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শনিবার, ৩ নভেম্বর, ২০১২

Gov. Chris Christie Grants Atlantic City Casinos Permission To ...

Atlantic City is seen after being hit by superstorm Sandy ? Oct. 30, 2012 (credit: Mario Tama/Getty Images)

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) - Atlantic City casinos have permission to open, but it?s not clear when they?ll be able to.

Gov. Chris Christie announced at 10 a.m. Friday that the roads to Atlantic City were reopening and that the city?s casinos had permission to restart operations.

The 12 casinos have been closed since Superstorm Sandy was bearing down on the state last weekend.

Tropicana Casino and Resort President Tony Rodio, who also heads a casino industry group, says the casinos are working on the logistics of opening.

He says it?s not clear yet when gamblers will be let in.

The casinos were closed Sunday as Sandy bore down on New Jersey?s coast. It was only the fourth time in New Jersey?s 34-year history of legal casino gambling that the industry was shut down.

The storm made landfall with hurricane force winds just a few miles from Atlantic City on Monday.

Atlantic City was flooded and an old section of its famous boardwalk ? the nation?s first ? was wrecked in the storm, though other parts of New Jersey?s coast were hit even harder.

Last year, casinos were closed when Tropical Storm Irene hit the coast. That three-day shutdown, which came on a busy summer weekend, cost the city $45 million in lost business.

The only other closures were for Hurricane Gloria in 1985 and a state government shutdown in 2006.

The casinos have been on a losing streak over the last several years during a sour economy and because of increased competition from neighboring states.

Source: http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2012/11/02/gov-chris-christie-grants-atlantic-city-casinos-permission-to-reopen-after-sandy/

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Reverse brain drain: How three siblings recreated a century-old Polish resort

In the Mankowski resort world, things are happening. Work is underway. Ladders are out. Workmen are scraping down the balustrade of a post office and fixing a fountain. What had been a remote and sleepy resort town is under attack by painters and craftspeople.

In the space of five years, the Mankowskis have done something many said was impossible: They came to Poland and rebuilt a resort with two hotels, one a five-star with design concepts from Paris. They restored a burned-out concert house. They anchored facilities around a new resort clubhouse with a ?water bar,? and re-landscaped the run-down communist-era town with European Union funds. And 22 other structures and ski slopes are on the drawing board.

Yet what may have been the most difficult redevelopment was changing the minds of locals and others who first pooh-poohed the idea.

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?I heard far too many times that ?This is Poland, your idea is impossible,? ? says Christophe Mankowski, a voluble and bustling entrepreneur who creates new ice cream flavors as a hobby.

?In Poland, you explain a way to do things differently and everyone says it is impossible. Everyone complains, ?It will never happen, Look at him. This is Poland, forget it. But now we have a five-star hotel, and people understand we aren?t just building hotels, we are building a city.?

The Mankowski siblings ? Christophe, brother Nicolas, and sister Helena ? were born and educated in France. But their engineer father came from Krakow to Paris in the early 1970s and later moved to Moscow to make a fortune in information systems.

Now the Mankowskis, in their 30s, have returned to their Polish roots along the Slovak border ? winning back some of the family land nationalized under communist rule. They?ve reclaimed and rebuilt the dream of their great-grandfather, Adam Stadnicki, a count who fell in love with the area in 1909 and developed it. A hundred years later, the count?s offspring still identify Poland as their native realm.

The quaint town has been a remote mineral-spring spa since the 19th century, stamped with the ornate carved-wood porches on Austo-Hungarian Alpine A-frames. The town?s higher elevations offer vistas of the Slovakian Tatra Mountains that resemble the craggy peaks of the New Zealand set of the ?Lord of the Rings? film. Fly fishers in waders wave their wands in rivers that produced a local kayaking Olympian.

Under communism, the town became an advertisement for egalitarian disrepair and shabbiness, languishing as charmless, boxy, structures multiplied, and the count?s signature mansion ? a grand, towering wooden cultural and concert center ? burned to the ground.

Last year the Mankowskis ? Christophe handling the business end of their company, Thermaleo, Helena doing marketing, and Nicolas designing the look of cafes and walkways after Paris locales such as Montmarte and Trocadero ? recreated that center, nearly precisely. It now features a concert hall with retractable seats and a jazz bar with plush trimmings.

