Back in November last year image giant Corbis acquired Demotix, the crowd-sourced breaking news picture and video agency which had launched in 2008. We present for you a lighting fast 'exit Q&A' with founder and former CEO Turi Munthe, who has since left to pursue new projects.Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/5m2XOlCRU4Q/
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Greater international support is needed for countries currently absorbing increasing waves of refugees fleeing Syria, including Jordan.
Amman, Jordan (PRWEB) April 11, 2013
Greater international support is needed for countries currently absorbing increasing waves of refugees fleeing Syria, including Jordan, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Administrator Helen Clark said yesterday as she wrapped up a four day visit to Jordan.The deterioration of the security and humanitarian situation in Syria has forced thousands of Syrians to flee and seek refuge in neighbouring countries, with Jordan alone currently hosting nearly half a million internationally displaced persons (IDPs) from Syria, according to news reports.
?Jordan is suffering a crisis clearly caused by the spillover of the very tragic events in Syria,? said Helen Clark, who met with HM Queen Rania and a range of Jordan senior officials, women leaders, activists, donors and the UN Country Team there. ?As the international community addresses the significant needs of the refugees, I think it is important that Jordan?s particular circumstances are also taken into account.?
More than 1.3 million Syrian refugees have crossed borders into Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey since conflict erupted. The number could exceed four million by the end of the year, the UN Refugee Agency announced this week. Since the beginning of the year, 1,500 to 2,000 Syrians have been pouring into Jordan daily.
?The refugee flow is very, very significant and we acknowledge not only Jordan?s generosity in keeping its border open but also the considerable strain on its host communities for jobs, energy, water, health and education services,? Helen Clark said.
This large influx of refugees into Jordan is putting a considerable burden on local Jordanian host communities, and their social and economic services.
?As some agencies like UNHCR and UNICEF focus on the Syrian refugees, others, including UNDP, are looking at how we can help alleviate pressure on the host communities who are under strain as well,? Helen Clark said. ?This is a crisis that is not only affecting Syria but clearly its neighbours too.?
During her visit, Helen Clark met with Jordan?s Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour to discuss how UNDP can support these host communities in Jordan and increase their ability to not only absorb the influx of refugees but also to mitigate any possible tensions between the refugees and the host communities through support to basic social services and job creation for Jordanian youth.
The Prime Minister also briefed Helen Clark on the proposed reform programme and potential UNDP support.
?This is a very substantial reform programme,? said Helen Clark. ?Should this programme be approved, we are there for Jordan across the wide range of areas UNDP works in, including governance and political development reform, decentralization and poverty reduction.?
Helen Clark was in Jordan to attend the Arab Development Forum and a key UNDP regional meeting of its country-level offices in the Arab States.
Christina.lonigro@undp.org
UNDP
+1-212-9065301
Email Information
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/more-international-support-needed-jordan-cope-syrian-refugees-194622312.html
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Secretary of State John Kerry issued a stern warning Friday, telling Kim Jong Un North Korea will not be accepted as a nuclear power. NBC's Andrea Mitchell reports.
By Arshad Mohammed and Ben Blanchard, Reuters
BEIJING -- U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry met China's top leaders on Saturday in a bid to persuade them to exert pressure on North Korea to scale back its belligerent rhetoric and, eventually, return to nuclear talks.
Traveling to Beijing for the first time as secretary of state, Kerry made no secret of his desire to see China take a more activist stance toward North Korea, which in recent weeks has threatened nuclear war against the United States and South Korea.
As the North's main trading partner, financial backer and the closest thing it has to a diplomatic ally, China has a unique ability to use its leverage against the impoverished, isolated state, Kerry said in the South Korean capital, Seoul, on Friday before leaving for Beijing.
"Mr. President, this is obviously a critical time with some very challenging issues -- issues on the Korean Peninsula, the challenge of Iran and nuclear weapons, Syria and the Middle East, and economies around the world that are in need of a boost," Kerry told Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People.
Kerry said after the meeting that his talks with Xi were "constructive and forward-leaning", though he did not elaborate.
China had a testy relationship with Kerry's predecessor, Hillary Clinton, believing her to be too abrasive in their disagreements over everything from human rights to territorial disputes like the South China Sea.
Pentagon intelligence has assessed that North Korea likely does have the ability to launch nuclear missiles, which raises the stakes for John Kerry, who just landed in South Korea, to find a diplomatic way out of the crisis. NBC's Andrea Mitchell reports.
"Clinton added fuel to the mistrust during her four-year term. We hope Kerry can pull it in the other direction," China's widely read and influential Global Times tabloid said in an editorial.
Kerry's visit to Asia, which will include a stop in Tokyo on Sunday, takes place after weeks of shrill North Korean threats of war since the imposition of new U.N. sanctions in response to its third nuclear test in February.
North Korea has repeatedly said it will not abandon nuclear weapons which it said on Friday were its "treasured" guarantor of security.
No sign of imminent missile launch
North Korean television on Saturday made no mention of Kerry's visit and devoted most of its reports to preparations for Monday's celebrations marking the birth date of state founder Kim Il-Sung.
These included a numerous floral tributes and grandiose flower show, foreign visitors seeing the sights of the capital ahead of the festivities and the unveiling of a monument in a provincial town.
But Rodong Sinmun, the ruling Workers' Party's newspaper, issued a fresh denunciation of joint U.S.-South Korean military exercises, saying: "The outbreak of nuclear war has now become a fait accompli, owing to the U.S. and the South Korean puppet forces.
"If the enemies dare provoke (North Korea) while going reckless, it will immediately blow them up with an annihilating strike with the use of powerful nuclear means."
