Wear Luck Uses Clothing To Promote Positivity And Self-Improvement

 

April 4, 2014 3:31 pm by: Clarissa Burt - Category: Fashion News

“It’s clothing with a purpose.”

That is the goal of Wear Luck, the clothing line aimed toward influencing a positive state of mind, good luck and self-improvement. The company has six shops within itself: Wear Luv, Wear Yoga, Wear Hope, Wear Intent, Wear Balance and Wear Fitness. Each shop is designed to provide the wearer with a different inspirational message.

Each line within the brand has a different creator and each of these creators have the hope of influencing wearers in a positive way.

Wear Luv, by Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders trainer Lin Johnson, focuses on kindness and anti-bullying with shirts displaying messages such as: “Luv Who You Are,” “Luv Is My Addiction” and “I Luv Us.”

According to Johnson in Wear Luv’s online description, “It truly forces the wearer of the shirt—to have a good attitude!”

At the March 6, 2014 premiere of “Mr. Peabody & Sherman,” actress Blanca Blanco wore the Wear Luv top reading “I Rock” on the front “And So Do You” on the back.

Johnson’s husband and trainer of the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders, Jay Johnson, also created a line for Wear Luck called Wear Fitness. The shirt “Sweat is Sexy” is meant to motivate the wearer to push their limits during workouts.

Author Lissa Coffey created Wear Yoga. The line focuses on using colors and symbols that help the wearer reach their “dharma,” which is a Sanskrit word that means “purpose.” Coffey explains in her book “What’s Your Dharma?” that there are four paths that can lead to this self-discovery and her line encourages those paths.

A mother of two special needs children is behind Wear Hope for Wear Luck. She uses her story and line to encourage wearers that they can endure any challenges placed in front of them.

Wear Intent was created by Mallika Chopra, who founded an online community targeted toward encouraging people to make their aspirations a reality with the power of intentions. Her line reminds wearers to be mindful of their intent.

Feng Shui entrepreneur Kathryn Weber uses Wear Balance to help the wearer bring what is out of balance in their lives into focus. With shirts dedicated to prosperity, fame, romance, family, health, creativity, wisdom, career and confidence, each has a unique color and message.

With its expansion into these positive lines, Wear Luck is gaining popularity and recognition, and they are definitely a brand to watch out for in 2014.

 

El Economista de Cuba- Ciencia, tecnología y economía mundial

 

Ciencia, tecnología y economía mundial: persistencia de asimetrías y emergencia de nuevos actores
Por Guillermo L. Andrés Alpízar - Rebelión
Aunque en el contexto de la crisis global se asiste a un afianzamiento de los cambios globales que en cifras gruesas determinan un mejor posicionamiento de las economías del Sur, estas transformaciones ocurren de forma muy desigual, afianzando el desarrollo asimétrico de la ciencia y la tecnología por todo el orbe

[04-04.2014]- Actualización 9:00 am de Cuba
Una mirada a la evolución más reciente de los principales indicadores de ciencia y tecnología a nivel global, apunta a una reducción de la comúnmente denominada "brecha" que separa a los países del Norte de los países periféricos. Al respecto las estadísticas de la UNESCO aseveran que si en 2002 los países subdesarrollados ejecutaban el 17,5% del gasto mundial en investigación y desarrollo (I+D) y poseían el 30,6% de los científicos del mundo, siete años más tarde invirtieron el 27,1% y dispusieron del 36% del total de los investigadores (UNESCO, 2013). Sin embargo, ¿Quiere decir ello que se asiste a un despegue real de la ciencia en el Sur? En estos cambios, ¿qué rol desempeñan las economías emergentes y en particular, China?

