PHILADELPHIA, PA--(Marketwire -08/24/12)- The Pennsylvania personal injury lawyers of Lowenthal & Abrams, P.C., have reviewed a recent change to Missouri Supreme Court laws involving personal injury damages, and are very interested in this development, as it may influence other tort reform efforts taking place across the country.

The Missouri Supreme Court recently lifted a cap on the amount of damage victims of medical malpractice could receive (Case: No. SC91867, Appeal from the Circuit Court of Greene County Honorable Dan J. Conklin, Judge). This decision has the potential to dramatically affect the future of victims and the medical professionals accountable for such mistakes. The vote to overturn the cap took place on Tuesday, July 31, 2012 after an appeal came through from a recent verdict pertaining to a child born with brain damage.

When Deborah Watts' son showed signs of brain damage after a medical professional repeatedly put off medical treatment, she filed a lawsuit against the hospital. A jury determined that her losses totaled $3.37 million for medical damages and $1.45 million for non-economic damages. However, the cap forced the court to reduce her non-economic damages to $350,000. After filing an appeal, the Missouri Supreme Court decided that the cap violated Ms. Watts' right to trial by jury and removed the limit.

In the months following this decision, many other states may also review laws or potential laws that place similar limits on personal injury damages. Tort reform is a popular but controversial issue in the United States, and when caps such as this are overturned, the effects can be far-reaching. The legal team at Lowenthal & Abrams, P.C., is dedicated to helping clients pursue the full amount of compensation they need following an accident or injury, and to that end, are hopeful that this decision will influence other states to not impose restricting caps on medical malpractice damages.

About the Firm

Lowenthal & Abrams, P.C., is a personal injury law firm based in Pennsylvania, with offices in Philadelphia, New Jersey, and New York. To learn more about the services they offer, contact the team today at 215-238-1130.

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Missouri Officials Overturn Cap on Medical Malpractice Damages

RENO -- The City of Reno has partnered with Reno-based internet learning provider AthenaOnline to offer a free personal and professional development resource for Reno residents.

The website, http://www.myquickcoachreno.com, promises to help people develop their professional and personal skills to make faster and more informed business decisions, and improve both their professional and personal performance. The site features 1,800 short video advice modules as well as almost 400 articles. All of the material is provided free to Reno residents.

The site is designed to help users find the information they need from within a comprehensive library of topics that include advice on marketing, sales, leadership, communication, people management, creativity, diversity, strategy, customer service, personal finance, and much more.

The Reno City Council has put a priority on economic development, and this free tool is made available to residents to encourage best business practices and promote Reno as a community that supports entrepreneurs.

When users surf to http://www.myquickcoachreno.com, the website checks the users IP address, the network address assigned by their internet service provider, to ensure that the user is from the Reno area*. Once verified, the user has full access to the MyQuickCoachReno site. * Due to the way that AOL issues network addresses to their users the MyQuickCoachReno service is not available to AOL users.

Users can also access the site through the City of Renos webpage, http://www.reno.gov.

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City of Reno partnership promotes economic development by supporting entrepreneurs

Lubrizol Personal Care Enhances Market Focus Malte Ruffing promoted to global hair care marketing manager

CLEVELAND, August 23, 2012 - The Lubrizol Corporation announces the promotion of Malte Ruffing to global marketing manager, hair care. Ruffing, who brings more than 10 years of technical, sales, and marketing experience in the business to his new role, joins Marie Ollagnier and Timothy Roach as part of the marketing team responsible for setting long-term growth strategies for the hair care, skin care, and bath and shower markets respectively. These changes will enhance Lubrizol`s ability to focus on end use market trends and unmet needs, accelerate product innovation, and define the long-term strategies that will drive the business.

In his new position, Ruffing will lead strategy development and implementation to drive profitable growth in Lubrizol`s hair care ingredients business, which includes leading global brands such as Carbopol rheology modifiers, MerquatTM and SensomerTM conditioning polymers, and FixateTM styling polymers. Based out of Frankfurt, Germany, he will work closely with the R&D, product platform and sales teams around the world to lead innovative growth programs based on new products, formulated solutions and focused sales development.

