Author: Serkadis

ARRA – Emergency Medical Services for Children – This announcement solicits applications for the Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB) of the HRSA.  This grant is intended to meet HHS/OS priorities of improving the research network infrastructure for purposes of comparative effectiveness research.  Applicant should address specific needs in the field of pediatric emergency care that transcend state boundaries.  The objectives for this grant must be consistent with the following priorities: 1) compare the effectiveness of a computer-based decision support tool to a standard education strategy for implementation of clinical prediction rules; 2) develop and implement a plan for building upon existing infrastructure of HRSA/MCHB’s Pediatric Emergency Care Applied Research Network (PECARN) 3) be constructed in a way as to address one or more of the 100 priorities from the IOM’s “Initial National Priorities for Comparative Effectiveness Research”; 4) demonstrate the ability to include sites that care for different demographic populations of children; 5) an evaluation plan that contains measurable outcomes and clearly defined time frames for conducting the evaluation.  Total Funding: $3.5M.  Eligibility: Accredited schools of medicine that are current U03 grantees.  Closing Date: May 12, 2010.

Posted Date: March 12, 2010

Funding Opportunity Number: HRSA-10-166

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Recovery (ARRA) CHARN Research Node Centers – The purpose of the CHARN cooperative agreements is to provide infrastructure support for consortia of safety net providers and academic institutions to develop the capacity to undertake community-based comparative effectiveness research. It is anticipated that by the end of the grant period, the funded consortia would be able to conduct high quality observational and interventional studies on priority comparative effectiveness topics. The CHARN will be comprised of four Research Nodes and a Central Data Management Coordinating Center (CDMCC). Research Nodes are health center-led consortia of safety net providers in partnership with one or more academic institutions and will be funded through four separate cooperative agreements.  This funding announcement is for four Research Node Centers to support the four Research Nodes. Each Research Node Center will serve as the coordinating arm of the Research Node and will maintain a research partnership with the other affiliate organizations within the Research Node. Support for the Research Node will include arranging and managing the participation of at least 3 affiliates, maintaining scientific and technical personnel for research protocol development and implementation, coordinating intra-node activities, and providing resources for intra-node activities. These funds are for new activities.  Organizations that are currently or have been previously supported are eligible to apply for this funding as long as they clearly delineate the new activities from the existing ones.  Total Funding: $8M; Award Ceiling: $2M/3years.  Eligibility: Health Center led consortia.  Submission Due Date: June 9, 2010.

Posted Date: March 9, 2010

Funding Opportunity Number: HRSA-10-212

Transportation Security Innovative Concepts BAA – The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is interested in receiving proposals for research projects that support the TSA mission of ensuring the safety of the nation’s transportation. To this end, TSA seeks research across broad strategic areas which offer potential for advancement and improvement of TSA security operations, technologies, processes, human-factors, and capabilities. TSA is specifically interested in research that will provide for near term improvement of current security operations and capabilities. These areas include but are not limited to: a) Passenger and Baggage Screening; b) Threat Assessment and Dissemination; c) Cargo Screening; d) Credentialing. Work funded under a BAA may include basic research, applied research, advanced technology development (ATD), prototyping, pilot demonstrations, and testing.   FAR Part 35 restricts the use of research, such as this, to the acquisition of basic and applied research and that portion of advanced technology development not related to the development of a specific system or hardware procurement.  Eligibility: Universities, Colleges, Industry.  Closing Date: September 30, 2010.

Posted Date: March 11, 2010

Solicitation Number: HSTS06-10-R-BAA001

Every week is Sunshine Week here at OpenSecrets.org, where shining light in the dark corners of politics is, like fish swimming and birds flying, just what we do.

Sotheby’s (BID) — the auction house whose stock is infamous for timing major market peaks and troughs — is back up. In fact, it’s now above its pre-Lehman levels! The threshold was crossed during this recent up-spurt.

If you’re unfamiliar with Sotheby’s and its connection to bubbles, this nice multi-year chart is a nice introduction.

As you can see, we’ve still got a long way to go before pre-Bear levels.

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Filed under: Motorsports, Mercedes-Benz, Australia, Racing

While American racing fans remain enamored with stock car racing, road course-bound touring car series continue to draw big crowds overseas. In Europe there’s the World Touring Car Championship. DTM is one of the most popular forms of motorsport in Germany. The Japanese have Super GT. But Down Under, V8 Supercars reign supreme.

