Politico's Chronic Case of Scoop Envy

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Communications Assistant / Receptionist - Go2hr.com

NASA lunar spacecraft complete prime mission ahead of schedule

ScienceDaily (May 30, 2012) ? A NASA mission to study the moon from crust to core has completed its prime mission earlier than expected. The team of NASA's Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) mission, with twin probes named Ebb and Flow, is now preparing for extended science operations starting Aug. 30 and continuing through Dec. 3, 2012.

The GRAIL mission has gathered unprecedented detail about the internal structure and evolution of the moon. This information will increase our knowledge of how Earth and its rocky neighbors in the inner solar system developed into the diverse worlds we see today.

Since March 8, the spacecraft have operated around the clock for 89 days. From an orbit that passes over the lunar poles, they have collected data covering the entire surface three times. An instrument called the Lunar Gravity Ranging System onboard each spacecraft transmits radio signals that allow scientists to translate the data into a high-resolution map of the moon's gravitational field. The spacecraft returned their last data set of the prime mission May 29, 2012. The instruments were turned off at 10 a.m. PDT (1 p.m. EDT) when the spacecraft were 37 miles (60 kilometers) above the Sea of Nectar.

"Many of the measurement objectives were achieved from analysis of only half the primary mission data, which speaks volumes about the skill and dedication of our science and engineering teams," said Maria Zuber, principal investigator of GRAIL at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge. "While there is a great deal of work yet to be done to achieve the mission's science, it's energizing to realize that what we traveled from Earth to the moon for is right here in our hands."

"GRAIL delivered to Earth over 99.99 percent of the data that could have been collected, which underscores the flawless performance of the spacecraft, instrument and the Deep Space Network," said Zuber.

Both spacecraft instruments will be powered off until Aug. 30. The spacecraft will have to endure a lunar eclipse on June 4. The eclipse and the associated sudden changes in temperature and the energy-sapping darkness that accompanies the phenomena were expected and do not concern engineers about the spacecraft's health.

"Before launch, we planned for all of GRAIL's primary mission science to occur between lunar eclipses," said David Lehman, project manager of GRAIL from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. "But now that we have flown Ebb and Flow for a while, we understand them and are confident they can survive these eclipses in good shape."

The extended mission goal is to take an even closer look at the moon's gravity field. To achieve this, GRAIL mission planners will halve their current operating altitude to the lowest altitude that can be safely maintained.

"Orbiting at an average altitude of 14 miles (23 kilometers) during the extended mission, the GRAIL twins will be clearing some of the moon's higher surface features by about 5 miles (8 kilometers)," said Joe Beerer of JPL, GRAIL's mission manager. "If Ebb and Flow had feet, I think by reflex they'd want to pull them up every time they fly over a mountain."

Along with mission science, GRAIL's MoonKAM (Moon Knowledge Acquired by Middle school students) education and public outreach program is also extended. To date over 70,000 student images of the moon have been obtained. The MoonKAM program is led by Sally Ride, America's first woman in space, and her team at Sally Ride Science in collaboration with undergraduate students at the University of California in San Diego.

The GRAIL mission is managed by JPL for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. The mission is part of the Discovery Program managed at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. NASA's Deep Space Network is an international network of antennas that supports interplanetary spacecraft missions and radio and radar astronomy observations for the exploration of the solar system and the universe. The network also supports selected Earth-orbiting missions. Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Denver built the spacecraft. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.

For more information about GRAIL, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/grail .

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

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

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5 Steps to Reducing Workers' Compensation Costs - WA Insurance ...

By Garry Watts, CPCU, CRM

When a company experiences significant increases in workers? compensation costs, it usually triggers internal activities aimed at reducing insurance costs and spending. The key to spending fewer dollars is more than just stopping a few accidents; it is having a sound safety program designed to continuously improve. This is where a safety program that, at a minimum, is compliant with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) standards can yield significant savings for ?by reducing injuries and illnesses, saving workers? compensation dollars.

Building a Solid OSHA Program

There are five entry-level steps? can take to have a well-rounded safety program that produces a safe work environment, achieves OSHA compliance, reduces accidents and ultimately reduces workers? compensation costs.

1.???? Develop the various programs required by the OSHA standards.
2.???? Integrate those programs into the daily operations.
3.???? Investigate all injuries and illnesses.
4.???? Provide training to develop safety competence in all employees.
5.???? Audit your programs and your work areas on a regular basis to stimulate continuous improvement.

Develop Programs Required by OSHA Standards

Aside from being a requirement for general industry, the OSHA standards provide a good pathway to incident reductions. A good number of accidents stem from poorly developed, trained or implemented OSHA programs: slips or trips may come from poor housekeeping efforts or not keeping walking and working surfaces clear, not using personal protective equipment may result in excessive lacerations, and poor lifting techniques can result in strains.

