Press Releases

BEIJING--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- As Asia's largest oil expo, cippe also focuses on the oil trade of the developing Asian countries. Vietnam has seen rapid growth in its oil and gas industry in recent years, with its crude oil reserves reaching 2.5 billion barrels to date. The country is currently Asia's fourth largest oil exporter, only next to China, Indonesia and Malaysia.

The biennial Vietnam Oil & Gas Expo saw its second show from October 29 to October 31, 2009. In order to develop the country's oil industry, Petrovietnam is welcoming foreign investment to help improve its oil and gas exploration, mining and refining technologies so as to strengthen its position. Therefore, the Vietnam Expo was chosen as one of cippe's global promotion sites.

The cippe organizing committee managed to draw attention from a number of renowned enterprises at the Vietnam Expo in spite of the Expo's small area, which only measured around 8,000 square meters. Most of them were partners that have been supporting cippe for years, including SIEMENS, GE, BELZONA, GAZPROM, KINGER, MSA, OIL-STATES, TMK, SWAGELOK, ANSALDO and WEIR. Their experiences with exhibitions in other Asian countries, including Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Korea and Vietnam, lead to the conclusion that cippe has been the largest and most important exhibition in Asia, as well as the most valuable site for their promotion in Asia. Meanwhile, during the promotion event, Miss Chew, director of International Trade Department, Singapore Manufacturing Federation (SMF), expressed great interests in cippe, and proposed a meeting with Chairman Zhang on its potential participation in next cippe session. According to Miss Chew, the Singaporean enterprises taking part in overseas exhibitions may apply for government allowances that account for over 50% of the total expenses. Therefore, the Singporean enterprises have a strong intention to exhibit overseas and expand the international markets. Miss Chew was also impressed by cippe's planned exhibition area of over 60,000 square meters, given the fact that the Vietnam Expo, where the Singapore delegation area covered more than 400 square meters, only had a total area of less than 10,000 square meters itself. The SMF, with its huge database and member base, holds great confidence in the large-scale and high-quality cippe exhibition.

In addition, cippe2010 is still in the process of inviting international delegations. The French, German, Norwegian, Italian and Russian delegations have respectively reserved an area of 216, 320, 180, 126 and 320 square meters. The UK pavilion, a newcomer to cippe, has confirmed an area of 300 square meters. Every year, the delegations to cippe brings their award-winning oil technologies, products and equipment, while the thriving buying market of China has been a significant attraction for the delegations. It is believed that international delegation area will remain an attractive platform for displaying the international oil technologies and equipment.

To date, cippe's global tour has had its footprints all over the world, with its presence at a number of world-class oil events. With the advancement of its international exchanges and with an increasing number of international enterprise participants, the Fortune 500 companies and global industry leaders that aim to expand their China businesses are not to miss cippe. It can be expected that cippe2010 will be the most glamorous event in Asia's oil industry.

    Source: cippe

November 2009 Index Highlights:

    --  Index falls by one point, erasing October's minor uptick
    --  Year-on-year, the Index is now down 17 percent, the mildest rate of
        annual decline since September 2008
    --  Trade, transportation and utilities industries demonstrate seasonal
        growth in November, while opportunities in health care and social
        assistance retract
    --  Pacific continues to stabilize in the longer term, with the Pacific
        Northwest states showing gradually escalating opportunities

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- The Monster Employment Index edged down one point in November, as online demand for workers remained muted across the United States. On a year-over-year basis, the Index is now down 17 percent, the mildest rate of annual decline since September last year.

The Monster Employment Index is a monthly gauge of U.S. online job demand based on a real-time review of millions of employer job opportunities culled from a large representative selection of corporate career Web sites and job boards, including Monster.com(R).

During November, online job availability rose in ten of the Index's 20 industry sectors and in nine of the 23 occupational categories monitored. Index results for the past 13 months are as follows:

Nov.  Oct.  Sep.  Aug.  Jul.  Jun.  May.  Apr.  Mar.  Feb.  Jan.  Dec.  Nov.

09    09    09    09    09    09    09    09    09    09    09    08    08

119   120   119   121   114   117   118   120   118   122   118   131   143

"The trend in online job availability has been largely flat for most of the year and remained so in November," said Jesse Harriott, senior vice president and chief knowledge officer at Monster Worldwide. "While job losses have continued to ease, businesses remain cautious about adding to their payrolls in light of sustained economic uncertainty."

Utilities Registers Largest Monthly Gain in Online Job Demand in November; Healthcare and Social Assistance Declines

The utilities industry registered the highest rate of increase in online job demand in November amid a seasonal rise in demand for field workers. Largely seasonal rises were also noted in the transportation and warehousing; and wholesale trade industries. Professional, scientific, and technical services; and finance and insurance edged up marginally, extending a gradual recovery from their reduced demand levels in July.

