Weak Oracle sales, Cyprus fears weigh on US shares

In this March 19. 2013, photo, specialist Joseph Dreyer, left, works with traders on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. World stock markets stalled Thursday March 21, 2013 as uncertainty mounted over whether Cyprus can stave off bankruptcy after the country's government rejected a plan to contribute to a bailout by seizing money from people's bank accounts. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

In this March 19. 2013, photo, specialist Joseph Dreyer, left, works with traders on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. World stock markets stalled Thursday March 21, 2013 as uncertainty mounted over whether Cyprus can stave off bankruptcy after the country's government rejected a plan to contribute to a bailout by seizing money from people's bank accounts. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

Stocks fell on Wall Street Thursday as Oracle's weak sales results weighed down big U.S. technology companies. Traders worried about Cyprus running out of time to avoid bankruptcy.

Major indexes followed European markets lower at the open. The Dow Jones industrial average fell as much as 98 points. By mid-day they had pared the losses. Shortly before noon eastern time, the Dow Jones industrial average and the Standard & Poor's 500 index were down about 0.3 percent. The Nasdaq composite index, which is heavily weighted toward tech shares, declined more than 0.6 percent.

All three indexes felt the drag from technology stocks after Oracle reported an unexpected decline in sales in its fiscal third quarter. Oracle was the biggest decliner in the S&P 500 index; Juniper networks also fell steeply. The S&P 500 fell five points to 1,553.

The Dow dropped 36 points to 14,476. Cisco was the Dow's biggest loser, followed by IBM, H-P and Intel.

The Nasdaq fell 20 points to 3,234.

Still, stocks remain near multi-year highs reached in recent weeks after a rally powered by optimism about the U.S. economy and the Federal Reserve's easy-money policies. The Dow is up 3 percent this month. The S&P 500 has gained 2.6 percent in March, and is 11 points from an all-time high set in October 2007.

The recent gains leave the market vulnerable to any negative news about corporate earnings, the economy or Europe, said Uri Landesman, president of the hedge fund Platinum Partners.

"It's priced like everything's going to be wonderful," Landesman said. He said stocks aren't likely to go higher in the next few weeks. They may drop another 3 percent before making another run at the S&P record sometime next month.

U.S. stocks are benefiting from money flowing out of other investments like bonds and overseas stocks, he added.

European markets closed sharply lower Thursday. The main indexes in Paris and Frankfurt fell a percentage point or more on fear that the crisis in Cyprus will intensify. The European Central Bank has threatened to end emergency support of the nation's banks next week unless leaders can secure more funding.

Cyprus must raise about $7.5 billion in the next four days to avoid bankruptcy. Several plans have failed, including a proposal to tax deposits held by the nation's banks. If the Mediterranean banking haven is unable to secure a bailout, its banks will fail and it could be forced to leave the euro currency.

In the U.S., the yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 1.94 percent from 1.96 percent earlier as demand increased for ultra-safe investments.

The U.S. job and housing markets continue to improve gradually, according to economic reports released Thursday morning. The Labor Department said the number of people claiming new unemployment benefits last week was roughly flat near a five-year low. Sales of existing homes rose in February to a three-year high, according to the National Association of Realtors.

In the tumbling tech sector, Oracle fell $2.98, or 8 percent, to $32.79. Juniper dropped 56 cents, or 3 percent, to $18.75. Cisco fell 75 cents, or 3 percent, to $20.92. IBM declined $3.45, or 2 percent, to $211.61. And Intel was off 11 cents, less than 1 percent, at $21.07.

Outside of technology, here are some stocks making big moves:

? Struggling drug company AstraZeneca jumped after saying it would cut 2,300 more jobs worldwide and overhaul its research operations. That brings to 11,000 the number of job cuts announced in the past 13 months. Shares rose $1.43, or 3 percent, to $47.61.

? Publisher Scholastic Corp. plunged after shrinking demand for its best-selling "The Hunger Games" books forced it to cut its guidance for the year. The company's fiscal third-quarter loss nearly doubled. Shares fell $4.48, or 14 percent, to $26.59.

? Movado Group Inc. dropped after the luxury watchmaker said its fiscal fourth-quarter net income fell 26 percent. The stock fell $1.96, or 5 percent, to $35.16.

