WASHINGTON (AP) ? Prospects for a Senate deal on an ambitious rewrite of the nation's immigration laws improved markedly as business and labor appeared ready to set aside their differences over a new low-skilled worker program holding up the agreement.
The AFL-CIO and U.S. Chamber of Commerce had been fighting over wages for tens of thousands of low-skilled workers who would be brought in under the new program to fill jobs in construction, hotels and resorts, nursing homes and restaurants, and other industries. But on Friday, officials from both sides said there was basic agreement on the wage issue, and Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said a final deal on the low-wage worker dispute was very close.
That likely would clear the way for Schumer and seven other senators in a bipartisan group to unveil legislation the week of April 8 to overhaul the U.S. immigration system, strengthening the border, cracking down on employers, allowing in tens of thousands of new high- and low-skilled workers and providing a path to citizenship for the estimated 11 million illegal immigrants already in the country.
"We're feeling very optimistic on immigration: Aspiring Americans will receive the road map to citizenship they deserve and we can modernize 'future flow' without reducing wages for any local workers, regardless of what papers they carry," AFL-CIO spokesman Jeff Hauser said in a statement. "Future flow" refers to future arrivals of legal immigrants.
Under the emerging agreement between business and labor, a new "W'' visa program would bring tens of thousands of lower-skilled workers a year to the country. The program would be capped at 200,000 a year, but the number of visas would fluctuate, depending on unemployment rates, job openings, employer demand and data collected by a new federal bureau pushed by the labor movement as an objective monitor of the market.
The workers would be able to change jobs and could seek permanent residency. Under current temporary worker programs, personnel can't move from employer to employer and have no path to permanent U.S. residence and citizenship. And currently there's no good way for employers to bring many low-skilled workers to the U.S. An existing visa program for low-wage nonagricultural workers is capped at 66,000 per year and is supposed to apply only to seasonal or temporary jobs.
The Chamber of Commerce said workers would earn actual wages paid to American workers or the prevailing wages for the industry they're working in, whichever is higher. The Labor Department determines prevailing wage based on customary rates in specific localities, so that it varies from city to city.
There was also disagreement about how to deal with certain higher-skilled construction jobs, such as electricians and welders, and it appears those will be excluded from the deal, said Geoff Burr, vice president of federal affairs at Associated Builders and Contractors. Burr said his group opposes such an exclusion because, even though unemployment in the construction industry is high right now, at times when it is low there can be labor shortages in high-skilled trades, and contractors want to be able to bring in foreign workers. But unions pressed for the exclusion, Burr said.
The low-skilled worker issue had loomed for weeks as perhaps the toughest matter to settle in monthslong closed-door talks on immigration among the senators, including Republicans John McCain of Arizona and Marco Rubio of Florida. The issue helped sink the last major attempt at immigration overhaul in 2007, when the legislation foundered on the Senate floor after an amendment was added to end a temporary worker program after five years, threatening a key priority of the business community.
The amendment passed by just one vote, 49-48. President Barack Obama, a senator at the time, joined in the narrow majority voting to end the program after five years.
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Follow Erica Werner on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ericawerner
LAHORE, March 31 (Reuters) - Pakistan have dropped senior batsman Younus Khan from the list of 30 probable players announced for this year's ICC Champions Trophy on Sunday. Younus, 35, was the only surprise omission and the decision probably signals the end of his one-day international career which has spanned 253 matches. The former captain struggled in the recent one-day series in South Africa and has been out of form in this format of the game since last year. ...
Two studies of vacuums suggest that the speed of light in a vacuum might fluctuate, pointing the way to a quantum mechanical explanation for why the speed of light and other so-called constants are what they are.
By Eoin O'Carroll,?Staff / March 25, 2013
A young person attempts to navigate a laser maze during the grand opening ceremony for the Angry Birds Space Encounter at the Kennedy Space Center earlier this month. Researchers say that the speed of light in a vacuum, long thought to be a universal constant, may actually fluctuate.
Malcolm Denemark/Florida Today/AP
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Where did the speed of light in a vacuum come from? Why is it 299,792,458 meters per second and not some other figure?
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The simple answer is that, since 1983, science has defined a meter by the speed of light: one meter equals the distance light travels in one?299,792,458th of a second.?But that doesn't really answer our question. It's just the physics equivalent of saying, "Because I said so."?
Unfortunately, the deeper answer has been equally unsatisfying: The speed of light in a vacuum, according to physics textbooks, just is. It's a constant, one of those numbers that defines the universe. That's the physics equivalent of saying, "Because the cosmos said so."?
Or did it? A pair of studies suggest that this universal constant?might not be so constant after all. In the first study, Marcel Urban from the University of Paris-Sud and his team found that the speed of light in a vacuum varies ever so slightly.
This happens because what we think of as nothing isn't really nothing. Even if you were to create a perfect vacuum, at the quantum level it would still be populated with pairs of tiny "virtual" particles that flash in and out of existence and whose energy values fluctuate. As a consequence of these fluctuations, the speed of a photon passing through a vacuum varies, about?50 quintillionths of a second per square meter.
That may not sound like much, but it's enough to point the way toward a new underlying physics.
Before 1905, when?Albert Einstein formulated his special theory of relativity, scientists regarded space and time as composing the backdrop of the universe, the immovable stage upon which motion takes place. The only problem with this model is that light seems to move at the same speed regardless of the speed of the source, creating an apparent paradox. Einstein's theory resolved this paradox by replacing Newton's absolutes of time and space with a single absolute, the speed of light.
But if even that can vary, what's left for us to hang our hat on? Nothing, it turns out.
But, as we just noted, nothing is something. Urban's paper suggests that the speed of light and other constants "are not fundamental constants but observable parameters of the quantum vacuum." In other words, the speed of light emerges from the properties of particles in the vacuum.
In the other paper, physicists?Gerd Leuchs and Luis L. S?nchez-Soto, from the Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Light in Erlangen, Germany, hypothesize how this emergence occurs. They suggest that the impedance of a vacuum ? another electromagnetic 'constant' whose value depends on the speed of light ? itself depends only on the electric charge of the particles in the vacuum, and not their masses.
If their hypothesis is correct, it answers our question of where the speed of light comes from: It emerges from the total number of charged particles in the universe.?
