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Monday, November 4, 2013

Hedge fund giant SAC Capital to plead guilty to fraud, pay $1.8B

NEW YORK (AP) — Federal prosecutors in New York say hedge fund giant SAC Capital Advisors has agreed to plead guilty to fraud charges and to pay a $1.8 billion financial penalty.

The agreement was contained in a letter from prosecutors to federal judges presiding over the case in Manhattan.

According to the letter dated Monday, the company will pay a $900 million fine and forfeit another $900 million to the federal government.

It said the company also will terminate its investment advisory business.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/us-govt-hedge-fund-giant-sac-capital-pay-161547544--finance.html
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Breast cancer -- combining imaging techniques for quicker and gentler biopsies

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

4-Nov-2013

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Contact: Dipl.-Ing. FH Steffen Tretbar
49-689-498-0226
Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft

How can you tell if a breast tumor is malignant? This isn't a question that ultrasound and X-rays, or even magnetic resonance scans, can answer alone. Doctors must often extract tissue samples from an affected area with a fine needle for detailed examination. This sort of biopsy is often undertaken with the help of ultrasound, with doctors observing a screen for needle guidance. Unfortunately, around 30 percent of all tumors are invisible to ultrasound. In some cases, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is used to ensure correct needle insertion. This process involves two steps: the imaging itself, which takes place inside the MRI scanner, and the insertion of the biopsy needle, for which the patient must be removed from the machine to insert the needle accurately. This process is often repeated several times before the sample is finally taken. This ex-hausts patients and is also costly, because the procedure occupies the MRI scanner for a significant period.

In the joint MARIUS project (Magnetic Resonance Imaging Using Ultrasound systems and processes for multimodal MR imaging), experts from both the Fraunhofer Institute for Biomedical Engineering IBMT in St. Ingbert and the Fraunhofer Institute for Medical Image Computing MEVIS in Bremen are working together towards a quicker and gentler alternative.

Combining imaging techniques intelligently

The new technique would require just one scan of the patient's entire chest at the beginning of the procedure, meaning that the patient only has to enter the scanner once. The subsequent biopsy is guided by ultrasound; the system would transform the initial MRI scan and accurately render it on screen. Doctors would have both the live ultrasound scan and a corresponding MR image available to guide the biopsy needle and display exactly where the tumor is located.

The biggest challenge is that the MRI is performed with the patient lying prone, while during the biopsy she lies on her back. This change of position alters the shape of the patient's breast and shifts the position of the tumor significantly. To track these changes accurately, researchers have applied a clever trick: While the patient is in the MRI chamber during the scan, ultrasound probes, which resemble ECG electrodes, are attached to the patient's skin to provide a succession of ultrasound images. This produces two comparable sets of data from two separate imaging techniques.

When the patient undergoes a biopsy in another examination room, the ultrasound probes remain attached and continually record volume data and track the changes to the shape of the breast. Special algorithms analyze these changes and update the MRI scan accordingly. The MR image changes analogously to the ultrasound scan. When the the biopsy needle is inserted into the breast tissue, the doctor can see the reconciled MRI scan along with the ultrasound image on the screen, greatly improving the accuracy of needle guidance towards the tumor.

Ultrasound equipment suitable for use in an MRI Scanner

To realize this vision, Fraunhofer researchers are developing a range of new components. "We're currently working on an ultrasound device that can be used within an MRI scanner," says IBMT project manager Steffen Tretbar. "These scanners generate strong magnetic fields, and the ultrasound device must work reliably without affecting the MRI scan." Ultrasound probes that can be attached to the body to provide 3D ultrasound imaging are also being developed by the team as part of the project.

The software developed for the technique is also completely new. "We're developing a way to track movements in real time by means of ultrasound tracking," explains MEVIS project manager Matthias Gnther. "This recognizes distended structures in the ultrasound images and tracks their movement. We also need to collate a wide range of sensor data in real time." Some of the sensors gather data about the position and orientation of the attached ultrasound probes while others track the position of the patient.

The team will showcase the entire concept and an initial demonstrator of the technology in November at the MEDICA 2013 trade fair in Dsseldorf at the joint Fraunhofer booth (Hall 10, Booth F05). The next version is set to be completed next year. Whereas the IBMT team is developing the hardware and new ultrasound techniques, the MEVIS working group is concentrating on the software.

The primary objective of MARIUS is to develop ultrasound tracking to aid breast biopsies. Nevertheless, the developed components could also be used in other applications. For instance, the MARIUS system and its movement-tracking software could allow slow imaging techniques such as MRI or positron emission tomography (PET) to accurately track the movements of organs that shift even when a patient is lying still. Aside from the liver and the kidneys, which change shape and position during breathing, this includes the heart, whose contractions also cause motion. Thanks to a technique applied to reconstruct the image, the heart would appear well defined on MRI scans instead of blurred. The jointly developed technology could also be applied to treatments that use particle or X-ray beams. For tumors located in or on a moving organ, the new technology could target the rays so that they follow the movement.These beams could hit the tumor with more precision than currently possible and reduce damage to healthy surrounding tissue.