___

Daniel Wagner can be reached at www.twitter.com/wagnerreports.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2013-03-21-US-Wall-Street/id-3f78970839a540e7b64bbf7068b85ea9

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Apple Patents iPhone Drop Protection Mechanisms That Are Built Right Into The Device

A new Apple patent filing describes a variety of methods to protect a dropped iPhone during a fall, lessening damage through a number of clever systems. The USPTO filing, spotted by AppleInsider, includes a rotational mechanism to change the orientation of a falling iPhone, for instance, as well as on-device thrusters, and a way to clamp down on inserted cables when a fall is detected.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/06D2eMLnW2A/

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Spring Cleaning: Tips To De-Clutter Your Life For A Fresh Start

It's one of the greatest ironies of life: We're too frantically busy to deal with the stuff that makes us feel frantically busy -- the to-dos that overwhelm us, the clutter that eats up our homes, the niggling personal and professional issues that preoccupy our minds. Tackling them might feel like a someday project, the kind you'll get around to when you have the time. Right.

The key to a calmer existence, experts say, is finding bite-size, everyday solutions for stressors and releasing what we can, be it physical or psychological clutter. "When you start to let go, your life lightens up because you have less to think about and less to maintain," says Geralin Thomas, a professional organizer in Cary, N.C. "You finally feel in control." The payoffs don't end there -- you can sharpen your focus and even lose weight, too. These are the strategies that will ease your load and let you enjoy life a lot more.

More from Health.com
5 Ways To Create A More Peaceful Home
Energy Booster: Stop The Stress
How to Clean Everything Better

Clear Your Schedule

Photo: Shutterstock
As we juggle it all, we're often fueled by an I-can-do-it! sense of pride. But we might be deluding ourselves, suggests a study in the Journal of Communication that found that people misperceive the emotional high they get from multitasking as productivity. And we're not even as good at it as we may think. Another study, published in Psychological Science, revealed that women's ability to keep track of several tasks at once dipped significantly during ovulation, when estrogen levels are high (and can mess with brain function).

Technology sometimes hampers us more than it helps, adds Laura Vanderkam, author of 168 Hours: You Have More Time Than You Think. "Time speeds by when you're on your smartphone e-mailing," she says, "even if you're really not doing anything important."

What To Do:

• Suss Out Time Sucks. For one day, every couple of hours note down exactly what you just did, including things like "Read Facebook updates for a half-hour" or "Scanned catalogs for 15 minutes after opening mail," says Vanderkam. "You start to see the time periods that you're not using as well as you'd like."
• Stop The Auto-Yes. "Everyone lives in an optimistic world and thinks that if we say yes we will find the time, but the truth is we are in denial," says Julie Morgenstern, one of the top organization and productivity experts in the country. Instead, experiment with saying, "Let me think about how I can do that," says Morgenstern. "This way you can step back and evaluate if you really can do what is being asked."
• Have A Plan. "Most people's to-do lists actually create fatigue, because they don't clarify how, exactly, they are going to handle Mom's birthday, so tasks feel bigger than they are," says David Allen, a productivity expert and author of the best seller Getting Things Done. Take a second to jot down how you'll tackle something. Feel better already?
• Just Do It. Allen regularly tells clients to follow his Two-Minute Rule: If something can be done in two minutes, go ahead and get it done. Explains Allen, "It will take you longer to look at it again than it would take to finish it the first time you think of it."
• Reconsider Rewards. Carefully examine your commitments, says Morgenstern, and decide which ones energize you -- and which deplete you. For the tasks that send your misery Geiger counter off the charts, pinpoint whatever reward you get from them and find a better way of scoring it. One client of Morgenstern's wasn't really enjoying volunteering for the PTA because it took time away from her kids, but she kept at it because she thought it showed her children she considered school important. Ultimately, she switched over to running the occasional fun class activity and giving her kids more hands-on help with homework. "These things took less time," Morgenstern notes, "and she and her family got more out of them."

Clear Your Clutter

Photo: Shutterstock
Dusting, mopping, vacuuming: That's easy. Getting rid of all the junk you have to dust, mop and vacuum around? Not so much. "Giving things up is tough because it's not so clear-cut when they're no longer useful," says Morgenstern, author of Shed Your Stuff, Change Your Life. You don't stop wearing jeggings on a Tuesday at 4 p.m.; you just gradually stop doing so, even as they languish on a hanger.

The thing is, those pile-ups of possessions can create anxiety; a study at UCLA found that just looking at clutter elevated women's stress hormones (although, no surprise, the men's cortisol levels remained unchanged). Motivation to get going on cleaning house: You may look better, too. As Geralin Thomas points out, "One big change I see in clients who have de-cluttered is weight loss. Once they have shaped their environment, they're ready to shape up themselves."

