "ant farms" sold for children -- and through a maze of glass tubes of differing diameters.
The maze was mounted on an air piston which could periodically be fired, dropping the maze with a force of as much as 27 times that of gravity. The sudden movement caused about half of the ants in the tubes to lose their footing and begin to fall. That led to one of the study's most surprising findings: the creatures used their antennae to help grab onto the tube walls as they fell.
"A lot of us who have studied social insects for a long time have never seen antennae used in that way," said Michael Goodisman, a professor in the Georgia Tech School of Biology and one of the paper's other co-authors. "It's incredible that they catch themselves with their antennae. This is an adaptive behavior that we never would have expected."
By analyzing ants falling in the glass tubes, the researchers determined that the tube diameter played a key role in whether the animals could arrest their fall.
In future studies, the researchers plan to explore how the ants excavate their tunnel networks, which involves moving massive amounts of soil. That soil is the source of the large mounds for which fire ants are known.
While the research focused on understanding the principles behind how ants move in confined spaces, the results could have implications for future teams of small robots.
"The problems that the ants face are the same kinds of problems that a digging robot working in a confined space would potentially face -- the need for rapid movement, stability and safety -- all with limited sensing and brain power," said Goodisman. "If we want to build machines that dig, we can build in controls like these ants have."
Why use fire ants for studying underground locomotion?
"These animals dig virtually non-stop, and they are good, repeatable study subjects," Goodisman explained. "And they are very convenient for us to study. We can go outside the laboratory door and collect them virtually anywhere."
The research described here has been sponsored by the National Science Foundation (NSF) under grant POLS 095765, and by the Burroughs Wellcome Fund. The findings and conclusions are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the NSF.
Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/strange_science/~3/BjNHwI4uVzg/130520163222.htm
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Israel fires back at Syria after gunshots at its troops
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli troops shot at a target across the Syrian frontier on Tuesday in response to gunfire that struck its forces in the Golan Heights, the Israeli military said.
A statement said a military vehicle was damaged by shots fired from Syria but that there were no injuries. It said that soldiers "returned precise fire".
Gunfire incidents across the frontier from Syria have recurred in past months during an escalating a civil war there in which rebels have sought to topple President Bashar al-Assad. Israel's Army Radio said Tuesday's was the third consecutive cross-border shooting this week.
The Israeli military added in its statement that it viewed these incidents "with concern".
Israel captured the Golan territory from Syria in a 1967 war and later annexed the area. Negotiations aimed at resolving that conflict ran aground in 2000.
Israel has not taken sides in Syria's internal conflict, but has been worried about the involvement of its Iranian-backed foe, Hezbollah, in the fighting.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held out the prospect on Sunday of Israeli strikes inside Syria to stop Hezbollah and other opponents of Israel getting advanced weapons.
Netanyahu said Israel was "preparing for every scenario" in Syria. He added "we will act to ensure the security interest of Israel's citizens in the future as well".
Israel has neither denied nor confirmed reports it attacked Iranian-supplied missiles stored near Damascus this month that it believed were waiting delivery to Hezbollah, which fought a war with Israel in 2006 and is allied with Assad.
(Writing by Allyn Fisher-Ilan; Editing by Alison Williams)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/israel-fires-back-syria-gunshots-troops-052835235.html
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Boolean Types In If Else Statements - Java | Dream.In.Code
Example
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#1 streek405 ?
Reputation: 0
- Posts: 17
- Joined: 10-March 13
Posted Today, 12:15 PM
// NOTE: for some reason I am getting the 'cannot find symbol error' // for line 17...also, am I doing the if else correctly for boolean types? // This program will ask the user his/her gender and age // and will print out results using a nested if else import java.util.Scanner; class NestedIfElse2 { // not finished yet...for nest public static void main(String[] args){ //create variables boolean boy = true; boolean girl = false; // if the user enters girl, then it will be false, cuz girls dont play Pokemon LOL! System.out.println("Hello, my name is Professor Oak. Are you a boy or girl: ?"); String gender = input.next(); System.out.println("Right! Now, how old are you: ?"); int age = input.nextInt(); int old = 100; int adult = 20; int baby = 10; //create nest if(gender.equals(true)){ System.out.println("So you're telling me that you are a boy? Got it!"); } else if(gender.equals(false)){ System.out.println("Girls play video games...?"); } else{ // if they do not input boy or girl System.out.println("You must be a pokemon!"); } } }
Is This A Good Question/Topic? 0
Replies To: Boolean types in If Else Statements
#2 jon.kiparsky ?
Reputation: 5421
- Posts: 8,717
- Joined: 19-March 11
Re: Boolean types in If Else Statements
Posted Today, 12:20 PM
String gender = input.next();
What's an input? You don't seem to have declared this.
#3 streek405 ?
Reputation: 0
- Posts: 17
- Joined: 10-March 13
Re: Boolean types in If Else Statements
Posted Today, 07:08 PM
String gender = input.next();
What's an input? You don't seem to have declared this.
Thank you, you're right! But, now when I run it (if I enter boy or girl for the the gender) it prints out the ELSE statement...why is this? I have never used the boolean true/false statements before and I want to know how to do it 
#4 PudgeCo ?
Reputation: -2
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- Joined: 04-March 11
Re: Boolean types in If Else Statements
Posted Today, 07:28 PM
The problem lies in this line:if(gender.equals(true))
You're trying to use a method that compares String values.
What you will want to do is change the lines like that to one of the following:
Option 1:
if(gender == true)
This will check if your boolean value in gender is true.
