CA-BUSINESS Summary

Central bank stimulus hopes lift shares, euro slips

LONDON (Reuters) - Europe's share markets advanced and the euro slipped on Tuesday as some investors positioned for the European Central Bank and the U.S. Federal Reserve to extend their monetary measures to stimulate economic growth. Opinions remain divided on whether the ECB will lower interest rates. Only a narrow majority of 76 economists polled by Reuters last week forecast a 25 basis point cut in the main rate to 0.5 percent on Thursday. A separate survey of money market dealers showed they were evenly split on any move.

Banks, Valeant, resource shares drive TSX higher

TORONTO (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index gained three-quarters of a percent on Monday in a broad-based move after Italy ended months of political uncertainty with the formation of a coalition government. The sharp rise was led by some of the country's heavyweight banks and resource companies, while Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc also gained after a source told Reuters the acquisitive company had pulled back from talks on a multibillion-dollar merger.

Best Buy plans to exit Europe by selling stake to Carphone

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. retailer Best Buy Co Inc is selling its 50 percent stake in a joint venture with Europe's biggest independent mobile phone retailer Carphone Warehouse Group PLC back to its European partner for about 500 million pounds (or $775 million). The move is the latest sign the world's largest consumer electronics chain is scaling back its overseas ambitions to focus on its mainstay U.S. business, which faces cut-throat competition from the likes of Wal-Mart Stores Inc and Amazon.com Inc .

Spain sinks deeper into recession in first quarter

MADRID (Reuters) - Spain's economy shrank for the seventh straight quarter from January to March, preliminary data showed on Tuesday, and the recession looks set to last into next year. Acute joblessness and grim economic data from Spain and other euro zone countries have fueled a raging debate over whether Europe should abandon austerity policies that are still favored by regional powerhouse Germany.

Insight: Why did Cypriot banks keep buying Greek bonds?

NICOSIA (Reuters) - One day last October, a memory stick containing special software for deleting data was placed into a desktop computer at Bank of Cyprus. Within minutes, 28,000 files were erased, according to investigators who had wanted to copy the data for an official report into the collapse of the Cypriot banking system.

Japan's SoftBank says no need to improve Sprint offer

TOKYO (Reuters) - SoftBank Corp said there is no need to improve its $20.1 billion bid for 70 percent of U.S. wireless carrier Sprint Nextel Corp , which has been challenged by a counter-offer from Dish Network Corp . SoftBank's billionaire founder and top executive Masayoshi Son, who had been tight-lipped on Dish's $25.5 billion bid for Sprint since it emerged this month, told a briefing on SoftBank's latest earnings it was not possible to make an apples-to-apples comparison of the two bids.

Canada's Suncor Energy Q1 operating profit beats expectations

(Reuters) - Suncor Energy Inc's first-quarter operating profit beat analyst expectations, boosted by higher oil sands production and better profitability in refining and marketing. The quarterly results are the company's first since its March decision to scrap its partially built Voyageur upgrader, part of a joint venture with French oil major Total SA .

Unilever offers $5.4 billion to raise stake in Indian unit

MUMBAI (Reuters) - Anglo-Dutch consumer goods giant Unilever Plc offered to pay as much as $5.4 billion to raise its stake in its Indian unit, banking on fast-growing spending power in Asia's third-largest economy. The offer to lift its share to as much as three-quarters of Hindustan Unilever Ltd , India's largest consumer goods maker, is the latest big corporate bet on long-term consumer demand in India despite economic growth at a decade low. It also reflects Unilever's focus on emerging markets amid weakness in the United States and Europe.

Bank of Canada governor decision to happen soon: Flaherty

OTTAWA (Reuters) - A new governor for the Bank of Canada to replace Mark Carney will be named soon, but not necessarily by the end of April as the government initially indicated, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said on Monday. "You'll recall that I said we're aiming at about the end of April and we're about the end of April and the process is drawing to a close," Flaherty told reporters.

UBS posts strong first-quarter on trading income surge

ZURICH (Reuters) - UBS beat expectations for first-quarter profit thanks to a surge in trading income from its investment bank and more fees from wealthy clients. Net profit at Switzerland's biggest bank slipped 5 percent to 988 million Swiss francs ($1.05 billion) compared with average analysts forecasts of 601 million in a Reuters poll.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ca-business-summary-004534029.html

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Germany charges 4 with sending Iran reactor parts

BERLIN (AP) -- Federal prosecutors say they have charged three German-Iranian dual nationals and a German man with breaking export laws for allegedly supplying Iran with parts needed to build a nuclear reactor in violation of the country's trade embargo.

Prosecutors said in a statement Monday suspect Hamid Kh., 80, set up contact for Gholamali Ka., 70, and his son Kianzad Ka., 25, with German businessman Rudolf M., 78, whose Thuringia firm produced valves needed for a nuclear reactor's construction. Their last names were not released in accordance with German privacy laws.

The group is accused of supplying Iran with 92 German-made valves, and another 856 Indian-made valves, in 2010 and 2011.

They're accused of supplying the parts through front companies in other countries in deals worth millions of euros in total.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/germany-charges-4-sending-iran-135141074.html

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In a first, black voter turnout rate passes whites

WASHINGTON (AP) ? America's blacks voted at a higher rate than other minority groups in 2012 and by most measures surpassed the white turnout for the first time, reflecting a deeply polarized presidential election in which blacks strongly supported Barack Obama while many whites stayed home.

Had people voted last November at the same rates they did in 2004, when black turnout was below its current historic levels, Republican Mitt Romney would have won narrowly, according to an analysis conducted for The Associated Press.

Census data and exit polling show that whites and blacks will remain the two largest racial groups of eligible voters for the next decade. Last year's heavy black turnout came despite concerns about the effect of new voter-identification laws on minority voting, outweighed by the desire to re-elect the first black president.

William H. Frey, a demographer at the Brookings Institution, analyzed the 2012 elections for the AP using census data on eligible voters and turnout, along with November's exit polling. He estimated total votes for Obama and Romney under a scenario where 2012 turnout rates for all racial groups matched those in 2004. Overall, 2012 voter turnout was roughly 58 percent, down from 62 percent in 2008 and 60 percent in 2004.

The analysis also used population projections to estimate the shares of eligible voters by race group through 2030. The numbers are supplemented with material from the Pew Research Center and George Mason University associate professor Michael McDonald, a leader in the field of voter turnout who separately reviewed aggregate turnout levels across states, as well as AP interviews with the Census Bureau and other experts. The bureau is scheduled to release data on voter turnout in May.

Overall, the findings represent a tipping point for blacks, who for much of America's history were disenfranchised and then effectively barred from voting until passage of the Voting Rights Act in 1965.

But the numbers also offer a cautionary note to both Democrats and Republicans after Obama won in November with a historically low percentage of white supporters. While Latinos are now the biggest driver of U.S. population growth, they still trail whites and blacks in turnout and electoral share, because many of the Hispanics in the country are children or noncitizens.

In recent weeks, Republican leaders have urged a "year-round effort" to engage black and other minority voters, describing a grim future if their party does not expand its core support beyond white males.