However, South Korea's Yonhap news agency, quoting a government source, said North Korea had not moved any of its mobile missile launchers for the past two days after media reports that as many as five missiles had been moved into place on the country's east coast.
Yonhap said there had been no signs of any movement by the mobile launchers since Thursday "or that missile launches are imminent".
U.S. 'fanning the flames'?
Beijing has been reluctant to apply pressure on Pyongyang, fearing the instability that could result if the North were to implode and send floods of refugees into China, and has looked askance at U.S. military drills in South Korea.
North Korea is trending online and has been searched on Google more than ever before now that the country's outlandish threats have gotten the world's attention. Kim Jong-un is still expected to launch a missile, and some analysts predict they will then ask for money not to do it again. NBC's Richard Engel reports.
China's official Xinhua news agency said in a commentary that Washington had itself been "fanning the flames" on the Korean peninsula with its shows of force.
"It keeps sending more fighters, bombers and missile-defense ships to the waters of East Asia and carrying out massive military drills with Asian allies in a dramatic display of preemptive power," it said.
However, U.S. officials believe China's rhetoric on North Korea has begun to shift, pointing to a recent speech by China's Xi in which -- without referring explicitly to Pyongyang -- he said no country "should be allowed to throw a region and even the whole world into chaos for selfish gain".
Kerry told reporters in Seoul that if North Korea's 30-year-old leader went ahead with the launch of a medium-range missile, he would be making "a huge mistake."
At a news conference in Seoul on Friday and in a U.S.-South Korean joint statement issued on Saturday, Kerry signaled the U.S. preference for diplomacy to end the tension, but stressed North Korea must take "meaningful" steps on denuclearization.
The United States and its allies believe the North violated the a 2005 aid-for-denuclearization deal by conducting a nuclear test in 2006 and pursuing a uranium enrichment program that would give it a second path to a nuclear weapon in addition to its plutonium-based program.
David Guttenfelder / AP
As chief Asia photographer for the Associated Press, David Guttenfelder has had unprecedented access to communist North Korea. Here's a rare look at daily life in the secretive country.
Related:
John Kerry in Seoul: North Korea missile launch would be 'huge mistake'
Missile launch is North Korea's exit strategy, experts say
Google+ Hangout featuring NBC News correspondents in Seoul, Beijing and Tokyo
Full North Korea coverage from NBC News
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Adrenaline
by Brian B. Hoffman
Harvard University Press, 2013 ($24.95)
The first hormone ever discovered, adrenaline is associated with terror, stress and excitement and is behind animals' fight-or-flight response. Hoffman, a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, explores the cultural significance of adrenaline and its history. The stories include those of a murderous nurse who used the untraceable hormone to induce fatal heart attacks in her patients, industrial chemists' race to purify adrenaline for drug use and the myth of the chemical's power to raise the dead.
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This article was originally published with the title Recommended: Adrenaline.
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The International Monetary Fund officially recognized the Somali government on Friday, ending a 22-year hiatus and allowing the Fund to provide economic policy advice to Somalia.
The move opens the way for donors and other development banks to resume relations with Somalia, whose economy is in tatters after more than two decades of conflict.
Donors are expected to meet officials from the World Bank and International Monetary Fund during meetings of world finance leaders in Washington next week.
"The decision is consistent with broad international support and recognition of the federal government," the IMF said in a statement. The IMF said, however, that it will not be able to approve lending to Somalia until the government clears $352 million in debt it owes to the IMF.
The United States has said it will work with the World Bank and the IMF to help Somalia clear the debt. The country also owes the World Bank about $250 million, which is preventing the institution from providing development aid to the government.
Major Western donors, including the United States, Britain and countries in Europe, have slowly been re-engaging with the Mogadishu government since the election of President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud last year. It was the first vote of its kind since warlords toppled military dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991.
In subsequent years, al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab insurgents seized control of large swathes of the south and central parts of the country. An African Union force has had some success in driving the insurgents out of the capital.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/imf-recognizes-somali-government-offer-economic-advice-082509415--finance.html
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When 79-year-old Evie Branan suffered a massive stroke six years ago, it left her in a semicomatose state. Branan was unable to eat, speak, or move on her own, and she became a resident of Willowbrook Manor, a long-term care facility in Flint, Michigan. With the help of her family and the caregivers at Willowbrook, [...]
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/u-again-declines-name-china-currency-manipulator-203220451--business.html
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By Suzanne Monaghan
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) ? Some fashion industry experts are reporting a slow start to spring sales, but the turn in the weather is turning things around for some shops in Philadelphia.
Spring seemed to be on break this March, so refreshing the warm weather wardrobe wasn?t on the minds of many. But the temperatures will be more like summer for part of this week, which means hot sales for clothing stores.
Kate was out doing some shopping to put some spring in her step.
?Sandals (laughs). Get out of those winter boots and socks and big shoes.?
Abbey Kessler is co-owner of Smak Parlour in Old City. She says her spring line sold well throughout March, because customers chose to pair items with leggings and cardigans.
?We?ve been selling a ton of polka-dots, halter tops, flower prints denim little tie shirts ? anything summery has been flying off the racks.?
Kessler says April and May are typically her busiest spring sales months.
?Sales have actually started to pick up,? says Heather Schwartz at Charlie?s Jeans. ?It?s been really steady. People are coming in to do their spring shopping in terms of denim.?
She expects the warm weather this week to heat up sales even more.
?Our dresses are just kind of flying through. Everyone is coming in and seeing them on the mannequins and wanting dresses ? a lot of dresses.?