Or, Option 2:
if(gender)
This does the same thing as option one, and evaluates whether or not the value is true as well.
Was This Post Helpful? -1
#5 pbl ?
Reputation: 8021
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Re: Boolean types in If Else Statements
Posted Today, 07:38 PM
Option 1:
if(gender == true)
This will check if your boolean value in gender is true.
Or, Option 2:
if(gender)
This does the same thing as option one, and evaluates whether or not the value is true as well.
Completly false.
gender is a String it can'be be == true of if(gender)
maybe if(gender.equals("true"))
#6 jon.kiparsky ?
Reputation: 5421
- Posts: 8,717
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Re: Boolean types in If Else Statements
Posted Today, 10:07 PM
gender is a String it can'be be == true of if(gender)
And therefore .equals returns false when you compare a String to a boolean, so it fails.
You might do something like
if (gender.equals("boy") { // ... }
but there will be some complications. Play with it.
Page 1 of 1
Source: http://www.dreamincode.net/forums/topic/321458-boolean-types-in-if-else-statements/
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Monday, May 20, 2013
The New ?Handmade?
Amid grumblings of a “general fatigue” when it comes to software-based startups, a potentially transformative technology called 3D printing is poised to reach critical mass and mainstream awareness. Today’s news headlines about the technology tend to focus on the extreme possibilities in being able to print objects on demand – from the terrors of things like a homemade 3D-printed gun to heartwarming tales of printed robotic hands for children born without fingers. But the innovation is also powering a revolution of a different kind. An emerging class of creatives are using 3D printing techniques, not to either save or destroy the world and the people in it, but simply to create a little beauty along the way. These creatives, makers of the new “handmade” goods, are selling their art in online storefronts like Etsy and Shapeways, as well as within brick-and-mortar stores, and even museums. They range from technically adept programmers who never dabbled in hands-on art involving paint or clay or other materials, to formally trained artists and even do-it-yourselfers who taught themselves 3D modeling by watching tutorials on YouTube. Regardless of how they got there, the end result is an output of affordably priced, print-on-demand goods that reflect their own unique vision and inspirations, whether that’s a new kind of jewelry that couldn’t exist before the capabilities introduced by 3D printing, one-of-a-kind items used to decorate your home, or objects which buyers help craft themselves, using simple online tools. Here are some of their stories. This is part one of an ongoing series which will showcase some of the art that’s being fueled by the increasingly accessible 3D printing technology, and the artists behind the work. ~~~ Part One: The Formally Trained Artist Summer Powell has always been an artist. She has both undergrad and graduate degrees in graphic design, and has worked on a number of products involving mixed media, vacuum forming, and lenticular technology, while exploring the intersection of art and technology in years past. Along with a collaborator, she once produced a clock which used high-resolution animations to tell the time, for example. Powell says she first heard about 3D printing around 10 years ago and had been watching the space ever since waiting for it to become viable for use in her art. “I had industrial designer friends in New York, and I’d go see their prototyping 3D printing machines,” she says. “They wereSource: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/JGpzyg6X2e4/
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WordPress founder claims 72,000 blogs defected from Tumblr after Yahoo acquisition news
WordPress founder Matt Mullenweg has spoken out in an attempt to capitalize on Yahoo's rumored $1.1 billion acquisition of rival blogging service Tumblr. He claims that once the news broke on Sunday, defections from Tumblr to his own site rose from 400 to 600 per hour to over 72,000 -- which presumably included users put off by Yahoo's track record of shutting down its acquisitions (like Del.icio.us, Geocities and Broadcast.com). If that figure is true, then Marissa Mayer's probably going to have to answer some rather awkward questions in a few hours.
Filed under: Internet
Via: AllThingsD
Source: Matt Mullenweg
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Split-second choice ended with NY student dead
In this photo copied from the 2010 Sleepy Hollow High School yearbook, high school student Andrea Rubello is shown. Police said Rubello, a junior at Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y., was shot and killed Friday, May 17, 2013, during a break-in near the college campus. (AP Photo/Sleepy Hollow High School)
In this photo copied from the 2010 Sleepy Hollow High School yearbook, high school student Andrea Rubello is shown. Police said Rubello, a junior at Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y., was shot and killed Friday, May 17, 2013, during a break-in near the college campus. (AP Photo/Sleepy Hollow High School)
This undated photo provided by the Nassau County Police Department shows Dalton Smith of Hempstead, N.Y. On Saturday, May 18, 2013, police identified Smith the alleged home invader involved in the fatal slaying of a New York college student early Friday morning. Police say that Smith, who was currently on parole for robbery in the first degree, was the person attempting to rob the off-campus home where Andrea Rebello was shot and killed. (AP Photo/Nassau County Police Department)
The Tarrytown, N.Y., home of the family of Hofstra University student Andrea Rubello is seen on Friday, May 17, 2013. Police say Rubello was shot and killed Friday, May 17, 2013, during a break-in near the college campus in Uniondale, N.Y. (AP Photo/Jim Fitzgerald)
Hofstra University students gather near the house where another student and an armed intruder were killed during an overnight house break-in next to the campus, Friday, May 17, 2013, in Uniondale, N.Y. (AP Photo/ Louis Lanzano)
Officers continue working the scene at the house, left, where a Hofstra University student and an armed intruder were killed during an overnight break-in next to the campus, Friday, May 17, 2013, in Uniondale, N.Y. (AP Photo/ Louis Lanzano)
NEW YORK (AP) ? The Long Island college student was being held in a headlock by a masked intruder with a loaded gun to her head, police said. Then the gunman took aim at an officer.