The top-shelf spa resort and conference center opened informally in May, and now draws clientele from across Europe and Russia and from the up-and-coming set in Krakow?s information technology boom. The scale and speed of the project is an eye-opener locally.

?It is a new place, it has become something,?says Jan Lazienski, who has worked different jobs in Szczawnica for more than 20 years, and now runs the resort van pool to Krakow.

In the vast tapestry of coming-and-going that has been the Polish experience for 200 years, the Mankowskis represent one bright new thread: ?brain gain? ? or reverse brain drain. Their return has infused international standards of work, behavior, and possibility in a local mentality that had long been shuttered to the outside world, satisfied with the status quo.

?We got a little success, and things start to change,? Christophe offers, while pointing to a series of hills where ski slopes are planned. ?We created positive energy around a project. We [were] seen as doing something different with a possibility of opportunity, and that started the idea that, ?Yes, we can do something.??

As outsiders, the Mankowskis had to overcome the intertia and skepticism of the local power structure; and even now, the family?s very success brings tussles with local government. But it hasn?t hurt that they invested $50 million, and now employ 240 mostly local people.

It has been a family challenge to instill a high-level work ethic among local workers ? and at the same time to teach themselves the new business.

?We want to do a five-star hotel, but we are not hoteliers,? says Christophe. ?I?m 35 and never been to a hospitality school?. But we can use our sense and intelligence. We started by asking, ?If I am the client, what do I want???

The friendly, pleasant, client-centered approach to business remains one of Poland?s biggest hurdles, nearly every commercial analyst here says.

?We stress practice. In Poland, you study but don?t always get training. We start with doing. We train, train, train,? Christophe says with a smile. ?We hire people who want to think and work. If they stand around and wait to get paid, we don?t fire them, but explain our standards. We are patient.?

But, he adds, new expectations kick in at a certain point: ?If then they sit, or count the minutes, or wait to be told their tasks, they will leave. This way of working is left-over from before and is not good for us.?

? The Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting funded travel in Poland for this project. Multimedia and reporter blogs about the project can be found on the Pulitzer Center website.

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Source: http://incbizzmarketingtips.com/1074/welcome-to-paidstudentsurveys-net/

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Hurricane Sandy Slams Small Business: 'Losing My Business ...

National Guard in Lower Manhattan

The National Guard 827th Engineer Company helps hand out MREs to Lower Manhattan residents at the Alfred Smith Playground on Friday Nov. 2, 2012. (Damon Dahlen, AOL)

National Guard in Lower Manhattan

The National Guard 827th Engineer Company helps hand out MREs to Lower Manhattan residents at the Alfred Smith Playground on Friday Nov. 2, 2012. (Damon Dahlen, AOL)

National Guard in Lower Manhattan

The National Guard 827th Engineer Company helps hand out MREs to Lower Manhattan residents at the Alfred Smith Playground on Friday Nov. 2, 2012. (Damon Dahlen, AOL)

Charging Station Provided By AT&T

Phillip Melly charges the phones of Hurricane Sandy victims at Kimlau Square in Lower Manhattan on Friday Nov. 2, 2012. The generators used were brought in by AT&T to help out the residents of Lower Manhattan in New York City who currently have no power. (Damon Dahlen, AOL)

Stocking Up On Ice

United City Ice Cube Company workers who refer to themselves as "Icemen" take in a shipment of ice into their 45th and 10th ave. store on Friday Nov. 2, 2012. The workers who asked not to be identified by name said there had been a run on ice purchases due to Hurricane Sandy and they were stocking up in anticipation of more demand in the coming days. (Damon Dahlen, AOL)

Car Crash Due To Power Outage

The power outage in Lower Manhattan due to Hurricane Sandy has created a gauntlet of dangerous street intersections as can be seen by this car accident at the Houston and Varick Street crossing on Friday Nov. 2, 2012. (Damon Dahlen, AOL)

Car Crash Due To Power Outage

Clean Drinking Water

Pedestrians fill up on water at a drinking station that had been setup at the corner of Centre and Canal Streets in Chinatown on Friday Nov. 2, 2012. The stations use water from fire hydrants and have been erected due to the blackout caused by Hurricane Sandy in Lower Manhattan. (Damon Dahlen, AOL)

Trash Picking In Chinatown

A pedestrian looks through discarded food near a supermarket located at Henry and Market Streets in Chinatown New York on Friday Nov. 2, 2012.

