After lagging the growth in spending, personal income rose solidly in December.
By John W. Schoen, Senior Producer
American consumers caught a break in their paychecks in December ? and the money went right into their saving accounts.
That could help ease the recent squeeze on household finances. But it?s not at all clear whether the trend will continue.
Personal income rose by?0.5 percent in December, after edging up just 0.1 percent in November, according to the Commerce Department. For months, wage gains have been meager, forcing consumers to lean more heavily on their credit cards to pay the bills. The income bump last month could help spur a bigger pickup in consumer spending, which would help keep the economic recovery on track.
?We need worker compensation to pick up if consumption is to rise,? said Joel Naroff, chief economist at Naroff Economic Advisors, ?and that may finally be happening.?
Household budgets got some additional relief on prices, which edged up just 0.1 percent in December after holding steady in the prior two months. A decline in gas prices helped offset price rises elsewhere as energy prices fell 1.3 percent. For all of 2011, the Commerce Department?s price gauge?rose 2.4 percent. (The government?s best-known inflation tracker, the Consumer Price Index, rose 3 percent in 2011, double the increase in 2010.)
But even as their spending power increased in December, consumers took the extra wages and stashed them in their savings accounts, leaving?consumer spending?flat for the month. The?savings rate rose to?4 percent, the highest reading since August.
The boost in income was a welcome relief. Sluggish wage gains last year forced households to draw down their savings to pay the bills. Over the past 18 months the savings rate had fallen from 5.8 percent to just 3.5 percent in November. That trend was unsustainable, according to Capital Economics? senior economist Paul Dales.
?Now households are devoting part of their additional income to boosting their savings,? he said. ?That?s still not high enough, suggesting that real consumption probably won?t grow by much more than 1.5 percent this year.?
Continued sluggish consumer spending doesn?t bode well for the U.S. economy, which most economists believe will slow to a growth pace of just 2 percent this year. If income growth remains weak, so will the growth in consumer spending - which accounts for roughly 70 percent of gross domestic product.
?We expect consumer spending adjusted for inflation to increase about 2.2 percent this year,? said Chris Christopher Jr., a senior economist with IHS Global Insight. ?This is nothing to write home about. However, compared to our counterparts in Europe ? the American consumer and economy are looking relatively good.??
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NEW YORK (Reuters) ? Stock index futures fell on Monday as concerns grew about the state of Europe's finances as Greece and Germany sparred over budget measures for Athens.
Bank stocks led the way lower after a report that Germany was pushing for Greece to give up control over its budget policy to European institutions as part of discussions over a second bailout package.
The issues in Greece added to uncertainty ahead of a Monday summit where European Union leaders will sign off on a permanent rescue fund for the euro zone. The leaders are expected to agree on a balanced budget rule in national legislation.
Barclays Plc (BCS.N) fell 2.7 percent to $13.71, and Deutsche Bank (DB.N) sank 3.8 percent to $42.75. European shares were down 0.6 percent while an index of European banks (.SX7P) lost 2.4 percent.
While sentiment has improved over the euro zone lately, with the S&P 500 up 4.7 percent this month, many investors still view the region with caution as setbacks in solving its sovereign debt issues could hamper international economic growth and erode domestic bank profits.
Standard & Poor's late Friday issued negative ratings on three brokerage firms, including Jefferies Group Inc (JEF.N), citing the impact of a prolonged crisis in Europe.
S&P 500 futures fell 7.2 points and were below fair value, a formula that evaluates pricing by taking into account interest rates, dividends and time to expiration on the contract. Dow Jones industrial average futures lost 81 points and Nasdaq 100 futures sank 13.75 points.
Issues in Europe have taken a backseat to the focus on corporate earnings in recent weeks. So far a majority of companies have topped analyst consensus expectations, though by a lower rate than previous quarters.
Gannett Co (GCI.N) and McKesson Corp (MCK.N) are scheduled to report Monday, with Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) Exxon Mobil Corp (XOM.N) and Pfizer Inc (PFE.N) on tap for later this week.
Swiss engineering group ABB (ABBN.VX) agreed to buy U.S. electrical components maker Thomas & Betts Corp (TNB.N) for $3.9 billion in cash.
Bank of America Corp (BAC.N) is shaking up the leadership of its investment bank as it looks to find its footing in a difficult market environment. The stock fell 2 percent in premarket trading.
Economic indicators on tap for Monday include December personal income and consumption data, as well as a measure of U.S. Midwest manufacturing. Income is seen rising 0.4 percent after a 0.1 percent rise in November, and consumption is forecast to rise 0.1 percent from November.
U.S. stocks trimmed losses to end little changed on Friday, as investors saw dips in the market as an opportunity to buy into what has been a strong first month of 2012.
GIGLIO, Italy (Reuters) ? Salvage crews preparing to pump thousands of tonnes of diesel fuel and oil from the wreck of the Costa Concordia cruise ship off the Italian coast suspended work on Saturday after heavy seas made conditions unsafe, officials said.
A barge carrying pumping equipment that was attached to the capsized ship was withdrawn although work may be resumed in the afternoon, depending on conditions.
"The wind conditions and waves of more than a meter have forced us to interrupt work but we'll start up again when conditions improve," said Antonino Corsini, one of the emergency services divers working with Dutch salvage company SMIT.
Despite the interruption the search continued for bodies on the half-submerged vessel, which lies in about 20 metres of water on a rock shelf close to the island of Giglio off the Tuscan coast.
Divers found the body of a woman on Saturday, bringing the total number of known dead to 17.
But with no hope of finding survivors, the focus has switched to preventing an environmental disaster in Giglio, a popular holiday island in a marine nature reserve.
Before the work was suspended, crews were installing valves to help pump out six of the ship's fuel tanks, which contain around half of the more than 2,300 tonnes of diesel.
Pumping, originally expected to begin on Saturday, is expected to be delayed until at least Sunday. The process of extracting all the fuel is expected to take at least 28 days, officials have said.
The Concordia, a 290-metre long floating resort carrying more than 4,200 passengers and crew, sank more than two weeks ago after it ran into a rock which tore a hole in its hull.
The accident, expected to create the most expensive maritime insurance claim ever, has triggered a legal battle which has seen U.S. and Italian lawyers preparing class action and individual suits against the operator, Costa Cruises.