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Breast cancer -- combining imaging techniques for quicker and gentler biopsies

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

4-Nov-2013

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Contact: Dipl.-Ing. FH Steffen Tretbar
49-689-498-0226
Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft

How can you tell if a breast tumor is malignant? This isn't a question that ultrasound and X-rays, or even magnetic resonance scans, can answer alone. Doctors must often extract tissue samples from an affected area with a fine needle for detailed examination. This sort of biopsy is often undertaken with the help of ultrasound, with doctors observing a screen for needle guidance. Unfortunately, around 30 percent of all tumors are invisible to ultrasound. In some cases, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is used to ensure correct needle insertion. This process involves two steps: the imaging itself, which takes place inside the MRI scanner, and the insertion of the biopsy needle, for which the patient must be removed from the machine to insert the needle accurately. This process is often repeated several times before the sample is finally taken. This ex-hausts patients and is also costly, because the procedure occupies the MRI scanner for a significant period.

In the joint MARIUS project (Magnetic Resonance Imaging Using Ultrasound systems and processes for multimodal MR imaging), experts from both the Fraunhofer Institute for Biomedical Engineering IBMT in St. Ingbert and the Fraunhofer Institute for Medical Image Computing MEVIS in Bremen are working together towards a quicker and gentler alternative.

Combining imaging techniques intelligently

The new technique would require just one scan of the patient's entire chest at the beginning of the procedure, meaning that the patient only has to enter the scanner once. The subsequent biopsy is guided by ultrasound; the system would transform the initial MRI scan and accurately render it on screen. Doctors would have both the live ultrasound scan and a corresponding MR image available to guide the biopsy needle and display exactly where the tumor is located.

The biggest challenge is that the MRI is performed with the patient lying prone, while during the biopsy she lies on her back. This change of position alters the shape of the patient's breast and shifts the position of the tumor significantly. To track these changes accurately, researchers have applied a clever trick: While the patient is in the MRI chamber during the scan, ultrasound probes, which resemble ECG electrodes, are attached to the patient's skin to provide a succession of ultrasound images. This produces two comparable sets of data from two separate imaging techniques.

When the patient undergoes a biopsy in another examination room, the ultrasound probes remain attached and continually record volume data and track the changes to the shape of the breast. Special algorithms analyze these changes and update the MRI scan accordingly. The MR image changes analogously to the ultrasound scan. When the the biopsy needle is inserted into the breast tissue, the doctor can see the reconciled MRI scan along with the ultrasound image on the screen, greatly improving the accuracy of needle guidance towards the tumor.

Ultrasound equipment suitable for use in an MRI Scanner

To realize this vision, Fraunhofer researchers are developing a range of new components. "We're currently working on an ultrasound device that can be used within an MRI scanner," says IBMT project manager Steffen Tretbar. "These scanners generate strong magnetic fields, and the ultrasound device must work reliably without affecting the MRI scan." Ultrasound probes that can be attached to the body to provide 3D ultrasound imaging are also being developed by the team as part of the project.

The software developed for the technique is also completely new. "We're developing a way to track movements in real time by means of ultrasound tracking," explains MEVIS project manager Matthias Gnther. "This recognizes distended structures in the ultrasound images and tracks their movement. We also need to collate a wide range of sensor data in real time." Some of the sensors gather data about the position and orientation of the attached ultrasound probes while others track the position of the patient.

The team will showcase the entire concept and an initial demonstrator of the technology in November at the MEDICA 2013 trade fair in Dsseldorf at the joint Fraunhofer booth (Hall 10, Booth F05). The next version is set to be completed next year. Whereas the IBMT team is developing the hardware and new ultrasound techniques, the MEVIS working group is concentrating on the software.

The primary objective of MARIUS is to develop ultrasound tracking to aid breast biopsies. Nevertheless, the developed components could also be used in other applications. For instance, the MARIUS system and its movement-tracking software could allow slow imaging techniques such as MRI or positron emission tomography (PET) to accurately track the movements of organs that shift even when a patient is lying still. Aside from the liver and the kidneys, which change shape and position during breathing, this includes the heart, whose contractions also cause motion. Thanks to a technique applied to reconstruct the image, the heart would appear well defined on MRI scans instead of blurred. The jointly developed technology could also be applied to treatments that use particle or X-ray beams. For tumors located in or on a moving organ, the new technology could target the rays so that they follow the movement.These beams could hit the tumor with more precision than currently possible and reduce damage to healthy surrounding tissue.

###

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Share

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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-11/f-bc110413.php
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Google invests $608 million in Finnish data center

Eric Schmidt, Executive Chairman of Google, speaks during a session with students at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, in Hong Kong, Monday, Nov. 4, 2013. Google announced Monday that it will partner with the university on a program to encourage the innovation and the entrepreneurship.(AP Photo/Vincent Yu)s

HELSINKI (AP) — Google is investing 450 million euros ($608 million) to expand a data center in southern Finland as part of Europe-wide development plans totaling hundreds of millions of euros.

The investment comes on top of the 350 million euros it spent on converting an old paper mill, bought from paper maker Stora Enso in 2009, into one of its centers serving customers in Europe and worldwide. It started operations in 2011, and currently employs some 125 people in Hamina, 150 kilometers (95 miles) east of Helsinki.

