FREMONT, Calif., March 11, 2014 /PRNewswire/ --The Men's Wearhouse (NYSE: MW) today announced consolidated financial results for the fiscal year ended February 1, 2014.

Fiscal year 2013 had 52 weeks compared with 53 weeks in fiscal year 2012. Consequently, results for the fourth quarter and fiscal year 2013 were negatively impacted by the additional week in 2012. Comparable sales for the fourth quarter and fiscal year 2013 do not include an additional week in fiscal year 2012.

Total net sales for fiscal year 2013 decreased 0.6% to $2.5 billion, and total Men's Wearhouse brand revenues were up 1.6% over fiscal 2012 and up 3% on a 52 week fiscal comparison. GAAP diluted EPS for fiscal year 2013 was $1.70 and adjusted EPS was $2.21 excluding one-time costs(1).

Total net sales for the fiscal 2013 13-week fourth quarter decreased 7.9% to $560.6 million from $608.4 million in last year's 14-week fourth quarter. GAAP loss per share was $0.64 for the fourth quarter of 2013. Adjusted loss per share was $0.38 excluding one-time costs(2).

Doug Ewert, Men's Wearhouse president and chief executive officer, commented, "We were not immune to the effects of weak consumer spending sentiments and severe weather disruption that impacted most retailers in December and January. Tuxedo and corporate apparel sales were in-line with internal expectations, while clothing sales in all three retail chains were lower than expected. Weather-related store closures and an aggressive promotional retail environment resulted in a traffic decline. We estimate that approximately one-quarter of the 2.5% comparable sales decrease in the fourth quarter at Men's Wearhouse was due to these closures."

Ewert added, "We executed an aggressive advertising and promotional plan, and made adjustments as the challenging retail environment unfolded during the quarter. We proactively increased our promotional activity, including incremental advertising spending, and reduced our expenses accordingly. Subsequently, we have seen business improve significantly in February, as both Men's Wearhouse and Moores finished the month with approximately 3% and 9% comparable sales increases respectively, overcoming additional weather-related store closures. Looking forward, we are excited about the rollout of our 'Made-in-America' Joseph Abboud product into the Men's Wearhouse stores. This product should be in all stores by the summer of 2014 and will be supported by brand advertising, which commenced in select markets on March 10th.

"We look forward to completing the combination of Men's Wearhouse and Jos. A. Bank, which we also announced today, and to achieving the benefits of the combination for our shareholders," concluded Ewert.

(1)

Adjusted net earnings exclude $41.1 million ($27.3 million after tax or $0.56 per diluted share) in costs related to the JA Holding, Inc. acquisition and integration, costs related to various strategic projects, separation costs associated with former executives, non-cash impairment of K&G goodwill, K&G ecommerce closure costs and a New York store related closure costs. Also excluded is a $2.2 million ($1.5 million after tax or $0.03 per diluted share) gain from the sale of an office building in Fremont, CA. Adjusted diluted earnings per share may not sum due to rounded numbers.

(2)

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Men's Wearhouse Reports Fiscal 2013 Results

11 Mar 2014 06:00

Former staff member offered 12k damages

McDonalds has offered to pay an ex-worker who was held at gunpoint in a terrifying raid at one of its Liverpool restaurants 12,000 in compensation.

Tipi Rixom, 26, was starting her shift at McDonalds, on Edge Lane, in November, 2012, when the armed robber walked into the back office of the store and held her and her manager at gunpoint.

They were ordered to empty the safe and then made to stand in the corner of the room while the robber fled with 3,000.

Tipi, who is originally from Malaga but came to Liverpool to study at John Moores University, claims management at the restaurant failed to act on warnings that security was not tight enough after previous incidents.

McDonalds insurers Zurich have admitted liability on behalf of the restaurant, and an offer of 12,000 has been made to settle the case.

Tipis legal team are yet to decide whether to accept the offer or fight for more money.

Tipi said: It was the most terrifying moment of my life. I really believed this man was going to kill me but I was frozen to the spot in fear.

When he burst into the office I could only see his eyes but as he brandished the gun I knew he was serious.

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Former employee sues McDonald's following terrifying armed raid

Co-founders of San Diego based Human Longevity Inc., Peter Diamandis, left, J. Craig Venter, center, and Robert Hariri, right.

It was a bold prediction, even at a time when technology evolves with blinding speed:

Getting your genome sequenced will soon become as common as dropping by a doctors office for a blood test.

The forecast was made Tuesday by three men who have money riding on the outcome: La Jolla geneticist J. Craig Venter, New Jersey stem cell pioneer Dr. Robert Hariri and Peter Diamandis of Los Angeles, founder of the X-Prize Foundation.

They gathered in Venters seaside office to announce that they had founded Human Longevity, Inc. (HLI), which they say will quickly become the largest genome sequencing company in the world, surpassing even Chinas well-known Beijing Genomics Institute.