Para responder a estas preguntas resulta necesario comenzar analizando la evolución de las inversiones globales en ciencia y tecnología durante los últimos años, donde se muestra un incremento sostenido en los volúmenes de financiamiento, los cuales a pesar de ligeras desviaciones han acompañado el crecimiento de la economía mundial. En 1992 los gastos mundiales en investigación y desarrollo ascendieron a 428,5 mil millones de dólares (estos datos se ofrecen en dólares de Estados Unidos, en paridad de poder adquisitivo). Quince años más tarde, ese monto se elevó a 1,16 billones de dólares y para 2009 -el último año disponible con una cuantificación del total mundial- estos fueron 1,28 billones. El incremento en los volúmenes de financiamiento, implicó una ligera disminución en la intensidad global de las inversiones en ciencia y tecnología, pues si en 1992 el total del Gasto Bruto en Investigación y Desarrollo (GBID,) representó el 1,8% del PIB mundial, en 2009 su participación fue del 1,77% (UNESCO, 1996) (UNESCO, 2010) (UNESCO 2013).

Este último año, los países desarrollados, donde reside el aproximadamente el 20% de la población mundial, ejecutaron el 72,9% del total de gasto en I+D, mientras que en los países subdesarrollados, con el 80% de la población restante, esa participación se limitó al 27,1% del GBID mundial. Como promedio, los países subdesarrollados destinaron a las actividades de investigación y desarrollo el 1,11% de su PIB (en el caso de los Países Menos Avanzados fue el 0,2%) mientras que los países desarrollados la media fue del 2,32% (UNESCO, 2010) (UNESCO, 2013).

Al examinar la distribución asimétrica de los gastos en I+D, pueden identificarse otros niveles de estratificación, entre las diferentes regiones o países. Estos contrastes se ponen de relieve con especial énfasis dentro del conjunto de países subdesarrollados. Por ejemplo, en América Latina, Brasil ejecuta el 70% del gasto regional en I+D, y junto a México y Chile esa proporción se eleva al 90%, por lo que los treinta países restantes solo ejecutan el 10%. En el continente africano, Sudáfrica concentra el 40% del exiguo GBID, mientras que al resto de los países subsaharianos realizan el 28,8%. En Asia el 78% del GBID -excluyendo a Japón-, aparece en las cuentas de China, Corea del Sur e India. Si en dicho conjunto se incluye a la nación nipona, el porcentaje se eleva al 85% (UNESCO, 2013).

Este reconocimiento de los múltiples niveles de asimetrías, ya sea entre estados o regiones, aunque pueda involucrar a países con similares niveles de desarrollo, no puede pasar por alto que en las asimetrías Norte-Sur, es donde en última instancia radican los principales desafíos para este último grupo, pues ellas revelan y explican las condiciones de dependencia tecnológica en la cual se encuentra la inmensa mayoría de los países subdesarrollados, mientras que aseguran la utilización de la ciencia como un instrumento de dominación por parte de las economías más avanzadas, lo cual es además un factor decisivo para mantener su status quo en la economía mundial.

Sin embargo, aún en contra del mandato de esta lógica, en el informe de la UNESCO 2010 sobre el Estado de la Ciencia en el mundo se alertaba de un cambio en las tendencias observadas históricamente.

Allí se describe el ascenso del Sur en ciencia y tecnología, el cual se ve reflejado a través del desplazamiento de la influencia científica mundial en detrimento de la llamada "Tríada" (Estados Unidos, la Unión Europea y Japón) y en beneficio de una "nueva Tríada" compuesta por Estados Unidos, Europa y Asia (UNESCO, 2010).

La recomposición en el panorama científico mundial (que se muestra con claridad en varios indicadores agregados), a su vez se ha visto acelerada a consecuencia de los efectos de la crisis económica global, en la cual se han afianzado patrones de crecimiento totalmente divergentes, reflejados en altas tasas de incremento del PIB en algunas economías y mientras que se mantiene la recesión o el estancamiento en otras. Desde el punto de vista de las grandes regiones geográficas, mientras que América y Europa disminuyen en varios puntos porcentuales su participación en los gastos globales de I+D, Asia muestra un aumento sostenido y llega en 2009 a representar el 32,2% de esos gastos (UNESCO, 2013).

