Italian artist Michelangelo Pistoletto has been nominated for the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize. The 91-year-old artist, a pivotal figure in Arte Povera, was nominated for his belief in art as an essential tool for peace. The artist positions art as a catalyst for significant social and environmental consciousness, Artsy reported.
First awarded in 1901, the Nobel Peace Prize will celebrate its laureates in a ceremony on December 10th, commemorating Swiss inventor Alfred Nobel’s death.
“I do not see my nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize as a personal recognition for what I have done so far, but as a commitment to future work,” said Pistoletto. “Art must take on a leading role in driving a radical transformation that fosters a shared and responsible concept of humanity, promoting peace as a self-certified expression of intelligence. I do not know if we will ever achieve peace, but simply working towards it already makes me feel better.”
Born in Biella, Italy in 1933, Pistoletto first rose to international prominence in 1962 with his “Mirror Paintings” series. Around this time, the artist began working with legendary Romanian American dealer Ileana Sonnabend, where he began developing perhaps his earliest work associated with the Arte Povera movement: the “Oggetti in meno” (“Minus Objects”) sculptures. The artist presented his first solo exhibition in the United States at the Walker Art Center in 1966 and mounted a presentation at the Biennale de São Paulo in 1967.Throughout his career, Pistoletto has been a staunch advocate for collaboration among artists. He champions a vision called the “Third Paradise,” which sees peace as emerging from social and human collaboration. This philosophy highlights art’s ability to bridge societal divides and build global unity. In the 1990s, he founded Cittadellarte in his hometown, an initiative that integrates art into various social sectors to drive responsible change. Source Article
Women in the UK are less likely to have been given a pay rise or a bonus in the last six months than men, a new study from Randstad has found.
The recruiter polled the views of 2,000 people across the UK and found that, over the last six months, only 43 per cent of women reported having received a pay rise (in the form of higher wages, a salary increase, and / or a bigger bonus) — compared to 50 per cent of men. The seven percentage point gap in the UK is far wider than the average gap of four percentage points recorded by Randstad internationally.
Furthermore, while 9 per cent of men say they have received a “significant” pay rise in the last six months, only 4 per cent of women say the same.
With approximately 15.7 million women employed across the country, women in the UK have been shortchanged to the tune of over 1 million pay rises over the last six months.
Victoria Short, chief executive of Randstad UK, said: “This study’s findings are disheartening and shed light on a stark reality — pay inequality persists in the UK. It’s alarming to see that a significant number of women in the UK are being denied well-deserved salary increases and bonuses, further amplifying the existing wage gap. Gender pay equity is still a long way off when pay rises are being orchestrated and awarded so unevenly.”
Meanwhile, the research also found that three in every ten women in work (30 per cent) say their job does not provide the pay they need to live the life they want — compared to one quarter of men (25 per cent).
This is not a function of women attaching less importance to their pay than men. Marginally more women than men say pay is important to them when thinking about their current job and / or potential future employment — 94 per cent compared to 93 per cent of men.
Randstad’s research found that 21 per cent of women in the UK had requested or campaigned for better pay at work; that one in eight women (13 per cent) agreed “I have threatened to quit to negotiate better pay”; and that a fifth of women (20 per cent) reported having actually quit due to low pay.
However, women in similar G7 economies were more likely to take similar action. Almost half (47 per cent) of women in Italy had requested or campaigned for better pay at work; that one in five women in France (20 per cent) agreed “I have threatened to quit to negotiate better pay”; and that three in ten women in Canada (30 per cent) reported having actually quit due to low pay.
Victoria Short said: “It’s not the fault of women not wanting it enough. We care. Women have told us that they are taking action to minimise the effects of the discrimination. They’re asking for more pay. They’re threatening to leave unless they get it. And in many cases, they’re jumping ship to organisations that value them more highly. Unless the attitude of employers changes, they will have to do this more often and take their lead from employees in Italy, France, and Canada.”
Randstad also asked employees, “What do you consider to be most important in an employer’s equality, diversity, inclusion, and belonging policies?”. While more than four in ten women (41 per cent) named Gender Pay Equity as their top priority, only a quarter of men (25 per cent) said the same. In France, 64 per cent of women said gender pay equity — as did four in every ten men (42 per cent).
Victoria Short said, “On the one hand, the gender pay gap does not necessarily reflect how well companies treat women. On the other, if so many women are saying their top equality, diversity, and inclusion priority is gender pay equity — there’s clearly still a problem.”
In a bid to improve equality in the workplace, Theresa May’s government made it mandatory for bigger companies to publish a comparison of the average pay earned by men and women at their organisations in 2017. This year, the deadline for gender pay gap reporting will fall on 5th April, 28 days after International Women’s Day.
All organisations, including charities, with 250 or more employees were asked to publish their median and mean “gender pay gap” data in the hopes that transparency would incentivise businesses to reduce disparities.
The gender pay gap is not the same as equal pay, which measures whether men and women are paid the same for the same job. Instead, it compares the difference in women and men’s average earnings across an organisation at a point in time, regardless of their role. Even if an employer pays women and men equally, it could have a gender pay gap if the majority of women are employed in lower-paid jobs.
