imagine. consider the comet oterma. a century ago, oterma ’ s orbit was well outside that of jupiter. after a close encounter with the giant planet, its orbit shifted inside that of jupiter. after another close encounter, it switched back to outside again. we can confidently predict that oterma will continue to switch orbits in this way every few decades, not because it breaks newton ’ s law, but because it obeys it. oterma ’ s gyrations are a far cry from kepler ’ s tidy ellipses. the explanation is straight out of science fiction. in pandora ’ s star, peter hamilton portrays a future where people travel to planets encircling distant stars by train, running the railway lines through a wormhole, a short cut through space - time. in his lensman series, edward elmer “ doc ” smith came up with the hyperspatial tube, which malevolent aliens used to invade human worlds from the fourth dimension. although we don ’ t have wormholes or aliens from the fourth dimension, the planets and moons of the solar system are tied together by a network of multidimensional mathematical tubes that provide energy - efficient routes from one world to another. if we could visualise the ever - changing gravitational landscape that controls the planets, we would see these tubes, swirling along with the planets as they orbit the sun. oterma ’ s orbit lies inside two tubes, which meet near jupiter at a lagrange point. one tube lies inside jupiter ’ s orbit, the other outside. at the lagrange point the comet can switch tubes, or not, depending on chaotic effects of jovian and solar gravity ; once inside a tube, however, oterma is stuck there until the tube returns to the junction. like a train that has to stay on the rails, but can change its route to another set of rails if someone switches the points, oterma has some freedom to change its itinerary, but not a lot. as such, the way to plan an efficient mission profile is to work out which tubes are relevant to your choice of destination. then you route your spacecraft along the inside of the first inbound tube, and when it gets to the associated lagrange point you fire a quick burst on the motors to redirect it along the most suitable outbound tube. that tube naturally flows into the corresponding inbound tube of the next switching point... and so it goes on. plans for future tubular space missions are already


quick burst on the motors to redirect it along the most suitable outbound tube. that tube naturally flows into the corresponding inbound tube of the next switching point... and so it goes on. plans for future tubular space missions are already being drawn up. in 2000, wang sang koon, martin lo, jerrold marsden and shane ross used the tube technique to plot what they described as a “ petit grand tour ” – an energy - efficient route – around the moons of jupiter, ending in orbit around europa. in 2005, michael dellnitz, oliver junge, marcus post and bianca thiere used tubes to plan an energy - efficient mission from the earth to venus. their route would use one - third of the fuel required by the european space agency ’ s venus express mission, which has observed venus since 2006. past, present, future the influence of tubes may go further. dellnitz has discovered evidence of a natural system of tubes connecting jupiter to each of the inner planets. this remarkable structure, known as the interplanetary superhighway, hints that jupiter, long known to be the dominant planet of the solar system, also plays the role of a celestial grand central station. in the past, its tubes may well have organised the formation of the entire solar system, determining the spacings of the inner planets. so, is the solar system stable? the answer is a definite “ maybe ”. two research groups, run by jack wisdom of the massachusetts institute of technology and jacques laskar of the observatoire de paris, have pioneered highly accurate computational methods to understand the probable future of the solar system. wisdom ’ s group has found that pluto behaves chaotically over timescales of several hundred million years. in 1999, norman murray of the canadian institute for theoretical astrophysics and matthew holman of the smithsonian astrophysical observatory discovered that the orbit of uranus can also change chaotically, so that it occasionally gets close to saturn, with the possibility that uranus would then be ejected from the solar system. however, it will probably take about one quintillion years for this to happen. ( the sun will blow up into a red giant much sooner, about five billion years from now. the earth will move outwards and might just escape being engulfed, even though tidal interactions will probably pull it into the sun. in any case, our planet ’ s oceans will boil away long before that. and, anyway, the typical lifetime of a species is no more than five million years. ) it


a well - studied connection between elevated ldl, often called the " bad cholesterol, " and heart attack. decades of research, including studies of genetic disorders in humans and the discovery of the ldl receptor and its role in cholesterol regulation, paved the way for the development of life - saving drugs known as statins. this work showed beyond any reasonable doubt that many different methods of reducing a person ' s ldl levels lower the risk of heart disease. large - scale studies of genetic variation tied to ldl have been revealing, but the data on hdl are not so clear. more than 30 years ago, human epidemiological studies first revealed an association between hdl and risk for heart attack : the higher the levels, the lower the risk. experiments in cells and mice further support the idea and suggest that hdl is protective because it may remove cholesterol from the sites where it can do damage. however, it has been difficult for researchers to prove conclusively that raising hdl levels is beneficial, primarily for two reasons. first, studies of human genetic diseases where individuals have very low hdl levels have not yielded definitive answers as to the impact on heart attack. and second, because there are currently no drugs that specifically elevate hdl levels, it has been difficult to prove in humans that such an intervention will lower heart attack risk. " there are many biomarkers measurable in the blood that track with disease but only a very small number are actually causal and directly participate, " said first author benjamin voight, who since completing this work has left the broad and mgh for a position as an assistant professor at university of pennsylvania. " the reason you want to distinguish between causal and non - causal biomarkers is because of the implications for therapy. " to investigate, kathiresan teamed up with colleagues from mgh, the broad institute, and beyond, including voight and co - first author gina peloso. together, the researchers looked to the human genome for help. individuals typically carry two copies of each gene in the genome ; which copy a child will inherit from each parent is essentially a random decision, like flipping a coin. this phenomenon, sometimes called " mendelian randomization, " provides a powerful means of testing connections between genes, biomarkers, and disease - similar to the way that randomized controlled clinical trials can evaluate the effectiveness of new drugs. using this technique, researchers study two groups of people - those who carry a particular gene variant, and those who


