bulgaria real estate : Understanding Commercial Real Estate ...

Try to collection a budget straight into gear if you have any intention of creating real estate postcards. These can be quite pricey; more so when compared with most people assume, and if you don?t budget your hard earned money, you?ll find yourself spending greater than you can afford in order to. Always employ a financial specialist when location a budget.

A widely used method of real estate marketing is having properties in bulgaria a wide open house. Wide open houses also have a way associated with bringing considerable buyers and the curious right into a home. A house allows the real estate agent to meet and also greet people that are interested in your house. It also allows the consumers to walk through a home and get specific inquiries of the real estate professional. It?s an effective marketing notion because it a new lets the actual buyers imagine living in that specific residence. The three benefits we discussed above are usually sufficient to get a serious investor to consider paying for real estate in Costa Rica because these will be the only things a real estate individual looks in the property she or he wants to spend. Even though the evaluator will fasten a market value to some home, it is possible to still flip it for what you may feel like. If it?s appraised on $300,000 there is absolutely no reason it?s not possible to ask for a lot more. If you get additional is another pot of fish though. You may even get less than your so-called market value. There isn?t really just about any connection between the exact price a house is sold with regard to and its worth. There are a lot regarding other things that you need to know about the real estate industry, but with aid from a realty agent, it is possible to get over every one of the troubles you will experience without having problems. This is the reason why it?s very advisable to get a real estate realtor, but it doesn?t mean that you are instructed to have any time whenever you want to advance the real estate market place. Wanting to assist everyone is frequent. You?re a Real Estate Agent, like Mr Hizajuwyx , and you wish to be able to be many people as is possible, and that?s good, but you wish to market to one particular specific team at a time. Once you cast a wider advertising and marketing net, you get diluting the message. The market industry value of the property is another subject entirely. This is actually the number that?ll be used to determine the value of the house in question. This can be determined by picking out the size of your house as well as the great deal, the number of bed rooms, the amount of lavatories as well as the market value of the adjoining properties. This market value of a home is a number that may be always transforming. This is due to several components such as the wellness of the economic system and present big island real estate for sale in the area. Hualalai lies just 10 mins north in the Kona International Airport. That place is a destination for senior citizens as well as individuals who want to are now living in a tropical somewhere warm. There are superb views in the local plant life, private beach and a five stone hotel for the property. Besides many different clubs and actions, you can select town households, condos and single houses in this private group.

Source: http://vegasvalleyletip.com/2012/06/bulgaria-real-estate-understanding-commercial-real-estate-contingencies/

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3DS Mod - A HowTo Guidebook For Concrete Repair

Concrete is a great surface for sidewalks, driveways, and patios; nonetheless, most homeowners know all to well the issues which ring it. Overtime, everyone is expected to find gaps, splits, chips, and aspects of broken concrete. The causes of these difficulties most commonly include average wear and tear; nonetheless, bad weather can be to blame too. Whatever the problem with a cement surface, treatments are essential for safety causes. For most homeowners, the initial choice is to hire a expert contractor, yet this is often a big and expensive hassle. Instead, you can easily take time to familiarize yourself with homemade concrete repair; youre amazed how much time and money you conserve.

Do-it-yourself cement set is a reasonably simple task to understand and its cheap. For a conventional sized pavement, driveway, or patio, you will be lookin at a condition which can be completed inside one weekend. The contents needed for treatments are easy to discover at regional home improvement and hardware stores. When buying the provides oneself, you prevent the markups usually charged by technicians and you eliminate expensive work fees. Small treatments, like as a easy break or maybe a little nick, wont require much money.

For those above revealed little treatments, just a limited quantity of provides are essential. All you need is water and concrete. For cement break treatments, just moisten the region and then apply grout to the affected region concrete crack repair . The final step is to allow it dry completely; do not touch or walk on the region while drying. The end happen is a little, easy repair which just took about an hours worth of your time at a surprisingly affordable expense.