Google Inc. says the Hamina center is one of its most advanced and efficient, with a high-tech cooling system that uses seawater from the Baltic Sea to reduce energy usage and help keep computers running smoothly. In 2015, the plant will be primarily powered by wind energy and there are plans to meet future energy needs with "100% renewable energy."

The company says the expansion will employ up to 800 engineering and construction workers at the plant and that new, permanent jobs will be created once the extension opens.

"This investment underlines our commitment to working to help Finland take advantage of all the economic benefits from the Internet," Google's Finland manager Anni Ronkainen said. "As demand grows for our products, from YouTube to Gmail, we're investing hundreds of millions of euros in expanding our European data centers."

Finnish Prime Minister Jyrki Katainen, who attended the announcement in Hamina, welcomed the investment.

"Finland needs more foreign direct investments in order to enhance our economy, growth and employment," Katainen said. "Google's investment decision is important for us and we welcome it warmly."

Google has 19 data centers worldwide, with 70 offices in more than 40 countries employing some 30,000 people.

Associated PressSource: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/495d344a0d10421e9baa8ee77029cfbd/Article_2013-11-04-EU-Europe-Google/id-6adfc3f2e3bf4e0b8e3da7a65a9f5d52
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AP-CNBC poll: Twitter faces skeptical investors

An updated phone post on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange features a Twitter logo, Monday, Nov. 4, 2013, in New York. Twitter Inc. will begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday morning after setting a price for its IPO sometime Wednesday evening. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

NEW YORK (AP) — Twitter faces skepticism from potential investors and the broader public ahead of its initial public offering, according to an Associated Press-CNBC poll released Monday.

Some 36 percent of Americans say buying stock in the 7-year-old short messaging service would be a good investment, while 47 percent disagree. Last May, ahead of Facebook's IPO, 51 percent of Americans said Facebook Inc. would be a good investment. Just 31 percent didn't agree.

Twitter plans to make its Wall Street debut this week and surprisingly, 52 percent of people ages 18 to 34 say investing in the company's stock is not a good idea.

Twitter Inc. will begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday morning after setting a price for its IPO sometime Wednesday evening. As it stands, the San Francisco-based company plans to raise as much as $1.6 billion in the process. The transaction values Twitter at as much as $12.5 billion. That's little more than one-eighth of Facebook's roughly $104 billion market value when it went public.

Twitter has not turned a profit since its launch, but its future depends on advertisements as a primary source of income. The company mainly sells three types of ads: promoted tweets, promoted accounts and promoted trends. A company like Starbucks, for instance, can pay Twitter to promote a single tweet or it can pay the company to ask users to follow its account.

It does not bode well that more than half of Twitter users say they have not noticed advertising. Among the 42 percent of users who did notice, 31 percent say they've clicked on or followed one of the promoted items in question.

Among the poll's other key findings:

— One in 5 Americans say they have a Twitter account. One in 10, meanwhile, looks at Twitter feeds but doesn't have an account of their own.

— Nearly a quarter of Twitter account holders send tweets at least once a day, while 29 percent say they never do. More account holders say they read others' tweets daily, 35 percent.

— About 30 percent of Twitter users say they have used the service to register complaints about a product or service or when they are looking for information about services or products.

— Twitter has billed itself as the place for public, real-time conversations, but only 16 percent of users say they turn to Twitter frequently for breaking news. That said, 44 percent of users do so at least some of the time.

— Just 19 percent of respondents say they have a "favorable" view of Twitter, while 47 percent feel the same way about Facebook.

— A sizable share of Americans aren't familiar with Twitter or don't know what to make of it: 9 percent have never heard of it and another 12 percent say they just don't know how they feel about it.

—Just 35 percent of Americans say they think Twitter will be a successful company in five years. More, 49 percent, think Facebook will be successful in five years.

The Associated Press-CNBC telephone poll was conducted Oct. 25 to 27 by GfK Roper Public Affairs and Corporate Communications among 1,006 U.S. adults. The results have a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points. According to Twitter, 77 percent of its 232 million monthly visitors are outside of the U.S.

AP Director of Polling Jennifer Agiesta and News Survey Specialist Dennis Junius contributed to this story from Washington.

Online:

Survey results: http://surveys.ap.org

CNBC on Twitter: http://www.cnbc.com/twitter

Follow Barbara Ortutay on Twitter at https://twitter.com/BarbaraOrtutay

Associated PressSource: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/495d344a0d10421e9baa8ee77029cfbd/Article_2013-11-04-Twitter-Poll/id-1b47e3d00ada418b94695be0d692ffc4
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Biden: Whole nation looking to Virginia gov's race

ANNANDALE, Va. (AP) — Vice President Joe Biden says the entire nation is looking to the governor's race in Virginia to see the new face of progress in America.

Biden is campaigning with Democrat Terry McAuliffe in the Washington suburbs a day before Election Day.

Biden says McAuliffe's opponent, Republican Ken Cuccinelli, is the loudest voice in America against women's access to health care. He's painting Cuccinelli as part of a tea party faction that's turning back progress.

