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Finesse Demonstrates TruFluor(TM) PH, A Single-Use Optical PH Sensor And Transmitter

Finesse Demonstrates TruFluor(TM) PH, A Single-Use Optical PH Sensor And Transmitter

Mar 07 2009 | comment(s)

SANTA CLARA, California, March 7 /PRNewswire/ --

Finesse Solutions, LLC, Santa Clara, CA, a manufacturer of measurement and control solutions for life sciences process applications, announced the technical demonstration of TruFluor(TM) pH, a single use optical pH measurement system, at Interphex in New York on March 17, 2009.

The TruFluor pH and temperature sensor is a single-use solution consisting of a disposable sheath, an optical reader, and a transmitter. The single-use sheath can be pre-inserted in a disposable bioreactor bag port, and irradiated with the bag, in order to both preserve and guarantee the sterile barrier. All wetted materials of the sheath are USP class VI compliant.

UPDATE: OPC Connectivity Between TruBio Software And Nova FLEX Analyzers

UPDATE: OPC Connectivity Between TruBio Software And Nova FLEX Analyzers

Mar 07 2009 | comment(s)

SANTA CLARA, California, March 7 /PRNewswire/ --

Finesse Solutions, LLC, Santa Clara, CA, a manufacturer of measurement and control solutions for bioprocess applications, and Nova Biomedical, Waltham, MA, a world leader in biotechnology process monitoring announced the release of a TruBio(TM) plug-in for OPC connectivity between TruBio control software and Nova FLEX(R) analyzers. OPC is the de facto standard for data exchange between process control systems and different hardware platforms.

Chewing a Brick.

Chewing a Brick.

Mar 06 2009 | comment(s)

I am continually amazed and amused by the wonderful metaphors and similes generated by users of the English language. The phrase "Are you talking to me or chewing a brick?" is a 'hard-man' phrase, contrastive with 'wet-lettuce' phraseology. But after reading this week's New Scientist, I shall never view 'chewing a brick' in quite the same light again.

Edit:
For people who may be asking what does 'chewing a brick' actually mean ?  -
The Daytime Astronomer on Pluto the Planet

The Daytime Astronomer on Pluto the Planet

Mar 06 2009 | comment(s)

Is Pluto a planet? On Tuesday I talked about how 'Algol' isn't technically an Algol-type star system. This raised the interesting case of "is Pluto a planet". To a large degree, that's a non-argument. Pluto hasn't changed. Here's an example I often run for students. All you readers out there, if you have dark hair-- black or brown hair-- raise your hands. Don't worry about your officemate starting, just raise those hands. Got them up? Okay, I want everyone who has dark hair-- just black hair-- to raise your hands, but anyone else with their hand up, lower it. Yes, dark hair is now defined as 'black'. Brown hair is no longer what I'm calling dark.
InNexus Biotechnology Announces New Patents Protecting Novel Cell Penetrating DXL(TM) Antibodies

InNexus Biotechnology Announces New Patents Protecting Novel Cell Penetrating DXL(TM) Antibodies

Mar 06 2009 | comment(s)

BRITISH COLUMBIA, Canada, March 6 /PRNewswire/ --

- Company Receives Allowance of Patent Claims in the U.S. and in India -

- InNexus Biotechnology CEO Highlighted in Nature Biotechnology -

InNexus Biotechnology Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: IXSBF; TSX VENTURE: IXS; http://www.ixsbio.com), a drug development company commercializing the next generation of monoclonal antibodies based on its Dynamic Cross Linking (DXL(TM)) technology, announces that it has received a notice of allowance on patent claims in the United States (Serial No. 11/119,404) and a patent grant in India (National Phase Application No. 2424/CHENP/2005) further expanding its protection of InNexus' DXL(TM) technology.

SumTotal Kicks Off National Performance Review Month In March

SumTotal Kicks Off National Performance Review Month In March

Mar 06 2009 | comment(s)

LONDON, March 6 /PRNewswire/ --

- During the Most Popular Month for Employee Performance Appraisals, SumTotal Offers Free Consultation and Resources to Help Organizations Improve the Process and ROI

Flandre Ateliers Chooses CenterVision And IntelliScan XDS From BancTec

Flandre Ateliers Chooses CenterVision And IntelliScan XDS From BancTec

Mar 06 2009 | comment(s)

DALLAS, March 6 /PRNewswire/ --

BancTec, a global provider of advanced, high-volume, document and payment processing services and solutions, announced today that French services provider Flandre Ateliers has selected BancTec's CenterVision(TM) content management solution and IntelliScan(R) XDS high-volume production scanner for its service operation in Tourcoing, France.