Vince Misiti, global business director, personal care says "The addition of Malte to our team not only completes a very strong global marketing team, but also enhances our overall leadership in the personal care business. The team`s broad and complementary skill sets will enable us to provide innovative and valuable solutions to make our customers more successful."

About The Lubrizol Corporation The Lubrizol Corporation, a Berkshire Hathaway company, is an innovative specialty chemical company that produces and supplies technologies to customers in the global transportation, industrial and consumer markets. These technologies include lubricant additives for engine oils, other transportation-related fluids and industrial lubricants, as well as fuel additives for gasoline and diesel fuel. In addition, Lubrizol makes ingredients and additives for personal care products and pharmaceuticals; specialty materials, including plastics technology and performance coatings in the form of specialty resins and additives. Lubrizol`s industry-leading technologies in additives, ingredients and compounds enhance the quality, performance and value of customers` products, while reducing their environmental impact.

With headquarters in Wickliffe, Ohio, The Lubrizol Corporation owns and operates manufacturing facilities in 17 countries, as well as sales and technical offices around the world. Founded in 1928, Lubrizol has approximately 7,000 employees worldwide. Revenues for 2011 were $6.1billion. For more information, visit http://www.lubrizol.com.

All marks are owned by The Lubrizol Corporation.

Media Contact Amy Dolzine Lubrizol Advanced Materials, Inc. 9911 Brecksville Road, Brecksville, Ohio, 44141 216-447-6117 Website: http://www.lubrizol.com/personalcare

The owner of this announcement warrants that: (i) the releases contained herein are protected by copyright and other applicable laws; and (ii) they are solely responsible for the content, accuracy and originality of the information contained therein.

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Lubrizol Personal Care Enhances Market Focus

MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA--(Marketwire -08/22/12)- Symantec Corp. (SYMC) today announced Symantec Data Loss Prevention, Symantec Control Compliance Suite and Symantec Endpoint Protection have achieved Federal Service for Technical and Export Control (FSTEK of Russia) certification.

The Federal Service for Technical and Export Control (FSTEK of Russia) is a federal body of executive authority responsible for implementing national policy, ensuring inter-departmental cooperation and coordination, and special and control functions in state security. According to FSTEK Order 58, a mandatory certification is required for the security products deployed for protecting the government confidential/classified information and/or personal data and information of restricted access. The personal data and information of highly confidential nature and of restricted access is categorized by FSTEK as K1-category personal data. Institutions and companies processing K1 personal data are required to use only NDF certified security technology. TU certification involves testing the product functionality to validate its compliance with technical conditions (black box testing) and NDF certification establishes the absence of undeclared capabilities in the product such as buffer overflows, debug passwords and covert channels (source code testing).

In addition, Symantec PGP Whole Disk Encryption has achieved CEGS/CAPS certification in the United Kingdom. CEGS, which operates as the National Technical Authority for Information Assurance (IA) for the UK's wider public sector (including the Health Service, law enforcement and local government) and the essential services that form the UK's Critical National Infrastructure (such as power and water), provides policy and assistance on the security of communications and electronic data, working in partnership with industry and academia in the United Kingdom.

These certifications enable governments to enact regulations intended to protected personal data. Compliance with personal data protection regulation is the responsibility of the organization, governmental or commercial, who store and process personal data. The compliance with these regulations is controlled via audits carried out by the government appointed entities. Symantec's certifications enable organizations to meet the requirements of compliance by using certified security products.

Symantec Control Compliance Suite, the company's enterprise-class IT governance, risk and compliance (GRC) solution, provides a comprehensive compliance and risk management solution that enables security leaders to communicate IT risk in business-relevant terms, prioritize remediation efforts based on business criticality, and automate time-consuming manual assessment processes to improve their organization's overall security and compliance posture while reducing cost and complexity. Symantec Data Loss Prevention solution delivers a proven, content-aware solution to discover, monitor, protect and manage confidential data wherever it is stored or used. It allows organizations to measurably reduce their risk of a data breach, demonstrate regulatory compliance and safeguard customer privacy, brand equity and intellectual property. Symantec Endpoint Protection solution provides integrated antivirus, antispyware, firewall, and intrusion prevention as well as device control and application control.