What To Do:

• Think Small. "We know from research that little acts of neatness cascade into larger acts of organization," says Christine Carter, Ph.D., a sociologist at UC Berkeley's Greater Good Science Center. Forget about organizing the entire kitchen; focus on, say, the plastic containers taking over your cabinets. "With random de-cluttering, there's always more that you can do," notes Thomas. "When one category is tackled, there's definitely an end point."
• Be A Regular. Perhaps you dedicate, say, 10 minutes a weekday to an organizing project. Or you commit to doing a couple of hours for a few weekends in a row. The point is, be consistent and attentive; turn off your cell phone and schedule child care. Thomas does a weekly "Trash Eve" de-clutter: "The garbage in my neighborhood is picked up on Wednesdays, which makes Tuesdays the night I make an easy supper and clear the decks!"
• Decide What's Treasure And What's Toss-Able. Ask yourself just one question before you start purging any collection of stuff, recommends Morgenstern: "If everything was stolen, what pieces would I go out and buy the very next day?" There you go -- the costume jewelry, canned goods and linens you truly want and need.
• Pre-Arrange Pickups. About 40 percent of people who purge never manage to get the stuff out of their homes, per a poll of 23,000 people on Morgenstern's website. Avoid becoming a hoarder statistic by scheduling a pickup before you start to clean your house. Try salvationarmyusa.org, goodwill.org or excess access.org, a not-for-profit that connects people with local schools and charities in need of specific goods.

Clear Your Mind

Photo: Shutterstock
It's not just that we have a lot to keep track of -- it's our DIY mentality, says Orit Avni-Barron, M.D., director of Women's Mental Health at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. "I hear women say, 'My husband is so great, he helps me,'" as if our partners are our sous chefs instead of co-cooks. Another issue: Women worry twice as much as men, research shows. "Worrying impairs concentration and memory," says Robert Leahy, Ph.D., director of the American Institute for Cognitive Therapy in New York City. "You can't tend to the present and worry about the future at the same time. It's overwhelming."

What To Do:

• Pop Annoying Thought Bubbles. Psychologists talk of the Zeigarnik effect, named after a Russian shrink who realized that a waiter could more easily recall incomplete orders than served ones. The follow-up study showed that people are 90 percent more likely to remember undone tasks than those they completed. "Tell your brain when you'll get a task done," says Carter. "It kills the worry loop."
• Control What's Possible. "When we don't know how something will work out, we worry to get certainty," says Leahy. Yet one study at Penn State University found that 85 percent of things people fretted about had neutral or positive outcomes. To quell anxiety, throw yourself into what you can accomplish -- say, writing the introduction to the PowerPoint document instead of ruminating on the presentation. "You'll feel good about the present and put other thoughts on pause," says Leahy.
• Be Hands-On. Weed, knead dough, do a craft, says Gayatri Devi, M.D., associate professor of neurology at New York University. "When you think about something tangible, you stop thinking about the theoretical."
• Grade Perfection On A Curve. "We have reached a tipping point in perfection. People are realizing we can't do it all at the level that we used to," says Morgenstern. That means you, sister! Start with the obvious: Divvy up more responsibilities with your partner, even if he does them differently. And try Morgenstern's Minimum, Moderate, Maximum strategy: Decide what level of effort you can give tasks (and get away with). As she says, "You may be surprised to find that everything works out OK."

"How To Spring-Clean Your Life" originally appeared on Health.com

Also on HuffPost:

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The Goddard School? Raises More than $185,000 for Ronald ...

The philanthropic campaign kicked off The Goddard School's 25th anniversary celebration.

KING OF PRUSSIA, Pa. - March 19, 2013 - (BUSINESS WIRE) - To celebrate 25 years of service as the leader in early childhood education, The Goddard School kicked off its festivities with a special philanthropic campaign to benefit Ronald McDonald House Charities? (RMHC?).

To commemorate its milestone anniversary, Goddard Schools nationwide participated in a variety of fundraising activities to support their local RMHC Chapters. In total, more than $185,000 was raised. Goddard Systems, Inc. (GSI), franchisor of The Goddard School, contributed a gift of $25,000 to help provide families a ?home-away-from-home? while their child receives specialized medical treatment far from home through the Ronald McDonald House? program.

?At The Goddard School, providing children with the opportunities for long-term success in school and in life is the focus of everything we do, so supporting RMHC seemed like the perfect way to celebrate that mission,? said Joe Schumacher, Chief Executive Officer for GSI. ?We are extremely proud of each of the nearly 400 Goddard Schools across the nation that helped us with this effort. This clearly demonstrates that when we work together, we can accomplish great things for our communities.?