In a bid to limit the fallout, Costa, a unit of Carnival Corp, the world's largest cruise ship operator, has offered the more than 3,000 passengers $14,500 each in compensation on condition they drop any legal action.
The Concordia's captain, Francesco Schettino, is under house arrest, suspected of causing the accident by steering too close to shore and faces charges of multiple manslaughter and abandoning ship before the evacuation was complete.
The ship's first officer, Ciro Ambrosio, has also been questioned by prosecutors but the company itself has not been implicated in the investigation at this stage.
WASHINGTON ? NBC asked GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney on Saturday to pull a campaign advertisement made up almost entirely of a 1997 "Nightly News" report on Newt Gingrich's ethics committee reprimand.
The "History Lesson" ad started running in Florida on the weekend, when it is harder for stations to switch ad traffic even if they want to. Broadcast days before Tuesday's primary, the ad shows former NBC anchor Tom Brokaw saying that some of Gingrich's House colleagues had raised questions about the then-speaker's "future effectiveness."
Under Brokaw's image is a line that reads ? "Paid for by Romney for President, Approved by Mitt Romney."
The footage was used without permission and the extensive use of the broadcast "inaccurately suggests that NBC News and Mr. Brokaw have consented to the use of this material and agree with the political position espoused by the videos," NBC's vice president of media law, David N. Sternlicht, wrote Romney's campaign manager, Matt Rhoades.
"Aside from the obvious copyright issues, this use of the voice of Mr. Brokaw and the NBC News name exploits him and the journalistic credibility of NBC News," the letter said. The network asked for the campaign to stop running the ad immediately and revise any other videos or commercials to remove at NBC material.
"As a news organization, NBC News objects to any use of NBC News journalists and our copyrighted material that suggests to the public that we or our journalists are taking sides with any individual or organization involved in a political campaign or dispute, and we request that your organization respect that concern," the letter said.
Romney adviser Eric Fehrnstrom said the campaign isn't likely to stop running the ad.
"We just received the letter. We are reviewing it, but we believe it falls within fair use," he said. "We didn't take the entire broadcast; we just took the first 30 seconds."
NBC spokeswoman Lauren Kapp said a similar request went to other campaigns that "have inappropriately" used material from "Nightly News," "Meet the Press," "Today" and MSNBC. Kapp said she was not aware of such uses by other campaigns.
Brokaw said in a statement released by NBC that he was "extremely uncomfortable with the extended use of my personal image in this political ad. I do not want my role as a journalist compromised for political gain by any campaign."
Brokaw stepped down in 2004 after 21 years as anchor and managing editor of "Nightly News," but continues to report for the network, including on the 2012 presidential campaign.
Asked about Brokaw's concern, Fehrnstrom said only, "We respect him as a newsman who has a lot of credibility, but we believe this falls within fair use standards."
The House ethics panel investigated Gingrich's use of tax-exempt organizations. The case ended in January 1997 with a reprimand by the House and a $300,000 penalty against Gingrich for misleading the committee and prolonging its investigation.
Romney has sought the release of all records from the probe. The committee did make public its final report as well as exhibits ? which amounted to a comprehensive account of its findings. The head of the ethics committee during the Gingrich investigation, former Republican Rep. Nancy Johnson, said the committee traditionally does not publicly release investigative documents.
LOS ANGELES ? Dimitra Arliss, who played a hired killer alongside Robert Redford and Paul Newman in the caper comedy "The Sting," has died in Los Angeles. She was 79.
Jaime Larkin, a spokesperson for the Motion Picture and Television Fund Hospital, says Arliss died Jan. 26 at the Woodland Hills facility of complications from a stroke.
The Ohio native began her acting career at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago. On Broadway, Arliss starred opposite Stacy Keach in "Indians" and with Kevin Kline and John Malkovich in "Arms and the Man."
After appearing as a "hit lady" in the 1973 hit "The Sting," she was seen in "Xanadu," starring Olivia Newton-John and Gene Kelly, and in Clint Eastwood's "Firefox."
Her numerous television credits include "Dallas," "Quincy M.E.," and "Rich Man, Poor Man."
Changing people's behavior: From reducing bullying to training scientistsPublic release date: 26-Jan-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Lisa M.P. Munoz spsp.publicaffairs@gmail.com 703-951-3195 SAGE Publications
San Diego, January 26, 2012 - If you want to change how teenagers view bullying, go to the straight to the source of most school trends: the most connected crowd. According to new intervention research, targeting the most influential students in a school could be a key factor in reducing harassment and bullying.
These results are part of a group of studies that are being presented today at a social psychology conference in San Diego, CA, on new, sometimes small, ways to make meaningful impacts on people's lives. "This is an exciting time in the field of social psychology," says Timothy Wilson of the University of Virginia who wrote Redirect: The Surprising New Science of Psychological Change. "Increasingly, researchers are devising theory-based interventions that have dramatic effects in the areas of education, prejudice reduction, adolescent behavior problems, health, and many others."
The idea behind such intervention work is to change the behavior for a particular group of individuals. Reducing student bullying, increasing interest among teens in math and science, and improving perceptions of women in engineering are the focus of today's talks in San Diego.
Reducing student bullying
In the bullying intervention study, Elizabeth Levy Paluck and Hana Shepherd of Princeton University set out at a U.S. public high school to change students' perceptions that harassment of fellow students is a normal way to gain and maintain status.
"We were interested in the idea that harassment and bullying in schools is a social norm that is not necessarily related to students' personal feelings," says Levy Paluck. Her team used social network analysis to identify the students who might have the most influence in setting social norms. A random subset of these students participated in public denouncements of harassment and bullying. The researchers then tracked the social network over one year, also collecting data on disciplinary records and teacher assessments.
Levy Paluck and Shepard found that students who were socially tied to the intervention significantly decreased their perception that harassment and bullying is a desirable norm. At the same time, those students' decreased their harassment and bullying behavior as measured through disciplinary records, teacher assessments, and independent behavioral observations.
Increasing teens' interest in math and science
In a different intervention study aimed at changing teen behavior in math and science, researchers did not target the students themselves but rather their parents. The goal was to increase students' interest in taking courses in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). "We focus on the potential role of parents in motivating their teens to take more STEM courses, because we feel that they have been an untapped resource," says Judith Harackiewicz of the University of Wisconsin, Madison.
