Showered in confetti and flanked by sequined samba queens, Rio’s mayor symbolically relinquished control of the city to its rotund Carnival king on Friday to kick off the five-day festivities, a time of joyous excess when the streets fill with roving percussion bands and throngs of dancing, drinking revelers. The city is primed for the madness, with a hot tropical sun shining through a clear blue sky onto the backs of hundreds of thousands of partygoers who’ve taken over the streets, joining one of the traditional “bloco” parties that march behind a band playing old samba tunes. “I am giving over a city at the height of its rebirth,” said Mayor Eduardo Paes, handing the key to the city to Milton Junior, who is serving this year as King Momo, the mythical jester who reigns over the extravaganza. Rio’s star is rising of late, as the city prepares to host the final matches of the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympics, and this year’s Carnival is forecast to be an even bigger blowout than usual, with 20 percent more tourists expected than in 2011. Rio officials say they’re also better prepared to keep the chaos under some semblance of control, with more portable toilets, traffic guards and paramedics, as well as a new central command center monitoring it all. “It’s a matter of organization and comfort; we’re thinking of the partiers, but also of the residents,” said the president of Rio’s tourism department, Antonio Figueira de Mello, adding that the city will welcome 3 million visitors this summer, about 850,000 of them during the raucous free-for-all. The celebration has proved immune to the crisis devastating economies in Europe and the U.S., said Mello. “There is no crisis that can take down Carnival.” The festivities also signal a return to normality for Rio and Salvador, the capital of the northeastern state of Bahia, after police strikes raised fears that the parties might be ruined by rampant crime. in Salvador, which hosts Brazil’s second-largest Carnival and arguably its wildest, the strike led to a spike in murders earlier this month. Rio’s short-lived work stoppage was peaceful, and ended last week with minimal disruption. as of Friday afternoon, neither city reported any serious problems as the parties began. in Rio, merrymakers are expected to spend $640 million and generate 250,000 jobs, most temporary and in the tourism and services industries, during Carnival alone, according to the city’s economic development department. But the world’s biggest party traditionally leaves a hangover to match: last year, the romp left about 850 tons of trash strewn around town. Rio officials have dispatched 80 mobile medical emergency units, 1,000 traffic guards and 15,000 toilets around the city, and officials are running a campaign against urinating in public. Rio residents are humming along with a catchy samba tune running on TV, telling partiers, “if you want to pee, don’t do it here, don’t do it here,” which rhymes in Portuguese. it wasn’t yet clear if the city’s organizing effort was paying off, at least for Fernando de Souza Maciel, a shirtless college student sweating into a pink tutu and ribboned ballet slippers who stopped to get a juice with friends between street parties in the Botafogo neighborhood. “I can’t say I haven’t taken advantage of a street corner to find some relief after that third beer,” he said, referring to past Carnivals. “But I promise I’ll look for a toilet this year.” his two girlfriends sent up a cheer for Paes — “go mayor!” — when asked about this year’s plentiful toilets. “it makes all the difference,” said Mayara Marconi, whose butterfly wings were a little off-kilter from the jostle of the crowd. “It’s a fine line between having fun and desperation, that moment where you’d trade your kingdom for a toilet.” for tech-savvy revelers, Rio launched a smartphone app, free for iPhones and Androids, that tells visitors in English, Spanish or Portuguese where to go for blocos, the mobile samba bands that draw millions, pied-piper style, through the streets, as well as basic information on public transit, eateries and museums. Brazil’s federal aviation authority expects 3 million people to shuttle in and out of airports during Carnival week, 13 percent more than last year. Airports taking in visitors will also have 30 percent more federal police, and workers with vests asking “May I help you?” will be circulating to take care of last-minute questions. Helping the notoriously gridlocked city tackle the street closures, mass gatherings and parading parties is Rio’s new central command center, which the city hopes will keep order when Rio hosts the 2014 World Cup matches and the 2016 Olympics. it has been fully operational since November, but this is the first big test of its ability to keep the city running during a large event. The center takes feeds from more than 500 cameras spread around the city and will help plot the routes of Rio’s more than 400 roving street parties, along with the points were guards, medical units and toilets will be placed. Center director Savio Franco said he hopes all this planning will make it a cinch to maintain control of Carnival. “There will be more than 5,000 city government workers involved in making this party go as smoothly as possible for cariocas and for the tourists,” Franco said.