"With the increasing amount of data that exists in IT environments, it is essential that protections are in place to guard against intrusions from unauthorized users," said John Bordwine, chief technology officer of Symantec's Public Sector organization. "These certifications provide assurance that organizations like banks, telecommunications, and health companies that handle personal data are using technologies that uphold the standard of protecting critical personal data."

Symantec Corporation Worldwide Public Sector Enablement Program is committed to providing IT security products that provide significant value to private and public sector customers. As part of that program, Symantec is continuously improving its internal development efforts and business processes to ensure that it meets and/or exceeds requirements from Common Criteria, Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS), CEGS/CAPS, VPAT/Section 508, Security Technical Implementation Guide (STIG), Security Content Automation Program (SCAP), Federal Service for Technical and Export Control (FSTEK of Russia), and other local, state, government, and worldwide requirements. Additionally, Symantec maintains active participation in various government working groups and policy development organizations.

Connect with Symantec

About Symantec Symantec is a global leader in providing security, storage and systems management solutions to help consumers and organizations secure and manage their information-driven world. Our software and services protect against more risks at more points, more completely and efficiently, enabling confidence wherever information is used or stored. More information is available at http://www.symantec.com.

NOTE TO EDITORS: If you would like additional information on Symantec Corporation and its products, please visit the Symantec News Room at http://www.symantec.com/news. All prices noted are in U.S. dollars and are valid only in the United States.

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Symantec Solutions Achieve International Certifications for Critical Personal Data Protection

SILICON VALLEY, Calif., Aug. 21, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- NessComputing, a California-based startup that is making search personal, today announced the completion of a $15M round of Series B funding led by SingTel Innov8, and including participation from American Express Ventures. The investment supports Ness' continued development of its search technology, a "Likeness Engine" that curates personalized recommendations based on people's tastes and preferences.

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120821/LA60500)

The company also announced an update with robust new features to their first product the Ness Dining Guide, a restaurant search and discovery iPhone app. Ness' personal "Likeness Score" predicts how much a customer will like a restaurant based on their unique preferences, making it easier to find a place they'll enjoy. The latest release adds restaurant reservations via OpenTable, as well as hundreds of thousands of menus including prices.

With this round of funding, Ness will incorporate additional user preference signals from new social platforms into its technology, and will expand to new verticals by applying its "Likeness Engine to personal search and discovery for nightlife, events, movies, shopping and more. The company will also continue to build its team of top engineers and computer scientists in systems and interface engineering and machine learning.

Ness' technology learns an individual's taste preferences and combines this with signals from their social networks -- including Facebook, Foursquare and Instagram -- to deliver personalized recommendations. Launched in August 2011 with $5M in funding, Ness users have already generated over 3 million ratings, and the app includes more than 5 million Instagram images for restaurants.

"We want to help people experience more of what they love by understanding why they love the things they do," said Corey Reese, Co-Founder and CEO of Ness. "By enhancing our core technology, we can improve our understanding of what customers are expressing about themselves, and turn that information into something truly valuable for making decisions."

"Ness Computing is developing a platform at the intersection of social, local, and mobile data and paving the way to transform mobile discovery with personalized recommendations," said Managing Director of SingTel Innov8, Jeff Karras. "We are thrilled to be working with the talented and passionate team at Ness."

"American Express is impressed by Ness' vision to create great products that better serve consumers," said Harshul Sanghi, Managing Partner, American Express Ventures. "As Ness evolves and the commerce landscape changes, we believe their preference-based search engine has the potential to deliver differentiated value to merchants and consumers alike."

In July 2011, Ness announced a $5M Series A round of financing led by Vinod Khosla and Ramy Adeeb of Khosla Ventures with participation from Alsop Louie Partners (the original seed investor in the company), TomorrowVentures, Bullpen Capital, a co-founder of Palantir Technologies, and several angel investors. An affiliate of the LeFrak Organization also participated in the most recent round.