Fort Lee, N.J.

People wait in line for fuel at a Shell Oil station on Nov. 1, 2012 in Fort Lee, New Jersey. The US death toll from Hurricane Sandy rose to at least 85 as New York reported a major jump in fatalities caused by Monday's storm. Fuel shortages led to long lines of cars at gasoline stations in many states and the country faced a storm bill of tens of billions of dollars.

Seaside Heights, N.J.

A roller coaster sits in the Atlantic Ocean after the Fun Town pier it sat on was destroyed by Superstorm Sandy on Nov. 1, 2012 in Seaside Heights, New Jersey. With the death toll continuing to rise and millions of homes and businesses without power, the U.S. east coast is attempting to recover from the effects of floods, fires and power outages brought on by Superstorm Sandy.

New York City

Commuters ride the F train Nov. 1, 2012 in New York City. Limited public transit has returned to New York. With the death toll continuing to rise and millions of homes and businesses without power, the U.S. east coast is attempting to recover from the effects of floods, fires and power outages brought on by Superstorm Sandy.

Grand Central Terminal, New York City

People walk through Grand Central Terminal as the sun rises during a subdued morning rush on Nov. 1, 2012 in New York City. Some trains are back up and running into Grand Central following shutdowns in the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy. Subway train service in the city is back in a limited capacity, but with much of lower Manhattan still with out power, trains are not running there and busses are replacing them.

Toms River, N.J.

A gas station displays a "No Gas" sign on November 1, 2012 in Toms River, New Jersey. With the death toll continuing to rise and millions of homes and businesses without power, the U.S. east coast is attempting to recover from the effects of floods, fires and power outages brought on by Superstorm Sandy.

Fort Lee, N.J.

Cars wait in line for fuel at a Gulf gas station on Nov.1, 2012 in Fort Lee, New Jersey. The US death toll from Hurricane Sandy rose to at least 85 as New York reported a major jump in fatalities caused by Monday's storm. Fuel shortages led to long lines of cars at gasoline stations in many states and the country faced a storm bill of tens of billions of dollars.

Brooklyn, N.Y.

New Yorkers wait in traffic as they head into Manhattan from Brooklyn as the city continues to recover from superstorm Sandy on Nov.1, 2012, in New York, United States. Limited public transit has returned to New York and most major bridges have reopened but will require three occupants in the vehicle to pass. With the death toll currently over 70 and millions of homes and businesses without power, the US east coast is attempting to recover from the effects of floods, fires and power outages brought on by superstorm Sandy.

Hoboken, N.J.

Mud and debris liiter a street on Nov.1, 2012 in Hoboken, New Jersey. Hurricane victims continue to recover from Hurricane Sandy, which made landfall along the New Jersey shore, and left parts of the state and the surrounding area flooded and without power.

Washington, D.C.

Firefighters shoot water into a building in the 1200 block of 4th St., NE, near the recently opened Union Market, after responding to a blaze that broke out around 9pm Wednesday night.

Seaside Heights, N.J.

Debris lies on the boardwalk in front of the Casino Pier, which was partially destroyed by Superstorm Sandy on Nov.1, 2012 in Seaside Heights, New Jersey. With the death toll continuing to rise and millions of homes and businesses without power, the U.S. east coast is attempting to recover from the effects of floods, fires and power outages brought on by Superstorm Sandy.

Brooklyn Battery Tunnel, N.Y.

A New York City Police Department (NYPD) officer looks over flood waters at the entrance to the Brooklyn Battery tunnel in New York, U.S., on Nov. 1, 2012. The New York region is replacing a rail network built over a century with a patchwork constructed day-by-day to move its 8 million people again as it struggles back to life after Hurricane Sandy.

New York City

Residents charge their cell phones and computers on the East River esplanade in New York, U.S., on Nov. 1, 2012. The New York region is replacing a rail network built over a century with a patchwork constructed day-by-day to move its 8 million people again as it struggles back to life after Hurricane Sandy.

Toms River, N.J.

An American flag flies in front of a home damaged by Hurricane Sandy on Nov. 1, 2012 in Toms River, New Jersey. With the death toll continuing to rise and millions of homes and businesses without power, the U.S. east coast is attempting to recover from the effects of floods, fires and power outages brought on by superstorm Sandy.

