“We are excited to conduct the first full demonstration of AAD’s technology at the NMC annual meeting with researchers and industry experts who have provided feedback throughout our development process,” said Joy Parr Drach, president & CEO.  “We look forward to continuing to work with these pioneers as we move closer to commercialization.”

Before clinical symptoms of infection are present, the cow’s immune system is responding. AAD uses this response to more accurately detect mastitis.  The technology identifies the different white blood cell types in milk and uses the ratio of these cells, or the differential cell count, to identify mastitis.  This allows producers to detect infections at a subclinical level, before symptoms are visible.

Users of the system will place an unmeasured drop of milk from each quarter, or milk gland, of the cow on a disposable cartridge.  The cartridge is then inserted into a reader instrument that gives results for all quarters in less than three minutes.

At the NMC demonstration, the AAD technology diagnosed the mastitis status of a fresh cow by simultaneously analyzing samples from all four quarters.

AAD technology represents a significant advance in the control of mastitis because it allows early identification of infected quarters after calving, when the highest incidence of mastitis occurs. With AAD’s highly accurate, rapid on-farm test that works on colostrum, infected cows can be treated and clear the withdrawal period early in lactation when they are producing less milk. Early treatment maximizes animal welfare, ensures that cows start the lactation cycle healthy, minimizes long-term gland damage that reduces milk production and eliminates the high cost of discarded milk during treatment later in lactation.

AAD technology is currently being tested on select dairy farms.

AAD was founded in 2001 and started with a USDA Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant. It received funding from the North Carolina Biotechnology Center including a Collaborative Funding Grant for research at North Carolina State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine. In March 2011, the company closed an $11.3 million Series B round of equity financing with Intersouth Partners, Novartis Venture Funds and private investors.

Advanced Animal Diagnostics (AAD) is an innovative company designed to enhance the profitability of livestock production and ensure a safe, abundant supply of animal protein by developing highly accurate, rapid diagnostics to detect and manage disease states, reproductive, nutritional and overall health status of production animals. The firm’s first product is a rapid, on-farm diagnostic test for earlier, more accurate detection of mastitis in dairy cows. For more information about AAD, please visit www.aadiagnostics.com.

Time Warner Cable, the second largest provider of video, high-speed data and phone services in the United States is partnering with the North Carolina Science Olympiad after the organization’s existence was threatened following elimination of its funding from the state budget in 2011.

“The North Carolina Science Olympiad, and its Board of Directors, are very pleased with this statewide partnership with Time Warner Cable and excited about the future and what we will accomplish together,” said Dr. Jason Painter, Executive Director for the NC Science Olympiad. “Our organization has grown 76% in the past five years and Time Warner Cable’s emphasis on STEM education is critical to the success and survival of organizations like ours that focus to inspire young people to build STEM skills today so that they can be our engineers, scientists, and innovators of tomorrow.”

“Together Time Warner Cable and the North Carolina Science Olympiad can inspire the next generation of problem solvers by making young people aware of STEM opportunities,” says Carol Hevey, Executive Vice President of Operations, Time Warner Cable East. “One of the goals of our Connect a Million Minds initiative is to expose students to science and math in fun and engaging ways and Science Olympiad does just that.”

Connect a Million Minds (CAMM) is Time Warner Cable’s five-year, $100 million philanthropic initiative to connect youth to ideas, people and opportunities that will lead them to pursue education and careers in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). More information can be found at www.connectamillionminds.com.

About North Carolina Science Olympiad

North Carolina Science Olympiad (NCSO) is a nonprofit organization with the mission to attract and retain the pool of K-12 students entering science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) degrees and careers in North Carolina. Every year NCSO hosts tournaments on university, community college, and public school campuses across the state. These tournaments are rigorous academic interscholastic competitions that consist of a series of different hands-on, interactive, challenging and inquiry-based events that are well balanced between the various disciplines of biology, earth science, environmental science, chemistry, physics, engineering and technology.

Each year, 450 K-12 schools representing over 8,000 students and 60 counties in North Carolina participate in NCSO activities. NCSO is indebted to the thousands of volunteers that donate their time each year to making our activities a success.