Showered in confetti and flanked by sequined samba queens, Rio’s mayor symbolically relinquished control of the city to its rotund Carnival king on Friday to kick off the five-day festivities, a time of joyous excess when the streets fill with roving percussion bands and throngs of dancing, drinking revelers. The city is primed for the madness, with a hot tropical sun shining through a clear blue sky onto the backs of hundreds of thousands of partygoers who’ve taken over the streets, joining one of the traditional “bloco” parties that march behind a band playing old samba tunes. “I am giving over a city at the height of its rebirth,” said Mayor Eduardo Paes, handing the key to the city to Milton Junior, who is serving this year as King Momo, the mythical jester who reigns over the extravaganza. Rio’s star is rising of late, as the city prepares to host the final matches of the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympics, and this year’s Carnival is forecast to be an even bigger blowout than usual, with 20 percent more tourists expected than in 2011. Rio officials say they’re also better prepared to keep the chaos under some semblance of control, with more portable toilets, traffic guards and paramedics, as well as a new central command center monitoring it all. “It’s a matter of organization and comfort; we’re thinking of the partiers, but also of the residents,” said the president of Rio’s tourism department, Antonio Figueira de Mello, adding that the city will welcome 3 million visitors this summer, about 850,000 of them during the raucous free-for-all. The celebration has proved immune to the crisis devastating economies in Europe and the U.S., said Mello. “There is no crisis that can take down Carnival.” The festivities also signal a return to normality for Rio and Salvador, the capital of the northeastern state of Bahia, after police strikes raised fears that the parties might be ruined by rampant crime. in Salvador, which hosts Brazil’s second-largest Carnival and arguably its wildest, the strike led to a spike in murders earlier this month. Rio’s short-lived work stoppage was peaceful, and ended last week with minimal disruption. as of Friday afternoon, neither city reported any serious problems as the parties began. in Rio, merrymakers are expected to spend $640 million and generate 250,000 jobs, most temporary and in the tourism and services industries, during Carnival alone, according to the city’s economic development department. But the world’s biggest party traditionally leaves a hangover to match: last year, the romp left about 850 tons of trash strewn around town. Rio officials have dispatched 80 mobile medical emergency units, 1,000 traffic guards and 15,000 toilets around the city, and officials are running a campaign against urinating in public. Rio residents are humming along with a catchy samba tune running on TV, telling partiers, “if you want to pee, don’t do it here, don’t do it here,” which rhymes in Portuguese. it wasn’t yet clear if the city’s organizing effort was paying off, at least for Fernando de Souza Maciel, a shirtless college student sweating into a pink tutu and ribboned ballet slippers who stopped to get a juice with friends between street parties in the Botafogo neighborhood. “I can’t say I haven’t taken advantage of a street corner to find some relief after that third beer,” he said, referring to past Carnivals. “But I promise I’ll look for a toilet this year.” his two girlfriends sent up a cheer for Paes — “go mayor!” — when asked about this year’s plentiful toilets. “it makes all the difference,” said Mayara Marconi, whose butterfly wings were a little off-kilter from the jostle of the crowd. “It’s a fine line between having fun and desperation, that moment where you’d trade your kingdom for a toilet.” for tech-savvy revelers, Rio launched a smartphone app, free for iPhones and Androids, that tells visitors in English, Spanish or Portuguese where to go for blocos, the mobile samba bands that draw millions, pied-piper style, through the streets, as well as basic information on public transit, eateries and museums. Brazil’s federal aviation authority expects 3 million people to shuttle in and out of airports during Carnival week, 13 percent more than last year. Airports taking in visitors will also have 30 percent more federal police, and workers with vests asking “May I help you?” will be circulating to take care of last-minute questions. Helping the notoriously gridlocked city tackle the street closures, mass gatherings and parading parties is Rio’s new central command center, which the city hopes will keep order when Rio hosts the 2014 World Cup matches and the 2016 Olympics. it has been fully operational since November, but this is the first big test of its ability to keep the city running during a large event. The center takes feeds from more than 500 cameras spread around the city and will help plot the routes of Rio’s more than 400 roving street parties, along with the points were guards, medical units and toilets will be placed. Center director Savio Franco said he hopes all this planning will make it a cinch to maintain control of Carnival. “There will be more than 5,000 city government workers involved in making this party go as smoothly as possible for cariocas and for the tourists,” Franco said.

Article Sources: Rio Carnival is bigger, better, more organized

PORTLAND, ME, Feb 21, 2012 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) –Kepware Technologies, the leader in advanced Communications forAutomation, today announced the release of KEPServerEX 5.8, with amajor upgrade that includes new drivers, and several new featuresaimed at existing customers on Kepware’s support and maintenanceprogram to improve their business operations, performance, andsecurity.

to expand existing connectivity, KEPServerEX now features a newAllen-Bradley ControlLogix Unsolicited Driver, which greatly expandsconnectivity for plant wide optimization. also included in thisrelease are advanced communications and infrastructure improvementsto more fully integrate with Fisher ROC and ROC plus Controllersproviding customers with enhanced interoperability.

