Finch urges Blythe to find form as drop zone looms

Blythe captain Peter Finch has ordered his players to take along, hard look in the mirror after a thumping against Leek leftthem teetering above the relegation zone.

Finch has now set a target of at least four victories in thesecond half of the season to avoid slipping through the Division OneA trapdoor.

The skipper was frustrated as he watched his side's poor battingform continue. They set a target of just 124 runs at Highfield onSaturday.

Blythe could then not find a way past Grant Denny and Mo Hussain,who added 95 in an unbeaten fourth-wicket stand.

And table-topping Leek strolled to victory after a slight earlywobble.

The Cresswell-based …

Insurgent Leader Nabbed in Iraq Raid

BAGHDAD - The shadowy leader of the Islamic State of Iraq, an al-Qaida-inspired group that challenged the authority of Iraq's government, was captured Friday in a raid on the western outskirts of Baghdad, an Iraqi military spokesman said.

Abu Omar al-Baghdadi was arrested along with several other insurgents in a raid in the town of Abu Ghraib, said Brig. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi, spokesman for the Baghdad security operation.

Defense Department spokesman Bryan Whitman said Friday that Pentagon officials have received no official confirmation that al-Baghdadi was captured.

Al-Moussawi said al-Baghdadi admitted his identity, as did another "of the terrorists" who …

Wheat, corn, soybeans futures rise on the CBOT

Agriculture futures mostly rose in midday trading Tuesday on the Chicago Board of Trade.

Wheat for May delivery climbed 10.75 cents to $5.34 a bushel, while May corn leaped 13.5 cents to $3.79 a bushel and May soybeans jumped 24 cents to $8.89 a bushel. Oats for May delivery were flat at $1.84.

Beef and …

`More' is `Less' in 2-part, 4-hour cable mini-series

Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less (STAR) (STAR) Harvey Metcalfe Edward Asner Stephen Bradley Ed Begley Jr.

The USA cable channel presents a two-part mini-series, directed byClive Donner and written by Sherman Yellen. To be shown from 8 to 10tonight and tomorrow night over local cable systems.

If I were the producer of the latest USA cable channelmini-series, I would have titled it "Not Four Hours Less, Although ItSeems Like 14 Hours More." That's why I'll never be a big-timemini-series producer.

Instead, it's called "Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less," andit's based on a novel by Jeffrey Archer. USA will show the revengecaper from 8 to 10 tonight …

Nonprofits ask: How do we get ready for a capital campaign?

Guest Column

Is there a nonprofit organization that does not need additional money?

Philanthropically supported operations never have the amount of funds they would like to have to accomplish or expand their mission in the community.

"When do we know when we're ready for a capital campaign?" is the first question nonprofits often ask professional fundraisers.

The question is, of course, answered with questions that make up a checklist:

* When was the last time the organization reviewed or updated its mission and vision statements?

* Does it have an up-to-date strategic plan covering at least the next five years that truly reflects the mission and …

Panasonic shows what Guinness World Records says is longest lasting alkaline battery

Japan's Panasonic has created the world's longest lasting alkaline battery, according to Guinness World Records.

Panasonic promises its new Evolta battery cell _ whose name is derived from "evolution" and "voltage" _ will keep gadgets running 20 percent longer than offerings from rivals Duracell and Energizer, as well as its own upscale Oxyride batteries.

Guinness certified Evolta in a Tokyo ceremony Tuesday as "the longest lasting AA alkaline battery cell," based on testing under guidelines set by the industry's International Electrotechnical Commission.

The battery also has a 10 year shelf life, making it suitable …

Helping crash victims stay cool; Many naturally panic when

I had my first -- and only -- bike accident when I was 18.

I was pedaling along Carbondale's main strip, giddy with the joy you feel when you're a college sophomore and it's a blue October day.

Foolishly, I was riding on the sidewalk and didn't know I was approaching a narrow alley between two buildings. I saw a blur of gray to my right, like an elephant charging out of a jungle. I felt a curious pressure on my leg, then found myself staring dreamily at a tuft of grass growing out of a crack in the sidewalk, inches from my nose.

The lady driving the silver Honda Civic got out to see if I was OK. We were very apologetic to each other.

The alley came …

TIME TO START ON A "NEW PILE OF STONES"

"I think the issue of tearing down the Qwest Arena has been sufficiently put to bed," said Greater Boise Auditorium District Board Member Michael Wilson at the board's Jan. IO meeting.

In their pursuit of increasing Boise's convention space, GBAD explored multiple options, including a controversial proposal from board chairman Stephenson Youngerman: buying and demolishing the neighboring arena for a brand new facility.

"We said we would explore Qwest Arena until no stone is left unturned," said Board Member Mike Fitzgerald. ? think it's time to start on a new pile of stones."

The board shelved the idea, leaving two final two options: build an entirely new center on …

2 new caps in All Blacks team; England revamps backline for 2nd test

Richard Kahui and Rudi Wulf have been named to make test debuts in the New Zealand backline among four changes to the All Blacks team which will meet England in the second rugby test at Christchurch on Saturday.

New Zealand won the first test 37-20 at Auckland last weekend.

Kahui will start at center in place of Conrad Smith, while Wulf will play on the wing ahead of Anthony Tuitavake, who made his All Blacks debut against Ireland two weeks ago and was retained for the first test against England. Sitiveni Sivivatu moves from the left to the right wing.

Veteran Leon MacDonald has been named at fullback in place of Mils Muliaina, who drops to the …

AL ROUNDUP Jays slip past Red Sox in ninth

Orlando Hudson doubled home the winning run in the ninth inning toboost the Toronto Blue Jays to a 4-3 victory Sunday against thevisiting Boston Red Sox.

Eric Hinske went 3-for-4 with two RBI for the Blue Jays, who won aseries from the Red Sox for the first time since sweeping them May 30-June 1, 2003.

With the score tied 3-3, Reed Johnson reached on an infield singleagainst losing pitcher Mike Timlin (1-1) and scored when Hudsondoubled off the wall in left. Miguel Batista (1-1) earned the victorydespite blowing a save chance in the top of the ninth.

The Blue Jays led 3-1 before Jason Varitek led off the ninth witha single. Batista retired the next two batters …

Less than Bargained for: The Use of Force and the Declining Relevance of the United Nations

I. INTRODUCTION

In the wake of its intervention in Iraq, the United States is coming to terms with an international system that may leave it open to serious national security vulnerabilities. International terrorism, rogue nations, and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction pose the threat of a direct, devastating attack on American civilians. Regardless of one's opinion on the intervention in Iraq, it is clear now that American policymakers must reevaluate their approach to the United Nations as they develop a strategy to defeat these threats. International lawyers must face the question whether the United Nations Charter, which seeks to prohibit the use of force between …

Tour of Utah to start in Park City

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — The 2011 Tour of Utah will start in Park City for the first time after being elevated this year to one of the top three professional stage races for road cycling for North America.

Event organizers unveiled six host venues on Wednesday and also indicated four of the top international teams have been extended invitations to compete Aug. 9-14.

The opening prologue …

Scoping out ... non-invasive surgery

Last October, Tom Brassil faced a difficult decision. The 41-year old physical education teacher and baseball coach in Holyoke had been told he needed surgery to repair a torn anterior ligament in his left knee -- an injury he sustained when he was 26 and had now become career-threatening.

"It got to the point where I had no mobility in my knee," Brassil told BusinessWest. "In addition to the pain and onset of arthritis, within a couple of years I wouldn't be able to coach or even move around in my gym classes."

Brassil knew he needed to have the knee repaired with arthroscopic surgery, but remained hesitant. He had learned that other athletes who had undergone the procedure faced several weeks in the hospital after the operation, followed by months, even years of painful post-operative therapy, as well as the necessity to wear a heavy, expensive brace.

In Brassil's case, however, the outcome was very different.

He checked into New England Baptist Hospital in Boston on Oct. 25 and the surgery was performed the same afternoon. Had he lived closer to Boston, he would have been discharged the same day as well.