A moment later both Hofstra University junior Andrea Rebello and the intruder were dead? killed after a split-second decision that is perhaps the most harrowing in law enforcement: when to pull the trigger.
"The big question is, how do you know, when someone's pointing a gun at you, whether you should keep talking to them, or shoot?" said Michele Galietta, a professor of psychology at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice who helps train police officers. "That's what makes the job of an officer amazingly difficult."
She spoke Sunday as Hofstra University students honored Rebello, a popular 21-year-old public relations major, by wearing white ribbons at their graduation ceremony.
Rebello's funeral is scheduled for Wednesday in Sleepy Hollow, in Westchester County, north of New York City.
Her life ended in the seconds that forced the veteran police officer to make a fatal decision, but the questions surrounding the student's death are just beginning, along with an internal investigation by the Nassau County Police Department.
The bare facts are simple. Rebello and the intruder, Dalton Smith, died early Friday when the officer fired eight shots, hitting him seven times, with one bullet striking Rebello once in the head, according to county homicide squad Lt. John Azzata.
With a gun pointed at her, Smith "kept saying, 'I'm going to kill her,' and then he pointed the gun at the police officer," according to Azzata.
The officer acted quickly, saying later that he believed his and Rebello's life were in danger, according to authorities.
No doubt, he was acting to try to save lives ? his own and that of the young woman, Galietta said.
"What we're asking the cop to anticipate is, 'What is going on in the suspect's mind at the moment?'" she said. "We're always trying to de-escalate, to contain a situation, but the issue of safety comes in first, and that's the evaluation the officer has to make."
Eugene O'Donnell, a former New York City police officer and professor of law and police studies at John Jay College, said the crucial issue may be whether or not police had deemed it a hostage situation. If so, he said, there are protocols police follow to buy time, slow down, isolate and assess.
But O'Donnell said the officers may have had few options because of "an eyeball to eyeball confrontation between the officer and the offender."
"It may have been too fluid to deteriorate for the officers to do anything else," O'Donnell said. "It underscores that there's no two of these that are exactly alike."
Police tactical manuals are meant to assist officers in making the best decision possible, but in the end, "they're not 100 percent foolproof," Galietta said. "In a situation like that, you can follow procedure, and it doesn't mean it comes out perfectly."
Hofstra student John Kourtessis told the New York Post that he'd gone to a bar with Rebello and a few other friends to celebrate the end of school. When they got back to Rebello's house, she asked him to move his car and he went upstairs to get his keys.
When he came back down, he said, Smith was there. He said Smith kept talking about "the Russian guy," insisting the house's residents owed a Russian man money and that he was outside waiting.
"He was saying . . . that he just needed us to cooperate. I said, 'Listen, we have all this money here.'"
Kourtessis said the students offered Smith computers, jewelry and other items from the house but that Smith kept demanding more money.
The officer who fired the shots is an eight-year NYPD veteran and has been with Nassau County police for 12 years.
He is now out on sick leave, Azzata said.
Procedurally, the Nassau County district attorney's office would determine whether an officer's use of deadly force was justified, O'Donnell said. A spokesman for the district attorney's office did not respond to a request for comment Saturday night.
___
Associated Press writers Frank Eltman in Mineola, N.Y., and Jake Pearson in New York City contributed to this report.
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For combat veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, 'fear circuitry' in the brain never rests
May 18, 2013 ? Chronic trauma can inflict lasting damage to brain regions associated with fear and anxiety. Previous imaging studies of people with post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, have shown that these brain regions can over-or under-react in response to stressful tasks, such as recalling a traumatic event or reacting to a photo of a threatening face. Now, researchers at NYU School of Medicine have explored for the first time what happens in the brains of combat veterans with PTSD in the absence of external triggers.
Their results, published in Neuroscience Letters, and presented today at the annual meeting of the American Psychiatry Association in San Francisco, show that the effects of trauma persist in certain brain regions even when combat veterans are not engaged in cognitive or emotional tasks, and face no immediate external threats. The findings shed light on which areas of the brain provoke traumatic symptoms and represent a critical step toward better diagnostics and treatments for PTSD.
A chronic condition that develops after trauma, PTSD can plague victims with disturbing memories, flashbacks, nightmares and emotional instability. Among the 1.7 million men and women who have served in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, an estimated 20% have PTSD. Research shows that suicide risk is higher in veterans with PTSD. Tragically, more soldiers committed suicide in 2012 than the number of soldiers who were killed in combat in Afghanistan that year.
"It is critical to have an objective test to confirm PTSD diagnosis as self reports can be unreliable," says co-author Charles Marmar, MD, the Lucius N. Littauer Professor of Psychiatry and chair of NYU Langone's Department of Psychiatry. Dr. Marmar, a nationally recognized expert on trauma and stress among veterans, heads The Steven and Alexandra Cohen Veterans Center for the Study of Post-Traumatic Stress and Traumatic Brain Injury at NYU Langone Medical Center.
The study, led by Xiaodan Yan, a research fellow at NYU School of Medicine, examined "spontaneous" or "resting" brain activity in 104 veterans of combat from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars using functional MRI, which measures blood-oxygen levels in the brain. The researchers found that spontaneous brain activity in the amygdala, a key structure in the brain's "fear circuitry" that processes fearful and anxious emotions, was significantly higher in the 52 combat veterans with PTSD than in the 52 combat veterans without PTSD. The PTSD group also showed elevated brain activity in the anterior insula, a brain region that regulates sensitivity to pain and negative emotions.