Time will tell if this hypothesis is correct. And of course, by "time," we mean "space and time," by which we mean "the speed of light," by which we mean "nothing," by which we mean "the properties of the quantum vacuum." But in the meantime ? or whatever ? you can thank us for informing you that, as the speed of light in a vacuum continues to fluctuate, so too does the length of the meter. Think nothing of it.?
While I think it's safe to assume that the average Lifehacker reader knows their Wi-Fi password off the top of their head, the same can probably not be said for most of our friends and family members.
When you visit with someone a little less tech-savvy, make a point to find their Wi-Fi password and write it on a piece of masking tape. Just stick the tape to the back or the bottom of their router, and they'll always have it nearby if they need to share if with a house guest or service technician. This will also come in handy if you're trying to remotely diagnose their connection issues over the phone.
Of course, if this is your own router we're talking about, it's much cooler to use a QR code for easy password sharing.
A Quick and Easy Wi-Fi Password Reminder Solution | Apartment Therapy
LONDON (Reuters) - World markets have reacted calmly to the twists and turns of Cyprus's financial rescue in the last fortnight but many investors fear the economic fallout is yet to come.
They have sold European assets, rather than make a global dash for safety that could signal concerns about a euro breakup.
Euro blue chip and bank equity prices, regional bank bonds and the euro exchange rate have all fallen sharply this week but Wall St stocks set a record closing high.
Mutual fund data released by fund tracker EPFR on Friday showed that European equity, bond and money market funds all saw hefty redemptions this week even as investors continued to pile into Japanese and U.S. equity funds.
Cyprus's 10 billion euro rescue averted an immediate financial meltdown that could have caused a Lehman Brothers-style shock in financial markets.
But it came with a forced shut down of the island's second largest bank and a raid on bank deposits of over 100,000 euros, that forced big depositors to become part of the rescue.
Global investors are worried that the precedents set in the messy rescue will strain bank funding, hurting businesses and the fragile regional economy and delaying any recovery.
Ben Bennett, strategist at British fund managers Legal and General Asset Management described the scenario of depositor fear, bank solvency and recession as a "slow panic".
"I don't think there's anyone who's woken up in a cold sweat at midnight wondering what assets they need to dump - this is much more of a slow grind," said Ben Bennett, strategist at British fund managers Legal & General Asset Management.
Investors are worried that the precedents set for resolving a bank's problems has pushed up the cost of lenders' funding.
If banks have to pay more to borrow they will be reluctant to lend to businesses, already grappling with a recession and difficult credit conditions.
This would hurt growth and questions about the ability of the bloc to shake off its debt spiral and the viability of Europe's single currency would resurface.
Forcing savers to take a hits also sets a precedent that may mean depositors in other countries withdraw money more quickly in the future if they hear of troubles in the banking system.
DEPOSIT RADARS
While the principle of bail-ins for senior creditors may have been flagged for some time the impact of the depositor exposure is a wild card.
Investors are looking for any sign that savers elsewhere in Europe withdrew deposits from banks fearing they might end up losing money like the depositors in Cyprus.
But it will be at least another four weeks before Europe's central banks release data on depositor behavior post-Cyprus for March and a fuller picture will take another month.
Until there is clear evidence, investors will be nervous, being led by anecdotal evidence and market pricing.
Euro bank stocks have lost more than 10 percent since mid-March to their lowest since September and default insurance costs on senior European bank bonds have jumped about 50 basis points over the same period to six-month highs.
While these price moves are relatively contained, the impact on growth of the higher costs bank will pay to fund themselves appears to be a much bigger worry for many investors.
The world's biggest bond fund manager PIMCO said last week it was cutting exposure to the euro currency and its chief executive Mohamed El-Erian told German tabloid Bild on Thursday that after three years of euro crises, recession on the periphery was hurting the core and "the costs are rising."
John Stopford, co-head of fixed income and currency at Investec Asset Management, said the confidence bought by the European Central Bank's promise last summer to do what was necessary to save the euro hinged on growth returning and policy finding a coherent tack.
The events in Cyprus raised questions about both, he said.
"I'm increasingly pessimistic," said Stopford. "It does seem to me the goalposts are being moved quite a lot at the moment and there's a danger (investor) trust will go again if they're not careful."
"There's a slow credit crunch going on where banks are having to strengthen balance sheets and events in Cyprus can only exacerbate that."
FEWER LOANS HURT GROWTH
Any problems in the banks would make things worse for the small and medium size firms that are crucial to economic growth and are already struggling to find lenders.
"The lack of funding to SMEs is clearly at the heart of the ECB's thinking at the current juncture, as a blatant and persistent sign that policy transmission remains significantly impaired," a Deutsche Bank report said this month.
The existing credit drought and ongoing fiscal austerity on business confidence has already been clear in regional Purchasing Managers Surveys that disappointed expectations again through February and March.
And beyond the surveys, positive euro zone economic surprises have all but disappeared over the past month.
"At some point does the cumulative pressure just precipitate a decision by countries to get out of here?" asked Stopford at Investec. "If you could turn around the economic dynamics, a lot of the other problems would look less challenging."
SIT KWIN, Myanmar (Reuters) - The Muslims of Sit Kwin were always a small group who numbered no more than 100 of the village's 2,000 people. But as sectarian violence led by Buddhist mobs spreads across central Myanmar, they and many other Muslims are disappearing.
Their homes, shops and mosques destroyed, some end up in refugee camps or hide in the homes of friends or relatives. Dozens have been killed.
"We don't know where they are," says Aung Ko Myint, 24, a taxi driver in Sit Kwin, a farming village where on Friday Buddhists ransacked a store owned by the town's last remaining Muslim. "He escaped this morning just before the mob got here."
Since 42 people were killed in violence that erupted in Meikhtila town on March 20, unrest led by hardline Buddhists has spread to at least 10 other towns and villages in central Myanmar, with the latest incidents only about a two-hour drive from the commercial capital, Yangon.
The crowds are fired up by anti-Muslim rhetoric spread over the Internet and by word of mouth from monks preaching a movement known as "969". The three numbers refer to various attributes of the Buddha, his teachings and the monkhood. But it has come to represent a radical form of anti-Islamic nationalism which urges Buddhists to boycott Muslim-run shops and services.
Myanmar is predominantly Buddhist but about 5 percent of its 60 million people are Muslims. There are large Muslim communities in Yangon, Mandalay and towns across Myanmar's heartland where the religions have co-existed for generations.
But as violence spreads from village to village, the unleashing of ethnic hatred, suppressed during 49 years of military rule that ended in March 2011, is challenging the reformist government of one of Asia's most ethnically diverse countries.