The Australian touring car series has typically been the battleground for Ford Falcons and Holden Commodores, but the Aussie brands could get some company once again thanks to new regulations. Following a similar move by NASCAR, series organizers in Australia are preparing to institute a new Car of the Future program that could open the door for foreign automakers to take part. The formula calls for a spec chassis with independent rear suspension replacing the live rear axles on the current competitors, plus more advanced DOHC 24-valve engines to accompany (and eventually replace) the pushrod 16-valve units currently in place.

According to reports from the other side of the world, Mercedes-Benz could be the first to take advantage of the new regs, spurred into action by the increased sales of FPVs and HSVs among V8 Supercars fans Down Under. The German automaker’s Australian unit has commissioned Brock Engineering – run by the legendary Peter Brock’s son James – to build a sort of ring-taxi type of vehicle based on the C63 AMG in which Mick Doohan – a superbike champion whose record rivals that of Valentino Rossi – will chauffeur paying customers and VIPs on hot laps around the Philip Island circuit in Victoria. The stripped-out, track-prepped C63, according to sources, could form the basis for a Mercedes V8 Supercar, similar to the company’s DTM racer.

Although Mercedes typically prevents its regional subsidiaries from competing in local motorsport disciplines, an exception could apparently be made for the popular Australian series, with factory support provided to privateer entires. Nissan and Hyundai are reportedly also considering entries in the championship. Tip of the hat to Scott for the tip!

[Source: CarPoint.com.au]

Mercedes reportedly considering V8 Supercar entry Down Under originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 14 Mar 2010 19:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Research studies have shown that bad events thankfully come with a bad memory.

As reported, it’s normal to feel down during a challenging time — but eventually most people were shown not only to rebound – but bounce back to an  even  higher-than-usual good mood.

What goes down often bounces back even higher.

Psychologists believe this bounce back up-up-upper affect is due to people re-appreciating all the good they have in their life all the more.

Basically, in life nothing is ever as good or as bad as it first appears.

eeling challenged, stressed or depressed? Check out my book – THE BOUNCE BACK BOOK – which has been praised by Tony Robbins! Just click this line, right here right now!

MOST PEOPLE settle for an average life. If you’re not MOST PEOPLE and want to LOVE YOUR LIFE be sure to sign up for my famous and FREE Be Happy Dammit newsletter by clicking this line, right here, right NOW.

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Filed under: Etc., Videos

Rudy Heeman, an inventor in New Zealand, has created a flying hovercraft. We’ll admit right now that it has little nothing to do with cars, but it is ridiculously cool. Heeman wants to make and sell them for only $13,000. Maybe it’s time for us to just sell the car and move someplace with waterways for roads. Follow the jump to check it out. Hat tip to Duy!

[Source: YouTube]

Continue reading Video: Zero wheels, all awesome – Homebuilt Kiwi ‘hovercraft’

Video: Zero wheels, all awesome – Homebuilt Kiwi ‘hovercraft’ originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 14 Mar 2010 18:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Focus on action, not anger, worry or self-pity. How can you grow? What are you excited about exploring next?  Who do you love and enjoy spending time with? How can you best find joy in this day?

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Filed under: Budget, Marketing/Advertising, Videos, Hatchback, Ford, India

Ford aims to take India by storm with its new Figo hatchback, designed to be the leader in its class from the outset. As you might imagine, the first television ads pushing the new ride frame the car as being perfect for Indian drivers. Mehendi ink on the dashboard? No worries! Super-cold A/C? Check. Plus, there’s room for your your lucky elephant – small or large. Follow the jump to check out two of the new Indian spots for the Ford Figo.

[Source: YouTube]

Continue reading Video: Indian-market Ford Figo ads take on local flavor

Video: Indian-market Ford Figo ads take on local flavor originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 14 Mar 2010 16:48:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Financial adviser Doug Short (Dshort.com) has updated his “great bears” charts, and as you can see, the trajectory of our market looks way better than the great, multi-decade Nikkei bear.

The spike we’ve seen over the past year is unprecedented.

But wait!

What if we go back to the real peak, back in 2000?

Aha. Well in this case, the jury is still out.

But we’ll know soon enough!

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

• Four Bad Bear Markets (Chart)
• Stop Thinking The 30% Stock Rally Means The Bear Market Is Over
• The Amazing Recovery: Here’s Everything That’s Happened Since The Dow’s March 9, 2009 Low

Dennis Kucinich (photo 2007, courtesy of CAPAF)

Let me get this straight. The Senate will pass a public option if the House will. And the House will, because it already did. But House Speaker Nancy Pelosi won’t allow it. So the mortal enemy of public-option backers is . . . Dennis Kucinich.