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? Schwartz's decision to jump into the PA GOV race emphasizes just how vulnerable Democrats think Gov. Tom Corbett is. A favorite of leadership, Schwartz has seen her power grow in the House Democratic Caucus, but she's giving up her increasingly prominent role in DC for a shot at the Governor's Mansion, even though she could face multiple credible foes in the Democratic primary.
? With Dems desperate to avoid a primary in SD, it appears Brendan Johnson's supporters have determined it's more important to claim frontrunner status (and potentially head off former Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin) than to avoid charges of political nepotism. Nearly all of the state's Dem leaders have been approached by the "Draft Brendan" campaign, and the rapid gathering of support suggests the movement has been in the works for some time. If Herseth Sandlin is serious about a bid, she doesn't have long to make her own show of strength.
? The looming CO-06 battle between Rep. Mike Coffman (R) and Andrew Romanoff (D) looks like an early front-runner to be 2014's most expensive congressional race. It has plenty of key ingredients so far: a closely divided electorate, a big media market, a state with plenty of up-ballot activity, and, most importantly, two seasoned candidates who are both fundraising like incumbents, with each bringing in over $500,000 in the first quarter of 2013.
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"I Enjoy Being a Girl" -- Flower Drum Song, Rodgers & Hammerstein
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We all like to believe that we are effective leaders and given the opportunity can step up to take on an even greater leadership role in our respective Organizations. But, the hallmark of a great leader is that his/her followers readily recognize them as such.
Unfortunately, we are not always the most objective when it comes to self-assessment. Sometimes we are too hard on ourselves, and sometimes we seem to live in a fantasyland that only exists in our mind.
The problem with self-assessment is that absent objectivity you get a false sense of reality that either blinds you to your opportunities for improvement or sets you on a path to fix something that isn?t broken.
A decent paper on biases in self-assessment is entitled ?Objectivity in the Eye of the Beholder: Divergent Perceptions of Bias in Self Versus Others?. It is a scholarly piece that basically concludes we are not our most reliable evaluator. Consequently, it is often helpful to solicit the perspective of others regarding your personal performance.
Here are links to the other posts in my leadership series.
1st in a series
2nd in a series
3rd in a series
4th in a series
5th in a series
6th in a series
To help make the task a little easier, I am providing you with a Leadership Assessment Tool that will help you grade your leadership skills as seen through the eyes of others.
The tool is something I have used to get a better handle on my own development opportunities. It is a practical way to get the feedback you need to improve as a leader. Key to getting an objective look is to ask for feedback from the right people. You need to ask people that have been in a position to personally observe your leadership behaviors. This typically means soliciting input from team members and managers in your reporting line.
I have found that anonymity is a great way to enhance objectivity. When I have used this assessment tool, I?ve deployed it as an online survey (I use SurveyMonkey). That way, it is easy for people to complete the information and the data can remain blinded. It also makes it easy to deploy the tool quickly following completion of a project that you led so the observations are fresh in people?s minds.
Click on the following link for a PDF copy of the Tool.
Personal Leadership Assessment Tool
The Leadership Assessment Tool will get you the feedback to assess your leadership behaviors. You can assign a letter grade to the score if you like, and track your progress over time by periodically (e.g. once a year) reassessing your performance.
But, the Tool alone will not ensure you become a better leader. You need to internalize the feedback and actually do something about it to improve.
I find many people start the process with great intentions, and stop after they define their opportunities for improvement. But, success comes from creating and implementing a personal skill improvement plan. You need to create new and improved behaviors. More often than not, that means you will need to change what you are doing. This requires an active learning approach. Just being aware of your opportunities is not sufficient. When you are under pressure, you will simply repeat the behaviors that feel natural to you if you?ve not invested the time to learn new leadership skills.
Give the Leadership Assessment Tool a try. See how others view you as a leader and put together a personal skill development plan to improve in your areas of greatest need.
I?d love to hear about your experience with the Tool. And, if you have used a similar Tool in the past, I?d love to hear your tips on how to get the most reliable feedback.
Please take the time to leave a comment.
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Source: http://strengtheningbrandamerica.com/blog/2013/04/leadership-7th-in-a-series/
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It was a sadly typical scene.
Like many times before, she picked up on a critical, negative attitude I had toward one of the children, and she was boldly kind enough to talk to me about it.
I immediately began defending myself.
And two hours later we sat on opposite ends of the bed looking at each other?
distant,
disunified,
discouraged,
and stuck.
And it was all because of my defensiveness.
Defensiveness was the first reaction Adam had when God asked him about what had gone wrong in the garden (Genesis 3:12).
It was Cain?s first response when asked about his ?missing brother? (Genesis 4:9).
The Proverbs warn about defensiveness (Proverbs 28:26).
It?s almost as old as time, and seems to be one of Satan?s favorite tools.
And it?s been my most common reaction to criticism I?ve received from my wife, for almost 24 years of marriage.
And I hate it.
I don?t think my wife has a defensive bone in her body.
The problem with defensiveness in our marriage is and always has been with me.
Any time she talks to me about:
I almost immediately get defensive.
And it?s a very shameful, destructive, unbecoming thing that will destroy my family? unless I do something about it.
Does? any of that sound familiar?
I?m on the very front-end of this journey into killing defensiveness.
But the marriage-long struggle has forced me to take a long, introspective look into my own soul so that the destructive cycle of defensiveness doesn?t continue to knock us for a loop.
?I have discovered a few things that are beginning to make a difference.
#1: Admit that my initial response is often defensive ? Like any other wrong that needs to be righted, if I can?t admit it exists, I?m unable to do anything about it.
