The most fuel-efficient diesel, gas, plug-in, and hybrid cars: meet the winners

Our vehicles are getting better and better gas mileage, but there are a few that stand above the rest. Here are the most fuel-efficient vehicles in every category.?

By Antony Ingram,?Guest blogger / May 26, 2013

A man walks by Toyota Motor Corp's successive models of Prius hybrid cars at the company's showroom in Tokyo last month. Prius still the gold standard among hybrids, and the 2013 model ranks highest in fuel efficiency.

Issei Kato/Reuters/File

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It's official: Cars really are getting more efficient.

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Not that there isn't a long way still to go, but virtually every month statistics emerge to suggest the average fuel efficiency of vehicles in the U.S. has gone up another few fractions of a percent.

There are still winners and losers though, so we decided to think positive and look at the winners--just what are the most efficient gasoline, diesel, hybrid and plug-in vehicles available right now?

Gasoline: 2013 Scion iQ
?36 MPG city, 37 MPG highway, 37 MPG combined

The 2013 Scion iQ sticks to a simple formula to achieve the gas mileage it does: A small, light body, a small-capacity gasoline engine, and that's about it.

Several regular gasoline vehicles beat the iQ's 37 MPG highway figure--40 MPG is now not uncommon--but with a continuously-variable transmission and 1.3-liter engine it fights back with strong city mileage.

The compact size makes it easy to drive in the city too, and even easier to park by the curb. Don't expect to take too many passengers though--it may be a four-seater by trade but you'll realistically fit no more than three, and you're better folding the rear seatback down and improving its luggage space.

Diesel: 2013 Volkswagen Passat TDI
?31 MPG city, 43 MPG highway, 35 MPG combined

It's a Volkswagen-Audi washout at the top of the diesel charts, though that might change when the Chevrolet Cruze Clean Diesel and Mazda Mazda6 Sky-D both go on sale.

Until then, the Passat TDI is the most efficient diesel model you can buy, and it's a particularly excellent highway performer. It uses the same 2.0-litre TDI engine as every other VW and Audi of this size or smaller, and offers a surprising turn of pace and excellent refinement for a diesel.

Not a fan of the Passat's size or shape? Worry not--you can find the same engine, with barely lower fuel efficiency, in everything from the classy Audi A3, through the practical Jetta wagon, to the funky Beetle and Beetle Convertible models.

Hybrid: 2013 Toyota Prius C
?53 MPG city, 46 MPG highway, 50 MPG combined

Both the Prius C and its larger, more iconic Prius stablemate achieve 50 MPG combined, and each offers slightly different strengths.

The Prius C is cheaper, naturally, but it's also a little more agile and even better suited to city driving, with the higher city EPA rating. The regular Prius is the more spacious, and its superior aerodynamics and larger engine help it manage better highway figures.

Plug-in hybrid: 2013 Toyota Prius Plug-In
?51 MPG city, 49 MPG highway, 50 MPG combined, 95 MPGe blended

The plug-in hybrid market is still relatively small right now, awarding the Prius top spot almost by default.

It's selling in modest numbers and doesn't really break any new ground, but based on the already-efficient Prius it's always going to be inexpensive to run, particularly when that 11-mile electric and gas blended mode is considered--over which the Prius achieves 95 MPGe.

Driving thrills aren't on the agenda, but the Prius should be trouble-free to own and relaxing to drive.

Electric: 2013 Fiat 500e
?122 MPGe city, 108 MPGe highway, 116 MPGe combined

There are actually four answers to the question, "what's the most efficient electric car on sale?"

Technically, the 2013 Scion iQ EV is--at 121 MPGe combined, or just 28 kWh per 100 miles. Only you can't get one for love nor money, which is poor even by compliance car standards. The Honda Fit EV is next up at 118 MPGe combined, but while you can at least put one on your driveway, it's lease-only.

The 500e is the most efficient electric car you can actually buy and own, which is why we've awarded it the top spot. But if you wanted to go further, the 500e is still a compliance car and therefore only available to a very limited number of people--meaning the 115 MPGe, 29 kWh/100mi 2013 Nissan Leaf would actually come top. But for those who have access to one, it's the 500e that wins here. More fun than the Leaf, too.