He did return home the next morning, and was back at work within a week, and finished a mild therapy routine two months later. He doesn't need any additional treatment, nor does he wear a brace. Most important, he has regained full mobility in his leg and is looking forward to the opening of the high school baseball season this month.

The surgical technique used on Brassil was initially developed in the 1970's, but thanks to remarkable advances in computer, fiber-optic and video technologies, what used to be a difficult and expensive procedure has now become commonplace.

It is one of a number of techniques which involves inserting a fiber-optic tube the size of a knitting needle through a small incision, then using a scope to look directly into the target area. A video camera can be mounted to the end of the scope, bringing to the surgeon dynamic pictures of the muscle, tissue or organ where the surgery will be performed.

Such procedures are known collectively as minimally-invasive surgery (MIS), sometimes called minimal-access surgery (MAS), and known as videoendoscopic surgery if utilized with video technology. It has become the surgical procedure of choice for gall bladder operations, as well as for certain types of hernias and gynecological procedures.

When a camera is attached to the scope, the surgeon actually views his work on a video screen, much like a television monitor, mounted in the operating room. "It's kind of like doing surgery by looking at a mirror," says Dr. Herbert DiMeola, vice president of Medical Affairs at Mercy Hospital, "and while it can't be used on all patients, the results in certain situations are remarkable.

"For those patients who are fit subjects for MIS there is a tremendous decrease in the incidence of post-operative pain, infection, and length of post-operative hospital stays," he added.

In the case of gall bladder removals, for example, DiMeola points out that a typical incision would be 4 to 6 inches, which resulted in significant pain and a post-operative hospitalization of four to six days. The incision in a "scoped" operation is usually no longer than one inch. The patient usually reports minimal post-operative discomfort, and most of these procedures are now performed on an out-patient basis.

Focus on Technology

Although the technology for minimally invasive surgery was first developed in Germany, it turns out that one of the few American companies now manufacturing medical scopes is located in Western Mass. The company, Instrument Technology Inc. (ITI) of Westfield, first started delivering sophisticated industrial scopes to the nuclear-power industry, which used the devices for inspection of the interiors of nuclear reactors, minimizing the effects of radiation on nuclear power employees.

In 1990, the company was approached by several medical manufacturers who could not meet the rapid growth in demand for fiber-optic surgical scopes from overseas suppliers.

"Until about 1980," said ITI President Jeffrey Carignan, "our business was overwhelmingly industrial, with about 10 or 15% of our revenues coming from Department of Defense contracts related to work on the F-14 and F-15 fighters." As the nuclear power industry waned in the 1980's and defense contracts dried up, ITI reoriented its business toward medical technology. Today, Carignan estimates that about 50% of the company's annual $7 million revenues comes from medical scopes, a market he believes is just now coming into its own.

Although surgeons in certain specialties are quick to point to the advantages of minimally-invasive procedures, many types of medical procedures will continue to be conducted with traditional methods for the foreseeable future. For example, scopes were tested in cardiac surgeries as an alternative to the major difficulties posed by splitting open the sternum and exposing the entire chest cavity, but most thoracic surgeons have discarded this method in favor of the more traditional reliance on open-access surgery.

"The problem that we encountered in bypass surgery," said Dr. Jose Missri, Chief of Cardiology at St. Francis Hospital in Hartford, "is that surgeons could not use the technique effectively to suture arteries.

"It is sometimes possible to make an incision on the side of the sternum rather than splitting it down the middle," he added, "but in most cases the small size of arteries makes direct visualization of the surgical area a necessity, and scopes do not offer much in the way of an alternative."

Stitch in Time

Where the use of scopes has achieved major medical breakthroughs, however, is in diagnostic procedures on just about every area of the body. Until videoendoscopic technology was commonplace, physicians were often put in the position of having to decide whether to perform major surgery just to render a diagnosis. This was particularly the case in areas like the abdomen, where symptoms are often vague, and could be caused by a wide variety of illnesses.

"What do you do with the patient who complains of abdominal pain?" asks DiMeola. "Do you just wait and watch, or try a variety of medications and hope it goes away? Or do you take the patient into surgery and perform a major operation without really knowing what you are looking for?"

This dilemma has largely been solved through the use of videoendoscopy, which allows the specialist to take a video of virtually the entire digestive tract and look for specific infections or other medical problems without cutting through large amounts of muscle and tissue.

"It's a much better procedure than a scan," said DiMeola, "because you are actually looking directly at the organs themselves, but you haven't forced the patient to undergo anything more difficult than a brief procedure that can be performed on an out-patient basis."

One physician who eagerly embraces the virtues of videoendoscopy diagnosis is Dr. Paul Salva, pediatric pulmonologist at Baystate Medical Center. Salva, who regularly performs videoendoscopic diagnostic examinations on more than 100 children a year, is enthusiastic about the technology because it has made an enormous difference in his ability to diagnose a wide variety of pediatric pulmonary disorders, including asthma, lung malformations, vascular compressions and other bronchial and lung problems.

"Before this technology was available, perhaps upwards of 30% of pulmonary asthma cases were really something else," said Salva, "and children were getting medicines for illnesses they didn't have."

"Not only does the scope allow us to look all the way down through the bronchial passages and into the lungs," he continued, "but we are also able to use it to bring up fluid that collects in the lungs from infections, as well as to perform biopsies on lung and bronchial tissue with relatively minor discomfort for the sick child."

The use of scopes for a wide variety of visualization procedures has probably been a greater value to health and medicine than the introduction of scopes for surgery itself. Because scopes can allow physicians to make more accurate diagnoses, the cost and trauma of acute care can be lessened, and many unnecessary surgical procedures avoided. There is virtually no part of the human body into which a scope cannot be inserted, and the value of being able to see into the body's interior without costly and risky surgery cannot be overestimated.

View to the Future

There are two other areas of medicine in which minimally invasive technology is growing quickly. The first is what is known as "tele-medicine," where a doctor or other specialist watches a monitor and advises another doctor or technician about a surgical procedure being performed at another site. Sensationalized versions of these procedures are the regular staples of such television shows as "911" and "ER." But while open-heart surgery is not usually performed in a helicopter, the development of scope technology is indispensable for remote medical procedures, because a video image is usually more reliable than a description based on what someone sees through the naked eye.

The other medical area to watch is veterinary medicine, an industry which continues to grow at a rapid pace without the aid of federal or state reimbursements. ITI's Carignan sees a lucrative opportunity for his company in this market.

"It used to be that minimally-invasive surgery for animals was restricted only to very unique situations, such as prize-winning racehorses," he said, "but the technology is now spreading to the neighborhood veterinary clinic."

Until recently, many veterinarians were reluctant to perform surgeries, because the surgical wound would not heal once the animal regained consciousness and began moving around. But the small size of a scope incision has changed that scenario dramatically. With a small wound that heals quickly, an animal can move about freely following the procedure, and the pet-owner doesn't have to watch the animal every second to make sure the bandage stays in place.

Most physicians in Western Mass. believe that there will be further technological breakthroughs in minimally-invasive surgery, and it is much too early to say how the field will develop over the next few years. Advances in scope technology reflect developments of other areas, particularly lasers, fiber optics, video and computers. To the extent that such technologies are changing at an ever-increasing pace, there is probably no limit to how medical procedures based on these technologies will also change.

China, Saudis through in World Cup qualifying

BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) — China and Saudi Arabia were among the teams to progress in Asia's World Cup qualifying on Thursday, as Singapore ousted neighbor Malaysia and crowd trouble forced the abandonment of Oman's game at Myanmar.

China won 6-1 at Laos to complete a 13-3 aggregate victory, while Saudi Arabia won 5-0 at Hong Kong for an 8-0 margin over two legs. Both moved into the third round, a group stage that will include regional heavyweights such as Japan, South Korea and Australia.

Syria also produced an authoritative 4-0 away win over Tajikistan for a 6-1 aggregate; Kuwait won 2-1 at the Philippines for a 5-1 aggregate and Jordan progressed after a 1-1 draw at Nepal and a 10-1 win over two legs.

Singapore produced a creditable 1-1 draw in front of 85,000 mostly hostile fans in Malaysia to take a 6-4 aggregate win in one of the most important matches between the longstanding rivals.

