Music retailer HMV handed lifeline

By Neil Maidment and Kate Holton

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's most high-profile entertainment retailer HMV was handed a lifeline on Friday when a turnaround group bought it, ensuring a future for a firm which gave the Beatles one of their first big breaks.

Opened on London's Oxford Street by English composer Edward Elgar in 1921, HMV was bought by restructuring specialist Hilco in a deal worth about 50 million pounds, a person familiar with the situation said.

The rescue of the firm, whose stores have long been a presence on British high streets, is a timely boost for retailers and suppliers hard hit by the downturn in consumer spending, with many major names disappearing from town centres in the past two years.

This deal safeguards at least 2,500 jobs.

Hilco, which already owns HMV Canada, said it had acquired the business and certain HMV assets, including 141 stores across the country, from administrators Deloitte.

"This is an exciting investment for the Hilco team and we will be able to use some of the developments already progressed in Canada to restore HMV to health," Ian Topping, from Hilco's HMV management team, said.

Hilco said the deal had the backing of landlords and suppliers, all keen to protect a valuable outlet onto Britain's high streets.

"The reaction of the British public to the administration of HMV shows a strong desire for the business to continue to trade and we hope to play a constructive part in delivering that," Topping said.

RECLAIMING GROUND

Famous for its 'Nipper the Dog' logo, HMV struggled to hold its own against supermarkets and online services in sales of CDs, DVDs and video games, and in January it brought in Deloitte to find it a buyer.

To attract sales, it had been focusing on selling in-demand tablets and other devices but Hilco said on Friday that move would be reversed and it would look to "reclaim the space for an enhanced music and visual range".

The group added it was in talks with landlords in Ireland with a view to re-opening the business there which closed during administration.

Turnaround specialist Hilco has been involved in many high profile UK retail restructurings, including Habitat, Woolworths and Borders. Last year it was also brought in to clear stock and close stores at Clinton Cards and JJB Sports.

It had long been seen as the favourite to strike a deal with HMV after it bought the firm's 176 million pounds of debt in January.

The chain will initially be run by a Hilco team working alongside existing HMV management. HMV's chief executive Trevor Moore was made redundant in February.

HIGH STREET RELIEF

In its last full-year results for the year to April 28, 2012, HMV had sales of 923 million pounds but posted a pretax loss of 16.2 million pounds.

To tackle mounting debt, it had already made a string of disposals in recent years, selling off its Waterstone's book chain in 2011 for 53 million pounds and all of its live entertainment business. Since being in administration the firm has also closed its small businesses in Hong Kong and Singapore.

In its 92-year history it has some significant milestones. It had a hand in the Beatles' big break in the 1960s, recommending the group's demo record to publishers.

In 1984, it underlined its status in the industry by opening the world's biggest music entertainment store in London and in 2006 its board rejected an 842 million pound bid from private equity firm Permira, saying it undervalued the group.

Before going into administration, HMV had around 230 stores and over 4,000 staff.

"There is relief all round that HMV's continued presence on the high street is assured," Lavinia Carey, Director General at the British Video Association, said.

"Data shows that 24 million British shoppers bought a video disc in 2012 and 17.4 percent of those were sold in HMV."

Norreena Ingum, a 63-year-old shopper from Somerset in south west England, said she was delighted with the news as she preferred going into a store rather than buying online.

"We shop in here once a month because we haven't got a store in Somerset," she told Reuters. "Everything is here and I can have a good look."

(Writing by Kate Holton and Neil Maidment; Additional reporting by Oxana Andrienko; Editing by Andrew Hay and Sonya Hepinstall and Charlotte Cooper)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/hilco-rescue-uk-music-retailer-hmv-source-083930366--finance.html

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Founders' Day: Faculty Honored for Excellence ? UCF Today

David L. Block and Frank E. Juge received recognition for 45 years of service to the university, while Robert L. Bledsoe was honored for 40 years of service.

Faculty members from each college were recognized during UCF?s annual Founders? Day ceremony.

University Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching: Joanna Z. Mishtal, College of Sciences. Mishtal is an assistant professor of anthropology who joined UCF in 2008 after completing her postdoctoral fellowship in medical anthropology and public health at Columbia University. She specializes in cultural medical anthropology, and her research focuses on gender and reproductive rights in the European Union, Poland and Ireland. In 2009, Mishtal co-developed the medical anthropology minor for non-anthropology students to promote an interest in the global health fields. She has also organized anthropology writing workshops for Honors in the Major students, as well as the Writing Across Curriculum program to develop writing skills in anthropology undergraduate students.

Winners from each college were: Ilenia Col?n Mendoza, Martha Garcia, Chiara Mazzucchelli and Adele Richardson, College of Arts and Humanities; Stefanie Mayfield Garcia and Ann Marie Whyte, College of Business Administration; Kelly Jennings-Towle and Karen W. Verkler, College of Education; Mostafa Bassiouni and Ruey-Hung Chen, College of Engineering and Computer Science; Carol M. Bast and Suha M. Saleh, College of Health and Public Affairs; Vicki Lavendol, Rosen College of Hospitality Management; William Safranek, College of Medicine; Erica Hoyt, College of Nursing; and Elena Flitsiyan, Shari v. N. Hodgson, Peter J. Jacques and Graham A.J. Worthy, College of Sciences.

University Award for Excellence in Graduate Teaching: Donna Bobek Schmitt, College of Business Administration. Schmitt is an associate accounting professor and the college?s first Kenneth G. Dixon Research Fellow. Schmitt, whose area of interest is behavioral tax research, also serves as the editor for Advances in Accounting Behavioral Research. She also advises the Epsilon Gamma chapter of Beta Alpha Psi, an honorary society for accounting and finance majors at UCF. In addition, Schmitt is the organizer of the annual Dixon School Women in Accounting Symposium and serves as curriculum committee chair for the School of Accounting.

Winners from each college were: Peter L. Larson, College of Arts and Humanities; William B. Russell III, College of Education; Joseph J. LaViola Jr., College of Engineering and Computer Science; Wendell C. Lawther, College of Health and Public Affairs; Heejung Ro, Rosen College of Hospitality Management; Sasan Fathpour, College of Optics and Photonics; and Barbara A. Fritzsche, College of Sciences.

University Award for Excellence in Research: Alexander M. Cole, College of Medicine. Cole serves as the Ph.D. Program Coordinator in the Burnett School of Biomedical Sciences. He has taught a variety of immunology and molecular biology courses at UCF since 2003, and currently serves as a faculty reviewer for the Undergraduate Research Journal. Cole has also conducted research about the body?s natural antibiotics and how they can be used to fight against HIV.

Winners from each college were: David L. Brunner, College of Arts and Humanities; Ramarao Desiraju, College of Business Administration; Haiyan Bai, College of Education; Scott C. Hagen, College of Engineering and Computer Science; Jennifer E. Kent-Walsh, College of Health and Public Affairs; David J. Kwun, Rosen College of Hospitality Management; Vicki Loerzel, College of Nursing; Ayman Abouraddy, College of Optics and Photonics; and Will Crampton, College of Sciences.

University Awards for Excellence in Undergraduate Faculty Academic Advising: Kirk J. Gay, College of Arts and Humanities, and Marcye S. Hampton, College of Business Administration.

Gay is a percussion instructor who serves as the principal percussionist with the Brevard Symphony Orchestra. He has served as coordinator of undergraduate studies, and currently directs Black Steel, the steel drum ensemble at UCF. Gay, who teaches student lessons at the percussion studio, has also written for the bands at Cypress Creek High School in Florida, Churchill High School in Texas and Northrop High School in Indiana. He has also toured Europe with New World Symphony, and performed with the Walt Disney World Orchestra, the Fort Wayne and Orlando philharmonics.