Many of the OSHA standards require some type of written program be developed and then communicated to employees. Experience shows that companies with thoroughly developed OSHA-compliant programs have fewer accidents, more productive employees and lower workers? compensation costs.

Integrate Programs into Daily Operations

Policies alone won?t get results; the program must move from paper to practice to succeed. Putting a policy into practice requires a strategic plan clearly communicated to key participants, good execution of that plan based on developed competencies, and a culture that inspires and rewards people to do their best.

When developing any business initiative, there must be an emphasis on frontline supervisors and helping them succeed. Every good business person knows that any new program - safety, quality or anything else - lives and dies with the frontline supervisor. If the frontline supervisor knows the program and wants to make it happen, the program succeeds; if not, the program is a source of constant struggle, and an endless drain on resources and energies. Providing supervisors with knowledge and skills through training is critical to the success of any program.?

A solid OSHA program, integrated into the daily operation and led by competent supervisors is just the beginning. Successful safety programs focus on being proactive instead of always reacting to issues. Accident investigations provide an excellent source of information on real or potential issues present in the workplace.

Investigate All Injuries and Illnesses

Workers? compensation is designed to recompense employees for injuries or illnesses that arise from or out of the course of employment. This should not come as a surprise, but increasing claims drive up workers? compensation costs. To reduce those costs, you must simply reduce your accidents. And the ability to reduce accidents is significantly enhanced when those accidents are fully investigated instead of simply being reported.

Accident reports are historical records only citing facts, while accident investigations go deeper to find the root cause and make improvements. Businesses that stop rising workers? compensation costs have an effective accident investigation process that flushes out the root cause of the problem. Unless the root cause is discovered, recommendations for improvement will remain fruitless. Again, training proves beneficial because a supervisor skilled in incident analysis is a better problem solver for all types of production-related issues, not just safety.

All accidents should be investigated to find out what went wrong and why. Some may suggest investigating every accident is a bit over the top and only those that incur significant costs are worthy of scrutiny. But ask yourself this question: If you only investigated serious quality concerns instead of every little deviation, would your quality program still be effective? Companies with solid quality programs investigate and resolve every deviation from quality standards.

Training and Auditing for Continuous Improvement

The final steps focus on training and auditing your program for continuous improvement. Training plays a significant role in safety and in reducing workers? compensation costs. The goal of training is to develop competent people who have the knowledge, skill and understanding to perform assigned job responsibilities. Competence, more than anything else, will improve all aspects of your business and drive down costs. Supervisors must have the knowledge and ability to integrate every safety program into their specific areas of responsibility. Every employee must know what is expected of them when it comes to implementing safe work procedures. Once the programs are developed and implemented, they must be reviewed on a regular basis to make sure they are still relevant and effective.

?

This might require a significant change in how you manage your safety program, but if your workers? compensation rates are high, it may be time to make this leap.

.

?

Posted Wednesday, May 30 2012 9:15 AM
Tags : Workers' Compensation

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Macy's May same-store sales beat Wall Street view

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Intel Ultrabooks Will Get Free Wi-Fi Almost Everywhere and Auto-Update from Your Bag [Ultrabooks]

The "ultrabook" designation doesn't mean too too much, since manufacturers constantly look for ways to skirt around Intel's sorta-arbitrary specs. But just being on Team Intel's gonna get a few new perks, with its new deal to get all ultrabooks free, automatic, no-login access to 5.6 million Wi-Fi hotspots. More »

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Myanmar banking's new "wow" factor - ATMs

YANGON (Reuters) - As Myanmar opens up after five decades of military rule, a country run on cash is finding a new alternative: plastic.

Private banks in Myanmar have begun rolling out automated teller machines in recent weeks, revolutionary in a country where people often haul sacks and suitcases of cash to banks.

And more ambitious plans are in the works.

"It's fantastic, so convenient," Naing Lin Oo, a 26-year-old computer engineer, said after withdrawing about 120,000 kyat ($143) one recent afternoon.

"It would be good to see more of these," he added, pointing to a two-month-old blue-and-yellow ATM run by Co-Operative Bank, one of Myanmar's 13 private banks.

That's about to happen: the central bank is preparing to launch a new nationwide ATM network within two months and is in talks with Visa International's Plus and MasterCard International's Cirrus to introduce international banking within six months to a year, part of sweeping reforms in the former British colony, also known as Burma.

Myanmar's banking system is among the world's most antiquated, crippled by years of sanctions and disastrous socialist policies. Moving funds abroad often requires help from ancient "hawala" underground money-transfer agents.