Examples of bigger treatments include large splits, gaps, and big chips; of these, you need to smooth the region initial and eliminate any aged concrete and fill the region to provide you with a leveled surface to benefit. For this sort of project, you will want gravel and hand-tools, that are found at hardware or home improvement stores. Once youve a leveled surface to benefit, the steps are very matching to little treatments. Start by getting the region moist and then apply concrete on it. The surface ought to be smooth and then permitted to dry; throughout this time it should not be exposed to any foot traffic.

If left untreated you may get a serious problem; these are best treated by fixing gaps and then creating an overlay or maybe a new surface mixture for the entire cement region. With a large region to repair, the first thought can be to call on a contractor; dont do it considering you can easily nevertheless protect time and money performing the treatments oneself. Once you get to work, you may observe simple a cement repair is. In as little as 1 weekend, there are an attractive patio, pavement, or driveway.

Tags: cement crack repair, concrete crack repair

This entry was posted on Friday, June 29th, 2012 and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

Source: http://3dsmod.net/index.php/2012/06/a-howto-guidebook-for-concrete-repair-25/

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Bone-eating worms drill with acid

29 June 2012 Last updated at 09:14 By Ella Davies Reporter, BBC Nature, Salzburg, Austria

Deep sea worms use acid to eat the bones of seabed skeletons, according to US scientists.

The so-called "zombie worms" of the Osedax family are known to bore into bones and remove nutrients.

Fresh analysis of the root-like tissues the worms use to attach to bones has identified acid-secreting enzymes.

Until now scientists did not understand how the tiny creatures fed on bone, as they lack the body parts needed to "drill" physically.

Dr Sigrid Katz from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego will present the team's research at the Society for Experimental Biology's annual conference.

Continue reading the main story

Worms' world:

• Osedax are types of segmented worms (like earthworms and ragworms) in the Polychaeta group.
• Polychaete worms are mainly marine-living and are more commonly known as bristle worms.
• They can range in size from 1mm up to an astonishing 3m.
• Some of the most recognisable of these worms are the Christmas tree worms, named for their conical, spiky resemblance.

Found at the bottom of the sea living on the fallen skeletons of whales and fish, the unusual group of worms have caused fascination since their "accidental" discovery in 2002 by the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI).

The MBARI team provided the whale bones and specimens used by Dr Katz and her colleagues.

Scientists were perplexed when they only discovered females but further investigation revealed that the males remained in their microscopic larval stage, living inside the female worms.

The unusual group's name Osedax is Latin for "bone devourer", and the worms have no mouth, gut or anus yet are still able to remove nutrients from bones.

Previous studies have revealed that symbiotic bacteria inside the worms digest the fats and oils extracted, but the question of how the worms physically bore into the bones had been a mystery.

Close analysis of the worms failed to find any abrasive structures the worms could use to mechanically "drill" into bone.

This prompted Dr Katz and colleagues to investigate whether the worms had a chemical strategy for penetrating the bones.

By analysing the worms' tissues, the team found that acid-secreting enzymes were abundant in the root-like parts that attach to bones.

"The acid is secreted through the skin of the roots region," said Dr Katz.

"The skin cells in this region are very long cells and the upper end has lots of [microscopic protrusions, which] enlarge the surface multiple times, so lots of acid can be secreted," she explained.

Seventeen species of the worms have been recorded worldwide, including in the North Atlantic ocean off the coast of Sweden, and the Pacific Ocean off the coasts of Japan and California.

Last year BBC Nature reported that traces of the worm have also been discovered in a fossil from the Mediterranean Sea.

Dr Katz said she hoped her discovery would help scientists to unravel the "mysterious lifestyle" of the worms.

"In the past 10 years we have learned a lot more about them, but there are also still a lot of questions to answer on their physiology and especially about nutrition, nutrient uptake and host-symbiont interactions," she told BBC Nature.

"The fact that we now know how they penetrate the bone is one step in understanding the functioning of this symbiosis."

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/18594493

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Opel supervisory board approves turnaround plan

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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/opel-supervisory-board-approves-turnaround-plan-132249745--finance.html

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Supreme Court Decision Protects My Health, And Yours

As a journalist and a health advocate, I have a professional interest in health care reform. But as the Supreme Court upheld the Affordable Care Act this week, I had a personal interest as well. Last fall, after three decades as a salaried employee with health benefits, I became a self-employed consultant with none. And this spring, after 56 years of perfect health, I learned that cancer had invaded my colon and my liver. Fortunately, my wife has an employer-sponsored plan that covers my treatment, but without health care reform, my treatment would hinge on her job status. Any change in her employment could have landed me in front of a death panel?not a fictional one manned by bureaucrats who ration our health care, but a real one made up of insurance companies that couldn?t or wouldn?t cover people with known health problems.