Venter said that HLI will begin by sequencing 40,000 genomes a year, then push production to 100,000. The work will be done with cutting edge technology from San Diegos Illumina, which has helped to slash the time and cost of sequencing peoples genomes.

Venter and other scientists believe that sequencing the genomes of hundreds of thousands of people will clearly reveal which genes cause disease and illness, leading to better diagnostics and treatment. HLI also will analyze a persons microbes and metabolites, providing doctors with a more comprehensive picture of the patients they treat.

The goal: Enable people to live longer, healthier lives.

100 will become the new 60, Diamandis said in a moment of exuberance.

The remark came as all three men paused to discussion the future of genomic medicine with U-T San Diego.

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Will 100 become the new 60?

Ongoing coverage Crime & Safety Headlines More Crime&Safety Crime Stoppers More Crimestoppers Crime Databases More Databases Continuing stories More Ongoing Stories Local Stories from ThisWeek By Kathy Lynn Gray The Columbus Dispatch Tuesday March 4, 2014 7:27 AM

An Indiana National Guard member who authorities say had homemade bombs in his van when he was stopped for speeding in Madison County on Jan. 1 has now been charged in U.S. District Court in Columbus.

Andrew Scott Boguslawski, 43, made his initial appearance in federal court yesterday, shortly after state charges in the case were dismissed. His attorney and government prosecutors would not comment after the hearing.

He is charged with one count of possession of destructive devices not registered to him in the National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record. Under federal law, destructive devices must be registered.

The charge carries a maximum 10-year prison term.

Boguslawski, of Moores Hill, Ind., was arrested after Ohio State Highway Patrol troopers caught him traveling 85 mph in a 70-mph zone on I-70 west of Columbus as he drove from Pennsylvania to Indiana, according to the complaint.

When troopers stopped him, the complaint says, they noticed the handgrip of a firearm between Boguslawskis legs. A search of his Dodge Caravan produced a pistol, rifles, suspected homemade bombs and parts to make bombs. An explosives expert with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives identified nine completed bombs in the van and four nearly complete bombs, all capable of causing property damage and injuries if detonated.

Investigators also found videos and photographs showing Boguslawski manufacturing and detonating bombs and showing friends and family members, including a 16-year-old niece, setting off explosive devices.

Boguslawski told troopers he had some of the bombs for suicide-bomber training and a plastic gun was for a concealed-carry training class. Troopers also found a bulletproof vest and blueprints for a Navy SEAL training center in Indiana in Boguslawskis van.

An Indiana National Guard spokeswoman said in January that Boguslawski had been an intelligence analyst for a reconnaissance unit of the guard and held top-secret government clearance because of that work. That clearance was suspended after his arrest.

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Bomb case moved to federal court

Crime & Safety Headlines More Crime&Safety Crime Stoppers More Crimestoppers Crime Databases More Databases Continuing stories More Ongoing Stories Local Stories from ThisWeek By Kathy Lynn Gray The Columbus Dispatch Monday March 3, 2014 11:00 PM

An Indiana National Guard member who authorities say had homemade bombs in his van when he was stopped for speeding in Madison County on Jan. 1 has now been charged in U.S. District Court in Columbus.

Andrew Scott Boguslawski, 43, made his initial appearance in federal court today, shortly after state charges in the case were dismissed. His attorney and government prosecutors would not comment after the hearing.

He is charged with one count of possession of destructive devices not registered to him in the National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record. Under federal law, destructive devices must be registered.

The charge carries a maximum 10-year prison term.

Boguslawski, of Moores Hill, Ind., was arrested after Ohio State Highway Patrol troopers caught him traveling 85 mph in a 70-mph zone on I-70 west of Columbus as he drove from Pennsylvania to Indiana, according to the complaint.

When troopers stopped him, the complaint says, they noticed the handgrip of a firearm between Boguslawskis legs. A search of his Dodge Caravan produced a pistol, rifles, suspected homemade bombs and parts to make bombs. An explosives expert with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives identified nine completed bombs in the van and four nearly complete bombs, all capable of causing property damage and injuries if detonated.

Investigators also found videos and photographs showing Boguslawski manufacturing and detonating bombs and showing friends and family members, including a 16-year-old niece, setting off explosive devices.

Boguslawski told troopers he had some of the bombs for suicide-bomber training and a plastic gun was for a concealed-carry training class. Troopers also found a bulletproof vest and blueprints for a Navy SEAL training center in Indiana in Boguslawskis van.

An Indiana National Guard spokeswoman said in January that Boguslawski had been an intelligence analyst for a reconnaissance unit of the guard and held top-secret government clearance because of that work. That clearance was suspended after his arrest.

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Indiana Guardsman's bomb-possession charge moved to federal court

Despite skepticism in the chip industry that Moores Law could be reaching its limits, MIT Researchers believe that they have found a way to enable semiconductor manufacturers to continue shrinking geometries below 20 nanometer and produce advanced components cost effectively.