Lower Manhattan

Water is pumped on to the street in lower Manhattan in New York, U.S., on Thursday, Nov. 1, 2012. The New York region is replacing a rail network built over a century with a patchwork constructed day-by-day to move its 8 million people again as it struggles back to life after Hurricane Sandy.

North Bergen, New Jersey

A woman leaves an Exxon gas station which was out of gas on Nov. 1, 2012 in North Bergen, New Jersey. The US death toll from Hurricane Sandy rose to at least 85 as New York reported a major jump in fatalities caused by Monday's storm. Fuel shortages led to long lines of cars at gasoline stations in many states and the country faced a storm bill of tens of billions of dollars.

Manhattan from Hoboken, N.J.

People board the NY Waterways ferry with the Manhattan skyline in the background Nov.1, 2012 in Hoboken, New Jersey. Hurricane Sandy, which made landfall along the New Jersey shore, left parts of the state and the surrounding area without power including much of lower Manhattan south of 34th Street.

South Ferry 1 Train Station, New York City

Joseph Leader, Metropolitan Tranportation Authority Vice President and Chief Maintenance Officer, shines a flashlight on standing water inside the South Ferry 1 train station in New York, N.Y., Wednesday, Oct. 31, 2012, in the wake of superstorm Sandy. The floodwaters that poured into New York's deepest subway tunnels may pose the biggest obstacle to the city's recovery from the worst natural disaster in the transit system's 108-year history.

Seaside Heights, N.J.

John Okeefe walks on the beach as a rollercoaster that once sat on the Funtown Pier in Seaside Heights, N.J., rests in the ocean on Wednesday, Oct. 31, 2012 after the pier was washed away by superstorm Sandy which made landfall Monday evening.

Grand Central Terminal, New York City

People exit a Metro-North train arriving in Grand Central Terminal during the morning rush on Nov. 1, 2012 in New York City. Some trains are back up and running into Grand Central following shutdowns in the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy. Subway train service in the city is back in a limited capacity, but with much of lower Manhattan still with out power, trains are not running there and busses are replacing them.

Brooklyn, N.Y.

Pedestrians look over a fence at a pile of boats flooded inland at the Varuna Boat Club on Oct. 31, 2012, in the Brooklyn borough of New York. Sandy, the storm that made landfall Monday, caused multiple fatalities, halted mass transit and cut power to more than 6 million homes and businesses.

Queens, N.Y.

People walk by a destroyed section of the Rockaway boardwalk in the heavily damaged Rockaway section of Queens after the historic boardwalk was washed away during Hurricane Sandy on Oct. 31, 2012 in the Queens borough of New York City. With the death toll currently at 55 and millions of homes and businesses without power, the US east coast is attempting to recover from the affects of floods, fires and power outages brought on by Hurricane Sandy. JFK airport in New York and Newark airport in New Jersey expect to resume flights on Wednesday morning and the New York Stock Exchange commenced trading after being closed for two days.

Queens, N.Y.

Damage is viewed in the Rockaway neighborhood where the historic boardwalk was washed away during Hurricane Sandy on Oct. 31, 2012 in the Queens borough of New York City. With the death toll currently at 55 and millions of homes and businesses without power, the US east coast is attempting to recover from the affects of floods, fires and power outages brought on by Hurricane Sandy. JFK airport in New York and Newark airport in New Jersey expect to resume flights on Wednesday morning and the New York Stock Exchange commenced trading after being closed for two days.

Atlantic City, N.J.

A damaged car is shown in the wake of superstorm Sandy, Wednesday, Oct. 31, 2012, in Atlantic City, N.J. Sandy was being blamed for at least six deaths across the state plus power outages that at their peak Monday affected 2.7 million residential and commercial customers.

Brooklyn, N.Y.

A worker picks up debris outside of the damaged Tatiana Grill on the Brighton Beach boardwalk, on Oct. 31, 2012, in the Brooklyn borough of New York. Sandy, the storm that made landfall Monday, caused multiple fatalities, halted mass transit and cut power to more than 6 million homes and businesses.

Atlantic City, N.J.

A man walks down a street as workers clear debris from superstorm Sandy in Atlantic City, N.J., on Oct. 31, 2012. Sandy, the storm that made landfall Monday, caused multiple fatalities, halted mass transit and cut power to more than 6 million homes and businesses.