In addition to collecting monetary donations, children at The Goddard School created birthday cards for their local RMHC Chapters. The birthday cards will be distributed throughout the year by RMHC directors to pediatric patients or family members celebrating birthdays during their hospital stay.

?With the unwavering support of donors like The Goddard School, at RMHC we are able to make a positive impact in the lives of children through our family-centered programs and services,? said J.C. Gonzalez-Mendez, president and CEO, RMHC.

?Our support of RMHC was the perfect opportunity to get the children involved and teach them the importance of giving back to their community,? said Paula Beverage, on-site owner of The Goddard School located in Independence, Ohio. Her school collected pop tabs, auctioned off the children?s artwork and hosted a silent auction to raise more than $3,000 for the Ronald McDonald House in Cleveland.

For Michelle Sims, Quality Assurance Representative at GSI, the partnership between The Goddard School and RMHC had personal significance. When her daughter was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer in 2004, Sims was referred to a pediatric specialist in New York. Unable to afford the constant commute between New York and their home in Florida, the Sims family spent more than five years in and out of the Ronald McDonald House in New York.

?Honestly, we would have never been able to afford to stay in New York for the amount of time we did if it weren?t for the Ronald McDonald House,? said Sims. ?Because of the cutting-edge treatment my daughter was able to receive, her life has been saved. I hope people understand this partnership isn?t just about fundraising; it is about making a real, meaningful difference in the lives of families.?

For more information, visit www.goddardschool.com.

The Goddard School?: Celebrating 25 Years of Learning through Play.

Learning for fun. Learning for life.SM The Goddard School uses the most current, academically endorsed methods to ensure that children from six weeks to six years old have fun while learning the skills they need for long-term success in school and in life. Talented teachers collaborate with parents to nurture children into respectful, confident and joyful learners. The Goddard School?s AdvancED and Middle States-accredited F.L.EX.SM Learning Program reaches more than 45,000 students in nearly 400 Goddard Schools in 35 states. The Goddard School?s comprehensive play-based curriculum, developed with early childhood education experts, provides the best childhood preparation for social and academic success. To learn more about The Goddard School, please visit www.goddardschool.com.

About Ronald McDonald House Charities

Ronald McDonald House Charities? (RMHC?), a non-profit, 501 (c) (3) corporation, creates, finds and supports programs that directly improve the health and wellbeing of children. Through its global network of local Chapters in 57 countries and regions, its three core programs, the Ronald McDonald House?, Ronald McDonald Family Room? and Ronald McDonald Care Mobile?, and millions of dollars in grants to support children's programs worldwide, RMHC provides stability and resources to families so they can get and keep their children healthy and happy. All RMHC-operated and supported programs provide a bridge to quality health care and give children and families the time they need together to heal faster and cope better. For more information, visit www.rmhc.org, follow RMHC on Twitter (@RMHC) or like RMHC on Facebook (Facebook.com/RMHC Global).

The following trademarks used herein are owned by McDonald's Corporation and its affiliates: Ronald McDonald House Charities, Ronald McDonald House Charities Logo, RMHC, Ronald McDonald House, Ronald McDonald Family Room, and Ronald McDonald Care Mobile.

Contact:

The Goddard School

Ashley Pitlyk
314-469-3500
apitlyk@standingpr.com

###

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Professional Business Marketing ? Research and Markets: China ...

DUBLIN?(BUSINESS WIRE)?

Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/k45q2x/china_automotive)
has announced the addition of the ?China
Automotive Battery Market Forecast Opportunities, 2018?
report to their offering.

In the past decade, China has witnessed remarkable improvement in the
growth of automobile sector, both commercial and passenger. China is
also the largest manufacturer of automotive batteries globally due to
cheap and easy availability of labor. With the growth of automobile
sector, the demand for automotive replacement battery market is also
growing rapidly. The sales of e-bikes during 2009 to 2012 has recorded
compounded annual growth rate of 11.52% which is expected to grow at
around 16% for the next five year period. In addition, the automobile
production in China has 18.72 Million units in 2011 which is further
expanding the demand for automotive batteries.

According to China Automotive Battery Market Forecast Opportunities,
2018? the automotive battery market in China is growing rapidly and is
set to boost further over the coming years. The value of China?s
automotive battery market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 23.85%, over
the next five years. The automotive replacement battery market in China
is forecasted to surpass USD 16 Billion in 2018. The market is being
driven by the increasing demand for cars, rising middle class population
and massively growing production in China.

