Press Releases

NEW YORK, Nov. 11 /PRNewswire/ -- Famed singer, actress, author, and entrepreneur Marie Osmond is embarking upon a new career in the design industry with a line of home decor and fashion products produced by Giftcraft. Launching in stores this month, the Marie Lifestyle Collection includes uniquely designed quilted bags and accessories, fashion jewelry, elegant table top and stylish home decor accessories.

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20091111/NY09426)

"Creative expression has always been respected and treasured in my family. It is with that in mind, that I have poured my creative spirit and love for design and style into this new lifestyle collection," says Marie. "I am thrilled to offer stylish, functional products for women everywhere at a value-oriented price."

Marie was directly involved with the creation, design and development of the line which closely mirrors the aesthetic and values seen in Marie's own style. The entire Marie Lifestyle Collection retails for under $100 and will be available for purchase in Hallmark Gold Crown stores and fine boutiques across the US and Canada starting in November.

For more information, please visit: www.mariecollection.com.

About Giftcraft

Giftcraft is a leading designer and marketer of gifts and collectibles, fashion accessories, designer tabletop collections, garden and home decor products, including the distinctive Romero Britto® collection.

SOURCE Giftcraft

Watch Change the World: America's Heroes the One Hour Special Veteran's Day on HGTV

WASHINGTON, Nov. 11 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Rebuilding Together, the nation's leading nonprofit organization working to preserve affordable homeownership, has partnered with HGTV, the cable network for home lifestyle programming, to complete a truly life-changing home makeover event for two different homes and its residences.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20090421/REBUILDINGLOGO)

HGTV's one-hour special, Change the World: American Heroes; is airing on Veteran's Day, November 11, at 8 p.m. ET/PT. Windsor Transitional House in St. Louis, MO and a house in Philadelphia, PA, both homes to American veterans, were chosen to receive the much needed renovations. The program will feature host and carpenter Carter Oosterhouse, designer Monica Pedersen, and volunteers from Rebuilding Together, who successfully tackle a multitude of renovation projects to complete the makeovers and improve the quality of living for these veterans.

"Veterans who have served our country and now find themselves in need often turn to group homes like these to find a supportive environment," said Jim Samples, president, HGTV. "It is our goal to honor the current and future residents of these homes by creating calm, well-designed and functional spaces that improve their living situation and recognize their years of military service."

In St. Louis, repairs included painting, new energy efficient appliances to reduce consumption, and new floors. In Philadelphia, new floors, plumbing, and wiring were installed to update the home and its amenities.

Other campaign partners in this mass renovation effort include: The National Trust for Historic Preservation and The Natural Resources Defense Council.

"We are happy to be able to give back to some of our most deserving citizens, veterans, who have sacrificed so much for this country," said Gary Officer, CEO of Rebuilding Together. "This is a great way to highlight the work that Rebuilding Together is committed to accomplishing everyday and forging a great relationship with HGTV, also in the business of making homes and lives better."

This one-hour special will showcase the amazing volunteer effort made on behalf of America's veterans and the improved living quarters for people in need.

"Our volunteers came from all walks of life and gave their time and generosity to help with the renovation projects," said Carter. "It was wonderful to see so many people lending a hand and showing support for the veterans."

About HGTV

HGTV, America's leader in home and lifestyle programming, is distributed to more than 97 million U.S. households and is one of cable's top-rated networks. HGTV's website, HGTV.com, is the nation's leading online home-and-garden destination that attracts an average of 5 million unique visitors per month.

About Rebuilding Together

Rebuilding Together is the nation's largest nonprofit organization working to preserve affordable homeownership and revitalize neighborhoods by providing critical home repair and modification services to those in need at no cost to homeowners. With the help of everyday citizen volunteers, skilled trades people, the support of local business and major corporate partners, Rebuilding Together affiliates in America's largest cities and smallest towns make life considerably better for thousands of low-income homeowners. In addition to its core home repair work, Rebuilding Together also rehabilitates community centers and conducts home modification and repair programs that focus on aging in place. Rebuilding Together has programs dedicated to ageing in place, energy efficiency, veteran's housing, and disaster recovery and reconstruction. For more information, visit www.RebuildingTogether.org.

About The National Trust for Historic Preservation

The National Trust for Historic Preservation is a non-profit membership organization bringing people together to protect, enhance and enjoy the places that matter to them. By saving the places where great moments from history - and the important moments of everyday life - took place, the National Trust for Historic Preservation helps revitalize neighborhoods and communities, spark economic development and promote environmental sustainability. With headquarters in Washington, DC, six regional offices, 29 historic sites, and partner organizations in all 50 states, the National Trust for Historic Preservation provides leadership, education, advocacy and resources to a national network of people, organizations and local communities committed to saving places, connecting us to our history and collectively shaping the future of America's stories. For more information, visit www.PreservationNation.org.

About The Natural Resources Defense Council

The Natural Resources Defense Council is a national, nonprofit organization of scientists, lawyers and environmental specialists dedicated to protecting protect people, the places they live, and the natural resources they depend on. Founded in 1970, with offices in offices in New York, Washington, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Beijing, NRDC has the support of 1.2 million members and online activists who help ensure a safe and healthy environment for all living things.

