The Ticker

Plymouth firm lands drone testing contract

Plymouth-based Avwatch Inc. will operate and manage unmanned aircraft system test ranges on Cape Cod and at other Bay State sites as part of a regional testing network selected by the Federal Aviation Administration in 2013.

MassDevelopment yesterday announced Avwatch's selection to oversee operations at the 22,000-acre Joint Base Cape Cod, delivering aerial reconnaissance, real-time, full-motion video and aerial systems testing and evaluation. Avwatch was founded in 2008.

The one-year contract is valued at $220,000, with $114,000 of that going toward building out a network to gather and transmit the test information to the FAA, according to MassDevelopment, which said the test ranges and center will offer new business opportunities in the areas of unmanned aircraft system platforms, control systems and payload/sensor development. Griffiss International Airport in Rome, N.Y., is the lead site in the Northeast UAS Airspace Integration Research (NUAIR) Alliance.

Merrill Lynch hit with $2.5M fine

State securities officials have ordered a $2.5 million fine against Merrill Lynch as part of a settlement stemming from an investigation into a January 2013 internal presentation to Merrill financial advisers in Boston. According to Secretary of State William Galvin's office, which oversees the state securities division, a portion of the two-day presentation to more than 300 people touched on training to double production by transferring customer assets from commission-based brokerage accounts to fee-based alternatives, but did not include language regarding client suitability or fiduciary requirements of Merrill Lynch financial advisers.

TODAY

• Labor Deptartment releases Consumer Price Index for February.
• Treasury releases foreign holdings of U.S. debt for January.
• Commerce Department releases new home sales for February.

TOMORROW

• Commerce Department releases durable goods for February.
• A former executive at Liberty Mutual Insurance and Hanover Insurance has been named executive director of the Massachusetts Insurance Federation. John P. Murphy will succeed James Harrington, whom he called his "longtime friend and mentor."

The federation's 25 members write more than 
$7.5 billion in property and casualty insurance premiums in Massachusetts.

Murphy, of West Roxbury, has been president of the National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies since August 2012 and was regional vice president of the American Insurance Association from October 2005 until December 2010.

In 2011 and 2012, he worked as vice president and counsel at Hanover Insurance Co., which is based in Worcester. From 1987 until 2003, Murphy was assistance vice president and senior legislative counsel at Liberty Mutual in Boston.

He is also engaged in a civil law practice with Thaxter, Beckwith & Henderson of Cohasset and Stief, Waite, Gross & Sagoskin of Newton, Pa.

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Councilors pitch paid parental leave

Two city councilors have proposed a local law that would create Boston's first paid parental leave policy for city employees, a step that one expert said sends a strong message to other Massachusetts employers.

The proposal by City Councilors Michelle Wu and Tim McCarthy would grant up to six weeks of paid parental leave to both men and women, as well as same-sex couples, who have worked for the city for at least a year and do not belong to a union.

"This ordinance will help alleviate some pressure on working parents who have to make tough choices every day to do the best they can for their families," said Wu, a new mother.

Mayor Martin J. Walsh said he will sign the ordinance if the council passes it, and he hopes businesses consider adopting similar policies. A spokeswoman said the cost would depend on how many employees take advantage of it.

"It does send a strong signal," said Brad Harrington, executive director of the Boston College Center for Work & Family. "Everybody who operates around the city is going to observe what it does. ... It takes action at the level where action can best be taken, given the fact that Washington seems to be in gridlock over everything. Virtually every country in the world offers paid maternal leave, and about 75 countries have paid paternal leave. As a matter of national policy, the U.S. offers neither."

As a state representative, Walsh was the lead sponsor of a law that takes effect April 7 and broadens the state's 1972 maternity leave act to also give new fathers — at companies with as few as six employees — eight weeks of unpaid leave.

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Researcher is making a splash

Northeastern University could help develop the first underwater smartphone or wireless router after luring a highly cited researcher who is pioneering subaquatic Wi-Fi.