The 2012 data suggest Romney was a particularly weak GOP candidate, unable to motivate white voters let alone attract significant black or Latino support. Obama's personal appeal and the slowly improving economy helped overcome doubts and spur record levels of minority voters in a way that may not be easily replicated for Democrats soon.

Romney would have erased Obama's nearly 5 million-vote victory margin and narrowly won the popular vote if voters had turned out as they did in 2004, according to Frey's analysis. Then, white turnout was slightly higher and black voting lower.

More significantly, the battleground states of Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Florida and Colorado would have tipped in favor of Romney, handing him the presidency if the outcome of other states remained the same.

"The 2012 turnout is a milestone for blacks and a huge potential turning point," said Andra Gillespie, a political science professor at Emory University who has written extensively on black politicians. "What it suggests is that there is an 'Obama effect' where people were motivated to support Barack Obama. But it also means that black turnout may not always be higher, if future races aren't as salient."

Whit Ayres, a GOP consultant who is advising GOP Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, a possible 2016 presidential contender, says the last election reaffirmed that the Republican Party needs "a new message, a new messenger and a new tone." Change within the party need not be "lock, stock and barrel," Ayres said, but policy shifts such as GOP support for broad immigration legislation will be important to woo minority voters over the longer term.

"It remains to be seen how successful Democrats are if you don't have Barack Obama at the top of the ticket," he said.

___

In Ohio, a battleground state where the share of eligible black voters is more than triple that of other minorities, 27-year-old Lauren Howie of Cleveland didn't start out thrilled with Obama in 2012. She felt he didn't deliver on promises to help students reduce college debt, promote women's rights and address climate change, she said. But she became determined to support Obama as she compared him with Romney.

"I got the feeling Mitt Romney couldn't care less about me and my fellow African-Americans," said Howie, an administrative assistant at Case Western Reserve University's medical school who is paying off college debt.

Howie said she saw some Romney comments as insensitive to the needs of the poor. "A white Mormon swimming in money with offshore accounts buying up companies and laying off their employees just doesn't quite fit my idea of a president," she said. "Bottom line, Romney was not someone I was willing to trust with my future."

The numbers show how population growth will translate into changes in who votes over the coming decade:

?The gap between non-Hispanic white and non-Hispanic black turnout in 2008 was the smallest on record, with voter turnout at 66.1 percent and 65.2 percent, respectively; turnout for Latinos and non-Hispanic Asians trailed at 50 percent and 47 percent. Rough calculations suggest that in 2012, 2 million to 5 million fewer whites voted compared with 2008, even though the pool of eligible white voters had increased.

?Unlike other minority groups, the rise in voting for the slow-growing black population is due to higher turnout. While blacks make up 12 percent of the share of eligible voters, they represented 13 percent of total 2012 votes cast, according to exit polling. That was a repeat of 2008, when blacks "outperformed" their eligible voter share for the first time on record.

?White voters also outperformed their eligible vote share, but not at the levels seen in years past. In 2012, whites represented 72 percent of total votes cast, compared to their 71.1 percent eligible vote share. As recently as 2004, whites typically outperformed their eligible vote share by at least 2 percentage points. McDonald notes that in 2012, states with significant black populations did not experience as much of a turnout decline as other states. That would indicate a lower turnout for whites last November since overall voter turnout declined.

?Latinos now make up 17 percent of the population but 11 percent of eligible voters, due to a younger median age and lower rates of citizenship and voter registration. Because of lower turnout, they represented just 10 percent of total 2012 votes cast. Despite their fast growth, Latinos aren't projected to surpass the share of eligible black voters until 2024, when each group will be roughly 13 percent. By then, 1 in 3 eligible voters will be nonwhite.

?In 2026, the total Latino share of voters could jump to as high as 16 percent, if nearly 11 million immigrants here illegally become eligible for U.S. citizenship. Under a proposed bill in the Senate, those immigrants would have a 13-year path to citizenship. The share of eligible white voters could shrink to less than 64 percent in that scenario. An estimated 80 percent of immigrants here illegally, or 8.8 million, are Latino, although not all will meet the additional requirements to become citizens.

"The 2008 election was the first year when the minority vote was important to electing a U.S. president. By 2024, their vote will be essential to victory," Frey said. "Democrats will be looking at a landslide going into 2028 if the new Hispanic voters continue to favor Democrats."

___

Even with demographics seeming to favor Democrats in the long term, it's unclear whether Obama's coalition will hold if blacks or younger voters become less motivated to vote or decide to switch parties.

Minority turnout tends to drop in midterm congressional elections, contributing to larger GOP victories as happened in 2010, when House control flipped to Republicans.

The economy and policy matter. Exit polling shows that even with Obama's re-election, voter support for a government that does more to solve problems declined from 51 percent in 2008 to 43 percent last year, bolstering the view among Republicans that their core principles of reducing government are sound.

The party's "Growth and Opportunity Project" report released last month by national leaders suggests that Latinos and Asians could become more receptive to GOP policies once comprehensive immigration legislation is passed.

Whether the economy continues its slow recovery also will shape voter opinion, including among blacks, who have the highest rate of unemployment.

Since the election, optimism among nonwhites about the direction of the country and the economy has waned, although support for Obama has held steady. In an October AP-GfK poll, 63 percent of nonwhites said the nation was heading in the right direction; that's dropped to 52 percent in a new AP-GfK poll. Among non-Hispanic whites, however, the numbers are about the same as in October, at 28 percent.

Democrats in Congress merit far lower approval ratings among nonwhites than does the president, with 49 percent approving of congressional Democrats and 74 percent approving of Obama.

William Galston, a former policy adviser to President Bill Clinton, says that in previous elections where an enduring majority of voters came to support one party, the president winning re-election ? William McKinley in 1900, Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1936 and Ronald Reagan in 1984 ? attracted a larger turnout over his original election and also received a higher vote total and a higher share of the popular vote. None of those occurred for Obama in 2012.

Only once in the last 60 years has a political party been successful in holding the presidency more than eight years ? Republicans from 1980-1992.

"This doesn't prove that Obama's presidency won't turn out to be the harbinger of a new political order," Galston says. "But it does warrant some analytical caution."

Early polling suggests that Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton could come close in 2016 to generating the level of support among nonwhites as Obama did in November, when he won 80 percent of their vote. In a Fox News poll in February, 75 percent of nonwhites said they thought Clinton would make a good president, outpacing the 58 percent who said that about Vice President Joe Biden.

Benjamin Todd Jealous, president of the NAACP, predicts closely fought elections in the near term and worries that GOP-controlled state legislatures will step up efforts to pass voter ID and other restrictions to deter blacks and other minorities from voting. In 2012, courts blocked or delayed several of those voter ID laws and African-Americans were able to turn out in large numbers only after a very determined get-out-the-vote effort by the Obama campaign and black groups, he said.

Jealous says the 2014 midterm election will be the real bellwether for black turnout. "Black turnout set records this year despite record attempts to suppress the black vote," he said.

___

AP Director of Polling Jennifer Agiesta and News Survey Specialist Dennis Junius contributed to this report.