Many Americans live closer to the edge than I do, and each of them has a stake in this this week?s ruling. As the Institute of Medicine declared in a 2009 report, the continuing decline in access to health care is causing ?illness, suffering, and even death? among children and adults in this country. Yet polls consistently show that more Americans oppose the Affordable Care Act than support it?not because they?ve evaluated and rejected it but because they don?t understand it. There are plenty of reasons for that confusion; the law is complicated, opponents have misrepresented it, and the news media have focused on the politics rather than the substance. But as the bill?s chief architect and advocate, President Barack Obama bears equal blame for the tepid public response. Contrary to his persistent illusion, bold reforms don?t survive on merit alone. They have to be sold?and this one has scarcely been marketed.

As signed into law two years ago, the Affordable Care Act holds tangible advantages for most Americans. By 2014, it will create new health care options for 30 million people who now lack coverage, while improving quality and lowering costs for those who are insured. The act has already secured coverage for 3 million young adults by enabling them to stay on their parents? plans through age 25. Millions more children and adults will have new gateways to health care in 2014, thanks to new tax credits and an overdue revision of Medicaid?s eligibility rules. The new law also bars insurers from discriminating against people with ?pre-existing conditions??a group that includes roughly half of the non-elderly population?and freed 105 million policyholders from the lifetime caps on essential benefits. Before that rule took effect, some 20,000 patients were being dropped by their insurers every year, often while receiving critical care. The expansion of access may sound costly, and it is. But by bringing healthy people into the insurance pool, and improving the quality of care, it will save the average American household nearly $1,600 a year by 2019, according to an analysis by Families USA. And the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates that the act will shave $130 billion off the federal deficit by 2020.

When asked, people tend to favor specific reforms such as barring discrimination against those with pre-existing conditions. Yet surprisingly few associate these reforms with the Affordable Care Act. In January 2010, just before Obama signed the act into law, the Pew Research Center quizzed a national sample of adults on its basic provisions. Only 39 percent knew it would protect people with pre-existing health conditions. Only 33 percent knew it would help them switch jobs without losing their insurance. And just one in five (21 percent) realized it could reduce their out-of-pocket health care costs. Obama acknowledged his own failure to communicate at the time, saying, ?I take my share of the blame for not explaining [the act] more clearly to the American people.? But two years and countless news cycles later, the public has yet to be rallied to its own defense. In recent polls conducted by the Pew Research Center, the Kaiser Family Foundation and AP-GfK, opponents of the act still outnumber supporters by 5 to 14 percentage points. And with House Speaker John Boehner (not to mention presidential hopeful Mitt Romney) still promising to repeal health care reform, public opinion still matters.

How could a leader with Obamas rhetorical talents fall so flat on such a critical issue? The failure stems partly from his misplaced faith in the decency of his adversaries. As the Affordable Care Act was taking shape in 2009, Obama?s progressive base clamored for a single-payer system that would cover all Americans. The President ditched that idea, along with a more modest ?public option? that would give people an alternative to the private insurance market. Instead he adopted a longstanding Republican idea: the so-called individual mandate. To expand the health system?s financial base without swelling the public sector, the mandate simply requires everyone to get some form of insurance. ?Many [states] require anybody driving a car to have liability insurance,? the conservative Heritage Foundation argued in a seminal 1989 pitch for the idea. ?But neither the federal government nor any state requires all households to protect themselves from the potentially catastrophic costs of a serious accident or illness. Under the Heritage plan, there would be such a requirement.?