The Christian Science Monitor has assembled a diverse group of the best auto bloggers out there. Our guest bloggers are not employed or directed by the Monitor and the views expressed are the bloggers' own, as is responsibility for the content of their blogs. To contact us about a blogger,?click here.?To add or view a comment on a guest blog, please go to the blogger's own site by clicking on the link in the blog description box above.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/qd0fPtC2rRk/The-most-fuel-efficient-diesel-gas-plug-in-and-hybrid-cars-meet-the-winners

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Listening To The Future With A 3D-Printed Ear

The campus of Washington State University in Southeast Washington?s agricultural region looks like a typical land-grant university. The connected mix of art-deco, modern and post-modern buildings that collectively house the College of Engineering and Architecture hide a strange and incredible secret: that the researchers inside are close to making human-compatible ceramic bone grafts and custom-made prostheses and implants. In short, they?re building cyborgs in Palouse. Welcome to the future of 3D-printed body hacks. Dr. Susmita Bose and Dr. Amit Bandyopadhyay have been waiting for you.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/8F_1zcp2EvI/

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Kindergarten 'Redshirting' Subject to Debate

More parents are putting off a child's kindergarten entry so he or she will be a little older than the classmates. It's a phenomenon known as redshirting.

"The reasons parents choose to redshirt their child vary, depending on the child's emotional, social and academic readiness to join school," Dana Vela, president of Sunrise Preschools, in Arizona, said in an interview with ABCNews.com.

"It has always been in practice, but it has gotten more attention recently and people are talking more about it," said Vela, a mother of three and a preschool teacher for 25 years.

Parents might think their child is not emotionally ready to leave home, or not socially or academically adept. Some parents are even delaying schooling to give their children a competitive advantage in sports, or to delay admission age to college.

A joint study by the University of Virginia and Stanford University released in 2013 established a relationship between red shirting and socio-economic status and ethnicity. "We find that between 4 and 5.5 percent of children delay kindergarten, a lower number than typically reported? We find substantial variation in practices across schools, with schools serving larger proportions of white and high-income children having far higher rates of delayed entry," noted the report, "The Extent, Patterns, and Implications of Kindergarten 'Redshirting,'" issued in April 2013.

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According to a report issued by the National Center for Education Statistics in spring 2011, the scores for kindergarten entry were higher for delayed-entry kindergartners and on-time kindergartners than for repeating kindergartners.

"Even though most school districts want the child to be at least at the age of five, the cut-off date for joining differs according to school district and state," said Vela.

There are mixed results on whether redshirting is helpful for the child in the long run. A study conducted by the National Bureau of Economic Research in 2011 said that starting kindergarten one year late "substantially reduces the probability of repeating the third grade, and meaningfully increases in tenth grade math and reading scores. Effects are highest for low income students and males." Alternately, estimates suggest that entering kindergarten early may also have detrimental effect on future outcomes.

Redshirting poses challenges not only to children but to teachers and parents.

"The teacher is mostly impacted by it. They are dealing with children of ages ranging between four and a half and six and a half. This is a large developmental gap when trying to get through the state standard curricula," said Vela.

"The student will develop a persona that they are always bigger, better, and have the upper hand, which might be challenging in their future," she said.

Tracy Gibb, a mother, blogger of Less than Perfect, deliberately redshirted her son because she thought he was emotionally immature. Her son, now 13, has a best friend one year younger than he is.

Source: http://abcnews.go.com/Health/redshirting-kindergarten-subject-debate/story?id=19253486

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The New French | Travel + Leisure Southeast Asia

France does fancy better than nearly anyone. But the thing is, I generally prefer the hearty country fare and casual everyday bistro food to white-tablecloth haute cuisine. The flavors never feel as rich despite usually being too filling; the mood is often too stuffy. However, up in Chiang Mai, Chef Carlos Manuel Gaudencio has me rethinking that paradigm. Having just taken over the kitchen at Farang Ses, at the Mandarin Oriental Dhara Dhevi, the thirty-something who spent the past seven years at Le Normandie in Bangkok, recently served me two consecutive six-course meals that were diverse, light and playful takes on Continental classics. Rainbow sherbet palate cleanser? Nope: that?s pink, orange and white frothy soup made from three vegetables and tinted with truffle oil. Ending an enormous meal on steak should just send you over the edge, right? Not if it?s two perfectly sized slices of Wagyu cooked sous vide, encircled by a few tiny carrot trees.