Dusk-to-dawn curfews are in effect in many areas of Bago, the region where Sit Kwin lies, while four townships in central Myanmar are under a state of emergency imposed last week.
"I will not hesitate to use force as a last resort to protect the lives and safeguard the property of the general public," President Thein Sein said in a nationally televised speech on Thursday, warning "political opportunists and religious extremists" against instigating further violence.
The unrest has made almost 13,000 people homeless, according to the United Nations. State-run media reports 68 people have been arrested.
RUMOURS
The trouble in Sit Kwin began four days ago when people riding 30 motorbikes drove through town urging villagers to expel Muslim residents, said witnesses. They then trashed a mosque and a row of Muslim shops and houses.
"They came with anger that was born from rumors," said one man who declined to be identified.
Further south, police in Letpadan have stepped up patrols in the farming village of 22,000 people about 160 km (100 miles) from Yangon.
Three monks led a 30-strong group towards a mosque on Friday. Police dispersed the crowd, many of whom carried knives and staves, and briefly detained two people. They were later released at the request of township officials, police said.
"I won't let it happen again," said police commander Phone Myint. "The president yesterday gave the police authority to control the situation."
The abbot who led the protest, Khamainda, said he took to the streets after hearing rumors passed by other monks by telephone, about violence between Buddhists and Muslims in other towns. He said he wanted revenge against Muslims for the destruction by the Taliban of Buddhist statues in Bamiyan province in Afghanistan in 2001.
"There is no problem with the way they live. But they are the minority and we are the majority. And when the minority insults our religion we get concerned," he told Reuters. "We will come out again if we get a chance."
Letpadan villagers fear the tension will explode. "I'm sure they will come back and destroy the mosque," says Aung San Kyaw, 35, a Muslim. "We've never experienced anything like this."
Across the street, Hla Tan, a 67-year-old Buddhist, shares the fear. "We have lived peacefully for years. Nothing can happen between us unless outsiders come. But if they come, I know we can't stop them," he said.
North of Sit Kwin, the farming town of Minhla endured about three hours of violence on both Wednesday and Thursday.
About 300 people, many from the nearby village of Ye Kyaw, gathered on Wednesday afternoon. The crowd swelled to about 800 as townsfolk joined, a Minhla policeman told Reuters. They then destroyed three mosques and 17 shops and houses, he said. No Buddhist monks were involved, said witnesses.
"VERY NERVOUS"
The mob carried sticks, metal pipes and hammers, said Hla Soe, 60, a Buddhist who runs an electrical repair shop in Minhla. "No one could stop them," he said.
About 200 soldiers and police eventually intervened to restore a fragile peace. "I'm very nervous that it will happen again," he said.
About 500 of Minhla's township's 100,000 people are Muslims, said the police officer, who estimated two-thirds of those Muslims had fled.
However, Tun Tun is staying. "I have no choice," says the 26-year-old, whose tea shop was destroyed and looted by Buddhists, one armed with a chainsaw.
He plans to rebuild his shop, whose daily income of 10,000 kyat ($11) supports an extended family of 12. On the wall of his ransacked kitchen is a portrait of democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi. He did not believe she could do anything to help.
Tun Tun traced the rising communal tension in Minhla to speeches given on February 26 and 27 by a celebrated monk visiting from Mon State, to the east of Yangon. He spoke to a crowd of 2,000 about the "969 movement", said Win Myint, 59, who runs a Buddhist community centre which hosted the monk.
After the 969 talks, Muslims were jeered and fewer Buddhists frequented his tea shop, said Tun Tun. Stickers bearing pastel hues overlaid with the numerals 969 appeared on non-Muslim street stalls across Minhla.
President Thein Sein's ambitious reform program has won praise, but his government has also been criticized for failing to stem violence last year in Rakhine State in western Myanmar, where officials say 110 people were killed and 120,000 were left homeless, most of them Rohingya Muslims.
The U.N. special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar said on Thursday he had received reports of "state involvement" in the recent violence at Meikhtila.
Soldiers and police sometimes stood by "while atrocities have been committed before their very eyes, including by well-organized ultra-nationalist Buddhist mobs", said the rapporteur, Tomas Ojea Quintana. "This may indicate direct involvement by some sections of the state or implicit collusion and support for such actions."
Ye Htut, a presidential spokesman and deputy minister of information, called those accusations "groundless". "In fact, the military and the government could not be concerned more about this situation," he said in a Facebook post.
Late on Friday, three monks were preparing to give another "969" speech in Ok Kan, a town 113 km (70 miles) from Yangon.
(Additional reporting by Min Zayar Oo; Editing by Andrew R.C. Marshall and Robert Birsel)
A new survey finds that seven-in-ten Americans (71%) say there should be a way for people in the United States illegally to remain in this country if they meet certain requirements, while 27% say they should not be allowed to stay legally. Most who favor providing illegal immigrants with some form of legal status ?43% of the public ? say they should be allowed to apply for citizenship, but 24% of the public says they should only be allowed to apply for legal residency.
Majorities across all demographic and political groups say there should be a way for illegal immigrants who meet certain requirements to stay in the U.S. legally. Among those who favor providing legal status, the balance of opinion is in favor of allowing those here illegally who meet the requirements to apply for citizenship. However, no more than about half in any demographic group supports permitting illegal immigrants to apply for citizenship.
In 2011, there were about 40 million immigrants in the United States. Of that total, 11.1 million, or 28%, were in this country illegally. (For more see ?Recent Trends in Naturalization, 2000-2011? Feb. 4, 2013.)
The national survey by the Pew Research Center, conducted March 13-17 among 1,501 adults, finds that overall attitudes about immigrants in the United States are more positive than negative, despite the nation?s struggling economy.
Thinking about immigrants generally, 49% of Americans say they strengthen the country because of their hard work and talents, while 41% say they are a burden because they take jobs, health care and housing. In a June 2010 poll, 39% said immigrants strengthened the country while 50% said they were a burden.
In addition, more Americans think that the growing number of newcomers in the United States strengthens society than believe that they threaten traditional American customs and values. About half (52%) say the growing number of newcomers in the U.S. strengthens society, while 43% say the influx of newcomers threatens traditional American values and customs.