EDITOR'S NOTE _ "America at the Tipping Point: The Changing Face of a Nation" is an occasional series examining the cultural mosaic of the U.S. and its historic shift to a majority-minority nation.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/first-black-voter-turnout-rate-passes-whites-115957314.html

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UDC: Veteran Lender Celebrates 75 Years | Stuff.co.nz

The grizzled grand-daddy of finance companies -the largest and oldest in the country- has turned 75 years old.

At the office birthday party for UDC Finance earlier this month, staff had plenty to celebrate with profit returning to pre-financial crisis levels last year and the first half of the new financial year improving on every metric again.

UDC took root in 1937, during the Great Depression. It was one of only three big deposit-takers to survive the wholesale destruction of the finance company sector, with younger companies collapsing and taking millions of Kiwi investors' dollars with them.

UDC endured and last month wrote the highest value of new lending since 2006 - beating the previous record by $2.8 million.

Loan provisions fell 29 per cent in the six months to March 2013, while lending rose 5.4 per cent. Revenue and profit -yet to be reported- both rose.

The company's resilience is built on more than good luck.

As the original 'industrial' finance firm, it is far from glamorous. It did not dabble in the speculative property developments that led others astray.

Instead, it's core business involves greasing the more mundane cogs of the economy- manufacturing equipment, plant, trucks and vans.

Chief executive Tessa Price said the company had consistently stuck to what it knew, building up decades of industry knowledge.

''It's not hard- it's trucks and cars and wheels,'' she said.

''It definitely is the customer focus and the industry specialisation that we've always had since day one...we've never steered away from that.''

Strong relationships exist with long-standing customers -on both sides of the ledger- and there was no struggle to source retail deposits.

''We have customers with us who have been investing for 55 years,'' said Price.

PwC financial services partner Sam Shuttleworth said generally, the surviving finance companies had ''stuck to their knitting''.

''They weren't chasing the dollar,'' he said. ''They had appropriate controls in place to manage their risks.''

It didn't hurt to have the backing of the largest bank in New Zealand, either.

UDC has been a wholly owned subsidiary of the ANZ since 1980. The ties remain strong- ANZ's chief executive David Hisco used to be the boss of UDC.

''A strong parent is always helpful during times of trouble,'' said Shuttleworth. It also meant the ANZ's disciplined controls and governance filtered through to UDC, he said.

Now the model has been emulated by Kiwibank. The state-owned bank launched its own UDC equivalent - Kiwi Asset Finance - as a separate company just over two years ago.

''It's part of Kiwibank providing the whole portfolio of financial services that people expect from a major bank,'' said spokesman Bruce Thompson.

Other bank competitors include the BNZ and ASB, which offer asset finance in-house.

UDC is self-funding but has a line of credit available from its parent.

It can also tap into ANZ's substantial network of business customers, giving it a big advantage for its next drive:

''At the moment we're not reaching down the small business end,'' said Price.

Existing clients are mostly larger commercial operators, but the smaller guys need a van or a truck too.

With several hundred thousand small to medium businesses in the country, there's plenty of scope for expansion.

UDC's strong balance sheet also hints at good news for the New Zealand economy.

The climate is still a bit patchy, Price said. But consumer confidence has bounced back and there's less nervousness in the commercial market.
Transport, construction and even agriculture are all tracking well.
''There's definitely more confidence there- but it's across the board,'' said Price.

- ? Fairfax NZ News

Source: http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/8606720/Veteran-lender-celebrates-75th-with-positive-results

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US tries new aerial tools in Caribbean drug fight

ABOARD THE HIGH SPEED VESSEL SWIFT (AP) ? Drug smugglers who race across the Caribbean in speedboats will typically jettison their cargo when spotted by surveillance aircraft, hoping any chance of prosecuting them will vanish with the drugs sinking to the bottom of the sea.

That may be a less winning tactic in the future. The U.S. Navy on Friday began testing two new aerial tools, borrowed from the battlefields of Afghanistan and Iraq, that officials say will make it easier to detect, track and videotape drug smugglers in action.

One of the devices on display aboard the High Speed Vessel Swift is a large, white balloon-like craft known as an aerostat, which is tethered up to 2,000 feet (600 meters) above the ship's stern. The other tool on board for tests in the Florida Straits is a type of drone that can be launched by hand from the deck.

Together, they expand the ability of Navy and Coast Guard personnel to see what's beyond their horizon, according to officials from both military branches and the contractors hoping to sell the devices to the U.S. government.

The devices should allow authorities to detect and monitor suspected drug shipments from afar for longer sustained periods, giving them a better chance of stopping the smugglers. They also should allow them to make continuous videotapes that can be used in prosecutions.

"Being able to see them and watch what they are doing even before we get there is going to give us an edge," said Chief Chris Sinclair, assistant officer in charge of a law enforcement detachment on board the Swift, a private vessel leased to the Navy that is about to begin a monthlong deployment to the southwestern Caribbean, tracking the busy smuggling routes off Colombia and Honduras.

Crews practiced launching and operating both systems before a small contingent of news media on board the Swift, managing to bring back video of vessels participating in a mock surveillance mission as well as radar and video images of the fishing charters and sailboats that dot the choppy seas separating Cuba from the U.S. mainland.

The drone, officially a Puma All Environment unmanned aircraft system from Aerovironment Inc. of Simi Valley, California, splashed into the water on one landing and had to be retrieved. On the second round, it clacked noisily but intact on the shifting deck of the 321-foot ship. Rear Adm. Sinclair Harris, commander of the Navy's 4th Fleet, said the devices are necessary at a time when the service is making a transition to smaller, faster ships amid budget cuts.

The aerostat, formally the Aerostar TIF-25K and made by a division of Raven Industries Inc. of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, is filled with helium. It's an old technology, models of which have been used for decades, but it's packed with cameras and sensors that expand the ship's radar capability from about 5 miles (8 kilometers) to about 50 miles. That can help teams in an on-board control center to identify larger ships, which now would appear as just dots on the horizon, from as far as 15 miles (25 kilometers) away.

The Puma, meanwhile, can be sent out to inspect a vessel flagged by the larger aerostat and give a "God's eye view," of what's happening on board, a job usually handled by a plane or helicopter, said Craig Benson, director of business development for the company.

Both the aerostat and the drone have been used widely by the U.S. government for overseas actions, but Harris and others aboard the Swift said neither has been used before by the Navy to conduct counter-drug operations.

Unmanned aerial devices, however, are not new to the drug fight. U.S. Customs and Border Protection operates 10 Predator drones, including two based in Cape Canaveral, Florida, that patrol a wide swathe of the Caribbean through the Bahamas and down to south of Puerto Rico. It deployed one to the Dominican Republic last year for six weeks and has considered using one in Honduras. The others are used along the northern and southern borders of the United States.

The U.S. military has long been deeply involved in counter-drug operations in the Southern Hemisphere, coordinated by a multi-agency task force based in Key West, Florida. Navy ships and Air Force jets use their radar to track and run down smugglers, though for legal reasons the actual arrests are carried out by the Coast Guard, civilian agencies or officials from other countries.

In March, the military said it would reduce patrols and sorties in Latin America and the Caribbean because of the automatic spending cuts imposed by Congress, another argument for increased use of aerial surveillance devices like the aerostat and drone, officials said.