Why? Because when Congressman Kucinich said he’d stand for a public option he stupidly thought he was supposed to mean it.

Let’s review a brief history of the disease known as “health insurance reform.”

When the president and the speaker of the House thought it would be strategic to censor any talk of single-payer healthcare, almost every member of Congress and almost every astroturfing party-before-country activist group and labor union, and almost every follower of those groups, fell obediently into line. “We’ll open the debate with the least we’ll settle for, a pathetic token public-option,” they thought cleverly, rubbing their hands together. “Then we’ll compromise down from there.”

But after demanding the “public option,” too many people refused to toss it overboard, and public pressure grew to keep it in. So 60 congress members signed a letter to the speaker last summer insisting that they would not settle for a health insurance bill that lacked a serious public option. When they were presented with a bill that did not meet their demands, almost all of them voted for it anyway.

Now 51 senators say they will pass a bill including a super-pathetic token public option of the sort passed by the House last summer, but Pelosi wants to pass a bill without anything even called a “public option” in it. Almost all of the congressional public-option stalwarts want to go along with the speaker and the president. And almost all of the astroturfing party-before-country activist groups want to fall obediently into line.

Meanwhile several states are moving single-payer healthcare bills through their legislatures, but they face likely lawsuits from insurance companies over conflicts with federal law if they try to actually get their residents healthcare. Senator Bernie Sanders is advertising the Senate bill as solving this problem, routinely failing to mention that his solution, if it is one, does not kick in for seven years. But an amendment passed in a House committee last summer would have clearly and unequivocally taken care of states’ concerns. The president told the speaker to strip that amendment out of the bill, and almost no members of Congress complained when she did so.

Where does Dennis Kucinich fit into this story? He’s the reason the word “almost” appears in it so many times. He didn’t open negotiations by proposing the lowest he’d accept. He pushed for a real single-payer solution. He single-handedly framed the public option as a compromise rather than a communist plot. Kucinich signed the letter committing to take a stand for at least a public option. But he made the mistake of thinking people actually wanted him to mean it. So he took that lonely stand. And he introduced and passed the amendment that would have allowed states to provide their residents with a serious healthcare solution.

Now, all the astroturfers applauded and encouraged taking a stand for a public option when there were 60 congress members pretending to do it, without apparently giving any thought to how greatly weakened progressives would be in Congress if they didn’t follow through. Did they think the chance that a bluff might work was worth damaging all future campaigns? Did they disbelieve all their own talk about how the bill would be worthless without the “public option.” It’s hard to know. The so-called public option had shrunk to such a token gesture that it was always hard to know what good they imagined it would do if included. And today they talk about passing a bill without even that token included, and passing it “for political reasons,” usually avoiding the question of whether the bill is actually better or worse than nothing.

But suppose that you honestly thought the public option was worth at least pretending to take a stand for, and now you no longer do, but you think the remaining bill does more good than harm. Why would you have no complaint with Pelosi who could put the “public option” back in and pass the bill? Why would you have no complaint with congress members who oppose the bill on the grounds that it protects abortion rights? Why would your complaints be focused on the one guy who stuck to what you used to want him to stick to? Could embarrassment be a factor here? Shame? Humiliation? Do you feel uneasy about asking that ever congress member be an obedient slave to the president? Do you sense that progressives would then be excluded entirely? Does it worry you that you’re protesting insurance companies in support of a bill that causes insurance companies’ stocks to rise?

Even the activist groups that have acted on principle throughout this ordeal have fallen short of Kucinich’s actions. Kucinich knew that real progress would come through the states, so he worked to pass an amendment permitting state single-payer. And virtually nobody backed him up. Activist groups either prattled on in a fog about national single-payer, or they focused exclusively on the so-called public option. These two camps wouldn’t talk to each other, but they both agreed on leaving states’ concerns by the wayside.

If, in stark contrast to what was done, labor unions and activist groups and progressive media had taken their agenda from their membership and brought it to Washington, rather than the reverse, then very quickly Kucinich would not have been alone in demanding single-payer, and the right-wingers would have soon been begging for a token public option as a compromise.