Victoria Short said, “A company with a few well-remunerated men and lots of less-well paid women on the payroll will show a large gender pay gap, despite the organisation treating men and women doing the same job exactly the same. We’ve come across organisations with large levels of disparity trying extremely hard to eliminate gender pay gaps — while less committed organisations recording lower gender pay gaps simply because of the composition of their workforce. “But if an employer’s workforce consists of lots of women at the bottom of the payscale and none at the top, year after year, then it’s likely they need to hire and promote more women.” Women in the UK miss out on 1 million pay rises
“We already knew that good stories can put you in someone else’s shoes in a figurative sense. Now we’re seeing that something may also be happening biologically," says neuroscientist Gregory Berns.
By Carol Clark
Many people can recall reading at least one cherished story that they say changed their life. Now researchers at Emory University have detected what may be biological traces related to this feeling: Actual changes in the brain that linger, at least for a few days, after reading a novel.
Their findings, that reading a novel may cause changes in resting-state connectivity of the brain that persist, were published by the journal Brain Connectivity.
“Stories shape our lives and in some cases help define a person,” says neuroscientist Gregory Berns, lead author of the study and the director of Emory’s Center for Neuropolicy. “We want to understand how stories get into your brain, and what they do to it.”
His co-authors included Kristina Blaine and Brandon Pye from the Center for Neuropolicy, and Michael Prietula, professor of information systems and operations management at Emory’s Goizueta Business School.
Neurobiological research using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) has begun to identify brain networks associated with reading stories. Most previous studies have focused on the cognitive processes involved in short stories, while subjects are actually reading them as they are in the fMRI scanner.
The Emory study focused on the lingering neural effects of reading a narrative. Twenty-one Emory undergraduates participated in the experiment, which was conducted over 19 consecutive days.
The researchers chose the novel "Pompeii" for the experiment, due to its strong narrative and page-turning plot.
All of the study subjects read the same novel, “Pompeii,” a 2003 thriller by Robert Harris that is based on the real-life eruption of Mount Vesuvius in ancient Italy. “The story follows a protagonist, who is outside the city of Pompeii and notices steam and strange things happening around the volcano,” Berns says. “He tries to get back to Pompeii in time to save the woman he loves. Meanwhile, the volcano continues to bubble and nobody in the city recognizes the signs.”
The researchers chose the book due to its page-turning plot. “It depicts true events in a fictional and dramatic way,” Berns says. “It was important to us that the book had a strong narrative line.”
For the first five days, the participants came in each morning for a base-line fMRI scan of their brains in a resting state. Then they were given nine sections of the novel, about 30 pages each, over a nine-day period. They were asked to read the assigned section in the evening, and come in the following morning. After taking a quiz to ensure they had finished the assigned reading, the participants underwent an fMRI scan of their brain in a non-reading, resting state. After completing all nine sections of the novel, the participants returned for five more mornings to undergo additional scans in a resting state.
The results showed heightened connectivity in the left temporal cortex, an area of the brain associated with receptivity for language, on the mornings following the reading assignments. “Even though the participants were not actually reading the novel while they were in the scanner, they retained this heightened connectivity,” Berns says. “We call that a ‘shadow activity,’ almost like a muscle memory.”
Read any mind-altering books lately? Writer Joyce Carol Oates once cited "Alice in Wonderland" as a big influence on her imaginative life.
Heightened connectivity was also seen in the central sulcus of the brain, the primary sensory motor region of the brain. Neurons of this region have been associated with making representations of sensation for the body, a phenomenon known as grounded cognition. Just thinking about running, for instance, can activate the neurons associated with the physical act of running.
“The neural changes that we found associated with physical sensation and movement systems suggest that reading a novel can transport you into the body of the protagonist,” Berns says. “We already knew that good stories can put you in someone else’s shoes in a figurative sense. Now we’re seeing that something may also be happening biologically.”
The neural changes were not just immediate reactions, Berns says, since they persisted the morning after the readings, and for the five days after the participants completed the novel.
“It remains an open question how long these neural changes might last,” Berns says. “But the fact that we’re detecting them over a few days for a randomly assigned novel suggests that your favorite novels could certainly have a bigger and longer-lasting effect on the biology of your brain.”
Female research scientists are more productive than their male colleagues, though they are widely perceived as being less so. Women are also rewarded less for their scientific achievements.
The study, part of the project “Science, Technology and Innovation Gender Gaps and their Economic Costs in Latin America and the Caribbean”, was financed by the Gender and Diversity Fund of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).
The ‘productivity puzzle’
The study, which looked at women’s status in 42 public universities and 18 public research centres, some managed by Mexico’s National Council of Science and Technology (CONACYT), focused on a question that has been widely investigated: why are women in science less productive than men, in almost all academic disciplines and regardless of the productivity measure used?
The existence of this “productivity puzzle” is well documented, from South Africa to Italy, but few studies have sought to identify its possible causes.
Our findings demonstrate that, in Mexico at least, the premise of the productivity puzzle is false, when we control for factors such as promotion to senior academic ranks and selectivity.
Using an econometric modelling approach, including several macro simulations to understand the economic costs of gender gaps to the Mexican academic system, our study focused on researchers within Mexico’s National System of Researchers.
We found that women produce higher quality research than men, often publishing in more prestigious scholarly journals with longer term impacts in the field.
Additionally, despite the common belief that maternity leaves make women less productive in key periods of their careers, female researchers in fact have only between 5% to 6% more non-productive years than males. At senior levels, the difference drops to 1%.
