LA PLATA, Argentina (Reuters) - Flash floods killed at least 46 people and forced about 1,500 residents to evacuate the Argentine city of La Plata, capital of Buenos Aires province, government officials said on Wednesday.
Some people drowned after being trapped in their cars or while walking along city streets when the water rose suddenly on Tuesday night, while others were electrocuted, provincial governor Daniel Scioli told reporters.
The same storm killed at least five people in Buenos Aires, which lies about 60 km (36 miles) northwest of La Plata.
"Families and small children spent the night on their roofs, getting wet. People in wheelchairs were up to their waists in water all night. It was a disaster," Bruno Zorzit, a resident of La Plata, told Reuters Television.
Local media said between 300 and 400 millimeters (12 to 16 inches) of rain fell in just two hours, flooding low-lying neighborhoods in La Plata and surrounding areas.
President Cristina Fernandez, who grew up near La Plata, visited the flood zone and promised to send more police to calm people's fears that evacuated homes could be looted.
(Reporting by Juan Bustamante; Additional reporting by Alejandro Lifschitz in Buenos Aires; Writing by Hilary Burke)
Amberlyst-15 can act as a catalyst for the acylation of phenols and alcoholsPublic release date: 4-Apr-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Maria Hrynkiewicz maria@versita.com 48-660-476-421 Versita
A step forward towards recyclable and environmentally friendly catalysis -- Ambelyst-15 demonstrates excellent potential for sustainability
Owing to the huge array of applications, catalysis has long been dubbed as one of the most significant areas of process and synthetic chemistry. In fact, the vast majority of all chemical industrial products be it in the field of pharmaceutical, agricultural or polymer chemistry involve catalysts at some stage of the manufacturing process.
Catalytic processes are generally conducted in homogeneous phase using anhydrous organic solvents (e.g. halogenated solvents, toluene, etc.) which are very toxic and hard to eliminate. The development of environmentally friendly and efficient catalytic systems continues to be a major challenge, with researchers and industry teaming up to come up with new solutions that would make catalytic reactions and catalysts not only more ecologically sound, but more efficient and cost-effective (i.e. recyclable). An increasing demand for sustainable catalysis in the last decade has produced a prolific research into Green Chemistry, with scientists investigating different aspects of applied catalysis. In fact, the "Twelve Principles of Green Chemistry" address numerous concerns, such as the use of toxic solvents, expensive reagents and catalysts, the number of chemical steps and their reaction conditions and the atom-economy of these synthetic protocols. A diverse set of approaches can be employed to make this process green and sustainable. First and foremost, preventing or minimizing the use of organic solvents is a way to adopt - this can be achieved either by replacing hazardous solvents with ones that have superior ecological health and safety properties or, better still, by using solvent-free processes. Another important approach concerns the development of catalysts that could be repeatedly recycled and reused with minimal effort.
That aspect, bearing in mind the feasibility of a process in an industrial application, may be of particular importance, as all too often catalysts are expensive and hence there is considerable pressure to reduce costs via recyclability. Now, Mumbai Researchers have developed an inexpensive and entirely green procedure, which enables catalytic acetylation of phenols and alcohols under solvent-free conditions.
In the paper: "Amberlyst-15 catalyzed acetylation of phenols and alcohols under solvent free conditions", released recently in Recyclable Catalysis, an open access journal by Versita, Prof. Manoj Pande and Prof. Shriniwas D. Samant from the University Institute of Chemical Technology in Mumbai, India offer a novel and highly sustainable method for the acylation of phenols and alcohols. They found that Amberlyst-15 is an active catalyst for the acylation of phenols and alcohols by means of acetic anhydride as an acylating agent at room temperature under heterogeneous conditions. The scientists confirmed that applications of this catalyst allow mild and highly selective transformations and synthesis in a facile and environmentally friendly manner. Equally worth mentioning is the fact that the catalysts can be recovered by filtration and recycled several times without loss of activity and selectivity.