Healthcare is only one issue. There are dozens of stories like the one above, with different issues but the same characters and plot. When dozens of congress members commit to opposing war funding, Kucinich commits and then follows through. When it comes to ending the wars or impeaching the war criminals, Kucinich leads, in opposition to his political party but in support of his constituents, the American people, the rule of law, and the stated goals of progressives.

I hope self-loathing partisan sycophants realize that the corporate media will equally depict either passage or nonpassage of a “health insurance reform” bill as a defeat for Democrats. And, in this case, rightly so. But the long-term impact of a reform that doesn’t reform, one that rather compels Americans to pay their hard-earned money to institutions even more hated than Congress, namely health insurance companies — THAT would be the real political loser, with or without a privately run program for 3 percent of us called “the public option.” And, again, rightly so. Kucinich is saving the Democrats from themselves by helping to block their health insurance bill, but they can’t see what’s in front of them through the fog of their constant dreaming about mountains of money and a naked Rahm Emanuel poking them in the chests.

Tags: Dennis Kucinich, healthcare, progressives, public option, single payer

Even though a single iPad hasn’t actually been shipped, that won’t stop the questions over the success of initial orders from being asked. Considering how Apple has positioned the iPad in the product lineup, on par with the Mac, iPod, and iPhone, Steve Jobs better have a press-release answer ready.

On Friday, Philip Elmer-DeWitt at Apple 2.0 started following people following the numbers, though whether those numbers are real or imaginary is yet to be determined. The data thus far derived has come from InvestorVillage, an Internet forum for “self-directed investors.”

By using orders numbers from an admittedly small number of purchasers, and accounting for purchases of other products at the Apple Store, the initial estimate was 51,000 in the first two hours, 74,000 after four and a half hours, and 91,000 in six hours. According to Apple 2.0, by the end of Friday the estimated number of iPad pre-orders was approximately 120,000. That’s the good news, assuming it’s true.

Apple 2.0 also passed along metrics for 110 iPads that are what you’d expect, Wi-Fi over 3G by two to one, the cheapest iPad at $499 being very popular. Somewhat surprisingly, the most expensive model, 64GB/3G at $829, was also popular but, hey, these are self-directed investors spending their hard-earned dividends that we’re talking about.

Of course, there’s another group of investors waiting for news on iPad orders. Investors in AAPL saw their fortunes rise on Friday with the stock price reaching a new high at $227, the company briefly overtaking Wal-Mart in valuation at $206 billion. Whether AAPL goes higher on Monday will likely come down to how many iPad orders there were over the weekend, but how many equals success?

Looking back at iPhone launches, a million iPads ordered would definitely be a success, probably more than all the Slate PCs with Windows sold since 2002. Don’t expect that to happen. Both the iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS were immediately available in multiple countries. While the iPad will be available in other countries in late April, the first weekend of the month will be U.S. only, so perhaps the original iPhone would be a better comparison. Certainly, if the iPad does outsell the original iPhone, that will be the spin, but what if it doesn’t?

Everyone who wanted to order an iPad could have ordered one Friday. There were no lines at the online Apple Store. Even assuming the number crunchers at InvestorVillage got it right on Friday, it seems unlikely to me anything like 120,000 orders will be placed on successive days. For the sake of argument, let’s assume the number ordered is halved on successive days, 210,000 total over three days. 210,000 iPads doesn’t look very good compared to the iPhone launch, does it? The only thing worse would be if Apple doesn’t release any numbers.

In an interview with the New York Times last year, Jobs remarked on Amazon’s silence over Kindle sales, saying, “usually, if they sell a lot of something, you want to tell everybody.” That’s exactly why we’ve never heard about Apple TV sales, and it’s what will be the real metric for whether iPad orders were a success over the weekend. If there is silence from Cupertino, expect investors to react with wailing and selling of AAPL. More importantly for consumers, there could be an immediate drop in the price for the iPad, similar to what happened with the original iPhone shortly after launch.

I think that’s the kind of failure we can all appreciate.

Related Research from GigaOM Pro:

• Web Tablet Survey: Apple’s iPad Hits the Right Notes
• How AT&T Will Deal with iPad Data Traffic
• 5 Tips for Developers Targeting the iPad
• With the iPad, Apple Take Google to the Mat

LG Chem has made it official. The South Korean manufacturer is moving forward with plans to start production of lithium ion cells in Michigan. LG Chem and its U.S. subsidiary, Compact Power Inc. (CPI), will spend $303 million to build the cell plant in Holland, on the west side of the state. By 2013, the facility figures to employ over 400 people. Groundbreaking will take place this summer, with the factory scheduled to be fully operational by 2012. At full production, the plant will have enough capacity to produce cells for 50,000 to 200,000 battery packs, depending on the configuration (E-REV vs PHEV).