Representatives on the Swift from both contractors declined to say what their systems cost. But they said each can be run at a fraction of the cost of the fixed-wing planes or helicopters usually dispatched to check out suspected smugglers.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/us-tries-aerial-tools-caribbean-drug-fight-114421954.html

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The iTunes Store Is A Decade Old Today

For better or worse, Apple has been peddling digital wares for ten years through its iTunes store. What started as a 99 cent, iPod-centric music seller has evolved into the billion dollar behemoth we know today. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/oUKhq5PTiaQ/the-itunes-store-is-a-decade-old-today

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Ten Tips for Making Your Vancouver Home Greener | Your ...

Greener by Anita Hart

Are you committed to sustainable living but unsure where to start? Here is a small guide for you with 10 tips for a healthier, more ecological, and happier home. And the best part? You don?t need to undertake any major remodelling or reconstruction. You just need to take tiny steps that will contribute to a better environment ? because being a good global citizen starts at our doorsteps.

1. Greener Appliances

Did you know that getting rid of the old refrigerator standing in your garage would save you $150 a year?

Electrical appliances such as a vacuum cleaner, food processor, refrigerator, or washing machine account for about 18 per cent of a typical home?s total energy bill, and the fridge is one of the biggest energy hogs because it?s switched on 365 days a year. You should change your appliances every 10 years at most and always look for the A++ or ?Energy Star? labelled models. These appliances use from 10 to 50 per cent less energy and water than standard models. According to the Energy Star site, if just one in ten homes used energy-efficient appliances, this would be equivalent to planting 1.7 million new acres of trees ? and that is a big change!

Now that you have a new, energy-efficient fridge, think a little about what you put inside. Living green and eating green should be everybody?s priority, so next time you go grocery shopping, pick apples that are not placed on a polystyrene tray and wrapped up in plastic so that you minimize waste. The best way to buy produce is to support your local community by buying food at farmers markets. You will get healthier groceries, support local farmers and producers (and the local economy), and save the planet from burning fossil fuels to get food to you from the other side of the planet.

2. Heating and Cooling

Did you know that almost half a home?s energy consumption is spent heating and cooling?

Shades by Daniel Hsia

Energy saving is the topic right now, but what more can we do except switching off the light and TV? Thermoregulation is the answer. If you?re planning to have a new house built, consult the building company about wall and roof insulation, as this is the best way to minimize energy waste. If you, on the other hand, live in a house that won?t be reconstructed any time soon, don?t worry. There is a way to lower your energy bill as well.

• Turn down the thermostat during winter and keep it higher in summer. Each degree below 20?C during cold weather and above 25?C during summer saves from 3 to 5 per cent of your heating energy. If you don?t own a programmable thermostat, it?s a good idea to invest in one, and it will do the work for you automatically.
• Clean the filter on your furnace at least once a month during the period of heavy use. The same rule as with electrical appliances applies here: if your furnace is older than 10 years, consider replacing it with a newer model. Today?s furnaces are about 25 per cent more efficient than they were in the 1990s. Once again, don?t forget to look for the A++ or ?Energy Star? label.
• Keeping your house cooler during summer months is easy and very cost-efficient with shades or blinds (hardwood or textile). This is a trick used in the Caribbean: you close them at around 10:00 A.M. and open them again at around 4:00 P.M. when the sun starts to set. You will be surprised how nice and cool your rooms will be, even without air conditioning.
• Replace your air conditioning with a ceiling fan. Moving air feels cooler, and perhaps with a fan running, you won?t even have to think about switching the air conditioning on.

3. Shut Off the Tap

Did you know that turning the water off when you brush your teeth will save 17 litres each time?

Tap by Rickard B

The ?save water, drink wine? rule won?t really work here ? sorry! Canadian households use excessive amounts of water every day, and most of the time it wouldn?t hurt us if we shut off the tap.

• Stop washing dishes under running water. Some people find it uncomfortable to shut off the water completely, soap the dishes, and then rinse them all at once. If this is your case, shut off the water as you go. You don?t need a waterfall in your sink.
• Install a low-flow toilet. They use only 7 litres per flush, compared to 15 litres per flush for pre-1994 models. If you have an older model, adjust your float valve to admit less water into the toilet?s tank.
• Behavioural changes are the cheapest and most effective techniques. Next time you decide to clean the driveway, use a broom instead of the garden hose. It can save you 364 litres of water!

4. Clean Green

Did you know that last year, cleaning products were responsible for nearly 10 per cent of all toxic exposures?

No one knows how toxic household cleaners and detergents really are because manufacturers don?t need to list ingredients. What seems like a great stain remover may actually be disastrous for the environment. Every personal care or cleaning product we use is flushed down with our water, and many times nature can?t deal with the harsh chemicals that were used. Given our obsession with clean homes, the amount of hazardous chemicals entering the soil and water is alarming.

Household cleaners were produced during World War II for the first time as a soap substitute. How did people keep their homes clean before? Surprisingly easily. They used mixtures of hot water and soap, vinegar, or baking soda. Such cleaning products are nature-friendly, wallet-friendly, and definitely the enemy of all stains. Have a look here for homemade cleaning product recipes.

5. See the Light

Did you know that on average we have our lamps switched on for 2.7 hour per day and 1,000 hours per year?

Lamps by Chris Corwin

Replacing old light bulbs hurts those who love the warm, soft, bright light of old-fashioned bulbs. Compact fluorescent lightbulbs replace old incandescent bulbs in most cases. They use 66 per cent less energy than a standard incandescent bulb and last up to 10 times longer. Replacing a 100-watt incandescent bulb with a 32-watt fluorescent can save $30 in energy costs over the life of the bulb. The only disadvantage is their design and their neon blue light that couldn?t be further from the soft yellow we?ve come to prefer.

However, there is a remedy for this problem as well. For those of you who still hesitate, try to replace a halogen light bulb with a new LED bulb and you?ll be surprised. Philips has made the most eco-friendly LED light bulb to date. The 3W Econic spotlight is a direct replacement for the ubiquitous 35W halogen bulb and claims to have the same light output. Try it and see for yourself that Philips wasn?t exaggerating. This is brighter than any other LED on market.

The most amazing thing about LED light bulbs is that they contain absolutely no hazardous materials, and that makes them safe for any room and convenient to recycle.

6. Tree-Free

Did you know that recycling a four-foot stack of newspapers saves the equivalent of one 12-metre fir tree?

Stack of newspapers by Cas

It?s surprising that our paper consumption is rising despite the fact that we use tablets instead of restaurant menus, read books on ereaders, and write emails instead of letters. Where is the all the paper going then? Packaging and junk mail. While the offices and corporations pay close attention to their paper usage levels and they use recycled paper for draft prints, high-quality paper is wasted elsewhere. If you receive tons of junk mail every week, try to unsubscribe. Maybe you even forgot that once, five years ago, you ticked a box and agreed to be mailed a new catalog or list of products and services every now and then. If you automatically move the envelope to the bin, unsubscribing will save you time and bin space ? and in the long run you can save some trees as well.