India drew 2-2 at home against the United Arab Emirates but never threatened to overturn a 3-0 first-leg deficit.

In other results, Bangladesh beat Lebanon 2-0 but lost 4-2 on aggregate; Vietnam had a 2-1 win over Qatar but lost 4-2 on aggregate, and Indonesia had a late fright but clung on for a 4-3 win over Turkmenistan to win 5-4 overall.

In the late matches, Thailand, Iran and Iraq all qualified for the next stage.

Palestine's hopes of reaching the World Cup are over after drawing 2-2 with Thailand to go out 3-2 on aggregate.

Iran beat Maldives 1-0 to go through 5-0 overall, Iraq was held to a 0-0 draw by Yemen but was victorious 2-0 after two legs, and Uzbekistan trounced Central Asian neighbor Kyrgyzstan 3-0 to advance 7-0 on aggregate.

In Myanmar, fans threw stones, shoes, water bottles and other objects onto the pitch and at Oman players and officials, forcing a halt to the match with Oman winning 2-0 on the night and 4-0 on aggregate.

At least one Oman player and one official were struck by objects as dozens of police tried to control the crowd. Myanmar football chief Zaw Zaw appealed for calm to no avail.

The violence came after striker Ismail made it 2-0 from the penalty spot in the 39th minute, midfielder Amad Al Hosni having put Oman ahead in the 23rd minute.

While there was no immediate announcment of the official result of the game, Oman should progress to the third round, either by the standing score or by forfeit.

The third round, which features five groups of four teams, is scheduled for Sept. 2 to Feb. 29, 2012.

A fourth round of qualifying will decide which four Asian teams are guaranteed a place at the finals in Brazil, while a fifth round will provide Asia's representative in an intercontinental playoff.

In Laos, China midfielders Deng Zhuoxiang and Yu Hanchao scored twice, with Qu Bo and Yang Xu also finding the net for the visitors, while Visay Phapouvanin scored for Laos.

China's comfortable margin of victory over two legs came after Laos had taken a shock 2-0 lead in last weekend's away leg, before being overwhelmed 7-2.

Saudi Arabia carried a comfortable 3-0 lead from the first leg against Hong Kong and completed a strong result Thursday thanks to goals from Hassan Fallatah, Mohammed Noor, Nassir Al-Shamrani, Mohammed Al-Sahlawi and Osama Hawsawi.

Saudi Arabia is eager to make up for not qualifying for the 2010 World Cup, its first absence from football's main event since 1990.

Tajikistan's match was up for grabs after Syria recorded a 2-1 home win in the first leg. However, Syria soon put the result beyond doubt Thursday as Raja Rafe scored twice in the first half, Nadim Sabagh made it 3-0 and a late own-goal completed a comfortable victory.

Indonesia had some anxious moments against Turkmenistan. Having secured a 1-1 away draw in the first leg, Indonesia surged ahead 4-1 on Thursday with two goals from Cristian Gonzales and one each to Nasuha and Muhammad Ridwan.

With Turkmenistan reduced to 10 men due to a red card, the contest looked over. But Berdy Shamuradov scored and Gakhrymanberdi Chonkaev converted a penalty to make it interesting. However, the visitors could not find another goal to take the match on the away goals rule.

Malaysia was confident of overturning a 5-3 deficit from the first leg against Singapore, and the hosts cut the deficit through Safee Sali's goal in the 58th minute. Shi Jiayi equalized for Singapore in the 73rd minute and the visitors held firm to secure the draw.

Qatar, seeking to build its World Cup credentials ahead of its hosting role in 2022, carried a 3-0 advantage into the away game at Vietnam and effectively sealed the result when striker Yusef Ahmed Ali scored an away goal in the ninth minute. Vietnam responded through Nguyen Trong Hoang in the 15th and Nguyen Quang Hai's header in the 33rd to gain the consolation of a win on the night.

India had been hopeful of overturning a 3-0 deficit against the UAE, believing that result was not representative because it had two men sent off. It failed to back up that belief on Thursday, as the Gulf side led 2-0 from goals by Mohamed Al Shehhi and Ali Al Wehaibi, before India pulled a goal back through Jeje Lalpekhlua and a stoppage-time equalizer by Gouramanghi Singh.

Jordan was never going to be threatened by Nepal after a 9-0 home win in the first leg. Saeed Morja made it 10-0 on aggregate, but Nepal was able to salvage a draw and some pride thanks to a late goal by 41-year-old Bharat Khawas.

Kuwait started the away leg at the Philippines with a 3-0 aggregate lead. Stephan Schrock put the Philippines ahead on the night to threaten a comeback, but Yousef Al Sulaiman and Waleed Ali Jumah responded to complete a 5-1 aggregate victory.

Bangladesh was at long odds to overturn a 4-0 deficit against Lebanon and fell short despite a 2-0 win on the night following second-half goals from Mithun Chowdhury and Zahid Hasan Emily.

German priest jailed for 6 years for child abuse

BERLIN (AP) — A German court has convicted a Roman Catholic priest of some 250 counts of sexually abusing children over a several-year period and sentenced him to six years in prison.

German news agency dapd reported that the state court in Braunschweig on Thursday convicted the priest, who was found guilty of abusing three boys aged 9 to 15 between 2004 and 2011.

The 46-year-old priest, who wasn't identified, was arrested in July after one victim told his mother what had happened. He admitted the abuse when he went on trial Jan. 13.

He also faces church disciplinary proceedings.

Germany, Pope Benedict XVI's homeland, was shaken in 2010 by revelations of abuse by clergy going back decades.

60 second interview: Kathryn Boyd

NAME: Kathryn Boyd

TITLE: president and owner, ValPak of Central Pa./Direct Ink Inc.

COMPANY DESCRIPTION: Direct-mailing company that sends 48 different ValPak coupon packets per month to areas of Adams, Cumberland, Dauphin, Lebanon, Lancaster and York counties.

PERSONAL. "I've been a single mom for many, many years." Daughter, Danah, 25; and son, Ryan, 23

DESCRIBE YOUR TYPICAL DAY: "There isn't a typical day, and that's what I like about this business. On any given day I orchestrate production, printing and sales. From the consumer's viewpoint, ValPak is the blue envelope filled with coupons they receive in the mail once a month, but there's so much more than that. In 2002, we mailed 5.8 million envelopes with 117 million ad (coupons) and 5.8 million digest magazines. There's a lot of coordination required to get the right coupons in the right envelopes."

WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST CHALLENGE, AND HOW DO YOU MEET IT? "I'm fortunate to have surrounded myself with wonderful, positive, hardworking people, and they give me my energy. My biggest challenge as we grow is finding similar employees. Everyone here is like my family, and I strive to ensure that the family atmosphere remains."

WHAT WAS YOUR BIGGEST BREAK IN BUSINESS? "In the '70s I taught special-needs students. In the early '80s I found myself as a single mom, so I needed to find a job that would allow me to raise my children. I went into business brokerage and found that wasn't quite what I wanted, so I started ValPak in my home. It was a lot of hard work, but it's paid off. We not only have long-term employees, but we also have some clients who have been with us for 13 years.

Grand Duke Vladimir, head of Romanov dynasty

MIAMI Grand Duke Vladimir Kirillovitch, head of the RomanovRussian imperial family that was overthrown in 1917, collapsed at aspeaking appearance and died Tuesday. He was 74.

He was the third child and only son of Grand Duke CyrilleVladimirovitch, a first cousin of Russia's last czar, Nicholas II,and Victoria Feodorovna de Saxe Cobourg, a granddaughter of Britain'sQueen Victoria.

He became head of the Romanov dynasty in 1938.

The grand duke was attending a forum of civic and businessleaders at a downtown Miami bank when he collapsed Tuesday. He wasrushed to a hospital, where he died. His wife of 44 years, GrandDuchess Leonida, was at his side.

He is survived by a daughter, Grand Duchess Marie Vladimirowa,and a grandson.

Hadassah to hold 'Nearly New Sale'

Charleston Hadassah will hold its 37th annual Nearly New SaleTuesday and Wednesday at Temple Israel, 2312 Kanawha Blvd. E.