Accompanying the KEPServerEX 5.8 release are updates for Kepware’sLinkMaster 3.0, RedundancyMaster 2.0 and ClientAce 3.5. LinkMasterand RedundancyMaster are now fully supported on Windows 7/Vista andWindows Server 2008/2003 and have incorporated the same Kepwarelicensing and service support model as KEPServerEx V5. ClientAce 3.5has been updated to include support for Visual Studio 2010 andcontains additional sample code.

“Kepware customers expect us to deliver robust products and servicesbased on our continuing commitment to research and development andfocus on quality,” said Tony Paine, President and CEO of KepwareTechnologies. “The release of KEPServerEX 5.8 reflects our ongoingefforts to enhance our products for our existing customers and allowthem to solve their ever changing business challenges.”

KEPServerEX 5.8 also includes the addition of Modbus ChannelSerialization enhanced Device Level Communication Diagnostics to aidwith performance tuning and to assist with troubleshooting. Forsecurity and regulatory control, KEPServerEX now delivers optimizedevent logging, finer user management control and allows the user tocontrol whether or not client applications can directly access devicememory.

about Kepware Technologies

Kepware Technologies develops a wide range of communication andinteroperability software solutions for the Automation industry. Oursolutions allow you to connect disparate software and hardwaresystems, providing applications with quality, ease of use, and highperformance. Furthermore, our in-depth experience with softwaredesign, development, support, and maintenance allows us to providehigh-performance communications software without sacrificing qualityand ease of use. for more information visit: kepware.com .

Kepware Contact: Shawn McDonald Marketing Communications Email Contact 207-775-1660 x233 Media Contact: Valerie Harding Ripple Effect Communications Email Contact 617-536-8887 www2.marketwire.com/mw/emailprcntct?id=331E038654347707 www2.marketwire.com/mw/emailprcntct?id=4F888348136EF9FC

Copyright 2012 Marketwire, inc., all rights reserved.

Article Sources: Kepware Technologies Announces New and Enhanced Drivers for KEPServerEX

Vintage Trends Coupons, Promo Codes & Fast ShippingVintage Trends store offers fantastic vintage fashion and Military from around the world. VintageTrends clothing experts have background in fashion merchandising & design to accurately identify the age by details such as design, fabric, manufacturer and tags.Vintage Trends: – Authentic Vintage Clothing Store !Find fun affordable Fashion from the 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s and 1980s for both men and women. Vintage Trends has the best selection of vintage dresses, blouses, pants, skirts, 1930s Cocktail Dresses, 1950s Motorcycle Jackets, 1960s Hippie Apparel, or any other kind of vintage retro clothes, lingerie and the cutest outfits.Save 20% Off Use Coupon Code SNOWFLAKE.Fast Shipping Shipping options are displayed during the checkout process. Click Here to show the best offers.International shipping Available.eMail this offer to friends: email it

Article Sources: Save on authentic vintage clothing with our Vintage Trends coupon