Broad Support for Legal Status for Illegal Immigrants
Support for granting legal status to illegal immigrants is wide ranging. Eight-in-ten non-Hispanic blacks (82%) and Hispanics (80%) say those in the United States illegally should be allowed to stay if they meet certain requirements; about half of blacks (52%) and Hispanics (49%) say illegal immigrants should be able to apply for citizenship.
Two-thirds of non-Hispanic whites (67%) say illegal immigrants should be allowed to stay in the country legally, while 31% say they should not. Four-in-ten whites say people in the United States illegally should have the chance to apply for citizenship if they meet certain requirements.
Among whites with no college degree, 61% favor allowing those in the U.S. illegally to stay legally, while 37% disagree. There is more support among white college graduates for permitting illegal immigrants to stay in the country legally (81% say they should, while just 17% say they should not).
The partisan differences over providing some form of legal status for illegal immigrants are modest: 76% of Democrats, 70% of independents and 64% of Republicans say illegal immigrants should be allowed to stay in the United States if they meet certain requirements.
Whites in both parties are divided along educational lines over how to deal with illegal immigrants in the United States: Among white Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents, 92% of college graduates favor allowing illegal immigrants to stay in the U.S. legally if they meet certain requirements; support falls to 68% among white Democrats and Democratic leaners who have not completed college. Similarly, there is a 20-point education gap among white Republicans and GOP-leaning independents (75% of college graduates vs. 55% of non-college grads).
Opinions about Immigrants? Impact on the Country
Currently, 49% agree with the statement ?immigrants today strengthen the country because of their hard work and talents.? Somewhat fewer (41%) agree with an opposing statement: ?immigrants today are a burden on our country because they take our jobs, housing and health care.?
The balance of opinion on these questions has fluctuated over the years. Two years ago, opinions were evenly divided and in June 2010, more said that immigrants were a burden than a strength for the United States (50% vs. 39%).
Nearly two decades ago, in July 1994, 63% viewed immigrants as a burden, but the percentage expressing this view declined substantially by the end of the 1990s (to 38% in September 2000).
In recent years, there has been little change in opinions about the impact of newcomers from other countries on traditional values. About half (52%) say the growing number of newcomers from to the United States strengthens American society, while 43% say they threaten traditional American customs and values.
Racial, Ethnic, Partisan Differences in Views of Immigrants
While majorities across all groups support legal status for illegal immigrants, there are sharp differences in opinions about the impact of immigrants on the country. Opinions about immigrants have become somewhat more positive among most groups since 2010.
Fully 74% of Hispanics say that immigrants strengthen the country because of their hard work and talents. About half of blacks (52%) also say that immigrants strengthen the country, compared with just 41% of whites.
While most Democrats (58%) say that immigrants strengthen the country because of their hard work and talents, most Republicans (55%) say they are a burden because they take jobs and health care.
College graduates express far more positive opinions about the impact of immigrants than do those with less education. Fully 67% say immigrants strengthen the country, compared with 41% of those with no more than a high school education.
By a wide margin (59% to 33%), more 18-to-29 year-olds say that immigrants strengthen the country than say they are burden. Among those 65 and older, more say immigrants are a burden (49%) than a strength (37%).
Opinions about whether the growing number of newcomers to the United States strengthens society or threatens American values break down along similar lines. Whites are divided (45% vs. 49%). Majorities of Hispanics (67%) and blacks (62%) say the growing number of newcomers strengthens American society.
Majorities of Democrats (61%) and independents (55%) say that the increasing number of newcomers strengthens society; just 34% of Republicans agree.
Religion and Views of Immigrants
Majorities of all major religious groups say there should be a way for immigrants who are currently in the U.S. illegally and who meet certain requirements to stay in the country.
For the most part, those who favor legal status for illegal immigrants say they should be allowed to apply for citizenship.
Opinions among major religious groups are more divided when it comes to the impact of immigrants on the country.
A majority of white evangelical Protestants (55%) say that immigrants are burden because they take jobs, housing and health care, while about as many (58%) say they threaten traditional American customs and values.
Other religious groups have less negative views of the impact of immigrants. These differences in opinions, however, are largely the result of underlying differences between religious groups in race, political ideology, party identification and other factors; after controlling for these factors, the independent impact of religion is minimal.
? And Center City jawn?R2L?is stickin? to that for this year?s Easter shenanigans. Their Easter brunch will be available this Sunday from 11:30 AM ? 4 PM, with three courses for $65 per person and $25 for kiddies 12 and under.
Not only is R2L having a buffet style and a la carte brunch menu, but there will also be a lil? contest to satisfy your sweet tooth: Pastry Chef Pete Scarola?s whipping up some gourmet large chocolate eggs, and putting a Willy Wonka twist to it, by placing a ?golden ticket? in one of the eggs and the lucky duck that wins will get a dinner for two on the house. Now who says you can?t do an Easter egg hunt past age 5?
By the way, here?s some of what the joint is serving up for brunch:
Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/5nm2sb/egypt_orthopedic) has announced the addition of the ?Egypt Orthopedic Devices Investment Opportunities, Analysis and Forecasts to 2018? report to their offering.
Global Markets Direct?s new report, Egypt Orthopedic Devices Investment Opportunities, Analysis and Forecasts to 2018 provides key market data on the Egypt Orthopedic Devices market.
The report provides value (USD million), volume (units) and average price (USD) data for each segment and sub-segment within twelve market categories ? Orthobiologics, Trauma Fixation, Spinal Surgery, Knee Reconstruction, Hip Reconstruction, Arthroscopy, Orthopedic Bone Cement and Casting Materials, Orthopedic Braces and Supports, Orthopedic Prosthetics, Orthopedic Tools, Cranio Maxillofacial Fixation (CMF) and Other Joint Reconstruction.
The report also provides company shares and distribution shares data for each of the aforementioned market categories. The report is supplemented with global corporate-level profiles of the key market participants with information on company financials and pipeline products, wherever available.
Scope
? Market size and company share data for Orthopedic Devices market categories ? Orthobiologics, Trauma Fixation, Spinal Surgery, Knee Reconstruction, Hip Reconstruction, Arthroscopy, Orthopedic Bone Cement and Casting Materials, Orthopedic Braces and Supports, Orthopedic Prosthetics, Orthopedic Tools, Cranio Maxillofacial Fixation (CMF) and Other Joint Reconstruction.
? Annualized market revenues (USD million), volume (units) and average price (USD) data for each of the segments and sub-segments within twelve market categories. Data from 2004 to 2011, forecast forward for 7 years to 2018.