The participants consisted of 188 U.S. high school students and their parents from the longitudinal Wisconsin Study of Families and Work. Harackiewicz and her colleague Janet Hyde found that a relatively simple intervention aimed at parents two brochures mailed to parents and a website that all highlight the usefulness of STEM courses led their children to take on average nearly one semester more of science and mathematics in the last two years of high school, compared with the control group. "Our indirect intervention," funded by the National Science Foundation, "changed the way that parents interacted with their teens, leading to a significant and important change in their teens' course-taking behavior," Harackiewicz says.
Improving perceptions of women engineers
"Many of these interventions work by changing the stories people tell themselves about who they are and why they do what they do, in ways that lead to self-sustaining changes in behavior," says Wilson of the University of Virginia. For example, new work being presented by Greg Walton of Stanford University tested the effects of two interventions on female engineering students, one aimed at making them feel like they belong in engineering and another at teaching them to reflect on core values to help them cope with stress.
Both interventions improved the first-year grades of women enrolled in male-dominated engineering majors compared to a control group, eliminating a gender gap. The two interventions worked in different ways, however: Women in the belonging group were able to build better relationships with male engineers, while women in the value-training group made more friends outside of engineering, according to the study funded by the Spencer Foundation. "The two interventions suggest the power of social-psychological approaches to help people cope with settings in which their group is underrepresented and negatively stereotyped," Walton says.
###
The symposium "Revealing the Power of Social Psychology through Theoretically-Based Intervention Research" takes place on Jan. 26, 2012, at the annual meeting of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology (SPSP). More than 3,000 scientists are in attendance at the meeting in San Diego from Jan. 26-28 (www.spspmeeting.org).
SPSP promotes scientific research that explores how people think, behave, feel, and interact. With more than 7,000 members, the Society is the largest organization of social and personality psychologists in the world (www.spsp.org).
Contacts:
Lisa M.P. Munoz, SPSP Public Information Officer
spsp.publicaffairs@gmail.com
703-951-3195
Timothy Wilson, University of Virginia
tdw@virginia.edu
434-924-0674
Elizabeth Levy Paluck, Princeton University
epaluck@princeton.edu
609-258-9730
Greg Walton, Stanford University
gwalton@stanford.edu
650-498-4284
Judith Harackiewicz, University of Wisconsin, Madison
jmharack@wisc.edu
608-262-5924
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Changing people's behavior: From reducing bullying to training scientistsPublic release date: 26-Jan-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Lisa M.P. Munoz spsp.publicaffairs@gmail.com 703-951-3195 SAGE Publications
San Diego, January 26, 2012 - If you want to change how teenagers view bullying, go to the straight to the source of most school trends: the most connected crowd. According to new intervention research, targeting the most influential students in a school could be a key factor in reducing harassment and bullying.
These results are part of a group of studies that are being presented today at a social psychology conference in San Diego, CA, on new, sometimes small, ways to make meaningful impacts on people's lives. "This is an exciting time in the field of social psychology," says Timothy Wilson of the University of Virginia who wrote Redirect: The Surprising New Science of Psychological Change. "Increasingly, researchers are devising theory-based interventions that have dramatic effects in the areas of education, prejudice reduction, adolescent behavior problems, health, and many others."
The idea behind such intervention work is to change the behavior for a particular group of individuals. Reducing student bullying, increasing interest among teens in math and science, and improving perceptions of women in engineering are the focus of today's talks in San Diego.
Reducing student bullying
In the bullying intervention study, Elizabeth Levy Paluck and Hana Shepherd of Princeton University set out at a U.S. public high school to change students' perceptions that harassment of fellow students is a normal way to gain and maintain status.
"We were interested in the idea that harassment and bullying in schools is a social norm that is not necessarily related to students' personal feelings," says Levy Paluck. Her team used social network analysis to identify the students who might have the most influence in setting social norms. A random subset of these students participated in public denouncements of harassment and bullying. The researchers then tracked the social network over one year, also collecting data on disciplinary records and teacher assessments.
Levy Paluck and Shepard found that students who were socially tied to the intervention significantly decreased their perception that harassment and bullying is a desirable norm. At the same time, those students' decreased their harassment and bullying behavior as measured through disciplinary records, teacher assessments, and independent behavioral observations.
Increasing teens' interest in math and science
In a different intervention study aimed at changing teen behavior in math and science, researchers did not target the students themselves but rather their parents. The goal was to increase students' interest in taking courses in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). "We focus on the potential role of parents in motivating their teens to take more STEM courses, because we feel that they have been an untapped resource," says Judith Harackiewicz of the University of Wisconsin, Madison.
The participants consisted of 188 U.S. high school students and their parents from the longitudinal Wisconsin Study of Families and Work. Harackiewicz and her colleague Janet Hyde found that a relatively simple intervention aimed at parents two brochures mailed to parents and a website that all highlight the usefulness of STEM courses led their children to take on average nearly one semester more of science and mathematics in the last two years of high school, compared with the control group. "Our indirect intervention," funded by the National Science Foundation, "changed the way that parents interacted with their teens, leading to a significant and important change in their teens' course-taking behavior," Harackiewicz says.
Improving perceptions of women engineers
"Many of these interventions work by changing the stories people tell themselves about who they are and why they do what they do, in ways that lead to self-sustaining changes in behavior," says Wilson of the University of Virginia. For example, new work being presented by Greg Walton of Stanford University tested the effects of two interventions on female engineering students, one aimed at making them feel like they belong in engineering and another at teaching them to reflect on core values to help them cope with stress.
Both interventions improved the first-year grades of women enrolled in male-dominated engineering majors compared to a control group, eliminating a gender gap. The two interventions worked in different ways, however: Women in the belonging group were able to build better relationships with male engineers, while women in the value-training group made more friends outside of engineering, according to the study funded by the Spencer Foundation. "The two interventions suggest the power of social-psychological approaches to help people cope with settings in which their group is underrepresented and negatively stereotyped," Walton says.
###
The symposium "Revealing the Power of Social Psychology through Theoretically-Based Intervention Research" takes place on Jan. 26, 2012, at the annual meeting of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology (SPSP). More than 3,000 scientists are in attendance at the meeting in San Diego from Jan. 26-28 (www.spspmeeting.org).
