Sunday, November 11, 2012

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'Chained CPI' May Be Key In Avoiding Fiscal Cliff

As people in Washington resume their pursuit of freaking out the populace with threats to plunge over the "fiscal cliff" -? the package of spending cuts and tax increases that takes effect in January if the White House and Congress can't work out something more palatable -? the key to a deal may lie in an arcane thing known as chained CPI.

CPI stands for consumer price index -- an inflation benchmark used for cost-of-living adjustments in many government programs, including Social Security and Medicare. Chained CPI is a slightly different way to calculate inflation. If the government used chained CPI as the inflation benchmark, it would reduce what the government spends on enormous programs like Medicare and Social Security, while boosting tax revenues that land in federal coffers.

Former White House chief of staff William Daley said he thinks a preliminary agreement to use chained CPI could be a starting point in negotiations between Republicans and Democrats, according to Bloomberg. Daley was involved in the 2011 negotiations between President Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boehner and said chained CPI was an element both sides okayed.

?It?s logical that that?s where you?d go back to, the points where there was either agreement or close to an agreement and try to begin there,? Daley said.

But using chained CPI is also certain to agitate politicians from both parties and their constituents, given that reducing government outlays for Social Security and Medicare is another way of cutting benefits to retirees. Boosting government revenues sounds to some ears like jacking up taxes.

Nonetheless, whatever unfolds -- a slide over the cliff and perhaps into another recession, or a deal -? is likely to involve chained CPI.

Chained CPI was suggested as part of a plan to trim the deficit in 2011 by the group of senators known as the "Gang of Six." It stirred a fair amount of controversy before the talks broke down.

The standard CPI tracks inflation by monitoring the prices of specific consumer goods and services. The inflation rate determined by the CPI is then used to calculate the increase in government benefits, including Social Security and veterans' disability payments.

But standard CPI fails to account for changes in consumer behavior triggered by fluctuations in prices. Chained CPI was conceived of by the Bureau of Labor Statistics as a way to adjust for this.

In an interview on NPR, Robert Greenstein, from the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, explained it this way: "If, for example, beef prices rise much faster than chicken prices, and consumers, as a result, buy less beef and more chicken, [chained CPI] picks up the switching from the beef to the chicken."

A sharp rise in beef prices boosts the standard CPI. But the price jump is softened in chained CPI by the reality that consumers do something different and wind up spending less.

Since chained CPI indicates a slower rise of inflation than standard CPI, benefits like Social Security would rise slower. Chained CPI generally shows an inflation rate 0.25 percent less than standard CPI, according to the Congressional Budget Office. So if standard CPI shows inflation at 3 percent, then payments would increase by 3 percent each year -- from $10,000 to $10,300 for example. Using chained CPI, those same payments would rise to only $10,275.

On the revenue side, taxes would increase under a chained CPI system, since tax brackets and other parameters of the federal tax code are adjusted for inflation as well.

According to estimates by the Congressional Budget Office, Social Security payments would be $108 billion less over 10 years with chained CPI. If the new index was applied to the tax code, budget deficits would be reduced by about $90 billion after accounting for changes in both revenues and expenses.

Analysts agree that chained CPI is a more accurate measurement of inflation, Greenstein said.

But academic-style accuracy is often not the decisive factor in the messy process of governing ?- a sport in which perceptions often matter more. That means chained CPI may not be the thing that prevents passage over the cliff.

Related on HuffPost:

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/09/chained-cpi-fiscal-cliff_n_2104274.html

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Body of South Barrington Man Pulled From Pond - Palatine, IL Patch

?

The body of missing 25-year-old South Barrington resident Vance Nwankwo was found in a pond Friday afternoon, according to CBS Chicago.?

A box alarm was pulled by Barrington Fire Department Friday morning. Divers with sonar equipment were called to the pond at 120 W. Algonquin Road in Barrington Hills, according to the Current Incident Notification Services.?The Daily Herald reports officials were searching for Nwankwo who went missing on Oct. 30. Calls to the Barrington Fire Department went unreturned today.?

Nwankwo, a Barrington High School graduate who is described as semi-autistic, was last seen by a cab driver leaving Drink Nightclub in Schaumburg on the way to his South Barrington on home Oct. 30. His keys, cell phone, and wallet were found in his home, and one of his shoes was found by his mailbox. ?

It's unclear at this time if foul play is suspected. Patch will have updates on this story as they become available.?

A vigil is scheduled for 9 p.m. at the scene where his body was found at Barlett and Penny Roads in South Barrington, according to CBS2 Chicago.?

Source: http://palatine.patch.com/articles/body-of-south-barrington-man-pulled-from-pond-3abbe8ab

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Celebrating Motherhood: My soul

Being Thankful....

Fathers not provoking

Not being angry

Not being nitpicky

Harsh words spoken

hearts closed

Please open him back up to joy

color leaves?

cold feet

babies playing hair-do

late morning with Scott

daughters who love to cook

bible time

Lazy Saturday basking, clothes hanging on the line,?

green house with girls eating kale.

The weather perfect.?

My heart healing from a summer of personal reflection.

God's perfect plan for me feels different then ever before.?

Moving on and walking through a door I have never walked through hard. ??

Babies growing up.

Breeze blowing in my face.

Sun warm, your sunshine so warm

so peaceful, relaxing, generous

Thoughts clear

air fresh

Moments to rest, to reason, to bask in Your glory Lord.

Friends move on...

little pieces of my heart gone.

Enjoying my life anyway

Baby William rejoicing in heaven,

singing with the angels.

Life all around me

Games being played

Lady bugs, airplanes, blue skies

leaves fall, grass fades

her foot steps on hardwood searching for me

gates locked to keep others out

to keep me in

My bedroom a place of peace.

No rushing, no going from one place to the next?

Just sitting a spell and taking a breath

and saying,

"Thank you Lord,

for all of this".

Source: http://www.celebratingmotherhoodeveryday.com/2012/11/my-soul.html

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Saturday, November 10, 2012

This Meteorite Flash Drive is Out of This World

Chances are you've got tons of flash drives just laying around. More than you really need. But are any of them made with real, certified meteriote? The Zana Design "Apophis" drive could fill that hole in your collection, for a price. More »


Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/hyAs3vBrGLo/this-meteorite-flash-drive-is-out-of-this-world

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States Get Extra Time On Health Insurance Exchanges - Kaiser ...