Biden says if Cuccinelli wins, Virginia will have to give companies stipends to locate in the state because corporations will be so turned off by Cuccinelli's policies.

He's praising McAuliffe as smart, tough and rooted in middle-class values.

Cuccinelli is campaigning Monday with Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida and former Rep. Ron Paul of Texas.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/biden-whole-nation-looking-virginia-govs-race-153425832--election.html
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This Unique Umbrella Will Never Flip Inside Out Because It Already Is

A Japanese company may have finally solved the issue of umbrellas flipping inside out during nasty storms with a new, rather brilliant design: why not have the umbrella inside out to begin with? You'll probably need to take a few minutes to wrap your head around the concept, which actually has several advantages over a traditional design.

FEINBERG FORECAST: The Field Is Set Save for Four Oscar Hopefuls That Have Yet to Screen

Courtesy of Universal

"Lone Survivor"

Every week until the 86th Oscars on March 2, 2014, The Hollywood Reporter's lead awards analyst, Scott Feinberg, will post an updated "Feinberg Forecast," wherein he presents a summary of developments since the last update that helped to shape this one and then lists his revised projections. For more about Feinberg and how he arrives at his projections, scroll to the bottom of this post.

Screening notes: Universal's Lone Survivor was unveiled at a special screening on Oct. 30, which was followed by an emotional Tina Brown-moderated Q&A with producer-star Mark Wahlberg, costar Taylor Kitsch, director Peter Berg and the real-life inspiration for Wahlberg's character, Marcus Luttrell. I was out of the state and therefore unable to attend but, having seen the film some months ago, I am not at all surprised that many are calling it one of the most realistic war movies they have ever seen -- which could end up working for it (some Academy members will cheer its authentic portrait of present-day combat) and against it (others will struggle with its relentless and gruesome violence). The film will have its official world premiere at the AFI Fest on Nov. 12, at which time it may become a little easier to get a read on its prospects for the remainder of the season.

Box office: Summit's sci-fi epic Ender's Game debuted to $28 million in ticket sales this weekend, topping the box-office standings. It was followed by last weekend's topper, Paramount's Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa, which took in $20.5 million, and two newcomers, CBS Films' Last Vegas and Relativity Media's Free Birds at $16.5 million and $16.2 million, respectively. As for Oscar hopefuls now in theaters, Warner Bros. Gravity, in its fifth weekend, grossed $13.1 million (bringing its North American total to $219.2 million), good enough for fifth place, while Sony's Captain Phillips, in its fourth weekend, grossed $8.5 million (bringing its North American total to $82.6 million), placing sixth. Fox Searchlight's 12 Years a Slave, generated $4.6 million in sales from just 410 locations (up from 123 last weekend), making for an impressive $11,220 per-theater-average. But the top p-t-a belonged to Focus Features' newcomer Dallas Buyers Club, which hauled in $264,000 from nine locations, which averages out to $29,333 per. Considerably less successful was EOne's poorly-reviewed Princess Diana biopic Diana, which tanked in its first weekend, taking in just $64,900 from 38 locations, or just 1,708 per.

Announcements: The AFI Fest announced that it will host a special tribute to American Hustle writer-director David O. Russell on Nov. 8, which has prompted speculation that Hustle might receive a sneak screening on that night, as well. (Russell's 2010 film The Fighter received a sneak screening at the fest three years ago.) ... Netflix scored some major Emmy noms just a few months ago for another politically-themed project, House of Cards. Might they crack the Oscar race next? The streaming service has acquired the U.S. distribution rights to The Square, the best documentary Oscar hopeful about the ongoing political turmoil in Egypt that I have been projecting as the category's frontrunner for several weeks now. ... Oscar winner Jonathan Demme (The Silence of the Lambs) endorsed and agreed to "present" Morocco's best foreign language Oscar submission, Horses of God -- prompting me to dissect the explosion of big-name filmmakers "presenting" others' awards hopefuls.

Precursors: The International Documentary Association revealed its nominees for the 29th annual IDA Awards. Zeitgeist Films' Let the Fire Burn, a found-footage doc about a 1985 cops-versus-radicals incident, received a field-leading four IDA Award noms, including one for best doc feature. That category's other nominees are Drafthouse Films' The Act of Killing, Magnolia Pictures' Blackfish (which has been getting a lot of attention on CNN lately), Participant Media's The Square and Roadside Attractions' Stories We Tell. The IDA Awards will be presented on Dec. 6.