The challenging and self-motivating events of NCSO align with the North Carolina Standard Course of Study as well as the National Science Education Standards. The events are designed to enhance and strengthen both science content and process skills.

SAS’ 2011 acquisition of Assetlink, a highly regarded provider of MRM software, added planning, resource management and marketing operations capabilities to its customer intelligence solutions. With SAS® Marketing Operations Management, SAS is one of the few vendors able to provide organizations with a fully integrated marketing platform that combines MRM with performance management and multi-channel campaign capabilities to drive performance and accountability throughout the entire marketing organization.

CMOs today have a mandate for accountability from the marketing department. As a result, demand has increased for analytic capabilities that drive better planning, optimization, performance measurement, and execution across marketing functions. Solutions such as SAS Marketing Operations Management, SAS Marketing Mix Advisor, SAS Marketing Optimization and SAS for Marketing Performance Management set SAS apart from other solution providers in this area.

“Already renowned for our business and customer analytics acumen, SAS is proud to be a recognized leader in marketing planning and execution capabilities,” said Wilson Raj, SAS Global Product Marketing Principal for Customer Intelligence. “With SAS, CMOs can make marketing a profitable revenue growth engine. Marketers can execute a true integrated marketing management strategy that provides deep understanding of both customer and financial impacts of every marketing activity.”

In 2011, SAS was also placed in the Leaders quadrant in Gartner Inc.’s Magic Quadrant for CRM Multichannel Campaign Management and Magic Quadrant for Integrated Marketing Management. SAS Customer Intelligence is the most comprehensive suite of integrated enterprise marketing solutions on the market. Solutions include SAS for Customer Experience Analytics, SAS Digital Marketing, SAS Marketing Automation, SAS Social Media Analytics and SAS Real-Time Decision Manager.

About the Magic Quadrant

Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner’s research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

About SAS

SAS is the leader in business analytics software and services, and the largest independent vendor in the business intelligence market. Through innovative solutions, SAS helps customers at more than 55,000 sites improve performance and deliver value by making better decisions faster. Since 1976 SAS has been giving customers around the world THE POWER TO KNOW®. SAS and all other SAS Institute Inc. product or service names are registered trademarks or trademarks of SAS Institute Inc. in the USA and other countries. ® indicates USA registration. Other brand and product names are trademarks of their respective companies. Copyright © 2012 SAS Institute Inc. All rights reserved.

“We are proud of our accelerating organic growth and especially encouraged by the customer endorsement of our strategy that underlies this performance. Peoplefluent has been focused on building and delivering innovative solutions that will unite people and Talent Management processes in exciting ways: by enabling and encouraging learning, collaboration, analytics and best decision making practices for the enterprise. The execution of this strategy began last year with our collaborative mobile and gaming launches and continued earlier this week with our Learning Solutions acquisition,” said Charles S. Jones, Chairman and CEO of Peoplefluent. “We are focused not simply on HR processes — such as performance evaluation — but more importantly, on enterprise-wide performance improvement and the adoption of new skills and outcomes through an engaging experience with mobile and gaming technologies. With these initiatives, and additional developments near on our horizon, we intend to transform the ways in which businesses use traditional Talent Management applications to build productive, united and engaged professional communities.”

Today’s news follows the announcement earlier this week of Peoplefluent’s acquisition of Strategia, a Canadian-based Learning Management solutions company with award-winning technology and functionality, a modern SaaS platform, a highly recognized customer base and exceptional customer satisfaction. With this acquisition, Peoplefluent added a key Learning component to its Talent Management portfolio. The Company now delivers the broadest Talent Management experience and capability, and offers the deepest integrated functionality and reporting available in a single unified and integrated offering.

Mr. Jones concluded, “Peoplefluent’s dedication to innovation will not cease. We are endlessly committed to delivering compelling business solutions to our customers, to help them increase the productivity and engagement of their workforces while extending the life and value of their existing systems.”