SPSP promotes scientific research that explores how people think, behave, feel, and interact. With more than 7,000 members, the Society is the largest organization of social and personality psychologists in the world (www.spsp.org).
Contacts:
Lisa M.P. Munoz, SPSP Public Information Officer
spsp.publicaffairs@gmail.com
703-951-3195
Timothy Wilson, University of Virginia
tdw@virginia.edu
434-924-0674
Elizabeth Levy Paluck, Princeton University
epaluck@princeton.edu
609-258-9730
Greg Walton, Stanford University
gwalton@stanford.edu
650-498-4284
Judith Harackiewicz, University of Wisconsin, Madison
jmharack@wisc.edu
608-262-5924
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Don't worry, you can watch the video because no one was hurt in this freak accident. It's crazy, a youth hockey team in Slovakia was actually practicing in the hockey rink as the arena's roof came crashing down. More »
Contact: Christa Stratton cstratton@geosociety.org Geological Society of America
Boulder, Colo., USA - New Geosphere research posted online ahead of print interprets the EoceneEarly Miocene paleotopography of Nevada, examines the origin of the Colorado Mineral Belt, compares mountain building processes in Alaska, uncovers more about the dynamic Antarctic ice from the AND-1B borehole, and more.
Highlights are provided below. Representatives of the media may obtain complimentary copies of Geosphere articles by contacting Christa Stratton at the address above. Abstracts for these and other Geosphere papers are available at http://geosphere.gsapubs.org/ .
Please discuss articles of interest with the authors before publishing stories on their work, and please make reference to Geosphere in articles published. Contact Christa Stratton for additional information or assistance.
Non-media requests for articles may be directed to GSA Sales and Service, gsaservice@geosociety.org.
EoceneEarly Miocene paleotopography of the Sierra NevadaGreat BasinNevadaplano based on widespread ash-flow tuffs and paleovalleys Christopher D. Henry et al., University of Nevada, Reno. Posted online 23 Jan. 2012; doi: 10.1130/GES00727.1
In as study by Henry et al., as much as 3000 km3 of the tuff of Campbell Creek erupted 28.9 million years ago from a supervolcano about 35 km in diameter in central Nevada. The tuff flowed down paleovalleys as much as 280 km to the west, into the western foothills of the Sierra Nevada, and 300 km to the northeast, to what is now the Ruby Mountains. The distribution of the tuff of Campbell Creek and other widespread ash-flow tuffs demonstrate that the Sierra Nevada was a lower, western ramp to a higher plateau in what is now central Nevada, that a north-south "paleo-continental divide" existed through central-eastern Nevada, and that the characteristic basin-and-range topography of Nevada did not exist until after 29 million years ago. The plateau and paleodivide connected northward at least into Idaho and southward into northern Sonora, Mexico.
Origin of the Colorado Mineral Belt Charles E. Chapin, New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources (retired). Posted online 12 Jan. 2012; doi: 10.1130/GES00694.1
Ogden Tweto stated the puzzle of the Colorado mineral belt succinctly in 1975: "The problem is not so much why or how magmas were generated, but why magmatic activity took the pattern it didthat is, of a rather sharply defined belt diagonal to all major tectonic elements in an extensive region that elsewhere is nearly devoid of contemporaneous igneous rocks." The Colorado mineral belt is a 500-km-long, 25-km-wide belt of igneous intrusions and mining districts that trends northeastward from the Four Corners area on the Colorado Plateau to the eastern edge of the Rocky Mountains near Boulder, Colorado. In plate tectonics terms, the mineral belt is located within a 1200-km-wide gap in the volcanic chain that marked the western edge of North America during the Laramide orogeny (approximately 80 to 40 million years ago). As the North American plate moved southwestward, the Farallon oceanic plate was subducted beneath it on a northeastward trajectory. Observations that major differences in volcanism, sedimentation, and trends of mountain ranges occur on opposite sides of the Colorado mineral belt led Chapin to suspect that the mineral belt was located above a segment boundary in the subhorizontally subducted Farallon plate. Coincidence in timing of the beginning of magmatism along the mineral belt (75 million years ago) with accelerated FarallonNorth American convergence and major tectonic deformation of the Rocky Mountain area added credence to the plate tectonic interpretation. As the thicker lithosphere of the North American plate rapidly overrode the underlying Farallon plate, tensional stresses dilated the segment boundary, allowing fluids and magmas to rise into the crust of the Rocky Mountain region, thus forming the Colorado mineral belt.
Miocene magmatism in the Bodie Hills volcanic field, California and Nevada: A long-lived eruptive center in the southern segment of the ancestral Cascades arc David A. John et al., USGS. Posted online 23 Jan. 2012; doi: 10.1130/GES00674.1
The Miocene Bodie Hills volcanic field is a >700-square-kilometer eruptive center of subduction-related magmatism in the southern segment of the ancestral Cascades arc north of Mono Lake. It consists of about 20 major eruptive units, including four relatively mafic composition (basaltic andesite-andesite) stratovolcanoes emplaced along the margins of the field, and numerous, more centrally located intermediate to silicic composition (dacite-rhyolite) flow dome complexes. Volcanism was episodic with two peak periods of eruptive activity: an early period at about 14.7 to 12.9 million years ago that mostly formed stratovolcanoes, and a later period between about 9.2 to 8.0 million years ago dominated by large dome fields. Following an approximately 2-million-year hiatus in magmatic activity, post-subduction volcanic rocks of the Pliocene-Pleistocene (about 3.6 to 0.1 million years ago) Aurora volcanic field were deposited on the east side the Bodie Hills volcanic field. Geophysical data from John et al. suggest that many of the Miocene volcanoes have shallow plutonic roots that extend to depths ?2 km below the surface, and much of the Bodie Hills may be underlain by low-density plutons likely related to Miocene volcanism. Numerous hydrothermal systems were operative in the Bodie Hills during the Miocene volcanism, including systems that formed large gold-silver vein deposits in the Bodie and Aurora mining districts. Economically important mineral deposits in the Bodie Hills are temporally related to dome complexes. Rock compositions and volcanic center landforms in the Bodie Hills are broadly similar to these features in other parts of the southern part of the ancestral arc south of Lake Tahoe (approximately latitude 39 to 39.5N); dome fields among less abundant stratovolcanoes are common, intermediate compositions (andesite-dacite) are abundant, and mafic compositions (basalts) are scarce. The scarcity of mafic volcanic rocks is likely a consequence of thick crust that prevented ascent of mantle-derived basalt magmas. Farther north along the Miocene arc between Lake Tahoe and southern Oregon, the crust was thinner, basalt melts rose directly to the surface, and ancestral arc eruptions formed mafic shield volcanoes.