Tommaso Melodia, 38, came to Northeastern in August from SUNY Buffalo and brought with him his research and his lab — which sent the first underwater tweet a few years ago.

Less than a year into his stint at Northeastern, Melodia has already won a $300,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to expand his research, this time focusing on the possibility of real-time underwater video streaming.

In layman's terms, his technology allows for bits of data to be transmitted over acoustic waves. In historical terms, this is the newest frontier in the transmission of information — like what we were trying to do with wires 50 years ago. It was a matter of carefully modifying frequencies and amplitudes to get the most efficient transmissions. Melodia is working on ways to adapt data to transmit through sound waves in water — similar process, different medium.

The consequences are far-reaching, from unlocking mysteries of the ocean to enabling scuba divers and submarines to communicate via Wi-Fi.

"This technology enables you to have a signal on a boat saying this is the location on the scuba diver, to enable voice communications amongst divers and monitor underwater activities of small submarines smuggling illegal substances," said Melodia, associate professor in the department of electrical and computer engineering, and head of the Wireless Networks and Embedded Systems Lab (WiNES Lab).

"There are lots of environmental implications — you can monitor level of pollution and send warnings to the authorities, or even tweet directly to authorities."

Melodia's research progressed last year to allow the first files to be wirelessly uploaded to the Internet under water. He envisions these developments making search and rescue missions easier, especially when it comes to locating missing planes, and enabling an entirely new industry of underwater, Wi-Fi-enabled robotics.

"Having a better understanding of underwater acoustic propagation helps us make better devices to produce the pings of a black box," he said.

Sending data across water has another interesting application: the human body. The next phase of Melodia's work at Northeastern will likely encompass intra-body networks: the kind of Wi-Fi communication that would allow tiny implanted medical devices to detect and treat ailments in real time. The human body is made of 60 percent water, so it's not a leap to think that underwater Wi-Fi may soon change not just how we communicate, but how long we live as well.

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Buckle up for the innovative Swash

Swash ($499, BestBuy.com & Swash.com)

Not quite a washing machine, and not quite a dry cleaner, Swash is a new product category: a device that claims to extend the life of your clothes by cutting down on the number of wash-and-dry cycles and more or less replacing your iron altogether.

The good: This clever 53-inch clothes refresher from Whirlpool smooths and steam cleans your clothes in a 10- or 15-minute cycle. Retractable tension clips secure the shape of your clothes just so. I was even able to reshape some previously shrunken wool sweaters with the Swash.

The bad: Keep in mind that this thing weighs 80 pounds and is rather tall. Detergent "pods" are sold separately, with the going price about $7 for a 12-pack. And for heavily soiled clothes, you'll still need a conventional washer.

The bottom line: You never knew you needed a Swash. But if you're keeping your local dry cleaner busy, this will save you time and possibly cash.

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Some slow to embrace FASTR

A new Congressional bill that would improve public access to the roughly $60 billion in research the federal government funds each year is drawing praise from researchers who say it will accelerate innovation, and criticism from some publishers who fear it will undermine their financial model.

The Fair Access to Science and Technology Research Act would require each federally funded researcher to submit an electronic copy of the final text of their peer-
reviewed work and ensure that manuscript is available free online within six months.

"We are supportive of any initiative that increases transparency and collaboration, and creates widespread access to the amazing work of our biomedical researchers," said Dr. Paul J. Anderson, chief academic officer and senior vice president of research at Brigham and Women's Hospital. "The FASTR Act has the potential to speed the pace of innovation, a goal that we are all focused on, as we work to translate our research breakthroughs to clinical therapies for the ultimate benefit of our patients."

Harry Orf, senior vice president for research at Massachusetts General Hospital, said MGH also supports full disclosure of peer-reviewed research.

Currently, federally funded study results are reported to the National Institutes of Health and submitted within a year of publication to PubMed Central, a freely accessible government database.
Orf's one concern is that any additional requirements the FASTR Act entails be handled through that system to prevent "increased bureaucratic burden" on researchers.