As passed by Congress and enacted two years ago, the Affordable Care Act included that requirement. But instead of lining up behind their own idea, Republican lawmakers set about demonizing it as a government attack on consumer freedom. Meanwhile, attorneys in conservative states filed a barrage of lawsuits challenging its constitutionality. It was the President?s moment to rally the country with a story about basic human needs and his determination to see them fulfilled. But the man who won the presidency by winning our hearts held back, assuming that reason would prevail, and his opponents gladly supplied a new story line. Instead of a narrative about the desperate struggles of ordinary Americans, the public got one about Barack Obama as a radical ideologue scheming to force his views on a freedom-loving country.

The White House has learned from the experience and is speaking out belatedly on the benefits of the health care reform. Now that the court has upheld the health care reform law, the President and his allies have a new chance to forge a national consensus?not through government pronouncements but through the kind of mass mobilization that swept him into office four years ago. No one did more to defeat the Clinton administration?s 1993 health care proposal than ?Harry and Louise,? the fictional suburban couple victimized by government bureaucrats in television skits produced by the insurance industry. By 2008, the actors in those ads had seen enough to switch sides and produce a new set of spots urging the next president, Democrat or Republican, to place health care reform at the top of his agenda. (?Lisa?s husband just found out he has cancer,? Louise confides to Harry this time. ?He just joined a startup and he can?t afford a plan.?)

Obama heeded the call during his first year in office, but his allies have been outspent three-to-one by opponents since the Affordable Care Act took effect in 2009. This spring, his Health and Human Services department selected a PR firm to produce educational materials about the act, as the law itself requires. But the face of health care reform is still that of a demonized politician?Barack Obama himself?not that of a family bankrupted by medical bills or a child denied asthma treatment because the condition predates her insurance policy. Finally this spring, Obama?s election web site has started profiling people whose stories show in raw, personal terms what?s at stake for the country. If the president can use this week?s court ruling to reassert his own gifts as a storyteller?and his supporters can spark the kind of social-media uprising that helped elect him?health care reform may yet have a chance. His success, and our well-being, now depend on it.

Geoffrey Cowley has worked as a senior editor at Newsweek, an associate commissioner at the New York City Health Department and a media director at the Planned Parenthood Federation of America. He is now an independent journalist and public health consultant.

Supreme Court of the United States Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons/UpstateNYer

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=2f65644536e02fc2586e1b34242a7cf7

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Evidence of oceanic 'green rust' offers hope for the future

ScienceDaily (June 27, 2012) ? A rare kind of mineral which scientists hope could be used to remove toxic metals and radioactive species from the environment played a similar, crucial role early in Earth's history.

Research carried out by an international team of leading biogeochemists suggests for the first time that 'green rust' was likely widespread in ancient oceans and may have played a vital role in the creation of our early atmosphere.

Led by Newcastle University, UK, the study shows that during the Precambrian period, green rust 'scavenged' heavy metals such as nickel out of the water. Nickel availability is linked to the production of methane by anaerobic organisms, which is a major sink for oxygen produced during photosynthesis, and thus green rust played a crucial role in the oxygenation of Earth's atmosphere.

Only discovered in the last decade, green rust is a highly reactive iron mineral which experts hope could be used to clean up metal pollution and even radioactive waste.

Newcastle University's Professor Simon Poulton said this latest discovery -- published this month in the academic journal Geology -- demonstrated the effectiveness of green rust as an environmental cleaner.

"Because it is so reactive, green rust has hardly ever been found before in nature and never in a water system like this," explains Professor Poulton, who led the research team involving experts from the Universities of Newcastle, Nancy, Southern Denmark, Leeds, Brussels and Kansas, and the Canadian Light Source and Indonesian Institute of Sciences.

"The discovery of green rust in Lake Matano, Indonesia, where we carried out our experiments shows for the first time what a key role it played in our ancient oceans -- scavenging dissolved nickel, a key micronutrient for methanogenesis."

Dr Sean Crowe of the University of Southern Denmark explains: "We still know relatively little about green rust but our research shows that it is likely to be much more prevalent in the environment than has previously been recognized and the role it plays in cycling elements such as nickel and other metals is significant.

"Understanding the important role it played in our past and its effectiveness at removing metals from the environment will help us to understand how we might be able to use it to clean up polluted land and water in the future."