? 2011 company shares and distribution shares data for each of the twelve market categories.
? Global corporate-level profiles of key companies operating within the Egypt Orthopedic Devices market.
FILE - In this Jan. 21, 2013 photo, Emma Clyman, 5, of Manhattan, holds a sign that reads "No More Newtowns" outside city hall park during the One Million Moms for Gun Control Rally in New York. Despite a proposal backed by over 8 in 10 people in polls, gun control supporters are struggling to win over moderate Democrats in their drive to push expanded background checks of firearms purchasers through the Senate next month. (AP Photo/John Minchillo, File)
FILE - In this Jan. 21, 2013 photo, Emma Clyman, 5, of Manhattan, holds a sign that reads "No More Newtowns" outside city hall park during the One Million Moms for Gun Control Rally in New York. Despite a proposal backed by over 8 in 10 people in polls, gun control supporters are struggling to win over moderate Democrats in their drive to push expanded background checks of firearms purchasers through the Senate next month. (AP Photo/John Minchillo, File)
FILE - In this May 19, 2011 file photo, Chairman Mark Pryor, D-Ark., speaks during a hearing of the Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety, and Insurance on cell phone privacy on Capitol Hill in Washington. Despite a proposal backed by over 8 in 10 people in polls, gun control supporters are struggling to win over moderate Democrats like Pryor in their drive to push expanded background checks of firearms purchasers through the Senate next month. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)
FILE - In this Nov. 6, 2012 file photo, Sen.-elect Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D., address her supporters in Bismarck, N.D. Despite a proposal backed by over 8 in 10 people in polls, gun control supporters are struggling to win over moderate Democrats like Heitkamp in their drive to push expanded background checks of firearms purchasers through the Senate next month. (AP Photo/Will Kincaid, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) ? It would seem a lobbyist's dream: rounding up votes for a proposal backed by more than 8 in 10 people in polls. Yet gun control supporters are struggling to win over moderate Democrats in their drive to push expanded background checks for firearms purchasers through the Senate next month.
Backed by a $12 million TV advertising campaign financed by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, gun control groups scheduled rallies around the country Thursday aimed at pressuring senators to back the effort. President Barack Obama was meeting at the White House with gun violence victims.
Moderate Senate Democrats like Mark Pryor of Arkansas and Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota are shunning Bloomberg as a meddling outsider while stressing their allegiance to their own voters' views and to gun rights. While saying they are keeping an open mind and that they support keeping guns from criminals and people with mental disorders, some moderates are avoiding specific commitments they might regret later.
"I do not need someone from New York City to tell me how to handle crime in our state. I know that we can go after and prosecute criminals without the need to infringe upon the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding North Dakotans," Heitkamp said this week, citing the constitutional right to bear arms.
Heitkamp does not face re-election next year, but Pryor and five other Senate Democrats from Republican-leaning or closely divided states do. All six, from Southern and Western states, will face voters whose deep attachment to guns is unshakeable ? not to mention opposition from the still-potent National Rifle Association, should they vote for restrictions the NRA opposes.
"We have a politically savvy and a loyal voting bloc, and the politicians know that," said Andrew Arulanandam, spokesman for the NRA, which claims nearly 5 million paying members.
The heart of the Senate gun bill will be expanded requirements for federal background checks for gun buyers, the remaining primary proposal pushed by Obama and many Democrats since 20 first-graders and six women were shot to death in December at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn. Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada has said there aren't enough votes to approve a ban on assault weapons, while prospects are uncertain for a prohibition on large-capacity ammunition magazines.
Today, the background checks apply only to sales by the nation's roughly 55,000 federally licensed gun dealers. Not covered are private transactions like those at gun shows and online. The Senate measure is still evolving as Sens. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and Mark Kirk, R-Ill., use Congress' two-week recess to negotiate for additional support in both parties.
Expanding background checks to include gun show sales got 84 percent support in an Associated Press-GfK poll earlier this year. Near-universal background checks have received similar or stronger support in other national polls.
Polls in some Southern states have been comparable. March surveys by the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute found more than 9 in 10 people in Florida and Virginia backing expanded background checks, the same margin found by an Elon University Poll in North Carolina in February.
Analysts say people support more background checks because they consider it an extension of the existing system. That doesn't translate to unvarnished support from lawmakers, in part because the small but vocal minorities who oppose broader background checks and other gun restrictions tend to be driven voters that politicians are reluctant to alienate.
"It's probably true that intense, single-issue gun voters have been more likely to turn out than folks who want common-sense gun laws," said Mark Glaze, director of Mayors Against Illegal Guns, the group that Bloomberg helps lead. Glaze, however, said he believes that voters favoring gun restrictions have become more motivated since Newtown and other recent mass shootings.
Several moderate Democrats are holding back as they assess the political landscape. They're also waiting to see exactly what the Senate will consider.
Sen. Mark Begich, D-Alaska, said Wednesday his state's voters tell him, "Don't take away our rights, our individual rights, our guns." Begich said he opposes a strict proposal requiring background checks for nearly all gun sales but will wait to see whether there is a bipartisan compromise he can support.
The problems faced by gun control supporters go beyond the challenge of winning over moderate Democrats. GOP opponents are sure to force Democrats to get 60 of the Senate's 100 votes to win, and there are only 53 Democrats plus two independents who generally support them.
Also targeted by Bloomberg's ads are 10 Republicans, including Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona, home of ex-Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who was severely wounded in a mass shooting; the retiring Sen. Saxby Chambliss of Georgia; and moderate Sen. Susan Collins of Maine.
In another indicator of hurdles facing gun control forces, the Senate voted 50-49 last week to require 60 votes for any legislation narrowing gun rights. The proposal lost because 60 votes in favor were required, but six Democrats voted for the proposal, offered by conservative Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah.
"It confirms there's no such thing as an easy gun vote," said Jim Kessler, a senior vice president of the centrist Democratic group Third Way.
Underscoring the uncertainty about moderate Democrats:
?Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., is "still holding conversations with Virginia stakeholders and sorting through issues on background checks" and proposals to ban assault weapons and high capacity ammunition magazines, spokesman Kevin Hall said.
?Pryor said of Bloomberg's ads: "I don't take gun advice from the mayor of New York City. I listen to Arkansans." Spokesman Michael Teague said Pryor opposes universal background checks but could favor expanding the requirement to gun show sales.