Brooklyn Bridge, N.Y.

Commuters cross New York's Brooklyn Bridge, Wednesday, Oct. 31, 2012. The floodwaters that poured into New York's deepest subway tunnels may pose the biggest obstacle to the city's recovery from the worst natural disaster in the transit system's 108-year history.

Babylon Village, N.Y

Bill Schmith, right, gets help from his son-in-law Jeff Aiello as he works to salvage belongings from his heavily damaged home in Babylon Village, N.Y., in the aftermath of superstorm Sandy, Wednesday, Oct. 31, 2012. (Jason DeCrow, AP)

Atlantic City, N.J.

A worker uses a backhoe to move sand near a boardwalk that was destroyed by superstorm Sandy in Atlantic City, N.J., Wednesday, Oct. 31, 2012. Sandy, the storm that made landfall Monday, caused multiple fatalities, halted mass transit and cut power to more than 6 million homes and businesses.

Queens, N.Y.

Damage is viewed in the Rockaway neighborhood where the historic boardwalk was washed away during Hurricane Sandy on Oct.31, 2012 in the Queens borough of New York City. With the death toll currently at 55 and millions of homes and businesses without power, the US east coast is attempting to recover from the affects of floods, fires and power outages brought on by Hurricane Sandy. JFK airport in New York and Newark airport in New Jersey expect to resume flights on Wednesday morning and the New York Stock Exchange commenced trading after being closed for two days.

Queens, N.Y.

An abandoned police car is viewed on the heavily damaged beach in the Rockaway section of Brooklyn are all that remain after the historic boardwalk was washed away during Hurricane Sandy on Oct. 31, 2012 in the Queens borough of New York City. With the death toll currently at 55 and millions of homes and businesses without power, the US east coast is attempting to recover from the affects of floods, fires and power outages brought on by Hurricane Sandy. JFK airport in New York and Newark airport in New Jersey expect to resume flights on Wednesday morning and the New York Stock Exchange commenced trading after being closed for two days.

New York Stock Exchange

Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, U.S., on Wednesday, Oct. 31, 2012. Stocks advanced as U.S. equity markets resumed trading for the first time this week after Hurricane Sandy.

New York Stock Exchange

Traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York, on Oct. 31, 2012. Traffic is snarled, subways out of commission, streets flooded and power out in many parts of the city, but the New York Stock Exchange opened without hitch Wednesday after an historic two-day shutdown, courtesy of superstorm Sandy.

Hoboken, N.J.

People line up to buy supplies at an Ace Hardware running a power generator October 31, 2012 in Hoboken, New Jersey. Hurricane Sandy which made landfall along the New Jersey shore, has left parts of the state and the surrounding area flooded and without power.

Hoboken, N.J.

Blaine Badick and her fiancee Andrew Grapsas cross a flooded street with their dog while leaving their home Oct. 31, 2012 in Hoboken, New Jersey. Hurricane Sandy which made landfall along the New Jersey shore, has left parts of the state and the surrounding area flooded and without power.

Hoboken, N.J.

Members of the National Guard stand ready with large trucks used to pluck people from high water in Hoboken, N.J. on Oct. 31, 2012 in the wake of superstorm Sandy. Parts of the city are still covered in standing water, trapping some residents in their homes. (Craig Ruttle, AP)

Staten Island, N.Y.

Members of the Fire Department of New York (FDNY) search for stranded residents as they navigate through flood waters on Hylan Boulevard in the Staten Island borough of New York, U.S., on Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2012. New York City officials spent the day grappling with the damage from Sandy, the Atlantic superstorm that killed 10 people, sparked a fire that destroyed 111 homes in Queens, flooded tunnels of the biggest U.S. transit system and left more than 750,000 customers without power.

Edison, N.J.

People wait in line to fill containers with fuel at a Shell gas station Oct. 30, 2012 in Edison, New Jersey. Hurricane Sandy which hit New York and New Jersey left much of Bergen County flooded and without power.

East Village, New York City

People gather inside Dorian Gray Tap and Grill during a power outage following Hurricane Sandy, Oct. 30, 2012 in the East Village neighborhood of New York City. The storm has claimed at least 40 lives in the United States, and has caused massive flooding accross much of the Atlantic seaboard leaving millions of people without power. US President Barack Obama has declared the situation a 'major disaster' for large areas of the US East Coast including New York City.