It?s tough to make food fun without being too twee about it, but this man can polka-dot a plate and have even the most jaded grown man cooing at the cuteness of it all. And thank you, chef Carlos, for all the lobster?roasted tails with apple ?marshmallows? and a bisque in which the chunks of meat were cradled in a delicate pastry pot; you really know the way to a woman?s heart. As Dhara Dhevi general manager Torsten van Dullemen says of his Le Grand V?four-trained handsome new maestro, ?The ladies love him.?

Oh, and P.S.: If someone tries to serve you a boring platter of legumes de saison, don?t reject the seemingly random radish and fris?e out of hand?those are a trompe-l?oiel of a marzipan-encased ice cream ball and spot of light sponge cake courtesy of pastry chef Fabrice Leblus. Eat your veggies!

?JENINNE LEE-ST. JOHN

Homard r?ti au beurre doux, pomme fondant et r?p? de radis rose

Roasted scallops in a potato nest with seafood consomm?

From left: Parichaya Na Nakornpanom, Dhara Dhevi?s Assistant Director of Sales & Marketing; Rene David Bennett, Assistant Food & Beverage Manager; Chef Carlos; U.S. Consul General to Chiang Mai, Kenneth L. Foster; T+L SEA Feature Editor, Jeninne; Wichai Charoenpanvorakul, Dhara Dhevi?s Director of Sales & Marketing

Chef Carlos and his Farang Ses kitchen staff

Chef Carlos?s new menu debuted May 26, 2013.

http://www.mandarinoriental.com/chiangmai/fine-dining/farang-ses/

+66-53/888888 ext. 8549.

Source: http://blog.travelandleisureasia.com/destination/2013/05/27/the-new-french/

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How to Start Researching your Family Tree | Homemaking With Heart

Chodziez, Poznan, where my husband?s ancestors were from. They emigrated to New Zealand at the latter part of the 19th century.

Before you start trawling your way through the billions of records on the many websites online, it?s a good idea to organise how you?re going to store and reference your research, as it will help a great deal in future.? I cannot emphasise this enough.? When I first started, I was so excited to get to the 1700s in about 2 hours, that I had to go back another time and tidy up the frenzy!? I hope this doesn?t tame your enthusiasm ? just think of it as laying good solid foundations so you will enjoy your investigating so much more as you jump into the genealogy journey.

So before you get too carried away with those England census records and unsolved family mysteries, here?s where I?d recommend starting.

The marriage of Henry Paxton and Jane Hunter 1838

1) Organisation

Download the ?Personal Ancestral File? (PAF) for free, or sometimes a? software program is free with a family tree magazine.? A popular paid software program is ?Family Tree Maker? available for purchase from ?Ancestry?.? But you could start with the free basic PAF, and if you?d like the increased functionality of other programs, then you can purchase one in future.? Your family tree will be saved as a PAF file, but you can export this as a GED-com file into other programs.

You will also want to have a system for storing the originals of vital records, documents and photos.

Dean Castle, taken in 2009

2) Guidelines for Sharing Online

There are many sites to upload your family tree onto, which will help with sharing research with others who are tracing the same family line.? I could tell you so many stories on my own journey of families reunited, first cousins meeting for the first time in their 80s, and friendships formed after many years of families being out of touch.? It is what I have found the most rewarding.

When uploading your tree, remember to always hide living relatives, especially children, and be sensitive as to what information you share about close relatives, even those who have died.? ??I made some mistakes early on, and also been on the receiving end of other peoples.

3) Sources, verifying others research, and referencing.