Nonetheless, in the universities and research centres we studied, Mexican women face considerable barriers to success. At public research centres, women are 35% less likely to be promoted, and 89% of senior ranks were filled by men in 2013, though women comprised 24% of research staff and 33% at non-senior levels. Public universities do slightly better (but not well): female researchers there are 22% less likely to be promoted than men.
Overall, 89% of all female academics in our sample never reached senior levels in the period studied (2002 to 2013).
In some ways this data should not be surprising. Mexico ranks 66th out of 144 in the World Economic Forum’s 2016 Global Gender Gap Report and a 2015 report by the Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) showed that among OECD countries Mexico has the widest overall gender gap in labour participation rates.
Some efforts are being made to improve gender equality in research. In 2013 Mexico amended four articles of its Science and Technology Law to promote gender equality in those fields, adding provisions to promote gender-balanced participation in publicly funded higher education institutions and collect gender-specific data to measure the impact of gender on science and technology policies.
Several CONACYT research centres have launched initiatives to promote gender equality among staff, but many of these internal programmes are limited to anti-discrimination and sexual harassment training.
More aggressive programmes include: the Research Centre on Social Anthopology’s graduate scholarship programme, in collaboration with CONACYT and the National Commission for the Development of Indigenous Peoples, to promote higher education and training among indigenous women; and policies to increase women’s participation in higher academic ranks and management at the CIATEQ technological institute, which also gives childcare subsidies to female staff.
But such examples are rare. Overall, women hoping to succeed in Mexican academia must work harder and produce more than their male colleagues to be even considered for promotion to senior ranks.
This persistent inequality has implications not just for women but for the country’s scientific production: if Mexico were to eliminate gender inequality in promotions, the national academic system would see 17% to 20% more peer-reviewed articles published.
A global glass ceiling
Mexico is not alone. Our previous research in France and South Africa, using the same econometric model, found that gender inequalities there also prevent women scientists from being promoted to higher academic ranks.
Examining French physicists working in the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) and in French public universities, we learned that female physicists in CNRS are as productive as their male colleagues or more so. Yet they are 6.3% less likely to be promoted within CNRS and 16.3% within universities. This is notable in a country that ranks 17th in the world in gender equality, according to the World Economic Forum.
In South Africa, race plays an important role in explaining gender inequalities in science. Examining the career paths of researchers from 2002 to 2011, we observed that there are not large differences in the promotion patterns of white researchers by gender: 60.1% of white men were not promoted (even in cases where they applied for promotion), compared to 60.6% of women in the same period. But the gap widens dramatically when you account for ethnicity: 70.4% of non-white men and 69.2% of non-white women are not promoted.
In Uruguay the same IDB gender gaps project identified a glass ceiling as well. There women are underrepresented in the highest academic ranks and have a 7.1% less probability than men of being promoted to senior levels.
Moreover, from Mexico and Uruguay to France and South Africa, a vicious cycle between promotion and productivity is at play: difficulties in getting promoted reduce the prestige, influence and resources available to women. In turn, those factors can lead to lower productivity, which decreases their chances of promotion.
This two-way causality creates a source of endogeneity biases when including seniority as a variable to explain productivity in an econometric model. Only when we control for this, as well as for a selectivity bias (that is, publishing occurrence), do we find that female researchers are more productive than their male counterparts. Without these corrections, a gender productivity gap of 10% to 21% appears in favour of men.
The view that women are failing at science is commonly held, but evidence shows that, across the world, it’s science that’s failing women. Action must be taken to ensure that female researchers are treated fairly, recognised for their work, and promoted when they’ve earned it.
By Aniket Gupta: Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M), the leader among India’s tractor industry companies, has set its sights on a remarkable goal. It aims to double its exports from India within the next three years.
This ambitious plan will gain momentum from the introduction of its innovative platform, OJA, which was recently unveiled in Cape Town, South Africa.
Mahindra Tractors is a part of the group’s farm equipment division of the $19.4-billion Mahindra Group, and the flagship unit of the division.
During the year ended 31 March 2023, the Mahindra Group exported 18,104 tractors. Hemant Sikka, president of the farm equipment segment, aims for a substantial leap, aspiring to raise this figure to 36,000 tractors by fiscal 2025-26.
With the introduction of the OJA lineup, M&M is embarking on an expansion into a dozen new markets. This initiative includes the establishment of a new office in Thailand, which will serve as a strategic base for accessing the ASEAN markets.
The company's sights are set on European markets as well, with special focus on countries renowned for vine cultivation, such as Germany, Italy, and Spain. Sikka emphasized that M&M currently lacks a footprint in both regions, ASEAN and Europe.
What about the American market? Growth there has been slow, but Sikka anticipates this is a temporary situation.
In Brazil, M&M has already achieved a remarkable feat by increasing its market share from 3.5 per cent to an impressive 7.2 per cent in the past two years.
Distinct sub-platforms
Comprising four distinct sub-platforms — sub-compact, compact, small utility, and large utility — the OJA platform is a comprehensive family. At present, the sub-compact tractor range is earmarked exclusively for international markets and will not be offered in India. Special attention will be paid to the American market, according to Sikka.
However, Sikka has noted that if there is a demand for the sub-compact category within India, its introduction in India too would be considered.
Beginning in January 2024, M&M is set to initiate the export of the sub-compact series within the OJA tractor range. On the other hand, the introduction of the expansive utility platform is reserved for a later timeframe, anticipated around the fiscal year 2025-26. This forthcoming platform is created to serve both the domestic Indian market and international export markets.