Antiques, furniture, clothing and more will be featured.

Lunch will be available and a bake sale will be held.

Hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday and 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.Wednesday.

Davis Cup: Chile 0, US 1

SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — Results Friday from the Davis Cup World Group series between Chile and the United States on outdoor clay courts at Estadio Nacional:

Chile 0, United States 1
Singles

Andy Roddick, United States, def. Nicolas Massu, Chile, 6-2, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.

Anne Gordon, Musician

Former orchestra leader and pianist Anne Gordon, 82, diedThursday at the Northwest Home for the Aged, 6300 N. California.

The Anne and Bob Gordon Orchestra played for 35 years, until herhusband Bob Gordon's death in 1984.

Survivors include two daughters, Irene Bennett and Arline Sands,seven grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

Services will be at noon today at Piser Weinstein MenorahChapels, 9200 N. Skokie Blvd., Skokie, with burial in Shalom MemorialPark, Palatine.

Turkmenistan begins creating vast lake in desert

The Central Asian nation of Turkmenistan is creating a 2,000-square-kilometer (770-square-mile) lake in the heart of a barren desert.

State media say water is being channeled toward the 70-meter (230-foot) Karashor depression in northern Turkmenistan to create what will be called the Golden Age Lake.

It could take 15 years to fill the lake. Once finished it will hold more than 130 billion cubic meters (4,600 billion cubic feet) of water.

President Gurbanguli Berdymukhamedov used a spade on Wednesday to breach a dyke and start the water flowing. He says the lake will make the desert bloom.

Some experts fear the Soviet-style engineering feat could cause an environmental catastrophe.

6 Men Charged in Plot to Attack Fort Dix

FORT DIX, N.J. - Six foreign-born Muslims were arrested and accused Tuesday of plotting to attack Fort Dix and slaughter scores of U.S. soldiers - a scheme the FBI says was foiled when the men asked a store clerk to copy a video of them firing assault weapons and screaming about jihad.

The defendants, all men in their 20s from the former Yugoslavia and the Middle East, include a pizza deliveryman suspected of using his job to scout out the military base.

Their goal was "to kill as many American soldiers as possible" with mortars, rocket-propelled grenades and guns, prosecutors said.

"Today we dodged a bullet. In fact, when you look at the type of weapons that this group was trying to purchase, we may have dodged a lot of bullets," said FBI agent J.P. Weis.

"We had a group that was forming a platoon to take on an army. They identified their target, they did their reconnaissance. They had maps. And they were in the process of buying weapons. Luckily, we were able to stop that."

Authorities said there was no direct evidence connecting the men to any international terror organizations such as al-Qaida. But several of them said they were ready to kill and die "in the name of Allah," according to court papers.

Investigators said they infiltrated the group with two informants well over a year ago and bided their time while they secretly recorded the defendants, four of whom lived in Cherry Hill, a Philadelphia suburb about 20 miles from Fort Dix.

"This is what law enforcement is supposed to do in the post-9/11 era - stay one step ahead of those who are attempting to cause harm to innocent American citizens," U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie said.

Weis saluted the unidentified New Jersey store clerk who noticed the suspicious video as the "unsung hero" of the case. "That's why we're here today - because of the courage and heroism of that individual," the FBI agent said.

In addition to plotting the attack on Fort Dix, the defendants spoke of assaulting a Navy installation in Philadelphia during the annual Army-Navy football game and conducted surveillance at other military installations in the region, prosecutors said.

One defendant, Eljvir Duka, was recorded as saying: "In the end, when it comes to defending your religion, when someone ... attacks your religion, your way of life, then you go jihad."

The six were arrested Monday night trying to buy AK-47 assault weapons, M-16s and other weapons from an FBI informant, authorities said.

They appeared in federal court Tuesday in Camden and were ordered held without bail for a hearing Friday. Five were charged with conspiracy to kill U.S. military personnel; the sixth was charged with aiding and abetting illegal immigrants in obtaining weapons.

Four of the men were born in the former Yugoslavia, one was born in Jordan and one came from Turkey, authorities said. All had lived in the United States for years. Three were in the United States illegally; two had green cards allowing them to stay in this country permanently; and the sixth is a U.S. citizen.

One defendant, Mohamad Ibrahim Shnewer, spoke of using rocket-propelled grenades and other weapons to kill at least 100 soldiers, according to court documents.

"My intent is to hit a heavy concentration of soldiers," he was quoted as saying. "You hit four, five or six Humvees and light the whole place (up) and retreat completely without any losses."

"It doesn't matter to me whether I get locked up, arrested or get taken away," another defendant, Serdar Tatar, was alleged to have said. "Or I die, it doesn't matter. I'm doing it in the name of Allah."

The men trained by playing paintball in the woods in New Jersey and taking target practice at a firing range in Pennsylvania's Pocono Mountains, where they had rented a house, authorities said.

They often watched terror training videos, clips featuring Osama bin Laden, a tape containing the last will and testament of some of the Sept. 11 hijackers, and tapes of armed attacks on U.S. military personnel, erupting in laughter when one plotter noted that a Marine's arm was blown off in an ambush, authorities said.

Asked if those arrested had any links to al-Qaida, White House spokesman Tony Snow said it appears "there is no direct evidence of a foreign terrorist tie."

The FBI's Weis said the U.S. is seeing a "brand-new form of terrorism," involving smaller, more loosely defined groups that may not be connected to al-Qaida but are inspired by its ideology.

"These homegrown terrorists can prove to be as dangerous as any known group, if not more so. They operate under the radar," Weis said.

In court documents, prosecutors said the suspects came to the attention of authorities in January 2006 when a Mount Laurel, N.J., shopkeeper alerted the FBI to a "disturbing" video he had been asked to copy onto a DVD.

The video showed 10 young men "shooting assault weapons at a firing range ... while calling for jihad and shouting in Arabic 'Allah Akbar' (God is great)," the complaint said. The 10 included six of those arrested, authorities said.

Within months, the FBI had managed to infiltrate the group with two informants, according to court documents.

One of the suspects, Tatar, worked at his father's pizzeria and made deliveries to the base, using the opportunity to scout out Fort Dix for an attack, authorities said. "Clearly, one of the guys had an intimate knowledge of the base from having been there delivering pizzas," Christie said.

The men also allegedly conducted surveillance at other area military installations, including Fort Monmouth in New Jersey, Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, and a Philadelphia Coast Guard station.

Besides Shnewer, Tatar and Duka, the other three men were identified in court papers as Dritan Duka, Shain Duka and Agron Abdullahu.

Fort Dix is used to train soldiers, particularly reservists. It also housed refugees from Kosovo in 1999.

The arrests renewed worries among New Jersey's Muslim community. Hundreds of Muslim men from New Jersey were rounded up and detained in the months after the Sept. 11 attacks, but none were connected to that plot.

"If these people did something, then they deserve to be punished to the fullest extent of the law," said Sohail Mohammed, a lawyer who represented scores of detainees after the 2001 attacks. "But when the government says `Islamic militants,' it sends a message to the public that Islam and militancy are synonymous."

"Don't equate actions with religion," he said.

---

Associated Press Writers Matt Apuzzo and Ben Feller in Washington, Geoff Mulvihill in Mount Laurel, Tom Hester Jr. in Trenton and Jeffrey Gold in Newark contributed to this story.

Merck to fund Vioxx settlement in August

Merck & Co. will start cutting checks for former users of its withdrawn painkiller Vioxx next month after announcing Thursday that it will fund a $4.85 billion settlement expected to resolve roughly 50,000 lawsuits alleging harm from Vioxx.

The decision marks the beginning of the end of the four-year legal saga, which began when cardiovascular side effects forced Merck to pull Vioxx off the market in 2004, triggering tens of thousands of lawsuits, sullying its once-spotless reputation and forcing out its then-chief executive.

The Vioxx case has cost Merck at least $6.38 billion, including more than $1.53 billion through March 31 on legal costs for defense research and individual trials, most of which it has won.