?Sen. Kay Hagan, D-N.C., told the Greensboro News & Record she favors expanded background checks, but said her vote would depend on the measure's details. Sen. Joe Donnelly, D-Ind., answered, "Yes," when the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette asked whether he supports gun show background checks ? prompting Bloomberg's group to remove Donnelly's name from the ad they are running in Indiana.
The gun bill also increases penalties for illegal gun sales and slightly boosts aid for school safety.
More abrupt changes like an assault weapons ban generally get slight majorities in polls. Democratic leaders decided to omit it from the Senate bill because such a provision lacks enough votes.
An anti-rape video posted on the Web with the line, "Real men treat women with respect," has gone viral, reports the New York Daily News. So far, it's been viewed over 1.4 million times.
Filmed by University of Oregon sophomore Samantha Stendal, the 26-second video, "A Needed Response," was made in reaction to the Steubenville rape trial in Ohio, which convicted two high-school football players of raping a drunk and passed out 16-year-old girl. The victim was unconscious during the crime, and in addition to the rape itself, had to endure a response on social media that often made light of the situation.
The online comments, some of which blamed the young woman, outraged Stendal. "I just wanted something positive out there, especially after there had been so many negative responses and people going directly to victim blaming," the filmmaker told the paper.
The short video shows a woman passed out on a couch. A man looks directly into the camera, and whispers, ?Hey bros, check who passed out on the couch. Guess what I'm gonna do to her?"
He then covers the unresponsive woman with a blanket, puts a pillow under her head, tucks a lock of hair behind her ear and places a mug beside her. Then he delivers the line, ?Real men treat women with respect.?
Comments to the video on YouTube include one from BJ Lincoln, who writes, ?This is a very cool message. Part of our culture permits rape in many ways and it needs to change. Thank you both for making the message clear.?
User blondegirl214 agreed, ?Glad to see at least one man gets it. All is not lost after all!?
The video has obviously struck a chord with viewers. As Stendal said to the Daily News, "It is horrifying to me that some people can say that people deserve rape when they are passed out."
How does innovation take hold in a community? Math modeling can provide cluesPublic release date: 27-Mar-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Karthika Muthukumaraswamy karthika@siam.org 267-350-6383 Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics
Philadelphia, PAMathematical models can be used to study the spread of technological innovations among individuals connected to each other by a network of peer-to-peer influences, such as in a physical community or neighborhood. One such model was introduced in a paper published yesterday in the SIAM Journal on Applied Dynamical Systems.
Authors N. J. McCullen, A. M. Rucklidge, C. S. E. Bale, T. J. Foxon, and W. F. Gale focus on one main application: The adoption of energy-efficient technologies in a population, and consequently, a means to control energy consumption. By using a network model for adoption of energy technologies and behaviors, the model helps evaluate the potential for using networks in a physical community to shape energy policy.
The decision or motivation to adopt an energy-efficient technology is based on several factors, such as individual preferences, adoption by the individual's social circle, and current societal trends. Since innovation is often not directly visible to peers in a network, social interactionwhich communicates the benefits of an innovationplays an important role. Even though the properties of interpersonal networks are not accurately known and tend to change, mathematical models can provide insights into how certain triggers can affect a population's likelihood of embracing new technologies. The influence of social networks on behavior is well recognized in the literature outside of the energy policy domain: network intervention can be seen to accelerate behavior change.
"Our model builds on previous threshold diffusion models by incorporating sociologically realistic factors, yet remains simple enough for mathematical insights to be developed," says author Alastair Rucklidge. "For some classes of networks, we are able to quantify what strength of social network influence is necessary for a technology to be adopted across the network."
The model consists of a system of individuals (or households) who are represented as nodes in a network. The interactions that link these individualsrepresented by the edges of the networkcan determine probability or strength of social connections. In the paper, all influences are taken to be symmetric and of equal weight. Each node is assigned a current state, indicating whether or not the individual has adopted the innovation. The model equations describe the evolution of these states over time.
Households or individuals are modeled as decision makers connected by the network, for whom the uptake of technologies is influenced by two factors: the perceived usefulness (or utility) of the innovation to the individual, including subjective judgments, as well as barriers to adoption, such as cost. The total perceived utility is derived from a combination of personal and social benefits. Personal benefit is the perceived intrinsic benefit for the individual from the product. Social benefit depends on both the influence from an individual's peer group and influence from society, which could be triggered by the need to fit in. The individual adopts the innovation when the total perceived utility outweighs the barriers to adoption.
When the effect of each individual node is analyzed along with its influence over the entire network, the expected level of adoption is seen to depend on the number of initial adopters and the structure and properties of the network. Two factors in particular emerge as important to successful spread of the innovation: The number of connections of nodes with their neighbors, and the presence of a high degree of common connections in the network.
This study makes it possible to assess the variables that can increase the chances for success of an innovation in the real world. From a marketing standpoint, strategies could be designed to enhance the perceived utility of a product or item to consumers by modifying one or more of these factors. By varying different parameters, a government could help figure out the effect of different intervention strategies to expedite uptake of energy-efficient products, thus helping shape energy policy.
"We can use this model to explore interventions that a local authority could take to increase adoption of energy-efficiency technologies in the domestic sector, for example by running recommend-a-friend schemes, or giving money-off vouchers," author Catherine Bale explains. "The model enables us to assess the likely success of various schemes that harness both the householders' trust in local authorities and peer influence in the adoption process. At a time when local authorities are extremely resource-constrained, tools to identify the interventions that will provide the biggest impact in terms of reducing household energy bills and carbon emissions could be of immense value to cities, councils and communities."
One of the motivations behind the studymodeling the effect of social networks in the adoption of energy technologieswas to help reduce energy consumption by cities, which utilize over two-thirds of the world's energy, releasing more than 70% of global CO2 emissions. Local authorities can indirectly influence the provision and use of energy in urban areas, and hence help residents and businesses reduce energy demand through the services they deliver. "Decision-making tools are needed to support local authorities in achieving their potential contribution to national and international energy and climate change targets," says author William Gale.
Higher quantities of social data can help in making more accurate observations through such models. As author Nick McCullen notes,"To further refine these types of models, and make the results reliable enough to be used to guide the decisions of policy-makers, we need high quality data. Particularly, data on the social interactions between individuals communicating about energy innovations is needed, as well as the balance of factors affecting their decision to adopt."
