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Skandinavisk Data Center Greatly Reduces Costs by Migrating Core Banking Systems to Microsoft Platform

*Scandinavian IT center expects to save $20 million annually by replacing its mainframe technology with Windows platform.*

REDMOND, Wash. — Sept. 13, 2010 — Microsoft Corp. today announced that Skandinavisk Data Center (SDC) is expected to save $20 million annually by moving its core banking system from its mainframe platform to Microsoft SQL Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008. SDC was formed in 1963 and is owned by 150 financial institutions in Denmark, Sweden, Norway and the Faroe Islands, and is responsible for providing core banking services to these banks across Scandinavia.

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Witchweed Should Haunt Crops no Longer, say U of T Researchers

Nature

Each year, thousands of acres of crops are planted throughout Africa, Asia and Australia only to be laid to waste by a parasitic plant called Striga, also known as witchweed. It is one of the largest challenges to food security in Africa, and a team of scientists led by researchers from the University of Toronto have discovered chemicals and genes that may break Striga’s stranglehold. (more…)

UMD-Led Team Begins Imaging Comet Hartley 2 with Deep Impact Spacecraft

Science

COLLEGE PARK, Md. — Some five years after its July 4th 2005 ‘comet shot’ was seen around the world, the Deep Impact spacecraft has begun regular imaging of a second comet target, Hartley 2. The spacecraft will continue imaging Hartley 2 during and after its closest approach on November 4, providing an extended look at the comet. However, there won’t be any fireworks this time as Deep Impact’s probe craft was destroyed in its deliberate 2005 collision with comet Tempel 1. (more…)

Romantic Partner May Play Role in Reducing Vulvovaginal Pain

Health

An investigation published in The Journal of Sexual Medicine has found that male partners who express greater support, attention and sympathy to women’s chronic vulvovaginal pain may trigger more pain, but also increase sexual satisfaction in female partners.

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IBM and Thought Equity Motion Collaborate on Film Archive Digitization and Preservation Project for EYE Film Institute Netherlands

Technology

AMSTERDAM – 10 Sep 2010: IBM (NYSE: IBM) and Thought Equity Motion, Inc., a leading provider of video platform and rights development services, announced today that they are collaborating on a major film digitization and preservation project for the EYE Film Institute Netherlands. The project involves scanning and storing more than 150 million discrete DPX files. (Digital Picture Exchange is the worldwide standard for transferring film images to a digital medium with no loss of quality.)

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Main Climate Threat from CO2 Sources Yet to Be Built

Environment

Stanford, CA — Scientists have warned that avoiding dangerous climate change this century will require steep cuts in carbon dioxide emissions. New energy-efficient or carbon-free technologies can help, but what about the power plants, cars, trucks, and other fossil-fuel-burning devices already in operation? Unless forced into early retirement, they will emit carbon dioxide into the atmosphere for decades to come. Will their emissions push carbon dioxide levels beyond prescribed limits, regardless of what we build next? Is there already too much inertia in the system to curb climate change?

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Scientists identify key enzyme in microbial immune system

Science

Imagine a war in which you are vastly outnumbered by an enemy that is utterly relentless – attacking you is all it does. The intro to another Terminator movie? No, just another day for microbes such as bacteria and archaea, which face a never-ending onslaught from viruses and invading strands of nucleic acid known as plasmids.

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comScore Reports Top 10 U.K. Ad Networks

Technology

*24/7 Real Media Growth Outpaces all Other Networks, Doubling Reach in Past Year*

London, U.K. – comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, reported on Sept. 9, the top 10 ad networks based on their reach among U.K. internet users in July 2010. The ranking showed that Google Ad Network remains on top, with a reach of 38.3 million internet users, or 93 percent of the total U.K. internet audience, followed by AOL Advertising (33.2 million) and Yahoo! Network (33 million).

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