• When you?re buying a new box of paper, go for the unbleached variety. Many paper products, including some made from recycled fibres, are bleached with chlorine. The bleaching process can create harmful byproducts, including dioxins, which accumulate in our air, water, and soil over time.
• Set up a paper bin or paper box where you will store all read newspapers and magazine and other paper waste. This box can then be taken directly back into newsprint recycling.

7. No Unnecessary Plastics

Did you know that each year, we throw away some 100 billion polyethylene plastic bags ? from grocery and trash bags to those convenient sandwich bags?

Plastic bag by zeevveez

Plastics are made from petroleum, the processing and burning of which is considered one of the main contributors to global warming, according to the EPA. Moreover, not-recycled plastics kept in landfills contribute to the increase of greenhouse gases.

How can we lower our dependance on plastics? Using other materials or no material at all is the key. Plastics used for packaging are the most harmful ? not because they are made differently but because people seldom recycle them. Next time you walk your dog, try to count how many plastic packages there are on the street and let me know in the comments below. It would be interesting to know.

Buying groceries directly from producers can decrease the amount of packaging you use dramatically. So does carrying your purchases home in your own canvas tote that can be used over and over, and when you decide to retire the tote, nature will take it back with much more enthusiasm than any plastic bag.

8. Hardwood Flooring

Did you know that about 2.5 acres of bamboo sequesters 62 tonnes of CO2 per year, compared with the same area of a young forest, which holds on to 15 tonnes of CO2?

Harwood flooring by Mitch Barrie

Bamboo flooring is beautiful and can replace your hardwood flooring with charm. Maybe you have heard of it and maybe you haven?t, but bamboo is considered an environmentally friendly flooring material mainly due to its high yield and the relatively fast rate at which it replenishes itself.

• Bamboo is technically a grass, not a tree, and once the young bamboo is planted, it takes anywhere from four to ten years for the useable ?wood? to mature. After that, the plant can grow new shoots each year. And the shoots grow quickly ? as many as 30 centimetres per day. Impressive, don?t you think?
• Bamboo starts with rhizomes ? stems that grow underground and send shoots and leaves above ground. Therefore the plant can be harvested regularly without killing it. Trees, on the other hand, can be used only once, and it takes decades for a tree to mature.
• Thanks to the rapid growth rate of bamboo, it absorbs more carbon and produces more oxygen. It generates around 35 per cent more oxygen than the equivalent number of trees.
• Beyond these advantages, high-quality bamboo is stronger than regular hardwood floors, partly due to the fact that it?s a grass that bends in the wind. Because of its flexibility, high-quality bamboo is as durable as most types of hardwood.

Are you hooked on bamboo yet? If so, don?t forget to use formaldehyde-free glue to finish off your nature-friendly floor with style.

9. I Paint, You Paint, Healthy Paint

Did you know that conventional paints contain solvents, toxic metals, and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that can cause smog, ozone pollution, and indoor air quality problems with negative health effects?

The problems with most commonly available paints is their ingredient list. Besides VOCs, you can find fungicides and biocides as well. Toxic fungicides prevent mildew growth, and biocides acts as preservatives to extend shelf life. Toxic biocides can be detected in the air five years after the paint containing the chemicals is applied.

What should you look for when buying an indoor paint? Ideally you will want to use paint that meets all three health requirements: low VOCs (the Environmental Protection Agency?s minimum requirements are 250 grams per litre of VOCs in ?low-VOC? latex paints and no more than 380 grams per litre for ?low-VOC? oil-based paints), low fungicides and low biocides, and natural pigments.

Use pigments that come from a plant and are not made in a plant. Milk paint and natural paints are the most widely used interior paints. Natural paints derive from substances such as citrus and balsam, as well as minerals. Although these paints are made with natural materials and are petroleum-free, they often contain terpenes, which are VOCs derived from plants. However, they don?t usually contain fungicides and biocides. Milk paint, which is made with milk protein (called ?casein?) and lime is excellent for interiors and also gives wood a rich, deep colour.

10. Garden Green

Did you know that compost provides a full complement of soil organisms and the balance of nutrients needed to maintain soil?s well-being without the chemicals of synthetic fertilizers?

Perennial plants by InAweofGodsCreation

Have you decided to take up gardening? Great choice! Nothing beats the feeling of topping your yoghurt with fresh, home-grown strawberries. Gardening is not difficult when you choose the right combinations of plants and fertilizers.

• Try to use native plants as much as possible. Ask your neighbour for sprouts of plants that are obviously growing happily and without problems. Local plants have adapted over time to the environment and support native animals. They also use less water and require less of your attention.
• Make perennial plants at least 70 per cent of your home garden. Perennials live more than one year, and that means you don?t have to pay for new plants every spring. It also saves the resources required for growing annuals.
• Don?t use chemical pesticides, and set up a compost at the furthest corner of your garden. You can then proudly call your fruit and veggies organic.

While there are many other tips to help you save energy and be more nature-friendly, our list of the top 10 should be viewed as a solid starting point. If you?re hungry for one last eco tip, here it is: dig up the old-fashioned push mover from the back of your garage and start using. The only energy it uses is your own.

If you have a great energy-saving idea, please share it with us in a comment below!

Source: http://yourvancouverrealestate.ca/vancouver-life/2013/04/make-your-home-green/

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Obama Mixes Serious Tone with Humor at WH Correspondents' Dinner (ABC News)

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The Big Wedding Movie Review

If you're a romantic-comedy lover with a soft spot for wedding movies, then trust me ? you've already seen The Big Wedding. The premise itself probably sounds familiar: when a family comes together for a wedding, hijinks ensue, people don't get along, and secrets are revealed. Even most of the cast members have played similar roles before. Diane Keaton and Robert De Niro play the groom's parents, Katherine Heigl is the bitter sister, and Amanda Seyfried plays the bride. And the unoriginality doesn't stop there! If you're tempted to watch The Big Wedding, then let me advise you that you can get the same fix by watching the movies below. Their accomplishment: they each tackled elements of The Big Wedding first ? but better.

1. It's Complicated: In Nancy Meyers's comedy It's Complicated, the romance between the divorced couple played by Meryl Streep and Alec Baldwin feels organic and realistic. That's not the case for Keaton and De Niro's characters in Ellie and Don, the divorced parents of groom Alejandro (Ben Barnes) in The Big Wedding. Oh, it is complicated for them ? despite the fact that they haven't been married for over 10 years, sparks still fly between them during the wedding weekend ? even though he's already moved on with someone else. When Ellie and Don move closer to a reconnection, it's icky and doesn't make sense for their characters.
2. Wedding Crashers: The Big Wedding is rated R, so there's a healthy dose of raunchy humor, but there's nothing you haven't seen before, especially if you've seen Wedding Crashers. There is even one scene that is straight out of the Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn classic. For frisky family members and R-rated wedding jokes, just watch Wedding Crashers.

Get the rest of the list after the jump.