MIT researchers have developed directed self-assembly (DSA) techniques that they claim resolve the issues associated with the two main lithography techniques used in the semiconductor manufacturing process today -- photolithography and electron-beam lithography. Photolithography at 193-nm is reaching its limit with feature sizes around 25-nm. And the throughput in electron-beam lithography, which can produce smaller features, is insufficient for sub-20-nm resolution pattering over large areas.

Described as a hybrid process, the DSA technique is based on a simplified template, in which complex patterns of line, bends, and junctions with feature sizes below 20 -nm can be made using block copolymer self-assembly, according to the MIT study. It also explained how to design the template to achieve a desired pattern. Electron-beam lithography was used to produce the template serially, while the block copolymer filled in the rest of the pattern in a parallel process. DSA can be five or more times faster than writing the entire pattern by electron beam lithography, according to the MIT study.

DSA is of great interest to manufacturers as scaling using traditional patterning techniques has become increasingly more challenging and costly, said Bob Havermann, Director of Nanomanufacturing Sciences at Semiconductor Research Corp., Research Triangle Park, N.C., which sponsored the MIT report.

The alternatives to DSA would be continuing to reduce pattern sizes in conventional photolithography using double, quadruple, etc... patterning; to use extreme UV lithography which has much smaller wavelength and therefore better resolution; or to do direct write using electron beam lithography, said Caroline Ross, MIT professor of Materials Science and Engineering, Cambridge, Mass.

Nanoimprint lithography may also be a viable process. Each of these has its own limitations and advantages, but overall DSA is a very attractive option because it provides scalability at high throughput and a lower cost than other processes, Ross said.

Leveraging block copolymer self-assembly to produce dense, high resolution patterns was proposed and demonstrated several years ago, but there was no systematic way to design templates to achieve a complex block copolymer pattern. The MIT study developed a simple way to design a template to achieve a specific block copolymer pattern over a large area. Although the work used electron-beam lithography to define the template, other methods such as photolithography with trimming could be used to produce the templates.

Photolithography was expected to fail when the feature sizes reached the wavelength of the UV light, 193nm. However, engineers discovered that patterning could be done using constructive and destructive superposition properties of light, according to Robert Colwell, Intel Corp.'s chief IA-32 Pentium chip architect in the 1990s, as well as an IEEE Fellow and a member of the National Academy of Engineering. As a result, the process required double exposure of the silicon, but the wavelength ceased to be the first-order determinant of the final feature size, he said.

The industry has been riding that double-exposure idea for many years now, and now were again approaching a fundamental limit, Colwell wrote in an email to EE Times, questioning whether the chip could be exposed a quadruple number of times. In principle, yes, and maybe thats what industry will try next. But its much more expensive (the cost of the mask sets alone will probably exceed $10M), and may well result in lower yield, which at todays volumes is not a prospect anyone wants to entertain.

For decades, Moores Law enabled semiconductor designers to double the number of transistors on a chip every two years, yielding higher-performance, more advanced parts with each generation. However, thermal power has become a major issue since Dennard scaling, the physics that once made the power density per unit area remain constant across process generations, has been dead for eight years, according to Colwell. In addition, power constraints are limiting clock rates and the interconnects between the transistors havent improved, he added.

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MIT Research Looks to Extend Moores Law

IBM Atomic Shorts The end of Moores law 00 12
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IBM Atomic Shorts The end of Moores law 00 12 - Video

Thursday

Energy:Bob Inglis will discuss market solutions to climate change and answer questions with a Law Center faculty member from 6 to 7:30 p.m. in the Hilton UHs Waldorf-Astoria Ballroom.

Auditions: Student Video Network will host an open casting call for students interested in acting in future commercials, shows, movies, short films and other productions from 6 to 8 p.m. in the New UC North, Room N221.

Lecture: A law faculty member will discuss energy production and development in the talk Allocating Energy Governance from noon to 1 p.m. in the UH Law Center, Room 240 BLB.

Music: A faculty flute recital for Peggy Russel featuring works by Jacques-Martin Hotteterre, Toru Takemitsu and other composers will be held from 4:30 to 5 p.m. in the Moores School of Music Choral Recital Hall, Room 160.

Art: An art film by filmmaker Vincent Grenier will be screened from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. in the Blaffer Art Museum. Grenier experiments with perception, natural world and film as poetry.

Friday

Seminar: Gender-based violence in South Asian communities and the structures that support such violence will be discussed from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the Rockwell Pavilion located on the second floor of the M. D. Anderson Memorial Library.

Theater: Our Countrys Good, which is set in 18th-century Sydney, will have its season debut from 8 to 10 p.m. in the School of Theatre and Dances Jose Quintero Theater. Student tickets are $10.

Saturday

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Calendar: Feb. 20 to 23

Monday

Lecture: The Ethics in Science series will present a talk called Broken Symmetry on the dilemmas of science in post-Cold War, nuclear-age America from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in Philip Guthrie Hoffman Hall, Room 232.