"Researchers with a final manuscript like as many people as possible to see it," said Dr. Roger K. Pitman, a psychiatrist at MGH and professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. "The issue here is more one of interaction between the federal government and journals."

Opponents to the FASTR Act include the Association of American Publishers, whose president and CEO said the bill "undermines our scientific publishing system, prioritizing simplicity over sustainability."
"The bills' short, inflexible 6- and 12-month embargoes will damage the financial viability of many scholarly journals and weaken the quality and integrity of the system, including the vital peer review process," said Tom Allen. "A goal of free public access to the world must not be allowed to eliminate the financial incentives for scholarly publishers to invest in bringing cutting-edge research to public attention."

But Heather Joseph, executive director of the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition, said, "Being able to provide access to this layer of information is at the core of our mission."

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Fed rate hike to have big impact

When the Federal Reserve finally raises interest rates, the ripple effect will hit everything from business investment to consumer borrowing, but that doesn't make it the wrong move, experts say.

"Short-term interest rates are going to go up, and that's going to affect a lot of things in the credit markets," said Paul Edelstein, director of financial economics for IHS Global Insight. "The Fed is going to make it more expensive to borrow."

Fed Chair Janet Yellen, has taken pains to be cautious, but the central bank last week gave signals that it will move slowly this year toward its first interest-rate increase since December 2008, when the economy was mired in the Great Recession and financial crisis.

One of the first and most notable ripple effects when the Fed raises rates will likely be on stock prices.

"When interest rates do go up, it is normal for that to have an effect on stock and bond markets," said Jeff Frankel, a professor at Harvard University and director of the Program in International Finance and Macroeconomics at the National Bureau of Economic Research.

The initial market reaction would likely be just a blip, but higher interest rates could lead to more volatile stock prices.

"Keeping interest rates so low for six years is part of what has sustained the rallies," he said.

Higher interest rates will spread to other loans, including mortgages, and eventually to credit cards as banks pass on higher borrowing costs to customers.

"If you want to borrow to buy a home, it's going to get more expensive," Edelstein said.

At the same time, it will become more lucrative to save, Edelstein said, as rising interest rates usually increase the yields on savings accounts.

For businesses, more expensive loans could take a bite out of investment plans.

"The more they have to spend to borrow money, the less they have to spend on other things," said David Wessel, director of the Hutchins Center on Fiscal and Monetary Policy at the Brookings Institution, "and the less they'll have to spend on big capital expenses like factories."

The effects of raising interest rates may seem largely negative, but it is important to return to normal levels, analysts say.

"It's really, really unusual for interest rates to be at zero for more than six years," Wessel said. "Interest rates were cut to zero when things were really screwed up."

The Fed has said it will only raise rates when the labor market improves and it is absolutely sure the economy can weather the storm.

"No one likes to spoil a party," Frankel said, "but you do it because you think it's necessary to keep the economy on the long term."

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Biogen drug boosts stock

An experimental Azheimer's drug from Biogen Idec dramatically slowed the disease's progression in a small study — a stunning finding that analysts and doctors say could save millions of lives and lead to a financial boon for the Cambridge biotech firm.

"The results are incredibly promising," said Ravi Mehrotra, head of Global Biotechnology Research at Credit Suisse in New York. "What's very interesting with Alzheimer's is it's obviously a huge market, and because of the aging population, that number is going to continue to grow."

The 166-person study showed a significant decrease in both cognitive decline and amyloid plaque — the sticky substance that builds up in the brains of Alzheimer's patients — in those who took the drug aducanumab rather than a placebo.

Biogen's stock soared after the findings were announced yesterday, spiking briefly to a record high of $480.18 per share, before closing up 9.76 percent.

If the drug's success holds up in later trial phases, Biogen has the potential to produce a $10 billion worldwide drug, and see as much as a 50 percent increase in revenue, said Michael Yee a San Francisco-based analyst at RBC Capital Markets.