New York City

Clouds hang over the darkened lower Manhattan skyline at night in New York, U.S., on Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2012. New York City officials spent the day grappling with the damage from Sandy, the Atlantic superstorm that killed 10 people, sparked a fire that destroyed 111 homes in Queens, flooded tunnels of the biggest U.S. transit system and left more than 750,000 customers without power.

Hoboken, N.J.

The twisted remains of a Hudson River marina are seen across from New York City as a result of superstorm Sandy on Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2012 in Hoboken, NJ.

Hoboken, N.J.

A resident walks through flood water and past a stalled ambulance in the aftermath of superstorm Sandy on Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2012 in Hoboken, NJ.

Hoboken, NJ.

Cars sit in flood water as a result of superstorm Sandy on Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2012 in Hoboken, NJ.

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/02/ice-cream-puddle-rice-ca_n_2060539.html

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শুক্রবার, ২ নভেম্বর, ২০১২

EPA finds Hyundai, Kia overstated gas mileage

DETROIT (AP) ? Hyundai and Kia overstated the gas mileage on most of their models from the past three years in an embarrassing blunder that could bring sanctions from the U.S. government and millions of dollars in payments to car owners.

Because of the inflated mileage, discovered during an audit by the Environmental Protection Agency, the Korean automakers must retrofit the window stickers on the cars, reducing their fuel economy figures by one-to-six miles per gallon depending on the model, the agency said Friday.

"Consumers rely on the window sticker to help make informed choices about the cars they buy," said Gina McCarthy, assistant administrator of the EPA's air-quality office. "EPA's investigation will help protect consumers and ensure a level playing field among automakers."

The EPA said its inquiry into the errors is continuing, and the agency would not comment when asked if the companies will be fined or if a criminal investigation is under way. But the EPA said it's the first case in which erroneous test results were uncovered in a large number of vehicles from the same manufacturer. Only two similar errors have been discovered since 2000, and those involved single models.

Hyundai and Kia executives apologized for the errors, said they were unintentional, and promised to pay the owners of 900,000 cars and SUVs for the difference in mileage. The payments, which will be made annually for as long as people own their cars, are likely to cost the companies hundreds of millions of dollars.

The EPA said it received about a dozen complaints from consumers that the mileage of their 2012 Hyundai Elantra compact cars didn't match the numbers on the window stickers. So staffers at the EPA's vehicle and fuel emission laboratory in Ann Arbor, Mich., included the Elantra in an annual audit that focused on cars that lead their market segments in mileage.

The audit turned up discrepancies between agency test results and data turned in by Hyundai and Kia, the EPA said. As a result, the automakers will have to knock one or two miles per gallon off the mileage posted on most of the models' window stickers. Some models will lose three or four miles per gallon, and the Kia Soul, a funky-looking boxy small SUV, will lose six mpg from the highway mileage on its stickers.

Hyundai and Kia are owned by the same company and share factories and research, but they sell different vehicles and market them separately. The companies said the mistakes stemmed from procedural differences between their mileage tests and those performed by the EPA.

"We're just extremely sorry about these errors," said John Krafcik, Hyundai's CEO of American operations. "We're driven to make this right."

The changes affect 13 models from the 2011 through 2013 model years, including seven Hyundais and six Kias. Window stickers will have to be changed on some versions of Hyundai's Elantra, Sonata Hybrid, Accent, Azera, Genesis, Tucson, Veloster and Santa Fe models, as well as the Kia Sorrento, Rio, Soul, Sportage and Optima Hybrid.

Michael Sprague, executive vice president of marketing for Kia Motors America, also apologized and said the companies have a program in place to reimburse customers for the difference between the mileage on the window stickers and the numbers from the EPA tests.

The companies will find out how many miles the cars have been driven, find the mileage difference and calculate how much more fuel the customer used based on average regional fuel prices and combined city-highway mileage. Customers also would get a 15 percent premium for the inconvenience, and the payments would be made with debit cards, Sprague said. The owner of a car in Florida with a one mpg difference who drove 15,000 miles would get would get a debit card for $88.03 that can be refreshed every year as long as the person owns the car, Sprague said.

If all 900,000 owners get cards for $88.03, it would cost the automakers more than $79 million a year.