Structural relationships in the eastern syntaxis of the St. Elias orogen, Alaska James B. Chapman et al., SandRidge Energy. Posted online 23 Jan. 2012; doi: 10.1130/GES00677.1
Not all mountains are created in the same way. Chapman et al. examine an intersection between two mountain chains in southern Alaska. One set of mountains formed as a result of strike-slip faulting, and the other formed from contractional faults in a head-on collision of tectonic plates. By examining the fault surfaces involved within this intersection and studying the rocks that were folded and offset by these faults, we can unravel the history of these mountain chains and understand how they formed. In this instance, the mountains that formed by strike-slip faults were built first. These mountains formed several million years ago as a small tectonic plate was sliding northward along the west coast of North America. As this mountain chain pushed further north toward Alaska, the geometry of the plate boundary changed and the small tectonic plate could no longer easily slide northward. As a result, a new mountain chain began to form that involved different types and orientations of faults. This new mountain chain is the second type of mountains that formed from contraction. Chapman et al. can demonstrate how the new mountain system overprinted the older one and make an estimate of how long ago this process started to occur. Combining these age estimates with additional studies of the degree of faulting in the mountain chains provides important rates on faulting.
Lithostratigraphy from downhole logs in Hole AND-1B, Antarctica Trevor Williams et al., Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. Posted online 23 Jan. 2012; doi: 10.1130/GES00655.1
The ANDRILL McMurdo Ice Shelf (MIS) project drilled a 1285-meter-deep borehole containing a remarkable record of Antarctic glacial history. It shows that the West Antarctic ice sheet retreated and advanced about 38 times over the last 6 million years, with consequent sea level changes modeled to reach 3 to 7 m higher than today. This history of dynamic ice comes from the alternating sedimentary rock types: diatomite, formed from open-water plankton, and diamict, made of clays, sands, and gravel from under past ice sheets. There are other rock types, like mudstones and sandstones, and gradations between them all. Williams et al. describe how physical properties help to distinguish themproperties such as magnetic susceptibility, natural gamma radiation, potassium content, and electrical resistivity all have characteristic signatures in the different rock types. They can be used to describe features such as the increased clay content at the top of the diamicts and the base of the diatomites, and thus describe the transition from ice-covered to ice-retreated conditions. The properties measured in place by downhole logging tools represent the only information for the few intervals unrecovered by coring, and we interpret lithology for those intervals. In this way, we help to tell the story of dynamic Antarctic ice from the AND-1B borehole.
Crustal structure and signatures of recent tectonism as influenced by ancient terranes in the western United States Hersh Gilbert, Purdue University. Posted online 23 Jan. 2012; doi: 10.1130/GES00720.1
The western portion of North America has experienced a long history of deformation and is now characterized by diverse topography. Observations from data recently collected by the EarthScope USArray provide the first uniform seismic data set designed to investigate this region. Results presented here by Gilbert indicate that the crust varies in thickness across the western United States and exhibits distinct structures within the Basin and Range, Snake River Plain, the Sierra Nevada, and the active Cascade volcanic arc. These distinct features illustrate that recent tectonic processes have affected the structure of the crust. Additional trends in crustal characteristics align with the boundaries between the terranes that accreted together to form North America. The preservation of these ancient features suggests that they influenced subsequent deformation.
LaDiCaoz and LiDARimagerMATLAB GUIs for LiDAR data handling and lateral displacement measurement Olaf Zielke and J Ramon Arrowsmith, Arizona State University. Posted online 23 Jan. 2012; doi: 10.1130/GES00686.1
This software contribution publication provides Matlab GUIs (graphical user interfaces) for LiDAR (light detection and ranging) data handling and lateral displacement measurement. In recent years, digital elevation models (DEMs) generated from high-resolution LiDAR data have become a powerful tool for many scientific disciplines that investigate earth surface related processes such as tectonic geomorphology, hydrology, vegetation dynamics, or civil engineering. For example, they can be used in tectono-geomorphic studies to identify and measure geomorphic features such as fluvial channels that are laterally displaced as they cross an active fault zone. Such offset data may be used to reconstruct the earthquake history along a given fault (e.g., the San Andreas Fault, California). However, the high resolution and thus large volume of LiDAR data makes their analysis somewhat cumbersome. Here, Zielke and Arrowsmith provide Matlab GUIs that enable fast and uncomplicated LiDAR data visualization and processing as well as offset measurements. Key features of the provided GUIs include (A) analysis of large (>108 data points) DEMs on standard desktop PCs, (B) automated generation of *.kmz files from LiDAR-derived DEMs for import into GoogleEarth, and (C) slicing and lateral back-slipping of the DEM to assess offset measurement reliability.
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Contact: Christa Stratton cstratton@geosociety.org Geological Society of America
Boulder, Colo., USA - New Geosphere research posted online ahead of print interprets the EoceneEarly Miocene paleotopography of Nevada, examines the origin of the Colorado Mineral Belt, compares mountain building processes in Alaska, uncovers more about the dynamic Antarctic ice from the AND-1B borehole, and more.
Highlights are provided below. Representatives of the media may obtain complimentary copies of Geosphere articles by contacting Christa Stratton at the address above. Abstracts for these and other Geosphere papers are available at http://geosphere.gsapubs.org/ .
Please discuss articles of interest with the authors before publishing stories on their work, and please make reference to Geosphere in articles published. Contact Christa Stratton for additional information or assistance.
Non-media requests for articles may be directed to GSA Sales and Service, gsaservice@geosociety.org.