News organizations covered the late-afternoon Friday development - a letter from Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.

Kaiser Health News: Obama Administration Extends Deadline For State Exchanges
The Obama administration on Friday gave states more time to submit plans to set up state-based health insurance exchanges, a concession to the reality that many states had delayed planning until they saw who won the presidential election (Galewitz, 11/9).

NBC News: States Get 3 More Weeks For Health Exchange Plans
"The deadline for a Declaration letter for a State-based exchange remains Friday, November 16, 2012," [Sebelius] wrote in a letter to governors. "However, today, in order to continue to provide you with appropriate technical support if you are pursuing a State-based exchange, HHS is extending the deadline for State-based Exchange Blueprint application submissions to Friday, December 14, 2012."?(Fox, 11/9).

KHN has a pdf?of the letter from Secretary Sebelius to governors.

The Hill: HHS Offers States Extra Time On Exchanges
The [Affordable Care Act] envisions each state running its own exchange, but authorizes a federal fallback in states that don't move to set up their own marketplace.?... even some conservative governors have been quietly studying how an exchange would work, preferring to set their own rules rather than defer to HHS?(Baker, 11/9).

Los Angeles Times: Obama Administration Extends Health Law Deadline
These exchanges are designed to allow Americans who don?t get coverage through work to buy insurance on Internet-based marketplaces much as they shop for airline tickets today. They were to be operated by states starting next fall so consumers could get insurance starting in 2014. But just 15 states, including California, Maryland and Connecticut, as well as the District of Columbia, have established an exchange, according to the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation (Levey, 11/9).

The Washington Post: For Hurried States, Obama Administration Extends Health Law Deadline
Many states, however, have already made a decision not to play any role in setting up their exchanges: Florida, Kansas and Virginia all announced Thursday that they would leave the task to the federal government. States have cited their opposition to the health care law as one reason they won?t move forward. Others also see logistical challenges: If they rush to set up the marketplace, it may not have a smooth launch (Kliff, 11/9).

The Associated Press: States Get More Time To Work On Health Care Plans
In a concession to procrastinators, Sebelius said states considering a partnership with the federal government to run their exchanges can now have until mid-February to make a decision and submit their blueprints?(Alonso-Zaldivar, 11/9).

Politico Pro: HHS Pushes Back Exchange Decision Deadline
The new HHS deadline ...?also gives the Obama administration more time to issue rules that have been on hold in the months leading up to the election. State officials ? Republican and Democrat alike ? have complained that the administration hasn?t provided key details on ground rules for exchanges, benefits that health plans must provide and the health law?s now-voluntary Medicaid expansion, among other new requirements in the health care law (Millman, 11/9).

This is part of Kaiser Health News' Daily Report - a summary of health policy coverage from more than 300 news organizations. The full summary of the day's news can be found here and you can sign up for e-mail subscriptions to the Daily Report here. In addition, our staff of reporters and correspondents file original stories each day, which you can find on our home page.

Source: http://www.kaiserhealthnews.org/Daily-Reports/2012/November/09/insurance-exchange-delay.aspx

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Game Over: The Hall of Fame Winners

GAME OVER: Welcome to Dead System

When trapped in a universe where worlds were made from the mind of a insanely wicked girl, when forced to play a game that forces the very evil down inside to take action, when the very evil deeds you make are your only escape. What do you do?

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Forum for completely Out of Character (OOC) discussion, based around whatever is happening In Character (IC). Discuss plans, storylines, and events; Recruit for your roleplaying game, or find a GM for your playergroup.


Post a reply

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If you appreciate what they do, feel free to donate your spare change to help feed them on the weekends. After selecting the amount you want to donate from the menu, you can continue by clicking on PayPal logo.

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Reddit CEO Asks Users To Buy Revamped Membership Because Ads Are ?One Of The Reasons Digg Failed?

Reddit Gold"We could theoretically load up our pages with ads and probably make enough to cover our costs. However, that would significantly degrade the experience of using the site" said Reddit CEO Yishan Wong in a post asking users to "Invest in Gold" -- the site's newly enhanced subscription program. If people pay for ad-free Reddit and new Gold features like filter saving, the site won't end up like Digg

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/MMZrh_ySs5A/

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95% Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has To Travel

All Critics (55) | Top Critics (24) | Fresh (52) | Rotten (3)

Her life, and her work, transcended what we think of as "fashion." Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has to Travel celebrates a unique and uniquely determined woman.

Many people remember some of Diana Vreeland's famous pronouncements ("I adore pink! It is the navy blue of India!") but few remember actually hearing her speak. The documentary Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has to Travel takes care of that.

For fashionphiles and pop culture vultures, there's much to devour.

Diana Vreeland is both history lesson and sentimental love letter to a fashion titan.

Legendary fashion editor Diana Vreeland was the consummate dreamer, a romantic who never looked back and propelled society forward.

A feast for fashion-history buffs and anyone who applauds unstoppable eccentricity.

The filmmakers have done a fine job corralling so many fantastic tales from Vreeland's life.

"Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has to Travel" is an intriguing portrait of a true original; you only wish the movie had half the color and verve of its subject.

A lively movie, and in the case of its appearance-obsessed subject, it feels right that all it does is skim the surface.

[Vreeland's] influence on twentieth-century culture was large, and it's celebrated here with affection, dedication and skill--but very little critical detachment.

Though unwilling to dig too deeply into what seems an imperfect private life, it still serves as a splendid introduction to a unique personality.

A poignant portrait of an inveterate iconoclast who couldn't help but push the envelope.

[A] warm portrait of the world's first true fashion maven.

It can be hard to keep up at points -- not with the plot, but with the amount of inspiration that Diana can still strew over an audience.

As a biographical documentary, Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has To Travel is complete and satisfying. As a leading character, Mrs. Vreeland is entirely entertaining.

Vreeland's attention to detail, her love of new and exciting images, her devotion to and ability to identify, that ethereal thing called style, come across loudly and clearly.