Hampton serves as an instructor and assistant to the director of the Kenneth G. Dixon School of Accounting. She received her MBA with a specialization in accounting in 1996 and currently provides advising services for undergraduate accounting students. Hampton teaches courses in taxation of business entities and financial accounting and has served on the executive committee of the Dixon School of Accounting Alumni Chapter.

University Award for Excellence in Professional Academic Advising: Gail A. Raymond, College of Health and Public Affairs. Raymond oversees graduation certifications, assists at orientations, maintains the degree audit systems and advises students who are at risk of academic probation. As an academic advisor in the office of undergraduate student services, Raymond also helps transition new transfer students during their first term at UCF.

University Awards for Excellence in Professional Service: Thomas A. Bryer, College of Health and Public Affairs, and James D. Wright, College of Sciences.

Bryer serves as an assistant professor and the director of the Center for Public and Nonprofit Management. A member of the University Faculty Senate, Bryer has also chaired and served on the College of Health and Public Affairs Faculty Council. Bryer?s research focuses on government-citizen relations, bureaucratic responsiveness and citizen engagement. He has also advised the Masters in Public Administration Student Association and the Organization for Public Administration.

Wright has been recognized as the Provost?s Distinguished Research Professor in the department of sociology and serves as the director of the UCF Institute for Social and Behavioral Sciences. Wright research focuses on homelessness, poverty, applied and evaluation methods, inequality and survey methods. In addition, he has published more than 21 books, including his latest Poor and Homeless in the Sunshine State: Down and Out in Theme Park Nation with Amy M. Donley.

University Award for Excellence in Librarianship: Andrew Todd, BCC/UCF Joint-Use Library. Todd has served as a reference librarian for UCF?s regional campuses since 2003 and received his Masters of Library Science from the University of South Florida. Currently based at UCF?s Cocoa campus, Todd has developed collections for various departments and programs, including nursing, political science, history, business and criminal justice.

Recognition of Service to the University, 45 Years of Service: Frank E. Juge, Rosen College of Hospitality Management; David L. Block, Division of Research and Commercialization.

Recognition of Service to the University, 40 Years of Service: Robert L. Bledsoe, College of Sciences.

Recognition of Service to the University, 30 Years of Service: Dan Jones and Pat Rushin, College of Arts and Humanities; Thomas L. Martin and Robert L. Pennington, College of Business Administration; Marty Hopkins, College of Education; Kathy S. Cook, College of Health and Public Affairs; Abraham Pizam, Rosen College of Hospitality Management; Lee Chow, College of Sciences; Elliot Vittes, Office of Undergraduate Studies; ?and Robin Vieira, Division of Research and Commercialization.

Recognition of Service to the University, 20 Years of Service: Robert T. Reedy and Ayako Yonetani, College of Arts and Humanities; Anthony Byrd and Patricia J. Euzent, College of Business Administration; Manoj Chopra, Robert L. Hoekstra and Andrew Amis Randall, College of Engineering and Computer Science; Julia Pet-Armacost, College of Medicine; Peter J. Delfyett J. and Aravinda Kar, College of Optics and Photonics; John R. Cannon, College of Sciences; and Susan T. Schleith and Ronald Tarr, Division of Research and Commercialization.?

Retired and Retiring Faculty:

Priscilla V. Brain, College of Arts & Humanities; Jeffrey Allen, Peggy Dwyer, Andrew J. Judd, Marcia Veit and Judith K. Welch, College of Business Administration; Timothy R. Blair, Cheryl Wienke, and Wilfred Wienke, College of Education; Kent Williams, College of Engineering and Computer Science;? Pam Kirby and Steve Lytle, College of Health and Public Affairs; Julia Pet-Armacost, College of Medicine; Karen Dennis, College of Nursing; Ralph E. Bradford, John (Jeff) Butler, Penelope Canan and Mourad E. Ismail, College of Sciences; Consuelo E. Stebbins, Division of Academic Affairs; Charles J. Cromer, Craig Maytrott and William Young, Division of Research and Commercialization.