Moreover, the PTSD group had lower activity in the precuneus, a structure tucked between the brain's two hemispheres that helps integrate information from the past and future, especially when the mind is wandering or disengaged from active thought. Decreased activity in the precuneus correlates with more severe "re-experiencing" symptoms -- that is, when victims re-experience trauma over and over again through flashbacks, nightmares and frightening thoughts.
Key scientific contributors include researchers at NYU School of Medicine, the University of California at San Francisco, Mt. Sinai School of Medicine, and the Center for Imaging of Neurodegenerative Diseases at the VA Medical Center in San Francisco.
Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/most_popular/~3/fADMLxhJrxg/130518153257.htm
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Sunday, May 19, 2013
Red Wings beat Blackhawks 4-1, even series
Chicago Blackhawks' Patrick Kane (88) celebrates with teammates after scoring a goal against the Detroit Red Wings during the first period of Game 2 of an NHL hockey Stanley Cup playoffs Western Conference semifinals Saturday, May 18, 2013, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)
Chicago Blackhawks' Patrick Kane (88) celebrates with teammates after scoring a goal against the Detroit Red Wings during the first period of Game 2 of an NHL hockey Stanley Cup playoffs Western Conference semifinals Saturday, May 18, 2013, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)
Detroit Red Wings goalie Jimmy Howard adjusts his facemask during the first period of Game 2 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup playoffs Western Conference semifinals against the Chicago Blackhawks Saturday, May 18, 2013, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)
Detroit Red Wings head coach Mike Bobcock, rear right, looks up a scoreboard during the first period of Game 2 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup playoffs Western Conference semifinals against the Chicago Blackhawks Saturday, May 18, 2013, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)
CHICAGO (AP) ? Damien Brunner and Brendan Smith scored in the second period and the Detroit Red Wings beat the Chicago Blackhawks 4-1 Saturday in Game 2 to even their Western Conference semifinal series.
It was a strong response by the Red Wings after Chicago handled them easily in the series opener, 4-1.
Just as the Blackhawks did in Game 1, Detroit took control in the second period and put the game away in the third. Now, the Red Wings have a chance to take the lead when this series between Original Six rivals shifts to Detroit for Game 3 on Monday.
Patrick Kane gave Chicago a 1-0 lead late in the first, but did things ever change after that.
Brunner tied it when he deflected a wrist shot by Jakub Kindl early in the second, and Smith gave the Red Wings the lead when he scored off a feed from Henrik Zetterberg on a 3-on-1 late in the second.
Johan Franzen made it 3-1 in the third when he fired a rising shot past Crawford after a perfect pass from Jonathan Ericsson in the Detroit zone. And Valtteri Filppula closed out the scoring with 7:57 left in the game.
That was enough for Jimmy Howard, who stopped 19 shots.
Crawford made 26 saves for Chicago but the Red Wings were simply a step faster in this one after the Blackhawks ran away from them in the opener.
The Blackhawks still struck first thanks to a lucky bounce after Detroit's Kyle Quincey sprawled out to block a pass across the slot by Patrick Sharp that was intended for Kane on a 2-on-1 rush. The puck bounced to a trailing Michal Handzus, who immediately fed it to a wide open Kane in the right slot. He fired it into the net at the 14:05 mark for a 1-0 lead and his first goal of the playoffs.
About a minute later, with the Red Wings on a power play, Crawford made a nice save on Zetterberg before Pavel Datsyuk ripped a shot high off the right post.
Detroit tied it early in the second when a wrist shot by Kindl from just inside the blue line deflected off Brunner and past a screened Crawford, who didn't even react as the puck went past him on the glove side.
But Chicago's goalie had the fans chanting his name midway through the period with two great saves, stopping Zetterberg from the slot and sprawling out to foil Daniel Cleary on the rebound.
The Red Wings took a 2-1 lead with 3:52 left in the second, when Zetterberg dished to Smith on a two-on-one rush after Chicago's Niklas Hjalmarsson fell racing him for a loose puck.
Notes: LW Drew Miller was in the Red Wings' lineup for the first time since April 20. He had been sidelined by a broken bone in his right hand. ... F Viktor Stalberg was a healthy scratch for the Blackhawks, just as he was in Game 1. "I don't like changing too much, but we wanted to get (Dave Bolland) in our lineup," coach Joel Quenneville said before the game. "It's comparable to what we've done during season. But we'll see. We can adapt and change at any moment." ... Quenneville on the early start: "I think the guys, once they get in, they don't mind playing in the afternoon."
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Winsili triumphs in Stud Fillies' Trial Stakes ? Horseracing news ...
Winsili triumphs in Stud Fillies? Trial Stakes ? Horseracing news
Winsili landed successful in the Swettenham Stud Fillies? Trial Stakes (Listed) at Newbury in England on Friday, May 17, 2013.
She was rated as the favourite to succeed in the race and did not disappoint her fans at all, winning by more than a couple of lengths comfortably.
The young filly has been delivering some consistent performances since the start of her career, which helps her get the attention of the punters every time she steps on the racetrack. She was priced 2 to 1 for the class-1 encounter at Newbury and lived up to the expectations of the bookies in the end.
Despite not being overly aggressive at the start, Winsili managed to stay close to her rivals. Although the overall distance to cover was more than a mile, she did not play the waiting game and increased her speed right after the second furlong. Once she got into the lead, no one was really able to catch her and she stayed in a comfortable position throughout.