What about pricing? The Mahindra OJA 27 HP tractor will be priced at Rs 5.64 lakh, and the OJA 40 HP tractor at Rs 7.35 lakh.
Production of the OJA range will happen at M&M's Zaheerabad facility in Telangana, which has a total annual manufacturing capacity of 100,000 tractors.
Sikka notes that the tractor industry has maintained a consistent compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of approximately 7 percent over several years. In contrast, in the horticulture segment, tractors are experiencing a faster, double-digit growth rate.
The OJA series is a dedicated range of tractors tailored for specific uses, finding utility in both horticulture and paddy cultivation. Sikka explains that paddy farming need to be lighter as the presence of water makes heavier tractors vulnerable to sinking in the fields.In an unveiling event on Tuesday, 15 August 2023, M&M introduced three distinct OJA offerings spanning a weight range of 700 kg to 2000 kg and containing power capacities ranging from 20 horsepower to 40 horsepower. Source: https://www.domain-b.com/
Italian carmaker Fiat Chrysler and its French rival Groupe PSA will merge to become a new company, called Stellantis, as the two carmakers on Monday secured approval from European Union anti-trust regulators for their $38 billion merger.
The merged entity, to be called Stellantis, will be the world’s fourth-largest carmaker after Toyota, Volkswagen Group and Hyundai / Kia, relegating General Motors to fifth position.
The EU had concerns that FCA and PSA would dominate Europe's van market with a combined share of 34 per cent, heavily outgunning Renault and Ford, each with a 16 per cent share, Volkswagen with 12 per cent and Daimler with 10 per cent.
This dominance could mean higher prices for customers, the Commission said.
To address EU concern, PSA had offered to increase production capacity for Toyota at its Sevelnord large van factory in France. PSA also builds a compact van for Toyota called the Proace City in Vigo, Spain. PSA will supply Toyota with an electric version of the van.
The two carmakers are looking to the deal to help them tackle the industry’s dual challenges of funding cleaner vehicles and the global pandemic.
The merger approval from the European Commission is conditional on PSA continuing with its agreement with Toyota Motor by increasing capacity for Toyota and cutting transfer prices for the vehicles, spare parts and accessories.
“Access to a competitive market for small commercial vans is important for many self-employed and small and medium companies throughout Europe,” European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said in a statement.
Fiat and PSA will also allow rivals to access their repair and maintenance networks for vans to help new entrants expand in the market, the EU competition enforcer said.
The merged entity, to be called Stellantis, would own brands such as Fiat, Jeep, Dodge, Ram and Maserati as well as Peugeot, Opel and DS.
“FCA and Groupe PSA warmly welcome the European Commission’s clearance authorizing the merger and the creation of Stellantis, a world leader in new mobility,” the companies said, adding that the shareholders of both companies will meet separately on Jan 4 to approve the transaction.
“The closing of the merger is expected to occur by the end of the first quarter of 2021”.
FCA’s controlling shareholder is Exor, the holding company of Italy’s Agnelli family while PSA’s investors are the Peugeot family, the French government and China’s Dongfeng.
Peugeot SA and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV had in November revealed the logo of Stellantis, the new group that will result from their 50:50 merger.
The new logo symbolises the rich heritage of Stellantis’ founding companies and the unique combined strengths of the new group’s portfolio of 14 storied automotive brands, as well as the diversity of professional backgrounds of its employees working in all the regions. Along with the Stellantis name – whose Latin root “stello” means “to brighten with stars” – it is the visual representation of the spirit of optimism, energy and renewal of a diverse and innovative company determined to be one of the new leaders in the next era of sustainable mobility.
The unveiling of the logo is the latest step towards the completion of the merger project, which is expected to occur by the end of the first quarter of 2021, subject to customary closing conditions, including approval by both companies’ shareholders at their respective Extraordinary General Meetings and the satisfaction of antitrust and other regulatory requirements.
Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) is a global automaker that designs, engineers, manufactures and sells vehicle brands, including Abarth, Alfa Romeo, Chrysler, Dodge, Fiat, Fiat Professional, Jeep, Lancia, Ram and Maserati.
It also sells parts and services under the Mopar name and operates in the components and production systems sectors under the Comau and Teksid brands. FCA employs nearly 200,000 people around the globe.
Groupe PSA designs unique automotive experiences and delivers mobility solutions to meet all customer expectations. The Group has five car brands, Peugeot, Citroën, DS, Opel and Vauxhall and provides a wide array of mobility and smart services under the Free2Move brand. Its ‘Push to Pass’ strategic plan represents a first step towards the achievement of the Group’s vision to be “a global carmaker with cutting-edge efficiency and a leading mobility provider sustaining lifetime customer relationships”. An early innovator in the field of autonomous and connected cars, Groupe PSA is also involved in financing activities through Banque PSA Finance and in automotive equipment via Faurecia.
Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, meanwhile, announced plans for setting up a global digital hub In Hyderabad. Called the FCA ICT, the company will be investing around Rs1,102 crore in its latest operations.
FCA ICT in Hyderabad will be the largest digital hub outside of North America and EMEA.