Pande and Simant set up a mild, efficient and simple method for the acetylation of phenols and alcohols using acetic anhydride as an acylating agent in the presence of a catalytic amount of Amberlyst-15. The acetylation procedure was extended to a variety of phenols and alcohols to obtain the corresponding acetates in good to excellent yields. They also tested the recyclability of Amberlyst-15 in the reaction of p-bromophenol with acetic anhydride: The catalyst performed outstandingly exhibiting excellent potential for sustainability it was reusable for four cycles with no decrease in its activity, giving almost quantitative yield in 4-bromophenylacetate in 20 min. at room temperature.
An inexpensive material, Amberlyst-15 possesses unique properties such as environmental compatibility, nontoxicity, reusability, non-corrosiveness and chemical and physical stability allowing for its versatile synthetic applications. It is also one of the most resistant catalysts and can be used over a prolonged period.
This cost-effective process proves uncomplicated, workable and generating minimal waste. Considering the sought after recyclability of the catalyst, the method bodes well as it can be potentially scaled up for industrial purposes. Usually, the organic chemists perform the acylation of alcohols with acid chlorides in the presence of Et3N or pyridine. In contrast to the current methodologies, additives are not needed - which certainly offers significant economic and environmental benefits.
###
Full article available here: http://www.degruyter.com/view/j/recat.2012.1.issue/recat-2012-0002/recat-2012-0002.xml
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Amberlyst-15 can act as a catalyst for the acylation of phenols and alcoholsPublic release date: 4-Apr-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Maria Hrynkiewicz maria@versita.com 48-660-476-421 Versita
A step forward towards recyclable and environmentally friendly catalysis -- Ambelyst-15 demonstrates excellent potential for sustainability
Owing to the huge array of applications, catalysis has long been dubbed as one of the most significant areas of process and synthetic chemistry. In fact, the vast majority of all chemical industrial products be it in the field of pharmaceutical, agricultural or polymer chemistry involve catalysts at some stage of the manufacturing process.
Catalytic processes are generally conducted in homogeneous phase using anhydrous organic solvents (e.g. halogenated solvents, toluene, etc.) which are very toxic and hard to eliminate. The development of environmentally friendly and efficient catalytic systems continues to be a major challenge, with researchers and industry teaming up to come up with new solutions that would make catalytic reactions and catalysts not only more ecologically sound, but more efficient and cost-effective (i.e. recyclable). An increasing demand for sustainable catalysis in the last decade has produced a prolific research into Green Chemistry, with scientists investigating different aspects of applied catalysis. In fact, the "Twelve Principles of Green Chemistry" address numerous concerns, such as the use of toxic solvents, expensive reagents and catalysts, the number of chemical steps and their reaction conditions and the atom-economy of these synthetic protocols. A diverse set of approaches can be employed to make this process green and sustainable. First and foremost, preventing or minimizing the use of organic solvents is a way to adopt - this can be achieved either by replacing hazardous solvents with ones that have superior ecological health and safety properties or, better still, by using solvent-free processes. Another important approach concerns the development of catalysts that could be repeatedly recycled and reused with minimal effort.
That aspect, bearing in mind the feasibility of a process in an industrial application, may be of particular importance, as all too often catalysts are expensive and hence there is considerable pressure to reduce costs via recyclability. Now, Mumbai Researchers have developed an inexpensive and entirely green procedure, which enables catalytic acetylation of phenols and alcohols under solvent-free conditions.
In the paper: "Amberlyst-15 catalyzed acetylation of phenols and alcohols under solvent free conditions", released recently in Recyclable Catalysis, an open access journal by Versita, Prof. Manoj Pande and Prof. Shriniwas D. Samant from the University Institute of Chemical Technology in Mumbai, India offer a novel and highly sustainable method for the acylation of phenols and alcohols. They found that Amberlyst-15 is an active catalyst for the acylation of phenols and alcohols by means of acetic anhydride as an acylating agent at room temperature under heterogeneous conditions. The scientists confirmed that applications of this catalyst allow mild and highly selective transformations and synthesis in a facile and environmentally friendly manner. Equally worth mentioning is the fact that the catalysts can be recovered by filtration and recycled several times without loss of activity and selectivity.