En las economías asiáticas, la influencia de los cambios liderados por China ha sido muy significativa en diferentes órdenes. Entre 2002 y 2009 este país pasa del 5% al 12,1% de los gastos mundiales en investigación y desarrollo, alcanzando ese último año más de la tercera parte del GBID regional, mientras que el cambio de su peso dentro del conjunto de países subdesarrollados es aún superior, pasando del 28,5% en 2002 al 44,6% en 2009. Estas variaciones significan, además, que el gigante asiático, con una elevación del gasto de 114,9 miles de millones de dólares, aportó el 55% del incremento del financiamiento observado en los países subdesarrollados durante dicho período, y de mantenerse la actual tendencia, resulta evidente que va acercándose el momento en que China realizará la mitad del total de los gastos en I+D de los países del Sur (UNESCO, 2013).

Desde otra perspectiva, los resultados del resto de los miembros del grupo BRICS, han sido, en cierta medida, diferentes. Según la UNESCO, Brasil realiza el 1,9% del gasto mundial en I+D, India el 2,1%, Rusia el 2,6%, y Sudáfrica el 0,4%. En conjunto estos cuatro países, con un aumento de 43,1 miles de millones de dólares, aportaron el 20,8% del crecimiento del gasto de los países subdesarrollados entre 2002 y 2009, un 37,5% del total del crecimiento aportado por China (UNESCO, 2013). Esto refleja que si bien, visto como grupo, las economías BRICS mantienen un peso decisivo en la evolución de las tendencias de la ciencia y la tecnología para el conjunto de países "en desarrollo" al aportar cerca de las tres cuartas partes del incremento de los gastos en ciencia y tecnología, es evidente que las contribuciones de estos cinco países han sido muy diferentes, mostrando un dinamismo variable en cada uno de los casos. Estas contribuciones han ido, desde la presencia inobjetable de China al frente de las transformaciones globales, hasta condiciones de lento crecimiento, puestas de manifiesto en los casos de Brasil y Sudáfrica, las cuales son compartidas por muchos países periféricos.

Las estadísticas globales, por lo tanto, han visto un incremento sustancial del peso del Tercer Mundo en los indicadores globales de ciencia y tecnología que no responde a una evolución sincronizada y coherente en el desarrollo de sus sistemas nacionales de innovación, sino por el contrario obedece a la lógica de una evolución diferenciada que tiene a países comprendidos dentro del mismo grupo en polos opuestos. Por esta causa el mayor peso que apariencia tienen las economías subdesarrolladas en los principales indicadores científico-tecnológicos globales, tiende a enmascarar la dinámica real del desarrollo científico y tecnológico de este conjunto de países, ocultando el estancamiento en el que se encuentran vastas regiones planeta, lo cual es el caso, por ejemplo, de los países africanos, y en especial de los Países Menos Avanzados (PMA). Es preciso recordar que los PMA están compuestos por 49 naciones, la mayoría de ellas ubicadas en el continente africano, y viven allí 798,5 millones de personas, o sea, el 12% de los habitantes del planeta. El gasto en I+D de ese conjunto de países durante 2009 fue de 2,1 miles millones de dólares (a PPA), lo que representa apenas el 0,2% tanto de su PIB como de su participación en las inversiones globales ciencia y tecnología.

Siete años atrás, cuando el gasto fue de 1,3 mil millones, ese porcentaje fue similar (UNESCO, 2010) (UNESCO, 2013) Por otro lado, en el caso de las economías más dinámicas, los incrementos generados en materia de gastos, investigadores o publicaciones, no garantizan que estos se conviertan automáticamente en desarrollo científico-tecnológico e innovaciones con un impacto significativo en la economía, aunque en el largo plazo contribuyan a crear las condiciones para que eso ocurra. Para los países asiáticos emergentes que participan en dichos procesos, tampoco puede soslayarse el efecto de las prácticas de "maquila intelectual" o transnacionalización de la ciencia, que son impulsadas por las empresas multinacionales, y que por lo tanto dificulta la capacidad para determinar hasta qué punto la innovación es endógena y cual es en realidad el resultado de procesos de deslocalización de la producción proveniente desde los países desarrollados, fundamentalmente Estados Unidos y Europa (Delgado, 2011).