In contrast, healthcare and social assistance registered a substantial decline to reach its lowest level on record in the Index. Retail trade and public administration also edged lower while manufacturing, real-estate and administrative services remained flat in November.

Agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting is the only industry category showing greater online job availability compared to a year ago.

Transportation and Material Moving Occupations See Greatest Increase in Online Job Availability in November; Healthcare Occupations Drop

Transportation and material moving registered the largest increase among occupations in November. The Index also showed greater demand for workers in occupations related to construction and extraction which reached seven-month high. The business and financial operations; and computer and mathematical occupation categories also edged higher in November.

Meanwhile, healthcare practitioners and technical occupations saw the largest reduction in opportunities, dropping 23 points in November. Healthcare support also recorded a mild decline, while community and social service occupations remained flat.

On an annual basis, farming, fishing and forestry; and education, training and library remain the only occupational categories to exhibit greater demand than a year ago.

Online Job Availability Remains Flat in Three of Nine U.S. Census Bureau Regions in November

During November, online job availability dipped in six U.S. Census Bureau regions, with the South Atlantic region registering the largest decline on the month mostly due to reduced demand in Florida, Maryland, and Virginia.

Meanwhile, a subtle revival in recruitment activity across the Pacific Northwest, as well as steady demand in California contributed to stability in the broader Pacific region.

Year-over-year, East South Central and South Atlantic experienced the most modest rate of decline.

Twelve of the Top 28 Major U.S. Metro Markets Register Increases in November

During November, online recruitment activity increased in twelve markets with Indianapolis, Pittsburgh, and Detroit registering the largest gains. Indianapolis jumped due to a sustained surge in demand for professionals in public sector-related occupations like community and social services; and education. Pittsburgh and Detroit also edged up mostly due to rising demand for blue-collar workers in transportation and material moving; and production occupations.

In contrast, Boston saw a steep decline in November amid reduced demand for life, physical, and social science occupations as well as computer and mathematical (IT) occupations.

On a year-over-year basis, Seattle showed the most modest rate of decline mostly, reflecting robust demand for workers in the sciences. Cincinnati and Philadelphia continue to show the steepest year-over-year drops.

To obtain a full copy of the Monster Employment Index report for November 2009, and to access current individual data charts for each of the 28 metro markets tracked, please visit http://about-monster.com/employment-index. Data for the month of December 2009 will be released on January 7, 2010.

About the Monster Employment Index

Launched in April 2004 with data collected since October 2003, the Monster Employment Index is a broad and comprehensive monthly analysis of U.S. online job demand conducted by Monster Worldwide, Inc. Based on a real-time review of millions of employer job opportunities culled from a large, representative selection of corporate career sites and job boards, including Monster, the Monster Employment Index presents a snapshot of employer online recruitment activity nationwide. All of the data and findings in the Monster Employment Index have been validated for their accuracy through independent, third party auditing conducted periodically by Research America, Inc. The audit validates the accuracy of the online job recruitment activity measured within a margin of error of +/- 1.05%.

About Monster Worldwide

Monster Worldwide, Inc. (NYSE: MWW), parent company of Monster(R), the premier global online employment solution for more than a decade, strives to bring people together to advance their lives. With a local presence in key markets in North America, Europe, and Asia, Monster works for everyone by connecting employers with quality job seekers at all levels and by providing personalized career advice to consumers globally. Through online media sites and services, Monster delivers vast, highly targeted audiences to advertisers. Monster Worldwide is a member of the S&P 500 Index. To learn more about Monster's industry-leading products and services, visit www.monster.com. More information about Monster Worldwide is available at http://about-monster.com/.

Special Note: Safe Harbor Statement Under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: Except for historical information contained herein, the statements made in this release constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Such forward-looking statements involve certain risks and uncertainties, including statements regarding Monster Worldwide, Inc.'s strategic direction, prospects and future results. Certain factors, including factors outside of Monster Worldwide's control, may cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in the forward- looking statements, including economic and other conditions in the markets in which Monster Worldwide operates, risks associated with acquisitions, competition, seasonality and the other risks discussed in Monster Worldwide's Form 10-K and other filings made with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which discussions are incorporated in this release by reference.

    Source: Monster Worldwide, Inc.

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich., Dec. 3 /PRNewswire/ -- Van Andel Research Institute (VARI) researchers have determined precisely how the plant hormone abscisic acid (ABA) works at the molecular level to help plants respond to environmental stresses such as drought and cold. Their findings, published in the journal Nature, could help engineer crops that thrive in harsh environments around the world and combat global food shortages. The findings could also have implications for stress disorders in humans.