The high reactivity of green rust is the reason it could be so much help in cleaning up polluted sites. The rust reduces elements like chromium, uranium and selenium, significantly reducing their solubility and mobility in the environment, and in some cases absorbing them into the rust's molecular structure.

Professor Poulton adds: "Green rust has received a lot of attention recently due to its possible role as a pollutant mediator, but it is particularly exciting to think that this may have been a natural process throughout huge periods of ancient Earth history."

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Newcastle University.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

---

Journal Reference:

1. A. Zegeye, S. Bonneville, L. G. Benning, A. Sturm, D. A. Fowle, C. Jones, D. E. Canfield, C. Ruby, L. C. MacLean, S. Nomosatryo, S. A. Crowe, S. W. Poulton. Green rust formation controls nutrient availability in a ferruginous water column. Geology, 2012; 40 (7): 599 DOI: 10.1130/G32959.1

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

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Cross Blog: Red Cross news and views from Oregon and beyond ...

Welcome to the Weekly Worldwide Wrap-Up, in which we consolidate the international Red Cross and Red Crescent news into one list of bite-sized links for you.? It's a non-comprehensive sampling of the larger and/or more intriguing aspects of our global work...

UGANDA:? The Uganda Red Cross Society has been assisting in the search and rescue operations following a landslide in the Bududa district of the country which left an estimate 18 people dead and hundreds displaced.? Thousands more are said to be at risk of further landslides caused by floods in the region. ? Rapid assessments by local Red Cross staff indicate that 3,368 people are at high risk and need to be relocated immediately.

SYRIA:? Last weekend Bashar al-Youssef, a 23 year old volunteer for the Syrian Arab Red Crescent, was shot while on first-aid duty.? This is the fourth killing of this kind in Syria over the past year.? The IFRC and ICRC have condemned these acts, that highlight the difficulties faced by the Syrian Red Crescent Society, the only Syrian humanitarian organization operating in areas affected by violence.

BRAZIL:? Last week was the Rio +20 UN Conference on Sustainable Development in Brazil.? In conjunction with Rio +20 was the People?s Summit for Social and Environmental Justice, in which the IFRC hosted a 90-minute discussion on the role of youth and women in advancing the food security agenda.? To demonstrate the importance of both youth and volunteering, the Brazilian Red Cross had a 100-strong team working 12 hours a day at three first aid posts throughout the People?s Summit.

LIBYA:? The Libyan Armed Forces and the ICRC signed a memorandum of understanding earlier this week, under which the ICRC will provide support for the integration of the rules of international humanitarian law in the army?s training and operations.? The ICRC has considerable expertise in promoting respect for the basic rules of international humanitarian law, having carried out humanitarian operations in armed conflicts for almost one and a half centuries.

GLOSSARY:

ICRC = International Committee of the Red Cross
IFRC = International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies

PHOTO:
Staff and volunteers from the Uganda Red Cross Society undertaking search and rescue operations in the village of Bunakasala. (Uganda Red Cross)

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Do you have pets? - Baexpats - Community of Expatriates in Buenos ...

Well, I couldn't select more than one option so I selected other

More than I can count. At home, we have 3 outdoor dogs (2 filas and a rescue dog) that live in the barn. One JRT that is a house dog. And 2 indoor cats and 5 outdoor cats. Plus many, many horses although those aren't "pets" per se as they're all for sale.

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FDA Probing Safety of Metal-on-Metal Hip Implants

TUESDAY, June 26 (HealthDay News) -- While thousands of Americans have benefited from hip replacements over the years, problems with metal-on-metal implants can lead to troubles requiring surgery to replace defective devices, experts say.

Specifically, experts say, tiny fragments of metal can shear off from these joints, causing chronic pain or infection and raising levels of metals in the bloodstream. Experts estimate that more than 500,000 Americans have received a metal-on-metal hip joint, mostly between 2003 and 2010.

Worry over the failure rate of the implants, and the speed at which they were initially approved for the U.S. market, has led to a special two-day session, beginning Wednesday, by experts at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

"Data from recent studies and from FDA's own review show some patients experiencing complications, including the need for additional surgeries, which could be attributed to metal-on-metal hip implant devices," said FDA spokeswoman Michelle Bolek.