EoceneEarly Miocene paleotopography of the Sierra NevadaGreat BasinNevadaplano based on widespread ash-flow tuffs and paleovalleys Christopher D. Henry et al., University of Nevada, Reno. Posted online 23 Jan. 2012; doi: 10.1130/GES00727.1
In as study by Henry et al., as much as 3000 km3 of the tuff of Campbell Creek erupted 28.9 million years ago from a supervolcano about 35 km in diameter in central Nevada. The tuff flowed down paleovalleys as much as 280 km to the west, into the western foothills of the Sierra Nevada, and 300 km to the northeast, to what is now the Ruby Mountains. The distribution of the tuff of Campbell Creek and other widespread ash-flow tuffs demonstrate that the Sierra Nevada was a lower, western ramp to a higher plateau in what is now central Nevada, that a north-south "paleo-continental divide" existed through central-eastern Nevada, and that the characteristic basin-and-range topography of Nevada did not exist until after 29 million years ago. The plateau and paleodivide connected northward at least into Idaho and southward into northern Sonora, Mexico.
Origin of the Colorado Mineral Belt Charles E. Chapin, New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources (retired). Posted online 12 Jan. 2012; doi: 10.1130/GES00694.1
Ogden Tweto stated the puzzle of the Colorado mineral belt succinctly in 1975: "The problem is not so much why or how magmas were generated, but why magmatic activity took the pattern it didthat is, of a rather sharply defined belt diagonal to all major tectonic elements in an extensive region that elsewhere is nearly devoid of contemporaneous igneous rocks." The Colorado mineral belt is a 500-km-long, 25-km-wide belt of igneous intrusions and mining districts that trends northeastward from the Four Corners area on the Colorado Plateau to the eastern edge of the Rocky Mountains near Boulder, Colorado. In plate tectonics terms, the mineral belt is located within a 1200-km-wide gap in the volcanic chain that marked the western edge of North America during the Laramide orogeny (approximately 80 to 40 million years ago). As the North American plate moved southwestward, the Farallon oceanic plate was subducted beneath it on a northeastward trajectory. Observations that major differences in volcanism, sedimentation, and trends of mountain ranges occur on opposite sides of the Colorado mineral belt led Chapin to suspect that the mineral belt was located above a segment boundary in the subhorizontally subducted Farallon plate. Coincidence in timing of the beginning of magmatism along the mineral belt (75 million years ago) with accelerated FarallonNorth American convergence and major tectonic deformation of the Rocky Mountain area added credence to the plate tectonic interpretation. As the thicker lithosphere of the North American plate rapidly overrode the underlying Farallon plate, tensional stresses dilated the segment boundary, allowing fluids and magmas to rise into the crust of the Rocky Mountain region, thus forming the Colorado mineral belt.
Miocene magmatism in the Bodie Hills volcanic field, California and Nevada: A long-lived eruptive center in the southern segment of the ancestral Cascades arc David A. John et al., USGS. Posted online 23 Jan. 2012; doi: 10.1130/GES00674.1
The Miocene Bodie Hills volcanic field is a >700-square-kilometer eruptive center of subduction-related magmatism in the southern segment of the ancestral Cascades arc north of Mono Lake. It consists of about 20 major eruptive units, including four relatively mafic composition (basaltic andesite-andesite) stratovolcanoes emplaced along the margins of the field, and numerous, more centrally located intermediate to silicic composition (dacite-rhyolite) flow dome complexes. Volcanism was episodic with two peak periods of eruptive activity: an early period at about 14.7 to 12.9 million years ago that mostly formed stratovolcanoes, and a later period between about 9.2 to 8.0 million years ago dominated by large dome fields. Following an approximately 2-million-year hiatus in magmatic activity, post-subduction volcanic rocks of the Pliocene-Pleistocene (about 3.6 to 0.1 million years ago) Aurora volcanic field were deposited on the east side the Bodie Hills volcanic field. Geophysical data from John et al. suggest that many of the Miocene volcanoes have shallow plutonic roots that extend to depths ?2 km below the surface, and much of the Bodie Hills may be underlain by low-density plutons likely related to Miocene volcanism. Numerous hydrothermal systems were operative in the Bodie Hills during the Miocene volcanism, including systems that formed large gold-silver vein deposits in the Bodie and Aurora mining districts. Economically important mineral deposits in the Bodie Hills are temporally related to dome complexes. Rock compositions and volcanic center landforms in the Bodie Hills are broadly similar to these features in other parts of the southern part of the ancestral arc south of Lake Tahoe (approximately latitude 39 to 39.5N); dome fields among less abundant stratovolcanoes are common, intermediate compositions (andesite-dacite) are abundant, and mafic compositions (basalts) are scarce. The scarcity of mafic volcanic rocks is likely a consequence of thick crust that prevented ascent of mantle-derived basalt magmas. Farther north along the Miocene arc between Lake Tahoe and southern Oregon, the crust was thinner, basalt melts rose directly to the surface, and ancestral arc eruptions formed mafic shield volcanoes.
Structural relationships in the eastern syntaxis of the St. Elias orogen, Alaska James B. Chapman et al., SandRidge Energy. Posted online 23 Jan. 2012; doi: 10.1130/GES00677.1
Not all mountains are created in the same way. Chapman et al. examine an intersection between two mountain chains in southern Alaska. One set of mountains formed as a result of strike-slip faulting, and the other formed from contractional faults in a head-on collision of tectonic plates. By examining the fault surfaces involved within this intersection and studying the rocks that were folded and offset by these faults, we can unravel the history of these mountain chains and understand how they formed. In this instance, the mountains that formed by strike-slip faults were built first. These mountains formed several million years ago as a small tectonic plate was sliding northward along the west coast of North America. As this mountain chain pushed further north toward Alaska, the geometry of the plate boundary changed and the small tectonic plate could no longer easily slide northward. As a result, a new mountain chain began to form that involved different types and orientations of faults. This new mountain chain is the second type of mountains that formed from contraction. Chapman et al. can demonstrate how the new mountain system overprinted the older one and make an estimate of how long ago this process started to occur. Combining these age estimates with additional studies of the degree of faulting in the mountain chains provides important rates on faulting.