#2: Admit that my defensiveness is destructive, and sinful ? This is calling it what it is? seeing it from God?s perspective. When I can admit what HE thinks about it, then I?m in a place where true grief over my sin can begin to do it?s very good work (2 Corinthians 7:10).
#3: Get humble ? Defensiveness is ultimately born out of pride, so the antidote is not to try harder or make resolutions (not yet, anyway). The cure is in humility, Christ-like humility (Philippians 2:3-5). It?s only then that I have any hope of receiving God?s help (James 4:6).
#4: Plead for God?s help ? I can?t change my defensiveness all on my own. I know, I?ve tried. If change for the better is going to happen, I am going to have to have His help to accomplish it.
#5: Make a plan in keeping with my repentance & put it to work - Jesus told the Pharisees to prove their genuineness by doing actions that were consistent with their words (Matthew 3:8). It?s not enough for me to say ?sorry? and move on. Something has to change, or else I?m not truly repentant.
I could move ahead full steam, full of great intentions, devoid of any power but my own? which won?t get me very far.
I will have to abide in Him (John 15:5) and rely on His strength to help me overcome the destructive response-habits of defensiveness that I?ve built? because they are:
and are therefore impossible for me to find, attack, and destroy on my own.
I know, because I?ve tried to do that for the past 24 years? and the defensiveness is still here, bringing devastation every time it arises.
radical follower of Christ, husband, dad, writer, blogger, podcaster, marriage & family coach, counselor, speaker, retiring Pastor, and all around good guy (because of Christ). Connect with Carey on Google+
Source: http://www.christianhomeandfamily.com/defensiveness-destroys/
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Apr. 5, 2013 ? NASA's Kepler space telescope, in concert with Cornell-led measurements of stars' ultraviolet activity, has observed the effects of a dead star bending the light of its companion red star.
The findings are among the first detections of this effect -- a result predicted by Einstein's theory of general relativity -- in binary, or double, star systems.
The dead star, also called a white dwarf, is the burnt-out core of what used to be a star like our sun. It is locked in an orbiting dance with its partner, a small "red dwarf" star. While the tiny white dwarf is physically smaller than the red dwarf, it is more massive. When the white dwarf passed in front of its star, its gravity caused the starlight to observably bend and brighten.
"This white dwarf is about the size of Earth but the mass of the sun," said Phil Muirhead, Ph.D. '11, of the California Institute of Technology and lead author of the findings to be published April 20 in the Astrophysical Journal, titled "Characterizing the cool KOIs: A mutually eclipsing post-common envelope binary."
"It's so hefty that the red dwarf, though larger in physical size, is circling around the white dwarf," Muirhead continued.
The research team used Cornell-led ultraviolet measurements of the star called (Kepler Object of Interest) KOI-256 taken by the Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX), a NASA space telescope operated by Caltech. The GALEX observations were conducted by Cornell researchers Jamie Lloyd, associate professor of astronomy and of mechanical and aerospace engineering; Kevin Covey, former postdoctoral associate now at Lowell Observatory; and Lucianne Walkowicz of Princeton University and Evgenya Shkolnik of Lowell Observatory.
Still in early phases and for which Cornell students are now being recruited by Lloyd, the GALEX program measures ultraviolet activity in all the stars in the Kepler field of view -- an indicator of potential habitability for planets.
Graduate student and co-author Jim Fuller also did a theoretical analysis of the star system in the context of its future and past evolutions.
The red dwarf orbits the white dwarf in just 1.4 days. This orbital period is so short that the stars must have previously undergone a "common-envelope" phase in which the red dwarf orbited within the outer layers of the star that formed the white dwarf, Fuller explained.
Moreover, the short orbital period means the red dwarf's days are numbered: In a few billion years, the intense gravity of the white dwarf will strip material off the red dwarf, forming a hot accretion disk of in-falling material around the white dwarf.
"This system is especially exciting because it allows us to accurately characterize the peaceful state of these systems before the violent mass-transfer phase begins," Fuller said.
Kepler's primary job is to scan stars in search of orbiting planets. As the planets pass by, they block the starlight by miniscule amounts, which Kepler's sensitive detectors can see.
So far, Kepler has identified more than 2,700 planet candidates. Still ongoing is the mission's search for planets similar to Earth in size and temperature that orbit a star like our sun. Ultimately, Kepler will reveal how common Earth-size planets are in the Milky Way galaxy.
To learn more about this particular star system, Muirhead and colleagues also used the Hale Telescope at Palomar Observatory near San Diego. Using a technique called radial velocity, they discovered that the red dwarf was wobbling around like a spinning top. The wobble was too big to be from the tug of a planet. That's when they knew they were looking at a massive white dwarf passing behind the red dwarf, rather than a gas giant passing in front.
One of the consequences of Einstein's theory of general relativity is that gravity bends light. Astronomers regularly observe this phenomenon, often called gravitational lensing, which has been used to discover new planets and hunt for free-floating planets.
In this new study, scientists used gravitational lensing to determine the mass of the white dwarf. By combining this information with all the data they acquired, they were able to accurately measure the mass of the red dwarf and the physical sizes of both stars.
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If you’re a developer building web or mobile apps that use Google Drive for storing information, you’ve probably found that users really can’t be trusted not to delete or move that data. Once the user does that, the app experience won’t be so great and the data that the app needs to run isn’t there to use. Today, Google has introduced “app data folders” which are protected and can’t be seen by users within their Drive account. Other apps can’t see the files either, so there is now an added layer of security to fight off bad actors who build apps to swipe information or do other damage. The Google Drive team suggests that these app data folders are used for configuration files, app state data or files that shouldn’t be modified in any way. Even though users can’t see the data, they can see how much space it is taking up on their devices and clear the data at any time. Here’s what you’ll see as a user in your manage apps panel: Additionally, “custom properties” can be added to Drive files that will allow developers to create searchable fields that are either app-specific or are to be shared with other apps. More information about the Drive SDK can be found on StackOverflow, a site oddly not owned or operated by Google. [Photo credit: Flickr]Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/KvbykiZ615w/
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When a current passes between two electrodes ? one thinner than the other ? it creates a wind in the air between. If enough voltage is applied, the resulting wind can produce a thrust without the help of motors or fuel.