Since 1999, almost 17,000 problems with these devices have been reported to the FDA. Of these, more than 12,000 were reported last year alone.

According to the agency, the problems with metal-on-metal implants are about the same as those seen with polyethylene and ceramic implants, except for the specific risks caused by the metal itself.

But others say that when it comes to complications, metal-on-metal implants are in a class of their own. Writing earlier this month in the New England Journal of Medicine, Dr. Joshua Rising of the Pew Charitable Trusts, and colleagues said that "there is now compelling evidence that these implants fail at a higher rate than hip prostheses made of other materials; indeed, one type of metal-on-metal hip has a failure rate of nearly 50 percent at 6 years."

Responding to these concerns, the FDA panel is considering the risks and benefits of metal-on-metal implants and what might be needed to monitor the health of patients who have them.

Of the estimated 400,000 hip replacements done in the United States each year, 27 percent involve metal-on-metal devices, according to the FDA.

Critics, including an independent panel of experts at the Institute of Medicine, have noted that metal-on-metal implants may have been approved too quickly under the FDA's "fast-track" program for medical devices.

Responding to concerns, in May 2011 the FDA ordered manufacturers to carry out "post-market" studies, tracking the safety of metal-on-metal hip implants in recipients. But in the NEJM article, Rising and colleagues noted that most of these studies have yet to begin and their first results will take years to arrive.

The FDA's Bolek made it clear that the advisory panel meeting is not a regulatory meeting and is not intended to look at the process that brought the devices to the market, or to deal with any planned or current post-marketing studies.

Metal-on-metal devices have already been recalled twice. In 2008, a device from manufacturer Zimmer, the Durom Acetabular Component, was recalled because instructions were not clear.

And in 2010 a device from DePuy Orthopaedics Inc. was recalled because more patients than expected had to have new surgeries, according to the FDA.

Earlier this month, a device called the R3 Acetabular System from Smith & Nephew was taken off the market because the company said it was "not satisfied with the clinical results of this component."

In Europe these concerns have led to calls to ban metal-on-metal hip replacement devices. Writing in March in the journal The Lancet, British researchers concluded that "metal-on-metal stemmed articulations give poor implant survival compared with other options and should not be implanted." Metal-on-metal implants had a five-year failure rate of more than 6 percent, three times higher that seen with ceramic or plastic joints.

Banning metal-on-metal joints isn't an option being considered by the FDA panel at this time.

"During the panel meeting, FDA will discuss failure rates and modes for these devices, as well as any local and systemic complications that could result from metal debris and metal ion levels in the bloodstream from the device," Bolek said.

The panel will also discuss metal ion testing and soft tissue imaging, tools that can potentially be used in the clinical management of patients who have these devices, Bolek said.

"We will also review specific risk factors for specific patient populations and considerations for post-implant follow-up," she added.

Mindy Tinsley is a spokeswoman for metal implant maker DePuy Orthopaedics Inc., which is owned by Johnson & Johnson. She said that "DePuy believes that no single bearing surface meets the needs of all patients, and metal-on-metal implants provide the potential benefit of greater function and a lower risk of dislocation for some patients."

Tinsley also said that all metal-on-metal implants are not alike and they should not be grouped together if problems arise.

One orthopedic expert agreed. Dr. Joshua Jacobs, first vice president of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, said that "metal-on-metal devices are not all the same. You have to go down to the individual product to fully understand the result. When you lump metal-on-metal together you miss a lot of important differences."

According to Jacobs, who is chairman of the department of orthopaedic surgery at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, the advantages of metal-on-metal implants are that there is typically less wear on the joint, leading to less loosening and less bone loss over time.

In addition, he said, metal allows for a thinner, larger socket and head, which makes it less likely the hip will dislocate after surgery, which is a common failure of other types of hip replacement.

Still, given the problems with these devices, Jacobs agrees that patients need to be monitored.

"We are trying to learn the optimal way of monitoring patients with metal-on-metal implants, so we can understand when it is appropriate to intervene," he said. "Right now we are amassing clinical data to understand that better."

More information

For more on hip replacement, visit the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons.