Moments in the spotlight: On Nov. 2, DreamWorks Animation hosted a reception at the Four Seasons in Beverly Hills for its best animated feature Oscar hopeful The Croods, which was attended by the studio's CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg and the film's directors Chris Sanders and Kirk DeMicco, producers Kristine Belson and Jane Hartwell and sound designer Randy Thom. ... The best supporting actor Oscar race looks like it may come down to 12 Years a Slave's Michael Fassbender and Dallas Buyers Club's Jared Leto. Fassbender has ruled out Oscar campaigning for himself; Leto, meanwhile, has largely left it to his industry friends: Darren Aronofsky (his Requiem for a Dream director), Maria Bello, Peter Bogdonovich, Diane Kruger, Sarah Polley, Zoe Saldana, Uma Thurman, Marisa Tomei and Reese Witherspoon have all hosted Dallas Buyers screenings in his honor. ... On Nov. 2, James Franco, a long-shot best supporting actor Oscar hopeful for his portrayal of a white gansta named Alien in Spring Breakers, penned a blog post for VICE in which he asserts, "There will never be a movie or a character that is more important for this age than Spring Breakers and its protagonist Alien." Just the latest weird twist in the weirdest Oscar campaign of the season. ... On Oct. 26, at the annual Visual Effects Society summit, former Academy president Hawk Koch and current Academy president Cheryl Boone Isaacs seemed to endorse the idea that the Academy should consider adding a new category to deal with films that blur the lines between blurs animation, cinematography and visual effects, like this year's Oscar hopeful Gravity. Isaacs acknowledged, "Many members were confused between the Oscars for cinematography and visual effects on Life of Pi. We will be discussing the differences that have been made with these advancements." Koch suggested that a prospective new all-encompassing category might be called "visual imaging."

Potpourri: On Oct. 29 I had a fascinating hour-long conversation with Feng Xiaogang, a filmmaker who has been described as "China's Spielberg" -- and who directed this year's Chinese entry for the best foreign language film Oscar, Back to 1942 and was visiting Hollywood to have his handprints and footprints immortalized at the TCL Chinese Theatre -- about his life, career and the Chinese film industry's growth and ongoing practice of censorship. ... My colleagues Tim Appelo and Stephen Galloway and I spent the last few days at the 16th Savannah Film Festival, on the beautiful campus of the Savannah College of Arts and Design (SCAD). We participated on a panel entitled "The Hollywood Reporter: An Insider's Look," at which we discussed awards season history, logistics and strategies and shared our personal takes on this year's top Oscar races. You can watch video of the full conversation here. ... At the SFF, I also caught screenings of Ti West's horror flick The Sacrament (think Waco-meets-Jonestown), the Oscar-qualified doc Money for Nothing: Inside the Federal Reserve (which joins Inequality for All and 99%: The Occupy Wall Street Collaborative Film as three must-see docs for people who want to understand America's current economic woes) and the across-the-board Oscar hopeful August: Osage County (which I first caught at the Toronto International Film Festival and enjoyed more on my second viewing), the last of which was preceded by a presentation of the fest's Discovery Award to the film's supporting actress Abigail Breslin. ... I also had the opportunity to ride a moped all over historic Savannah and stopped at a number of places where Forrest Gump (1994) was shot, including the site of his "Life is like a box of chocolates" bench and the long tree-lined street on which he is urged to "Run, Forrest, run!"

Coming attractions: There are now only four serious Oscar hopefuls that have not been officially unveiled: Sony's American Hustle, Disney's Saving Mr. Banks, Relativity Media's Out of the Furnace and Paramount's The Wolf of Wall Street.

Without further ado, here is the latest forecast …

BEST PICTURE
Front-runners
American Hustle (Sony, 12/13, TBA, trailer)
12 Years a Slave (Fox Searchlight, 10/18, R, trailer)
Gravity (Warner Bros., 10/4, PG-13, trailer)
Captain Phillips (Sony, 10/11, TBA, trailer)
The Wolf of Wall Street (Paramount, 11/15, TBA, trailer)
Lee Daniels' The Butler (The Weinstein Co., 8/16, PG-13, trailer)
Blue Jasmine (Sony Pictures Classics, 7/26, PG-13, trailer)
Dallas Buyers Club (Focus Features, 11/1, R, trailer)
All Is Lost (Lionsgate/Roadside Attractions, 10/18, PG-13, trailer)
Philomena (The Weinstein Co., TBA, TBA, trailer)
Major Threats
Saving Mr. Banks (Disney, 12/20, PG-13, trailer)
Inside Llewyn Davis (CBS Films, 12/6, R, trailer)
Nebraska (Paramount, 11/22, TBA, trailer)
August: Osage County (The Weinstein Co., 11/8, TBA, trailer)
The Book Thief (20th Century Fox, 11/15, TBA, trailer)
Lone Survivor (Universal, 12/27, R, trailer)
Enough Said (Fox Searchlight, 9/20, PG-13, trailer) NEW
Possibilities
Before Midnight (Sony Pictures Classics, 5/24, R, trailer)
Fruitvale Station (The Weinstein Co., 7/12, R, trailer)
Prisoners (Warner Bros., 9/20, R, trailer)
Her (Warner Bros., 12/18, TBA, trailer)
Blue Is the Warmest Color (Sundance Selects, 10/25, NC-17, trailer)
Rush (Universal, 9/27, R, trailer)
Long Shots
Out of the Furnace (Relativity Media, 12/6, R, trailer)
Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom (The Weinstein Co., 11/29, TBA, trailer)
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (20th Century Fox, 12/25, TBA, trailer)
The Great Gatsby (Warner Bros., 5/10, PG-13, trailer)
Mud (Lionsgate/Roadside Attractions, 4/26, PG-13, trailer)
The Place Beyond the Pines (Focus Features, 3/29, R, trailer)