Vioxx, which was launched in 1999, brought Merck revenues of $2.5 billion at its peak in 2003, and $1.3 billion in 2004. Merck has not been disclosing revenue from prior years.

On Thursday, Whitehouse Station, N.J.-based Merck said more than 97 percent of eligible claimants have enrolled in the settlement program, surpassing threshold levels the company required for the deal to proceed. Therefore, Merck said that on Aug. 4 it will waive its right to walk away from the $4.85 billion settlement deal reached with plaintiffs' attorneys last fall.

"This is a great day for the plaintiffs injured by Vioxx who will within weeks begin to receive compensation for their injuries," said lawyer Chris Seeger, a member of the plaintiffs steering committee coordinating the massive litigation. "On a personal and professional level, I couldn't be happier for my clients."

According to Merck, more than 48,500 of the roughly 50,000 individuals with registered, eligible injuries have enrolled in the settlement program. Nearly all have submitted papers releasing Merck from further liability and documenting their use of Vioxx and medical care received as a result.

"This is an important milestone that shows the resolution program is on track," Bruce N. Kuhlik, Merck's general counsel, said in a statement.

Former Vioxx users, or their relatives, are eligible for part of the settlement if the patient suffered a heart attack, stroke or death. They also must have had pending lawsuits or tolling agreements, which suspend the statute of limitations, as of Nov. 9, 2007, the date the settlement was reached.

To ensure that the settlement ended the bulk of the lawsuits against Merck, the company had required participation from at least 85 percent of eligible claimants in four groups: those who had used Vioxx for more than 12 months, had a heart attack, had an ischemic stroke or died. Merck also required lawyers participating in the settlement to recommend it to all their clients and to stop representing any who wanted to instead continued to pursue a lawsuit.

Merck will make total payments of $4.85 billion into the settlement fund, with the first $500 million payment scheduled for Aug. 6. The company took a charge for the full $4.85 billion last year.

Eligible claimants who enrolled by March 31 and allege a heart attack or sudden cardiac death could then receive an interim payment, which would be 40 percent of their estimated total payment. Those initial payments are expected to be made by the firm administering the claims by the end of August.

Interim payments to people alleging Vioxx caused an ischemic stroke are to begin in or after February 2009.

"Today is a very big day for Vioxx victims," said Andy Birchfield, who served on the plaintiffs steering and negotiating committees. "The number of victims choosing to participate in the settlement program speaks loudly and clearly that the settlement is a very good agreement."

Merck withdrew Vioxx from the market on Sept. 30, 2004, after its own research showed the once-blockbuster arthritis pill doubled the risk of heart attack and stroke.

In midday trading, shares were down 43 cents at $36.20.

___

On the Net: http://www.merck.com

THE LIFE ROOM

THE LIFE ROOM BY JILL BIALOSKY NEW YORK: HARCOURT. 352 PAGES. $24.

The Life Room, Jill Bialosky's second novel, reimagines Tolstoy's society-driven epic, Anna Karenina, as a bildungsroman. Though the plot parallels the sordid events surrounding the affair between the troubled Anna and the dashing Count Vronsky, the best moments in Bialosky's book concern the interior life of Eleanor Cahn, a literature professor, wife, and mother in her late thirties who has yet to grow up. Her existence may seem like a privileged mix of office hours, dinner parties, and Central Park playdates, but "her true desires," Bialosky writes, have remained "locked up in a suitcase." After the fateful appearance of her childhood sweetheart, Stephen, during a trip to Paris to deliver a conference paper on (what else?) Anna Karenina, Eleanor returns to New York filled with ennui, wondering whether those concealed emotions might now be "spilling over." Through flashbacks, Bialosky reveals Eleanor's transformation from a person for whom family and career constitute little more than a "life room"-a place of "fantasy and imagination . . . filled with one's sole associations"-into one humbled by a world beyond her control.

Though Eleanor is unconvincing in her profession-she has a rudimentary understanding of Romanticism and seems unaware that her daring thesis, which purports that Levin is the hero of Tolstoy's novel, is already common knowledge in literature departments (in reality, it was posited by Thomas Mann in 1939)-the difficulties she encounters as a well-todo woman in post-9/11 America are engaging. She and her friends are deeply affected by the repercussions of these events yet easily dismiss them; Bialosky showcases their mundane concerns and talk-show hyperbole in several chapters of e-mail correspondence and diary entries. After witnessing a fire likely caused by a terrorist attack, Eleanor carelessly writes: "I find myself smoking in Paris . . . though I rarely smoke at home. Again, it makes me feel slightly dangerous and reckless, not just the cigarettes but the feeling of anonymity and the endless possibilities it gives birth to."

The emblem of Anna Karenina, however, fails to create sufficient tension. Stephen is not the debonair and successful Vronsky; he is described as "puzzling," secretive, unsettling, and "pleading." It is hard to understand what Eleanor sees in him, especially when her heart-surgeon husband, who embodies many of the count's better traits, receives her with unending patience and love. Even if the male characters weren't reversed, the sadness Eleanor feels at the prospect of divorce wouldn't correspond to the madness that Anna endures. Had Bialosky resisted modeling her novel on Karenina, her readers might have happily glimpsed the world through Eleanor's eyes-one blue, the other green, "as if she were split down the center, divided"-and The Life Room could have had a life of its own.

-SARAH FAY

Gibbs: House Iran statement echoes Obama's message

President Barack Obama's chief spokesman said Friday that a House-passed resolution condemning the Iranian election and the unrest that followed "is very consistent" with the message the White House has been sending this week.

But at the same time, Robert Gibbs denied at a White House briefing assertions by some Republicans that Obama has not spoken out fiercely enough.

"I think the president has been clear on what he believes ," he said. "And I will say, as the president has said, we're not going to be used as political foils and political footballs in a debate that is happening in Iran. There are many people in the leadership that would love us to get involved and would love to trot out the same old foils they've used for years. That's what they would love to do."

Nevertheless, he said that "obviously, we welcome the resolution."

"We can quibble on this. I think the president has been very clear on this," Gibbs said.

Obama has said he had deep concerns about the election and its aftermath and that he believes the voices of the Iranian people should be heard.

"He believes those who wish to have their voices heard should be able to do that without fear of violence," Gibbs said. "That is an important universal principle that should be upheld and I think he supports that."

Stephen Lawrence father in move to fight racism

THE father of murdered black teenager Stephen Lawrence attended akeynote seminar hosted by Avon and Somerset police today.

Senior police from the force as well as staff from the probation,Crown Prosecution and prison services, and the courts were invited tothe force headquarters in Portishead for the two-day seminar whichends tomorrow.

The aim is to explore ways in which the police and other agenciescan better meet the needs of all sections of the community.

In what is thought to be the first event of its kind, delegateswill see a performance of a play called My England by a Londontheatre company. The play uses an international football match as thesetting in which to explore racism, sexism and faith discrimination.

Delegates heard today from Neville Lawrence, whose teenage sonStephen was murdered in a racist attack in London.

He said he had worked closely with the former Bristol Roversplayer Carl Saunders, who was appointed to work with the police onrace relations and who helped co-ordinate the seminar.

The play, which includes an introduction by Mr Lawrence, has beenturned into a video for use in schools.

Mr Lawrence said: "I spoke to Carl and we came up with the idea ofhaving this seminar. In order to police the whole community, you haveto find out what makes people tick.

"I've been asked in the past why are black people frightened to gointo the force - they are not but they want to feel welcome and wanta fair crack of the whip.

"They don't want to be the subject of racism. People have to feelcomfortable in the job and the police have a role to play in this."

Applying hidden Markov models to the analysis of single ion channel activity

ABSTRACT Hidden Markov models have recently been used to model single ion channel currents as recorded with the patch clamp technique from cell membranes. The estimation of hidden Markov models parameters using the forwardbackward and Baum-Welch algorithms can be performed at signal to noise ratios that are too low for conventional single channel kinetic analysis; however, the application of these algorithms relies on the assumptions that the background noise be white and that the underlying state transitions occur at discrete times. To address these issues, we present an "H-noise" algorithm that accounts for correlated background noise and the randomness of sampling relative to transitions. We also discuss three issues that arise in the practical application of the algorithm in analyzing single channel data. First, we describe a digital inverse filter that removes the effects of the analog antialiasing filter and yields a sharp frequency roll-off. This enhances the performance while reducing the computational intensity of the algorithm. Second, the data may be contaminated with baseline drifts or deterministic interferences such as 60-Hz pickup. We propose an extension of previous results to consider baseline drift. Finally, we describe the extension of the algorithm to multiple data sets.