En síntesis, aunque en el contexto de la crisis global se asiste a un afianzamiento de los cambios globales que en cifras gruesas determinan un mejor posicionamiento de las economías del Sur, estas transformaciones ocurren de forma muy desigual, afianzando el desarrollo asimétrico de la ciencia y la tecnología por todo el orbe.

Particularmente los países emergentes han desempeñado un rol fundamental en estos procesos, aunque inclusive dentro del grupo BRICS los resultados son muy heterogéneos, destacándose el papel de China como el actor más dinámico e influyente en ese grupo.

 

5 biometric alternatives to the password

 

(CNN) -- There are many things that make you special: Your sense of humor, your dance moves, your personal style, the shape of your ear.

That's right, your ear.

The password has had its moment, but those hard-to-remember strings of number and letters are increasingly insecure and clumsy to manage. The next wave in computer security will be biometric authentication, the futuristic practice of using unique behavioral and biological traits such as fingerprints, gait and yes, even ear shape to confirm your identity.

You might already have the necessary equipment to detect some of these your pocket.

Smartphones are packed with powerful sensors that can be used to make sure you are really, well, you. They have accelerometers, gyros, sensitive touchscreens, microphones and high-resolution cameras, all of which can gather information about physical traits and behaviors that make each person unique.

Fingerprints are the most well-known biometric identifier. Apple took an early stab at this technology by embedding a fingerprint sensor into the home button of its iPhone 5S, with mixed results.

Biometrics are still a long way from replacing the password -- they have kinks that must be ironed out, and making them work with current systems will take some time. There are also serious privacy concerns to consider when it comes to collecting information in databases that would identify people.

But these changes are coming. Here are five biometrics that are part of the next wave of identification technologies.

Heartbeat

Your heart's activity and its electrical signals are distinct and very difficult to replicate. The technology for reading an individual's electrocardiographic signals (ECG) has been around for many years, but recent advancements have shrunk the sensing devices to small sizes and made them less invasive.

Something as common as a wearable fitness device or subtle as a flat pad embedded on to the side of a smartphone can detect a person's heart rate. Apple has even applied for a patent on an embedded heart rate monitor for the iPhone.

One interesting product in development is the Nymi wristband. It looks like a typical fitness band, but instead of tallying steps it detects your heartbeat to confirm your identity.

The twist is that it isn't using your cardiac rhythm to unlock one device. The Nymi is designed to act like a replacement for physical keys and passwords by wirelessly confirming your identity to your smartphone, computer, front door, vehicle and even stores. It can also recognize gestures, so you can unlock your home with a wave.

Similar technology will likely find its way directly into other devices, including smartphones. Fitness devices are already including heart rate monitors as part of their health tracking, so it's a small jump to using them for security.

Ear shape

Sensitive touchscreens can pick up much more than a finger tap or swipe. With the right software and phone, they can detect the shape of a human ear.

That's the idea behind the Ergo Android app by Descartes Biometrics. When an ear is pressed against the screen, the points where it makes contact with the glass are mapped out and compared to a stored ear print. If it matches, the user is authenticated. The app is adjustable and can require multiple scans for the highest levels of security, or just one for people who feel they have a low risk of losing their phones.

For now, it's limited to unlocking a phone, but in theory the ear could be used to identify people for any number of uses on the phone, such as making purchases in app stores or signing into services.

There are a couple of potential advantages to using ear prints over fingerprints. For one, the size of the ear means it can be scanned using existing technology. There's no need to pay for a dedicated fingerprint sensor. It is also possible to figure out an ear shape from an image, something that could benefit law enforcement working with surveillance photos or videos.

Fingerprints can also change over time as people work with their hands, get injured and age. Advocates for ear biometrics claim that ears don't change nearly much over the course of a lifetime (unless they happen to belong to an MMA fighter).

Walk

If you've ever listened to someone walking past in the office and immediately known who it was, or spotted a friend from a distance by the way they moved, you've already seen the power of gait recognition.