In order to avoid any trouble, the three-year-old filly quickened over the final furlong and stretched her lead over two lengths. Things appeared to be quite easy for her, as she was able to control the entire race from the start until the end.
Her jockey William Buick was absolutely pleased with the result and claimed that everything went smoothly. He added, ?Everything was very straightforward and she showed a nice turn of foot. For a small field they went a good enough pace and she quickened well.?
This was only third race of Winsili?s career and she has already shown signs of competitiveness at the highest level. If she manages to deliver solid results with consistency, she will definitely be able to take one some of the best stallions in the business.
The John Gosden?s trainee debuted in 2012 and made a mark straightaway with a comprehensive victory. She took part in one more race that season and finished as a runner up back then. However, the start to this year has been positive for her and she will be looking to continue making her team proud in the future events.
Source: http://blogs.bettor.com/Winsili-triumphs-in-Stud-Fillies-Trial-Stakes-Horseracing-news-a215459
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Ovarian Cancer May Be Detected Early By Testing Cells From ...
Monday: 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Tuesday: 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Wednesday: 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Thursday: 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Friday: 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Saturday: every other Sat. 9:00 AM - 2:00 PM
Sunday: Closed
Source: http://www.aichc.org/ovarian-cancer-may-be-detected-early-by-testing-cells-from-uterus-or-cervix/
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Marton Csokas in negotiations to battle Denzel Washington in 'The Equalizer'
By Jeff Sneider
LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - With three major movies on the horizon, Marton Csokas is a hot commodity in Hollywood and now he's in negotiations to join Denzel Washington in Antoine Fuqua's Sony drama "The Equalizer."
Washington stars as black ops vigilante Robert McCall, the former intelligence officer played by Edward Woodward on the 1980s television series created by Michael Sloan.
Csokas will play a rogue CIA agent who protects the Russian mob and winds up crossing paths with the vengeful protagonist.
Chloe Moretz is nearing a deal for the female lead of a young prostitute who the lead must protect.
Sony hopes to launch a franchise with "The Equalizer," which Escape Artists partners Todd Black, Jason Blumenthal and Steve Tisch are producing with Alex Siskin, Mace Neufeld, Tony Eldridge and Sloan. David Bloomfield will executive produce the film, which hits theaters on April 11, 2014.
Csokas is well known to international audiences, having been involved with the "Star Wars," "Lord of the Rings" and "Jason Bourne" franchises, as well as Disney's billion dollar grosser "Alice in Wonderland." He recently starred in "The Debt" and will soon be seen in Sony's "The Amazing Spider-Man 2," Darren Aronofsky's "Noah" and Robert Rodriguez's sequel "Sin City: A Dame to Kill For."
Csokas is repped by WME, Anonymous Content, Sue Barnett and Associates and attorney David Krintzman.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/marton-csokas-negotiations-battle-denzel-washington-equalizer-003945968.html
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The Most Stunning Way To Start a Fire Since Lightning
The simple form and function of a Zippo lighter has made it an incredibly iconic design. But it could soon be supplanted by Alessi if the Italian houseware manufacturer prices its new Sushi lighter to compete with the Zippo. That, or convince a Hollywood producer to have an action hero prominently use it in an upcoming blockbuster.
Designed by Rodrigo Torres, the pocketable Sushi comes in a small selection of colors reminiscent of how KitchenAid tints its appliances, and it's no coincidence. Alessi and Torres wanted to emphasize the lighter was designed for domestic use around the home, not as a tough-as-nails outdoor accessory. And in the process it looks like they turned a mundane candle accessory into an object that's more mesmerizing to look at than a flickering flame.
[Rodrigo Torres via Behance via Notcot]
Source: http://gizmodo.com/the-most-stunning-way-to-start-a-fire-since-lightning-508278334
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Saturday, May 18, 2013
Eric Cantor?s Caucus Thwarts His Push for an Alternative Agenda
Readers of "It's Even Worse Than It Looks"?know that I have not always treated House Majority Leader Eric Cantor kindly. I have excoriated him for engineering the debt-ceiling crisis in 2011 as a hostage-taking exercise, and then blowing up the talks between President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner that could have led to a grand bargain. Cantor himself recently took credit for the latter in a profile written by Ryan Lizza in The New Yorker. He told Lizza ?that it was a ?fair assessment? that he talked Boehner out of accepting Obama?s deal. He said he told Boehner that it would be better, instead, to take the issues of taxes and spending to the voters and ?have it out? with the Democrats in the election. Why give Obama an enormous political victory, and potentially help him win reelection, when they might be able to negotiate a more favorable deal with a new Republican president? Boehner told Obama there was no deal. Instead of a grand bargain, Cantor and the House Republicans made a grand bet.?
But I have to express some sympathy for Cantor now, as he experiences the real and deep pain of trying to get his caucus?especially the tea-party members he helped recruit in 2010 and encouraged in their strident, antigovernment rhetoric?to accept a positive agenda of conservative and market-driven policies as an alternative to those of the Democrats and the Obama administration. Back in February, Cantor gave a highly publicized address at the American Enterprise Institute called ?Making Life Work,? which offered a framework, with some specifics, for that positive agenda?one that tried to separate areas where government does not belong or does not do as good a job as the private sector from those where government should play a role?and then offered proposals for how to best assert that role in a free-enterprise framework.