This past Saturday felt like a spring day. Literally I was setting up for a “winter one-derland” and had to take off my jacket to be only wearing a short sleeve sweater dress. Pretty unreal. Also unreal – was this party and the incredible shots that were taken by our fabulous new find Raquel Bianca – you are crazy talented and we are so glad we found you!It was the first (and hopefully the last) time Michelle and I accepted two parties on the same day. since both clients who requested this specific date were also dear friends, we could not refuse. so we busted our tails and pulled off two of our best parties yet. Couldn’t have done it without our main gals and LMP assistants plus so much more: Ali & Lindsay. Thank you ladies, for everything you do. You’re amazing.the party that I managed for the day was for my sweet friend’s daughter ~ Colette. She turned 1. Colette’s mom Traci wanted the party to feel soft, vintage and feminine and since the party was in the beginning of January (when it usually is cold and snowy) loved the idea of using muted pink, soft gold, ivory and burlap brown for the color story. I was super excited to work with this beautiful palette as it was very fitting for a 1 year old girl.Traci wanted to have the party at her home but living in Manhattan can be tough when hosting 25 adults and 15 kids. so Michelle and I put on our thinking caps and researched some venues. Thanks to a suggestion from our fabulous new caterers we found a event space called Ramscale that rents lofts in the west village for parties, photo shoots, gallery exhibits, etc. It was cozy, spacious, had a full kitchen and very clean bathroom. good to note for summer parties…they also had a gorgeous wrap around terrace that overlooks all of downtown Manhattan with the most spectacular views. the venue was absolutely perfect and Traci loved it. We were in business and ready to party.Next stop was entertainment for the wee ones. Colette loves music and takes the songs for seeds class at Appleseeds with the amazing Dan Dan the guitar man (as my son and I like to call him). We took the same class last year where my son learned to become a rock star. Dan is fun, wonderful with kids and totally cute (blush).For this part of the party we set up a winter picnic area where we used natural colored rugs from Ikea, sheepskin floor throws (yup, also Ikea.  God I love that place) and yummy West Elm blankets for the couch that was part of the room rental. We also brought in a basket of toys for the kids to play with during the party while the adults got to enjoy some yummy food and drinks…Speaking of which, let’s discuss. so we had three main tables starting with: Brunch. We are extremely fortunate to have found a new caterer to work with who has proven to be reliable and wonderful to do business with called Cobblestone Catering. they worked with us on a menu that would be well suited for this party and the food was absolutely outstanding. Highlight was the pretzel croissants filled with chicken salad. oh my gosh. Heaven topped with Kosher salt. above this station our source of decor was a really pretty bunting that I made out of many strips of fabric. Traci and I spent an afternoon at Mood in the garment district picking out fabrics that were unique in texture, pattern and color making this banner different and interesting against the large wrought iron windows that fit in so perfectly with the vibe of this party.We also thought it would be fun to spruce up the winter crudite by serving in glass cubes that I covered with burlap fabric and decorated with pretty ribbon that Traci found at Michael’s crafts store.Onto the drinks. above the bar we set a string of photos of the birthday gal. Traci gave me 12 sepia printed photos, one from each month of Colette’s first year. so touching and meaningful for a special birthday celebration.Traci loves Coke so I thought it would be really cute to get some of the old school bottles to set out on a wood tray and they were a hit. We also set out vintage looking milk bottles for the kids with C’s and 1′s tied with ribbon around each. We had some fun with the coffee station as well spicing up the design on our cups and serving hot cocoa for what we thought would be a cold winter’s day…Last but certainly not least – dessert. this table was my favorite. so clean and pretty looking. As always we turned to our usual and fave vendors: Kreated by Kristan for the gold dusted cake pops and Sugar Sweet Sunshine for the mini cupcakes and cake with Colette’s name etched on. Of course our dessert table wouldn’t have been complete without the LMP staples but we put some fun spins on each…pretzels dipped in chocolate and coated with crushed raspberry peppermint, S’more’s pops, deulce de lece meringues, white powdered donuts, peppermint covered and snowflake shaped pretzels and chocolate covered Oreos which were a big ticket item at the table.The final touches included number 1 lollipop favors made by Vintage Confections who was featured on Martha Stewart for the work she did for Dylan Lauren’s shower.We also took fabric and draped it over the stairs that we used for gifts. this was a perfect way to keep the kids from climbing up to the deck and trying to escape from the 13th floor of this loft…not to mention looked very pretty!The party was timed nicely, the music flowed throughout and the guests truly seemed to enjoy themselves. Most importantly, our guest of honor Colette was happy and looked to have a smashing time at her first birthday party.The nicest part of this party was working with Traci. She was different from most of our clients as she was very involved in the planning process. With this, we had tons of fun and had many more excuses to grab dinners and chat for hours about Colette’s party. her thoughts and ideas were creative and realistic and did nothing but made my job easier! It’s one of the benefits to working with LMP…we will help you as much or as little as you need because it’s YOUR party and we are here to bring it to life the best way we can.the best compliment I could have received on this party was Traci’s reaction when she first walked in and saw the set up. a party planner cannot ask for anything more than tears of joy. the most rewarding emotion you could get out of a client and of course a friend.so glad you loved the party for Colette, Traci. We know how important this event was to you and are so glad we helped execute it the way you dreamed. Here’s to many more years of celebrating our children’s birthday’s together. Cheers!  xoxoFor more shots of Colette’s party check out the wonderful work on Raquel’s blog.

categories: Birthday, Brunch, Brunch, desserts, Party, Sweets, Toddler activities, Toddler Party Venues

Article Sources: A vintage winter ONE-derland – Little Miss Party

FOSTER CITY, Calif., Feb 01, 2012 (BUSINESS WIRE) –Rearden Commerce, creator of the Deem(TM) ecommerce platform, today announced it has partnered with SignUp4, a leading provider of strategic meetings management technology, to integrate its strategic event management software with Deem Travel. The integration will provide a seamless meeting registration and travel booking solution for customers of Rearden Commerce and SignUp4.