Threatened Workers Put Case To Cambridge University Press Governing Body

Threatened Workers Put Case To Cambridge University Press Governing Body

Mar 06 2009 | comment(s)

LONDON, March 6 /PRNewswire/ -- A delegation from the Cambridge University Press (CUP) workforce threatened with redundancy is putting their case directly to the Syndicate - CUP's governing body - on Friday, 13 March.

More than 150 jobs at CUP are under threat, despite the world-famous institution making a profit. Alarm at the job losses has been expressed by Cambridge City Council.

The delegation from CUP's threatened printing division and the publishing education group will address the Syndicate in Cambridge.

Unite/GPMU National Officer, Ann Field said: 'The delegation will be making the case that CUP is still a profitable organisation with a hard-working and dedicated work force - and that jobs should not be axed unnecessarily during a recession.'

Addax Petroleum Presents At The FirstEnergy / Société Générale Canadian Energy Conference

Addax Petroleum Presents At The FirstEnergy / Société Générale Canadian Energy Conference

Mar 06 2009 | comment(s)

CALGARY, Canada, March 6 /PRNewswire/ -- Addax Petroleum Corporation (Addax Petroleum or the Corporation) (TSX: AXC and LSE: AXC), announces that Mr. Michael Ebsary, Chief Financial Officer, will be presenting at the FirstEnergy / Société Générale Canadian Energy Conference in New York, USA on Thursday, March 12th, 2009 at approximately 3:35 p.m. Eastern Time (7:35 p.m. London Time).

Investors are invited to listen to the live audio webcast of the presentation via the following link: http://remotecontrol.jetstreammedia.com/15773

The presentation slides will be available on Addax Petroleum's website at http://www.addaxpetroleum.com.

About Addax Petroleum

Da Vinci's Self-Portrait Discovered In Codex Of Flight

Da Vinci's Self-Portrait Discovered In Codex Of Flight

Mar 06 2009 | comment(s)

During the television program Ulysses which aired in Italy on Saturday the 28th of February, the well-known scientific divulgator Piero Angela stated that a secret drawing, a youthful self-portrait of Leonardo da Vinci, had just been discovered. Actually, the Leonardo3 ( http://www.leonardo3.net) research center in Milan, Italy, had published its own edition of the Codex of Flight (book interactive software) in the October of 2007: this work included the digital restoration of page 10, revealing the underlying portrait. The same center had also created a 3D reconstruction of the image.

At the beginning of 2007, within the Leonardo3 research center, Massimiliano Lisa (the center's President) had noted the resemblance between the Self-Portrait and the sanguine at page 10.

Configuresoft To Host Free London Seminar: Assuring Change Management Policy Compliance Across The IT Stack

Configuresoft To Host Free London Seminar: Assuring Change Management Policy Compliance Across The IT Stack

Mar 06 2009 | comment(s)

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado, March 6 /PRNewswire/ --

- Configuration and Change Management Specialists to Address Importance of Continuous Control and Compliance in Enterprise IT Environment

Assuring change management, policy and compliance is a global concern, especially in the enterprise IT environment and global economy. In an ongoing effort to educate the IT community about the critical importance of these issues amid the rapid proliferation of virtualization, Configuresoft, Inc., a leading provider of enterprise server configuration management solutions, announced today that it will host a free change management policy and compliance seminar at 8:30 a.m. GMT on Thursday, March 12 at the historic Navy Military Club, Astor Room, in London.

Http://www.pons.eu - The New International Online Premium Quality Dictionary

Http://www.pons.eu - The New International Online Premium Quality Dictionary

Mar 06 2009 | comment(s)

STUTTGART, Germany, March 6 /PRNewswire/ --

- Look up Words For Free: 4.5 Million Words, 7 Languages, 8 Language Combinations

From now on, users all over the world will be able to quickly and securely look up 4.5 million words, expressions and translations in 7 languages and 8 language combinations in the new international online dictionary from German language publisher PONS: At http://www.pons.eu users can access an internet-optimised bilingual dictionary with English and German as the basic languages for translations into English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Polish and Russian - in addition to a pictorial dictionary. The dictionary service http://www.pons.eu is financed through advertising and is free for users.

ThromboGenics Completes Patient Enrolment For Phase II Trial Of Microplasmin For The Treatment Of Diabetic Macular Edema (MIVI II DME)

ThromboGenics Completes Patient Enrolment For Phase II Trial Of Microplasmin For The Treatment Of Diabetic Macular Edema (MIVI II DME)

Mar 06 2009 | comment(s)

LEUVEN, Belgium, March 6 /PRNewswire/ -- ThromboGenics NV (Euronext Brussels: THR), a biotechnology company focused on innovative treatments for eye disease, vascular disease and cancer, today announces that it has completed patient enrolment for a Phase II trial of microplasmin intravitreal injection for the treatment of Diabetic Macular Edema (MIVI II DME). This trial is designed as the initial step in evaluating the utility of microplasmin in patients with diabetes, a group which is more prone to eye disease such as diabetic retinopathy, due to their underlying medical condition.