Over the past two months, however, private banks have introduced basic electronic banking - with limits. ATM machines, for instance, cannot be shared between rival banks, and many are offline. Although U.S. and European sanctions have been suspended, local banks still cannot connect internationally.

"Our payment system is still quite simple. It's mostly based on cash," Maung Maung Win, one of two Central Bank of Myanmar deputy governors, said in an interview in the commercial capital Yangon. "Even some of the big companies or our government departments like to use cash."

Within two months, he said, a new department within the central bank, the Myanmar Payment Union, will introduce a new debit-card network allowing banks to share ATM machines and offer a wider array of services, among the biggest changes in the financial sector since the managed float of the kyat on April 2.

That will be followed by a second phase of international services by the middle of next year, or possibly as soon as six months, he added. The timing depends on the execution of Washington's decision this month to suspend sanctions.

"WE'RE WAITING"

Since 1988, when the former military junta violently cracked down on student protesters, the United States has imposed what it calls "a web of overlapping sanctions". This was done through five laws and four presidential documents.

On May 17, the Obama administration announced it would ease those restrictions, allowing U.S. investments and financial services in Myanmar for the first time in decades. This was in recognition of dramatic political changes.

But Washington only "suspended" sanctions, instead of lifting them, to ensure no backtracking on human rights. The laws remain on the books.

U.S. businesses wanting to do business in Myanmar, including banks, must apply to Washington for a "general license", a step that Myanmar's central bank expects could take weeks or even months.

"We're waiting," said Maung Maung Win.

As a result, Western financial services are still non-existent in Myanmar and international credit and debit cards remain off limits - a frequent source of irritation for tourists and business executives now descending on the country.

The restrictions also prohibit local banks from moving money to U.S. and European bank networks ? effectively freezing Myanmar out of global banking.

Anticipating changes, Myanmar's central bank has opened discussions with MasterCard and Visa, said Maung Maung Win.

"From our side we are willing to start as soon as possible," he said, adding the central bank wanted to connect to the international network ahead of the 2013 Southeast Asian Games, due to open late next year in Myanmar's capital, Naypyitaw.

MasterCard is looking at opportunities in Myanmar, said Matthew Driver, division president for Southeast Asia at MasterCard Worldwide.

"Electronic payments will be crucial in helping Myanmar connect to the global economy, facilitating business activity, and creating a better life for its citizens through financial inclusion," he said in a statement e-mailed to Reuters.

Local banking was not always so fraught.

Dozens of local and foreign banks thrived in the 1950s, but the industry withered after a 1962 military coup introduced a disastrous "Burmese Way to Socialism" and sweeping nationalization.

In 1988, the country's former military rulers re-introduced a market economy. Soon after, in 1992, private banks were allowed. Foreign banks began opening representative offices, poised for a day when they could do business in the resource-rich country of about 60 million people.

In 2003, shady money-lending practices caught up with the banking sector, sparking a crisis exacerbated by inept decision-making. Three banks collapsed.

Accusations of money laundering have since begun to fade but other problems are entrenched, including restrictions that prevent foreign banks from doing little more than research at representative offices. Currently, 17 foreign banks maintain such offices, said the central bank.

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, that number peaked at around 40. In recent weeks, it has started to rise again.

Asked which banks were most keen to enter Myanmar, Maung Maung Win said Japanese banks led the pack, including Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd and Sumitomo Corp, followed by Singapore's United Overseas Bank Ltd, DBS Group Holdings Ltd and Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp Ltd, and then Malaysia's CIMB Group Holdings Bhd. Banks from Vietnam, China and the United States also expressed strong interest, he added.

He said foreign banks might be allowed to open joint ventures or subsidiaries as early as next year and no later than 2015, pending new foreign direct investment laws and the outcome of deliberations at Myanmar's Finance Ministry, which oversees the central bank.

In the meantime, domestic banks are rushing to roll out services ahead of foreign competition.

Irrawaddy Bank, owned by local tycoon Zaw Zaw's Max Myanmar conglomerate, is less than two years old but aims to double in size to 45 branches and 1,500 staff next year from about 20 branches and 970 staff now, Zaw Zaw said in an interview.

Some have started online bill payments and domestic remittances, adding to the thrill for card-holders such as Naing Lin Oo, who uses ATMs about twice a month.

"It is far easier than using cash," he said outside Yangon's second-largest shopping plaza, itself a new phenomenon, open for just two months. "But we really need to see more of these," he said.

(Additional reporting by Eveline Danubrata in Singapore)

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Application Fee for ComSoc TCS for ICACT 2013 +++ Final updated?