Lithostratigraphy from downhole logs in Hole AND-1B, Antarctica Trevor Williams et al., Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. Posted online 23 Jan. 2012; doi: 10.1130/GES00655.1
The ANDRILL McMurdo Ice Shelf (MIS) project drilled a 1285-meter-deep borehole containing a remarkable record of Antarctic glacial history. It shows that the West Antarctic ice sheet retreated and advanced about 38 times over the last 6 million years, with consequent sea level changes modeled to reach 3 to 7 m higher than today. This history of dynamic ice comes from the alternating sedimentary rock types: diatomite, formed from open-water plankton, and diamict, made of clays, sands, and gravel from under past ice sheets. There are other rock types, like mudstones and sandstones, and gradations between them all. Williams et al. describe how physical properties help to distinguish themproperties such as magnetic susceptibility, natural gamma radiation, potassium content, and electrical resistivity all have characteristic signatures in the different rock types. They can be used to describe features such as the increased clay content at the top of the diamicts and the base of the diatomites, and thus describe the transition from ice-covered to ice-retreated conditions. The properties measured in place by downhole logging tools represent the only information for the few intervals unrecovered by coring, and we interpret lithology for those intervals. In this way, we help to tell the story of dynamic Antarctic ice from the AND-1B borehole.
Crustal structure and signatures of recent tectonism as influenced by ancient terranes in the western United States Hersh Gilbert, Purdue University. Posted online 23 Jan. 2012; doi: 10.1130/GES00720.1
The western portion of North America has experienced a long history of deformation and is now characterized by diverse topography. Observations from data recently collected by the EarthScope USArray provide the first uniform seismic data set designed to investigate this region. Results presented here by Gilbert indicate that the crust varies in thickness across the western United States and exhibits distinct structures within the Basin and Range, Snake River Plain, the Sierra Nevada, and the active Cascade volcanic arc. These distinct features illustrate that recent tectonic processes have affected the structure of the crust. Additional trends in crustal characteristics align with the boundaries between the terranes that accreted together to form North America. The preservation of these ancient features suggests that they influenced subsequent deformation.
LaDiCaoz and LiDARimagerMATLAB GUIs for LiDAR data handling and lateral displacement measurement Olaf Zielke and J Ramon Arrowsmith, Arizona State University. Posted online 23 Jan. 2012; doi: 10.1130/GES00686.1
This software contribution publication provides Matlab GUIs (graphical user interfaces) for LiDAR (light detection and ranging) data handling and lateral displacement measurement. In recent years, digital elevation models (DEMs) generated from high-resolution LiDAR data have become a powerful tool for many scientific disciplines that investigate earth surface related processes such as tectonic geomorphology, hydrology, vegetation dynamics, or civil engineering. For example, they can be used in tectono-geomorphic studies to identify and measure geomorphic features such as fluvial channels that are laterally displaced as they cross an active fault zone. Such offset data may be used to reconstruct the earthquake history along a given fault (e.g., the San Andreas Fault, California). However, the high resolution and thus large volume of LiDAR data makes their analysis somewhat cumbersome. Here, Zielke and Arrowsmith provide Matlab GUIs that enable fast and uncomplicated LiDAR data visualization and processing as well as offset measurements. Key features of the provided GUIs include (A) analysis of large (>108 data points) DEMs on standard desktop PCs, (B) automated generation of *.kmz files from LiDAR-derived DEMs for import into GoogleEarth, and (C) slicing and lateral back-slipping of the DEM to assess offset measurement reliability.
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
SEOUL, South Korea ? South Korea's economy grew at its slowest pace in two years in the fourth quarter last year as manufacturing waned amid weak overseas demand, the country's central bank said Thursday.
Gross domestic product in the October-December period expanded 0.4 percent from the third quarter, the Bank of Korea said in a release. It was the slowest growth rate since the fourth quarter of 2009, when the economic growth slowed to 0.2 percent from the previous quarter.
On a year-on-year basis, the economy grew 3.4 percent for the whole and for the whole of 2011 it grew 3.6 percent.
Earlier this month, the central bank kept its benchmark interest rate unchanged at 3.25 percent for a seventh consecutive month, citing a global slowdown and the sovereign debt crisis in Europe.
In the final quarter of last year, growth rates for consumer spending and capital and construction spending were weak and exports also decreased, the bank said.
Consumer spending dropped 0.4 percent because of weak expenditures on goods while investment in facilities fell 5.2 percent as investment on machinery and transport equipment decreased, the release said.
Construction investment decreased 0.3 percent while exports and imports fell 1.5 percent and 3.1 percent, respectively, it said.
SAN FRANCISCO?? YouTube, Google Inc's video website, is streaming 4 billion online videos every day, a 25 percent increase in the past eight months, according to the company.
The jump in video views comes as Google pushes YouTube beyond the personal computer, with versions of the site that work on smartphones and televisions, and as the company steps up efforts to offer more professional-grade content on the site.
According to the company, roughly 60 hours of video is now uploaded to YouTube every minute, compared with the 48 hours of video uploaded per minute in May.
YouTube, which Google acquired for $1.65 billion in 2006, represents one of Google's key opportunities to generate new sources of revenue outside its traditional Internet search advertising business.
Last week, Google said that its business running graphical "display" ads ? many of which are integrated alongside YouTube videos ? was generating $5 billion in revenue on an annualized run rate basis.
Still, most of the 4 billion videos that YouTube now streams worldwide every day do not make money. Three billion YouTube videos a week are monetized, according to the company.
YouTube recently redesigned its website to more prominently showcase specialized "channels" organized around different types of content. In October, YouTube announced that it had struck 100 original video programming deals with media partners including Madonna and Jay-Z.
Copyright 2012 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.
The Android 4.0.3 update for the Asus Transformer Prime brought with it some improvements to the Google Apps. However small any changes may be, nestled among them the Gmail application has received an interesting new feature menu known as "Experiments."
Experiments at the moment consists of a couple of new features which are probably not quite ready for the prime-time.
The first of these, enables full text search. Pretty straight forward this one, but still pretty useful. It allows you to index an entire message to search for keywords.
The second may not be immediately obvious as to its function. The contact chip is bascially the name entered into the To, Cc, and Bcc fields when composing a new message. Enabling this function allows you to long press on one of these contact chips, and simply drag and drop to another box.
At the moment, the updated Gmail app is rolling out with Android 4.0.3. But, enter the Android community, as the apk has been extracted from the Prime and is working just fine on the Samsung Galaxy Nexus. It has been tried on Honeycomb, but ran into some nasty force close issues meaning this is purely for Ice Cream Sandwich guys.