Pande and Simant set up a mild, efficient and simple method for the acetylation of phenols and alcohols using acetic anhydride as an acylating agent in the presence of a catalytic amount of Amberlyst-15. The acetylation procedure was extended to a variety of phenols and alcohols to obtain the corresponding acetates in good to excellent yields. They also tested the recyclability of Amberlyst-15 in the reaction of p-bromophenol with acetic anhydride: The catalyst performed outstandingly exhibiting excellent potential for sustainability it was reusable for four cycles with no decrease in its activity, giving almost quantitative yield in 4-bromophenylacetate in 20 min. at room temperature.
An inexpensive material, Amberlyst-15 possesses unique properties such as environmental compatibility, nontoxicity, reusability, non-corrosiveness and chemical and physical stability allowing for its versatile synthetic applications. It is also one of the most resistant catalysts and can be used over a prolonged period.
This cost-effective process proves uncomplicated, workable and generating minimal waste. Considering the sought after recyclability of the catalyst, the method bodes well as it can be potentially scaled up for industrial purposes. Usually, the organic chemists perform the acylation of alcohols with acid chlorides in the presence of Et3N or pyridine. In contrast to the current methodologies, additives are not needed - which certainly offers significant economic and environmental benefits.
###
Full article available here: http://www.degruyter.com/view/j/recat.2012.1.issue/recat-2012-0002/recat-2012-0002.xml
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
When Twitter and Square co-founder Jack Dorsey appeared on Executive Suite recently, he said the best thing Rhode Island leaders could do to attract more entrepreneurs is to be hospitable to them.
?I think the biggest thing is stating that you want that, stating that you want small businesses, that you want more of them ? and not just stating it but showing it,? the billionaire entrepreneur said.
Dorsey argued that ?easy paths of starting something? are key. ?It?s just taking on that attitude and really showing, not telling, more than anything else,? he said.
Unfortunately, by that standard it seems Rhode Island could hardly be doing worse.
Rhode Island receives a grade of F -?the worst in the country ? for its overall friendless toward small businesses in a new survey conducted by Thumbtack and the Kauffman Foundation. Only two other states ? Hawaii and Maine ? got a failing grade. By comparison, New Hampshire got an A+, Massachusetts got a C- and Connecticut got a D+. (Vermont?s sample size was too small to grade.)
Rhode Island?s defenders may wonder if the survey was put together to make blue states look bad, but its designers emphasized that they were looking for a nuanced picture. (This PDF details the methodology.)
?Many business indices are produced by organizations promoting a particular agenda or policy, such as lower taxes or deregulation,? Nathan Allen and Sanders Daniels of Thumbtack wrote in a summary. ?Our purpose is to accurately convey the attitudes and concerns of actual small business owners.?
A closer look at Rhode Island?s letter grades across 10 subcategories gives a better sense of what policies garner the least support from small businesses:
Ease of starting a business: F
Ease of hiring: F
Regulations overall: D
Health/safety regulations: D
Employment/labor/hiring regulations: C+
Tax code/regulations: D+
Licensing regulations: F
Environmental regulations: D+
Zoning: D
Training and networking programs: C
Based on this survey, taxes and regulations are ? unsurprisingly perhaps ? a big complaint from Rhode Island small business owners. (This suggests the Chafee administration was right to bring on Leslie Taito and push for quick action by the new Office of Regulatory Reform.) Moreover, the bright spots for Rhode Island in last year?s survey ? hiring costs, training programs and networking initiatives ? are no longer so bright.
The Thumbtack/Kauffman survey also included a few quotes from survey respondents in Rhode Island:
Personal chef, Providence: ?Rhode Island is attempting to start to help small business but just recently. They are behind the eight-ball considering the bad shape that RI?s economy is in. I am starting to see a turnaround and I hope it continues. It will take both the small businesses and the state and local governments to get the momentum to move in the direction it needs to.?
Fitness trainer, Providence: ?Too many desperate agencies and too hard to coordinate between them, and they?re extremely unresponsive, unhelpful, almost hostile. Too many cumbersome regulations (lead, fire code, [Americans with Disabilities Act], etc).?
Pet hotel owner, North Providence: ?Getting the correct zoning is a problem and parking is terrible.?