"The big picture is that these results are very exciting," said Yee. "Obviously that's tremendous because it could be transformative for the company."

Biogen Idec said the initial results were so promising that it will skip Phase II and go directly to Phase III of the trial, which will involve a participant pool of at least 1,000 people.

This is "relatively rare" in the research world, according to Dr. Tinatin Chabrashvili, neurologist and director of the Dementia Clinic at Tufts Medical Center.

"Something like this only happens when there are quite convincing results," Chabrashvili said. "The results look very good."

There are more than 5 million Americans with Alzheimer's disease, and that number could triple by 2050 without medical innovations, according to Jim Wessler, president and CEO of Alzheimer's Association Massachusetts New Hampshire chapter.

It's the only disease on the list of the top 10 causes of death in the United States that does not have a treatment that slows or stops progression, he said.

"Alzheimer's is the most expensive disease in America, more than heart disease and cancer, because you have both medical care and care-giving requirements," he said. "People on average after diagnosis will live for eight years and the range can be up to 20 years. It's a long, slow, deteriorating disease."

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Milton offers mix of town, country

It can be hard to believe that the beauty and tranquility of the country is a mere half-hour's drive from the bustle of Boston, but for proof, you need look no further than this renovated farmhouse nestled in the Blue Hills of Milton.

Built in 1838 and renovated beginning in 2004, this four-bedroom, 2A-bath house includes three wood-burning fireplaces and a solarium, and sits on 1.53 acres surrounded by woodlands.

"It's a wonderful blend of old and new," said broker Karen Fallon of Keller Williams Realty. "It's also close to the city but private, with a good amount of land."

The front door opens to an entry closet and, on the left, a living area with exposed beams, built-ins and a wide-open layout that gives way to a chef's kitchen with granite countertops, ample cabinet and shelf space, a stainless steel refrigerator, a dishwasher, a Thermador stove with four burners and a grill, and a range hood. In the center of the kitchen is an island with a cutting-board top and more storage below.

Off to right is a butler's pantry with a sink and a small fridge, and an informal dining area with French doors that open onto a deck. Between the kitchen and dining area is a fireplace.

The side entrance of the house leads to a formal dining area with another fireplace and French doors that open onto the solarium. A formal living room also has a fireplace and French doors that open onto a deck.

The parlor level has hardwood floors throughout and a half bath.

In the center of the house, sunlight pours through skylights above the staircase to the second level, which also has hardwood floors. The hallway to the left leads to the master bedroom, which has recessed closet space, windows overlooking the yard and a bathroom with a steam shower and a double vanity with a marble top and cabinet and shelf space.

Back out through the hallway is a second bedroom currently being used as an office; a sitting area; two more bedrooms, each with a closet; a bathroom with a tub; and a closet concealing a washer and a dryer.

There's a detached, two-car garage and, off the side entrance of the house, a driveway that fits three to four more cars.

Home Showcase

• Address: 292 Hillside St., Milton
• Bedrooms: Four
• Bathrooms: Two and a half
• List price: $875,000
• Square feet: 2,816
• Price per square foot: $310.72
• Annual taxes: $11,463
• Location: Eight minutes to a gourmet marketplace and cafe in Milton, 10 minutes to South Shore Plaza in Braintree and about 30 minutes to Boston
• Built in: 1838 and renovated beginning in 2004
• Broker: Karen Fallon of Keller Williams Realty at (617) 861-3700

Pros:

• Spacious inside and out
• Solarium

Cons:

• No air conditioning
• No nearby public transportation

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Hot Property: Southie church split up into 20 luxury condos

Luxury condos in the former St. Augustine's Church in South Boston have hit the market, offering buyers an opportunity to live in new, modern units amid high Victorian Gothic architecture, with soaring ceilings and arched windows.

Twenty two- and three-bedroom condos are taking shape in the former Catholic church on Dorchester Street — each of them two or three levels — and another nine one-bedrooms will occupy the attached former rectory. Prices range from $649,000 to $1.29 million for the roughly 1,000- to 2,000-square-foot units.

