More than 11,000 alien species have been documented by DAISIE (Delivering Alien Invasive Species Inventory for Europe), a unique three year research project with more than 100 European scientists, funded by the European Union that provides new knowledge on biological invasions in Europe. Biological invasions by alien species often result in a significant loss in the economic value, biological diversity and function of invaded ecosystems. 

University of Alberta research has yielded a way to double the output of rice crops in some of the world's poorest, most distressed areas.

Jerome Bernier, a PhD student in the U of A Department of Agricultural, Food and Nutritional Science, has found a group of genes in rice that enables a yield of up to 100 per cent more in severe drought conditions. 

The discovery marks the first time this group of genes in rice has been identified, and could potentially bring relief to farmers in countries like India and Thailand, where rice crops are regularly faced with drought. Rice is the number one crop consumed by humans annually.

EDMONTON, Canada, November 19 /PRNewswire/ --

- All Existing Wells and Oil Sands Projects to Move to New Framework

In response to the global economic crisis and a slowdown in oil and gas drilling throughout the province, the Government of Alberta will provide companies drilling certain new wells after January 1, 2009 with a one-time option of selecting new transitional royalty rates. By helping ensure companies have access to the cash flow they need to invest in new projects, this five-year program is aimed at encouraging the development of new drilling projects and keeping thousands of Albertans at work.

MACAU, November 20 /PRNewswire/ --

The GSM Association (GSMA), the global trade group for the mobile industry, today announced the winners of the APAC leg of the 2009 Mobile Innovation Global Award Competition. The winners were announced at the GSMA's Mobile Asia Congress, Asia's leading mobile communications event, that's taken place in Macau, China this week.

LONDON, November 19 /PRNewswire/ -- The real test of the Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme (PPRS) agreement announced by the Department of Health today will be whether it delivers improved access to new medicines and creates savings in the NHS that can be spent on patient care, according to the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain (RPSGB).

RPSGB President, Steve Churton, says: We are pleased that an agreement on PPRS has been reached - but also urge that any change takes into account the current shortages of medicines that we are experiencing as a direct response to the current economic downturn. It is important that these shortages are not exacerbated by price changes.

LONDON, November 19 /PRNewswire/ --

SunGard's Front Arena and Adaptiv have been named as winners in the second annual Banking Technology Reader's Choice Awards. Front Arena (www.sungard.com/frontarena), a cross-asset trading solution, was chosen as Best Trading Platform/Order Management Product, while Adaptiv (www.sungard.com/adaptiv), a suite of solutions for enterprise-wide risk management, was voted Best Risk Management Product.

The Banking Technology Reader's Choice Awards are based on votes by the publication's readers, who were asked to nominate their choice of vendors and products in a range of categories. This is the second year in which SunGard's solutions have been category winners.

LONDON, November 19 /PRNewswire/ --

- Movea and RM Ingénierie Offer 'Motion Capture' Solution for Physiotherapists and Healthcare Professionals

Movea, experts in motion capture technology, have created the MotionPod, a revolutionary microsensor device for healthcare and sports, which is able to record, transcribe and analyze human motion.

This unique technology is the driving force behind their first partnership with RM Ingénierie, a subsidiary of Cegedim who chose Motion Pod for use in their BioVal(R) solution, which is a body movement control and measurement module for medical professionals.

AUSTIN, Texas, November 19 /PRNewswire/ -- Ringdale, Inc., a technology leader in network enhancing connectivity solutions, today announced that its ModuLAN(R) FaxReceiver(TM) and DocuSender(TM) appliances now can convert analog documents to portable document format (PDF) files. This feature allows users to deliver digital documents from FaxReceiver and DocuSender that are independent of application software, hardware and operating system.

SAN JOSE, California, November 19 /PRNewswire/ --

- 1U Twin(TM) Serverboards Enable Hyperion HPC Cluster Project with Superior Compute Density, Memory Capacity, and Performance Optimization

Super Micro Computer, Inc. (Nasdaq: SMCI), a leader in application-optimized, high performance server solutions, today announced that its 1U Twin(TM) serverboards (X7DWT-INF+) were recently selected for the prestigious Hyperion Project at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). Key 1U Twin(TM) platform design advantages enabling Supermicro's continued technology leadership include compute density, high memory capacity, and performance optimization.