For 30 years, researchers have tinkered with gait-recognition technology using high-resolution videos and specialized floors that sense pressure. The recent boom in inexpensive motion sensors like accelerometers and gyros have given new life to the field.

A wearable fitness device or smartphone moves along with your body when you walk. Many are already counting steps and speed. With the right software and sensors, they should be able to analyze a person's walk and determine if they are the rightful owner of those devices.

The benefit of gait recognition is that it can gather the necessary information in the background while people go about their normal routines. There's no need for the subject to touch their device or look into a camera.

Typing speed

Typing, like walking, varies from person to person. Keystroke biometrics record how a person types and calculates their unique pattern, speed and rhythm. It determines how long they hold down each key and the space of time between different letters.

Online learning site Coursera offers "Signature track" to students who want to get verified certificates for the courses they've taken. When classes are online, anyone could be playing the role of student. So Coursera set up a profile that requires a student to type in a sample phrase. When they need to prove their identity, say when turning in homework, they retype the phrase.

Keystrokes could be used to authenticate anyone working on a computer, so the system could appeal to companies that are watching out for unauthorized users on their internal systems.

Face recognition

Like fingerprints, face recognition is already being used in popular technology. Law enforcement and other entities are building databases to take advantage of recent advancements in facial recognition.

For facial recognition to succeed, devices need a clear, sharp image to work with. The cameras in smartphones and tablets have improved drastically and are on par with what you'll find in many point-and-shoot cameras. The software looks for patterns on the human face, such as distance between eyes, to identify people.

Samsung is one company that has taken advantage of improved camera technology and it now has a face-recognition unlock feature on its Galaxy smartphones. The feature is more of a novelty for now, because factors like lighting and camera angle often give false negatives.

Security is great for consumers, but it's not the primary goal of most facial-recognition tools. Law enforcement is building facial recognition databases. Identifying one person using their trail of selfies left online and in surveillance footage from stores could be a huge business. Some stores already use facial recognition to build profiles on repeat customers and collect data about how they shop.

 

Nutrition Zone Makes Major Moves In Sports Nutrition

 

Trenton S. Ulicny has joined Nutrition Zone as President.

Press Release: Nutrition Zone – Thu, 3 Apr, 2014 12:13 PM EDT

SANTA ANA, Calif., April 3, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Based in Nutrition Zone's Orange County, CA office, Ulicny will lead and manage operations, sales and marketing across all retail activities, franchising efforts, wholesale distribution, and consumer goods.

"Trent's decision to both invest in, and join Nutrition Zone as President, is a testament to what Nutrition Zone has created thus far, as well as the immense opportunity moving forward.  Trent brings with him a proven skill set and enthusiasm, and he will no doubt drive a dynamic environment here at Nutrition Zone that embodies a strong sense of team, product and operational excellence," stated Joe Eckstrom, Founder & CEO of Nutrition Zone.

Trenton S. Ulicny is the Co-Founder of TY KU, a Premium Sake & Spirits company, which he led to acclaimed success. Ulicny has also served as President & CEO of Robert Comstock Clothing.

Nutrition Zone has announced a partnership with ConeHead Investments, Inc (CHI), to aggressively build Nutrition Zone's Franchise Operations in the USA, starting immediately.

"Nutrition Zone is focused on identifying the best partners and practices in the industry. CHI has 18+ years of experience and over $100 Million in annual sales with their work with Cold Stone Creamery, embodying the experience we were looking for to ensure Nutrition Zone becomes the Premier Sports Nutrition store in the US and worldwide," said Trenton S. Ulicny, Nutrition Zone President.

Nutrition Zone
We are in the business of changing lives.
Nutrition Zone was founded to serve, educate and empower the community by improving the quality of our client's lives.  From inception, Nutrition Zone's customer service and sincerity has been at the forefront of its growth.  This is realized through highly educated team members who share our goal of making a positive, meaningful impact in our communities.
Nutrition Zone provides premium service and premium products at extremely competitive prices.