Source: http://today.ucf.edu/founders-day-faculty-honored-for-excellence/

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Tensions Mount Over Gun Control (ABC News)

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Final MAVEN instrument integrated to spacecraft

Apr. 3, 2013 ? An instrument that will measure the composition of Mars' upper atmosphere has been integrated into NASA's Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) spacecraft. MAVEN has a scheduled launch date of Nov. 18.

Engineers and scientists at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., in collaboration with partners at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor; Battel Engineering, Scottsdale, Ariz., and AMU Engineering, Miami, Fla., built the Neutral Gas and Ion Mass Spectrometer (NGIMS) instrument.

"The NGIMS team is delighted to provide this instrument to the MAVEN mission which will help reveal the composition and structure of the upper atmosphere of Mars and contribute to our understanding of the long-term changes in the atmosphere of Mars," said Paul Mahaffy, NGIMS instrument lead from Goddard.

NGIMS is mounted on an articulated payload platform that can be pointed independently from the spacecraft. The instrument will measure the composition of neutral and ionized gases in the upper atmosphere as the spacecraft passes through it on each orbit and will determine the basic properties of the upper atmosphere. NGIMS will work with other MAVEN instruments as the spacecraft dips in and out of the upper atmosphere to study the rate of loss of atmospheric gases.

The data produced by NGIMS can be used to infer atmospheric chemistry. It measures the ratios of several different isotopes that are important for understanding the long-term history of the atmosphere. NGIMS can provide a basis for models of present and past atmospheric loss. Data from the instrument can improve the understanding of the history of Martian climate and if conditions on early Mars may have been conducive for supporting microbial life.

"Now that we have all of the science instruments on the spacecraft, and they each have the full capability that was intended, we can look forward to getting the full science that we have planned," said Bruce Jakosky, MAVEN principal investigator from the University of Colorado at Boulder's Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics. "This promises to be a very exciting mission."

MAVEN is the first spacecraft devoted to exploring and understanding the Martian upper atmosphere. MAVEN will investigate the role that loss of Mars' atmosphere to space played in determining the history of water on the surface.

The MAVEN spacecraft will carry two other instrument suites. The Particles and Fields Package was built by the University of California at Berkeley with support from University of Colorado at Boulder's Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (CU/LASP) and NASA Goddard. It contains six instruments that will characterize the solar wind and the ionosphere of the planet. The Remote Sensing Package, built by CU/LASP, will determine global characteristics of the upper atmosphere and ionosphere.

"The successful delivery and integration of the NGIMS instrument onto the MAVEN spacecraft is a huge milestone for the project," said David Mitchell, MAVEN project manager from NASA Goddard. "We now have all elements on board as we head into a final series of environmental tests prior to shipping to Cape Canaveral in August, and launch in November."

MAVEN's principal investigator is based at the University of Colorado at Boulder's Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics. The university provides science instruments and leads science operations, and Education and Public Outreach. Goddard manages the project and provides two of the science instruments for the mission. Lockheed Martin of Littleton, Colo., built the spacecraft and is responsible for mission operations. The University of California at Berkeley Space Sciences Laboratory provides science instruments for the mission. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., provides navigation support, the Deep Space Network, and the Electra telecommunications relay hardware and operations.

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Nigeria's Zenith Bank full-year pre-tax profit up 51 pct

By David Schwartz PHOENIX (Reuters) - A transgender man who made worldwide headlines after he married and gave birth to three children will appeal an Arizona judge's ruling denying him a divorce from his wife of 10 years, his attorneys said on Tuesday. Thomas Beatie, 39, was born a woman but began living as a man in his 20s, initiating hormone treatments, undergoing breast-removal surgery and legally changing his name, though he kept his female reproductive organs. ...

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/nigerias-zenith-bank-full-pre-tax-profit-51-060952628--finance.html

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Jane Henson, Jim's Muppet partner, dies

Jane met Jim Henson in a puppetry class in the mid-1950s, and they became creative and business partners in the development of the Muppets.

By Associated Press / April 2, 2013

Jane Henson (r.) sits with Jim Henson and the cast of Sam and Friends, in Washington, in 1960.