###
Source article:
Multiparameter Models of Innovation Diffusion on Complex Networks
N. J. McCullen, A. M. Rucklidge, C. S. E. Bale, T. J. Foxon, and W. F. Gale
SIAM Journal on Applied Dynamical Systems, 12(1), 515?. (Online publish date: March 26, 2013). The source article is available for free access at the link below until June 27, 2013:
Nick McCullen is a lecturer in the Department of Architecture and Civil Engineering at the University of Bath in the U.K. Alastair Rucklidge is a professor and Head of the Department of Applied Mathematics at University of Leeds in the UK. Tim Foxon is a reader in Sustainability & Innovation in the Sustainability Research Institute, School of Earth and Environment at the University of Leeds. William Gale is a professor and Catherine Bale a research fellow at the Energy Research Institute in the School of Process, Environmental and Materials Engineering at University of Leeds. This work was funded under the EPSRC Energy Challenges for Complexity Science panel, grant EP/G059780/1.
About SIAM
The Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM), headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is an international society of over 14,000 individual members, including applied and computational mathematicians and computer scientists, as well as other scientists and engineers. Members from 85 countries are researchers, educators, students, and practitioners in industry, government, laboratories, and academia. The Society, which also includes nearly 500 academic and corporate institutional members, serves and advances the disciplines of applied mathematics and computational science by publishing a variety of books and prestigious peer-reviewed research journals, by conducting conferences, and by hosting activity groups in various areas of mathematics. SIAM provides many opportunities for students including regional sections and student chapters. Further information is available at http://www.siam.org.
[Reporters are free to use this text as long as they acknowledge SIAM]
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
How does innovation take hold in a community? Math modeling can provide cluesPublic release date: 27-Mar-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Karthika Muthukumaraswamy karthika@siam.org 267-350-6383 Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics
Philadelphia, PAMathematical models can be used to study the spread of technological innovations among individuals connected to each other by a network of peer-to-peer influences, such as in a physical community or neighborhood. One such model was introduced in a paper published yesterday in the SIAM Journal on Applied Dynamical Systems.
Authors N. J. McCullen, A. M. Rucklidge, C. S. E. Bale, T. J. Foxon, and W. F. Gale focus on one main application: The adoption of energy-efficient technologies in a population, and consequently, a means to control energy consumption. By using a network model for adoption of energy technologies and behaviors, the model helps evaluate the potential for using networks in a physical community to shape energy policy.
The decision or motivation to adopt an energy-efficient technology is based on several factors, such as individual preferences, adoption by the individual's social circle, and current societal trends. Since innovation is often not directly visible to peers in a network, social interactionwhich communicates the benefits of an innovationplays an important role. Even though the properties of interpersonal networks are not accurately known and tend to change, mathematical models can provide insights into how certain triggers can affect a population's likelihood of embracing new technologies. The influence of social networks on behavior is well recognized in the literature outside of the energy policy domain: network intervention can be seen to accelerate behavior change.
"Our model builds on previous threshold diffusion models by incorporating sociologically realistic factors, yet remains simple enough for mathematical insights to be developed," says author Alastair Rucklidge. "For some classes of networks, we are able to quantify what strength of social network influence is necessary for a technology to be adopted across the network."
The model consists of a system of individuals (or households) who are represented as nodes in a network. The interactions that link these individualsrepresented by the edges of the networkcan determine probability or strength of social connections. In the paper, all influences are taken to be symmetric and of equal weight. Each node is assigned a current state, indicating whether or not the individual has adopted the innovation. The model equations describe the evolution of these states over time.
Households or individuals are modeled as decision makers connected by the network, for whom the uptake of technologies is influenced by two factors: the perceived usefulness (or utility) of the innovation to the individual, including subjective judgments, as well as barriers to adoption, such as cost. The total perceived utility is derived from a combination of personal and social benefits. Personal benefit is the perceived intrinsic benefit for the individual from the product. Social benefit depends on both the influence from an individual's peer group and influence from society, which could be triggered by the need to fit in. The individual adopts the innovation when the total perceived utility outweighs the barriers to adoption.
When the effect of each individual node is analyzed along with its influence over the entire network, the expected level of adoption is seen to depend on the number of initial adopters and the structure and properties of the network. Two factors in particular emerge as important to successful spread of the innovation: The number of connections of nodes with their neighbors, and the presence of a high degree of common connections in the network.
This study makes it possible to assess the variables that can increase the chances for success of an innovation in the real world. From a marketing standpoint, strategies could be designed to enhance the perceived utility of a product or item to consumers by modifying one or more of these factors. By varying different parameters, a government could help figure out the effect of different intervention strategies to expedite uptake of energy-efficient products, thus helping shape energy policy.
"We can use this model to explore interventions that a local authority could take to increase adoption of energy-efficiency technologies in the domestic sector, for example by running recommend-a-friend schemes, or giving money-off vouchers," author Catherine Bale explains. "The model enables us to assess the likely success of various schemes that harness both the householders' trust in local authorities and peer influence in the adoption process. At a time when local authorities are extremely resource-constrained, tools to identify the interventions that will provide the biggest impact in terms of reducing household energy bills and carbon emissions could be of immense value to cities, councils and communities."
One of the motivations behind the studymodeling the effect of social networks in the adoption of energy technologieswas to help reduce energy consumption by cities, which utilize over two-thirds of the world's energy, releasing more than 70% of global CO2 emissions. Local authorities can indirectly influence the provision and use of energy in urban areas, and hence help residents and businesses reduce energy demand through the services they deliver. "Decision-making tools are needed to support local authorities in achieving their potential contribution to national and international energy and climate change targets," says author William Gale.
Higher quantities of social data can help in making more accurate observations through such models. As author Nick McCullen notes,"To further refine these types of models, and make the results reliable enough to be used to guide the decisions of policy-makers, we need high quality data. Particularly, data on the social interactions between individuals communicating about energy innovations is needed, as well as the balance of factors affecting their decision to adopt."