INTRODUCTION

Recordings of single ion-channel currents provide a wealth of information about the activity of single allosteric protein molecules. The open-closed behavior of ion channels has generally been described in terms of continuous-time Markov models (Colquhoun and Hawkes, 1995) in which model states are taken to correspond to distinct states of protein conformation or ligand binding. Finding the best Markov model description of a channel's behavior is therefore taken to be equivalent to a complete elucidation of the kinetic behavior of the channel protein with the Markov transition probabilities corresponding directly to rate constants of ligand binding and unbinding and of conformational changes.

Finding the best Markov model involves two steps. First, the general topology of the model must be chosen, specifying the number of states and the connectivity that specify the allowable transitions among states. The second step is the optimization of Markov model parameters. Given a Markov model A with N states, the parameters are the current levels tLi corresponding to each state qi, i = 1, . . . , N, the initial state probability pi, and the transition rates contained in an (N X N) matrix Q. Maximum-likelihood techniques are typically used to optimize these parameters, and the likelihood-ratio test is commonly used to identify the best model topologies.

Several methods have been used to compute likelihoods and estimate model parameters from single-channel data. Most commonly, threshold detection is used to identify channel-open and channel-closed intervals; the distributions of these dwell times are then fitted to the predictions of Markov models by maximum-likelihood techniques (Magleby and Weiss, 1990; Colquhoun and Sigworth, 1995). Alternatively, the likelihoods of models are computed on the basis of the entire sequence of open and closed dwell times (Horn and Lange, 1983; Ball and Sansom, 1989; Qin et al., 1997). An improved approach to the identification of open and closed intervals has been introduced through the use of the Viterbi algorithm (Fredkin and Rice, 1992a). Discussed in the present paper is an approach that does not require the identification of open and closed intervals at all but makes use of the raw single-channel recording in the form of sampled time course of membrane current. This application of signal processing based on hidden Markov models (HMMs) has already been demonstrated to be particularly useful in characterizing channel behavior when the signal-to-noise ratios are low and when multiple subconductance levels exist (Chung et al., 1990; Fredkin and Rice, 1992b; Chung and Gage, 1998). An excellent overview of the HMM approach to single channel analysis is given by Qin et al. (2000a,b). Various implementations of the HMM algorithms have been applied to experimental single channel data (Becker et al., 1994; Milburn et al., 1995; Michalek et al., 1999; Farokhi et al., 2000). The algorithms described here have been used in the recent studies by Sunderman and Zagotta (1999a,b), Wang et al. (2000), and Zheng et al. (2001).

We thank Daniel Brown and Lin Ci Brown (Bruxton Corporation) for integrating our algorithms into the TAC ion-channel analysis software. We also thank Profs. R. Kuc and P. Schultheiss (Yale University) for helpful discussions. This work was supported by NIH grants NS35282 and NS21501.

[Reference]

REFERENCES

[Reference]

Ball, F. G., and M. S. P. Sansom. 1989. Ion-channel gating mechanisms: model identification and parameter estimation from single channel recording. Proc. Royal Soc. Lond. B. 236:385-416.

Baum, L. E., T. Petrie, G. Soules, and N. Weiss. 1970. A maximization technique occurring in the statistical analysis of probabilistic functions of Markov chains. Ann. Math. Stat. 41:164-171.

Becker, J. D., J. Honerkamp, J. Hirsch, U. Frobe, E. Schlatter, and R. Greger. 1994. Analyzing ion channels with hidden Markov models. Pflugers Arch. 426:328-332.

Chung, S.-H., and P. W. Gage. 1998. Signal processing techniques for channel current analysis based on hidden Markov models. In Methods in Enzymology, Vol. 293. Academic Press, New York.

Chung, S. H., J. Moore, L. Xia, L. S. Premkumar, and P. W. Gage. 1990. Characterization of single channel currents using digital signal processing techniques based on hidden Markov models. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. London B. 329:265-285.

Colquhoun, D., and A. G. Hawkes. 1995. The principles of stochastic interpretation of ion-channel mechanisms. In Single-Channel Recording. N. Sakmann, editor. Plenum Press, New York.

Colquhoun, D., and F. J. Sigworth. 1995. Fitting and statistical analysis of single-channel records. In Single-Channel Recording. N. Sakmann, editor. Plenum Press, New York.

Farokhi, A., M. Keunecke, and U.-P. Hansen. 2000. The anomalous mole fraction effect in Chara: gating at the edge of the temporal resolution. Biophys. J. 79:3072-3082.

Fredkin, D. R., and J. A. Rice. 1992a. Bayesian restoration of single channel patch clamp recordings. Biometrics. 48:427-448.

Fredkin, D. R., and J. A. Rice. 1992b. Maximum likelihood estimation and identification from single-channel recordings. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B. 249:125-132.

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Horn, R., and K. Lange. 1983. Estimating kinetic constants from single channel data. Biophys. J. 43:207-223.

Levis, R. A., and J. L. Rae. 1993. The use of quartz patch pipettes for low noise single channel recording. Biophys. J. 65:1666-1677.

Liporace, L. A. 1982. Maximum likelihood estimation for multivariate observations of Markov sources. IEEE Trans. Inform. Theory 28: 729-734.

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Magleby, K. L., and D. S. Weiss. 1990. Estimating kinetic parameters of single channels with simulation: a general method that resolves the missed event problem and accounts for noise. Biophys. J. 58:1411-1426.

Michalek, S., H. Lerche, M. Wagner, N. Mitrovic, M. Schiebe, F. Lehmann-Horn, and J. Timmer. 1999. On identification of Na(+) channel gating schemes using moving-average filtered hidden Markov models. Eur. Biophys. J. 28:605-609.

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Milburn, T., D. A. Saint, and S. H. Chung. 1995. The temperature dependence of conductance of the sodium channel: implications for mechanisms of ion permeation. Recept. Chan. 3:201-211.

Qin, F., A. Auerbach, and F. Sachs. 1997. Maximum likelihood estimation of aggregated Markov processes. Proc. Royal Soc. Land. (Biol). 264: 375-383.

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Qin, F., A. Auerbach, and F. Sachs. 2000a. A direct optimization approach to hidden Markov modeling for single channel kinetics. Biophys. J. 79:1915-1927.

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Qin, F., A. Auerbach, and F. Sachs. 2000b. Hidden Markov modeling for single channel kinetics with filtering and correlated noise. Biophys. J. 79:1928-1944.

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Rabiner, L. R. 1989. A tutorial on hidden Markov models and selected applications in speech recognition. Proc. IEEE. 77:257-285.

Sigworth, F. J. 1995. Electronic design of the patch clamp. In SingleChannel Recording. N. Sakmann, editor. Plenum Press, New York. Sunderman, E. R., and W. N. Zagotta. 1999a. Mechanism of allosteric modulation of rod cyclic nucleotide-gated channels. J. Gen. Physiol. 113:601-619.

[Reference]

Sunderman, E. R., and W. N. Zagotta. 1999b. Sequence of events underlying the allosteric transition of rod cyclic nucleotide-gated channels. J. Gen. Physiol. 113:621-640.

Venkataramanan, L. 1998. Hidden Markov modeling of ion channel currents. PhD Thesis. Yale University.

Venkataramanan, L., R. Kuc, and F. J. Sigworth. 2000. Identification of hidden Markov models for ion channel currents. Part III: Band-limited, sampled data. IEEE Trans. Signal Proc. 48:376-385.

Venkataramanan, L., J. L. Walsh, R. Kuc, and F. J. Sigworth. 1998. Identification of hidden Markov models for ion channel currents. Part I: Colored background noise. IEEE Trans. Signal Proc. 46:1901-1915.