Lecture: The director of New York Universitys Irish studies program will discuss forms of Irish writing and print culture in the late 18th century from 5 to 7 p.m. in the Honors Commons on the second floor of the M. D. Anderson Memorial Library.

Music: The AURA Contemporary Ensemble will perform works by Leo Brouwer, Lorenzo Ferrero and other composers from 7:30 to 9 p.m. in the Moores Opera House. Student tickets are $7.

Music: Flautist Aralee Dorough will perform works by Claude Debussy, Eugene Bozza and other composers in Feeling So Alone from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. in the Moores School of Music Choral Recital Hall, Room 160.

Tuesday

Seminar: President and CEO of Buckeye GP Clark C. Smith will share his thoughts in a presentation called Midstream and the Keystone Pipeline from 6 to 7 p.m. in the Cemo Hall Stubblefield Auditorium.

Wednesday

Workshop: Counseling and Psychological Services will continue its Food for Thought series by discussing body images and how to overcome those concerns from noon to 1 p.m. in the Student Services Center 1, Room 210D.

Health: Information about living a balanced, healthy lifestyle will be presented to students along with free food and games from 4 to 6 p.m. at the Campus Recreation and Wellness Center.

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Calendar Feb. 17 to Feb.19

SANTA FE -- A proposal that would have allowed New Mexico voters to decide whether to legalize and regulate marijuana was blocked Tuesday in a Senate committee, though the measure's sponsor vowed to bring it back again next year.

"We'll just keep trying it until it happens," Sen. Gerald Ortiz y Pino, D-Albuquerque, told reporters. "I think it's inevitable."

The proposed constitutional amendment, modeled after a new law in Colorado, was stymied on a 5-5 vote in the Senate Rules Committee. The vote likely left the measure deadlocked for the rest of this year's 30-day session, Ortiz y Pino said.

The committee's four GOP members were joined by Democratic Sen. Clemente Sanchez of Grants in voting against the measure.

Opponents of the amendment said they are concerned about the public health effects of legalizing recreational marijuana use and don't believe such a change belongs in the state Constitution.

"I don't believe smoking a bowl is a constitutional right," said Sen. Mark Moores, R-Albuquerque.

New Mexico Sheriff's Association Executive Director Jack LeVick also testified against the proposal, urging senators to wait and see how Colorado and Washington fare with their marijuana legalization laws before moving forward.

If approved by lawmakers and voters statewide, the New Mexico legislation -- Senate Joint Resolution 10 -- would have called on lawmakers to return to the issue in 2015 to determine how marijuana might be sold, taxed and regulated in the state.

That could lead the state down a path like Colorado's. New Mexico's northern neighbor began allowing retail sales of recreational marijuana last month, with a 25 percent tax earmarked to help fund education programs.

Backers of the amendment say legalizing recreational pot use would create a similar revenue source for New Mexico, while allowing the state to redeploy resources currently used to enforce marijuana laws.

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New Mexico Blocks Vote on Legalized Pot

As transistor technology continues its march forward with smaller, faster components, were getting ever closer to the point at which the realities of atomic scale will put an end to Moores law unless we find a way around it. A team of researchers from Harvard and non-profit research company Mitre have devised a possible solution to the problem using nanowires as a stand-in for traditional transistors in tiny processors.

The device created in the lab is by no means a match for modern computer processors, but it is built on a completely new process. The chip designed by chemist Charles Lieber and his team uses germanium core nanowires just 15 nanometers wide. The wires themselves are coated in silicon and are laid out in parallel on a silicon dioxide substrate. Embedded in the surface of the chip is a network of chromium and gold contacts, but these run the opposite way, creating a crisscross pattern.

Each of the points in the chip where the nanowire crosses the embedded contacts can act as a programmable transistor node. Applying voltage to the nanowires toggles them between on and off. The researchers call this a crossbar array.

The Harvard chip has 180 of these faux-transistors divided into three separate tiles. One tile is used to run basic mathematical operations and the other two store one bit of memory each. That makes this chip a simple 2-bit adder without any regular CMOS transistors. Yes, its a far cry from all but the most primitive CPUs, but the team believes this design can be scaled up simply by adding more nanowires to a larger grid of contacts. Four tiles would create a 4-bit adder array, for example.

This isnt the first time nanowires have been investigated as a way to circumvent the limits of Moores law, but the issues inherent with material at this scale have prevented it from being practical. Placing nanowires with the necessary level of precision is extremely difficult, and if a wire comes in contact with another one, it shorts out and knocks out all the transistor nodes down the line. Lieber and his team solved this problem with a technique dubbed deterministic nanocombing.