This phenomenon, called electrohydrodynamic thrust ? or, more colloquially, "ionic wind" ? was first identified in the 1960s. Since then, ionic wind has largely been limited to science-fair projects and basement experiments; hobbyists have posted hundreds of how-to videos on building "ionocrafts" ? lightweight vehicles made of balsa wood, aluminum foil and wire ? that lift off and hover with increased voltage.
Despite this wealth of hobbyist information, there have been few rigorous studies of ionic wind as a viable propulsion system. Some researchers have theorized that ionic thrusters, if used as jet propulsion, would be extremely inefficient, requiring massive amounts of electricity to produce enough thrust to propel a vehicle.
Now researchers at MIT have run their own experiments and found that ionic thrusters may be a far more efficient source of propulsion than conventional jet engines. In their experiments, they found that ionic wind produces 110 newtons of thrust per kilowatt, compared with a jet engine's 2 newtons per kilowatt. The team has published its results in the Proceedings of the Royal Society.
Steven Barrett, an assistant professor of aeronautics and astronautics at MIT, envisions that ionic wind may be used as a propulsion system for small, lightweight aircraft. In addition to their relatively high efficiency, ionic thrusters are silent, and invisible in infrared, as they give off no heat ? ideal traits, he says, for a surveillance vehicle.
"You could imagine all sorts of military or security benefits to having a silent propulsion system with no infrared signature," says Barrett, who co-authored the paper with graduate student Kento Masuyama.
Shooting the gap
A basic ionic thruster consists of three parts: a very thin copper electrode, called an emitter; a thicker tube of aluminum, known as a collector; and the air gap in between. A lightweight frame typically supports the wires, which connect to an electrical power source. As voltage is applied, the field gradient strips away electrons from nearby air molecules. These newly ionized molecules are strongly repelled by the corona wire, and strongly attracted to the collector. As this cloud of ions moves toward the collector, it collides with surrounding neutral air molecules, pushing them along and creating a wind, or thrust.
To measure an ion thruster's efficiency, Barrett and Masuyama built a similarly simple setup, and hung the contraption under a suspended digital scale. They applied tens of thousands of volts, creating enough current draw to power an incandescent light bulb. They altered the distance between the electrodes, and recorded the thrust as the device lifted off the ground. Barrett says that the device was most efficient at producing lower thrust ? a desirable, albeit counterintuitive, result.
"It's kind of surprising, but if you have a high-velocity jet, you leave in your wake a load of wasted kinetic energy," Barrett explains. "So you want as low-velocity a jet as you can, while still producing enough thrust." He adds that an ionic wind is a good way to produce a low-velocity jet over a large area.
Getting to liftoff
Barrett acknowledges that there is one big obstacle to ionic wind propulsion: thrust density, or the amount of thrust produced per given area. Ionic thrusters depend on the wind produced between electrodes; the larger the space between electrodes, the stronger the thrust produced. That means lifting a small aircraft and its electrical power supply would require a very large air gap. Barrett envisions that electrodynamic thrusters for aircraft ? if they worked ? would encompass the entire vehicle.
Another drawback is the voltage needed to get a vehicle off the ground: Small, lightweight balsa models require several kilovolts. Barrett estimates a small craft, with onboard instrumentation and a power supply, would need hundreds or thousands of kilovolts.
"The voltages could get enormous," Barrett says. "But I think that's a challenge that's probably solvable." For example, he says power might be supplied by lightweight solar panels or fuel cells. Barrett says ionic thrusters might also prove useful in quieter cooling systems for laptops.
"Efficiency is probably the number one thing overall that drives aircraft design," Barrett says."[Ionic thrusters] are viable insofar as they are efficient. There are still unanswered questions, but because they seem so efficient, it's definitely worth investigating further."
###
Massachusetts Institute of Technology: http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice
Thanks to Massachusetts Institute of Technology for this article.
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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/127587/Study_finds_ionic_thrusters_generate_efficient_propulsion_in_air
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Google's next generation of Nexus 7 tablets from Asus will be Qualcomm-powered and arrive this July, according to Reuters. If its sources are to be believed, Mountain View is aiming to ship eight million units by the end of the year, showing it has a lot of confidence in the upcoming model. Other leaked info shows it to have more screen resolution, a thinner bezel and an unspecified Qualcomm CPU instead of the current model's NVIDIA Tegra 3, possibly to save power. There's no info on pricing or other specs and Google's not speaking at this point, of course -- but if it proves accurate, hopefully the two companies have learned their lesson from the current model's runaway success and will ramp production accordingly.
Filed under: Tablets, ASUS, Google
Source: Reuters
Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/04/03/reuters-google-and-asustek-to-release-second-generation-nexus-7/
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Poet B.H. Fairchild doesn?t think he sees the world differently. He does, however, see language differently.
?I think there?s something that happens for both writers and obsessive readers,? he said. ?It?s a kind of romance wherein you fall in love with language. They are the sort of people who will find themselves reading the same sentence over and over even though they understand the meaning.?
Fairchild visited campus April 2 and 3 to share his writing with students and faculty alike. He read from his poetry on Tuesday night and gave a lecture titled ?Coming into Poetry? on Wednesday night.