It will focus on connected car suites, artificial intelligence, data acceleration and cloud technologies.Commenting on the latest development, Partha Datta, president and managing director of FCA India, said, “FCA ICT India will be our technology backbone that will not only help us develop products for future mobility but will also sharpen our efforts to enhance customer-centricity. This is a significant step forward in realising our vision to make our Indian operations more capable to develop digitally driven products and technologies locally for India and also for the world.” Source: S
SEOUL, Apr. 23, 2015 ― LG Electronics (LG) will begin the global rollout of its premium LG Watch Urbane this week in South Korea to be followed by key markets in North America, Europe and Asia in the weeks to come. Customers in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Korea, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States will be able to purchase the LG Watch Urbane on Google Store starting this month. At MWC 2015, the LG Watch Urbane received numerous awards and accolades from consumers, media and industry thought leaders for its modern design, full-circle Plastic OLED (P-OLED) display and overall usefulness. The LG Watch Urbane carries over the 1.3-inch P-OLED display from the LG G Watch R but features a less prominent and lower profile bezel. Its dimensions are smaller overall and thinner, without reducing the size of the display or the battery. Responding to consumers’ desire for style as well as function, the LG Watch Urbane has a full metal body with a stitched genuine leather strap. The stainless steel body is available in a luxurious polished rose gold and silver, accentuated further with a narrow bezel that gives the device the sleek lines of a classic timepiece. Unlike many other competing smartwatches, the band can be exchanged with any replacement 22mm leather, silicone or metal strap for the ultimate in convenience and personalization. LG Watch Urbane is the first new smartwatch powered by the latest version of Android Wear which works seamlessly with smartphones running Android 4.3 and above. Some of the features available for the first time on any Android Wear device include Wi-Fi connectivity, always-on apps to keep the display from going dark when running, navigating or even grocery shopping and an improved UX that makes launching favorite apps and getting in touch with friends easier than ever before with everything now front-and-center. The latest OS allows users
to send emojis by drawing them directly on the LG Watch Urbane. Draw a smiley face, a clock showing a certain time or any other pictures and Android Wear will match your drawing to the closest Unicode emoji for sending to another Android Wear watch, smartphone, or computer. Other improvements include the ability to change the font size and see notifications even when looking at another function on the display, such as directions. What’s more, the screen on the LG Watch Urbane can now be set to lock automatically when it is removed from the wrist. Included in LG Watch Urbane are two new and useful features not available on other Android Wear devices: LG Call and LG Pulse. LG Call allows the wearer to access recent calls and the favorite contacts list on the connected smartphone to dial out directly from the watch. When connected to a Bluetooth headset, there is no need to remove the phone from one’s pocket to place a call. And LG Pulse takes health monitoring to a whole new level by measuring the wearer’s heart rate every second during exercise with no maximum time limit. At the end of the activity, LG Pulse will report the average heart rate over the entire duration of the activity and display a heart rate graph on LG Health (coming soon). “The LG Watch Urbane is the third Android Wear device introduced by LG in the past year which demonstrates our commitment to this platform,” said Juno Cho, president and CEO of LG Electronics Mobile Communications Company. “More importantly, LG Watch Urbane is a perfect example that Android Wear watches can be functional and beautiful and a useful accessory that complements any wardrobe. No one would mistake LG Watch Urbane for a computer on your wrist.” Price and additional purchase details will be announced locally at the time of availability.
Key Specifications:
Chipset: 1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon™ 400
Operating System: Android Wear™
Display: 1.3-inch P-OLED Display (320 x 320, 245ppi)
Apple started taking the pre-order through its website and now in just 24 hours Apple received 4 million order for the iPhone. This shows the popularity of the new iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 plus. The order received is almost twice of the order received at the time of release of iPhone 5 series two years back. The huge demand of the iPhone will delay the deliver of the phone till October. Although many customers will receive the hand set in the month of September. On September 19, company will start selling the iPhone in the stores and through the authorized resellers. In the first phase company will start selling the products in the U.S., Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Puerto Rico, Singapore and the UK. In the second phase company will start selling the iPhone in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Isle of Man, Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates by September 26. iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 plus is with Far Better Display Quality. iPhone 6 display is just not bigger but better in every aspect. Be it true to life color or be it stunning contrast in any angle, it is arguably the most advanced device in respect of display quality. The desktop class architecture along with other advanced level display efficient tech specs made this phone the brightest one as compared to other smartphones.
Respectively the resolution of iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 plus versions are 1334x750 and 1920x1080.
The display is more power packed with A8 chip.
M8 motion coprocessor is more efficient in gathering inputs from advanced level sensors and barometer.