Before applying the nanowires, the substrate that will form the base of the chip is coated in a thin film of photoresist. Next up, narrow slots are carved out using electron-beam lithography. The slots are where nanowires are intended to go, but they wont just slot themselves in. They almost do, though. The wires (which have already been grown on a different substrate) are chemically treated so they will stick to the exposed silicon oxide surface in the slots. Then the nanowire-encrusted substrate is dragged across the chip and the wires are deposited. The rest of the resist can be removed after the nanowires are situated.

The circuits built with this process are small and very low-power, which makes them ideal for implantable devices like real-time biosensors. Imagine a tiny device that could be implanted under the skin to monitor blood glucose levels in diabetic patients, but uses virtually no power. The same properties could make nanowire chips perfect for advanced microcontrollers in robots. Lieber doesnt see nanowires as a replacement for transistors in large-scale CPUs, but as a way to make processors far smaller and faster than silicon could ever scale.

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Crossbar nanowire chips combine to form tiny CPU for ...

Phoenix, AZ (PRWEB) February 04, 2014

San Diego Chargers kicker Nick Novak, Colleens Dream Foundation and Kicking For The Dream, team up to grant over $12,000 to UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center for ovarian cancer research being conducted by Dr. Christian Barrett, according to Colleens Dream Foundation President Billy Cundiff.

"Dr. Barrett is a promising young investigator, says Cundiff. His enthusiasm for his work is incredible. Colleen's Dream is proud to team up with Nick Novak and the San Diego Chargers to help fund Dr. Barrett's cutting edge through our Kicking For The Dream program."

Kicking For The Dream is an online fundraising platform created by NFL kicker Billy Cundiff to raise money for Colleens Dream Foundation; a foundation dedicated to funding the efforts of young investigators conducting research on ovarian cancer.

Novak, who has experienced personal loss to cancer, said he had no hesitation when Cundiff asked him to participate in Kicking For The Dreams efforts. He says he is excited to help fund Dr. Barretts ovarian cancer research.

We have all been affected by cancer in some way or another, says Novak. Ovarian cancer, often referred to as the silent killer is the fifth leading cause of cancer death among women in the United States. I fully support Kicking For The Dream and its mission to raise money to support research conducted by young investigators like UCSDs Dr. Christian Barrett.

Dr. Barrett, a project scientist at UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center, says his current research topic is to discover molecules that are present only in ovarian tumors, and not in any normal body tissues. He says this topic is interesting because both the implications, and the challenges, are huge.

The most effective way to improve survival rates for patients with ovarian cancer is to detect the disease early, says Dr. Barrett. For the last four years, I have been working to develop and apply a powerful genomics technology to discover molecules only present in ovarian tumor cells that could be detected during routine gynecologic examination. My work is based on deep computational analysis of the human genome and on molecular profiling experiments of hundreds of ovarian tumors.

He says the grant from Colleens Dream Foundation will help him pursue this research aggressively.

Support from Colleen's Dream Foundation is perfectly timed to enable our team to rapidly perform needed validation experiments.

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Colleens Dream Foundation Grants Over $12,000 to UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center to Fund Ovarian Cancer Research

Published on February 04, 2014

An already tense situation in the Town of Harbour Grace further escalated last week after several members of council requested that newly elected Mayor Terry Barnes resign his post.

Photo by Melissa Jenkins

Mayor Terry Barnes confirmed he was asked to resign last week by several of his councillors in a statement to The Compass this week.

The Compass has learned that during a privileged meeting of council on Jan. 28, some councillors placed the blame for the towns recent staffing crisis on the mayor, and suggested he resign.

Barnes confirmed this with The Compass this week, and released the following statement:

During a recent meeting, some of my fellow councillors asked for my resignation. Firmly believing I have done nothing to warrant such a request, I will proudly continue my role as mayor of the town, in which I am determined to revive, he wrote.

I will request that this issue be put to rest once and for all as I have no further comment.

Sources say up to four of the seven elected members Gord Stone, Hayward Blake, Tony McCarthy and Pat Haire had lost confidence in the mayor.

Source also say that Deputy Mayor Sonia Williams came under fire from her colleagues on a separate issue.

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Harbour Grace mayor under pressure over staffing crisis

Washington, DC - infoZine - Scripps Howard Foundation Wire - The question of whether the charge of conspiracy to traffic illegal firearms was based on an illegal search that violated the Fourth Amendment rights of Alden and his co-defendant Betty Eddy was argued Thursday by George Washington University Law School students during the annual Van Vleck Constitutional Law Moot Court Competition.

Hundreds of spectators filled Lisner Auditorium to watch four finalists go toe-to-toe in oral arguments before Supreme Court Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor, Chief Judge Robert Katzmann of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in New York and District Judge Lee Rosenthal of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas in Houston.

After the competition, Sotomayor praised the students and expressed her delight at being part of the event.

Alden and Eddy are made-up people, as was their court case. But it echoed cases that have made it to the Supreme Court and others that are on their way.

Although the moot court was a fairly precise simulation of a court proceeding, fast paced with unforgiving lines of questioning, there were moments that threatened the illusion.