Fairchild is a professor at the University of North Texas. He has lived all over the lower Midwest, growing up in small towns in Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas. He has written and published six books of poetry.
?His poems are about average people living average lives and his discovering in those lives of husbands and wives and laborers the stuff of serious art,? John Somerville, professor of English and director the visiting writers program, said.
Somerville first heard about Fairchild while reading a book by Dennis Donahue called ?Speaking of Beauty.?
?Early in the book he refers to a poem by B.H. Fairchild called ?Beauty,?? Somerville said. ?I went to find the poem. It had originally appeared in the Southern Review. I went to the basement in Mossey where they keep the back copies and found ?Beauty.? I love that poem.?
In addition to poetry, Fairchild has written a book, ?Such Holy Song,? exploring the relationship between William Blake?s poetry and music.
?He composed melodies to ?The Song?s of Innocence and Experience? and would perform them,? Fairchild said. ?He was also influenced by oratorio.?
Fairchild has a colorful employment history prior to post-graduate work at the Claremont Graduate University, Texas Christian University, and the University of North Texas. Fairchild described working as a movie usher, a technical writer for a nitroglycerin plant, and an English tutor for the Kansas Basketball team.
?I was paid 45 cents an hour for ushering, and 75 cents an hour for changing the marquee,? he said.
Fairchild also said he thinks this experience, in addition to general life experience, contributed to his profession as a writer.
?I don?t think poetry is solely an act of the imagination,? he said.
?There?s a fair amount of poetry to me that leans too far to the abstract,? Somerville said. ?And certainly he writes about ideas, but they are embodied in a world that?s recognizable to the average person.?
Somerville pointed to Fairchild?s poem about the crucifixion, ?The Deposition,? as an example.
?It?s not average, but it is so incarnate, it?s all in the flesh?a real figure hanging on a cross,? he said.
Fairchild said he thinks the crucifixion is not often thought about in it?s total reality and he wanted to show the event as it would probably be?sweaty, smelly, and filthy.
?If you are going to finally write a poem about the crucifixion you owe it to yourself to be as true and real as you possibly can,? he said.
Twice in ?The Deposition? Fairchild describes the eyes of Christ?once as open, once as being shut by the narrator. Each instance is followed by the phrase ?I know who you are.?
?The finite mind can never truly know itself,? Fairchild explained. ?Only an infinite mind can truly comprehend your mind.?
Fairchild read other selected poems Tuesday night, including ?Beauty? and ?The Left-Fielder?s Sestina,? a poem he published online.
?I?ve written two sestina?s in my life,? he said. ?The one I wrote in one day. I?ve been working on ?The Left-Fielder?s Sestina? on and off for almost six years.?
For Fairchild, the writing process is a thing of quiet, concentration and time.
?I have written in the midst of commotion, but I really prefer to be completely in solitude,? he said. ?I have to have long periods of concentration.?
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Source: http://www.hillsdalecollegian.com/2013/04/fairchild-visits-campus-shares-poetry/
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Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel speaks at the National Defense University at Fort McNair in Washington, Wednesday, April 3, 2013. Hagel warned of sharply deeper cuts to personnel, health care and weapons systems across his department, in order to put the brakes on spiraling costs and reshape the military for leaner budgets and new challenges. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel speaks at the National Defense University at Fort McNair in Washington, Wednesday, April 3, 2013. Hagel warned of sharply deeper cuts to personnel, health care and weapons systems across his department, in order to put the brakes on spiraling costs and reshape the military for leaner budgets and new challenges. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel speaks at the National Defense University at Fort McNair in Washington, Wednesday, April 3, 2013. Hagel warned of sharply deeper cuts to personnel, health care and weapons systems across his department, in order to put the brakes on spiraling costs and reshape the military for leaner budgets and new challenges. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
WASHINGTON (AP) ? The Pentagon said Wednesday it was deploying a missile defense shield to Guam to protect the U.S. and its allies in the region in response to increasingly hostile rhetoric from North Korea. The North renewed its threat to launch a nuclear attack on the United States.
The threat issued by the General Staff of the Korean People's Army capped a week of psychological warfare and military muscle moves by both sides that have rattled the region.
On Wednesday, the Pentagon announced it will deploy a land-based, high-altitude missile defense system to Guam to strengthen the Asia-Pacific region's protections against a possible attack.
Pyongyang, for its part, said that America's ever-escalating hostile policy toward North Korea "will be smashed" by the North's nuclear strike and the "merciless operation" of its armed forces.
"The U.S. had better ponder over the prevailing grave situation," said the translated statement, which was issued before the Pentagon announced plans to send a missile defense shield to Guam.
The Pentagon had no immediate reaction to the latest statement, but earlier Wednesday Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel labeled North Korea's rhetoric as a real, clear danger and threat to the U.S. and its Asia-Pacific allies. And he said the U.S. is doing all it can to defuse the situation, echoing comments a day earlier by Secretary of State John Kerry.
"Some of the actions they've taken over the last few weeks present a real and clear danger and threat to the interests, certainly of our allies, starting with South Korea and Japan and also the threats that the North Koreans have leveled directly at the United States regarding our base in Guam, threatened Hawaii, threatened the West Coast of the United States," Hagel said.
He said he believes that the U.S. has had a "measured, responsible, serious responses to those threats."
Deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense System is the latest step the U.S. has taken to bolster forces in the region in a far-reaching show of force aimed at countering the North Korean threat.