Subsequently, Cantor began to take pieces of that agenda to the House floor?and with his most visible one, got burned, badly, by his caucus. That was the plan to address the problem of those Americans with preexisting health conditions who either lose their insurance or can?t get it. There is an overwhelming public consensus that this is a problem that needs fixing, and it is at the core of Obama?s health care law, especially via an agreement with insurance companies that if coverage were made universal, the preexisting-condition issue would be erased.
For Republicans, who uniformly and vociferously opposed the Affordable Care Act, finding an alternative way to deal with preexisting conditions has been difficult. But Cantor offered an idea called the Helping Sick Americans Now Act to at least ameliorate the transition phase, proposing to take money out of the Prevention and Public Health Fund and put it in an existing high-risk pool that is currently inadequately funded. While conservatives have lashed out at the preventive-health program, calling it a ?slush fund,? it is, in my view, one of the more constructive elements of ?Obamacare??we know that preventive care can both help people and save a lot of money down the road. Nonetheless, at least Cantor was trying to do something aimed at solving a big problem?and without a positive agenda on the part of the minority, it becomes impossible to find compromises that can help implement key programs or solve problems.
What Cantor learned, to his chagrin, is that solving problems, much less finding compromises, is not on the agenda of a majority of his House Republican colleagues. They rebuffed him, instead insisting on yet another vote to repeal Obamacare, the only health policy most of them want to pursue.
Cantor is facing serious headwinds on another plank in his agenda: education. In his speech at AEI, Cantor said, ?Suppose colleges provided prospective students with reliable information on the unemployment rate and potential earnings by major. What if parents had access to clear and understandable breakdowns between academic studies and amenities? Armed with this knowledge, families and students could make better decisions about where to go to school and how to budget their tuition dollars. Students would actually have a better chance of graduating within four years and getting a job.? Cantor endorsed a bill to provide information and transparency drafted by Sens. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and Ron Wyden, D-Ore. But that idea is getting nowhere, it appears, in the relevant House committee, thanks to opposition by key GOP members on the panel.
The push for the umpteenth vote on repealing Obamacare shows the stark reality here, something The Washington Post?s Greg Sargent has written eloquently about: Many, maybe most, House Republicans have no interest in policy other than reflexively opposing everything Obama proposes or endorses and jumping into investigations of real or purported scandals. Call them the Nihilist Caucus. And now that we have the triple play of Benghazi, the IRS, and the Justice Department?s seizure of Associated Press phone records, they can focus all of their attention and energies on the scandal front; already, a full third of House committees have jumped on the bandwagons, and we can expect more ahead. That means any appetite for policymaking, even the limited appetite we have seen so far, will evaporate.
The dilemma here for Cantor, Boehner, and others who see that a failure to come up with real ideas and alternative policies is a killer for Republicans at the polls is that the movement they exploited to win the House in 2010 has no interest in the future of the Republican Party. A fascinating new paper by William and Mary political scientist Ron Rapoport and colleagues, emanating from a massive survey of more than 11,000 tea-party activists, shows that they do not identify deeply as Republicans, don?t care nearly as much about winning elections as they do in taking ideologically pure positions, and are far removed in their views from establishment, conservative Republicans. These activists dominate the constituencies and provide the base support for the House Republicans who disdain Cantor?s efforts to craft policies. They aren?t going way, and neither will the nihilism they represent.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/eric-cantor-caucus-thwarts-push-alternative-agenda-114511635.html
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Friday, May 17, 2013
What's Next for the 'American Idol' Top 4 Finalists?
The winners been announced, the confetti's been dropped, and (rumor has it) the judges have permanently left the building. ramon sessions portland trail blazers blagojevich new mexico state kevin rose sessions march madness scores
Gran Turismo 6 coming to PS3 in time for the holidays, creator has PS4 version 'in mind' (video)
Gran Turismo creator Kazunori Yamauchi has announced that the series' next racing title will arrive later this year, with a demo scheduled to appear this July, ahead of a holiday launch. Expect a heady 1,200 cars to make the new edition, with 33 locations (and 71 layouts) to drive them around. Polyphony Digital has developed a new game engine for Gran Turismo 6, one that "pushes the limits of the PS3," but the incoming game might make another appearance on the incoming PlayStation 4. At a 15th anniversary event at the Silverstone racetrack in the UK, Yamauchi teased to IGN that they had a PS4 version "in mind, but for this holiday season, we thought it would be best for users to release on [the] PS3." Gran Turismo remains Sony's most successful franchise ever and has sold over 70 million copies to date. Sony adds that we'll hear even more about the sequel at E3 -- likely alongside a next-generation console we can see.
Via: Joystiq
Source: PlayStationEU (Twitter), IGN
Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/aCyqlXruw7M/
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Insights to Improve Product Innovation Practice in SMEs | Blog of the ...
by Hamsa Thota
In this article Dr. Hamsa Thota defines product innovation and reviews evolution of new product development best practices for over 20 years. He introduces SMEs to a systematic framework for innovation so SMEs can aspire to achieve NPD performance comparable to the best practice companies as recognized by the PDMA.
Introduction
Product innovation is an innovation in the offering of a product or service to the market, in which customers exchange their money to acquire the new product or service offered by an enterprise.
Customers continue to purchase a product or service from the small and medium enterprise (SME) as long as it continues to do the job for them. Repeated purchase of a product or service is the basis upon which money flows from customers into the SME and the SME profits from innovation.
Product innovation performance is the market reward for new products measured in products? contributions to sales or profits.
The definition of new products includes radical innovations (i.e. totally new products), more innovative projects (i.e. new product lines), and incremental innovations (i.e. modifications to existing products and derivative products).