For information, owners can go to www.hyundaimpginfo.com or www.kiampginfo.com .

Sung Hwan Cho, president of Hyundai's U.S. technical center in Michigan, said the EPA requires a complex series of tests that are very sensitive and can have variations that are open to interpretation. The companies did the tests as they were making a large number of changes in their cars designed to improve mileage. The changes, such as direct fuel injection into the cylinders around the pistons, further complicated the tests, Cho said.

"This is just a procedural error," he said. "It is not intended whatsoever."

Krafcik said the companies have fixed testing procedures and are replacing window stickers on cars in dealer inventories. Owners can be confident in their mileage stickers now, he said, adding that Hyundai will still be among the industry leaders in gas mileage even with the revised window stickers.

The mileage was overstated on about one-third of the Hyundais and Kias sold during the three model years, he said.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/epa-finds-hyundai-kia-overstated-gas-mileage-080321368--finance.html

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Brain may 'see' more than the eyes, fruit fly study indicates

ScienceDaily (Nov. 1, 2012) ? Vision may be less important to "seeing" than is the brain's ability to process points of light into complex images, according to a new study of the fruit fly visual system currently published in the online journal Nature Communications.

University of Virginia researchers have found that the very simple eyes of fruit fly larvae, with only 24 total photoreceptors (the human eye contains more than 125 million), provide just enough light or visual input to allow the animal's relatively large brain to assemble that input into images.

"It blows open how we think about vision," said Barry Condron, a neurobiologist in U.Va.'s College of Arts & Sciences, who oversaw the study. "This tells us that visual input may not be as important to sight as the brain working behind it. In this case, the brain apparently is able to compensate for the minimal visual input."

Condron's graduate students, Elizabeth Daubert, Nick Macedonia and Catherine Hamilton, conducted a series of experiments to test the vision of fruit fly larvae after they noticed an interesting behavior of the animals during a different study of the nervous system. They found that when a larva was tethered to the bottom of a petri dish, other larvae were attracted to it as it wiggled attempting to free itself.

The animals apparently saw the writhing motion and were attracted to it, willingly traveling toward it. After several further experiments to understand how they sensed the motion, the researchers learned that the nearly blind animals likely were seeing the action, by wagging their heads side-to-side in a scanning motion to detect it, rather than by only hearing it or feeling vibration or by smelling the trapped larva. This was a surprise because of the very simple and limited vision of fruit fly larvae.

"The answer must be in the large, somewhat sophisticated brain of these animals," Condron said. "They are able to take just a couple dozen points of light and then process that into recognizable images; something like when an astronomer with a small telescope is able to use techniques to refine a limited image into useful information about a star." Condron believes the animals are able to assemble useful images by rapidly scanning their heads and, in so doing, gather up enough light points to allow the brain to compose a panoramic image clear enough to "see."

The researchers tested this by presenting larva with a video of a writhing larva (therefore no vibration, no sound and no smell) and found that the larvae still detected and sought out the struggling larva on the video. They also learned that if they slowed down or sped up the video, the larvae were less attracted or not attracted at all to the video larva. They also were not attracted to dead real larva, or to tethered larva of another species, and they also had difficulty finding tethered larva in near darkness. "Apparently they are -- to a very high degree -- visually sensitive to detail and rate of motion and can recognize their own species in this way," Condron said. "This provides us with a good model for trying to understand the role that the brain plays in helping organisms, including humans, to process images, such as recognizing faces."

He noted that the head scanning apparently plays an important role in helping the larvae to bring together multiple visual inputs into a unified whole for the brain to process, similar to collecting together multiple pixels to form a picture. Condron said people with severe vision loss also tend to use head scanning as a means for collecting a "picture" from very dim light sources. Likewise, visually impaired people who have received experimental retinal implants of just a small number of pixels also often scan their heads to take in enough light to form mental images.

"It's easy for lab biologists to view fruit flies as simple animals that just feed and reproduce, but we are beginning to realize that that may be in contradiction to the big brain," Condron said. "There's more to what they are able to do than previously thought, whether using that brain for behaviors or for constructing images from a limited visual system."

He said the fruit fly serves as an excellent model for studying neurons because the animal has only about 20,000 of them, whereas humans have about 100 billion. Yet there are many similarities to how fruit fly and human neurons work. According to Condron, researchers are within a year of mapping the entire nervous system of the fruit fly, which then will pave the way for greater understanding of how neurons work in a range of organisms, including humans.?