Dear Bridget,

Sory to send again the updated receipt with our conference acronym and year (ICACT 2013) !
Have a great day!
Regards,

tom

Prof. Thomas Byeong-Nam Yoon, Ph.D.
Faculty of Computer Science, Kyonggi University, Seoul Korea.
+82-10-9837-8839 MSN:FaceBook:Twitter:LinkedIn: tomayoon@hotmail.com
Cafe: http://cafe.naver.com/tomayoon Blog: http://blog.daum.net/tomayoon
Skype: yoonbnam
"Today what a good thing will be happened to you, that you have never guessed !"

---

Date: Tue, 1 May 2012 16:33:41 -0400
To: tomayoon@hotmail.com
From: b.erlikh@comsoc.org
Subject: Application Fee for ComSoc TCS for ICACT 2013

Dear Tom,

Thank you for your interest in ComSoc's sponsorship for your event, ICACT 2013.

In order for us to begin the review process, please click on the below link, include the conference acronym and year (ICACT 2013) in the blank for "Special Instructions/Notes," save the receipt, and send it to me as an attachment via reply to this email, so that I can most quickly correlate the payment with the application. We will then begin processing of the application. Please note that this $350 processing fee is non-refundable.

PAY NOW (link tohttps://dl.comsoc.org/comsocdl/DRM-authentication.action?path=LoginUser&tutorialid=892043)

Thanks again,
Best regards,
Bridget

Bridget Erlikh
Compliance Coordinator
Meetings & Conferences
IEEE Communications Society
3 Park Avenue, 17th Floor
New York, NY 10016

http://www.comsoc.org
Phone: +1 212 419 7929, Fax: +1 212 705 8996

Bridget Erlikh
Compliance Coordinator, Conference Operations
IEEE Communications Society
3 Park Avenue, 17th Floor
New York, NY 10016
http://www.comsoc.org
Skype: bridget.erlikh
Phone: +1 212 419 7929, Fax: +1 212 705 8996

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The truth and lies about health and fitness exposed.

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Does Bad Dog Mean Bad Owner?

60-Second Science | More Science

People expressing a preference for aggressive dog breeds scored higher for conscientiousness on a personality test than did those who liked gentler dogs. Christopher Intagliata reports.

May 29, 2012

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You see a guy walking a pit bull with a studded collar. What's your first thought: tough guy, right? Well, probably. But chances are he's a conscientious, rule-abiding tough guy. So says a study in the journal Anthrozoos. [Vincent Egan and Jason MacKenzie, Does Personality, Delinquency, or Mating Effort Necessarily Dictate a Preference for an Aggressive Dog?]?

Researchers gave personality tests to 235 subjects?from teens to people in their 60s. Those subjects also rated how aggressive they considered different breeds of dogs to be, from Cocker Spaniels to Pit Bulls, and chose which type they'd most like to own.

As the authors expected, the most unfriendly study volunteers, and the youngest, preferred the meanest breeds. But the stereotyping ends there. Pit bull lovers weren't any more likely to have delinquent past behavior?like carrying weapons for fights?than people who preferred friendly Labs.

In fact, pit bull lovers actually scored higher for conscientiousness on the personality test. Which means they may be more rule-oriented, careful and organized?the perfect candidates for dog training classes, the authors say. So next time you see someone walking a fearsome dog, that person?s bark may be worse than his bite.

?Christopher Intagliata

[The above text is a transcript of this podcast]??
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President signs into law bill that helps U.S. exports (CNN)

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Taskos - A Great To-Do List App For your Android - Network Marketing

You are here: Home // Home Based Business // Taskos ? A Great To-Do List App For your Android

Every good network marketer needs to make sure their To-Do list is being created but also the tasks are being completed as well. ?In our busy lives (juggling family and business) having tools to help us is essential to make sure our home based business and family are both successful.

So I have been needing a better To Do List for my Galaxy SII since I wasn?t really in love with Google Tasks. ?I have been using Taskos To Do List for the past couple weeks and I am very impressed. ?The user interface is very clean and easy to use. ?The app has quite a few features as well and best of all the APP is FREE!

Some of the features that it has:

• Speech to Text support
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• Small Widget (1X4)
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jarrett - Just William's Luck: Are You My Mother? - Alison Bechdel

'Do you love me?'

Alison Bechdel's Fun Home is often lauded as one of the best graphic novels of recent years. Having missed the boat first time around I was prompted to give it a read when I got wind of the publication of a new book. In Fun Home Bechdel tells the story of growing up in the family's funeral home business and focuses on her father who could be reserved and wrapped up in his creativity one moment, aggressive and cold the next. After his untimely death Bechdel discovers that he had been a closeted homosexual who had slept with men and been in trouble with the law. At the same time she deals with her own burgeoning homosexuality. The book is almost like a family scrapbook and avoids a strict linear narrative opting instead for something far more complex and satisfying. It's a fabulous book and well worth reading if you haven't already in preparation for her latest graphic memoir.