In recent months, North Korea has taken a series of actions Washington deemed provocative, including an underground nuclear test in February and a rocket launch in December that put a satellite into space and demonstrated mastery of some of the technologies needed to produce a long-range nuclear missile. Then, several weeks ago, the North threatened to pre-emptively attack the U.S.
In response, the Pentagon announced it would enhance missile defenses based on the U.S. West Coast, and it highlighted the deployment of B-52 and B-2 bombers, as well as two F-22 stealth fighters, to South Korea as part of an annual military exercise.
As the exchange of rhetoric grew, U.S. officials this week said the Navy would keep the USS Decatur, a destroyer armed with missile defense systems, near the Korean peninsula for an unspecified period of time. Another destroyer, the USS John S. McCain, was shifted to the waters off the southwest coast of the Korean peninsula.
Tensions have flared many times in the six decades since a truce halted the 1950-53 Korean War, but the stakes are higher now that a defiant North Korea appears to have moved closer to building a nuclear bomb that could not only threaten the South and other U.S. allies in Asia but possibly, one day, even reach U.S. territory.
Even without nuclear arms, the communist North poses enough artillery within range of Seoul to devastate large parts of the capital before U.S. and South Korea could fully respond. The U.S. has about 28,500 troops in the South, and it could call on an array of air, ground and naval forces to reinforce the peninsula from elsewhere in Asia and the Pacific.
U.S. officials have said that the Pentagon's military response to Pyongyang's threats has so far been aimed more at assuring South Korea and other allies in the region that America is committed to their security. U.S. military leaders also have said that despite the escalating rhetoric, they have seen nothing to suggest that North Korea is making any military moves to back up its threats.
Hagel told an audience at the National Defense University that there is a path to peace on the troubled Korean peninsula, but it doesn't include making nuclear threats or taking provocative actions.
The land-based THAAD missile defense system includes a truck-mounted launcher, tracking radar, interceptor missiles, and an integrated fire control system. The Pentagon said the system will boost defenses for American citizens in Guam, a U.S. territory, and U.S. forces stationed there.
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PITTSBURGH (AP) ? Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby is out of the hospital after breaking his jaw Saturday.
The Penguins confirmed on their Twitter account Tuesday that Crosby had been released a day earlier. He will be out of the lineup indefinitely after undergoing surgery.
Crosby was hurt in the first period of the Penguins' 2-0 win over the New York Islanders when he was struck in the mouth by a puck from a deflected shot.
The Eastern Conference-leading Penguins, with 15 straight wins, play their first game without Crosby on Tuesday night at home against Buffalo.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/penguins-captain-sidney-crosby-hospital-175653307--nhl.html
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Most cancer treatments are blunt. In an attempt to eradicate tumors, oncologists often turn to radiation or chemotherapy, which can damage healthy tissue along with the cancerous growths. New research from C. David Allis' laboratory at Rockefeller University may bring scientists closer to designing cancer therapeutics that can target tumors with pinpoint accuracy.
Their findings, published last week in Science Express, follow a recent series of discoveries by several international genome sequencing consortiums that directly links a mutated histone protein to a rare brain stem cancer in children called DIPG. Collectively, these studies represented the first time scientists had linked a histone mutation to a disease, and piqued the interest of Peter Lewis, a research associate in Allis' Laboratory of Chromatin Biology and Epigenetics, who spearheaded these new studies.
Together with DNA, histones comprise the gene packaging material called chromatin. The mutation occurs on histone H3, and involves the remarkably specific substitution of one amino acid, lysine, for another, methionine, at a key position on the histone's tail, "silencing" the associated gene. Normally, gene silencing arises when an enzyme called a methyltransferase, containing a structural region called the SET domain, attaches a methyl chemical group to the lysine at position 27 in the H3 tail. This highly specific chemical reaction, called methylation, is disrupted by the replacement of the lysine with methionine, which could result in gene mis-regulation.
Lewis and his colleagues looked at human DIPG tumors that contained the lysine-to-methionine substitution and determined that mutated histone H3 comprised anywhere from 3.6 percent to 17.6 percent of total H3 in DIPG samples. They also found a global reduction in the levels of methylation of normal H3 histones when small amounts of the mutant H3 were added to normal human cells.
"I have often said, 'Every amino acid in histones matters,'" says Allis, who is the Joy and Jack Fishman Professor. "These studies underscore just how true that may be."
The researchers went on to demonstrate that the reduction in methylation of normal H3 histones results from interference with activity of a methyltransferase called PRC2 by the mutant histone. Methylation of normal H3 by PRC2 leads to repression of genes involved in cellular growth pathways. Without methylation, genes involved in these pathways likely become activated, promoting the growth of tumors in DIPG. Allis and Lewis received funding from the National Institutes of Health and the Starr Cancer Consortium. Key collaborators in this work included Oren Becher at Duke University Medical Center and Tom Muir at Princeton University and their colleagues.
"Our finding provides us with a useful tool for probing biological processes," says Lewis. "This also tells us how to inhibit enzymes, which could lead to the development of pharmaceuticals that mimic the action of these mutants."
"We now have a model for the promotion of brain stem cancers through aberrant epigenetic silencing through the inhibition of PRC2 by a mutant histone," says Allis. "We have uncovered a potentially useful mechanism to exclusively inhibit individual SET-domain methyltransferases, and conceivably other chromatin-modifying enzymes, implicated in a variety of malignancies."
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Rockefeller University: http://www.rockefeller.edu
Thanks to Rockefeller University for this article.
This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.
This press release has been viewed 50 time(s).
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Almost a quarter century after Soviet troops left Afghanistan in defeat, Russia may return to the country by establishing "maintenance bases" for Russian-made military equipment after NATO winds down its operations there next year, defense ministry officials have confirmed.