The final two teams from an original 52 were afforded an opportunity real-world attorneys would never expect - the justices promised not to be mean.

Amanda Nagrotsky, 24, from D.C., a third-year law student and part-time law clerk, argued for Alden and Eddy. Trying to ease her nerves, she recalled the encounter the four competitors had with Sotomayor, Katzmann and Rosenthal shortly before the competition.

The seven stood together in a circle for about 15 minutes sharing stories about their lives. The judges urged the teams to enjoy the experience.

Its really intimidating, so for them to be so nice and friendly it was just a reminder that theyre people, they have emotions, theyre not robots, so everything is going to be fine, Nagrotsky said.

Kyle Singhal, 28, from D.C., a third-year law student and LSAT tutor, argued for the governments right to collect the aerial photographs and location data without a warrant.

Continued here:

Sotomayor Presides Over Moot Court Raising Privacy Questions

It was a cold January day in 2012 at house along Moores Mill Road in Bel Air. Then 16-year-old Robert Richardson decided he had enough.

While his father watched TV, lying with his back toward the teen, Richardson fired a shotgun into the back of his lone parent's head, killing him almost instantly.

Eileen Siple never thought she would ever find herself defending an admitted killer.

"He told me that sometimes, there is no other choice," she said. "You can take that however you want to take that. I know how I took that. I took that as he had no other way to be safe."

After all, Siple never knew the boy. Neither did a group of other Harford County mothers who would rally around Richardson almost immediately after his arrest.

For two years, every Saturday, Siple would visit the young man at the Harford County Detention Center learning a story of consistent physical and verbal abuse by his father.

Richardson was a battered child, his defense argued, and the murder he committed was self-defense.

Siple led the charge to tell his story and figuratively adopt the child.

There are pictures on her wall as if he is her own, a bedroom he is welcome to call his own when he gets out, and a wardrobe ready for what would have been his trial next month.

Something horrible happened in January 2012, and I'm not making excuses for him and I'm not saying this is OK. But, he needed help before then, and he needed help after then. And, he spent the last two years not getting help," Siple said.

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Group: Adult jail no place for juveniles

Attorneys for the parents of Lita McClinton Sullivan filed a lawsuit Monday against former Palm Beacher James Vincent Sullivan, preserving their rights to a $4 million wrongful death judgment they won against him for ordering their daughters 1987 murder.

The lawsuit was filed in Palm Beach County Circuit Court on behalf of Lita Sullivans estate, with her parents, Emory and JoAnn McClinton of Atlanta, as beneficiaries. The McClintons won the civil case against Sullivan in February 1994. With 12 percent interest accruing since then, Sullivan owes $13.5 million as of Monday, the lawsuit says.

A former Landmarks Preservation Chairman, Sullivan, 72, is serving a life sentence in a Georgia state prison for ordering a contract hit on his estranged wife. A gunman posing as a flower deliveryman shot Lita Sullivan at her suburban Atlanta townhouse on Jan. 16, 1987. The murder occurred on the morning of a key hearing in the the couples pending divorce.

The McClintons havent received any money from the judgment. In order to be entitled to any money after 20 years, a new lawsuit has to be filed, said attorney Brad Moores, who won the original judgment and represents the McClintons. Feb. 25 marks the 20th anniversary of the judgment.

Its an independent case, but its based on the original case, Moores said. Its based on the fact that Sullivan has avoided payment. This will give us the legal ability to collect the debt beyond the 20 years.

Moores thinks Sullivan has money stashed in a Swiss bank account and, after he dies, that money will come to his estate in the United States.

We want the ability to impose restrictions and liens on his estate, Moores said. We should have priority.

In the 1980s, James Sullivan hosted dinner parties at his oceanfront mansion, inserted himself into local politics and tried to climb the Palm Beach social ladder. From the beginning, law enforcement believed Sullivan had his wife murdered to avoid losing millions and the mansion in their pending divorce. Authorities also knew Sullivan had moved on long before the murder with a new girlfriend, the exotic Suki Rogers, whom he was eager to wed. But it took authorities 11 years to get a break in the case.

A tip led to the 1998 arrest of the triggerman and a subsequent arrest warrant for Sullivan. By the time the warrant was issued, Sullivan had disappeared. In 2002, he was traced to Thailand and arrested. After spending time in a Thai prison, Sullivan was extradited to the United States. He stood trial in February 2006 for his wifes murder. He was convicted and sentenced to life without parole.

Hes just a worthless human being, Moores said. That money means more to him in the abstract than anything. He would rather go to his grave and not have access to the money as long as the McClintons dont have access to it.

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Sullivan sued by victim’s parents

One of the most salacious, tortured and long-running murder cases in Palm Beach County history found its way back to the courthouse this week when attorneys sued convicted millionaire murderer James Sullivan for the millions he owes his dead wifes estate.