3. Meet the Parents: Ben Stiller already showed us how awkward it is to meet the family of your future spouse, especially when they're so disapproving. The twist of The Big Wedding is that the biological mother of the groom is a devoutly Catholic woman from Colombia who will freak out if she finds out her son's adoptive parents are divorced. Aside from being complicated, it's illogical and not really believable. Worse, the other disapproving in-laws are the WASP-y parents of the bride, who turn out to be a little racist and go to great lengths to not be seen with Alejandro. Yeah, it's uncomfortable for the audience, too, but not in that funny Meet the Parents way.
4. Mamma Mia: This one's not just because Seyfried is the blushing bride, though that element will probably give you d?j? vu too. Like in Mamma Mia, the parents' situation overshadows the nuptials of the young bride- and groom-to-be (and there is a lot of talk of the mother's sex life). Sadly, there are no sing-alongs to make it all OK.
5. Something's Gotta Give: Have you seen this cute movie starring Diane Keaton as a flustered, single older woman? Oh, good. Then you don't need to see The Big Wedding, because she's playing the exact same role.

Source: http://www.buzzsugar.com/Big-Wedding-Movie-Review-29857836

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Sony prices its 2013 home and shelf audio lineups, clarifies availability dates

Given Sony's heritage, it's no surprise that the company loves its audio -- but we can imagine that some might be overwhelmed when the company has priced and dated the cores of its 2013 home and shelf audio lineups in one sitting. Don't worry, we'll break it all down. On the home audio side, both the BDV-N7100W and BDV-7100W home-theaters-in-a-box (N8100W shown above) are already shipping at respective $599 and $699 prices with 1,000W 5.1-channel output, internet-linked Blu-ray players and both Bluetooth as well as OneTouch NFC pairing. TV watchers who can wait until June will also see the STR-DN1040, a $599 7.2-channel receiver with 4K upscaling, Bluetooth, WiFi and 165W per channel; the $449 STR-DN840 receiver, which scales back to 4K passthrough and 150W per channel; and the $399 HT-C660 soundbar, which adds NFC pairing to the same wireless mix as the receivers.

Shelf audio is simpler, with every new entry arriving May 27th. Both the LBT-GPX55 (below) and LBT-GPX77 mini stereos offer a respective 1,600W and 1,800W of output alongside Bluetooth, NFC, a CD player (!) and dual USB ports at a $499 starting price. Those who don't need their walls rattled quite so thoroughly can spring for the $349 RDH-GTK37iP boombox, which puts out a still-substantial 420W on top of Bluetooth, NFC, an iOS dock and attention-getting strobe lights. That's a lot to process, we know. If you're not satisfied even after that deluge of information, however, Sony's pressers await after the break.

Filed under: Home Entertainment, Portable Audio/Video, HD, Sony

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Source: Sony

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/iud6sWicLHA/

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New imaging technology could reveal cellular secrets

Apr. 25, 2013 ? Researchers have married two biological imaging technologies, creating a new way to learn how good cells go bad.

"Let's say you have a large population of cells," said Corey Neu, an assistant professor in Purdue University's Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering. "Just one of them might metastasize or proliferate, forming a cancerous tumor. We need to understand what it is that gives rise to that one bad cell."

Such an advance makes it possible to simultaneously study the mechanical and biochemical behavior of cells, which could provide new insights into disease processes, said biomedical engineering postdoctoral fellow Charilaos "Harris" Mousoulis.

Being able to study a cell's internal workings in fine detail would likely yield insights into the physical and biochemical responses to its environment. The technology, which combines an atomic force microscope and nuclear magnetic resonance system, could help researchers study individual cancer cells, for example, to uncover mechanisms leading up to cancer metastasis for research and diagnostics.

The prototype's capabilities were demonstrated by taking nuclear magnetic resonance spectra of hydrogen atoms in water. Findings represent a proof of concept of the technology and are detailed in a research paper that appeared online April 11 in the journal Applied Physics Letters. The paper was co-authored by Mousoulis' research scientist Teimour Maleki, Babak Ziaie, a professor of electrical and computer engineering; and Neu.

"You could detect many different types of chemical elements, but in this case hydrogen is nice to detect because it's abundant," Neu said. "You could detect carbon, nitrogen and other elements to get more detailed information about specific biochemistry inside a cell."

An atomic force microscope (AFM) uses a tiny vibrating probe called a cantilever to yield information about materials and surfaces on the scale of nanometers, or billionths of a meter. Because the instrument enables scientists to "see" objects far smaller than possible using light microscopes, it could be ideal for studying molecules, cell membranes and other biological structures.

However, the AFM does not provide information about the biological and chemical properties of cells. So the researchers fabricated a metal microcoil on the AFM cantilever. An electrical current is passed though the coil, causing it to exchange electromagnetic radiation with protons in molecules within the cell and inducing another current in the coil, which is detected.

The Purdue researchers perform "mechanobiology" studies to learn how forces exerted on cells influence their behavior. In work focusing on osteoarthritis, their research includes the study of cartilage cells from the knee to learn how they interact with the complex matrix of structures and biochemistry between cells.

Future research might include studying cells in "microfluidic chambers" to test how they respond to specific drugs and environmental changes.

A U.S. patent application has been filed for the concept. The research has been funded by Purdue's Showalter Trust Fund and the National Institutes of Health.

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Purdue University. The original article was written by Emil Venere.

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

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Journal Reference:

1. Charilaos Mousoulis, Teimour Maleki, Babak Ziaie, Corey P. Neu. Atomic force microscopy-coupled microcoils for cellular-scale nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Applied Physics Letters, 2013; 102 (14): 143702 DOI: 10.1063/1.4801318

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

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

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/most_popular/~3/ayYzbNTiLZE/130425160208.htm

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Obama honors predecessor Bush at library ceremony

President Barack Obama laughs with former first lady Barbara Bush during the dedication of the George W. Bush Presidential Center Thursday, April 25, 2013, in Dallas. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

President Barack Obama laughs with former first lady Barbara Bush during the dedication of the George W. Bush Presidential Center Thursday, April 25, 2013, in Dallas. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

DALLAS (AP) ? President Barack Obama is honoring the presidency of George W. Bush, at the dedication of the Bush library in Dallas.

On a day when politics was set aside, the president described his Republican predecessor as a "good man" and as a leader who demonstrated strength, resolve and compassion.

Obama called the dedication of the George W. Bush Presidential Center a "Texas-sized party" befitting the former president.

All five living American presidents are gathered in Dallas for the dedication. Obama says that's a pretty exclusive club ? but it's more like a support group for the men who have held an incredibly difficult job.

The president says, "It's impossible to truly understand the nature of the job until it's yours."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2013-04-25-US-Bush-Library-Obama/id-6d4d44e6c639497594c8094a72b8a022

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The Winds of Change | Periodicals Price Survey 2013 - Library Journal

The stock market has hit record highs, and unemployment has reached the lowest level since the recession began. Despite this good news, the library economic environment has not seen commensurate improvement. There continues to be a struggle to find the resources needed to support library collections and services, and conditions remain highly unsettled.

According to the National Association of State Budget Officers, 24 states are working from 2013 budgets with lower general fund expenditures in FY13 than in 2008, the last year before the recession. Nearly half the states have not returned to prerecession levels of revenue and spending. Overall, total general fund expenditures for all states will not exceed the pre?recession high of $687.3 billion spent in FY08. Funding for K-12 education has seen a little relief as a total of $4.9 billion was added to state budgets overall, but higher education is still seeing cuts, as 16 states reduced allocations for higher education by a total of just over $1 billion.