About Peoplefluent

Peoplefluent is transforming Talent Management through best-of-breed technology and expertise. With a deep focus on business intelligence and analytics, the Company’s mobile and SaaS technology gives clients the actionable insight required to make strategic decisions that drive better business results. Nearly 80 percent of the Fortune 100 use Peoplefluent Talent Management, Vendor Management and Workforce Compliance and Diversity solutions to manage salaried, hourly and contingent labor across their organization. These solutions manage the entire talent lifecycle from recruiting to onboarding and through the ongoing management of each person’s career while helping organizations measure, analyze and empower their existing workforce. The Company’s solutions currently support more than 5,000 organizations ranging in size from large, global corporations to small and medium-sized businesses, and it is used by more than 5 million users in 214 countries and territories around the world.

Following a successful pilot of 500 Movi clients since July 2011, MCNC has incorporated new hardware, software, and integration services to support Cisco TelePresence and Movi interoperability. MCNC also is providing managed soft-client video services including options available for both standard and high-definition up to 720p that incorporate many of the most popular brands of codecs including Polycom, Sony, and Tandberg.

The NCREN interactive video network handles more than 100 hours of classes, conferences and seminars each week. MCNC is able to offer live streaming of sessions with storage capability for future viewing. And, because these services are able to integrate with many commercially-available interactive video technologies, desktop videoconferencing can be incorporated into sessions with more traditional room-based systems when needed. This allows education institutions to gain maximum return on their already-placed video investments and upgrade capabilities as budgets allow.

John Killebrew, MCNC’s vice president of community support for NCREN, said the services now being offered, in particular the power of interactive video, have helped create a leading-edge learning environment in North Carolina as well as enable research collaboration, seminars, online workshops, and many other applications easily facilitated by video.

“People connecting with people through technology yield great collaborations,” said Killebrew. “MCNC remains focused on meeting the needs of its customers, and the expansion of NCREN is allowing our customers to drive innovations in education, health care, and other community services throughout North Carolina.”

MCNC also offers a Technology Forum for customers to interact with each other and MCNC’s subject matter experts.

In addition to enhanced video services, MCNC offers a 5,000 square-foot data center with more now available through the data center portfolio. MCNC currently offers server collocation with custom installation options available as well as several managed hosting options in addition to centralized, automated data protection services. The facility has a Network Operations Center staffed 24×7 that sits on seven 10Gig connections to the Web, Internet2, and National Lambda Rail.

MCNC led North Carolina’s successful efforts to pursue federal Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) funds administered by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration in 2010. MCNC raised $40 million in private funds (including $8 million from its own Endowment and $24 million from the Golden LEAF Foundation) to win two BTOP grants totaling $104 million to build fiber-optic infrastructure throughout rural North Carolina. Approximately 99.3 percent of the $144 million total investment is dedicated to the private sector. This historic expansion delivers critical middle-mile infrastructure and direct fiber connections to community anchor institutions throughout the state and helps make these services available at fixed costs for the foreseeable future.

About MCNC & NCREN Community
MCNC is an independent, non-profit corporation. MCNC’s main focus is to operate the North Carolina Research and Education Network (NCREN). For a more than a quarter century, NCREN continues to provide advanced Intranet and Internet connectivity to a constantly expanding number of Community Anchor Institutions throughout North Carolina. Today‘s users of NCREN include all 17 institutions of the University of North Carolina System, all 58 North Carolina Community Colleges, all 115 K-12 public school districts as well as a growing number of K-12 charter and private schools, the majority of the state’s private colleges and universities, several non-profit and public health care facilities, and a number of the state’s premier research institutions. NCREN also serves as the Internet gateway network for all state employees. MCNC currently is working on a $144 million expansion of NCREN scheduled to be completed by summer 2013. This initiative has been labeled the Golden LEAF Rural Broadband Initiative. Visit http://www.mcnc.org/btop.

“Raman spectroscopy is non-destructive and only requires a low volume of inexpensive, common material samples for testing with zero prep time,” Blonshine explained.

The Pittcon presentation comes on the heels of Mustard Tree Instruments® successful participation in the 26th International Forum and Exhibition Process Analytical Technology (Process Analysis and Control) (IFPAC) conference in Baltimore, Md. in late January. The analytical instrumentation leader used the highly respected conference on trends in technology, standards, and controls to unveil the latest addition to its game-changing toolset for identification and composition testing of raw and blended materials, the Mustard Tree Verifier™ Process System 1000 (VPS-1000).