It's useful to have the context because, as you can guess from the title this new book focuses on Bechdel's mother and that also includes the impact of the publication of Fun Home on both her and Bechdel. This book also rather brilliantly is about the writing of itself, Bechdel struggles with her attempts to write the opening section, so that the opening section becomes about her struggle to write it. This meta-textuality is common now in fiction but less so in graphic work and I found it not only entertaining but also far better suited to this medium. I gave HHhH a hard time for this kind of authorial commentary at the beginning of this month, mainly because it was so repetitive and irritating; reading this book shortly afterwards vindicated my thoughts as it showed the same game could be played (to greater effect) in just a few clever panels.

Now, I would have to write a lengthy post to really do justice to this book's complexity. Bechdel aims to get under the skin of her relationship with her mother, in fact of all her relationships, and we follow her long conversations with her, her therapy sessions and her wide reading around the subject of the relations between parent and child. This leads her to the work of psychoanalyst Donald Winnicot who pioneered the theories of the true self and false self (familiar to Bechdel already through the two sides she saw in her father) and the transitional object - that item of comfort like a teddy bear or blanket with which a child (or indeed adult) can form an important bond to substitute for that with their mother. The book is fascinating for this aspect alone, providing a wonderful summary of his ideas, theories and life but also looks wider than that as Bechdel mines her past for clues to explain not only her relationship with her mother but the series of relationships she goes through with various girlfriends.

Photographs, old letters and journals, even a very specific cartoon from Dr Seuss are all used as evidence and the non-linear structure again provides an amazingly satisfying reading experience. In fact for an author who claims to have struggled with the writing and structure of the book it is a deceptively accomplished piece. The sheer volume of what she is able to include is staggering. We learn about her, her mother, her girlfriends, her writing process, Winnicot, psychoanalysis, listening, love and acceptance. And that's before we mention the artwork.

Even the pages that are made up of standard panels are varied in their appearance and design but every now and then Bechdel opens up a double page spread into something else entirely. The three pages I've reproduced here give you an idea of what I mean, and how a shift in perspective is not just a huge visual treat but an opportunity for Bechdel to do something interesting with content too. The book also has a cumulative pleasure. Not only do we sense Bechdel getting closer to some kind of understanding and resolution (and therefore something like happiness) but we too benefit from her obvious intelligence and erudition. As I worked my way through the book I felt like I was being treated on so many levels; it just works harder than most 'graphic novels' so that as I finished the last page I was glad I'm no artist myself - I'm sure I would have felt very lazy indeed. Together, both books provide an intimate look at Bechdel's intriguing family, so different to our own and yet from which we could all probably learn something. I heartily recommend both.

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Video: Hedge Fund Masters Unveiled: A 'Hedge-ucation'

Unlocking the genius of the world's top hedge fund managers, with Maneet Ahuja, CNBC hedge fund specialist and "The Alpha Masters" author.

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NYC Arts Picks | Theatre | Arts & Entertainment | Epoch Times

By Evan Mantyk
Epoch Times Staff Created: May 28, 2012 Last Updated: May 28, 2012

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This scene from ?La Bayadere,? titled ?The Kingdom of the Shades,? is among the most celebrated in ballet. American Ballet Theatre is performing the classical ballet through May 28 at the Metropolitan Opera House. (Rosalie O?Connor)

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PERFORMING ARTS

?La Bayadere??American Ballet Theatre

First performed by Russia?s Imperial Ballet in 1877, this Indian tale follows the tormented love between temple dancer Nikiya and the warrior Solor. The gods? justice ultimately prevails. A scene in the ballet, ?The Kingdom of the Shades,? is among the most celebrated in classical ballet. Music by Ludwig Minkus, and choreography by Natalia Makarova. Approximately 2 hours and 42 minutes.?

The Metropolitan Opera House, Lincoln Center
Now through May 28, times vary
Tickets: $20?$230
www.abt.org

Sergey Khachatryan. (Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images for Montblanc)

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Violinist Sergey Khachatryan

This young Armenian virtuoso will perform Beethoven?s Violin Sonata in A major (?Kreutzer?) and Bach?s Partita No. 2 for Solo Violin. Khachatryan won first prize in the VIII International Jean Sibelius competition in Helsinki in 2000, at the age of only 15, becoming the youngest person to ever do so. He is accompanied by his sister, pianist Lusine Khachatryan.

Beethoven: Violin Sonata in A major (?Kreutzer?)
Bach: Partita No. 2 for Solo Violin
Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center
Wednesday May 23, 7:30 p.m.
Tickets: $45$?77
www.lincolncenter.org/

Mozart?s Masterwork at St. Patrick?s Cathedral

Amid the sublime setting of St. Patrick?s Cathedral, the cathedral?s choir and orchestra will provide a secular concert, performing Mozart?s masterwork, Mass in C Minor, K. 427. The choir has performed for many heads of state and the secretary-general of the United Nations. Dr. Jennifer Pascual conducts.