Credit: NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, Illustration of the structure of a neutron star
These objects too can be described as “hairless” For astrophysicists neutron stars are extremely complex astronomical objects. Research conducted with the collaboration of SISSA and published in the journal Physical Review Letters demonstrates that in certain respects these stars can instead be described very simply and that they show similarities with black holes. In how many ways can one describe an object? Take an apple: by just looking at it we can easily estimate its weight, shape and colour but we are unable to describe it at any other level, for example, to evaluate thechemical composition of its flesh. Something similar also applies to astronomical objects: until today one of the challenges facing scientists was to describe neutron stars at the nuclear physics level. The matter these stars are made up of is in fact extremely complex, and several complicated equations of state have been proposed. However, to date there is no agreement as to which is the correct (or the best) one. A theoretical study conducted by SISSA (the International School for Advanced Studies of Trieste), in collaboration with Athens University, has demonstrated that neutron stars can also be described in relatively simple terms, by observing the structure of the space-time surrounding them. “Neutron stars are complex objects owing to the matter that composes them. We can picture them as enormous atomic nuclei with a radius of about ten kilometres”, explains Georgios Pappas, first author of the study carried out at SISSA. “A neutron star is what remains of the collapse of a massive star: the matter inside it is extremely dense and mostly consisting of neutrons”. “The nuclear physics required to understand the nature of the matter contained in these astronomical objects generally makes their description very complicated and difficult to formulate,” continues Pappas. “What we have demonstrated, by using numerical methods, is that there are properties that can provide a description of some aspects of neutron stars and the surrounding space-time in a simple manner, similar to the description used for black holes”. Black holes are truly unique objects: they have lost all matter and are only made up of space and time. Just like neutron stars they are the result of the collapse of a bigger star (in this case much bigger than the stars giving rise to neutron stars) and in the implosion all the matter has been swept away. “They are considered to be the most perfect objects in the Universe and the expression ‘hairless’ that was coined by John Archibald Wheeler to indicate their simplicity has become famous. According to our calculations even neutron stars can be depicted in a very similar manner”. Scientists use “multipole moments” as parameters to describe objects. The moments required to describe a black hole are two, mass and angular momentum (the speed at which it rotates around its axis). For neutron stars three moments are needed: mass, angular momentum and quadrupole moment, that is, a coefficient that describes the deformation of the object produced by its rotation. “Our calculations revealed two unexpected findings. First, we discovered that these three parameters are sufficient since higher levels moments are not independent and can be derived from the first three”, explains Pappas. “The second surprising finding is that the description based on these parameters is independent of the equation of equation of state, or rather: we don’t even need to know which is the equation of state”. In practice, we can have a description of a neutron star that is independent of the matter that forms it. “This has major implications”, concludes Pappas. “In fact, by using the data collected with astrophysical observations – for example, the radiation emitted by a neutron star, or information about objects gravitating around the star or other information – we can reconstruct the features of a neutron star”.Contacts and sources: Sissa Medialab, Effectively universal behavior of rotating neutron stars in general relativity makes them even simpler than their Newtonian counterparts Phys. Rev. Lett. George Pappas and Theocharis A. Apostolatos, http://journals.aps.org/prl/accepted/5507fYb3Ye211849920a70e877850e3cf8b5fbff7#abstract, The paper has just been published in the journal Physical Review Letters, where it also featured as an Editors’ Suggestion, among the most interesting papers of the latest issue. http://www.sissa.it/index.php/about/news/general/2905, Posted in: astronomy , Universe'Source: Article
During the Conference of the European Biogas Association in Bratislava over 100 participants followed the contributions of high-ranking speakers like Hans-Josef Fell, Member of the German parliament since 1998; speaker of the fraction Bündnis 90/ Die Grünen on energy policy, Juraj Novak from the Slovakian Ministry of Economy, Marc Fleureck and Bernd Küpker from the European Commission. The European Biogas Association (EBA) is ho0lding its first biogas conference in Bratislava (Slovakia) this week. The conference has been attended by more than 100 participants from all over Europe, especially from the CEE region. The programme covered key aspects of bioenergy policy of the European Commission, private financing opportunities and recent technical developments of Europe’s top industry. Juraj Novak from the Slovak Republic's Ministry of Economy opened the conference yesterday with a clear statement that Slovakia decided to support biogas as an important pillar in the renewable energy mix of the country. Meanwhile, another keynote speaker, Hans-Josef Fell, pointed out that after Fukushima there is no other solution to produce electricity than renewable energies from wind, geothermal, solar and biomass. Neither “clean” coal nor gas will solve the problem when looking to emission control. Biogas is not only a perfect decentralized source of energy but bears a high potential for new jobs in the rural area, commented Arthur Wellinger, President of EBA. Biogas is an excellent business opportunity as was indicated by the different company speakers presenting the newest technical solutions and success stories. Investment capital is a crucial issue for all renewable energies. But there are solutions based on private and public investment as was presented during another focal point of the conference by CEOs and branch leaders of investment companies and banks. Today, the biogas sector is best developed in Germany, Austria and Sweden, but countries including the UK, Italy and Slovakia also started to promote this energy source. Biogas is a multi-talent that can be used for electricity generation, heating and cooling, and as vehicle fuel. Biogas is today’s reality and not decennia away like fuel cells or hydrogen fuel. Source: Renewable Energy Magazine
The European police (Europol) has uncovered a crime syndicate, which organized fixed football matches all around the world. The investigation has revealed hundreds of fixed matches including qualification games for European and World Cups. Knowing the score in advance the malefactors made millions of dollars on football pools.