VARI scientists have determined the structure of the receptors that plants use to sense ABA, a hormone that keeps seeds dormant and keeps buds from sprouting until the climate is right. Locating these receptors and understanding how they work is a key finding -- one that has eluded researchers for nearly a half-century. This discovery is crucial to understanding how plants respond when they are under stress from extreme temperatures or lack of water.

"The plant community has been waiting for this discovery for many years," said VARI Research Scientist Karsten Melcher, Ph.D., one of the lead authors of the study. "It could have major effects on nutrition and crop yields, especially as fresh water sources become scarcer."

"The work by Dr. Xu and his colleagues, published in one of the most prestigious science journals in the world, will undoubtedly become known as an historic defining moment in our understanding of the mode of action of the important plant hormone abscisic acid," said Grand Valley State University Plant Development Biologist Sheila A. Blackman, Ph.D. "They show how the signaling molecule and its receptor initiate a cascade of events that ultimately affects the expression of genes that are critical for a plant's survival under harsh conditions. This work has enormous implications for global food supply."

Melcher works in the VARI Laboratory of Structural Biology led by Distinguished Scientific Investigator H. Eric Xu, Ph.D. The lab began studying abscisic acid signaling in March this year because a proposed ABA receptor was reported to be a member of G-protein coupled receptors, a group of proteins that the lab studies. More than 50% of all drugs on the market target these proteins, but it has been extremely difficult to determine their atomic structure.

Xu's laboratory uses a technique known as X-ray crystallography to determine exactly how and why the drug compounds work in molecular detail, which can then help drug developers engineer more potent drugs that have fewer unwanted side effects.

Although it later resulted that the abscisic acid receptors were found to be members of

another protein family, Xu's lab continued their studies on the newly identified ABA receptors. Their findings could help to develop crops that grow in drought, cold, salt water environments, and other harsh conditions, perhaps aiding in stemming or reversing food shortages around the world. Additionally, proteins central to ABA sensing are related to human proteins involved in cellular stress responses and may have implications for stress disorders in humans.

"Proteins with similarities to plant ABA receptors are also found in humans," said Xu. "Further studies in this area could reveal important implications for people with stress disorders."

The lab worked with specialists in plant biology at other institutions to validate the data, including the National Center for Plant Gene Research in Beijing, China, the Department of Botany and Plant Sciences at the University of California at Riverside, the Center for Plant Stress Genomics and Technology at the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology in Thuwal, Saudi Arabia, and the Department of Biochemistry at the Medical College of Wisconsin.

"A finding of this importance helps demonstrate how discoveries at the molecular level in plants can have profound implications for the diseases of humans," said VARI President and Research Director Dr. Jeffrey Trent. "Remarkably Dr. Xu's findings (made in only a few short months) will open a decade of research on both plants and man. From a key role in the ripening of fruit through increased understanding of how stress affects a myriad of diseases in man - this finding starts a new chapter in plant and animal biology."

# # #

The project described was supported by Grant Number 1R01GM087413-01 from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the NIH.

About Van Andel Institute

Established by Jay and Betty Van Andel in 1996, Van Andel Institute (VAI) is an independent research and educational organization based in Grand Rapids, Mich., dedicated to preserving, enhancing and expanding the frontiers of medical science, and to achieving excellence in education by probing fundamental issues of education and the learning process. VARI, the research arm of VAI, is dedicated to probing the genetic, cellular and molecular origins of cancer, Parkinson and other diseases and working to translate those findings into effective therapies. This is accomplished through the work of over 200 researchers in 18 on-site laboratories, in laboratories in Singapore and Nanjing, and in collaborative partnerships that span the globe.

www.vai.org

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SOURCE Van Andel Institute

MINNEAPOLIS, Dec. 3 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The American Association of Poison Control Centers (AAPCC) has designated Hennepin Regional Poison Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota as an accredited poison control center - a major milestone for the center. The designation by the AAPCC places the Hennepin Regional Poison Center among 58 accredited poison centers in the United States.

"Accreditation represents a major accomplishment. It means we have met the national standards of excellence for poison centers," said Debbie Anderson, PharmD, Poison Center Director. "I'm incredibly proud of our high-quality staff, which works 24 hours a day, seven days a week to respond to calls and serve as a valuable resource for both health care providers and the public."

Every day, the Poison Center receives calls from parents, grandparents, child care providers, teachers, health care providers, pharmacists, nurses and physicians in every area of practice regarding poisonings with medication, household and industrial products, carbon monoxide, and other potentially dangerous substances. Last year the Poison Center managed more than 125,000 calls from concerned Minnesotans.

To be accredited by the AAPCC, a center must meet a number of strict standards, including providing 24-hour poison information and telephone management to the public and health care professionals, employment of pharmacists and nurses certified as poison information specialists, a board-certified medical toxicologist to provide medical oversight and direction, an ongoing quality improvement program, written guidelines for evaluation and management of toxic exposures and public and professional education programs.