LG Chem already has supply agreements in place with two major automakers, General Motors and Hyundai-Kia. Hyundai is using LG Chem cells and battery packs in the Korean-market Elantra hybrid, along with sister company Kia’s Forte hybrid. Hyundai will launch the Sonata hybrid in the U.S. market later this year. General Motors uses LG Chem cells in a pack of its own design for the Chevrolet Volt. It’ll also use the same cells in packs manufactured by CPI for an as-yet-unnamed plug-in hybrid vehicle based on the current two-mode system.

Along with the $700 million being invested by GM in assembly and systems manufacturing for the Volt in Michigan, this new LG Chem investment brings the total to over $1 billion. Much of the funding for the LG Chem plant will come from federal and state incentives, including a $151 million grant that CPI received last year as part of the stimulus bill. LG Chem will contribute matching funds to the program.

LG Chem joins A123 Systems and Johnson Controls-Saft (JCS) in manufacturing lithium ion batteries in Michigan. The JCS factory is also in Holland, while A123 is setting up shop closer to Detroit in Livonia. Check out the official press release after the jump.

[Source: LG Chem]

Continue reading LG Chem to build lithium ion cell factory in Holland, MI

LG Chem to build lithium ion cell factory in Holland, MI originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 14 Mar 2010 15:14:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It’s always a busy week on the PS3 blog, but with Sony’s announcement of the PlayStation Move this week, let’s just say that we’ve got more than a handful for today. Those aren’t the only points of

The name Gene Simmons is no stranger to Guitar Hero, with the KISS superstar having been active in the promotion of Guitar Hero II. But now it seems that the rock icon is eyeing more than

Termina a primeira prova da São Paulo Indy 300, que abre a temporada da Fórmula Indy 2010 e marca o Brasil em sua primeira estréia na categoria. O australiano Will Power conquistou a vitória em uma corrida que foi bastante difícil em seu início, com muitos acidentes logo depois da largada.

O japonês Takuma Sato complicou a disputa logo no início, com sua batida e também houve uma paralisação de 20 minutos por conta da chuva que cobriu o Autódromo do Anhembi. Pilotos brasileiros como Hélio Castroneves e Bia Figueiredo perderam muitas posições, sendo Hélio o último colocado. O escocês Dario Franchitti liderou a prova em sua maior parte, mas logo ao final cedeu lugar para Ryan Hunter Reay, que por sua vez cedeu para Power a liderança.

Os destaques brasileiros foram Vitor Meira, chegando em terceiro lugar, e Raphael Matos em quarto, que foi motivo de orgulho para Gil de Ferran, que pela primeira vez participa de uma corrida da Fórmula Indy como dono de equipe, e considerou o desempenho de Matos espetacular para sua estréia. Bia Figueiredo chegou na 13ª posição e mesmo assim, foi a melhor mulher da prova, superando Danica Patrick e Simona de Silvestro (veja mais detalhes das meninas nesse post).

Article Tags: CO2 Propaganda

TWO government advertisements that use nursery rhymes to warn people of the dangers of climate change have been banned by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) for exaggerating the potential harm.

The adverts, commissioned by Ed Miliband, the energy secretary, used the rhymes to suggest that Britain faces an inevitable increase in storms, floods and heat waves unless greenhouse gas emissions are brought under control.

The ASA has ruled that the claims made in the newspaper adverts were not supported by solid science and has told the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) that they should not be published again.

It has also referred a television commercial to the broadcast regulator, Ofcom, for potentially breaching a prohibition on political advertising.

Click source for more

Source: timesonline.co.uk

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Beyond the headline market rebound, Arthur Hill at StockCharts.com makes the following observation, which emphasizes the strength of this rally:

NYSE and Nasdaq breadth continues to expand and back up the current rally. From the breadth charts page at Stockcharts.com, we can see the NYSE AD Line ($NYAD) and Nasdaq AD Line ($NAAD) moving sharply higher the last five weeks. Also notice that the cumulative Net New Highs lines are also moving higher.

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See Also:

• China Is Gearing Up For A Major International Showdown With The US
• Credit Suisse: The Upcoming ETF Unwind Will Pummel Gold
• The Implications Of Velocity