• Make sure you record the source of your findings, be it a vital document (such as a christening or burial record), or census, word of mouth, or military record.? Your family tree program will have a place to do this for every detail, or else record under your notes.
• Keep really good notes in your program, even if your research leads you to a dead end. It?s surprising what you forget when you return a year later to trace a difficult line.
• There is the temptation to copy and paste the research from others, as it?s always an exciting find when you discover someone researching the same line.? Sometimes you only need to go back as far as a grandparent, and frequently, as far as a great grandparent.? But there is so much inaccurate research on the internet, much of it people have just taken a guess and connected family trees together.? If you can?t verify with some certainty, then record in your notes and do further research until you can connect a person in.

Smithy where an ancestor, William Loydall, worked in the 19th Century (the individual?s pictured are on cousin lines),

4) Getting Started

Always work backwards from yourself.? Record all your own details and make notes about the places you?ve lived in.? I like to build a timeline under my notes for each individual.

a) Accumulating information and data:

• Start with yourself and record all your details, your parents, your grandparents, and as much as you know.? Record even the most far-fetched stories in your notes, as sometimes there is an element of truth in them that may help.

• Talk to family members (even siblings) about what they know and what their memories are. Where you can, ask to see certificates, photos (often have information on the back), memorabilia, family bibles, wills.

• Has anyone else in your family done any research?? Copy it into your notes and take the time to verify family stories and dates where possible.? Many times someone will have written things down years ago before the internet was available.? This sort of information is often a goldmine to your research.

b) Visit your local library

See what resources they have, especially if your family has been local for more than a generation or two. A good-sized library will also be a treasure trove for reference books and may have a genealogical society that meets regularly.

You might like to purchase your own family history guide, particular those written by reputable authors.? (I have one by ?Collins?). There are some great reference books around.? Check them out the library first to see if you will refer to them often, and only get the most recent ones as information is constantly being added to the internet.? You may also want to wait until you know more about where your family is from to ensure what reference materials will be relevant ? if they?re from the British Isles for instance you?ll have many to choose from.

c) Join your local family history society and/or join mailing lists online for relevant surnames and places.?

Community is a central part of family history research.? Connect with others and share research and tips.? And if you benefit from this, freely give yourself as well.

Holy Trinity Church, Clapham, London, England. One of the ancestral churches where many of my ancestors were christened and buried.**

Next time I post on family research, I?ll write on what sort of records are available where you ancestors may have left footprints.

You may also be interested in these other posts on Family History Research:

[** NB. I downloaded this image many years ago and didn't reference it.? If you know where it has come from, please let me know].

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Source: http://homemakingwithheart.com/2013/05/26/how-to-start-researching-your-family-tree/

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It is Worth Training a New Commercial Property Manager in Your ...

If you have a need for a new commercial property manager or perhaps a retail shopping center manager, is the training process of a junior person worth it or should you employ an experienced person for the required role?? You can go either way but the strategy is different and your choice will have to do with the demands of the portfolio and your existing property management clients.

Here are some basic facts to be considered:

• Some clients require special attention and information.? The property that they own may be very complex or demanding.? A junior property manager will struggle and over time can threaten the stability of your agency appointment.? They can also make costly mistakes and involve the agency or brokerage in a litigation claim.
• A complex and large property will have high workload demands; on that basis the fee for management should be suitably high to reflect the time and task input by the brokerage and property manager.
• The landlords that you serve will have special reporting and communication requirements.? Every property manager should understand the financial reporting systems as well as the tenant and lease management systems to help with the reporting to clients.? Each day the systems will need to be accessed to see if any critical dates or lease events are happening.? Early implementation of critical dates will keep things under control.

In saying all of these things it is worthwhile noting that experienced property managers will ?short circuit? and ?fast track? any new property portfolio appointment; they will know what to do and how to get the job done.? So there is a balance here between the salary costs of an experienced person for the role, versus training a new person.