The investigation that took 18 months revealed 380 fixed matches in Europe, while 300 more games in Africa, Asia, South and Central Americas also aroused suspicions of the investigators. The center of the syndicate was based in Singapore. Until now scandals with fixed matches have never gone worldwide, former professional football coach Valery Gladilin says. "Let’s take Italy, for example, a country where football is a well-developed industry and that won the World Champion several times. There they downgraded such an outstanding club as Juventus to the second league. Also other serious European clubs were punished and some excellent players were disqualified. In Africa and Asia where the football industry is only developing, as well as and in South America corruption in football is flourishing." The investigation has revealed that the crime syndicate had been active since early 2009 bribing players, coaches, referees and football officials. The scale of match fixing is impressive but to all who love and know football this is not a revelation, Boris Bogdanov a reporter with the Sport Express newspaper says. "The very fact of the existence of fixed matches is not new and I don’t think that it can shock anyone. Inetrepol is a serious organization and it won’t make such high-profile statements without a reason. So the new thing is that such a powerful crime syndicate was uncovered and the case will be completed which means that the guilty will be punished." Prevention of match fixing requires an interaction of all members of the international football community. FIFA and UEFA must speak out on the issue and act tough to clean football up. Fortunately, the Europol has intervened in this business and this will oblige football organizations to conduct relevant investigations. By now 50 people who are involved in organizing fixed matches have been arrested. The Europol also suspects more than 400 football officials and players and the investigators are confident but this is only the top of the iceberg. Source: Voice of Russia
Fresh Plaza: At this year's Fruit Logistica in Berlin, Antonio Vurchio from Lovepuglia will join forces with Dottor Storelli srl which has represented the KÖlla group in Italy since 1967. The young entrepreneur made a successful impact in the British market in 2006 when he started supplying Jamie Oliver's, opening the British market doors to many Italian growers.Antonio was spotted by Rino Storelli and since January is offering his enthusiasm and cooperation to Dottor Storelli srl. "I am pleased to work in a such a trusted and valued company specialized in exporting fruits and vegetables from
Italy and other counties around the world. "Our company has a well established business relationship with our growers and producers that we continuously audit to make sure we can offer quality products together with a complete and efficient service, in fact, thanks to our logistic service we can deliver a significant quantity of fruits and vegetables in a very short time. Moreover the company offers a complete warranty for the certifications and regular laboratory analysis of the products commercialized. Antionio will be at Hall 5.2, Stand A-06." For more information: Antonio Vurchio, Dott.Rino Storelli, Tel: +39 0803995111,Mobile IT: +39 3355457220,Mobile UK: +44 (0)7795955596, MobileDE:+49(0)17627754698, Mail: antonio@dottorstorelli.com, Skype lovepuglia,Web:dottorstorelli.com - koella.com, Source: Fresh Plaza
In Bolzano, Italy, almost a quarter of the population is over the age of 65. In fact, Italy, along with Japan, has one of the oldest populations in the world. As a result, Bolzano currently spends close to half of their social services budget on services for the elderly. This includes assisted living facilities where they receive around the clock care. But assisted living facilities can cost a city and the people who stay there vast amounts of
money that, within these economic conditions, municipalities and families just don't have. The solution: keep them in their homes where they are comfortable. IBM's Smarter Cities team partnered with the city to outfit a small group of elderly residents' homes with sensors which would in turn report data back to a central database closely monitored by the city. From there, the city could dispatch a care worker to visit the home. By allowing Bolzano to keep the number of their staff members the same, the program stabilizes the city's costs while simultaneously allowing it to care for its growing elderly population.
The world's largest Quran has been made especially for Tatarstan by the Italian company "Reverra Ltd." A solemn ceremony of “greeting the holy book” will take place today in Kazan, at the Russian republic's main mosque Qolsharif.The Italian masters performed incredibly complex jewelry work. The book, 1.5 meters wide and 2 meters long, weighs 800 kilograms. The cover is inlaid with malachite, phianites, jade, gold leaf and silver. Tags: Russia, Koran, Tatarstan, News, Italy, Society, World, Читать далее, Source: Voice of Russia.
27.11.2011, 21:20, The International Monetary Fund has prepared a 600-billion-euro emergency loan for Italy, news reports said on Sunday. If granted, the tranche will give Mario Monti’s government between 12 and 18 months to implement budget cuts and other urgent reforms. The money may also help remove the necessity of refinancing the Italian debt.The IMF said on Sunday that it would guarantee interest rates of up to 5 percent on the loan. Tags: IMF, Business, World, debt crisis in Europe , News, Читать далее, Source: Voice of Russia.
Fresh Plaza, ByMaria Luigia Brusco: The Italian company Mc Garlet, born from Garletti s.n.c. in 2006 and specialized in exotics, is among the exhibitors at Fruit Logistica in Berlin (8-10 February 2012) for another
year. Luca Garletti, company director, tells FreshPlaza about the 2011 season:"In terms of volumes, marketing has been satisfactory. We also noticed the search for products that meet a more mature and aware consumer of exotics. Mango without fibres, avocados with a greater degree of ripening and similar requests indicate a growing degree of competence in demand. However, the misalignment of Italy in terms of payments and discounts compared to foreign countries causes concerns." Garletti recalls the recent applications of existing regulations that, in countries such as France and Portugal, have brought the timing of payment for supplies of fresh produce to commercial terms and have eliminated unreasonable discounts by retailers to suppliers. "It would be desirable if we at least could work in accordance with European conditions! It is unthinkable that we are aligned with the other countries in terms of quality standards and certifications and not in timing of payments" Garletti says.
Luca Garletti during Fruit Logistica 2011.
McGarlet will be in Berlin with a stand conceived as a "meeting point" for the exchange of ideas and proposals. McGarlet will be at FRUIT LOGISTICA 2012 in Berlin, Hall 1.2/Stand C-07. Contact: Mc Garlet, Via Nicola
It looks like we may be in for an earth-shattering explosion. A dormant super volcano appears to be stirring under the Phlegraen Fields of Naples in Italy. Rising soil temperatures and surface deformation in the area have alarmed seismologists. In the distant past, volcanic super eruptions caused global climate change responsible for mass extinctions of plant and animal species.