"It is important to maintain the weapon systems and military equipment of the Afghan armed forces in a serviceable state," Sergei Koshelev, head of the Russian defense ministry's international cooperation department, told journalists late last week.
Moscow is extremely worried "that any escalation of the situation in Afghanistan after NATO troops pull out in 2014 could have a negative impact on the security of both Russia and other European nations," he added.
RECOMMENDED: Do you know anything about Russia? A quiz.
Russian experts insist that it's not an attempt to overcome Russia's own version of the "Vietnam syndrome" ? an agonized folk memory of the decade-long war in Afghanistan that arguably brought down the Soviet Union. Rather, they say the new engagement will be limited to commercial obligations, negotiated with NATO before it pulls most of its forces out, and will absolutely not involve any active military role.
"Someone has to help the Afghan people build a peaceful life. They've known nothing but weapons and war for so long," says Oleg Tikhonov, deputy head of the Injured Afghan War Veterans in Sverdlovsk region, western Siberia.
"But Russia must never repeat its past mistakes. There cannot again be any Russian troops in Afghanistan. After the past, it would be impossible to explain why Russian boys are dying there. You cannot do such things without the people's consent," he adds.
TWOFOLD GOALS
Analysts say that, first, there is an objective need to maintain and repair generations of Soviet and Russian-made military hardware that constitute the main weaponry used by the Afghan security forces. Over the past decade, rather than re-equip Afghan government troops with sophisticated Western-made arms, the US has purchased hundreds of millions of dollars worth of Russian weapons, including helicopters, from Russia's state arms exporter Rosoboronexport to fill their needs.
Second, Russia wants to establish forward posts in Afghanistan because it is increasingly alarmed about a possible resurgence of the cross-border militant Islamist incursions that sowed chaos in the post-Soviet republics of Tajikistan and Uzbekistan during the turbulent 1990s. Production of narcotics has exploded under NATO's watch in Afghanistan, and much of it moves via criminal pipelines through former Soviet central Asia and Russia, feeding official corruption and the growth of mafia power throughout the region. Many Russians say they fear that the NATO withdrawal may soon leave them to face these challenges alone.
Over the past couple of years, Russia has become more active assisting the beleaguered NATO mission in Afghanistan, even granting the use of an important airbase in central Russia to help with resupply efforts. Russian leaders have repeatedly urged NATO not to leave in 2014, and to stay in Afghanistan until "the job is done."
But most Russian experts say they are now resigned to the US pulling the plug in 2014 and, in a pattern familiar from previous wars from Vietnam to Iraq, abandoning the region to its own devices.
"Look at Iraq. The US lost interest in it, and nobody cares if it's becoming engulfed in civil war," says Vadim Kozyulin, a researcher with the PIR Center, a leading Moscow security think tank.
"The same process may happen in Afghanistan, and could develop much more quickly. The US effort in Afghanistan is about to end. It's time for Russia to design a new effort, which means we have to take a share of responsibility on ourselves. We're already playing the role of political and military leader in central Asia.... Even though [President Vladimir] Putin previously said we won't send Russian specialists to Afghanistan, the Russian military now says we might create enterprises on Afghan territory to service military equipment. The situation is changing," he adds.
RUSSIA'S MILITARY-EQUIPMENT FOOTHOLD
The US has already purchased about 70 Russian Mi-17 helicopters for the Afghan army, at around $17 million apiece, and wants to buy 30 more ? an arrangement that's extremely controversial in the US.
"NATO buys Russian arms for the Afghan forces in part because they're very familiar with this equipment, and in part because they probably don't want to supply sophisticated Western arms that might wind up in the hands of the Taliban," says Fyodor Lukyanov, editor of Russia in Global Affairs, a leading Moscow foreign policy journal.
"As Russia tries to extend its economic presence, this edge in military equipment is about the only thing going for us. And it's guaranteed that Russia's own military-industrial lobbies will push hard for expanding it," he adds.
One of Mr. Putin's key policies is to knit together former Soviet lands in a new Eurasian Union that would be driven by economic synergies rather than political domination. As Russia pivots eastward, the resource-rich but politically unstable former Soviet republics of central Asia ? which abut Afghanistan ? are taking on a whole new significance.
Some experts say that stability in Afghanistan, with which the USSR maintained good relations for most of its history, will be key to Russia's ability to achieve its other goals in the region.
"Russia is returning to Afghanistan. Indeed, according to some information, Russia is already doing that without waiting for the Americans to leave," says Anatoly Tsyganok, an analyst with the independent Center for Military Forecasting and a member of the Russian Defense Ministry's advisory public council.
"I think we should be investing right now. There are many proposals from the Afghan government on the table, including participation in geological surveys, developing oil production and water resources. There is an offer to build a metro in Kabul, and it is being considered in Moscow.... Consider that the Chinese are already very active. They are building roads in Taliban-held territory, using the Taliban for protection. We need to look ahead, and be practical about it," he says.
Gen. Makhut Garayev, president of the Russian Academy of Military Sciences and a former adviser to the pro-Soviet regime of Mohammad Najibullah in Afghanistan, says Russia needs to step cautiously in any return to Afghanistan.
"There has been a lot of harm done to Afghanistan, and many countries participated in doing it," General Garayev says.
"But Afghanistan needs to be restored. Several generations have known only war, weapons, and death. We have a history with that country, and not only a negative one. The USSR cooperated with Afghanistan since it had a king. There is a chance here to work creatively. Nobody's ever tried that before. We need to step carefully, but we should try," he says.
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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/russia-going-back-afghanistan-kremlin-confirms-could-happen-153555532.html
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