Production company owner, Cranston: ?There are high taxes & it?s very hard to turn a profit.?
Home supply retailer, Warwick: ?It has been difficult mainly because of the down economy and my state being one of the most ?business unfriendly? states in the country.?
As Slate?s Matt Yglesias wrote earlier this year: ?Red tape, long lines, inconvenient office hours, and other logistical hassles probably won?t stop tomorrow?s super-genius from launching the next great billion-dollar company. But it?s a large and needless deterrent to the formation of the humble workaday firms that for many people are a path to autonomy and prosperity.?
Thumbtack.com said the Small Business Friendliness Survey was conducted by polling 7,766 respondents nationwide between Oct. 25, 2012, to Jan. 2, 2013. The group told WPRI.com 24 Rhode Island businesses participated in the survey.
? Related: Executive Suite ? What?s wrong with Providence and how to fix it (Jan. 27)
Tags: business, business climate, economic development, economy, entrepreneurs, jack dorsey, small business
WELCOME TO MY BLOG!. To show you my appreciation I like to show you The One Secret Weapon that other leaders can't show you...Get Access Now! . Thanks for visiting!
?Is Internet Marketing a great alternative to market your business? Yes it is, but there are certain myths that need to be dispelled about internet marketing. Lets look at the common ones and why they are just myths?
?
??Rumors are mostly a projection of the individual who started them.? ~? Roya R. Rad
Many of you are doing internet marketing and some of you are undecided whether to do internet marketing are not. Whatever the case may be this type of marketing has changed the way we all do marketing since the late 1990?s.
So many entrepreneurs have flocked to the internet and have found a lot of success with it.
It?s a very convenient way of growing your business. You can literally grow your home business from the comfort of your bed.
But keep in my it does require just as much work as you would grow your business offline. Myths like this need to be addressed.
So many people get online thinking it?s going to be a lot easier to grow their business online instead of offline, but end up failing miserably. They end up chasing strangers like they did chasing their family and friends. They flood people with links to their business opportunity. And of course they?re always in ?selling mode? but yet approach in a way that doesn?t get them the results they want.
So what usually happens after their experience? One of two things happen. Either they get frustrated and spread bad rumors about internet marketing, or they open themselves up and see what they have to do to become successful online.
Lets look at the myths and dispel them so we can prosper online?
You may or may not have heard of these myths and rumors about internet marketing. When it comes down to it, it?s best to learn for yourself on how you can benefit from the internet and what strategies work best for you.
?
Internet Marketing Is Easy
?
Internet marketing is a convenient way for you to market your business but it requires just the same amount of knowledge to market to people online as you would do offline. As far as marketing goes, it follows a lot of the same rules, but the difference is that you can reach your target market around the globe rather than locally.
?
Internet Marketing Involves Little To No Work
?
Again it requires the same knowledge as offline marketing and also the same energy. You do have to put in some work each week. As for me, I work on my business about 2 hours a day tops. It?s not about just putting a link on a website, it?s how to market.
?
Internet Marketing Is A Scam
?
There are a lot of people that are skeptical about the internet. Especially investing in a business they found online. There are some internet scams, but there are very few of those. The majority of the programs I have seen so far have been legit. I have witnessed a couple of cases of ponzi schemes, but that was 2 out of 50 businesses. It?s best to do research on programs you find. I recommend that the program be around for at least 2 years and have a compensation plan set up for you so you can make at least 10K within 5 years.
?
Internet Marketing Requires A Lot Of Technical Knowledge
?
I do have to admit that I have a technical background, but a lot of friends of mine within the industry don?t. They just took the time to learn the technology behind the internet and you don?t have to be a wiz to figure it out. As a matter of fact there are a lot of step by step programs that will help you and it doesn?t require that you know a lot. A lot of the programs are integrated and already set up for you. You just have to customize it to your own liking.
?
Internet Marketing Doesn?t Involves Prospecting
?
You can actually still prospect. I actually recommend it whether your prospects join you or not. You can create a referral system and grow you business like that. People want to join and/or buy from other people, and with a good reputation, you get strong trusting relationships which will lead to more sales.