So far, scientists are unable to model the potential consequences of an awakening super volcano. Latest studies show that the Phlegraen Fields have actually been swelling above sea level at a rate of 3 cm per month. Micro quakes and large amounts of gases accumulated in soil indicate that the volcano may be preparing to erupt, says Vladimir Kiryanov, Assistant Professor of Geology at the St. Petersburg University. "The Phlegraen Fields are a super volcano. Yellowstone in the United States and Toba in Indonesia are also super volcanoes capable of spewing more than 1,000 cubic km of magma. These are catastrophic eruptions. There was a huge volcanic eruption in the Phlegraen Fields some 30,000-40,000 years ago. Volcanic ash from that eruption is still found in the Mediterranean, Bulgaria, Ukraine, and even in Russia. We are now seeing the expansion of a magma pocket, which means that there might be an eruption at a certain time." Super eruptions of such magnitude may produce the so-called “volcanic winter” effect when sulfur gases and ash will reach the stratosphere and cover the globe with thick ash clouds that solar rays will be unable to penetrate. Condensed sulfur trioxides will react with moisture, forming sulfuric acid. Downpours of sulfuric acid will hit the Earth. Scientists have obtained new evidence of a similar cataclysm following the eruption of the Toba super volcano on island of Sumatra in Indonesia about 74,000 years ago. But today, things promise to be even more devastating. Suffice it to recall the havoc wreaked by a minor increase in volcanic activity in Iceland in 2010 on air transportation over Europe. Super eruptions occurred so rarely that it is virtually impossible to calculate the approximate time span between the first and last stages of a future potential eruption. In the 1970s, the Phlegraen Fields inflated by more than 50 cm. There were even cracks in house walls. But then the process slackened. Apparently, the fact itself that a magma chamber is being filled with magma may or may not signal any immediate eruption. Alexei Sobisevich, laboratory chief at the Institute of Volcanology and Geophysics of the Russian Academy of Sciences, shares his view: "It actually seems to be a long-term precursor. A magma chamber may be filled up within a span ranging from decades to centuries. Many mounts grow by 5 cm per year. This is a natural process." Some scientists hold that the volcanic system of the Earth is becoming increasingly tense and that underground cavities are full of magma threatening to burst out any moment. Whether this will be a super eruption or a string of smaller eruptions, we should prepare for the worst. Source: Voice of Russia
In what can be called a medical miracle, doctors have managed to save the life of a 71-year-old Italian man who had two hearts and suffered double heart attacks at the same time. At first, doctors thought they had a typical case of cardiac arrest – the man wasshort of breath, sweating profusely and his blood pressure was low. However, they were in for a surprise when upon closer inspection it was found that the patient had been walking around with two hearts and had now suffered a dueling attack. According to medical reports, the man wasn't born with two hearts but had undergone a rare heart transplant (called a heterotopic transplant) years ago in which a new organ was paired with the diseased one. "You can develop two independent heart rhythms, especially in a scenario where one heart gets a little better," Rade Vukmir, professor of emergency medicine at Temple Universityand a spokesman for the American College of Emergency Physicians told MSNBC. This is apparently exactly what happened to the Italian patient. After being admitted to the hospital, doctors administered drug therapy in an attempt to correct his dysrhythmia, only to have the medicine shut down both of his hearts. Doctors then were able to successfully use a defibrillator to revive both hearts simultaneously. He's now reportedly doing well with his two functioning hearts. Source: Ananta-Tec
Earlier this month, CarScoop reader Tommaso A. shared with us a handful of pictures and a video of a monster truck version of the latest Fiat Panda 4x4 that he spotted in Italy. At the time, we had no information regarding the build, but Fiat has now shed some light to the project. As it turns out, the monster Panda prototype was created by Fiat itself in collaboration with
Mercurio Cinematografica, set designer Andrea Faini and the Fabio Gementi Workshop, for an upcoming television spot that will air in Europe in the beginning of 2013. The Italian carmaker tells us that it took just over two weeks of work to give birth to the monster truck that combines the body of a Panda 4×4 and the floor panel of a Jeep CJ7 4200 together with colossal "High Speed" tractor tires that measure 150cm (59 inches) in diameter and 50cm (20 inches) wide. The 'bigfoot' Panda, stands at 3,900mm (153 inches) tall, 3,800mm (149.6 inches) long and 2,500mm (98.4 inches) wide. There's no word yet on which powerplant drives the monster Panda 4x4. Below you will find a description of the upcoming commercial from Fiat together with photos and a video of the custom Panda 4x4 in action. New Fiat Panda Ad: Fully operational, the Fiat Panda Monster Truck will star in the coming TV commercial at the start of 2013. Created by the Leo Burnett agency, it tells the story of four friends who set off for a weekend in the mountains. The Panda 4×4, transforming into a Monster Truck, climbs nimbly up to the hostel, stunning everyone with its performance. And when the driver, thinking he is on a normal Panda 4×4, gets down from the car, he ends up falling two metres onto a cushion of snow, to the laughter of his friends. Source: Carscoop
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Female scientists are often more productive than their male colleagues but much less likely to be recognised for their work. 
A presentation on Mexican government funding for scientific investment. How many women can you count? 
Black women face more barriers to advancement in the sciences than white women. 
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