SoftBank SELECTION To Launch English And Chinese Versions Of 'Speeek!', An Electronic Dictionary Application Which Recognizes Voice, Translates, And Speaks

SoftBank SELECTION To Launch English And Chinese Versions Of 'Speeek!', An Electronic Dictionary Application Which Recognizes Voice, Translates, And Speaks

Mar 06 2009 | comment(s)

TOKYO, March 6 /PRNewswire/ --

BB Softservice Corp., a Tokyo-based planner and developer of application services under the SoftBank Group, announces that it will launch English and Chinese versions of 'Speeek!', a type of application software for iPhone (TM) 3G, which recognizes voice and translate, and speaks from March 6, 2009 at the AppStore as part of a lineup of 'SoftBank SELECTION', an application and software brand of BB Softservice.

Evolution: The Wallace Line Gets A New Hypothesis

Evolution: The Wallace Line Gets A New Hypothesis

Mar 06 2009 | comment(s)

The Wallace Line is called such because when Alfred Russel Wallace made his way to the East Indies to tackle the secrets of biology, he found there was a 'line' in the Malay Archipelago that divides Indonesia into two parts and west of it the species were Asian while to the east they were more Australian.

Since the distance is short in places, Bali and Lombok are only about 35 km apart, it was a prime example of species distinction and biogeography and he wrote on it in The Malay Archipelago.

The abrupt switch in the kinds of mammals found along the Malay Peninsula, from mainland species to island species, in the absence of any daunting geographical barrier has fascinated scientists since then.
Rupes Tenuis - Ice-Covered Martian North Pole

Rupes Tenuis - Ice-Covered Martian North Pole

Mar 06 2009 | comment(s)

The snow-laden region of Rupes Tenuis on the martian north pole got some images courtesy of ESA’s Mars Express orbiter. The images are centred around 81° north and 297° east and have a ground resolution of 41 m/pixel. They cover an area of about 44 000 km2, almost as large as the Netherlands.

Rupes Tenuis is located at the southern edge of the martian north polar cap, approximately 5500 km northeast of the Tharsis volcanic region.

At present, polar caps contain the largest water reservoir on the Red Planet. Recent data from the Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionosphere Sounding (MARSIS) on board Mars Express has revealed that both polar ice caps are 3.5 km thick.
Synthetic Biology To The Rescue In Anti-Malaria Treatment

Synthetic Biology To The Rescue In Anti-Malaria Treatment

Mar 06 2009 | comment(s)

Artemisinin is the most powerful anti-malaria drug in use today and it commonly obtained by extracting the drug from Artemsisia annua, the sweet wormwood tree.    
The Emotional Meaning Of Sweat

The Emotional Meaning Of Sweat

Mar 06 2009 | comment(s)

When threatened, many animals release chemicals as a warning signal to members of their own species, who in turn react to the signals and take action. Research by Rice University psychologist Denise Chen suggests a similar phenomenon occurs in humans. Given that more than one sense is typically involved when humans perceive information, Chen studied whether the smell of fear facilitates humans' other stronger senses.

Chen and graduate student Wen Zhou collected "fearful sweat" samples from male volunteers. The volunteers kept gauze pads in their armpits while they were shown films that dealt with topics known to inspire fear. 
5 Quick Facts About The Kepler Mission To Find Earth-Sized Planets

5 Quick Facts About The Kepler Mission To Find Earth-Sized Planets

Mar 06 2009 | comment(s)

The Kepler spacecraft and its Delta II rocket have been cleared to launch into space at 10:49 p.m. EST Friday night.   Its mission;  watch a patch of space (see image below) for the next 3.5 years and look for signs of Earth-sized planets moving around stars similar to the sun. The area that Kepler will watch contains around 100,000 stars like the sun and Kepler will look for slight dimming in the stars as planets pass between the star and Kepler. Unlike observatories like Hubble, Kepler will be able to watch the same stars constantly throughout its mission.

Here are 5 quick facts, courtesy of JPL:
OPC Connectivity Between TruBio Software And Nova FLEX Analyzers

OPC Connectivity Between TruBio Software And Nova FLEX Analyzers

Mar 06 2009 | comment(s)

SANTA CLARA, California, March 5 /PRNewswire/ --

Finesse Solutions, LLC, Santa Clara, CA, a manufacturer of measurement and control solutions for bioprocess applications, and Nova Biomedical, Waltham, MA, a world leader in biotechnology process monitoring announced the release of a TruBio(TM) plug-in for OPC connectivity between TruBio control software and Nova FLEX(TM) analyzers. OPC is the de facto standard for data exchange between process control systems and different hardware platforms.