SOURCE Rebuilding Together

NEW YORK, Nov. 11 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The New York Conference on Well-Being and The Person took place this weekend, bringing together an international group of leading psychiatrists, internists, educators, and scientific researchers. The Anthropedia Foundation and the International Network of Person-Centered Medicine organized the conference, whose purpose was to address well-being and health promotion in medicine and psychiatry. Participants explored the meaning and dimensions of well-being and health, addressed barriers to the development and maintenance of well-being, and discussed successful health promotion models in various countries. Additionally, participants collaborated to design tools and procedures for person-centered care and well-being outcomes research.

A shift in healthcare focus must be a priority because although life-spans are increasing, we are not seeing increases in quality of life and well-being. Focusing on well-being and health promotion will reduce stigma of mental illness, help prevent chronic disease, reduce relapse and recurrence risks, reduce healthcare costs, and increase productivity due to greater health.

To effectively achieve these benefits will require a shift in attitude and perspective in the training of physicians, education of the public, public policy, and clinical outcomes research. The development of well-being requires consideration and integration of body, thought, and psyche within a person's social context. Interventions for promoting well-being in clinical care need to be contextualized and person-centered. The growing shift in focus toward health promotion, coupled with emerging tools to deliver more person-centered care, will help people improve quality of life, not just longevity.

The conference was co-chaired by Robert Cloninger, MD, Professor of Psychiatry, Psychology, and Genetics and Director of the Center for Well-Being at Washington University in St. Louis and Juan Mezzich, MD, PhD, Professor of Psychiatry at Mt. Sinai School of Medicine in New York, and Immediate Past-President of the World Psychiatric Association. Participants included Drs. James Appleyard (London), Claudio Banzato (Brazil), Michel Botbol (Paris), Eric Cassell, (NY), Kevin Cloninger (NY), Michael First (NY), Sita Kedia (Denver), Laurence Kirmayer (Montreal), Lauren Munsch (NY), Wolfgang Rutz (Uppsala, Sweden), Ihsan Salloum (Miami), Luis Salvador-Carulla (Cadiz, Spain), and Tom Sensky (London).

The symposium will publish papers from conference presentations with the aim of increasing awareness among physicians about strategies and tools available to improve person-centered care. As this becomes a greater priority in healthcare, psychiatrists and internists are moving to engage in active trials of health promotion that utilize a person-centered approach in clinical settings.

About Anthropedia

As rates of lifestyle and stress-related illnesses increase worldwide, the Anthropedia Foundation, a 501 (c) 3 non-profit foundation, teaches ways to foster health and happiness that are adapted to the 21st century. At Anthropedia, experts in medicine, psychology, art, public health, and education design resources that help people cultivate healthy lifestyles, psychological resilience, positive emotion, and self-awareness.

Anthropedia's educational resources are unique because they integrate the best practices from diverse fields into comprehensive, scientifically-based strategies to physical, mental, and social well-being. Anthropedia's tools are simple, practical, and powerful, and can be used by individuals, professionals, and organizations seeking an effective approach to achieving and sustaining well-being.

The innovative Know Yourself DVD series, released in 2009, is a step-by-step guide designed to help people increase self-understanding, manage stress, and live more contented lives.

For more information, visit: www.anthropedia.org

Available Topic Expert(s): For information on the listed expert(s), click appropriate link.

Lauren Munsch

https://profnet.prnewswire.com/Subscriber/ExpertProfile.aspx?ei=89283

C. Robert Cloninger

https://profnet.prnewswire.com/Subscriber/ExpertProfile.aspx?ei=91985

SOURCE Anthropedia Foundation

Washington DC Area IT Services Provider and New Visual Mining Value Added Reseller Provides Unprecedented Value to Customers in Government and High Technology

ROCKVILLE, Md., Nov. 11 /PRNewswire/ -- Visual Mining, a leader in business intelligence (BI) dashboard and data visualization solutions, today announced that Xetsa, a leading Washington, DC area information technology services provider, joined the Visual Mining Partner Program as a value-added reseller for NetCharts Performance Dashboards (NCPD).

"With our personal approach and diverse client list, we needed a way to provide intuitive, comprehensive dashboards. With NetCharts Performance Dashboards, we are able to deliver immediate value to our clients -- enabling them to gain unprecedented insight and make more informed decisions," said Lisa Bodine, President and CEO, Xetsa. "One of the key benefits is the sheer value NCPD delivers -- we can quickly create and deploy dashboards for our customers that allow them to interact with their data as they prefer. It's an incredibly powerful product in our portfolio."

NetCharts Performance Dashboards enables Agile Performance Dashboarding, where the power of business intelligence is immediately placed into the hands of the end-user. Numerous benefits for partners include:

    --  Short implementation cycles
    --  Support for a wide variety of data sources
    --  Ability to connect to multiple data sources simultaneously
    --  Powerful BI functionality combined with unprecedented ease-of use

    --  Cost effective; Leads to broad adoption and use throughout an
        organization

"We are pleased Xetsa joined the Visual Mining Partner Program as a Value Added Reseller. Like Xetsa, Visual Mining's headquarters is located in the Washington, DC area. We are proud to add Xetsa to the growing list of organizations that use NetCharts Performance Dashboards to help drive business growth and solve customer problems," said Tristan Ziegler, President & CEO, Visual Mining.