?
Internet Marketing Allows You To Make Money Instantly
?
Internet marketing is not a get rich quick way to grow your business. Now there are some cases where someone will have success within a ridiculous short amount of time, but that?s really rare. A lot of people have spent a year? or more just to make one commission. But once you find out the ?secret? then you can make commissions on demand.
?
Internet Marketing Isn?t ?Real? Marketing
Now I heard this from a lot of ?old skool? marketers as well as marketers that took the internet route, tried it for a couple of months and failed. Marketing is Marketing whether it be online or offline. If you?re getting leads out the wood work and sales online, then evidently you?re doing some type of marketing.
?
Now It?s Your Turn!
?
What are some myths have you heard that I didn?t mention hear? Did you believe any of these myths when you first started? When did the lightbulb click on after doing internet marketing for a while? Please share your comments below and share this post with your friends. I look forward to reading them!
Struggling with your home business? Are you confused about how to really market it? Many of you are left in the dark and I like to bring light to you. I like to introduce to you a step-by-step simple formula that has been working for me.
After years of opposing redefining marriage to include unions between same-sex couples, a number of senators?most recently Illinois Republican Sen. Mark Kirk?have announced that they now support gay marriage.
Kirk, only the second Republican in the chamber to declare his support after Ohio Republican Sen. Rob Portman did so last month, said Tuesday that he now believes that the "government has no place in the middle" of two people who love each other.
Kirk's announcement, made in a statement posted on his website, arrived just hours after Delaware Democratic Sen. Tom Carper wrote on his Facebook page that after "a great deal of soul searching" he had concluded that "all Americans ultimately should be free to marry the people they love and intend to share their lives with, regardless of their sexual orientation."
Just a day before, Pennsylvania Democratic Sen. Bob Casey made his own declaration of support, following the lead of several Senate Democrats who over the last week or so endorsed same-sex marriage.
With Carper and Casey's announcements, only seven Senate Democrats still oppose same-sex marriage: Mark Pryor of Arkansas, Joe Donnelly of Indiana, Bill Nelson of Florida, Joe Manchin of West Virginia, Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, Mary Landrieu of Louisiana and Tim Johnson of South Dakota.
Pressure continues to build on the Democratic holdouts?many of whom face re-election battles next year. Liberal advocacy groups like MoveOn.org are currently conducting coordinated campaigns to sway the remaining senators.
Recent national surveys suggest that public opinion is swinging in favor of granting same-sex couples the legal right to marry. A national ABC News-Washington Post poll conducted last month found that 58 percent of Americans now support allowing same-sex marriage. Ten years ago, only 37 percent believed the government should recognize same-sex marriages. Last week the Supreme Court heard two cases on the subject, which addressed the constitutionality of a voter-approved measure that banned same-sex marriages in California and the Defense of Marriage Act.
The Bermuda Cricket Board have released the approved 2013 Transfers in accordance with the Bermuda Cricket Board Transfer Policy.
The Southampton Rangers picked up five players, father and son Ricky and Derrick Brangman will both play their home matches at the Southampton Oval, while Shannon Raynor returns for another stint at the club, meanwhile Cleveland County have picked up the likes of Chris Douglas from Willow Cuts and Adrian Burrows from St. David?s Cricket Club.
St. David?s Cricket Club will have the services of George O?Brien back from Willow Cuts, Kameron Fox returns from the Devonshire Recreation Club and McLaren Lowe returns from Western Stars.
![[ Back to EurekAlert! ]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_vPDqBGkSS4wKpaKCliKxCkgPAlIropeewtNFp4ljkoJBcMbYhBMDa66y4n_U--CkNxHv3Sp4Y9avKJrz5Y2YQATPMhNLtsc4QaIf2lpCE=s0-d){kind=small}
Public release date: 4-Apr-2013
Share ] 
When Twitter and Square co-founder Jack Dorsey appeared on Executive Suite recently, he said the best thing Rhode Island leaders could do to attract more entrepreneurs is to be hospitable to them.
??Rumors are mostly a projection of the individual who started them.? ~? Roya R. Rad