St. Patrick?s Cathedral, 460 Madison Ave.
Thursday, May 24, 7 p.m.
Tickets: $20?$30
www.saintpatrickscathedral.org

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Schubert, Bartok, and Dvorak ? NY Philharmonic

The New York Philharmonic will perform Dvorak?s ?Carnival Overture,? Bartok?s Violin Concerto No. 1, and Tchaikovsky?s Symphony No. 4. Alan Gilbert conducts and Glenn Dicterow is featured on violin.?

Avery Fisher Hall, Lincoln Center
Saturday, May 26, 8 p.m.
Tickets: $31.00?$118.00
Nyphil.org

New Amsterdam Symphony Orchestra

Noted for showcasing emerging young conductors, soloists, and composers, the New Amsterdam Symphony Orchestra will perform Mozart?s Symphony No. 36 (?Linz?) and Borodin?s ?In the Steppes of Central Asia.?

Peter Jay Sharp Theatre at Symphony Space
Thursday, May 31, 8 p.m.
Tickets: $20, children $12
www.symphonyspace.org

FINE ARTS

Art of Stephen Scott Young

Forty of the exquisite watercolor paintings of living master Stephen Scott Young will be on view and sale at Christie?s. His acclaimed realist works capture in detail the spirit of the Bahamas, Florida, and coastal South Carolina through their people, landscape, and architecture.

Christie?s Private Sales Galleries, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, 20th floor
Exhibition: Now through June 11
This event is free
www.christies.com

North Italian Paintings from the Accademia Carrara, Bergamo?

Called a jewel among Italian museums, the Accademia Carrara is closed for renovation, an unintended boon for New Yorkers. Because of the closure, the museum has been able to lend New York 15 masterpieces by Venetian and north Italian painters of the 15th and 16th centuries, including works by Bellini, Titian, and Lorenzo Lotto.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art
May 15?Sept. 3
Tickets: $25, Children under 12 free
www.metmuseum.org

A Window on Nature: Art of Asuka Hishiki

These 35 watercolors depict plants and insects in superb detail and refreshing style. Artist Asuka Hishiki takes her inspiration from 18th century naturalist and scientific illustrator Maria Sibylla Merian. Hishiki writes, ?I love to share the beauty and the simple and quiet moments.?

The Arsenal (in Central Park) 830 Fifth Ave.,
Now through June 6
Weekdays only, 9 a.m.?5 p.m.
Free
www.nycgovparks.org

Beauties of the Gilded Age: Peter Mari??s Miniatures of Society Women

These nearly 300 watercolor-on-ivory miniatures are portraits of women believed epitomize female beauty. They were commissioned by New York socialite Peter Mari?, between 1889 and 1903, amid the rapid development and luxury of America?s Gilded Age. The fragile and rarely exhibited portraits will be displayed in four-month rotations.

New-York Historical Society, 170 Central Park West
Now through July 8
Admission:$15, kids 7?13 $5, under 7 free
www.nyhistory.org

Patricia Watwood: Myths and Individuals

Patricia Watwood?s contemporary classic paintings, many of them masterful lifelike portraits, are on display at The Forbes Galleries. Watwood writes, ?I chase what artists in the past have also chased?a celebration of the human form, a passion for and humility before nature, a belief that metaphor and narrative can help us puzzle out the mysteries of our time here on earth, and a belief in the emotional power of the common visual language of representation.?

The Forbes Galleries, 62 Fifth Ave.,
Now through June 9, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, 10 a.m.?4 p.m.
Admission is free
www.forbesgalleries.com

Renaissance Venice: Drawings from the Morgan

Visit the Golden Age of Venice and its territories during the 16th century. This exhibit features drawings, books, maps, and letters dating back 500 years. Great masters featured include Paris Bordone, Vittore Carpaccio, Lorenzo Lotto, Jacopo Tintoretto, Titian, and Paolo Veronese.

The Morgan Museum and Library, 225 Madison Ave.,
Now through September 23.
Adults: $15.?
Children under 12: Free
www.themorgan.org

FAMILY

Shipshape: Nautical Scale Models

From a ship in a bottle to a massive World War II warship, this exhibit explores the art and craft of shipbuilding with variations. Drawn from the Intrepid Museum?s collection and loans from other institutions and collectors, the exhibit includes large-scale models of USS Constitution and USS New Jersey, a modeler?s workbench, and World War II nautical toys.

Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum 12th Avenue and 46th Street
Now through July 8
Tickets: $24, $19 (ages 7?17), $12 (ages 3?6)
www.intrepidmuseum.org

?Monkey King?: A Story from China

A children?s exhibit exploring the classic Chinese tale of the ?Monkey King.? The mischievous supernatural monkey decides to mend his ways by embarking on an epic journey across China to retrieve the Buddhist scriptures from India. For ages 4 and up.

Children?s Museum of Manhattan, The Tisch Building at 212 W. 83rd St.,
Ongoing, Tuesday?Sunday 10 a.m.?5 p.m., Saturday until 7 p.m.
Admission: $11 for everyone over 12 months old
www.cmom.org

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Astrograss. (Lara Weschler)

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Governors Island Family Festival

Get off the mainland and take your kids to Governors Island, where they can enjoy music, theater, dance, arts and crafts, face painting, and maritime education. Featured performers include local kid friendly bluegrass band Astrograss as well as The Maybelles and Arm of the Sea Theater.

Nolan Park, Governors Island, ferry located near Staten Island Ferry
Saturday May 26, 12 p.m.-4 p.m.
Free
www.nycgovparks.org

Submit Arts Events

The arts at their best are not purely for entertainment or the reinvention of art itself. Rather, they strive forward with traditional forms, toward technical mastery, and place the highest value on virtue and the spiritually sublime.

Email events for consideration to NYC_news@epochtimes.com

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Doubt Cast on Usefulness of 'Sensory' Therapies for Autism

MONDAY, May 28 (HealthDay News) -- Sensory therapies using brushes, swings and other play equipment are increasingly used by occupational therapists to treat children with developmental issues such as autism, but a large pediatricians organization says there isn't much evidence that such therapies actually work.

Still, the group isn't completely discounting the potential of sensory therapies -- it's a ripe area for research, it noted.

But before parents spend the time and money on taking children to sensory therapy, they should know that, as of now, the techniques are largely unproven.

"It's OK for parents to try these types of therapies, but there is little research backing up the effectiveness of these therapies and whether or not they improve long-term outcomes for kids with developmental disabilities," said Dr. Michelle Zimmer, an assistant professor of pediatrics at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center.

Zimmer is the co-author of a new American Academy of Pediatrics policy statement on what is often referred to as "sensory integration therapy." The policy statement appears online May 28 and in the June print issue of Pediatrics.

According to the pediatrician group, "sensory processing disorder" should not be used as a standalone diagnosis.

No one disputes that children with conditions such as autism can have abnormalities in their responses to sensory stimuli, including sight, taste, touch and sound. For example, autistic children may have aversions to loud noises, to certain food textures or to being touched unexpectedly, Zimmer said.

But that doesn't necessarily mean the problem is with their brain pathways for processing sensory information, as the term "sensory processing disorder" implies.

Instead, some other issue could underlie their reactions to stimuli, such as a behavioral issue, said Dr. Susan Hyman, chair of the American Academy of Pediatrics subcommittee on autism and an associate professor of pediatrics at University of Rochester Medical Center, in Rochester, N.Y.

Instead of chalking up various aversions or compulsions to sensory processing disorder, health care providers need to consider what other developmental issues may be going on with the child, such as autism, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and so on, Zimmer said.

"There has never been a study that has shown that a child can have just sensory processing disorder, isolated from another developmental disabilities, such as autism or ADHD," Zimmer said.

Sensory integration therapy got its start in the 1970s, when an occupational therapist described a theory for how a well-organized sensory system develops. Children, the therapist postulated, gradually learn to make use of information from a variety of sources at the same time in order to understand the world. The theory is that sensory dysfunction occurs when these systems don't develop correctly.

In sensory integration therapy, occupational therapists put children on a "sensory diet," exposing them to different sights, smells, sounds and sensations, to improve the brain's ability to process the information.

For now, however, whether it works remains a theory, Zimmer said.

Zimmer noted that occupational therapists in her hospital's autism center uses sensory therapies, and anecdotally, she's seen sensory therapy appear to help some children.

"We are happy to support parents who want to try to these therapies, but we also need to use caution in making sure that the use of these therapies is improving some outcome for their child," Zimmer said.

In the absence of controlled clinical trials testing whether sensory therapies work, parents have to try to be objective, ask themselves tough questions about whether the treatment is really working, set specific goals and determine if the child is moving toward the target.

"Is it improving the child's ability to function? That's where more research needs to happen," Zimmer said.

Hyman, who studies sensory differences in children with autism, agreed. "The scientific testing of this intervention has not demonstrated that it is effective for all children as a standalone treatment," she said. "However, for individual children, it may be an important part of a total therapy package."

Pediatricians should counsel families about the information out there on sensory therapies, she added.