(All tables are labeled to correspond to the print layout of this article, and so appear out of order below for this web presentation)

Meanwhile, sequestration is not going to make state and local funding problems any easier. Historically, the federal government provides about one-quarter of all state revenues, and owing to sequestration, the federal government is now poised to make deep spending cuts. If a significant portion of sequestration is left in place, federal funding for schools and other non-entitlement grants to states are on track to reach their lowest levels in four decades, measured as a share of the economy.

The lack of public funding translated to flat funding in libraries. Data from the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) shows that median total expenditures for ARL libraries dropped slightly from 2011 to 2012 ($24,052,161 to $24,000,677). Since the ARL members are a mixture of public and private organizations, increases in expenditures by the private universities helped offset declines in spending from the public universities and the overall result was a slight decrease in expenditures.

There is good economic news out there, but most libraries that rely on public funding have not fully recovered from the recession. Flat budgets and ongoing inflation in costs are forcing libraries to continue to find creative ways to keep current services. In this environment, disproportionate serials prices are thrown into greater relief.

This year, the serials pricing data indicates that prices are increasing at about the same rate as last year. Increases seemed to have plateaued at about 6% for 2013. Data from the merged ISI indexes shows a 6% increase for 2013, unchanged from 2012. EBSCO?s MasterFILE Premier and Academic Search Premier show similar results: average prices for titles in MSP increased 5% for 2013, while average prices for titles in ASP increased 6% in 2013, the same increase as for 2012. The Consumer Price Index (CPI), on the other hand, advanced 1.7% for 2012, which means serials inflation continues to far exceed general inflationary pressures and library budget adjustments. Serials prices showed restraint in 2010, but since that time they have risen steadily, and budgets have not. The price increases are not driven by science, technology, and medical (STM) prices since education and library science showed the highest increases, 9%, in 2013 ISI data, while the numbers from ASP showed anthropology and health sciences increasing at the 9% levels.

Average prices for STM serials remain the highest, compared with prices for serials in other subject areas. Chemistry has historically seen the highest average serials prices, and that has not changed: recent reports show that the average price for chemistry journals hovers around $4,450 annually. There were only slight shifts in the overall average prices for serials broken down by subject area although food science did climb up the list by several spots from 2012.

Price, value, & expenditure

It has been the intent of this article to present the most reliable information concerning serials pricing as is reasonably possible to produce, and the current version of the price survey has now been published for over 20 years by LJ. Based on the ANSI/NISO Z39.20-1999 Criteria for Price Indexes for Printed Library Materials, this price survey uses the available retail print price for subscriptions for titles that are listed in indexes widely used in the United States. The actual change in the retail price is measured year to year to gauge the overall increase in serial prices.

Unlike print, published retail rates are not available for all of the titles in the combined indexes. Starting in 2011, Average Price for Online Journals in the ISI Indexes, has documented the average cost per subject area where standard online pricing is available. This fall, the Professional Scholarly Publishing Bulletin published an article by Paula Gantz that suggested serial price has now been replaced by digital licenses as the true reflection of real journal costs. In the article, the author directly questions the validity of this study by suggesting that the ?effective? price increase for an average journal was only 9% higher in 2010 as compared to 1990, not the six-fold increase documented over the years in this price study.

There are good points raised by Gantz concerning the increased value derived from digital licenses and how the increase in research has resulted in increased content. There do need to be more substantive discussions concerning these issues and the failure of libraries to secure their piece of the research funding pie. However, the contention that the effective price of the average journal has only increased 9% and that the price of journals accessed in the UK has actually gone down 11% since 2004 cannot be accepted without much more data substantiating those claims. After searching the reports cited in the UK study, no reference to the cited data could be found. If this is derived data then the source for the primary data and the methodology used to derive the figure need to be documented.

Those who has been involved with purchasing serials in the last 20 years know that serial prices have increased significantly and represent the largest inflationary factor for library budgets. To suggest that the real increase in serial prices is only 9% flies in the face of reality. The author derived the figure by using data from ARL that reported changes in the number of purchased serials and serial expenditures for the period 1990?2010. While the data does show that the numerical value resulting from dividing expenditures by the number of purchased serials did increase 9% over that period, to conclude that prices only increased 9% is incorrect. Between 1990 and 2010, ARL changed the definition of purchased serials. In 1990, the definition was based on subscribed titles. In 2010, the definition used by ARL had changed considerably: ?Report the total number of unique serial titles, NOT SUBSCRIPTIONS, that you currently acquire and to which you provide access?. Report each title once, regardless of how many subscriptions or means of access you provide for that title? (definitions for 2010 and 2011 are essentially unchanged).

The majority of the increase in the number of serials purchased reported over this period is due to the inclusion of titles purchased through databases and similar aggregations, not through ?big deal? packages. The cost of the access provided to these journals by libraries cannot be compared to the retail price of subscribed content. These are very different things.

Price, value, and expenditure are likewise different entities. While related, the means of measurement and assessment of these items must be considered individually. The value of content is an important factor to consider when making purchasing decisions, but the price on the invoice is what impacts the budget, and there needs to be reliable information on changes in price to assist with budget planning. The $50,000 sports car discounted to $25,000 may be the best value, but if the budget only has room for a $10,000 used compact, that is what you buy.

Geography & discipline

There was little change in the relative order for the average price per title sorted by country of origin. While the average price per title decreased slightly from 2012, titles from Russia and Ireland continue to have the highest cost per title for all included in the merged ISI indexes. Hungary, Austria, the Netherlands, Singapore, Germany, Switzerland, Greece (replacing the United States in the Top 10), and England round out the Top 10 countries with the highest cost per title in 2013. It will be interesting to see the impact of open access initiatives upon 2014 pricing, especially in England where government initiatives mandated open access for publicly funded research by April 2013.

Table 9 once again examines the titles in the combined ISI Arts and Humanities, Science Citation, and Social Sciences Citation indexes, which offer published rates for online formats. As in past years, the data reflects online only, print plus free online, and the first tier of any tiered pricing, with the common element being pricing for the online format.

Elsevier, Wiley, Springer, Taylor & Francis, and SAGE still dominate the combined indexes with more than half of the titles; 3% of titles in the combined indexes are open access. The 2013 average cost for this set of titles is $1,184. While that reflects an increase of 3% over last?s year?s average price of $1,147, it is important to keep in mind that the individual titles and associated pricing models reflected by Table 9 change each year and may have been impacted by the number of factors, including the number of open access titles included in the ISI indexes this year.

New business models

While the debate over the Big Deal continues, ?The State of Large-Publisher Bundles in 2012,? authored by Karla Strieb and Julia Blixrud and published by ARL, documents the market penetration and continued dominance of packaged content in ARL libraries. The authors? analysis of survey responses from 81 ARL member libraries conducted during the summer of 2012 revealed that more than 85 percent subscribed to e-journal packages from the American Chemical Society, Wiley, Springer, Elsevier, SAGE, and Nature in 2012. The study also documents the shift in the definition of the e-journal package from all the titles offered by the publisher to consortially or individually defined collections. The survey likewise addresses the shift from bundled print and e-journal subscriptions to electronic-only format, with respondents reporting selected retention of print for all publishers except Taylor & Francis.