BEST DIRECTOR
Front-runners
David O. Russell (American Hustle)
Alfonso Cuaron (Gravity)
Steve McQueen (12 Years a Slave)
Paul Greengrass (Captain Phillips)
Martin Scorsese (The Wolf of Wall Street)
Major Threats
Woody Allen (Blue Jasmine)
Lee Daniels (Lee Daniels' The Butler)
Ethan Coen, Joel Coen (Inside Llewyn Davis)
Alexander Payne (Nebraska)
Spike Jonze (Her)
Stephen Frears (Philomena)
Jean-Marc Vallee (Dallas Buyers Club)
Possibilities
J.C. Chandor (All Is Lost)
Ryan Coogler (Fruitvale Station)
John Lee Hancock (Saving Mr. Banks)
Nicole Holofcener (Enough Said) NEW
Richard Linklater (Before Midnight)
Denis Villeneuve (Prisoners)
Long Shots
Scott Cooper (Out of the Furnace)
Ron Howard (Rush)
Abdellatif Kechiche (Blue Is the Warmest Color)
Ben Stiller (The Secret Life of Walter Mitty)
Baz Luhrmann (The Great Gatsby)
Brian Percival (The Book Thief)

BEST ACTOR
Front-runners
Robert Redford (All Is Lost)
Matthew McConaughey (Dallas Buyers Club)
Chiwetel Ejiofor (12 Years a Slave)
Forest Whitaker (Lee Daniels' The Butler)
Tom Hanks (Captain Phillips)
Major Threats
Bruce Dern (Nebraska)
Christian Bale (American Hustle)
Leonardo DiCaprio (The Wolf of Wall Street)
Oscar Isaac (Inside Llewyn Davis)
Michael B. Jordan (Fruitvale Station)
Possibilities
Joaquin Phoenix (Her)
Hugh Jackman (Prisoners)
Idris Elba (Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom)
Ethan Hawke (Before Midnight)
Mark Wahlberg (Lone Survivor)
Long Shots
Christian Bale (Out of the Furnace)
Ben Stiller (The Secret Life of Walter Mitty)
Ralph Fiennes (The Invisible Woman)
Daniel Radcliffe (Kill Your Darlings)
Isaiah Washington (Blue Caprice)

BEST ACTRESS
Front-runners
Cate Blanchett (Blue Jasmine)
Sandra Bullock (Gravity)
Meryl Streep (August: Osage County)
Emma Thompson (Saving Mr. Banks)
Judi Dench (Philomena)
Major Threats
Amy Adams (American Hustle)
Julia Louis-Dreyfus (Enough Said)
Adele Exarchopoulos (Blue Is the Warmest Color)
Brie Larson (Short Term 12)
Possibilities
Kate Winslet (Labor Day)
Berenice Bejo (The Past)
Felicity Jones (The Invisible Woman)
Julie Delpy (Before Midnight)
Long Shots
Sophie Nelisse (The Book Thief)
Scarlett Johansson (Don Jon)
Greta Gerwig (Frances Ha)
Rooney Mara (Ain't Them Bodies Saints)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Front-runners
Michael Fassbender (12 Years a Slave)
Jared Leto (Dallas Buyers Club)
Bradley Cooper (American Hustle)
Jeremy Renner (American Hustle)
Barkhad Abdi (Captain Phillips)
Major Threats
Jonah Hill (The Wolf of Wall Street)
Tom Hanks (Saving Mr. Banks)
James Gandolfini (Enough Said)
George Clooney (Gravity)
Chris Cooper (August: Osage County)
Steve Coogan (Philomena)
Harrison Ford (42)
Possibilities
Geoffrey Rush (The Book Thief)
David Oyelowo (Lee Daniels' The Butler)
Jake Gyllenhaal (Prisoners)
Alec Baldwin (Blue Jasmine)
Bobby Cannavale (Blue Jasmine)
Andrew Dice Clay (Blue Jasmine)
Long Shots
Daniel Bruhl (Rush)
Sam Rockwell (The Way Way Back)
Matthew McConaughey (Mud)
Josh Brolin (Labor Day)
Ryan Gosling (The Place Beyond the Pines)
James Franco (Spring Breakers)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Front-runners
Lupita Nyong'o (12 Years a Slave)
Oprah Winfrey (Lee Daniels' The Butler)
Jennifer Lawrence (American Hustle)
Julia Roberts (August: Osage County)
Jennifer Garner (Dallas Buyers Club)
Major Threats
Sally Hawkins (Blue Jasmine)
June Squibb (Nebraska)
Scarlett Johansson (Her)
Melissa Leo (Prisoners)
Possibilities
Octavia Spencer (Fruitvale Station)
Lea Seydoux (Blue Is the Warmest Color)
Naomie Harris (Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom)
Sarah Paulson (12 Years a Slave)
Long Shots
Emily Watson (The Book Thief)
Margo Martindale (August: Osage County)
Carey Mulligan (Inside Llewyn Davis)
Zoe Saldana (Out of the Furnace)