###
Source article:
Multiparameter Models of Innovation Diffusion on Complex Networks
N. J. McCullen, A. M. Rucklidge, C. S. E. Bale, T. J. Foxon, and W. F. Gale
SIAM Journal on Applied Dynamical Systems, 12(1), 515?. (Online publish date: March 26, 2013). The source article is available for free access at the link below until June 27, 2013:
Nick McCullen is a lecturer in the Department of Architecture and Civil Engineering at the University of Bath in the U.K. Alastair Rucklidge is a professor and Head of the Department of Applied Mathematics at University of Leeds in the UK. Tim Foxon is a reader in Sustainability & Innovation in the Sustainability Research Institute, School of Earth and Environment at the University of Leeds. William Gale is a professor and Catherine Bale a research fellow at the Energy Research Institute in the School of Process, Environmental and Materials Engineering at University of Leeds. This work was funded under the EPSRC Energy Challenges for Complexity Science panel, grant EP/G059780/1.
About SIAM
The Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM), headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is an international society of over 14,000 individual members, including applied and computational mathematicians and computer scientists, as well as other scientists and engineers. Members from 85 countries are researchers, educators, students, and practitioners in industry, government, laboratories, and academia. The Society, which also includes nearly 500 academic and corporate institutional members, serves and advances the disciplines of applied mathematics and computational science by publishing a variety of books and prestigious peer-reviewed research journals, by conducting conferences, and by hosting activity groups in various areas of mathematics. SIAM provides many opportunities for students including regional sections and student chapters. Further information is available at http://www.siam.org.
[Reporters are free to use this text as long as they acknowledge SIAM]
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Mar. 24, 2013 ? In a collaborative study published online in Nature Genetics, researchers from Cardiff University, BGI, International Wildlife Consultants, Ltd., and Abu Dhabi Falcon Hospital, have completed the genome sequencing and analysis of two iconic falcons, the peregrine (Falco peregrinus) and saker (Falco cherrug). The work provides an invaluable resource for the deep understanding of the adaptive evolution in raptors and the genetic basis of their wide distribution.
Peregrine and saker falcons are widespread, and their unique morphological, physiological and behavioral adaptations make them successful hunters. The peregrine is renowned as the world's fastest animal, and the falcon is the national emblem of United Arab Emirate. In recent decades, peregrine and saker falcons have been listed as endangered due to rapid population declines caused by a wide range of factors including environmental change, overharvesting for falconry, habitat loss and bioaccumulation of pesticides (e.g. DDT, PCBs).
In this study, researchers focused on the evolutionary basis of predatory adaptations underlying peregrine and saker. They conducted whole genome sequencing and assembled the high quality ~1.2 Gb reference genomes for each falcon species. Phylogenic analysis suggested that the two falcon species might diverged 2.1 million years ago.
Comparing with chicken and zebra finch, researchers found the transposable element composition of falcons was most similar to that of zebra finch. Large segmental duplications in falcons are less frequent than that in chicken and zebra finch, and comprise less than 1% of both falcon genomes. They also found that a gene expansion in the olfactory receptor ?-c clade in chicken and zebra finch is not present in falcons, possibly reflecting their reliance on vision for locating prey.
Observing genome-wide rapid evolution for both falcons, chicken, zebra finch and turkey, researchers found that the nervous system, olfaction and sodium ion trans-port have evolved rapidly in falcons, and also the evolutionary novelties in beak development related genes of falcons and saker-unique arid-adaptation related genes.
Shengkai Pan, bioinformatics expert from BGI, said, "The two falcon genomes are the first predatory bird genome published. The data presented in this study will advance our understanding of the adaptive evolution of raptors as well as aid the conservation of endangered falcon species."
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by BGI Shenzhen.
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Journal Reference:
Xiangjiang Zhan, Shengkai Pan, Junyi Wang, Andrew Dixon, Jing He, Margit G Muller, Peixiang Ni, Li Hu, Yuan Liu, Haolong Hou, Yuanping Chen, Jinquan Xia, Qiong Luo, Pengwei Xu, Ying Chen, Shengguang Liao, Changchang Cao, Shukun Gao, Zhaobao Wang, Zhen Yue, Guoqing Li, Ye Yin, Nick C Fox, Jun Wang, Michael W Bruford. Peregrine and saker falcon genome sequences provide insights into evolution of a predatory lifestyle. Nature Genetics, 2013; DOI: 10.1038/ng.2588
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Y Combinator was tougher to get into than ever this season, and the quality showed on stage. 33 startups presented on the record at the incubator's Winter 2013 Demo Day today. Picking the most promising ones was no easy task. But after a team huddle and taking input from VCs and founders, TechCrunch chose seven startups that could disrupt big businesses and make the world a better place to live.
While I think it's safe to assume that the average Lifehacker reader knows their Wi-Fi password off the top of their head, the same can probably not be said for most of our friends and family members.
A new survey finds that seven-in-ten Americans (71%) say there should be a way for people in the United States illegally to remain in this country if they meet certain requirements, while 27% say they should not be allowed to stay legally. Most who favor providing illegal immigrants with some form of legal status ?43% of the public ? say they should be allowed to apply for citizenship, but 24% of the public says they should only be allowed to apply for legal residency.
Support for granting legal status to illegal immigrants is wide ranging. Eight-in-ten non-Hispanic blacks (82%) and Hispanics (80%) say those in the United States illegally should be allowed to stay if they meet certain requirements; about half of blacks (52%) and Hispanics (49%) say illegal immigrants should be able to apply for citizenship.
Currently, 49% agree with the statement ?immigrants today strengthen the country because of their hard work and talents.? Somewhat fewer (41%) agree with an opposing statement: ?immigrants today are a burden on our country because they take our jobs, housing and health care.?
Fully 74% of Hispanics say that immigrants strengthen the country because of their hard work and talents. About half of blacks (52%) also say that immigrants strengthen the country, compared with just 41% of whites.
By a wide margin (59% to 33%), more 18-to-29 year-olds say that immigrants strengthen the country than say they are burden. Among those 65 and older, more say immigrants are a burden (49%) than a strength (37%).
Religion and Views of Immigrants
A majority of white evangelical Protestants (55%) say that immigrants are burden because they take jobs, housing and health care, while about as many (58%) say they threaten traditional American customs and values.
? And Center City jawn?R2L?is stickin? to that for this year?s Easter shenanigans. Their Easter brunch will be available this Sunday from 11:30 AM ? 4 PM, with three courses for $65 per person and $25 for kiddies 12 and under.
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Public release date: 27-Mar-2013
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Y Combinator was tougher to get into than ever this season, and the quality showed on stage. 33 startups presented on the record at the incubator's Winter 2013 Demo Day today. Picking the most promising ones was no easy task. But after a team huddle and taking input from VCs and founders, TechCrunch chose seven startups that could disrupt big businesses and make the world a better place to live.