Benefits of the partnership to company meeting planners and attendees include the ability to:

— Improve visibility into meeting and event spend

— Establish cost controls through meeting specific travel policies, including negotiated rates, form of payment, and agency settings

— Support reporting for managing budgets and meeting logistics

— Increase efficiency with seamless integration between meeting registration and air travel self-booking by traveler or delegate, including auto-populating meeting parameters into trip planning search form (i.e. arrival airport, meeting dates)

— Provide integrated and consistent user experience for meeting and non-meeting travel reservations

“We are pleased to work with SignUp4 to expand customer access to event management services to make the experience of planning meeting travel easy and the results cost effective,” said Andrew McGraw, Senior Vice President, Travel Services, Rearden Commerce. “With Deem, we’ve built an open platform which allows value-added service providers like SignUp4 to quickly and easily integrate with our expansive business travel offering.”

“SignUp4 and Rearden are a powerful combination and another example of how SignUp4 can easily be integrated with other industry leading applications,” said Matt Hodge, SignUp4′s VP of Sales. “Our alliance will ensure compliance with corporate travel policy and reduce the cost of travel by decreasing the number of agent assisted bookings.”

Deem(TM) Travel, the online business travel management application from Rearden Commerce, expands spend management beyond traditional travel services to include dining, ground transportation, shipping, airport parking, web-conferencing and entertainment services. Deem Travel increases visibility and control across several business services to enhance efficiency and cost-effectiveness. Travel managers can tailor their programs based on their company’s travel management objectives to easily enforce policies, automate quality control protocols, provide detailed reporting and tracking, and manage negotiated programs.

about SignUp4

SignUp4, LLC is a leading provider of strategic event management software, technology and services for the enterprise business event planner and travel planning marketplace. Founded in 1999 and backed by an experienced team of software, technology and event management experts, we are driven by a single objective- to design, develop and deliver cost-effective event management tools for corporate meeting planners, travel planners and event management agencies. For more information about SignUp4, visit signup4.com .

about Rearden Commerce

Rearden Commerce, creator of the Deem(TM) ecommerce platform, is transforming commerce on behalf of buyers and sellers. through a suite of interoperable smart applications, the Deem platform is designed to leverage big data, analytics and semantics technology to optimize the exchange of goods, services, and information with personalization and repeat value to drive customer loyalty. Deem is distributed globally by more than 40 strategic partners including American Express and JPMorgan Chase — connecting millions of consumers and over 16,500 business customers across every market segment to more than 1.2 million merchants. Rearden Commerce is headquartered in Foster City, California. For more information about Rearden Commerce, visit reardencommerce.com/ #!/company/about.html; and to learn more about Deem, visit deem.com .

SOURCE: Rearden Commerce

Rearden Commerce Tina Martineau, 781-331-1978 or SignUp4 mark Hubrich, 404-475-5392 VP of Client & Industry Relations

Copyright Business Wire 2012

Article Sources: Rearden Commerce Partners with SignUp4 to Provide Integrated Meetings Management Services

Don’t forget that there are two events tomorrow!

The ENCS Executive Committee Meeting will be held at Noon at the first Flight Venture Center in RTP, with the option for joining for a web conference available for anyone who can’t make it in person.

Later that evening, Section Chair Tom Jepsen will be giving a talk on “Just what is an Ontology, Anyway?”, at NC State University’s Engineering Building 1. the event starts at 6:00 PM for pizza, refreshments, and networking.

Details of these events are available on the Upcoming Events page.

We hope to see you there!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 15th, 2012 at 18:58 and is filed under Upcoming Events. you can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. you can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Article Sources: IEEE Eastern North Carolina Section

Slam Dunk Festival 2012

TICKETS for the 2012 Slam Dunk Festival at the University of Hertfordshire go on sale this morning (Friday).

The metal, emo, rock, punk and ska festival returns to the Hatfield-based university on Sunday, may 27 – two days after the annual uni summer ball.

Tickets go on sale from 9am today, with prices held from last year.

They cost £32.50 in advance and £36 with aftershow.

There will also be a free shuttle bus service from Hatfield train station to the Forum Hertfordshire on the College Lane campus.

Americans Taking Back Sunday will headline the main stage in a Slam Dunk UK festival exclusive with the band’s original line-up.

Also confirmed in the first SDF12 announcement on Wednesday for the duel-site festival in Leeds and Hatfield were Architects, Cancer Bats, the King Blues, Mayday Parade, Forever the Sickest Kids, the Audition, Every Time I Die, Set Your Goals and Make do and Mend.