About Ness Computing

Continued here:
Ness Computing Announces $15M Round Of Series B Funding

The Irish Times - Wednesday, August 22, 2012

SEN FLYNN, Education Editor

THE LEAVING Cert exam and the CAO points system do not promote positive education values or personal development, university presidents have advised Minister for Education Ruair Quinn.

In a report presented to the Minister yesterday, they argue the selection process for higher education is having disproportionate and undesirable effects on student learning . . . at second level.

The presidents back a new ranking system for Leaving Cert scores, more common entry routes into college, a reduction in Leaving Cert grades and new efforts to incentivise strategically important subjects. However, they stress there is no perfect system and no perfect solution.

A taskforce chaired by NUI president Dr Philip Nolan will examine the proposals and report back before the end of the year.

We do not wish to be prescriptive in regard to the issues to be addressed by the task force, the report says. It backs away from awarding CAO points for absolute scores in the Leaving Cert and focusing on the relative performance in the subject. Essentially, it says, the highest points would be awarded to the students who perform best relative to their peers in the specific subject.

The most obvious way to convert merit ranking into points is to use percentiles, with those in the top 1 per cent getting 100 points, those in the next 1 per cent getting 99 points and so on, with those in the bottom 1 per cent getting one point, the report says.

An advantage of this option is that it is independent of subject workload, marking differences, grade distribution etc. It could therefore be considered a fairer system of rewarding student effort and performance. It could incentivise students to take what are currently regarded as the harder subjects.

Other recommendations are:

Read more here:
University heads back new points system

DUBLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/v9pw7k/chanel_sa_in_beaut) has announced the addition of the "Chanel SA in Beauty And Personal Care (World)" company profile to their offering.

The world's sixth largest premium fragrances manufacturer, Chanel faces the challenge of expanding its consumer base and its geographic reach without undermining the prestige status of its core eponymous brand. This profile analyses the most promising opportunities available for Chanel to target luxury trends in major emerging markets and highlights pockets of premium potential in core developed markets, as well as considering opportunities for the development of Chanel's mass cosmetics offer.

Euromonitor International's Chanel SA in Beauty And Personal Care (World) Company Profile offers detailed strategic analysis of the company's business, examining its performance in Beauty and Personal Care industry. The report examines company shares by region and sector, product developments, market and distribution strategies, challenges from the competition and future prospects. Use it to understand opportunities and threats facing the business and the factors driving success.

Why Buy This Report?

- Get a detailed picture of the Beauty and Personal Care market;

- Pinpoint growth sectors and identify factors driving change;

- Understand the competitive environment, the market's major players and leading brands;

- Use five-year forecasts to assess how the market is predicted to develop.

Key Topics Covered:

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Research and Markets: Chanel SA in Beauty And Personal Care (World) - Discover the Most Promising Opportunities ...

AUSTIN, Texas, Aug. 21, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- The Professional Development Center (PDC) at The University of Texas at Austin is proud to announce an exciting travel and educational expedition to Guatemala. On October 3-7, PDC hosts "Tour of Guatemala," a cultural journey from Austin to Antigua that includes a series of lectures and tours covering the culture, history and architecture of the region. UT PDC is an enterprise of the university's Division of Continuing and Innovative Education.

"I'm so proud to offer this unique opportunity for both students and travelers to join us on this one-of-a-kind educational tour to historic Antigua, Guatemala and the surrounding area," says Liliya Spinazzola, director of the Professional Development Center. "This offering allows participants to truly experience the rich culture and history of this Latin American region. It's one thing to be a tourist, it's quite another to visit a foreign country side-by-side with world-class educators and experts to add depth to the experience."

This tour is based at Casa Herrera, a fully restored 17th century Spanish Colonial property located in the heart of Antigua. The Casa is operated by the Mesoamerica Center, a program of the university's Department of Art and Art History in the College of Fine Arts.

The extensive agenda for "Tour of Guatemala" includes:

Registration for Tour of Guatemala, including hotel accommodations and most meals, costs $875 and is open at http://www.utexas.edu/ce/pdc//antigua-guatemala-tour/ or by calling 512-232-2234. Airfare is not included.