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Front-runners
12 Years a Slave (John Ridley)
The Wolf of Wall Street (Terence Winter)
Captain Phillips (Billy Ray)
Before Midnight (Julie Delpy, Ethan Hawke, Richard Linklater)
Philomena (Steve Coogan, Jeff Pope)
Major Threats
August: Osage County (Tracy Letts)
The Book Thief (Michael Petroni)
Lone Survivor (Peter Berg)
Possibilities
Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom (William Nicholson)
Labor Day (Jason Reitman)
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (Steve Conrad)
Long Shots
The Invisible Woman (Abi Morgan)
The Spectacular Now (Scott Neustadter, Michael H. Weber)

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Front-runners
American Hustle (David O. Russell, Eric Singer)
Blue Jasmine (Woody Allen)
Inside Llewyn Davis (Ethan Coen, Joel Coen)
Enough Said (Nicole Holofcener)
Her (Spike Jonze)
Major Threats
Nebraska (Bob Nelson)
Dallas Buyers Club (Craig Borten, Melisa Wallack)
Lee Daniels' The Butler (Danny Strong)
Gravity (Alfonso Cuaron, Jonas Cuaron
Saving Mr. Banks (Kelly Marcel, Sue Smith)
Frozen (Jennifer Lee, Shane Morris) NEW
Possibilities
All Is Lost (J.C. Chandor)
Fruitvale Station (Ryan Coogler)
Prisoners (Aaron Guzkowski)
Rush (Peter Morgan)
The Way Way Back (Nat Faxon, Jim Rash)
Long Shots
Out of the Furnace (Scott Cooper, Brad Inglesby)
The Past (Asghar Farhadi)
Mud (Jeff Nichols)
The Place Beyond the Pines (Derek Cianfrance, Bob Coccio, Darius Marder)
Frances Ha (Noah Baumbach, Greta Gerwig)
Bethlehem (Yuval Adler, Ali Wakad)

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
Front-runners
Frozen (Disney, 11/27, G, trailer)
The Wind Rises (Studio Ghibili, 11/8, PG-13, trailer)
Monsters University (Disney-Pixar, 6/21, G, trailer)
The Croods (DreamWorks Animation, 3/22, PG, trailer)
Ernest & Celestine (GKIDS, TBA, TBA, trailer)
Major Threats
Despicable Me 2 (Universal, 7/3, PG, trailer)
Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2 (Sony, 9/27, PG, trailer)
Free Birds (Relativity Media, 11/1, TBA, trailer)
Epic (20th Century Fox, 5/24, PG, trailer)
Turbo (DreamWorks, 7/19, PG, trailer)
Possibilities
Walking With Dinosaurs 3D (20th Century Fox, 12/20, TBA, trailer)
Khumba (Millennium Entertainment, TBA, TBA, trailer)
Planes (Disney, 8/9, PG, trailer)
Escape From Planet Earth (The Weinstein Co., 2/15, PG, trailer)
Long Shots
The Smurfs 2 (Sony, 7/31, PG, trailer)
The Legend of Sarila (Phase 4 Films, TBA, TBA, trailer)
A Letter to Momo (GKIDS, TBA, TBA, trailer)
The Snow Queen (Vertical Entertainment, 1/3, NR, trailer)

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
Front-runners
The Square (City Drive Entertainment Group, 10/25, NR, TBA)
20 Feet From Stardom (RADiUS, 6/14, PG-13, trailer)
Tim's Vermeer (Sony Pictures Classics, TBA, TBA, TBA)
Stories We Tell (Roadside Attractions, 5/10, PG-13, trailer)
The Act of Killing (Drafthouse Films, 7/19, NR, trailer)
Major Threats
Let the Fire Burn (Zeitgeist Films, 10/2, NR, trailer)
American Promise (Rada Film Group, 10/18, NR, trailer)
Blackfish (Magnolia, 7/19, PG-13, trailer)
Dirty Wars (IFC Films, 6/7, NR, trailer)
The Unknown Known (RADiUS, TBA, TBA, TBA)
We Steal Secrets: The Story of WikiLeaks (Focus World, 5/24, R, trailer)
God Loves Uganda (Variance Films, 10/11, TBA, trailer)
After Tiller (Oscilloscope, 9/20, TBA, trailer)
Jodorowsky's Dune (Sony Pictures Classics, TBA, TBA, trailer)
Free Angela and All Political Prisoners (Lionsgate, 4/5, NR, trailer)
Call Me Kuchu (Cinedigm, 6/14, NR, trailer)
Casting By (HBO, 11/1, NR, trailer)
Inequality for All (RADiUS, 9/27, PG, trailer)
Crash Reel (Phase 4 Films, 7/5, TBA, TBA)
The Armstrong Lie (Sony Pictures Classics, TBA, TBA, TBA)
Gideon's Army (Trilogy Films, TBA, TBA, trailer) NEW
Possibilities
Muscle Shoals (Magnolia, 9/27, TBA, trailer)
Seduced and Abandoned (HBO, 10/18, NR, trailer)
Salma (Women Make Movies, 1/?, TBA, trailer)
For No Good Reason (Sony Pictures Classics, TBA, TBA, trailer)
Salinger (The Weinstein Co., 9/6, TBA, trailer)
Cutie and the Boxer (RADiUS, 8/16, R, trailer)
Our Nixon (Cinedigm, 8/30, NR, trailer)
First Cousin Once Removed (HBO Films, 9/13, TBA, trailer)
Sound City (Roswell Films/Variance Films, 2/1, NR, trailer)
99%: The Occupy Wall Street Collaborative Film (Participant Media, 9/6, TBA, trailer)
Rising From Ashes (First Run Features, 8/2, NR, trailer)
Blood Brother (Tugg, TBA, TBA, trailer)
Herblock: The Black & the White (TSC Dist. Services, 8/16, NR, trailer)
Long Shots
Leviathan (Cinema Guild, 3/1, NR, trailer)
12-12-12 Concert (The Weinstein Co., 11/15, TBA, TBA)
Terms and Conditions May Apply (Variance Films, 7/12, TBA, trailer)
Fire in the Blood (International Film Circuit, 9/6, NR, trailer)
Linsanity (Ketchup Entertainment, 10/4, NR, trailer)
Informant (Music Box Films, 9/13, TBA, trailer)
Narco Cultura (Cinedigm, TBA, TBA, trailer)
Running From Crazy (OWN and Vitagraph Films, 11/1, TBA, trailer)
At Berkeley (Zipporah Films, 11/8, TBA, TBA)
56 Up (First Run Features, 1/4, NR, trailer)
Valentine Road (BMP Films, TBA, TBA, trailer)
Gahan Wilson: Born Dead, Still Weird (6th Avenue Productions, 10/11, TBA, trailer)
A.K.A. Doc Pomus (TBA, 10/4, TBA, trailer) NEW