A comparison of the publisher e-journal packages ordered by 619 major clients of EBSCO Information Services in both 2012 and 2013 reflected an average price increase of 5.5%, comparable to this year?s overall 6% print/online price increase. When the price analysis was made comparing similar tiers or other fixed criteria (tier 3 pricing compared to tier 3 pricing, Carnegie level 4 compared to Carnegie level 4, etc.), the price difference for the packages between 2012 and 2013 reflected an average 7.12% ?increase.

Open access

Spring 2012 brought renewed emphasis on open access as diminished academic library budgets and the steady increase in the cost of journal literature converged, resulting in stronger mandates regarding the availability of government-funded research from groups including Britain?s Wellcome Trust, Research Council UK, and the U.S. National Institutes of Health. The Report of the Working Group on Expanding Access to Published Research Findings, popularly known as the Finch Report, explored the difficult issues of funding as well as access models. Operating on a different scale and model from traditional publications offering green, gold, and hybrid open access options, the Public Library of Science (PLoS) was joined in 2012 by the megajournal offering from PeerJ.

With bipartisan support, in February of this year, the Fair Access to Science and Technology Research Act (FASTR) was introduced in both the U.S. House and the Senate. FASTR would require federal agencies with research expenditures of over $100 million per year to make articles resulting from the funding freely available online (and notably available openly for ?computational analysis,? according to the bill) within six months of publication. Meanwhile, the Obama administration?s Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) issued a sweeping memo in February prompting many of the policies argued for by FASTR, though with a longer 12-month embargo. However, open access advocates are still pushing for Congressional passage of the bill to enshrine the mandate as law rather than policy subject to executive branch discretion.

SCOAP3, the Sponsoring Consortium for Open Access Publishing in Particle Physics, working with CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, moved forward in 2012 with the announcement of agreements with seven publishers covering 12 journals in high-energy physics. Earlier this year, in announcing new members representing 31 countries worldwide, SCOAP3 stated that the 85% of the anticipated required funding had been secured to transition the 12 journals to open access by 2014.

Widely embraced by the sciences where funding is more plentiful, the open access mandates have been less enthusiastically received by some in the humanities. A recent survey of authors who publish in Taylor & Francis/Routledge journals reported that 33% think that research outputs will be published as open access with some restrictions on reuse, while 51% of respondents think that research outputs will continue be published in subscription journals.

Philosophical issues aside, with the 2012 open access market estimated at $172 million by Outsell, open access is a business model. Funding will still be required to support the green, hybrid, and gold open access or subscription/membership costs. As has been discussed in previous serials pricing articles, open access options are currently being offereing by all the major publishers, such as Springer?s Biomed Central, Wiley Open Access, and SAGE Open. Traditional intermediaries such as EBSCO and the Copyright Clearance Center have joined new companies such as Open Access Key in providing services to streamline the management of author processing charges and related fees.

2014 forecast

The 2014 journal marketplace will continue to be unsettled as the traditional elements of budget, price, and value collide with the new forces of open access, government mandates, new evaluation tools such as altmetrics, and the increased availability of information offered by search engines, discovery systems, and social networks. All elements of the information marketplace?libraries, publishers, and vendors?will continue to be impacted by the changing market conditions. The 6% average price increase of 2013 is expected to abide, hovering in the 6% to 7% range for 2014. Like the spring weather, market conditions could change before 2014 pricing is finalized, but the evidence available to date does not presage price relief for libraries.

Periodical Prices for High School and Public Libraries

Overall price increases for titles in EBSCO Publishing?s MasterFILE Premier are expected to be in the 5% to 6% range.

Periodical Prices for University and College Libraries

Overall price increases for titles in EBSCO?s Academic Search Premier are expected to be in the 5% to 7% range for 2014.

Measuring Impact

This year we were able to employ title and publisher data collected for this article to explore the relationship between prices and metrics used to assess journals like Impact Factor, Eigenfactor, and the Article Influence Score. The definitions follow:

• The IMPACT FACTOR of a journal is the average number of citations received per paper published in that journal during the two preceding years. The impact factor of a journal is calculated by dividing the number of current-year citations to the source items published in that journal during the previous two years.
• The EIGENFACTOR rates journals according to the number of incoming citations, with citations from highly ranked journals weighted to make a larger contribution to the score than citations from poorly ranked journals. Journals are considered to be influential if they are cited often by other influential journals.
• The ARTICLE INFLUENCE SCORE is determined by the average influence of a journal?s articles over the first five years after publication. It is calculated by dividing a journal?s Eigenfactor Score by the number of articles in the journal, normalized as a fraction of all articles in all publications. The mean Article Influence Score is 1.00. A score greater than 1.00 indicates that each article in the journal has above-average influence. A score less than 1.00 indicates that each article in the journal has below-average influence.

The approach taken to determine if there were relationships between journals prices and metrics was to look at data in price bands to see if more expensive journals had higher ranking than lower cost titles. The ISI pricing data for 2013 was divided into five price bands; journals prices less than $410, journals priced between $410 and $760, $760 and $1,455, $1,455 and $2,475, and titles priced at more than $2,475. These bands were selected to ensure that the number of titles in each area was reasonably comparable. The average for Impact Factor, Eigenfactor, and Article Influence Score for all titles in a price range was compared to the averages in the other price bands; the results are in table 6. The Impact Factor and the Eigenfactor tended to show a fairly strong increase with the increase in price. The Article Influence Source did not show a significant increase with the average for titles less than $410 price band showing an average of 0.98 and the most expensive titles showing an average of 1.2.

Although there were increases in the metrics for Impact Factor and Eigenfactor, the increases were not proportionate to the increase in price, since the average price ($5,172) for the most expensive journals was more than 20 times higher than the average price ($237) for the least expensive journals. The percent increase in prices for the lower cost titles was a bit higher than the more expensive titles, but that is also relative, considering that the 5.9% cost increase of the higher priced titles is itself more than the total average cost of the lower priced titles. Higher priced titles do have higher Impact Factors and Eigenfactors, but the increase in the metrics is small when compared to the increase in costs. Article Influence Score did not show a strong correlation between higher scores and prices. Ranking based on some form of citation analysis may not be strong indications of actual value. Many groups are exploring different sets of data that may be better descriptors of the impact of journals. The efforts to create altmetrics are still being developed, but better tools to help assess the impact of scholarly works would be welcomed by the community.

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Stephen Bosch is Materials Budget, Procurement, and Licensing Librarian, University of Arizona Library, Tuscon. Kittie Henderson is Director, Academic and Law Divisions, EBSCO Information Services, Birmingham, AL

This article was featured in Library Journal's Academic Newswire enewsletter. Subscribe today to have more articles like this delivered to your inbox for free.

Source: http://lj.libraryjournal.com/2013/04/publishing/the-winds-of-change-periodicals-price-survey-2013/

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