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Kayak Is Worth $850 Million But Google Is A Big Concern - Travel Blog

Travelzoo Stock Should Be At Least $30 Trefis Team Contributor Kayak Shoots Into Rapid Revenue Growth As Surging Site Traffic Drives Ad Revenues Trefis Team Contributor What?s Delaying Kayak?s IPO? Trefis Team Contributor Google Hotel Finder Rocks The Boat For Kayak, Priceline Trefis Team Contributor

Image via CrunchBase

Kayak is a travel search company whose website and mobile applications facilitate easy research and comparison of fares as well as other related information collected from various supplier websites and online travel agencies. The company seems to have put its IPO plans on hold after the Facebook debacle as it wants to wait for market conditions to improve before it goes ahead with the public listing.

The outlook for Kayak depends on the performance of travel industry as a whole and due to the discretionary nature of leisure travel, revenues for online travel service providers depend entirely on macroeconomic conditions such as employment levels, inflation rates, fuel prices, forex rates, etc. Apart from economic variables, there are several other factors that can considerably impact Kayak?s future outlook. Here we provide a comprehensive view on some of those factors.

See Our Complete analysis for Kayak?s stock here

Acquisition Of ITA Software By Google Could Pose A Threat

In July 2010, Google announced an agreement to acquire ITA Software. ITA licenses its airfare search and pricing software to Kayak under an agreement which expires in December 2013. The faring software accounts for 42% of Kayak?s overall airfare query results and airline travel queries account for 85% of total searches performed on Kayak?s websites and mobile applications.

With the regulatory approval of the acquisition in April 2011, Google can create its own flight search tool which enables people to find comparable flight information on the Internet without using Kayak?s services.

Alternatively, Google may not renew ITA?s current agreements with the online travel agencies such as Kayak, or do so at unfavorable terms. Kayak admits that it is unable to replace ITA with a comparable technology. Hence a loss of access to ITA?s software could have a significant adverse impact of the comprehensiveness of query results and, consequently, on the revenues and operating margins of Kayak.

Rising Internet Penetration To Benefit Online Travel Agencies & Portals Like Kayak

Given the increasing worldwide online penetration, the Internet has become an integral part of the overall travel planning process as it enables travelers to refine searches, compare destinations and view real-time pricing.

According to PhoCusWright?s Global Online Travel Overview (April 2011), the global online leisure and unmanaged business travel segment is expected to grow twice as fast as the total global travel market, with gross booking in the online segment expected to surpass $300 billion globally in 2012.

Global Internet penetration is currently estimated at 29% (77% in North America, 58% in Europe, 35% in Latin America and 21% in Asia). With rising affluence in emerging economies of South Asia and increased adoption of Internet and e-commerce, the proportion of travel bookings over the Internet is expected to rise in the future. This trend favors online travel providers such as Expedia, Priceline, Travelocity and Orbitz among others, in turn benefiting portals such as Kayak.

Expansion In Hotel Markets in Europe and Asia To Provide An Added Opportunity

The hotel markets in Europe and Asia are much more fragmented with smaller, independent lodgings compared to the U.S., where the hotel market is dominated by large hotel chains. Large hotel chains are more likely to offer online bookings through their own websites while online travel agencies are more appealing to small, independent hotels outside the U.S. Additionally, travel agencies stand to make higher revenue margins from independent budget hotels under their merchant business model. Hence, expansion into hotels markets in Asia and Eastern Europe presents a growth opportunity for online travel services providers.

Hotel bookings offer markedly higher revenue margin (revenue earned by the travel service provider as a percentage of the size of the booking) at close to 25% compared to air ticket bookings (~3%) and cruises and car rentals (less than 10%). Hotel referral fees contribute close to 29% to our price estimate for Kayak, and hence leveraging the growth in Europe and Asia could benefit the company?s valuation in the long term.

Increase in Online Advertising Spend

With growing economic stability, the global travel market is bound to witness an increase in the years ahead. We therefore believe that travel providers and travel related advertisers will continue to devote significant resources to advertise their travel products and services. With the projected growth in online advertising market, an increasing amount of travel advertising spending is expected to migrate from traditional offline advertising channels to online advertising opportunities.