The tasks controlled by a good property manager are complex; they are best described as including these bigger issues:

1. Understanding the focus of the client is high on the list.? When you understand the client you can adjust the strategies associated with income and expenditure.? The same will apply with leasing and tenant management.? The client will have needs of cash flow and plans for the property that should be understood.? The reports that are prepared for your clients will be specialised to the property and the client.
2. Strong and positive tenant relationships will help a property perform financially and physically.? The property manager needs to stay in touch with all tenants in a positive and ongoing way.?? It is not an easy task and requires good communication skills on the part of the property manager.
3. The leases for the property underpin the income and expenditure performance.? For this reason the property manager must keep a close eye on the leases and the tenant mix.? Stay ahead of critical dates with rent reviews, options, renovations, and other special lease terms.
4. The maintenance of the property will have an impact on the tenants, vacancies, customers, and landlord cash flow.? The property manager should monitor those things and make the right recommendations.

?

Should you employ an experienced property manager to your team?? The answer is always ?yes?, so you can get the professionalism into your management systems and client relationships.? When you have a couple of highly qualified property managers you can consider training juniors to rise up through the ranks.

You can get more commercial real estate training tips like this in our Newsletter right here.

Tags: commercial property manager, commercial real estate training, new property manager, retail property manager, staff training

Source: http://commercialrealestatetraining.com.au/it-is-worth-training-a-new-commercial-property-manager-in-your-agency/

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Researchers suggest boosting body's natural flu killers

Friday, May 24, 2013

A known difficulty in fighting influenza (flu) is the ability of the flu viruses to mutate and thus evade various medications that were previously found to be effective. Researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem have shown recently that another, more promising, approach is to focus on improving drugs that boost the body's natural flu killer system.

Emergence of new influenza strains, such as the recent avian influenza (H5N1) and swine influenza (H1N1 2009), can lead to the emergence of severe pandemics that pose a major threat to the entire world population. Recently, the concern regarding the emergence of such a pandemic arose when a new and deadly avian influenza strain (H7N9) was discovered in China, causing the death of six people in only one month.

The body's immune system can fight influenza infection. Natural killer (NK) cells, which are an essential component of this system, can recognize and eliminate influenza-virus-infected cells and inhibit the spread of the virus in the respiratory system.

But, as Ph.D. student Yotam Bar-On and Ofer Mandelboim, the Dr. Edward Crown Professor of General and Tumor Immunology at the Institute for Medical Research Israel Canada (IMRIC) of the Hebrew University Faculty of Medicine, have revealed in a paper published in Cell Reports, the influenza virus is able to escape from the NK cells activity, allowing it to spread in the respiratory system.

They show that this is accomplished by the influenza virus utilizing the enzymatic activity of the neuraminidase protein to neutralize the NK cells' receptors that are responsible for detecting the influenza-virus-infected cells. This, in effect, neutralizes the NK cells' ability to accomplish their designated flu-killing duty.

With the aid of the neuraminidase protein, the influenza virus is free to exit from the infected cell, enabling it to infect new neighbor cells and spread in the respiratory system. Anti-flu drugs were developed to inhibit this spread of the virus by inhibiting the neuraminidase enzymatic activity. But, as with other, earlier anti-influenza drugs, the flu viruses are able to gain the upper hand. The extensive use of neuraminidase inhibitors has caused the emergence of new, drug-resistant influenza strains.

For example, during the spread of the swine influenza pandemic in 2009, the Health Protection Agency in the UK reported that 99% of the viruses analyzed were resistant to these inhibitors. It was shown that the virus was able to change the neuraminidase structure so the drug can no longer bind this protein, and therefore the desired inhibitory effect is lost.

But, despite this, Bar-On and Mandelboim have shown that this type of widely used drug has the effect of boosting the activity of the NK cells, enabling them to better eliminate the influenza virus. They stress, therefore, that efforts should be focused on developing effective new drugs that would maintain and enhance this NK cell activity, thereby leading to more effective elimination of the influenza virus and better recovery from flu infection without the susceptibly to the changes in the neuraminidase protein structure currently brought about by mutating flu viruses.

###

The Hebrew University of Jerusalem: http://www.huji.ac.il

Thanks to The Hebrew University of Jerusalem for this article.

This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/128388/Researchers_suggest_boosting_body_s_natural_flu_killers

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