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
Front-runners
Iran (The Past)
Israel (Bethlehem)
Italy (The Great Beauty)
Denmark (The Hunt)
Saudi Arabia (Wadjda)
Others, listed alphabetically
Afghanistan (Wajma)
Albania (Agon)
Argentina (Wakolda)
Australia (The Rocket)
Austria (The Wall)
Azerbaijan (Steppe Man)
Bangladesh (Television)
Belgium (The Broken Circle Breakdown)
Bosnia-Herzegovina (An Episode in the Life of an Iron Picker)
Brazil (Neighboring Sounds)
Bulgaria (The Color of Chameleon)
Cambodia (The Missing Picture)
Canada (Gabrielle)
Chad (GriGris)
Chile (Gloria)
Colombia (La Playa DC)
Croatia (Halima's Path)
Czech Republic (The Don Juans)
Dominican Republic (Quien Manda?)
Ecuador (The Porcelain Horse)
Egypt (Winter of Discontent)
Estonia (Free Range)
Finland (The Disciple)
France (Renoir)
Georgia (In Bloom)
Germany (Two Lives)
Greece (Boy Eating the Bird's Food)
Hong Kong (The Grandmaster)
Hungary (The Notebook)
Iceland (Of Horses and Men)
India (The Good Road)
Indonesia (Sang Kiai)
Japan (The Great Passage)
Kazakhstan (The Old Man)
Latvia (Mother I Love You)
Lebanon (Blind Intersections)
Lithuania (Conversations on Serious Topics)
Luxembourg (Blind Spots)
Mexico (Heli)
Moldova (All God's Children)
Montenegro (Ace of Spades -- Bad Destiny)
Morocco (Horses of God)
Nepal (Soongava: Dance of the Orchids)
Netherlands (Borgman)
New Zealand (White Lies)
Norway (I Am Yours)
Pakistan (Zinda Bhaag)
Palestine (Omar)
Peru (The Cleaner)
Philippines (Transit)
Poland (Walesa)
Portugal (Lines of Wellington)
Romania (Child's Pose)
Russia (Stalingrad)
Serbia (Circles)
Singapore (Ilo Ilo)
Slovak Republic (My Dog Killer)
Slovenia (Class Enemy)
South Africa (Four Corners)
South Korea (Juvenile Offender)
Spain (15 Years Plus a Day)
Sweden (Eat Sleep Die)
Switzerland (More Than Honey)
Taiwan (Soul)
Thailand (Countdown)
Turkey (The Butterfly's Dream)
Ukraine (Parajanov)
United Kingdom (Metro Manila)
Uruguay (Anina)
Venezuela (Breach in the Silence)

About the Feinberg Forecast

Scott has been forecasting the Oscars since 2001 and has one of the strongest track records of all awards pundits. His best showings came in 2006 and 2013, when he correctly called 21 out of 24 winners. He was the only pundit to project best picture nominations for The Reader (2008), The Blind Side (2009) and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (2011), among many other surprises.

He factors into his projections personal impressions (based on advance screenings of hundreds of films each year), publicly available information (release dates, genres, talent rosters and teasers/trailers often offer valuable clues), historical considerations (comparing and contrasting how other films with similar pedigrees have resonated), precursor awards (some awards groups have historically correlated with the Academy more than others), and conversations with industry insiders (including fellow members of the press, awards strategists, filmmakers and awards voters).

Twitter: @ScottFeinberg

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/thr/news/~3/AIaf-0BjZIY/feinberg-forecast-field-is-set-652813
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