Wang, H. L., K. Ohno, M. Milone, J. M. Brengman, A. Evoli, A. P. Batocchi, L. T. Middleton, K. Christodoulou, A. G. Engel, and S. M. Sine. 2000. Fundamental gating mechanism of nicotine receptor channel revealed by mutation causing a congenital myasthenic syndrome. J. Gen. Physiol. 116:449-460.

[Reference]

Zheng, J., L. Venkataramanan, and F. J. Sigworth. 2001. Hidden Markov model analysis of intermediate gating steps associated with pore gate of Shaker Potassium channels. J. Gen. Physiol. 118:547-562.

[Author Affiliation]

L. Venkataramanan and F. J. Sigwortht

[Author Affiliation]

Schlumberger-Doll Research, Ridgefield, Connecticut 06877 USA; and tDepartment of Cellular and Molecular Physiology, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06520 USA

[Author Affiliation]

Aud Ast 22, 2001, and accepted for publication December 12,

[Author Affiliation]

Address reprint requests to F. J. Sigworth, Department of Cellular and Molecular Physiology, Yale University School of Medicine, 333 Cedar Street, New Haven, CT 06520-8026. Tel.: 203-785-5773; Fax: 203-7854951; E-mail: fred.sigworth@yale.edu.

Maya Lin

1 WAVE MOVEMENT How can we tell where orie wave ends and another begins? I've spent hours staring at water, both in the open ocean and in rivers around the world, trying to isolate its movement - how it swells, forms a discernible shape, and then fades out into another form. Like the motion of schools of fish or murmurations of starlings, these forms show the connection between organic and inorganic natural systems, no matter how dissimilar. Making these affinities visible is of great concern to me - for example, to speak of a river system as a singular body or to reveal the topography below the water's surface. We are less inclined to pollute the things we are able to see.

2 …

Slovakia men beat Russia 2-1 in shootout in hockey

Pavol Demitra scored on Slovakia's seventh attempt in a shootout and Jaroslav Halak made some big saves, lifting the Slovaks to a 2-1 win over Russia on Thursday night in men's hockey at the Vancouver Games.

Demitra sent the Slovak's horn-tooting fans home happy when he skated to the left, swooped to the front of the crease and patiently waited for goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov to go down before flicking a shot high and into the net.

"To beat a big dog like Russian team is always huge," said Marian Hossa, who scored for Slovakia midway through the third period to tie the game.

Russia's Alex Morozov scored early in the second period. …

Chicago State University.(Brief Article)

DR. SANDRA WESTBROOKS has been named dean of the college of education at Chicago State University. Prior to her appointment, she served as interim dean. Westbrooks has held several senior positions …

Fay's invests supplier awards with special meaning.

On a cool, clear Tuesday night in mid-July, one with the unmistakable feel of summer in upstate New York, some 100 people gathered at an old but impressive country club in Syracuse, N.Y. They had been invited, as they are each July, to participate in a significant awards dinner. Many of the guests were Fay's employees, there to recognize those suppliers who, in the opinion of the drug chain's buying and merchandising staff, qualified as suppliers of the year. The winning suppliers were on hand to be recognized.

By 6 p.m., the start of the cocktail hour, the club was filling up nicely. The guests were pretty evenly divided between Fay's executives and representatives of the nine suppliers whose people or performance the drug chain had chosen to honor. Fay's chairman and chief executive officer Henry Panasci was on hand, but more as an …

FAME DOESN'T STIFLE BAD RELIGION'S INTENT.(PREVIEW)

Byline: Rickey Wright Norfolk Virginian-Pilot

The state of punk, 1994:

Green Day's ``Dookie'' goes double platinum, Offspring's ``Smash'' platinum, and Bad Religion who have stood at the forefront of the American wing of the music for more than a decade are on Atlantic Records.

The group, whose Epitaph label released the Offspring album, moved to the venerable Atlantic last year with a reissue of ``Recipe for Hate,'' which has reportedly sold around 400,000 copies.

Now, they're touring the U.S. behind their latest, ``Stranger Than Fiction,'' after six weeks overseas.

Like the members of Offspring, Bad Religion singer Greg …

Report: Ticketmaster, Live Nation near deal

Global ticket seller Ticketmaster Entertainment Inc. is near a deal to combine its operations with concert promoter Live Nation Inc., The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday.

The Journal, citing people familiar with the matter, said the boards of the two companies had not yet approved the deal, which would create a company called Live Nation Ticketmaster.

It said, however, that the deal could be announced as early as next week. It would not entail any exchange of cash, the paper reported on its Web site.

Live Nation spokesman John Vlautin said the company does not comment on "rumors and speculation." Spokesmen for …

MAJOR LEAGUE PLAYOFFS: LEAGUE CHAMPIONSIP SERIES 2003; New York gets its win at Yankee Stadium

NEW YORK - Now that's more like what New York fans expect from apostseason game at Yankee Stadium.

Andy Pettitte pitched another gem under pressure, Jason Giambiturned the boos to cheers and the Yankees beat the Minnesota Twins 4-1 Thursday night to even their best-of-five AL playoff series at agame apiece.

After a sloppy loss during the day in Game 1, the Yankees gottheir big ballpark in the Bronx rocking with a three-run seventhinning that snapped a 1-all tie. Alfonso Soriano hit a go-aheadsingle off LaTroy Hawkins, and this time it was the Twins who madedefensive errors that opened the door.

"Something about a night game at Yankee Stadium, I guess it …

THE MAX FACTOR.

WHITNEY BIENNIAL 2000

MICHAEL AUPING

KATY SIEGEL: How do you think this Biennial will come to be regarded in relation to others?

MICHAEL AUPING: It will arguably be the first in a series of international Biennials, because of the way we migrate today: An artist could be born in Beijing and end up working in New York. It forces the issue of what we mean when we say "American." There are also far fewer artists recognized by galleries.

KS: I think some gallery people are a little ticked off about that.

MA: I've gotten two responses. One is that they're a little ticked off that some of their more stellar artists aren't in. The other is that we've done a lot of legwork, and a number of these artists will have galleries before the opening dinner.

MA: The Whitney didn't provide us with a template. When we threw together our lists of fifty artists at the first meeting and there wasn't a single overlap, I was ready to get on the plane and go home--what were we going to do, mud-wrestle? So each curator was allowed to vote 3, 2 or I on each artist, which was very helpful in terms of the upper and lower edges of the list. If an artist got an 18, it was unanimous. If an artist got 6, it was also unanimous. The problem, of course, occurred in the middle. Where do you make the cutoff? It got a little strange when we began to see that possibly one of our favorite artists might not make the cut. Eventually we said, those of us who have passions can make a presentation, and then we'd vote again. To be effective in these situations, you have to be able to verbalize why a particular artist is important. There were lots of arguments along the way.

KS: What were the biggest contentions within the group as a whole?

KS: Who received your "passion votes"?

MA: There were no passion votes per se, but I was very passionate about Richard Tuttle--there's such a buzz about Tuttle among younger artists, I thought it was important that he be in this Biennial, not the next one.

KS: Which of your favorites didn't make the cut?

MA: Richard Serra--I think you can argue that his Torqued Ellipses are among the best works of art in the last decade; Jeff Koons, who completely polarizes the art world. When I argued for him in a meeting, one of my colleagues said, "I hate Jeff Koons," and I said, "That's the reason to have him in the Biennial."

KS: Who were the lesser-known artists you championed?

MA: One was James Drake, whose work serves as a good metaphor for the entire Biennial in the sense that it revolves around borders. I was also very much in favor of Leandro Erlich. I don't want to sound like the Texas Chamber of Commerce, but I think he's one of the bright young artists in the show.

KS: Is anything being produced especially for the show?

MA: This is the largest budget for a Biennial ever, but we could have spent it all very quickly if we'd decided to produce work. We did give a budget to artists who wanted to make things for the show, and tried to keep it even across the board so a Hans Haacke got the same amount as a Leandro Erlich.

KS: What would you describe as your biggest curatorial accomplishment prior to the Biennial?