With the clocking running out on a 20-year deadline to collect a $13.5 million judgment from Sullivan for hiring a hitman to kill his estranged wife, Lita Sullivan, in her Atlanta townhouse, attorneys said they had to file suit to keep the former Palm Beach resident on the financial hook.

By law, the judgment expires Feb. 25, exactly 20 years after a Palm Beach County civil jury ordered Sullivan to pay $4 million for causing his 35-year-old socialite wifes death. With interest, the judgment has ballooned to $13.5 million, according to the lawsuit filed in Palm Beach County Circuit Court.

The unusual lawsuit is a way to keep the judgment alive.

West Palm Beach lawyer J. Brad Moores and Atlanta attorney David Boone, who pursued Sullivan in civil court when prosecutors in Atlanta couldnt find enough evidence to file criminal charges against the savvy investor, said they see no reason their lawsuit will not be successful.

We have a judgment. We have not been made whole. Its pretty simple, Boone said.

Even though Sullivan was finally convicted of his wifes death in 2006 and is now serving a life sentence in a Georgia prison, both attorneys said they are convinced he still has access to millions he stashed in Swiss Bank accounts. Decades-long efforts to recover the money failed. But both attorneys said they arent giving up on their quest to recover the money for Lita Sullivans parents.

I cant predict where things will ultimately go but I think I can predict one thing: Were not going away, Moores said.

And, he said, he is equally sure that Sullivan hopes they would.

Its always been about the money, he said. Hed rather pour lighter fluid on it and set it one fire than see one dime go to my clients. Hes a sociopath.

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Palm Beach murderer James Sulllivan sued to recover $13.5 million he was ordered to pay 20 years ago for killing his ...

27.01.2014 - (idw) Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft

European Research Consortium to Develop Simulation Tools, Materials and Processes to Enable Further Miniaturization of Nano-electronics Advanced simulation models and a computational framework for lithography-integrated directed self-assembly (DSA) of block copolymers will be developed within the European project CoLiSA.MMP. These software tools will aid the research and development of new materials, designs and process flows. By enhancing existing and future lithographic patterning techniques, DSA of block copolymers can help to further extend the impressive development in semiconductor technologies. Cost-efficient technologies for the miniaturization of patterns in semiconductor devices are key to the development of more powerful computers, mobile devices and many other types of consumer and industrial electronics. CoLiSA.MMP combines European expertise in soft matter physics, block copolymer chemistry, lithographic process and computational lithography.

For many technology generations, the miniaturization of semiconductor devices was enabled by evolutionary advancements in optical projection lithography. In the past, this was mainly achieved by the reduction of the wavelength or an increase of the numerical aperture (NA). Today with size requirements close to the physical limits, highly involved methods such as optical resolution enhancement techniques, source and mask optimization (SMO), double patterning and lithography-friendly design are required. Only with the help of these, can the downscaling pace of Moores law be maintained, allowing for technology nodes as small as 22 nanometers. The extension of optical lithography to even smaller dimensions will lead to a drastic increase in costs. Extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography, at a wavelength of 13.5 nanometers for example, promises a revival of wavelength-driven scaling. Because of major unresolved obstacles associated with the source power and stability and the mask infrastructure, the introduction of EUV has been repeatedly postponed. Directed self-assembly (DSA) of block copolymers offers an alternative approach to scaling. It employs nanophase separation between covalently bound chemically different monomers. In contrast to traditional, increasingly difficult and expensive optics-driven top-down technologies, DSA uses a cost-efficient material-driven bottom-up technique, permitting structures of 10 nanometers and below.

Two challenges still impede an industry-grade application of DSA: 1st, the host substrate strongly impacts DSA. The resulting pattern formation must be understood and modeled exactly in order to optimize its efficiency and to circumvent defects. 2nd, the specific properties of DSA must be considered early during the design stage. Within CoLiSA.MMP novel material and process models and a computational lithography framework for DSA will be developed. The combination of advanced, tailored atomistic and coarse-grained models and a series of complementary experiments, serves as the foundation for the development of highly efficient reduced models that seamlessly integrate into the lithographic process simulation. The new modeling facilities will be used to establish advanced design flows, which account for both the lithographic generation of guiding patterns and the patterns resulting from DSA. By posing the design problem as an inverse one, lithographically manufacturable guiding patterns and process conditions for given target structures can be precisely predicted and at a very early stage. Computational lithography will be also used to investigate the root causes of DSA-specific defects and to propose strategies to avert or mitigate them.

On November 19 and 20, 2013, Fraunhofer IISB in Erlangen, Germany, hosted the kick-off meeting for the 3-year project, which has a total budget of 4.91 million Euros.

CoLiSA.MMP is funded by the European Union in the 7th Framework Programme, under the ICT project number 619793.

Contact Dr. Andreas Erdmann Fraunhofer IISB Schottkystrasse 10, 91058 Erlangen, Germany Tel. +49-9131-761-258 Fax +49-9131-761-212 info@colisa.eu

Fraunhofer IISB The Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Systems and Device Technology IISB is one of 66 institutes in the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft. Here, applied research and development is carried out in micro- and nano-electronics, power electronics and mechatronics. With a staff of 180 employees, the institute is committed to contract research for industry and public authorities.