No quotes approved yet for Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has To Travel. Logged in users can submit quotes.

Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/diana_vreeland_the_eye_has_to_travel_2012/

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Govt urges team-building exercises | Fijisun.com.fj

By MAIKA BOLATIKI

Permanent secretaries in Government ministries have been urged to involve their staff in team-building exercises.
The call was from the Permanent Secretary in the Prime Minister?s Office, Lieutenant-Colonel Pio Tikoduadua.
He was replying to an invitation by Warwick Pleass, the managing director of Pleass Global Limited, at the opening of the Kila Eco Adventure Park and Kila Organics at Namosi.
Lieutenant-Colonel Tikoduadua said staff of the Prime Minister?s Office usually do team-building exercises at the Republic of Fiji Military Forces (RFMF) camp in Nabua. However,? he said they would use the Kila Park facilities for their team-building exercises next year.
?I?m asking all permanent secretaries to make use of the facilities at the park for their team building exercises,? he said.
A group of women and men from the RFMF were going through their paces on the high ropes at the park.
?It?s great for them to have access to this facility. This is a place for companies and government agencies to bring their people to for exercises in personal and group development.?
He said team-building exercises could be used by any business, large or small, to promote better teamwork in the workplace. ?Most business owners and managers know that great teamwork is one of the key factors associated with a company?s success.?
Lieutenant-Colonel Tikoduadua said team-building activities should bolster the work employees complete together and provide a genuine opportunity to relax and unwind.
He has urged all government ministries to involve their staff in team building exercises because it could improve work output.

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Posted by newsroom on November 10, 2012. Filed under Fiji News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

Source: http://www.fijisun.com.fj/2012/11/10/govt-urges-team-building-exercises/

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Likely Benefits of Solar Panel Installation

In Canada, solar panel are becoming a priority. It's time for the world to invest in solar panels systems, we are all responsible for our carbon footprint and should be actively trying to live greener.

View all articles by Adrianna Noton With the new green energy movement, many people are seeing more and more of these dark panels on nearby roofs. It is enough to make people wonder what the benefits of solar panel installation truly are. There are many, although these devices are not without their downsides, just like most other technology.

Panels capture energy from sunlight and store it in a battery as electricity. This energy is then run from the panels into your home, and powers your appliances, electronics, and other things such as electric water heaters or air conditioners. Because the energy is stored, you have access to it during the night as well as during the day when it is being generated.

Unlike energy created by burning coal, gasoline, or other fossil fuel sources, the sun is 'free' energy. The energy captured by these panels would otherwise be doing nothing more than perhaps raising the temperature of your roof a few fractions of a degree. And the sun will never run out out, at least not while the earth is capable of supporting human life.

Although the initial cost of installing panels can be high, many people never pay an electric bill again. The panels do not last forever and do have to replaced eventually, but depending on how much electricity your household uses, you can save a lot of money. A few cities, counties and green organizations offer rebates for purchasing the panels, as well.

Newer models are capable of collecting sunlight even on hazy or overcast days. It used to be that panels were only good for bright, sunny areas. But because sunlight does filter through the cloud layer, evident by the fact that even on a cloudy

affiliate_link day it is not as dark as nighttime, engineers have focused on figuring out how to capture it. Now, there are panels that can.

If you are hooked up to the electric grid, many electric companies will purchase your excess. This may enable you to recoup some of the cost of the system, or keep your electric bill over the year effectively at zero while using more in the winter and less in the summer. It's also a great way to make sure that you are never without power, because either the electric company or the panels should be providing energy.

For people who live off the grid, panels eliminate the need to live without electricity. They may make that new home you've always wanted on a parcel of land that is way off the beaten path more realistic. Having the electrical grid extended to include a home like this can be an expensive proposition, and panels are often a cheaper way to make sure you can turn on a reading lamp and take a hot shower.

The benefits of solar panel installation are many and varied. However, it is an outlay of often a significant amount of money, and not everyone is able or willing to do this. For the benefit of the earth and future generations, however, it is important that we move towards greener sources of energy, and panels are one of the great and realistic ways to do this during modern times.

In Canada, solar panel are becoming a priority. It's time for the world to invest in solar panels systems, we are all responsible for our carbon footprint and should be actively trying to live greener.

In Canada, solar panel are becoming a priority. It's time for the world to invest in solar panels systems, we are all responsible for our carbon footprint and should be actively trying to live greener. http://www.highlandsolar.ca

Source: http://www.articlesbd.com/articles/272027/1/Likely-Benefits-of-Solar-Panel-Installation/Page1.html

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USC manager fired for deflating balls in loss

(AP) ? Southern California says it has fired a student manager who intentionally deflated game footballs below NCAA-mandated pressure levels for the Trojans' loss to Oregon last week.

USC announced the dismissal of the unnamed student manager on its website late Wednesday night.

The school says it was reprimanded and fined by the Pac-12.

Underinflated footballs are thought to be easier to catch and throw. The Ducks had little trouble throwing or catching throughout their 62-51 win, the worst defensive performance in USC history.

USC says game officials discovered some of the underinflated footballs before the game and others at halftime, fixing the balls before the second half.

USC says the student manager acknowledged he deflated the balls of his own accord after they had been checked by officials before the game.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2012-11-08-FBC-T25-USC-Balls-Deflated/id-aef874a8baae403fba066d30ea7b4cee

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Friday, November 9, 2012

News Analysis: How Science Can Build a Better You

IF a brain implant were safe and available and allowed you to operate your iPad or car using only thought, would you want one? What about an embedded device that gently bathed your brain in electrons and boosted memory and attention? Would you order one for your children?

In a future presidential election, would you vote for a candidate who had neural implants that helped optimize his or her alertness and functionality during a crisis, or in a candidates? debate? Would you vote for a commander in chief who wasn?t equipped with such a device?

If these seem like tinfoil-on-the-head questions, consider the case of Cathy Hutchinson. Paralyzed by a stroke, she recently drank a canister of coffee by using a prosthetic arm controlled by thought. She was helped by a device called Braingate, a tiny bed of electrons surgically implanted on her motor cortex and connected by a wire to a computer.