Tickets are available from see Tickets and Luna Tickets – click on the links above right – and via the 24-hour hotline on 0871 220 0260.

Article Sources: Slam Dunk Festival 2012 tickets go on sale for Hatfield

Also on sale will be a further 1.5m football tickets and 1.5m Paralympic tickets that were un-sold during the ballot process.

Organisers, though, will stagger the release of the sports into four or five clusters, meaning that, potential, priority purchasers may have to let the chance to get tickets from an early cluster slip by if their preferred sport is released later in the week.

Also set to be released are the controversial tickets for the Box Hill section of the road cycling race and some £10 general admission Olympic Park experience tickets, which don’t offer any sports action, but allow patrons to enjoy the festive atmosphere within the Park and watch the action on a big screen.

The staggered release of the tickets should release pressure on the website, which has failed to cope with high demand during each stage of the ticketing process.

Those that qualify for the priority window will have to buy the tickets on the spot – in a first in, first served system. however, once they have bought tickets they will be unable to purchase further tickets.

The number of tickets each applicant can buy will be limited, with some of the most popular events, such as the ceremonies, possibly restricted to just two tickets.

“Our priority in the next sales phase was making sure that those who most want to go have access to tickets.” said Locog chairman Sebastian Coe.

The Locog ticketing system has come under pressure from the London Assembly, who claimed it was secret and lacked transparency.

The London Assembly has demanded Locog release how many tickets were available to the public at each session.

Article Sources: London 2012 Olympics: over one million tickets to go on sale in 24-hour priority window for those who missed out

Wichita student Peyton Miller was in sixth grade when he got his first concussion in phys-ed. it was so bad, he was knocked unconscious. A second one in seventh grade came much easier, and by the time he received a third concussion in eighth grade, followed by severe headaches, Peyton walked away from football.

National concern has grown in recent years as more research shows that the immediate and long-term effects of these injuries — classified as a type of traumatic brain injury — are more significant than previously thought.

A concussion occurs when the brain is violently jarred back and forth or rotated inside the skull as a result of a blow to the head or body. This can “stun” brain cells or even kill them, experts say. Doctors say a person does not need to lose consciousness to suffer a concussion, and the effects are cumulative.

Until recently, few rules existed that governed how concussions were treated among athletes. Last July, Kansas changed that. And professional organizations such as the National Football League have come under increased scrutiny to better handle and educate players with injuries.

“Concussions are a silent epidemic,” said Wichita neurologist Bart Grelinger, who is part of a team of local physicians and athletic trainers who formed the Kansas Sports Concussion Partnership last summer, a resource designed to educate coaches, athletes and parents about concussions. the team helped enact the new state law that now regulates how Kansas athletes are handled once a concussion is suspected. it also set up a website, kansasconcussion.org, for parents and coaches.

“We put our children at risk, and we don’t recognize the risk,” he said. “And once they suffer an injury, if we don’t let the brain heal before we put them back in harm’s way, the potential for life-long injury and limitation is measurable.”

Each year, U.S. emergency departments treat an estimated 173,285 sports- and recreation-related traumatic brain injuries, including concussions, among children and adolescents up to 19 years old, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports.

In addition, from 2001 to 2009, the number of sports- and recreation-related emergency room visits for traumatic brain injuries for that age group increased 62 percent. the overall rate of traumatic brain injury visits increased 57 percent.

“as a mom, I’m really glad Peyton decided not to play football anymore,” said Amy Miller, whose son, now 15, is a freshman at Kapaun Mount Carmel High School and plays baseball. “even with helmets on, it’s scary. I’m a nervous wreck watching him play. … I want him to be active and be involved and do things he loves. Just not as much.”

Concussions can occur in any sports or activity, although research shows they happen most often with bicycling, football, playground activities, basketball and soccer. Once someone has a concussion, it’s easier to get another one because the brain is already weakened, experts say.

So far, about 20 lawsuits have been filed against the NFL by former professional players who say that they are suffering long-term effects from repeated head injuries. the lawsuits contend these players suffered repeated concussions from hits and tackles during their years in the NFL that caused brain damage that left them with problems such as dementia, headaches, memory loss, blurred vision and depression.

From ages 30 to 49, the average man gets a diagnosis of dementia at a rate of one in 1,000, according to Neurology Journal. if he’s an NFL football player, however, that rate is one in 53.

“If, for example, an egg is your head, your brain is like the yolk inside,” said mark Stovak, a sports medicine physician who helped pass the state law that requires athletes with suspected concussions to be removed from a game until a physician approves them to play again. “If it gets sloshed around enough times, if you sheer enough axons, your brain just doesn’t work the same. People need to be aware of this and not ignore it.”