Del Ankers / The Jim Henson Company / AP / File

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The Jim Henson Co. says Henson's partner in marriage and Muppets has died.

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The company says Jane Henson died Tuesday at her Connecticut home following a battle with cancer. She was 78.

She and Jim Henson met in a University of Maryland puppetry class in the mid-1950s, and they became creative and business partners in the development of the Muppets.

The Hensons married in 1959 and had five children: Lisa, Cheryl, Brian, John and Heather. The pair separated in 1986, and Jim Henson died in 1990.

In 1992, Jane Henson created and funded The Jim Henson Legacy to preserve his artistic contributions.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/RN76GriA6aw/Jane-Henson-Jim-s-Muppet-partner-dies

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Scientists find hint of dark matter from cosmos

FILE -In this undated picture made available by NASA, a technician examines the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla.. The cosmic ray detector was mounted on the International Space Station, searched the universe and shall help to explain how everything came to be. CERN , the European Organization for Nuclear Research, released first results of the experiment Wednesday April 3, 2013. (AP Photo/NASA, Glenn Benson)

FILE -In this undated picture made available by NASA, a technician examines the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla.. The cosmic ray detector was mounted on the International Space Station, searched the universe and shall help to explain how everything came to be. CERN , the European Organization for Nuclear Research, released first results of the experiment Wednesday April 3, 2013. (AP Photo/NASA, Glenn Benson)

FILE - This undated image shows an artist's concept of the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, rounded module at left, installed on the International Space Station provided by NASA. The cosmic ray detector searched the universe and shall help to explain how everything came to be. CERN , the European Organization for Nuclear Research, released first results of the experiment Wednesday April 3, 2013. (AP Photo/NASA)

GENEVA (AP) ? A $2 billion cosmic ray detector on the International Space Station has found the footprint of something that could be dark matter, the mysterious substance that is believed to hold the cosmos together but has never been directly observed, scientists say.

But the first results from the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, known by its acronym AMS, are almost as enigmatic as dark matter itself. They show evidence of new physics phenomena that could be the strange and unknown dark matter or could be energy that originates from pulsars, scientists at the European particle physics laboratory near Geneva announced Wednesday.

The results from the detector are significant, because dark matter is thought to make up about a quarter of all the matter in the universe. Unraveling the mystery of dark matter could help scientists better understand the composition of our universe and, more particularly, what holds galaxies together.

Nobel-winning physicist Samuel Ting, who leads the team, told colleagues at the European Organization for Nuclear Research, known as CERN, that he expects a more conclusive answer within months about this "unexpected new phenomena."

The 7-ton detector, which was sent into space two years ago and has a 3-foot (0.91-meter) magnet ring at its core, is transmitting the data to CERN on the Swiss-French border, where it is being analyzed.

The instrument will search for antimatter and dark matter for the rest of the life of the space station ? at least until 2020 ? transmitting data to an international team of 600 scientists based in Geneva that is led by Ting, a physicist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

The findings Wednesday are based on seeing an excess of positrons ? positively charged subatomic particles.

Since the highly accurate AMS magnetic detector began studying cosmic ray particles in space, it has found about 400,000 positrons whose surging energies indicate they might have been created when particles of dark matter collided and destroyed each other.

"It is this level of precision that will allow us to tell whether our current positron observation has a dark matter or pulsar origin," Ting said.

Other scientists praised the results and looked forward to more.

"This is an 80-year-old detective story and we are getting close to the end," said University of Chicago physicist Michael Turner, one of the giants in the field of dark matter. "This is a tantalizing clue and further results from AMS could finish the story."

___

Borenstein reported from Washington.

___

Online:

NASA: http://www.nasa.gov/shuttle

Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer: http://www.ams02.org/

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/b2f0ca3a594644ee9e50a8ec4ce2d6de/Article_2013-04-03-Switzerland-Cosmic%20Rays/id-8ae89d06e40046d78dc3bac59ca582ff

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