BREA, Calif., Nov. 3 /PRNewswire/ One look at the X-ray and Lulu's veterinarian knew this 2-year-old English bulldog's case was far from usual. The radiograph revealed a large foreign mass in Lulu's stomach and, upon close inspection, the outline of what appeared to be several pacifiers. Post-surgery, the contents of Lulu's stomach--15 baby pacifiers, a bottle cap, and piece of a basketball--filled half of a one-gallon plastic bag.

VISTA, Calif., Nov. 3 /PRNewswire/ Directed Electronics, the largest supplier of aftermarket vehicle security and remote start systems in North America, announced today that it has signed a memorandum of understanding with Octo Telematics S.p.A., the leading insurance telematics provider in Europe, to develop telematics services for the U.S. and Canadian vehicle insurance markets.

DALLAS and RIDGEFIELD, Conn., Nov. 3 /PRNewswire/ Dapco Industries, Inc. is using Texas Instruments Incorporated's (TI) (NYSE: TXN) new TMS320C6472 digital signal processor (DSP) to improve the ability of Dapco's non-destructive testing (NDT) equipment to peer inside railroad rails, high-speed train wheels, high pressure gas cylinders, and other critical transportation, power generation, and infrastructure components to pinpoint internal defects before structural failures cause safety risks to life and property. Dapco will deliver the first commercial version of its C6472-based ultrasonic testing instrumentation to the Union Pacific Railroad next month. Processing power up to 4.2 GHz, faster real-time processing speeds and the industry's lowest power consumption were critical features imperative in Dapco's decision to deploy the six-core C6472 DSP at the heart of their test equipment.

DALLAS, Nov. 3 /PRNewswire/ Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI) (NYSE: TXN) today announced the availability of the industry's most power efficient, six-core DSP (digital signal processor), the TMS320C6472, targeted at process-intensive applications requiring low power consumption. To help evaluate the performance of the C6472 devices more easily and affordably, TI is also offering a multicore processors evaluation module (EVM), the TMDXEVM6472, for USD $349.

LAS VEGAS, Nov. 3 /PRNewswire/ CSC (NYSE: CSC) strengthened its presence in Latin America by introducing to the market a wide spectrum of software and services for the financial services industry at the Inter-American Federation of Insurance Companies (FIDES) conference in Las Vegas this week. To address the needs of financial services firms throughout the region, CSC is enhancing its software, including core administration systems, to support the currency, language and unique country-specific regulations and business requirements. Firms will also benefit from CSC's client-centric approach to providing management consulting, systems integration and business process and IT outsourcing.

NORWALK, Conn., Nov. 3 /PRNewswire/ Affinion Group, a global leader in customer engagement solutions and one of the ten largest travel and leisure agencies in the US, today unveiled an alternative to the traditional model of pay-per-trip travel insurance. By launching an ongoing subscription-based model for the purchase of travel insurance plans, dubbed "Everyday Travel Insurance," Affinion has created a perpetual travel insurance plan that can automatically cover insureds and their families any time they travel more than 100 miles away from home.

HONG KONG, Nov. 3 /PRNewswire/ Xilinx Inc., (Nasdaq: XLNX), the world's leading provider of programmable logic solutions, today announced that Hong Kong Applied Science and Technology Research Institute (ASTRI) has incorporated Xilinx® flagship Spartan®-3A FPGAs into the design of its leading edge dynamic LED backlight control technology for flat panel LCD televisions. With Spartan at the heart of the system, ASTRI offers manufacturers of next-generation LCD TVs sharper video image quality and lower power consumption over competing solutions. Because Spartan-3A FPGAs are inherently flexible, ASTRI can tailor its technology to the exact power and performance needs of its customers, each of whom demands low cost, competitive differentiation and fast time-to-market.

COLUMBUS, Ohio, Nov. 3 /PRNewswire/ National claims and risk management provider Avizent announced today the introduction of TeamCOMP, an innovative approach to claims management that ensures medical experts are involved in workers' compensation claims from day one.

SAN MARCOS, Texas, Nov. 3 /PRNewswire/ Texas State University and Orizon Research Institute announced the signing of an agreement today that will permit University Researchers to continue efforts through in vivo testing to further determine the potential and effectiveness of ALKA-V6, a compound which has shown remarkable ability to kill cancer cells and inhibit the HIV virus in laboratory experiments.

CHESTER, United Kingdom, Nov. 3 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ Aftersoft Group, Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: ASFG), a provider of business and supply chain management solutions, to automotive parts manufacturers, retailers, tire and service chains, independent installers and wholesale distributors in the automotive aftermarket, has recently announced the appointment of Gerry Czarnecki as its Chairman of the Board of Directors.