Working with a team of neuroscientists at Brown University, Ms. Hutchinson, then 58, was asked to imagine that she was moving her own arm. As her neurons fired, Braingate interpreted the mental commands and moved the artificial arm and humanlike hand to deliver the first coffee Ms. Hutchinson had raised to her own lips in 15 years.

Braingate has barely worked on just a handful of people, and it is years away from actually being useful. Yet it?s an example of nascent technologies that in the next two to three decades may transform life not only for the impaired, but also for the healthy.

Other medical technologies that might break through the enhancement barrier range from genetic modifications and stem-cell therapies that might make people cognitively more efficient to nano-bots that could one day repair and optimize molecular structures in cells.

Many researchers, including the Brown neuroscientist John Donoghue, leader of the Braingate team, adamantly oppose the use of their technologies for augmenting the nonimpaired. Yet some healthy Americans are already availing themselves of medical technologies. For years millions of college students and professionals have been popping powerful stimulants like Adderall and Provigil to take exams and to pull all-nighters. These drugs can be highly addictive and may not work for everyone. While more research is needed, so far no evidence has emerged that legions of users have been harmed. The same may be true for a modest use of steroids for athletes.

Which leads us to the crucial question: How far would you go to modify yourself using the latest medical technology? ?

Over the last couple of years during talks and lectures, I have asked thousands of people a hypothetical question that goes like this: ?If I could offer you a pill that allowed your child to increase his or her memory by 25 percent, would you give it to them??

The show of hands in this informal poll has been overwhelming, with 80 percent or more voting no.

Then I asked a follow-up question. ?What if this pill was safe and increased your kid?s grades from a B average to an A average?? People tittered nervously, looked around to see how others were voting as nearly half said yes. (Many didn?t vote at all.)

?And what if all of the other kids are taking the pill?? I asked. The tittering stopped and nearly everyone voted yes.

No pill now exists that can boost memory by 25 percent. Yet neuroscientists tell me that pharmaceutical companies are testing compounds in early stage human trials that may enable patients with dementia and other memory-stealing diseases to have better recall. No one knows if these will work to improve healthy people, but it?s possible that one will work in the future.

More intriguing is the notion that a supermemory or attention pill might be used someday by those with critical jobs like pilots, surgeons, police officers ? or the chief executive of the United States. In fact, we may demand that they use them, said the bioethicist Thomas H. Murray. ?It might actually be immoral for a surgeon not to take a drug that was safe and steadied his hand,? said Mr. Murray, the former president of the Hastings Center, a bioethics research group. ?That would be like using a scalpel that wasn?t sterile.?

HERE is a partial checklist of cutting-edge medical-technology therapies now under way or in an experimental phase that might lead to future enhancements.

More than 200,000 deaf people have had their hearing partially restored by a brain implant that receives sound waves and uses a minicomputer to process and deliver them directly into the brain via the cochlear (audio) nerve. New and experimental technologies could lead to devices that allow people with or possibly without hearing loss to hear better, possibly much better.

David Ewing Duncan is a journalist who has contributed to the science section of The New York Times.

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/04/sunday-review/how-science-can-build-a-better-you.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

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Thursday, November 8, 2012

Increasing Stable Reunifications | Texas Foster Family Association ...

Increasing Stable Reunifications

by Dee Wilson

Since the passage of the Adoptions and Safe Families Act (AFSA) in 1997, the number of adoptions completed annually in the U.S. has more than doubled to more than 50,000 per year while the number of reunifications and the percentage of exits from out-of-home care that are reunifications has remained stable or actually declined in most states. Perhaps it is not a surprise that a federal law establishing strict timelines for reunification and requiring child welfare agencies to take legal action to terminate parental rights, absent compelling reasons, when these timelines have been exceeded has resulted in increased adoptions, but not increased reunification?s. In addition, federal law provides financial adoption incentives for states which greatly increase adoptions; and state child welfare systems can reinvest these federal funds in staff and infrastructure further increasing adoptions. There are no federal incentives for state child welfare systems which increase reunifications.

AFSA is not balanced public policy, but its passage is understandable given child welfare realities of the 1990s. The number of children in out-of-home care more than doubled from 1986-99 due to a substance abuse epidemic among low income populations, and many of the children entering out-of-home-care (and often remaining in care for several years) were infants and other young children. Some studies published in the late 1980s and early 90s indicated that no more than 25% of substance abusing parents whose children had been removed from the home entered into, much less completed, drug treatment programs. Furthermore, the first generation of in-home family support programs for substance abusing parents with children appeared to be failures (see Besharov and Hanson, 1994). There was a period in the 1990s when many child welfare caseworkers and supervisors in Washington State were convinced that methamphetamine addicts could not be successfully treated in this state?s in-parent and out-parent programs. The goal of unification appeared to be a lost cause for a sizable fraction of parents whose children had been removed from the home, usually due to neglect associated with substance abuse and co-occuring mental health disorders.

Today, the possibility of increasing safe and stable reunifications appears more hopeful than when AFSA became law because of a better understanding of the needs of substance abusing parents who have lost custody of their children, along with the development, testing and implementation of evidenced based and promising programs and other research on reunification and reentry into care that has shed light on why reunifications succeed or fail.

Jill Berrick?s boo,?Take Me Home offers one of the most enlightening discussions of reunification practice published in recent years. Berrick conducted interviews with six women whose children had been removed from the home in California due to drug abuse, and who struggled (for years in some cases) to regain custody of their children. Berrick writes that ?Parents? stories about the path to reunification suggests a lonely experience that speaks largely to issues of compliance and less to changes in real-life circumstances.?

In Berrick?s powerful stories, public child welfare agencies appear largely clueless about the status and even the whereabouts of the children for whom they were legally responsible and the needs of parents seeking reunification. Berrick writes of one mother:

?When Tracy was working to reunify with (her 3 children), she needed to learn how to engage in positive parenting experiences; she needed a coach to help her learn techniques for managing her children?s now challenging behaviors; she needed support in responding to their needs in their new, dyadic, intimate, day-to-day relationship. Tracy also needed concrete help establishing a home for her children. She needed an apartment in a new community, away from the familiar triggers she associated with the drug use of her past. She needed furniture, phone service, kitchen paraphernalia, bedding, clothes ? Tracy needed all of these and had none. She needed an enriched child care program for her youngest and after-school services for the others. She needed reliable transportation. ?she needed another bed, sheets and blankets. What Tracy needed was income to clothe and feed a very large family. What she got was another generic parenting class.?