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Virginia. The original article was written by Fariss Samarrai.

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

Journal Reference:

Elizabeth Daubert Justice, Nicholas James Macedonia, Catherine Hamilton, Barry Condron. The simple fly larval visual system can process complex images. Nature Communications, 2012; 3: 1156 DOI: 10.1038/ncomms2174

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

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_environment/~3/GnlparizdJ0/121101131213.htm

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Benghazi attack timeline notes quick response

Esam Omran Al-fetori / Reuters

The U.S. consulate in Benghazi is seen in flames on Sept. 11.

By Catherine Chomiak and Andrea Mitchell, NBC News

WASHINGTON -- A senior intelligence official has issued a new timeline for the events surrounding the attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya,?indicating a series of tragic miscalculations that left CIA officers exposed at an annex near the consulate -- but no evidence of interference from Washington or of the CIA witholding aid from the State Department, as Republican critics have alleged.

According to the timeline, CIA officials in Libya sent a security team to the consulate within 25 minutes of the report of the attack, and the U.S. military sent an unarmed drone to provide intelligence information.

Four Americans, including Ambassador Christopher Stevens, information management officer Sean Smith and security personnel Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty, were killed in the attack Sept. 11-12.

Questions have been raised about whether the consulate had adequate security and whether the State Department responded appropriately to requests for more protection.

Also, immediately after the Benghazi attack, U.S. spy agencies produced conflicting reports on who was behind them, U.S. officials have said. Most said extremists with possible al-Qaida ties were involved. But a few reports, which the Obama administration emphasized in public statements, said the attacks could have been spontaneous protests against an anti-Muslim video made in the U.S.

According to the senior intelligence official:

The officers on the ground in Benghazi responded quickly to the attack, risking their lives in an attempt to rescue those at the consulate.
There was no second-guessing of decisions made on the ground and no order to anybody to stand down in providing support.?"At every level in the chain of command, from the senior officers in Libya to the most senior officials in Washington, everyone was fully engaged in trying to provide whatever help they could," the official said.?
The U.S. military provided essential support,?including sending an unarmed drone and medical evacuation.
Two U.S. security teams were involved -- one that was sent from the annex to the consulate and a tactical support team that was sent from Tripoli, each composed of approximately half a dozen security officers. Two U.S. military officers were on the team from Tripoli.

The chain of events described in the timeline:

-- Around 9:40 p.m. local time, the first call comes in to the annex that the consulate is under attack.

-- Fewer than 25 minutes later, a security team of about half a dozen leaves the annex for the consulate.

-- Over the next 25 minutes, team members approach the compound, attempt to secure heavy weapons from Libyan allies and make their way into the compound under fire.

-- At 11:11 p.m., an unarmed drone that had been requested from the U.S. military arrives over the compound.

-- By 11:30 p.m., all U.S. personnel, except for the missing ambassador, depart the compound in vehicles under fire.

-- Over the next roughly 90 minutes, the annex receives sporadic small-arms fire and rounds from rocket-propelled grenades; the security team returns fire, and the attackers disperse about 1 a.m.

-- At about the same time, the second team of security personnel lands at the Benghazi airport and tries to negotiate for transport into town. Upon learning Stevens was missing and that the situation at the annex had calmed, their focus becomes locating him, perhaps at a local hospital.

-- Still before dawn, the team at the airport secures transportation and armed escort and -- having learned that the ambassador was almost certainly dead -- heads to the annex to assist with the evacuation.

-- The second team arrives with Libyan support at the annex at 5:15 a.m., just before the mortar rounds begin to hit the annex. The two security officers were killed when they took direct mortar fire as they engaged the enemy. That attack lasted only 11 minutes then also dissipated.

-- Less than an hour later, a heavily armed Libyan military unit arrived to help evacuate all U.S. personnel.

Earlier Thursday, State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell said a review board has been set up to examine the Benghazi attack and the government's response before and after the assault.

Catherine Chomiak is an NBC News producer. Andrea Mitchell is NBC News' senior foreign affairs correspondent.

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Source: http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/11/01/14865301-new-timeline-of-benghazi-attack-notes-quick-response-by-defenders?lite

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