MA: For me, doing exhibitions is the lifeblood of this job, and one tends to be most engrossed with the "next big project." Right now, I'm consumed with a Philip Guston retrospective, the largest one to date. Like most people of my generation, I'm a child of Abstract Expressionism, and Guston's role during that movement's heyday and in finally getting us out of it and reclaiming imagistic painting for late-twentieth-century art has not been fully explored. Not long after I came to the Modern Art Museum in Fort Worth, I was able to do an exhibition of Arshile Gorky's breakthrough paintings of the '40s, and partly out of luck and timing, in the mid-'80s I had the opportunity to do the largest group exhibition of Abstract Expressionism in decades.

KS: Are there curators you would have liked to see on the "team," people you particularly admire?

MA: Neal Benezra, Suzanne Ghez, or Paul Schimmel is an obvious candidate. For a younger generation, you might go to Madeleine Grynsztejn or Elizabeth Smith or Nancy Spector. I think it would also be interesting to have one or two people who are less obvious. I'd love to be on a committee like this with Susan Sontag. Aaron Betsky, the architecture and design curator at SF MOMA, would also make an interesting addition. And if the Biennial is going to continue to be more "international," it would make sense to let a non-American rummage around studios in the US. Based on the fact that our committee is a kind of experiment, it will be interesting to see what the Whitney does for the next Biennial in terms of retreating or reaching even further.

JANE FARVER

JULIE CANIGLIA: How will …

SEC puts stop on alleged 'Net scam. (Securities and Exchange Commission, sale of bogus securities on the Internet)(Brief Article)

A federal court in Florida issued a restraining order last week against an enterprise charged with issuing bogus securities on the Internet after papers were filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida put out the order against William Sellin for allegedly offering fraudulent securities through news group bulletin board postings as …

EMPLOYER SPEEDS JOB DEPARTURE.(LIFE & LEISURE)

Q: I have a question about wrongful termination. I recently got a new job that I would not be starting for about a month. I let my current employer know this with at least three weeks notice of my last day. My employer has told me that they have someone to fill my position and would like me gone in two weeks.

Is it legal for them to tell me that I cannot work the full three weeks? It kind of sounds to me that they are firing me with a two-week notice rather than me giving them a three-week notice of my leaving? Please help. I cannot afford to have a lapse (of a week) in my income.

A: Assuming there is no employment contract or collective bargaining agreement …

ISRAEL MILITARY CONFRONTS COST-CUTTING CRISES.(Main)

Byline: Daniel Williams Los Angeles Times

Deep and painful change is in store for the Israel Defense Forces, the Middle East's most powerful army, as it tries to reduce costs while strengthening itself in a region that is speedily rearming only months after the short and devastating Persian Gulf war.

So far, cuts for Israel's army have been cosmetic: the closure of about 30 military journals, a threat to silence the rock 'n' roll- heavy army radio station. But the first slices foreshadow a new, lean era for the IDF in what is described as the most thorough shift in resources and priorities in the last 30 years.

Long-delayed cutbacks in troop numbers are expected. Non-combat units may disappear from the map. Planes and tanks are going into storage.

A plateau in defense spending is the primary cause for the coming moves, but money …

Pioneering film editor Dede Allen dies at 86

Dede Allen, the film editor whose pioneering work on movies like "The Hustler" and "Bonnie and Clyde" brought a new approach to shaping the look and sound of American films, has died. She was 86.

Allen died Saturday at her home in Los Angeles days after suffering a stroke, her son Tom Fleischman told The Los Angeles Times.

With "Bonnie and Clyde" in 1967, Allen became the first film editor to receive sole credit on a movie. She was nominated for Academy Awards for that movie, 1975's "Dog Day Afternoon," "Reds" in 1981 and "Wonder Boys" in 2000.

Allen was the first American to embrace …

U.S. Observes 5-Year Anniversary of 9/11

NEW YORK - Clutching photos to their hearts and blowing kisses to the sky, tearful loved ones of Sept. 11 victims recited a 3 1/2-hour litany of the lost Monday, the names echoing across an expanse still largely barren five years after terrorists destroyed the World Trade Center.

At the Pentagon and on a wind-swept Pennsylvania field, and in simpler, quiet moments in airport security lines, at churches or by themselves, Americans paused to reflect on the worst terrorist act on U.S. soil.

The centerpiece of the commemorations was the mostly barren 16-acre expanse at ground zero, where four moments of silence were observed to mark the precise times jetliners crashed into …

Membrane technology in the chemical industry. (Engineering).

Pages 299 GB[pounds sterling]85 ISBN 3 527 28485 0

S Punes & K-V Peinemann (eds) Chichester: Wiley--VCH, 2001

Membrane technologies have become significant tools in a range of industries over the past 25 years. but probably most notably in food processing, and water and wastewater treatment. Membranes also offer unique solutions to problems, for example in medical and veterinary applications, where they are used for controlled drug delivery and as artificial kidneys. The food industry represents between 20-30% of the market for membranes in manufacturing worldwide. In this industry, membrane processes have contributed to the revision of traditional …

TIREDNESS KILLS.

(WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 23) DRIVERS are being reminded to plan breaks into long journeys as the August Bank Holiday weekend approach.

Bucks County Council's Road Safety Team revealed that 56 people were killed or injured in collisions where fatigue was a contributory factor in the county …

AUDETTE FIGHTING FOR LESS MONEY.(SPORTS)

Byline: Combined wire services

BUFFALO -- Donald Audette and the Buffalo Sabres are at odds over money: the Sabres want to pay him too much.

The problem comes down to rules of NHL free agency.

Audette, a restricted free agent, wants a one-year deal for $1.2 million because that means he would play his 10th season with a salary below the NHL average -- estimated at $1.3 million next year, The Buffalo News reported. Under the Collective Bargaining Agreement, any player with 10 years experience who makes less than the league average can become an unrestricted free agent.

The Sabres offered $1.4 million to Audette this season, enough to keep …

Community Banks: Forget Local Rivals. Watch Wal-Mart.: Banks cite greater nonbank threat.

It wasn't long ago that competition between cross-town rivals was what dominated the minds of community bankers. While fellow community banks and credit unions are still the leading competitive threats, small banks are taking note of the rise of non-financial outfits like Wal-Mart and Exxon, both of which have the desire and the capability to encroach on banking territory.

Community bankers are generally optimistic about 2003 with 81 percent reporting a positive outlook, and are looking to new sources of revenue for continued success, according to Grant Thornton's 10th annual survey of Community Bank Executives. Even so, the competitive threat from non-financial …

¿Y Después Qué?

Despues que el inquieto Arnoldo siguio al pie de la letra aquel pensamiento de Oscar Wilde que dice: "la mejor forma de desembarazarse de una tentacion, es cayendo en ella", no debemos de subestimar la situacion, observando con detenimiento el desarrollo de los acontecimientos hasta el final, y permaneciendo alerta, no vaya a ser que nos encontremos con sorpresas, pues como dicen, en la puerta del horno se puede quemar el pan.

Aun asi, en situaciones como la que tenemos, siempre es recomendable hacer un alto en el camino, para meditar sobre el trecho recorrido, y analizar con prudencia las expectativas, que de seguro algunos desearan que sean muchas, y lo que nos falta por andar, …

AZERI FEMALE CHESS PLAYERS BEAT HUNGARY AT WORLD OLYMPIAD.

Baku, October 1 (AzerTAc). Azerbaijan women`s chess team has beaten Hungary 3-1 in the 10th round of the world Olympiad in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia. The results of the games are as follows: Zeynab Mammdyarova vs …

STYLE TO SPARE.(PREVIEW)

Fashion trends don't always come strutting down a Paris catwalk. Sometimes, they can be found on a runway of a different sort: your local bowling alley.

Bowling shoes, with their retro two-toned leather look, have become so popular that theft is commonplace at some local centers.

Tony Kusky, co-owner of Playdium Bowling Center in Albany, says college students used to literally walk off with the shoes until approximately 15 years ago, when Kusky, like other local alley owners, started requiring customers to exchange one of their regular kicks when they plunk down $2 to rent a pair of bowling shoes.

It's helped, but this particular fashion crime dies …