Berrick can write confidently about Tracy?s needs because of her in-depth conversations with this mother, not because of her studies of large administrative data bases. Analysis of data is important, but it?s not a substitute for carefully listening to parents? accounts of their experiences and needs. Practice models that bring caseworkers and other professionals into regular interpersonal contact with parents struggling through a recovery process provide a forum in which parents can be heard, and which provide an opportunity for professionals to give parents timely feedback on their progress.

One of the most promising developments in recent years has been the expanded use of family treatment drug courts (FTDC) with parents whose children have been made legally dependent and who are initially in out-of-home care. Family treatment drug courts involve regular (often weekly) meetings of parents and professionals in a court setting to review parents? progress and needs. These team meetings provide a format for giving parents timely feedback (much of it positive) on their reunification efforts and the capacity to mobilize resources as needed. A few quasi-experimental studies of family treatment drug courts, including a recent Washington State sudy (Bruns, et al, 2012); have found increased reunification rates for parents who participate in family treatment drug courts.

Given that parents? participation in a family treatment drug court is voluntary, there is a possibility that parental involvement in FTDC is a proxy for motivation, i.e., parents who agree to participate in a FTDC are initially more motivated to regain custody of children than parents who choose not to accept FTDC structure for the importance of a parent?s visitation track record in predicting a reunification outcome. However, motivation to achieve a difficult goal such as reunification is not static; motivation to struggle with tough challenges can be strengthened or weakened by responses ? or lack of same ? in the social environment. If child welfare practitioners want parents to succeed in regaining custody of children, then they must engage in practices that strengthen parents? positive motivation and overcome parental resistance to participation in treatment programs.

Early studies of substance abuse treatment for parents with open child welfare cases found low rates of parental enrollment in and completion of substance abuse treatment programs, even when failure to comply with court orders could mean termination of parental rights. There have been similar findings regarding the low percentage of depressed parents in public mental health settings who return for a second visit and go on to complete a course of treatment. Sometimes addicted parents are not ready to give up drugs and alcohol, but many parents appear to doubt whether courts and agencies will ever return children to their care regardless of what they do. In addition, parents with trauma histories may have developed hopeless/ helpless ways of avoiding difficult challenges that makes failure a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Programs such as Engaging Moms in in Florida, Washington State?s Parent Child ? Assistance Program (PCAP) and Illinois? recovery coaches are designed to overcome parental resistance to treatment and support parents? completion of treatment programs. An increasing number of child welfare jurisdictions are investing in parent advocates and mentors who support parents? efforts to reunify with their children over and above encouraging involvement in treatment programs. Emotional support and advocacy are important for parents who often distrust child welfare caseworkers and other professionals they may view as hostile or unsympathetic to their interests.

One of the most difficult challenges facing caseworkers and courts is how to combine or sequence parenting skills programs with substance abuse and mental health treatment. There has been surprisingly little research that addresses this issue, though most professionals who work with troubled parents agree that overwhelming them with multiple demands is a formula for failure. In addition, until the past decade there was a sound basis for skepticism regarding the effectiveness of widely available parenting skills programs, most of which were not evidenced based and which were routinely mandated for parents involved in dependency actions regardless of results. There is also an articulate body of scholarly opinion that questions whether substance abuse treatment is necessary if the abusive or neglectful parenting that results in open child welfare cases can be changed by well tested parenting programs absent drug treatment.

One of the most positive developments in child welfare during the past decade has been the increasing availability of evidenced based parenting and/or promising programs such as Parent Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) and Triple P. As a rule, these programs teach parents the power of praise and other rewards to shape child behavior in desirable ways, and include coaching of parents to develop useful skills.

Brook, McDonald and Yen have recently published (2012) results of a quasi-expermental study of use of the Strengthening Families Program (SFP) in Kansas to achieve reunification goals, an interesting use of a program designed for primary prevention. Brook, et al, found that 45% of families who participated in SFO were reunified with their children by 360 days from date of removal compared in 27% of the comparison group. According to these authors, SFP curriculums used in Kansas are for children 305 and 6-11. Half of the children in SFP entered the program after 225 days in foster care, a delay that suggests the likelihood that caseworkers encouraged parents to enter the program only after a lengthy course of substance abuse treatment or other treatment. The authors emphasize that SFP is a parenting program, and that sobriety was not a program goal. Nevertheless, caseworker use of the program suggests that they often use SFP in combination with other treatment programs and only after children had been in care for 7-8 months.

These authors plausibly suggest that there are some drug/alcohol abusing parents whose parenting issues can be effectively addressed without participation in substance abuse treatment programs. It is also likely that the timing of parents? ability to benefit from skills based parenting programs varies widely; and that these differences have important implications for child welfare decision makers, i.e., the earlier parents can learn and utilize parenting skills, the earlier they can be reunified with their children. Conversely, some parents need a lengthy course of drug/alcohol treatment or mental health treatment before they can benefit from parenting skills programs. Reunification should be delayed in these cases. ?But how can caseworkers determine which parents can benefit immediately, or after a brief period of time in treatment, from skill based parenting programs, and which parents will need many months of participation in treatment programs before they can acquire parenting skills? A cogent research based answer to this question does not seem to be available.

Most studies continue to find that about 15% of reunified children re-enter out-of-home care in the first year following reunification, and 30% or higher re-enter care over a period of 3-5 years. A recent analysis (Barth, et al, 2010) of re-entry data from the National Study of Child and Adolescent Well Being (NSCAW) found a re-entry rate of 22.1% over 36 months of the study (not 36 months from date of reunification). Children, 0-5 who entered out-of-home care due to neglect, and school age children with serious behavior problems at baseline (soon after initial placement), were much more likely to re-enter care than abused? children placed out of the home or children with normal Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) scores at baseline.