Rugged and powerful, the VPS-1000 — about the size of laptop — is specifically designed to fit in the most compact pharmaceutical and chemical processing locations.  The unit performs sensitive real-time testing of liquids, powders, solids, gels, suspensions and emulsions in a variety of harsh conditions and hygienic environments. The Mustard Tree Verifier™ Tri-Test 1000 (VTT-1000) multi-variant testing device, released in May 2011, performs non-destructive chemical identification, size, and color analysis in benign environments.

According to Mustard Tree Instruments® Chief Technical Officer and IFPAC attendee Brian Garrett, the event’s focus on the applications of spectroscopy and chemical imaging within pharmaceutical, chemical, food, and petrochemical market sectors fit perfectly with the intended uses of both the VPS-1000 and the VTT-1000 instruments.

“Our toolset simplifies complex decision making processes for both at-line and in-line materials testing in a multitude of continuous manufacturing scenarios,” Garrett explained.

The world’s largest annual conference and exposition for laboratory science, Pittcon 2012 will offer the latest technology and instrumentation from nearly 1,000 exhibitors, a diverse Technical Program of more than 2,000 technical presentations, 90 plus Short Courses and networking sessions.

Todd Blonshine’s presentation at Pittcon will revolve around his submitted paper, “Multi-Variant Technology Combining Machine Vision with Raman Spectroscopy for Rapid Assessment of Pharmaceutical Drug Product Formulation and Dosage Strength” which he co-authored with his company’s Science Officer Brisco Harward, Ph.D.

“With over 17,000 attendees, Pittcon is an important event for our company to meet and partner with innovative industrial and scientific professionals to continue in redefining the pharmaceutical manufacturing industry with a purpose,” Blonshine said.

For more information about the Mustard Tree Instruments® and their products, please visit www.mustardtree.com or email info@mustardtree.com. To view the educational video, “What is Raman Spectroscopy?” visit YouTube.com/MustardTreeTV.

About Pittcon
Pittcon is the world’s annual premier Conference and Exposition on laboratory science. It is organized by The Pittsburgh Conference on Analytical Chemistry and Applied Spectroscopy, a Pennsylvania not-for-profit educational corporation which is comprised of the Spectroscopy Society of Pittsburgh (SSP) and the Society for Analytical Chemists of Pittsburgh (SACP). For more information on Pittcon 2012, visit www.pittcon.org.

About Mustard Tree Instruments®
Mustard Tree Instruments® accelerates the QC process by bringing testing from the lab to the production line (www.LAB2LINE.com). Mustard Tree Instruments® is redefining pharmaceutical manufacturing testing with unique at line or real time devices, the VTT-1000 and VPS-1000. Using Raman spectroscopy technology for enhanced accuracy, their instruments quickly verify raw material identity to final form dosage in solid, powder, and liquid product samples within seconds. The rapid and simple to set up analytics significantly reduce testing time and start-up costs while mitigating manufacturing risks associated with bad product batches. Mustard Tree Instruments is committed to fully engaging customers from purchase through implementation. For more information, visit www.mustardtree.com.

“People don’t just wake up one morning, snap their fingers, and achieve all their goals instantly,” she said, adding, “You have to want success, see it, and take on the responsibility to plan and work for it.”

The toolkit — downloadable from Strickland’s 10minutesuccess.com website — is an eight-page PDF document focusing readers on designing a goal-setting diagram and process to effectively set priorities. It introduces readers to the proven successful method of applying real-world planning and execution to getting big projects done, whether they be for personal fulfillment or building and running a business that makes money. Developing a sound goal set and crafting day-to-day and long-term strategic processes needed to achieve it will impact an individual’s ability to succeed, Strickland said.

“The concept of ’10-Minute Success: Goals’ is simple to digest, and the toolkit boils-down the first steps toward success by walking individuals through an easy-to-understand launch pad for reaching their goals,” she explained.

Priced for the Amazon Kindle at $2.99, “10-Minute Success: Goals” is the first in a series of digital books to find success in just 10 minutes a day. Strickland is finishing-up her second book in the series, ““10-Minute Success: Sales” which she is eyeing for a spring 2012 release.