?China Automotive Battery Market Forecast Opportunities, 2018?
discusses the following aspects related to automotive batteries market
in China:

? Global Automotive Battery Market Size, Share Forecast

? China Automotive Battery Market Size, Share Forecast

? China Automotive Replacement Battery Market Analysis

? Market Trends and Dynamics

? Competitive Landscape Strategic Recommendations

Key Topics Covered:

1. Executive Summary

2. Global Automotive Battery Market Outlook

3. China Automotive Battery Market Outlook

4. China Automotive Battery Replacement Market

5. Raw Material Analysis

6. Market Dynamics

7. Legal Regulatory Environment

8. Industry Risk Analysis

9. Market Trends Developments

10. China Economic Profile

11. Competitive landscape

12. Strategic Recommendations

Companies Mentioned

? Johnson Controls Inc.

? Chawoi Power Holding Limited

? Zhejiang Haijiu Battery Company

? Douglas EnerSys Home

? Fiamm Group

? Hitachi Limited

? GS Yuasa Corporation

? Huawei Corporation

? Shandong Sacred Sun Power Sources Co. Ltd.

? Zhejiang Narada Power Source Co. Ltd.

For more information visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/k45q2x/china_automotive

Source: http://lowbrowse.org/research-and-markets-china-automotive-battery-market-forecast-opportunities-2018.html

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Oil cuts losses as Cyprus worries ease

NEW YORK (AP) ? The price of oil reversed sharp early losses Monday as nervousness over a bailout plan in Cyprus abated.

By early afternoon in New York, benchmark oil for April delivery was down just 3 cents to $93.42 a barrel. It had dropped as low as $91.76.

Traders initially worried about possible fallout from a plan to pay for a bailout for cash-strapped Cyprus by slapping a tax on deposits in the country's banks. Some bank customers withdrew as much of their cash as they could and the fear was the panic could spread to other countries and prompt capital flight from weaker EU economies.

Stock markets in Asia and Europe fell sharply. But as U.S. markets recovered from an early decline, oil started to rise.

Natural gas rose again, building on a monthlong run that has seen the price jump 23 percent. Futures gained 3 cents to $3.91 per 1,000 cubic feet.

At the gas pump, the average price for a gallon of gas held steady at $3.69. That's down about 15 cents from a year earlier.

Brent crude, used to price many kinds of oil imported by U.S. refineries, was down 46 cents to $109.36 per barrel on the ICE Futures exchange in London.

In other energy futures trading on the Nymex:

? Wholesale gasoline lost 2 cents to $3.14 a gallon.

? Heating oil was unchanged at $2.94 a gallon.

___

Pamela Sampson in Bangkok and Pablo Gorondi in Budapest contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2013-03-18-Oil-Prices/id-3ab79563cf6542f7825c6feedaade806

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Experiments find strongest shapes with 3-D printing

Mar. 18, 2013 ? Prof. Heinrich Jaeger's research group examines materials and phenomena that appear simple at the surface, but which reveal tremendous complexity upon close examination. One such phenomenon is jamming, in which aggregates of randomly placed particles, including spheres or more complicated shapes, or even molecules, transition from fluid-like to solid-like behavior.

Jamming lends itself to soft robotics, in addition to other applications as explored in a workshop at the University of Chicago last October. In recent computer simulations and experiments, Jaeger, the William J. Friedman & Alicia Townsend Professor in Physics, and graduate student Marc Miskin investigate another aspect of jamming. They analyzed how the properties of a jammed material can be tuned by changing the shape of the constituent particles. Their results on "Adapting granular materials through artificial evolution" appeared Jan. 20 as an Advance Online Publication in Nature Materials.

Miskin and Jaeger addressed a daunting question in their research: Given a design goal for the jammed aggregate, for example to have it as stiff or as soft as possible in response to an applied force, what particle shape will best produce the desired outcome? For this complex optimization problem, they faced an infinite variety of shapes to choose from. So Miskin employed a computer algorithm -- referred to as an "evolutionary optimization" to answer this question.

The computer designed particles by starting from a random shape, and then iteratively altered its configuration, at each stage performing a series of simulations that tested how close the performance approximated the stated goal. Once an optimal shape was identified, Miskin then manufactured a large number of copies with the lab's 3D printer for testing in a vise-like squeezing apparatus to verify his algorithm's predictions.

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Chicago. The original article was written by Steve Koppes.

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. Marc Z. Miskin, Heinrich M. Jaeger. Adapting granular materials through artificial?evolution. Nature Materials, 2013; DOI: 10.1038/nmat3543

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/top_news/~3/L3A5Bt7YQmM/130318202919.htm

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