PDMA best practices studies
The Product Development Management Association (PDMA) has conducted new product development (NPD) best practices studies since 1982 to discern which practices contribute to higher degrees of NPD success.
PDMA labeled its 1990 research as Comparative Performance Assessment Study (CPAS). Since the 1990 study was published, PDMA?s CPAS results guided managers to improve product development methods and practices and achieve NPD results comparable to the best practice enterprises.
There is definite value to learn from the best practice companies to determine what can be improved; but there is a danger for SMEs in implementing one-size-fits-all solutions.
The NPD best practices such as the use of formal NPD process to support specific enterprise innovation strategy, use of multiple market research tools to gather the voice of the customer, and use of engineering and design tools to build form and function into new products must be tailored to ones own enterprise and the ecosystem in which the SME operates.
Key findings from PDMA CPAS, 1990 ? 2012
In the 1990 CPAS study PDMA found that it took, on average, 3 years to bring new product to the market, and that only 54.5% of enterprises that participated in the study had a well?defined NPD process, and 56.4% had a specific new product strategy. In 1990 it took, on average, 11 NPD projects to achieve one commercial success.
The PDMA conducted its second study in 1995. In the 1995 study, PDMA differentiated between the ?best? and the ?rest? enterprises based on their NPD performance.
The companies were rated the best if they were the most successful or in the top third in their industry for NPD success and above the mean in NPD program and sales-profits success. The 1995 study identified seven NPD practices that separated the best from the rest. The 1995 NPD best practices were:
- The use of formal NPD processes.
- Having a specific NPD strategy.
- Measuring NPD outcomes and expecting more out of NPD efforts.
- Using cross-functional development teams.
- Using different types of qualitative market research, including voice of the customer, customer visit, and beta-testing techniques.
- Using engineering design tools such as computer aided design (CAD) and computer simulations.
- Closing NPD projects with completion dinners.
In 1995 the NPD success rate improved to 6.6 NPD projects to achieve one commercial success and the ?best? enterprises killed bad ideas early in the NPD process. This meant that the best were spending less money on developing products that ultimately would fail in the marketplace.
By 2004 computer programs enabled use of simulations in new product design and development. Designers could visualize products before they have been developed and even produced three-dimensional holographic images of concepts so that designers, managers, and potential customers can walk around and view them from different angles.
In the 2004 CPAS, 416 business units participated. 32% of these respondents followed a prospector innovation strategy, being first to market with new products and technologies, whereas 37% pursued a fast follower strategy. In 2004, use of formal NPD process and cross-functional NPD teams to execute it became the norm.
The NPD outcomes in 2004 were generally consistent with the 1995 results. Between 1995 and 2004 the average cycle time for radical innovation projects decreased from 181 weeks to 101 weeks and for more innovative projects it decreased from 78 weeks to 62 weeks. Decline in cycle time for incremental projects was modest, with a decrease from 33 weeks to 29 weeks during the same period. NPD success outcomes such as the percent success of new products commercialized and success rates as measured by profitability of new products remained stable at 59% and 54% respectively.
The 2004 study also found that successful enterprises were more sophisticated in implementing various types of NPD projects. They used ?process owners? such as the general managers of strategic business units (SBU) in radical and more innovative projects to help their cross-functional NPD teams navigate the NPD process better.
For incremental projects, they used overlapping gates or skipped entire stages in the NPD process more frequently. Also About one half of all the projects moved forward with conditional decisions made at the gates, where the conditions for continuance were specifically stated. The 2004 results suggested that a significant number of enterprises had moved from second-generation to third-generation types of new product development processes. Management was found to be more actively engaged in the NPD process in the 2004 study.
Nearly three out of four respondents reported that they had a specific new product strategy to guide development and more than half of them had put in place a well defined structured portfolio management process. Senior management made resource allocation decisions across the portfolio of NPD projects.
The top three techniques used in portfolio management were rank ordering of projects, discounted cash flow and payback periods. The 2004 study also revealed a weakness in the fuzzy front end, especially in idea management. Initial idea selection still seemed to be a very political and champion-based activity rather than guided by new product strategy. Similar to the 1995 study, the top three market research tools used in 2004 were beta testing, customer site visits and the voice of the customer.
Top three engineering tools used in 2004 were design for manufacturability (DFM), concurrent engineering (CE) and failure mode and effect analysis (FEMA). Top three team support tools used were face-to-face meetings, teleconferences, and PERT/GANTT charts. Key trends in NPD practices in 2004 were:
- NPD success rates and efficiencies (number of projects started per one commercial success) remained stable.
- NPD portfolios became more incremental.
- Cycle times dropped dramatically, especially for more radical projects.
- Having a formal NPD process was no longer a differentiator. Many enterprises used third-generation NPD processes.
- Enterprise emphasis shifted from managing individual NPD projects to managing a portfolio of NPD projects.
- Use of multiple customer needs gathering market research tools became a common practice.
- Use of a wide variety of software tools for engineering design and project management and support became a norm. Team online support tools were coming of age.
The 2012 CPAS contained a global sample of enterprises from North America, Europe and Asia. In addition to baseline questions from previous studies, the 2012 CPAS also included new questions on culture, social media, services, sustainability, open innovation, and global product development practices.
The 2102 CPAS found that over 2/3rds of enterprises in the study changed their market and user research process to emphasize the front-end of innovation. It also revealed increasing use of social media to gather customer inputs into the front end.