Strickland’s other books include “Out of the Cubicle and Into Business” (also available from Amazon.com), “Marketing Strategies”, and “One Great Idea!” focus readers on the key ingredients to start, grow and run successful businesses. Her business acumen is also on display in the numerous articles she has written as columnist for the popular business news publication TheStreet.com, as well as in multiple articles and interviews appearing in other high-profile national media outlets including FOX Business and MWorld.

A frequent speaker at high-profile regional, national and international business and industry events, Strickland also leads webinars and on-site workshops on entrepreneurship, leadership and success, and business infrastructure such as accounting and grant writing across a multitude of industry sectors. In February she will be leading a class for the North Carolina Military Business Center Defense Contractors Academy in Charlotte on the topic of defense contracting, and is currently developing a workshop series for her “10-Minute Success” program.

Strickland’s consulting firm, F.O.C.U.S. (TM) Resources, provides proven techniques to organizations to develop sound strategic goals and infrastructure management solutions to build a baseline for success. Her work for over 400 clients in the United States, Canada, and Mexico in numerous industries provided valuable real-world information for “Goals” both in terms of best practices as well as missteps to avoid.

The goal-setting toolkit and “10-Minute Success: Goals” digital book can be found on www.10minutesuccess.com; the digital book is also available on Amazon.com by typing “Lea Strickland” in the search box at the top of the page. Additional digital versions for the Apple ibook, Nook, and PDF will be released later this year.

ABOUT LEA STRICKLAND
Lea Strickland, MBA/CMA/CFM/CBM/GMC, is an internationally renowned business strategy expert applying proven infrastructure management solutions to help businesses and organizations of all sizes build a baseline for success. She is the President of F.O.C.U.S. (TM) Resources and founder of the Technovation Entrepreneur (TM) program helping entrepreneurs take their ideas to market. Strickland is the author of books including “Out of the Cubicle and Into Business” “One Great Idea!” and “Marketing Strategies” and has had columns published in numerous high-profile national media outlets. Regularly leading workshops and presenting at a wide range of industry events, Lea is a sought-after public speaker and thought leader on how to effectively start and grow a business. For more information, visit www.leastrickland.com.

NewCommerce will be held on April 16-18, 2012, at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas, and will host the industry’s boldest and most-respected e-commerce leaders and companies. In addition to speaking, Amazon is one of the title sponsors of the event. Advance Barcode Systems, Buy.com, Certona, PayPal, ShipWorks and Windsor Circle are also sponsoring NewCommerce.

“NewCommerce is a term coined by ChannelAdvisor to describe the convergence of e-commerce with local, mobile and social advancements, as well as cross-border trade, all of which create an ‘anytime, anywhere’ level of accessibility for shoppers,” said ChannelAdvisor President and COO David Spitz. “This year we’re raising the bar to encourage a deeper examination of commerce as a whole and the latest industry developments. Attending this show is a must for anyone serious about getting ahead in the retail industry.”

NewCommerce will examine the most recent trends, from social media platforms to internationalization, widespread tablet adoption, new smartphone capabilities and more. During the conference retailers will receive guidance in converting these new methods into an integrated strategy that will strengthen existing commerce channels and present new opportunities for growth.

ChannelAdvisor’s Catalyst conference is essential for online retailers, and NewCommerce is expected to draw a record number of attendees from around the country. Register for NewCommerce now through January 31, 2012 to receive the early bird discounted rate of $499 for retailers. For information on sponsoring NewCommerce, visit channeladvisor.com/catalyst.

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About ChannelAdvisor

ChannelAdvisor is a global e-commerce platform provider that helps retailers be seen and sell more online through channels such as marketplaces, paid search and comparison shopping, and with webstores and rich media solutions. Widely respected as a trusted advisor for more than 3,000 top e-commerce brands, ChannelAdvisor calms the chaos of online selling by enabling retailers to submit one inventory feed to the ChannelAdvisor platform where it is translated to fit the specifications of hundreds of e-commerce channels and distributed accordingly. In 2011, ChannelAdvisor managed more than $3 billion in gross merchandise value (GMV) on behalf of retailers of all sizes including Dell, Brookstone, Under Armour and more than 30 percent of the Internet Retailer Top 500 online retailers. ChannelAdvisor is headquartered in Research Triangle Park, NC with offices in New York, Seattle, Australia, Ireland, Germany and the United Kingdom. For further information, visit www.channeladvisor.com.