Please visit our website to view a video and photo gallery from the first Tour of Guatemala with interviews from participants and coordinators: http://www.utexas.edu/ce/stories/detail/cie-hosts-tour-guatemala.

For more information, contact Maureen Schwartz at (512) 232-2234 or maureen.schwartz@austin.utexas.edu.

About the Professional Development Center:

The Professional Development Center (PDC), an enterprise of the Division of Continuing and Innovative Education at The University of Texas at Austin, provides innovative and agile continuing education learning solutions that maximize professional performance. PDC offers a wide range of programs and courses designed to help individuals and organizations around the world improve personal, professional and organizational performance. To meet this goal, PDC offers high quality non-credit courses, professional certificate programs, consulting, coaching, and facilitation services, both online and on the university campus. http://www.utexas.edu/ce/pdc/

Contact: Maureen Schwartz, Professional Development Center, The University of Texas at Austin, (512) 232-2234, maureen.schwartz@austin.utexas.edu

Excerpt from:
Professional Development Center at The University of Texas at Austin Presents Travel and Lecture Tour in Guatemala

irishtimes.com - Last Updated: Tuesday, August 21, 2012, 12:47 Related External The Irish Times takes no responsibility for the content or availability of other websites

SEN FLYNN, Education Editor

The Leaving Cert exam and the CAO points system do not promote positive education values or personal development, university presidents have advised Minister for Education Ruair Quinn.

In a report presented to the Minister today, they conclude the selection process for higher education is having "disproportionate and undesirable effects on student learning . . . at second level."

The presidents back a new ranking system for Leaving Cert scores, common entry routes into college, a reduction in Leaving Cert grades and new efforts to "incentivise strategically important subjects".

However, they stress there is no perfect system and no perfect solution. A task force, chaired by NUI president Dr Philip Nolan will tease out the proposals and report back before the end of the year. The report states: We do not wish to be prescriptive in regard to the issues to be dressed by the task force."

The document backs moving away from awarding CAO points for absolute scores in the Leaving Cert and focusing on the relative performance in the subject. Essentially, it says, the highest points would be awarded to the cohort of students who perform best relative to their peers in the specific subject.

"The most obvious way to convert merit ranking into points is to use percentiles with those in the top 1 per cent getting 100 points, those in the next 1 per cent getting 99 points, and so on, with those in the bottom 1 per cent getting 1 point. . . . An advantage of this option is that it is independent of subject workload, marking differences, grade distribution, etc. It could therefore be considered a fairer system of rewarding student effort and performance. It could incentivise students to take what are currently regarded as the harder subjects."

Continued here:
Universities call for changes to Leaving, points system

Published 20 Aug 2012 09:45

TWELVE talented young people were told 'you're hired' as the award winning-personal development programme The Recruit ended for 2012.

At a glittering awards ceremony held at Greenock Town Hall on Friday night, Megan Duffy from Gourock was announced as the overall winner of the enterprise competition.

Megan receives a position paying 14,000 with T-Mobile, plus a course of driving lessons.

A further 11 recruits also secured jobs with a number of local organisations and businesses, including five more roles at T-Mobile, as well as jobs at Inverclyde Council, HP, ISS and three at the RBS Mortgage Centre.

This was a great surprise to The Recruits who expected seven jobs in total.

The successful candidates were selected based on their performance, attitude, potential, personal drive, determination and employability skills throughout the programme of Recruit activities, which saw 35 fifth and sixth year pupils from across Inverclyde devote up to 500 hours of their time to take part in a number of Apprentice-style challenges.

They also recruits received talks, tasks and lessons from a range of businesses based in the area, including T-Mobile, RBS, Kip Marina, Stepwell (Cookschool & Fresh), Texas Instruments, Dominos Pizza and IBM.

Councillor Terry Loughran, convener of education for Inverclyde Council, said: "Friday night was the culmination of five months of hard work, commitment and sheer determination, which has been demonstrated by all of the recruits who have taken part.

"The process has seen the candidates develop both personally and professionally, standing them in good stead for their future, as they take away valuable life and business skills, increasingly important in the current, competitive job market.

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Youngsters become new recruits