If you're keen to try it out for yourselves, hit the source link where you'll find a handy download.
This morning, Harry Potter fans everywhere had to come to terms with some pretty big disappointment. Hopes that "Deathly Hallows ? Part 2" might earn Oscars glory crashed and burned today with the nominations announcement. It wasn't just the fans that prayed for a big night on Oscar night. Warner Bros. made a big push [...]
As a yoga teacher, you are trained to work with each client, helping them feel there best. Of course, there are many other benefits that fall beneath the umbrella of yoga teaching, but every one of them is designed to serve students by improving their physical and spiritual nature and, in turn, boosting their confidence.
In such a client oriented profession, where yoga instructors thrive on happy customers, and word of mouth, it is important to remember to take care of one?s self?and one?s business. For yoga instructor, this starts with possessing the right yoga teacher insurance.
Finding and securing yoga insurance lays the foundation for a solid and successful career in yoga teaching. The type of protection that a yoga liability insurance policy provides lets the world know that you value your career and value your students, and that you are a true professional.
In fact, depending on the state or region where you work as a yoga teacher, there is a good chance you may even be required to show proof of yoga liability insurance before you are allowed to open your doors and legally begin work with members of the public.
The reason yoga teacher insurance is so important?even in a field where the sole focus is making the client look and feel his or her very best?is because, at the end of the day, you are still running a business, and professional cosmetologists needs to be insured against the many unpredictable situations that can unfold when working one on one with a wide array of clients, tools and techniques.
When you sign up for a solid yoga teacher liability insurance program, you should get the kind of thorough protection that will allow you to breathe a sigh of relief and put all of your focus back on providing clients with the best possible services. After all, when you find the right yoga teacher insurance policy, you not only get general liability insurance for your business, but you also get malpractice and product liability coverage as well.
The first, general liability insurance, is one of the key forms of protection that should come with any yoga insurance policy. This is the part of your policy that will cover you and your business in case a client has an accident on your property. For example, if there was a wet spot on the floor near the washing station at your salon, and your client happened to slip and break her wrist, you would need general liability insurance to kick in and cover the damages.
As for malpractice and product liability insurance, these two aspects of coverage are there to protect you in case a client ever claims damage or injury either due to a lack of skill or competence on your part as the yoga teacher.
The housing market ended the year on a positive note with strong sales in December, but a glut of unsold homes will likely push prices lower through much of this year, forecasters said Friday.
Sales of existing homes hit an 11-month high last month and the number of properties on the market fell to the lowest level in nearly seven years, according to the National Association of Realtors.
Unseasonably warm weather may have helped boost sales, but analysts said a strengthening job market and record low mortgage rates should buoy housing in coming months. Still, they were troubled by the high level of "distressed homes" for sale, including short sales of underwater properties or sales of foreclosed properties. Nearly one-third of existing-home sales were distressed last month, according to the Realtors.
In addition, one-third of Realtors said home sales fell through last month because of declined mortgage applications or appraisals that fell short of the required values.
"These strong negative undercurrents in the housing market and absence of support from strong labor market conditions will continue to trim home sales in the near term," said Asha Bangalore, economist at Northern Trust Co.
The median sale price for an existing home in December was $162,500, down 2.5 percent from December 2010. For the full year, the median price for existing homes fell nearly 4 percent.
"Home sales will gradually improve in 2012. ... However, prices will continue to decline in the near term, despite the better sales," said Stuart Hoffman, chief economist of PNC. He pointed out that many home foreclosures are stuck in the pipeline due to paperwork issues and will pressure home prices in the year to come.
"The market for single-family homes picked up in the second half of 2011, after being stuck near the bottom for nearly three years," said economist Patrick Newport of IHS Global Insight. "This pickup is real, but the road to recovery will be a slow one."
While the home sales pace was a touch below economists' expectations, December marked the third straight month of gains, adding to hopes that a tentative recovery was taking shape.
But a glut of unsold properties that is weighing down on prices and stringent lending practices by banks is likely to make progress painfully slow.
There were 2.38 million unsold homes on the market last month, the fewest since March 2005. That represented a 6.2 months' supply at December's sales pace, the lowest since April 2006 and down from a 7.2 months' supply in November.
The Realtors group noted, however, that the inventory of unsold homes tends to decline in winter.
Data earlier this week showed single-family home starts rose for a third straight month in December and optimism among builders this month was the highest in four-and-a-half years.
"It is very encouraging that the current phase of the recovery is being driven by economic fundamentals as opposed to being fostered by temporary stimulus," said Millan Mulraine, a senior macro strategist at TD Securities in New York.
Reuters contributed to this report.
What are home prices doing in your area?
Existing home sales increased 5 percent last month, the highest pace in nearly a year. So, which investments may be the best bets as housing shows signs of life? CNBC's Diana Olick has the details.
FRIDAY, Jan. 20 (HealthDay News) -- Rapid growth during the first three months of life is associated with an increased risk of asthma symptoms in preschool children, a new study indicates.
The findings suggest that early infancy might be a critical period for the development of asthma, said the researchers at Erasmus Medical Center in the Netherlands.
They examined data collected from 5,125 children who were followed from the fetal stage until they were 4 years old.
The researchers found no link between fetal growth and asthma symptoms. But in children with normal fetal growth, accelerated weight gain from birth to 3 months of age was associated with increased risk of asthma symptoms, such as wheezing, shortness of breath, dry cough and persistent phlegm.
The study appears online ahead of print in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.
Previous research has shown an association between low birth weight and increased risk of asthma symptoms in children. This is the first study to examine specific fetal and infant growth patterns on asthma risk.
"Our results suggest that the relationship between infant weight gain and asthma symptoms is not due to the accelerated growth of fetal growth-restricted infants only," researcher Dr. Liesbeth Duijts said in a journal news release. "While the mechanisms underlying this relationship are unclear, accelerated weight growth in early life might adversely affect lung growth and might be associated with adverse changes in the immune system."
She added: "Further research is needed to replicate our findings and explore the mechanisms that contribute to the effects of growth acceleration in infancy on respiratory health. The effects of infant growth patterns on asthma phenotypes [observable characteristics] in later life should also be examined."
More information
The American Lung Association has more about children and asthma.
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Public release date: 26-Jan-2012
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