The ?best? firms used discussion forums, ratings and reviews, blogs, branded social network, and innovation hubs significantly more than the rest. In 2012 NPD success rates inched up to 62% as compared to 59% in 2004.? Success rate for North American enterprises was higher at 68% than for European and Asian enterprises at 50% success rate.
As expected, the best practice enterprises outpaced the ?rest? with a much higher NPD success rate of 82.5% vs. 53.8% for the ?rest?. In 2012, gap in new product profitability also widened between the best at 78.2% and the ?rest? at 49%. The best practice enterprises continued to build more efficient NPD process as indicated by, on average, 4.5 ideas needed to generate one commercial new product success versus 11.3 for the ?rest?.
Key lesson for European and Asian SMEs
The 2012 CPAS revealed that North American enterprises are more proficient in NPD than their counterparts in Europe and Asia. For example, the US enterprises need, on average, 6.6 ideas for one success while the European and Asian enterprises needed 10 ideas and 14.5 ideas, respectively for one success.
The 2012 CPAS also found that in Asia, small enterprises were not very proficient in NPD. Where as large Asian enterprises needed 7 ideas for one commercial success in line with the proficiency of North American enterprises, small Asian enterprises needed 18 ideas for one commercial success.
Analysis of contribution to profits from various types of innovation projects for the entire sample revealed that incremental innovation projects contributed more to profits than radical or more innovative projects. However, the best practice enterprises derived more profits from radical and more innovative projects than from incremental projects.
A key lesson for small Asian enterprises from 2012 CPAS is that it is more important to strive to become the ?best? than endeavoring to introduce a large number of new products each year.
A framework to improve innovation practice in SMEs
A fundamental issue facing Asian and other SMEs is how to systematically organize NPD to achieve success rates comparable to those of the ?best? performers. The PDMA CPAS best practices are self-reported NPD practices.Do the ?best? performers actually do what they say they do? PDMA has been recognizing the Outstanding Corporate Innovator (OCI) award winning enterprises since 1988.
In his 2011 paper titled ?Systematic implementation of innovation best practices: Thota Framework for Innovation? published in the Tsinghua University Entrepreneurship and Innovation Journal, Dr. Thota verified that NPD best practices reported in CPAS research, and the NPD practices of OCI award winning enterprises are essentially the same.
What the ?best? enterprises said they did to achieve superior NPD results is essentially the same as what the OCI award winning enterprises did in actual practice. However, the OCI differed widely in how they implemented best practices in their enterprises. Implementation practices are unique to each business.
Each enterprise customized them to suit its own operating environment, specific to the industry in which it competed. SMEs can utilize the Thota framework for innovation to customize implementation of NPD best pratices in their own organizations.
Thota framework for innovation
The Thota framework for innovation supports systematic implementation of innovation in SMES aspiring to improve NPD performance. It is rooted in three organizing principles, and eight actions. SMEs can begin their innovation performance improvement effort by asking three fundamental questions:
- How might we enable our people to innovate?
- Are our organizational processes supporting our people to innovate?
- Are the tools and methods used in our organization efficiently supporting the NPD and innovation processes?
The three organizing principles are:
1.??? People innovate: How can SME leaders encourage people to embrace innovation supportive behaviors? Leaders must recognize that innovation behaviors require changes, and changes trigger ?personal fears? in some people. Adopting innovation supportive behaviors comes at high personal cost to other people. A compelling enterprise purpose motivates people to overcome ?personal fears?, take risks, and strive to achieve ?stretch? goals.
2.??? Process supports people. The primary purpose of an innovation process is to support people who innovate. An inflexible NPD processes such as the basic Stage-Gate? NPD process, especially in the front end of innovation, is harmful to creativity and innovation. The modified NPD Stage-Gate? process remedies the shortcomings of the traditional Stage-Gate? process by the addition of discovery step, a critical step to find market needs in the front end and post-launch step, a step to enable continuous innovation in the back end. Also, one size fits all approach to implement NPD process leads to failure.? Best performing enterprises deploy a variety of approaches to manage different types of innovation projects. Also, they customize their process, specific to own operating environments.
3.??? Tools and methods support people and processes. The tools and methods selected for use in NPD projects must support efficient execution of innovation processes by cross-functional NPD teams. CPAS tells us that the top performing companies utilize more research, design and engineering tools and methods than the underperforming enterprises.
Recommendations to improve SME NPD performance
SMEs are encouraged to make a self-assessment of strengths and weaknesses in how they support their people to innovate, how they customize and renew NPD processes to support their people to innovate and assess if they are utilizing the state of the art tools and methods most suited to meet the needs of their cross-functional NPD teams.
Outcomes from self-assessment can be grouped into eight actions. The Thota framework specifies following eight actions:
Action 1: Develop, train, and engage management in NPD.
Action 2: Develop the best project teams.
Action 3: Use strategy to drive innovation.
Action 4: Customize the innovation process to your enterprise and use it consistently.
Action 5: Use portfolio management as a tool to implement new product strategy.
Action 6: Learn when to use what market research tools.
Action 7: Learn when to use what engineering, design and R&D tools.
Action 8: Learn when to use what innovation team support tools.
In summary SMEs aspiring to improve NPD performance can learn much from the PDMA CPAS results and implement a systematic approach with eight action steps to improve NPD performance in their enterprises.
Note: A full copy of the PDMA 2012 CPAS report can be purchased from Steve Uban, Director 2012 CPAS. Use source code: IBD and contact Steve at this email address
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Source: http://insme.wordpress.com/2013/05/16/insights-to-improve-product-innovation-practice-in-smes/
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