 

Statin Alternative: More efficient new drugs to lower Cholesterol

 

 

A new class of experimental medicines can dramatically lower cholesterol, raising hopes of a fresh option for people who can't tolerate or don't get enough help from Lipitor and other statin drugs that have been used for this for decades.

The first large studies of these drugs were presented Saturday at an American College of Cardiology conference in Washington, and more will follow on Sunday.

Several companies are developing these drugs, which are aimed at 70 million Americans and millions more worldwide who have high LDL or "bad" cholesterol, a major risk for heart disease.

Three studies of Amgen Inc.'s version of these drugs, called evolocumab (ev-oh-LOKE-you-mab), found it lowered LDL or "bad" cholesterol by 55 to 66 percent from baseline levels compared to others who took a fake drug, and by nearly that much when compared to Merck's Zetia, another cholesterol medication.

As impressive as that is, it's still just part of the picture. Doctors want evidence that the way these drugs lower cholesterol also will lead to fewer heart attacks and deaths, because that proof already exists for statins. New studies are underway to test this, but Amgen said it will seek approval for its drug this year based on cholesterol-lowering alone.

That was enough to win approval for statins and Zetia, but use of Zetia has declined since 2008, when research showed it failed to help prevent heart attacks even though it cut cholesterol. Hopes are high that the new Amgen drug and others like it will do better.

"I would be happy to see it approved" on the cholesterol results alone, said Dr. Hadley Wilson, a cardiologist at Carolinas HealthCare System. "We need additional agents other than statins" to help patients, he said.

Nearly all current cholesterol medicines - fibrates, niacin and top-selling statins - are decades old. Statins such as Lipitor, Zocor and Crestor curb cholesterol production. Zetia, which came out about a decade ago, helps block the absorption of cholesterol from the intestine.

The new drugs block PCSK9, a substance that interferes with the liver's ability to remove cholesterol from the blood.

They have big drawbacks, though. Statins are pills sold as generics for as little as a dime a day. The new drugs are proteins rather than chemicals, and those tend to be very expensive to make. They also must be given as shots every two weeks or once a month. People can give the shots to themselves with a pen-like device. The companies developing the new medicines have not said what they might cost.

"We were very, very pleased" about how well patients accepted the shots, and if they offer better results, especially for those with inherited conditions, "people will accept it," said Dr. Michael Koren of Jacksonville Center for Clinical Research in Florida, who helped lead two of the studies.

The three Amgen studies involved about 2,000 patients in all. Doctors tested the drug in people with high cholesterol not taking other medicines, as a long-term (one-year) treatment in people already taking various medications and in combination with statins and other drugs in people with an inherited cholesterol disorder.

In general, side-effect rates were about the same for evolocumab vs. placebo or Zetia. In some studies, muscle aches, nausea and a few other problems were a little higher with the experimental drug.

Overall safety "is very, very encouraging," said Dr. Scott Wasserman, Amgen's executive medical director.

Researchers also said:

-Alirocumab, a similar drug being developed by Sanofi SA and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc., lowered LDL cholesterol by 47 percent vs. 16 percent for Zetia in a study of about 100 people not taking any other drugs for high cholesterol.

-Bococizumab, from Pfizer Inc., lowered LDL 45 percent to 67 percent, depending on dose, compared to placebo in 354 people with high cholesterol also taking a statin.

"There's great interest" in all of these drugs, but doctors will wait for evidence that they lower heart risks, said Dr. Neil Stone, a Northwestern University cardiologist and spokesman for the American Heart Association.

It may be easier to justify their use in patients with genes that cause high cholesterol at an early age, he said.

A spokeswoman for the federal Food and Drug Administration, Sandy Walsh, suggested that might be the case.

"Although we cannot comment on the likelihood of approval based solely on specific indications or populations," two drugs recently were approved based on cholesterol-lowering for people with inherited conditions.

A decision on approval also will be influenced by how much the drug lowers cholesterol, its effects on other fats in the blood and other heart signs such as inflammation and blood pressure, and its safety.