The American Association of Poison Control Centers is a 501(C)(3) non-profit organization founded in 1958. AAPCC represents the poison control centers of the United States and the interests of poison prevention and treatment of poisoning. For more information on the AAPCC, visit www.aapcc.org.

Since 1982, the Minnesota Department of Health has designated Hennepin Regional Poison Center to provide emergency poison management and poison prevention information to the citizens of the State of Minnesota. The Poison Center is a program offered by Hennepin County Medical Center, a 471-bed Level One Trauma Center located in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota. More information about Hennepin Regional Poison Center can be found at www.mnpoison.org or by calling 1-800-222-1222.

SOURCE Hennepin Regional Poison Center

ATI Radeon(TM) HD 5870 Graphics Card Performs up to 2.7 Times Faster Than Most Powerful Competing Graphics Card Featuring Two GPUs

SUNNYVALE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- AMD (NYSE: AMD):

            AMD (NYSE: AMD) today announced its involvement in the development
            of one of the first industry benchmark testing suites for OpenCL
            (TM). Released by SiSoftware, the OpenCL GPGPU benchmark suite is
What:       part of SiSoftware Sandra 2010, the latest version of the
            award-winning utility first introduced in 1997. The benchmark suite
            includes remote analysis, benchmarking and diagnostic features for
            PCs, servers, mobile devices and networks, and can be used to test
            OpenCL performance on ATI Stream technology.

            Heavy computational workloads have traditionally been processed on a
            CPU but the industry is shifting to a new computing paradigm that
            relies more on the GPU or a combination of GPU and CPU. OpenCL is
Why:        the widely adopted industry standard for running parallel tasks on
            CPUs and GPUs using the same code. As the only hardware provider in
            the industry designing and delivering both high-performance CPU and
            GPU technologies, AMD is the only company providing a complete
            OpenCL development platform for the entire system.

            The developer community, ISVs and OEMs have been looking for a way
            to measure OpenCL-based system performance. The OpenCL benchmark
Who:        suite from SiSoftware is a first step in giving the industry the
            tools it needs to accurately measure and assess system performance
            in order to make decisions with confidence.

            To test performance the SiSoftware OpenCL GPGPU benchmark suite runs
            computationally intense algorithms like the Mandelbrot set. Working
            with SiSoftware, AMD has optimized the performance of the OpenCL
            benchmarks for its GPU implementations, and for some problems has
            demonstrated significant performance advantages using AMD's ATI
            Stream Software Development Kit (SDK) for OpenCL. When compared to
Benefits:   NVIDIA's CUDA running on its GeForce GTX 295 featuring two GPUs, the
            ATI Radeon(TM) HD 5870 graphics card with one GPU delivers up to 2.7
            times faster performance on certain benchmark tests. For the "native
            float shader" results, the ATI Radeon 5870 posted a score of 1820
            megapixels per second, compared to the GTX 295 at 680 megapixels per
            second1. AMD and SiSoftware are currently collaborating on
            measurement for AMD's entire platform, including x86 CPUs.

Resources:  For more information about the OpenCL GPGPU benchmark from
            SiSoftware visit the SiSoftware Sandra 2010 website.

            Follow ATI Stream updates on Twitter at @ATIStream

            Sign up for the ATI Stream SDK v2.0 Beta Program

            More information about ATI Stream technology

            Advanced Micro Devices (NYSE: AMD) is an innovative technology
            company dedicated to collaborating with customers and technology
About AMD   partners to ignite the next generation of computing and graphics
            solutions at work, home and play. For more information, visit
            www.amd.com.

AMD, the AMD Arrow logo, ATI, the ATI logo, AMD Phenom, Radeon, and combinations thereof are trademarks of Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. Other names are for informational purposes only and may be trademarks of their respective owners.

OpenCL and the OpenCL logo are trademarks of Apple Inc. used by permission by Khronos.

1 Based on native float shader results of 1820 megapixels per second for AMD compared to 680 megapixels for NVIDIA on AMD Phenom(TM) II X4 940 processor-based system, 3 GHz, ASUSTek M3A79-T DELUXE, 4GB DDR2-1066, Windows(R) 7 64-bit Enterprise operating system.

AMD configuration: ATI Radeon(TM) HD 5870, 1024MB video memory, Memory Clock 1200 MHz, Engine Clock 850 Mhz, Driver: 8.680.0.0, OpenCL base build, SDK 2.0 Beta 4. NVIDIA configuration: 879 MB Video Memory, Memory Clock 999 Mhz, Engine Clock 576 Mhz, Driver: 8.15.11.9038, additional settings: Multi GPU enabled through NVIDIA Control Panel.

    Source: AMD