Travis Francis, manager of sports medicine for via Christi Health, oversees the outreach athletics training program that provides athletic trainers to sporting events at various organizations such as USD 259, Newman and Wichita State universities, and the Wild Wings.

He was president of the Kansas Athletic Trainers Society last year and was integral in taking the proposed concussion bill to Topeka and helping get it passed. the law requires that any athlete exhibiting any established signs of a head injury is to be removed from a game and not allowed back until a doctor approves it.

“Trainers are about prevention of athletic injury, and this is one of the most potentially serious injuries an athlete can take,” Francis said. “We thought it was something that needs to be legislated. It’s becoming more prevalent, yet there was very little education about it.”

J. Means, the athletic director for Wichita public schools, said the law makes the job of coaches and athletic trainers much easier, as it helps remove any question about what needs to be done in the case of a potential concussion, regardless of what a player, coach or even a parent might say.

“We are very fortunate here in our district to have trainers at the schools – we were doing the correct things already,” he said. “But this takes some of the pressure off. Everyone has the same direction each time something happens.”

Jennifer Hudson, a certified athletic trainer at East High School, says so much focus on concussions is helping make determining injuries and treating them less subjective. She’s working with WSU on testing a software application that will create baseline scores for athletes on things like memory, balance and cognition at the beginning of a season and, later, help determine if an injury is affecting those scores.

“my primary goal and concern is to keep athletes safe,” Hudson said. “And we want to have consistency working with our physicians, athletes, coaches and parents.”

Article Sources: New Kansas law targets concussions as a risk to student-athletes’ brains

Monday, February 13, 2012

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Issuers in the Northeast and Puerto Rico sold $96.6 billion of municipal bonds in 2011, down 18.1% from a year earlier, according to Thomson Reuters data.

Click to see related tables

The Northeast, however, outperformed the broader market. Nationwide, the drop was 32%, to $294.7 billion from $433.2 billion.

“since ’08, it’s been a pretty cold atmosphere, but that has changed. People [in the Northeast] are realizing that the world hasn’t come to an end,” said James McKinney, the head of debt capital markets at William Blair & Co. in Chicago.

Nationally, the decline has hurt the bond counsel industry, according to Howard Zucker, member of the management committee at Hawkins, Delafield & Wood LLP, the most prolific bond counsel in the Northeast. the firm advised regionally on just under $10 billion through 214 issues. Bond issuers were less active than in previous years, he said. several states had new governors advocating fiscal conservatism, which slowed issuance.

The drop in Northeast volume was more pronounced in the first two quarters — just under 40% from each comparable quarter. many issuers closed deals at the end of the previous year as the Build America Bonds program concluded. Issuance dropped only 2.2% in the third quarter and actually had a slight uptick of nearly 5% in the fourth.

New York — city, state and conduit issuers — were the most busy, led by the new York City Transitional Finance Authority. the TFA, which issues bonds for general capital purposes for the city, sold $6.1 billion of debt last year, most recently $650 million of new-money building aid revenue bonds in December. the agency also held a $900 million new money sale in November.

The TFA has a $600 million sale of building aid revenue bonds scheduled for March, according to state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli’s office.

“new York City had a successful year for bond sales thanks to a broad base of reliable investors in search of quality credits in the midst of global financial uncertainty,” city Comptroller John Liu said.

In the Northeast, local development deals spiked by volume to $7.9 billion from $1.8 billion, an increase of 352% over the year before. Development was the only sector to record an increase. Electric power (down 81.3%, to $709.8 million) and transportation (down 52.3%, to $10.6 billion) recorded the biggest declines.

The biggest individual bond sale in the Northeast was the new York Liberty Development Corp.’s $2.6 billion sale on Oct. 19 of multimodal Liberty revenue refunding bonds for the World Trade Center redevelopment project in lower Manhattan. Goldman, Sachs & Co. was lead manager. Overall, the LDC was the second most active issuer in the region at $5.8 billion.

Other top issuers were the Dormitory Authority of the State of new York ($4.3 billion), the Government Development Bank for Puerto Rico ($3.6 billion), the new York City Municipal Water Finance Authority ($3 billion), new York City ($2.5 billion), the new Jersey Economic Development Authority ($2.2 billion), Connecticut ($2.2 billion), the Massachusetts Development Finance Agency ($2 billion) and Massachusetts ($2 billion).