"You don't want to spend a lot of time money and energy on a treatment if it's not right for them. They have to be prudent," Hyman said. "In the absence of data, parents have to utilize the information that's available to them in making choices."

More information

The U.S. National Institute on Mental Health has more on autism.

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Russian firm: Iran victim of another cyberattack

JERUSALEM (AP) ? A Russian-based internet security firm says a powerful computer virus with unprecedented data-snatching capabilities has attacked machines in Iran and elsewhere in the Middle East.

Iran has not disclosed any damage done by the new spyware virus, dubbed "Flame." Its origin has not been identified, but Israel's vice premier fueled speculation that his country, known for its technological innovation and tireless campaign against Iran's suspect nuclear program, unleashed it.

Russian digital security provider Kaspersky Lab, which identified the virus, said in a release posted on its website late Monday that "the complexity and functionality of the newly discovered malicious program exceed those of all other cyber menaces known to date."

It said preliminary findings suggest the virus has been active since March 2010, but eluded detection because of its "extreme complexity" and the fact that only selected computers are being targeted. Flame's primary purpose, it said, "appears to be cyber espionage, by stealing information from infected machines" and sending it to servers across the world.

According to Kaspersky, the virus collected information not only in Iran, but also in Israel and the Palestinian territories, Sudan, Syria, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and Egypt. Iran, however, was far and away the country most affected, it said.

A unit of the Iranian communications and information technology ministry said only that it has produced an antivirus capable of identifying and removing the new malware. The Flame virus is the fourth known cyber attack on Iranian computer systems.

Comments Tuesday by Israel's vice premier did little to deflect suspicion about possible Israeli involvement in the latest attack.

"Whoever sees the Iranian threat as a significant threat is likely to take various steps, including these, to hobble it," Vice Premier Moshe Yaalon told Army Radio. "Israel is blessed with high technology, and we boast tools that open all sorts of opportunities for us."

Israel, like the West, rejects Tehran's claims that its nuclear program is designed to produce energy, not bombs. It considers Iran to be the greatest threat to its survival and repeatedly, if obliquely, threatened to attack Iran's nuclear facilities if Tehran doesn't abandon its uranium enrichment project, a key element of bomb making.

Because Flame is so complex, was not designed to hack into bank accounts and doesn't have the hallmarks of amateur hackers, Kaspersky has concluded that the research that went into the code was government-sponsored.

The code offers no information that can tie Flame to any specific country, Kaspersky said in its release, but a company agent in Israel said "you could more or less put your finger on any Western nation."

There is no indication of what kind of material it stole, but "we know that the computers that were infected were computers with very sensitive information" because the virus can be modified to mine whatever information is sought, added Ilan Froimovici, technical director at Power Communications, Kaspersky's representative in Israel.

Evidence suggests the same programmers were behind both Flame and Stuxnet, a virus that disrupted controls of some nuclear centrifuges in Iran in 2010, Froimovici said. The centrifuges are devices used in enriching uranium.

The two codes "use the same vulnerabilities in the operating system and the computer infrastructure in order to infect the computer system. We do believe that the same programmers built the two codes," he said.

Udi Mokady, CEO of Cyber-Ark, an Israeli developer of information security, said he thought four countries, in no particular order, have the technological know-how to develop so sophisticated a cyber offensive: Israel, the U.S., China and Russia.

"It was 20 times more sophisticated than Stuxnet," with thousands of lines of code that took a large team, ample funding and months, if not years, to develop, he said.

"It's a live program that communicates back to its master. It asks, where should I go? What should I do now? It's really almost like a science fiction movie."

Iran claims Stuxnet and other computer viruses have done no serious harm to Iran's nuclear or industrial facilities, and sees them as part of a campaign by Israel, the U.S. and their allies, which includes the assassination of Iranian nuclear scientists, to undermine the Iranian nuclear program.

Kaspersky said the cyber espionage worm came to its attention after the United Nations' International Telecommunication Union asked it for help in finding a piece of malware that was deleting sensitive information across the Middle East. The company stumbled across Flame when searching for that other code, it said.

The discovery of the Flame virus comes just days after talks between Iran and six world powers in Baghdad failed to persuade Tehran to freeze enrichment. A new round of nuclear talks is expected to take place in Moscow next month.

Yaalon, the Israeli vice premier, told Army Radio on Tuesday that the talks in Iraq "yielded no significant achievement" except to let Iran buy time. He appeared to take a swipe at President Barack Obama by saying it might "even be in the interest of some players in the West to play for time."

Yaalon in the past expressed disappointment that the U.S. has delayed plans to expand sanctions against Iran, suggesting Washington was afraid the penalties would send oil prices soaring and hurt Obama's re-election chances.

____

Diaa Hadid contributed to this report from Jerusalem.

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