IDC estimates that the annual expenditures for global online travel advertising was over $5 billion in 2011 and forecasts the same to grow at a compound annual rate of 15% through 2014. Since Kayak derives over 50% of its value from advertising, we feel the trend will do well for the company?s future valuation.

On the flip side, traffic obtained through online advertising has increased as a percentage of total demand since the same consumer visits several websites before making a purchase. This increased shopping behavior has reduced advertising efficiency and effectiveness as traffic obtained through online advertising becomes less likely to result in purchase on the web site. Therefore, online advertising expenses have increased at a faster rate than gross profit, a trend which is expected to continue.

We estimate Kayak?s eqity value price to be worth $850 million, or approximately $25.16 based on our current estimated share count.

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COLLECTOR CAR LEADER RK MOTORS TAPS BILL PARK TO ...

CHARLOTTE, N.C. ? June 27, 2012 ? RK Motors, a premier restorer, re-seller and servicer of classic, muscle and high-performance cars, has hired automotive industry veteran Bill Park as the company?s vice president of service. Mr. Park will oversee all internal and external services delivered through the RKM Performance Center, which will open a new Mooresville, N.C., facility in August.

?RK Motors has built a stellar reputation for offering world-class collectible vehicles,? said Joseph Carroll, president and CEO of RK Motors. ?This success created a need to expand our service and restoration group, which meant we needed a savvy veteran to lead the division?s development and growth. Bill Park has the credentials to both strengthen and deepen our capabilities.?

Park has experience in all facets of business development including start-ups, process development, financial literacy, acquisitions and operational restructuring. ?Most recently president and CEO of Big Sky Autobody in Ariz., he has trained and consulted with businesses in the automotive industry for more than 20 years.? With a passion for adding value, Park founded and operated several businesses himself over the years, ranging from small, two-three person entities to a medium-sized, 100-employee corporation. ?He has also been very involved in top industry groups such as SEMA.

?I?m impressed with the tremendous expertise at RK Motors,? stated Park. ??This talented crew can service everything from T4 transmissions to adjusting a ZR1?s air/fuel mixture. ?I look forward to leveraging my experience to build the team and give even more customers the opportunity to enjoy the incredible RKM Performance Center service experience.?

The RKM Performance Center is full service classic car care facility that offers complete mechanical capabilities, interior design and installation, custom fabrication and performance upgrades.? The RKM Performance Center will serve as the service facility for RK Motors Charlotte, which is one of the leading classic car dealerships in the country.

Each vehicle offered for sale by RK Motors Charlotte will first be inspected by the RKM Performance Center to be sure the vehicle meets the high standards of the dealership. ?When the vehicle is sold through RK Motors Charlotte, it is also eligible to undergo a Test and Tune or have a comprehensive RKM Performance Certification completed prior to being delivered to the new owner.

The RKM Performance Center will also offer restoration services that combine the latest technology with old world craftsmanship, while providing customers with a world-class experience. The restoration experts will handle body and paintwork, motor and transmission rebuilds, as well as final assembly of the restored vehicles. ?RK Motors has been restoring premium vehicles in Mentor, Ohio, for years; it will move the award-winning facility to the Charlotte area.

Those interested in learning more about RK Motors Charlotte and its team members, can visit www.rkmotorscharlotte.com or call (704) 596-5211.

About RK Motors Charlotte

RK Motors Charlotte is the country?s leading retailer of investment-grade classic and collector cars. Founded in 2010 by Robert Kauffman, co-owner of Michael Waltrip Racing, and Joseph M. Carroll, founder of Best of Show Automotive, RK Motors Charlotte?s 80,000 sq./ft. facility features a 200-vehicle, state-of-the-art showroom complete with digital media studio, full restoration / customization shop and a full service area. Additional information is available at www.RKMotorsCharlotte.com. Media can contact Jennifer Pullen at (713) 855-9312 or at jpullen@tprm.com.

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Video: Barrett?s double slap in the face

PBT: Durant always destined for this moment

PBT: Kevin Durant reaching the NBA finals was never a question of if, but rather when. And now, after scoring 34 points in rallying the Thunder to a 107-99 win to eliminate the Spurs in six games, this is his time.

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