(JamesMcKinney)

Puerto Rico came in with the second-biggest deal individually, a $1.8 billion sale on Dec. 21, managed by Santander Securities. According to Jose Otero, the bank’s vice president for financing, the money was raised within Puerto Rico. he said $1.3 billion was used to refinance local notes for “significant savings,” while the rest was used for new money.

On Dec. 1, the Puerto Rico Sales Tax Financing Corp. sold $1 billion to help finance the commonwealth’s deficit. Gov. Luis Fortuño, who inherited a budget deficit of 45%, has whittled it to 7%, Otero said. Most of the money from the issue was used to finance the deficit. Managed by Citi, it included a final 2046 maturity that carried a 5% coupon at par.

Moody’s Investors Service —which in August had lowered the commonwealth’s general obligation bond rating to Baa1 from A3 with a negative outlook — rated the sales tax bonds Aa2 and stable, while warning that the bonds are “still susceptible to general spending trends and the overall health of the economy.”

Otero said that Fortuño has moved the budget towards balance, implemented a housing stimulus plan and lowered electricity prices. Investors’ knowledge of these improvements will help the sale of Puerto Rico bonds, he said.

The Garden State’s most noteworthy deal was $1.3 billion issue for the new Jersey Transportation Trust Fund Authority on Nov. 16, an annual bond sale used to repair and create new transportation infrastructure statewide.

The authority spends on average about $1.6 billion each year. some of the spending is pay-as-you-go, and the remainder comes from borrowing, according to Andy Pratt, a spokesman for state Treasurer Andrew Sidamon-Eristoff. new Jersey, he said, is moving more toward pay-go as debt growth has slowed since Gov. Chris Christie took office in 2010.

The state devises a plan for replenishing the trust fund every five years, Pratt said.

The $1 billion sale by Hudson Yards Infrastructure Corp. in October involved a high degree of difficulty. the deal primarily funded the extension of new York City’s no. 7 subway line.

“Hudson Yards was challenging and a complicated credit,” said James Haddon, a managing director at PFM Group Inc.

Under a unique structure, no principal payments are due until real-estate-related revenues within the Hudson Yards project area are enough to cover debt service. new York City has pledged to cover the interest costs for the life of the bonds when those revenues are insufficient.

(James Haddon)

“we were able to sell a number of unique deals in 2011,” said Liu, who cited Hudson Yards as well as the first-ever competitive sales for Municipal Water and the TFA’s building aid revenue bond credit. “This calendar year, we’re looking to do more of the same.”

PFM, the top financial advisor in the Northeast, worked on 288 issues valued at $16.1 billion.

Haddon envisions an increase in volume for 2012, especially infrastructure and refunding-related deals.

“the Northeast in general tends to have older infrastructure and has a greater need,” he said. “You’ll see a decent amount of refunding, because the interest rates are low. the refunding market will stay strong. I’m also more optimistic about volume in general, as the economy is improving, especially regarding infrastructure and capital needs, as the anti-debt sentiment is waning.”

“the Northeast in general tends to have older infrastructure and has a greater need. You’ll see lots of infrastructure and some real estate, which is infrastructure again,” Haddon said.

William Blair’s McKinney sees activity picking up at the local level, as it did in some pockets in 2011. Issuance was up last year in new Hampshire (29.1%, to $1.5 billion) and Maine (21.5%, to $1.2 billion). only those two states and Puerto Rico (3.1%, to $9.8 billion) realized increases from 2010.

“In new England, unlike the Midwest, you have a lot of open-forum town hall meetings. by the time bonds go to a referendum, you’ve already heard a lot of back and forth,” McKinney said. School bonds are easier to sell because parent-teacher groups are active, he added.

The Massachusetts School Building Development Authority took advantage of low rates to issue $1 billion on Oct. 27. Proceeds were to be used as grants for cities, towns and school districts that overlap several towns for school construction projects. as part of the deal, $79 million was for the state’s debt service reserve. the authority gets a sliver of the state’s sales tax revenue to pay off the debt.

Authority spokesman Matt Donovan said districts file statements of need for buildings and the agency assesses the need. If the state approves making a grant, it reimburses a portion of the costs with the grants. the portion varies from 31 to 80%. Poorer communities get more money.

Variable-rate, short-put bonds — those with maturities of less than 15 years — should continue to regain popularity, said one banker speaking anonymously. Short-bond deals in the region rose 16.6% last year, to $7.5 billion, while long bonds were down 13.9%, to $762 million.

“as refundings remain a big component of the marketplace in general, there will continue to be a shift to a shorter issuance pattern,” the banker said.

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Article Sources: Northeast Volume Fell in 2011, But Still Beat the Larger Market