The new LipiFlow® console incorporates an enhanced graphical user interface by controlling pressure and displaying the treatment temperature, pressure sequence and treatment time remaining. The new LipiFlow® also allows physicians to store a record of the treatment on the device and on electronic medical record servers, eliminating the need to manually document the treatment in patient records. LipiFlow®’s second generation product also allows physicians to treat two eyes simultaneously. Time savings achieved by performing a bilateral treatment is beneficial for both busy physicians and patients alike.

“We are pleased to have received FDA clearance for the second generation LipiFlow® to offer to our current and future customers,” said Tim Willis, chief executive officer and co-founder of TearScience. “The improvements in this next generation LipiFlow® reflect TearScience’s commitment to innovation. TearScience expects to provide many more enhancements that will assist physicians in treating dry eye sufferers efficiently, effectively and profitably.”

TearScience’s second generation LipiFlow® product will be commercially available in March 2012. Physicians currently using TearScience’s first generation LipiFlow® will be upgraded to the new system.

TearScience sells its LipiFlow® and LipiView® Ocular Surface Interferometer devices as a system for eye care practices. The LipiView® enables physicians to visualize the eye’s tear film. LipiView® won the 2011 Medical Design Excellence Award.

About TearScience, Inc.

Headquartered in Morrisville, North Carolina, TearScience has pioneered devices that provide significant clinical improvement in the treatment of evaporative dry eye. Of the more than 100 million dry eye sufferers worldwide, approximately 80 percent have evaporative dry eye, which is caused by meibomian gland dysfunction (MGD) and a lipid deficiency of the eye’s natural tear film. The Tear Film and Ocular Surface Society (TFOS) workshop, involving two years of work by 50 leading experts from around the world, concluded that MGD is an under-estimated condition and is very likely the most frequent cause of dry eye disease. Common symptoms of the disease include eye irritation, dryness, redness, tiredness, and visual disturbances. TearScience’s integrated, in-office system enables eye care professionals to effectively address a root cause of evaporative dry eye, obstructed meibomian glands. For additional information, visit www.tearscience.com.

“Cree’s 1700V silicon carbide Schottky diodes are ideal for high-efficiency power electronics systems,” explained Cengiz Balkas, Cree vice president and general manager, Power and RF. “They provide all the proven benefits of Cree’s Z-Rec SiC Schottky diodes—zero reverse recovery losses, temperature-independent switching and higher frequency operation.”

While the 1700V bare die have been available for customers who design their own custom power modules, the new TO-247-2 packages allow customers to take advantage of SiC for lower-power 1700V designs, enable more design flexibility in choosing current levels, and support a faster time to market.

“The availability of 1700V SiC Schottky diodes provides a number of advantages for design engineers in high-voltage power applications,” added Balkas. “Silicon carbide diodes enable maximum power efficiency and better EMI performance. The switching loss improvement allows for increased system frequencies that can reduce the size of magnetic and capacitive components. Significant reductions in system size, weight and cost can be achieved. Moreover, the availability of 1700V SiC diodes can eliminate the need for stacking multiple lower voltage silicon diodes, thereby cutting component count, improving thermal performance and increasing reliability.

Designated the C3Dxx170H Series, the new Cree SiC Schottky diodes are rated for 10A/1700V and 25A/1700V and are available in an industry standard TO-247-2 package. Operating junction temperature is rated for -55°C to +175°C.

The datasheet is available at www.cree.com/power/diodes.asp. Check with Cree for availability of devices in die form. For samples and more information about Cree’s SiC power devices, please visit www.cree.com/power.

About Cree

Cree is a market-leading innovator of semiconductor products for power and radio-frequency (RF) applications, lighting-class LEDs, and LED lighting solutions.

Cree’s product families include LED fixtures and bulbs, blue and green LED chips, high-brightness LEDs, lighting-class power LEDs, power-switching devices and RF devices. Cree products are driving improvements in applications such as general illumination, electronic signs and signals, power supplies and solar inverters.

For additional product and company information, please refer to www.cree.com