After four months of demolition work, the property is still under construction, with an Aug. 31 scheduled completion date by owner Brenco Construction of Milton.

Condo interiors won't have exposed brick or stained glass windows, but the ornate arched frames will be preserved and fitted with new custom windows — including a massive one in the penthouses' lobby that will provide views of the Boston skyline and landmark buildings such as the John Hancock tower.

"It's going to have a contemporary feel inside," said Jacob Carlin, the property's exclusive listing agent and the owner of JW Brokerage in South Boston. "The church was in such disrepair that it was hard to try and save some things."

Features will include hardwood floors, tile bathrooms, professional-grade, stainless steel appliances, granite kitchen countertops, surround sound, walk-in closets and in-unit laundry hookups. Master baths will have walk-in showers with glass surrounds, while the guest baths will have soaking tubs and showers.

Garage parking is being added underneath the church in its former function hall, and residents will have an elevator and access to a clubroom with a kitchenette, surround sound and a flat-screen television.

Built in 1874, the church was designed by Patrick Charles Keely, an Irish-born architect heralded as the most prolific designer of Catholic churches, with more than 600 to his credit, including the Cathedral of the Holy Cross in the South End and more than 30 others in Massachusetts. Under mounting financial pressure, the Archdiocese of Boston closed St. Augustine's in 2004, and the city's Landmarks Commission denied a petition to designate it as a landmark.

The former church's red-brick facade is being preserved and will be repointed, and the slate roof will be maintained. The massive center entrance with its wooden doors and ornamental iron fixtures also will be preserved.

"Obviously the architecture of the church is something we could never replicate now — it would be too expensive," Carlin said.

Carlin has two of the condos under agreement for $775,000 and $1 million — close or at asking prices, he said — and has offers for another four units.

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BRA chief touts disclosure rule

If Massport adopted the same policy as the BRA on requiring developers to divulge names of equity partners, it would shed light on the silent investors on bids to build an $800 million mega hotel in the Seaport District, the head of the city authority said yesterday.

"People should know who is having a significant development interest going in their neighborhood and how they have behaved.

There are community groups and neighbors who might be OK with a development proposal but not happy with the development team," Boston Redevelopment Authority Director Brian Golden said in interview after an appearance on Boston Herald Radio.

"They deserve to know what their reputation is, what their history has been, are they solid citizens, and solid performers."

Golden explained that one of the driving forces behind the disclosure requirement his agency adopted last year is that it aims to expose any conflicts of interest among investors in a development project, particularly among BRA staffers or their relatives.

"One important reason for that is to do a conflict-of-interest scrub," he said. "We need to know who is investing in projects for our own parochial interests so we could identify conflicts of interest between investors who might be related or have some kind of connection to BRA staff."

Massport is overseeing the bid process for the proposed 1,200-room headquarters hotel on Summer and D streets that is part of the $1 billion expansion of the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center.

The authority has not released the six bids by developers to build the hotel and does not have a policy requiring equity partners to be divulged.

But Massport CEO Thomas Glynn told the Herald this week that the BRA edict is a "good idea" and he hasn't "ruled out" adopting a similar policy.

The Herald reported earlier this week that two former board members of the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority — former U.S. Sen. William "Mo" Cowan, who also served as chief of staff for former Gov. Deval Patrick, and developer Dean Stratouly — are part of a development team looking to land the hotel deal.

The MCCA board and Massport's board will each vote to choose the winning bid.

Golden, while appearing on Herald Radio's "Morning Meeting," also blasted the controversial deal that gave the Boston Red Sox the right to use Yawkey Way forever as the "consummate behind-closed-doors, opaque transaction."

Golden said a new policy, requiring the agency to hold public meetings and a 10-day open comment session before giving away city-owned land, will greatly increase transparency and prevent what happened in September 2013, when the agency kept the public in the dark on the terms of its deal with the Red Sox up until just before the board's vote on the $7.3 million pact.

No public forum was ever held.

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