A common finding in studies of re-entry into care is that briefer stays in care (especially less than 6 months) are associated with higher rates of re-entry. When children enter care through voluntary agreements with parents, or for no longer than a few days or weeks, children may be returned to parents without a substance abuse or mental health assessment. Caseworkers often have a superficial understanding of family dynamics and family needs in many of these cases. However, even when parents have entered treatment programs, they may not be well established in a recovery process, or emotionally ready to meet the day in-day out needs of children. Shorter lengths of stay for children in out-of-home care may not be in sync with the therapeutic needs of parents with substance abuse issues.

Extended (but time limited) and intensively monitored trial home visits can help to establish the readiness of parents in substance abuse and mental health treatment programs to tolerate the normal stresses of child rearing. Parents must be able to admit after trial visits of a few days or weeks that they are not ready to be reunified with their children without the fear that this type of candor will be used against them in court actions.

In addition, voluntary services need to be extended to parents with chronically relapsing conditions such as substance abuse and depression for at least a year following children?s return to the parent?s home. Furthermore, there is a small fraction of seriously cognitively impaired parents who will need case management services for as long as they have young children in their homes. ?State laws that authorize the dismissal of dependency actions, and closure of child welfare services, 6 months after children have been returned home are not congruent with the known risk of relapse. Children may not need to re-enter out-of-home care following relapse depending on parental adherence to a documented safety plan; but child welfare intervention is often needed at these times.

Child welfare agencies can also reduce rates of re-entry by providing respite care to birth parents as needed; and this is easier to arrange when foster parents and birth parents have developed a positive relationship before children are returned to the birth parent?s home. Foster care can be used to support birth families as well as supplanting them.

References

Barth, R., Guo? S., Weigensberg, E. , Christ, S., Bruhn, C., and Green, R., ?Explaining Reunification and Reentry 3 Years After placement in Out-of-Home Care,? Chapter 8 in?Child Welfare and Child Well Being: New Perspectives from the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well Being, edited by? Mary Bruce Webb, Kathryn Dowd, Brenda Jones Harden, John Landsverk and Mark Testa, 2010.

Berrick, Jill Duerr,?Take Me Home: Protecting America?s Vulnerable Children and Families, 2009.

Besharov, Douglas, and Hansen, Kristine,?When Drug Addicts Have Children, 1994.

Brook, Jody, McDonald, Thomas and Yan, Yueqi, ?An analysis of the impact of the Strengthening Families Program on family reunification in child welfare,??Children and Youth Services Review, 34, 2012.

Bruns, Eric, Pullmann, Michael, Weathers, Ericka, Wirschem, Mark, and

Murphy, Jill, ?Effects of a Multidisciplinary Family Treatment Drug Court on Child and Family Outcomes: Results of a Quasi-Experimental Study,???Child Maltreatment, August 2012.

Source: http://www.tffa.org/2012/11/06/increasing-stable-reunifications/

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Source: http://lawrenceaubrey275.typepad.com/blog/2012/11/increasing-stable-reunifications-texas-foster-family-association.html

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Saber-toothed cats and bear dogs: How they made cohabitation work

ScienceDaily (Nov. 6, 2012) ? The fossilized fangs of saber-toothed cats hold clues to how the extinct mammals shared space and food with other large predators 9 million years ago.

Led by the University of Michigan and the Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales in Madrid, a team of paleontologists has analyzed the tooth enamel of two species of saber-toothed cats and a bear dog unearthed in geological pits near Madrid. Bear dogs, also extinct, had dog-like teeth and a bear-like body and gait.

The researchers found that the cat species -- a leopard-sized Promegantereon ogygia and a much larger, lion-sized Machairodus aphanistus -- lived together in a woodland area. They likely hunted the same prey -- horses and wild boar. In this habitat, the small saber-toothed cats could have used tree cover to avoid encountering the larger ones. The bear dog hunted antelope in a more open area that overlapped the cats' territory, but was slightly separated.

"These three animals were sympatric -- they inhabited the same geographic area at the same time. What they did to coexist was to avoid each other and partition the resources," said Soledad Domingo, a postdoctoral fellow at the U-M Museum of Paleontology and the first author of a paper on the findings published in the Nov. 7 edition of Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

Millions of years before the first humans, the predators lived during the late Miocene Period in a forested area that had patches of grassland. Large carnivores such as these are rare in the fossil record, primarily because plant-eating animals lower on the food chain have outnumbered meat-eaters throughout history.

Cerro de los Batallones, where Domingo has been excavating for the past eight years, is special. Of its nine sites, two are ancient pits with an abundance of meat-eating mammal bones. Agile predators, the researchers say, likely leapt into the natural traps in search of trapped prey.

"These sites offer a unique window to understand life in the past," Domingo said.

To arrive at their findings, the researchers conducted what's called a stable carbon isotope analysis on the animals' teeth. Using a dentist's drill with a diamond bit, they sampled teeth from 69 specimens, including 27 saber-toothed cats and bear dogs. The rest were plant-eaters. They isolated the carbon from the tooth enamel. Using a mass spectrometer, which you could think of as a type of scale, they measured the ratio of the more massive carbon 13 molecules to the less-massive carbon 12. An isotope is a version of an element that contains a different number of neutrons in its nucleus.

Carbon 12 and 13 are both present in the carbon dioxide that plants take in during photosynthesis. Different plants make use of the isotopes in different ways, and so they retain different amounts of them in their fibers. When an herbivore eats a plant, that plant leaves an isotopic signature in the animal's bones and teeth. The signature travels through the food chain and can be found in carnivores as well.

"This would be the same in your tooth enamel today," Domingo said. "If we sampled them, we could have an idea of what you eat. It's a signature that remains through time."

Because the researchers can tell what the herbivores ate, they can surmise what their habitat was like. They believe the animals in this study lived in a wooded area that contained patches of grassland.

The cats showed no significant difference in their stable carbon isotope ratios. That means they likely fed on the same prey and lived in the same habitat, but the posits that the species each fed on different-sized prey.

The findings demonstrate the timelessness of predator-prey relationships.

"The three largest mammalian predators captured prey in different portions of the habitat, as do coexisting large predators today. So even though none of the species in this 9-million year old ecosystem are still alive today (some of their descendants are), we found evidence for similar ecological interactions as in modern ecosystems," said Catherine Badgley, co-author of the new study and assistant professor of ecology and evolutionary biology.