Fraunhofer IISB is internationally recognized for the development of technology, equipment, and materials for nano-electronics and its work on power electronic systems for energy efficiency, hybrid and electric cars.

In addition to its headquarters in Erlangen, the IISB maintains two branch laboratories in Nuremberg and Freiberg.

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Simulations to enable novel lithographic patterning techniques

All Jeremy and Adrian Moore want is the official police report documenting their infant daughter Izabellas death just over a year ago in an unlicensed home day care in rural Perry County.

The parents say the report would help them put together the missing pieces in a death they think wasnt fully investigated and could have been prevented.

But the Perry County Sheriffs Department and a local prosecutor have so far withheld the police incident report, as well as other police reports and the recording of the 911 call made after Izzy Moore was found not breathing.

Last year, Perry County Prosecutor Tom Hoeh had the records sealed by a circuit court judge. The Moores, who have been pursuing the reports for nearly 10 months, say they have never been given a reason why they have been withheld.

The parents, who are pursuing a wrongful death suit against the providers, have had to petition the courts to obtain the investigative documents. Earlier this month, a Cape Girardeau judge issued such an order, but officials have yet to comply. The Moores attorney expects to receive the documents soon. But in the meantime, the parents must wait.

Their inability to obtain the records points to what many regard as flaws in the investigation of child deaths particularly those occurring as children sleep in Missouris unlicensed home-based child cares.

In the Moores case, Izzy was deemed by the Perry County coroner to have died on Jan. 18, 2013, of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. Records show that when Izzy died, she was in the care of Shawna Huber, who was tending to 14 children in her home that day without a required state license. Records that the Moores have obtained suggest the child was left to nap unattended for several hours in the basement.

Police have not charged Huber with any criminal action, nor said she was a suspect in any way regarding Izzys death. Emails between the Moores and a representative of the state Childrens Division show the local sheriffs department reported the death as nonabusive and non-neglectful. That report essentially barred the Childrens Division from doing its own investigation of Huber.

Huber, reached by phone, said she had been advised by an attorney not to comment because of litigation against her by the Moores.

So the Moores, who have not spoken with Huber since Izzy died, have continued piecing together scraps of public information about their daughters death.

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After baby's death in Perry County, parents seek answers

TAMPA Doctors have concluded that Joshua Hakken isnt fit to stand trial on charges he and his wife, Sharyn, abducted their children and fled with them to Cuba last April.

Circuit Judge Chet Tharpe said during a bench conference in court Wednesday that experts agree Joshua Hakken is insane. The judge expects to decide where to send him for treatment by March 4. At that time, Tharpe said he expects to receive a report on Sharyn Hakken. For now, the judge is deciding whether to commence a trial for Sharyn Hakken without her husband.

The couple were scheduled to go on trial Monday, but that has been put off.

Authorities said the Hakkens kidnapped their young sons from Sharyn Hakkens parents in North Tampa after they lost custody of them following run-ins with police in Louisiana. The Hakkens sailed out of Madiera Beach to Cuba, were apprehended by U.S. authorities and sent back to Tampa.

Investigation documents released in the case in September showed that friends of the couple regarded them as paranoid and delusional even before the alleged abductions.

The documents painted a picture of a disturbed couple who had latched onto grandiose antigovernment, apocalyptic ideas with conflicting political beliefs.

For example, Joshua Hakkens best friend, Stephen Joseph Morris, described Haaken as delusional and said Joshua Hakken believed the red-light cameras in Tampa were watching him and had plotted out where all the cameras were.

And Joshua Hakken believed the Air Force was using chem trails of aircraft to lace the sky to control people, according Jameson B. Rabbitt, who knew Joshua Hakken from when they both attended the University of South Florida. A mechanical engineer with a specialty in heating, ventilation and air conditioning, Hakken built an elaborate filtration system in his house to filter out the chemicals the Air Force was putting in the air, Rabbitt said.

Also, Dorothea Moores, the mother of one of Joshua Hakkens former Air Force Academy classmates, said she saw the Hakkens when they showed up at her home in Colorado a few months before the alleged abduction. She told investigators Joshua Hakken, who washed out at the academy, seemed paranoid and spoke at length about how people were chasing him and his wife. Another witness whose name is blacked out in documents told investigators the Hakkens had been living at the Land of Pines Campground in Louisiana and spoke about heading to Arizona for Armageddon. They were followers of fantasy author Terry Goodkind and spoke of Temple of Winds on the west coast and going to the Valley of Rahaan.

A bail bondsman who posted bail for Joshua Hakken in Louisiana told the Florida Department of Law Enforcement that Hakken was a nut, according to a report contained in the evidence materials.

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Dad who abducted kids, fled to Cuba found insane