About Xetsa, Inc.

Xetsa is a leading IT consultancy that provides principled, focused attention to each client. The Xetsa team brings decades of experience offering proven expertise to ensure solution quality and reliability. Based in Northern Virginia, Xetsa is a SBA Certified 8(a), SDB (Small Disadvantaged Business), WOB (Woman Owned Business) company, whose clients include, but are not limited to: US Customs and Border Protection, the Transportation Safety Authority (TSA), the Security Biometric Clearing Network (SBCN), Lynx Communications, and Bjorn Technologies. www.xetsa.com

About Visual Mining

Visual Mining provides dashboard and data visualization software that instantly transforms data into actionable business information. For more than a decade, Visual Mining's NetCharts products continue to be the defacto standard for providing comprehensive, intuitive and effective insight to both developers and business end-users. A full, complimentary trial of each NetCharts product, including NetCharts Performance Dashboards, is available directly via http://www.visualmining.com/resource_library/download_NetCharts_software.php.

Visual Mining: Visualize. Analyze. Capitalize. www.visualmining.com

Visual Mining, Inc. All rights reserved. Visual Mining, NetCharts, and NetCharts Performance Dashboards are trademarks of Visual Mining, Inc. Other names used herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.

SOURCE Visual Mining, Inc.

BETHESDA, Md., Nov. 11 /PRNewswire/ -- Marriott International, Inc. (NYSE: MAR) launched today The Autograph Collection, a new brand within the company's global portfolio comprised of upper upscale and luxury, independent, hotels with distinctive personalities in major cities and desired destinations worldwide.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20090217/MARRIOTTINTLLOGO )

"The Autograph Collection will take the innovative approach of grouping these iconic hotels according to the unique experience that guests are seeking whether it's a resort, historic hotel, boutique arts, or urban edge hotel in a dynamic gateway city," said Don Semmler, executive vice president of brand management for Marriott International. "Each hotel will be highly unique and distinct with its own identity, appealing to a growing segment of our customers who are looking for an experience that an independent hotel can deliver."

There are currently plans to add approximately 25 hotels through 2010 with locations throughout the world. The Autograph Collection provides Marriott with another attractive platform for future global growth. The benefit to member properties includes tapping into Marriott's industry-leading global reservations system, and powerful consumer outreach through its leading technology, and sales and marketing platforms which have helped build Marriott into one of the world's leading hotel operators.

Marriott has been successful in developing brands across a wide spectrum of customer segments and each is uniquely positioned against a specific target segment. While there may be some cross selling opportunities, The Autograph Collection gives Marriott the ability to capture a broad audience that would not have typically considered a branded concept - appealing to guests who want to stay in independent hotels.

Each hotel will be required not only to meet Autograph's discriminating product standards, but will also need to demonstrate continued high guest satisfaction and quality assurance scores to remain part of The Autograph Collection. In addition, each hotel will go through the same hotel and operator approval processes as other Marriott full-service hotels.

The Autograph Collection will be featured on Marriott.com and affiliated with Marriott Rewards, Marriott International's award-winning guest loyalty program, where guests can earn points at more than 3,000 hotels in 68 countries.

Note: The statement about the number of new hotels to be added in 2010 and their locations is a "forward looking statement" within the meaning of federal securities laws, not a historical fact, and is subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, including the depth and duration of the current recession; supply and demand changes for hotel rooms; competitive conditions in the lodging industry; relationships with clients and property owners; the availability of capital to finance hotel growth and refurbishment; and other risk factors identified in our most recent quarterly report on Form 10-Q; any of which could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in or implied by our statement. This statement is made as of the date of this press release, and we undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise

MARRIOTT INTERNATIONAL, INC. (NYSE: MAR) is a leading lodging company with more than 3,300 lodging properties in 68 countries and territories. Marriott International operates and franchises hotels under the Marriott, JW Marriott, The Ritz-Carlton, Renaissance, Residence Inn, Courtyard, TownePlace Suites, Fairfield Inn, SpringHill Suites and Bulgari brand names; develops and operates vacation ownership resorts under the Marriott Vacation Club, The Ritz-Carlton Destination Club, The Ritz-Carlton Residences and Grand Residences by Marriott brands; operates Marriott Executive Apartments; provides furnished corporate housing through its Marriott ExecuStay division; and operates conference centers. The company is headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, USA and had approximately 146,000 employees at 2008 year-end. It is recognized by FORTUNE® as one of the best companies to work for, and by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as Partner of the Year since 2004. In fiscal year 2008, Marriott International reported sales from continuing operations of nearly $13 billion. For more information or reservations, please visit our web site at www.marriott.com. For an interactive online version of Marriott's 2008 Annual Report, which includes a short video message from Chairman and CEO J.W. Marriott, Jr., visit www.marriott.com/investor.

SOURCE Marriott International, Inc.