The paper is titled "Resource partitioning among top predators in the Miocene food web." Other contributors are from the University of California, Santa Cruz, and the Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales CSIC in Madrid. The study was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Michigan. The original article was written by Nicole Casal Moore.

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Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_science/~3/if35v5xihLM/121106191657.htm

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American Suzuki Motor To Cease Selling Cars

BREA, Calif. - American Suzuki Motor Corp. on Monday filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and said it will cease selling automobiles in the U.S. as part of a plan to restructure its business.

The company, based in Brea, Calif., is the sole distributor of Suzuki Motor Co. vehicles in the continental U.S.

In documents filed with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the Central District of California, the company estimated that its debts and liabilities range from at least $100 million to as much as $500 million.

It also said it has between 1,000 and 5,000 creditors.

American Suzuki Motor said it has enough cash to operate during the restructuring and intends to honor all car warranties and buyback agreements. It will work with its car dealerships to help them transition into parts-and-service operations. In some cases, the dealerships will be shuttered, it said.

Once it exits bankruptcy protection, American Suzuki Motor said it will focus on selling Suzuki motorcycles, all-terrain vehicles and marine outboard engines.

It said that it is exiting the car business because of slow sales, unfavorable foreign exchange rates and high costs due to U.S. regulatory requirements.

It sold 2,023 vehicles in October, which was up 5 percent from the same month last year. Its Grand Vitara sport utility vehicle posted a 64 percent jump in sales last month, although American Suzuki did not say how many of them were sold. In May, the last month it provided a breakdown of its sales, it moved 474 Grand Vitaras, while its biggest seller was its SX4 small crossover, of which 1,101 were sold.

The bankruptcy and reorganization are unrelated to its parent Japan-based Suzuki Motor Corp., which intends to buy the American subsidiary's remaining businesses and automotive service operation.

The reorganized company will retain the American Suzuki Motor name, the company said.

NOW CHECK OUT

Source: http://autos.aol.com/article/american-suzuki-motor-bankruptcy/

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As Europe scrimps, budget airline Ryanair soars

Spartan, garishly colored cabin interiors, seats stripped of pockets, a seemingly constant bombardment of mid-air retail offerings, and a cheesy automated trumpet fanfare that announces ?yet another on-time arrival.?

It could only be Ryanair, the budget airline European travelers love to grumble about while readily snapping up its fares. The pattern has transformed the nature of travel on the continent and forced more upmarket rivals, including British Airways and Lufthansa, to mimic its ?no frills? model.

While companies from a range of sectors across the continent continue to struggle against the headwinds of deep austerity, better than expected results released this week by the Dublin-based carrier for the first half of this year underlined the apparent resilience of one of Europe?s most extraordinary business success stories. Despite operating in cash-strapped times where many Europeans are cutting back on the pre-austerity habit of taking multiple weekend city vacations, it posted a 10 percent rise in net profit and 15 percent rise in revenues to ?3.1 billion (almost $4 billion).

Think you know Europe? Take our geography quiz.

The announcement Monday also came with the confirmation that Ryanair is adding nine new routes from English airports in a move slated to create 1,000 new jobs next year.

NO TRANSATLANTIC EXPANSION... YET

While the airline continues to expand in Europe, where it carried 48 million passengers in the year up to September, don?t expect Ryanair to turn its attention to the US for the moment.

?I think it's unlikely we will see a Ryanair transatlantic [service] for the next three or four years,? the airline?s famously bombastic chief executive, Michael O?Leary, told British broadcaster Sky News. Mr. O?Leary cited the reason as being a delay in the delivery of new, long haul aircraft.

However, many experts who have long been fascinated by the story of Ryanair ? a 27-year-old start-up that was losing large sums of money as recently as the 1980s, until O?Leary turned it around by copying the low-cost characteristics of Dallas-based Southwest ? suggest that future long-haul ambitions may be a factor in the company?s ongoing interest in buying its Irish rival Aer Lingus.

?If they do acquire Aer Lingus, they have this ready-made way of trying to launch a budget transatlantic services,? says Eleanor O?Higgins of the School of Business at University College Dublin, who has written a series of case studies on Ryanair.

Now in the midst of its third attempt to take over Aer Lingus, Ryanair this week cranked up its efforts by submitting proposals designed to alleviate European Commission concerns about competition being stifled.

Dr. O?Higgins stresses some of the challenges of flying transatlantic service for the budget model, which she suggests might only work on shorter routes such as Dublin to New York, and envisages that Ryanair may have to compromise by providing free meals, extra leg room, and scope to bring more luggage.

But she adds: ?It would be interesting to see if they can have success where others have failed. There have been others starting with Laker in the 1970s, and Canadian airline Zoom more recently, but I would say if anyone does succeed it would be Ryanair.?

For now though, talk of transatlantic service remains just that, as well as another handy way for O?Leary to continue attracting headlines.

EXPANSION EAST AND SOUTH?

Much more likely is continued growth in Europe, where Ryanair aims to grow its share of the short-haul air travel market from 12 to 18 percent over the next decade.

Tom Lawton, professor of strategy and international management at the Britain-based Open University business school, suggests that, rather than westwards, the growth is more likely to be eastwards, and possibly southwards.

He says: ?Low-cost airlines like Hungary?s Wizz Air have been looking to Russia, for example, and North Africa is also an option. Ryanair already flies to Morocco, although these destinations are outside of the EU and so the regulatory challenges are much higher.?

?Rather than transatlantic flights, it?s more likely that they will just keep doing what they are doing, and perhaps look at new opportunities such as Eastern Europe.?

Ryanair?s major achievement, and one that cannot be ignored, is to inject cost efficiency into the European aviation sector, says Professor Lawton.

Looking ahead, and with the stated aim of carrying 120 million people each year by 2022, Ryanair said in a statement Monday that "further airline failures and consolidations are inevitable given the fragmentation among European airlines and the existence of so many high cost, high fare airlines with poor punctuality records."

With characteristic bluntness, its boss was meanwhile once again batting away the often-voiced suggestion from journalists that it treats its passengers with little respect.

?In Ryanair we care more about passengers more than any other airline,? he told Sky News.

?That's why we give you the lowest fares, brand new aircraft, all leather suits, and on time flights, and that's what passengers really want. They don't want to be delayed in rubbish airports. They want to arrive at the airport, get on the plane and go, and save a bundle of money doing it."

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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/europe-scrimps-budget-airline-ryanair-soars-153548284.html

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Mobile and Tablet PPC Campaigns

Managing PPC campaigns just for desktop can be a handful in and of itself. But throw into the mix managing separate mobile and tablet campaigns, and it can get even trickier. Mobile and tablet targeted campaigns can have different traffic, CPC?s and conversion rates ? and you want to know exactly how you can get the most out of each, right? Well I?m here to tell you it ain?t that hard and that you can start managing your fledgling mobile and tablet campaigns like a pro in no time.

Did you know?

  • 53% of searchers purchase as a result of a smartphone search in the U.S. (Google,?The Mobile Movement, 2011 study)
  • 62% of smartphone Internet users have gone online everyday in the past week. (Google, Our Mobile Planet, 2012 study)
  • 90% of these smartphone users take some sort of action as a result (subscribe, become a fan on?social?page, etc.)
  • Only 31% of advertisers have a mobile-enhanced website

Judging from the facts above, I gather two important things: 1. Ummm people are using their smartphones, so let?s get with it?advertisers! And, 2. Get a mobile page. Please.

So now that you know you need to get with the program, how do you begin? Well, if you?ve already started your campaigns and just set it to target ?All Devices?. then you?ll be able to segment your data and see for yourself how it?s been going having all devices lumped together. If you haven?t started, then just sit tight.

How to Segment Mobile Traffic in Adwords

?

  1. Click into either Ad Groups, Ads or Keywords.
  2. Click the ?Segment? tab and choose ?Device?.
  3. Choose an appropriate date range that would give you a statistically significant amount of data.
  4. See for yourself how much mobile and table was eating your budget unchecked.

You might find wildly different results as far as average CTR, CPC, and Conversions. And that?s okay. Or you might find that the results aren?t even worth looking at. And that?s okay, too. What it comes down to is how you want to?approach?the data. Here is an example of what you might see in a 30 day period:

Findings:

Notice in the red box that mobile spend was at $917.25, nearly 25% of the total spend in that ad group in particular. Tablet spend was another $471.05, or about 12% of the total spend. Together, mobile and table used 37% of the budget with no conversions.

Conversely, in the blue box, you see that there was a conversion from a tablet and it only spent $80.82. It was incrementally less than the Cost per Conversion of the Desktop segment, which was about $81.14), but notice something? ?The CTR was significantly better than Desktop (0.37% vs. 0.09%).

You might also notice that the Average CPC is slightly less for both mobile and tablet.

Now ask yourself some questions:

  1. Do you want to give mobile a legitimate shot with it?s own campaign and budget?
  2. Is the Conversion Rate for mobile worth working at with your budget?
  3. Do you have a landing page ready for mobile users?
  4. Is your product something than can be purchased on a mobile device?

The same questions can be asked of your tablet data. What you want to do next is create campaigns targeting each device. Some people choose to only segment out mobile into their own campaigns and leave tablet and desktop together. Now there are some pros and cons to this course of action.

Pros of keeping tablet and desktop together:

?

  • Many users use tablets as a desktop or laptop computer and surf the internet the same way.
  • Website displays on the tablet screen are the same for that of a laptop (though this is general assumption since tablet screen size varies).
  • Type of product doesn?t merit the split out.

Cons of keeping tablet and desktop together:

  • User behavior can be different for tablet vs. desktop or laptop. Tablet users may be searching?more?in the early evening or night time.
  • Tablet keyboard capabilities limit the search queries. You might get less detailed search queries from a tablet user than a desktop user.
  • Missing out on?optimizing?the landing page user experience for table users.

However you choose to divide out your campaigns, the following steps are easy enough to apply. In the Adwords Editor, simply:

  1. Open you account, then click into the ?Campaigns? tab.
  2. Right click and copy (or Ctl + C) and then paste into the same area.
  3. Change the campaign name to reflect that it?s now mobile.
  4. Change the targeting settings to Mobile Device Only.
  5. Change your old campaign to target Desktop.
  6. Make sure you change your ads, especially calls-to-actions, to reflect that they are now targeted for mobile users.
  7. If you didn?t have a Call Extension activated, go ahead and do so now on the mobile campaign.

You might discover some interesting things about your device-separated campaigns.

Day and time parting

Mobile and tablet users might have a different behaviors than desktop and laptop users. What worked for the desktop campaign might no longer work for these devices as far as time and day parting. Make sure you let the campaigns have a good, long leash before you stunt its growth. Give it at least two weeks to find the optimal times that you get the best CTR and Conversion numbers.

Ad copy

Just as behaviors might be different for these users, so are their triggers for clicking the ad. Adjust your ads to reflect the new users, their intent, and what action you want them to take.

Landing Page UX

Like I said earlier, you want your landing page to be optimized for this device-specific traffic. Have a mobile ready landing page. Make it easy for mobile users to click around, find out?more?about your product, and ultimately convert.

Bid management

The keywords that were converting well for your desktop campaigns could very well not work that well in the mobile or tablet campaign. Be prepared to have a different bidding strategy for these campaigns. One that will reflect a typically lower CPC, traffic levels, competition and conversion rates.

Mobile and tablet users are already the norm in search traffic and the quicker you adapt, the better your results. Use your data, implement the changes necessary, and see how the numbers will talk to you.

Share your own tips and tricks below in the comments!

About Sarah Peduzzi

Sarah Peduzzi is a Paid Search Associate. Her background includes SEO, direct response web and landing page design, email marketing and public relations. She graduated with a degree in English Writing from the University of Pittsburgh and has always been interested in publishing, especially genres like science fiction and fantasy. Her creativity, coupled with an affinity for numbers and the psychology behind search, led to a natural fit in Paid Search. When she?s not obsessively reading industry blogs, she is either reading a new book or trying to write one.

Source: http://www.lunametrics.com/blog/2012/11/06/mobile-tablet-ppc-campaigns/

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