between genes, biomarkers, and disease - similar to the way that randomized controlled clinical trials can evaluate the effectiveness of new drugs. using this technique, researchers study two groups of people - those who carry a particular gene variant, and those who do not. when sufficiently large groups are studied, both groups should be similar in every factor, except for the specific gene variant or biomarker of interest, allowing researchers to home in on whether the biomarker actually causes a particular trait or condition. by harnessing this method, kathiresan and his team tested whether certain genetic variants that can dial up a person ' s hdl levels impact the chances of developing heart attack. what they found was surprising. individuals who carried a particular variation in a gene called endothelial lipase had hdl levels that were elevated about 6mg / dl, or 10 percent - a change expected to decrease heart attack risk by about 13 percent. however, these individuals showed no difference in their risk of heart disease compared to people without the variant. similarly, the researchers identified a panel comprised of not just one but 14 different hdl - raising variants. they devised a scoring system based on the total number of copies of the gene variants a person carries - ranging from 0 to 28 - and then asked whether that score relates to the risk of heart attack. here also they uncovered no association. kathiresan emphasized that these results do not diminish the value of hdl levels as a predictor - a so - called biomarker - that can help estimate the likelihood of a person going on to develop heart attack. " we know that hdl is a great biomarker - it ' s quite useful in identifying individuals at higher risk of having a heart attack in the future, " said kathiresan. " but we have shown that you cannot assume that raising hdl by any mechanism will help patients. perhaps other mechanisms exist that can lower risk, but we will need to keep searching for them, " kathiresan added. ( ani ) read more : lady harding medical college | medical college | gsvm medical college | medical college po | b. r. d medical college | mlb medical college so | medical campus | govt. medical college | gandhi medical college | madras medical college | kilpauk medical college | thanjavur medical college so | pariyaram medical college | calicut medical college mdg | alappuzha medical college | r. g. kar medical college po | assam medical college | si


the nobel prize in physics 2001 eric a. cornell, wolfgang ketterle, carl e. wieman bose - einstein condensation in a dilute gas ; the first 70 years and some recent experiments eric a. cornell held his nobel lecture december 8, 2001, at aula magna, stockholm university. he was presented by professor mats jonson, chairman of the nobel committee for physics. summary : fundamental ideas behind creating bose - einstein condensate ( bec ) in a gas are outlined. starting with heisenberg ' s uncertainty principle, the formation of bose - einstein condensate ( bec ) is explained as occurring when the interatomic spacing is comparable to thermal de broglie wavelength. the conditions for creating bec in a gas are described, and the necessary ingredients for creating bec in a gas are listed in an " ultra cold alkali tool kit ". copyright © nobel web ab 2001 credits : kamera communications ( webcasting ) read the nobel lecture pdf 447 kb copyright © the nobel foundation 2001 from les prix nobel. the nobel prizes 2001, editor tore frangsmyr, [ nobel foundation ], stockholm, 2002 mla style : " eric a. cornell - nobel lecture : bose - einstein condensation in a dilute gas ; the first 70 years and some recent experiments ". nobelprize. org. 22 may 2013 http : / / www. nobelprize. org / nobel _ prizes / physics / laureates / 2001 / cornell - lecture. html


unicosunicos is the standard operating system for vsmp ( cray vector symmetric multi - processor ) computers and established since 1985. it was derived from the unix system v, a far common and well ported operating system programmed in c. the unicos system also was affected by the 4th generation of bsd and extended by super computing abilities to provide high performance to support the science and development market. unicos is the first 64 bit implementation of unix and a unix similar file system. unicos system offers a stable base from small servers up to gigantic computer plants. photos : cray inc. the unicos system makes extremely flexible and robust calculating machines with support of the following hard and software characteristics possible : the unicos system is the first high performance unix based operating system which supports smp. multi - processor and multi - threading operating system the unicos system is scalable on more than 32 processors. cray aims at a small cpu percentage for the consumption of system processes, also in the greatest and the most extensive configuration. high performance i / o bandwidth and capacity. unicos i / o scales with the number of processors in the system. the standard unix was modified around a file system for up to 8 tbyte to support large files. the support of several devices in a system, multiple types of fixed disks and memory devices in a file system ( for build in memory solutions ) and the file storage strategy with the used algorithm were specified. cache support is availably for physical devices in addition to the file system. through this a high efficiency is made possible for some devices and file systems. the unicos system allows combining of buffered and direct access to i / o devices without integrity loss of the data which are not natural for the devices of other systems. for cray is performance not acceptable without data integrity low waiting times for i / o processes the i ' / o path by the unicos system is high optimized. as much as possible user data transmittings are finished directly to reduce the need for temporary buffering and copying actions. the unicos system created asynchronous i / o for unix systems. many interfaces are designed for the flexible programming to check i / o processes. the unicos system contains an optimized path for asynchronous i / o to avoid extra controls or background processes which reduce the total performance. the unicos system facilitates i / o in the direct access for the user in most cases as a standard.


in the early 1990s, researchers, including itzhaki, found evidence suggesting that as we age, the herpes virus begins moving from its hideout near the bottom of the skull directly into the brain ( possibly because our immune systems lose some bite ). indeed, one journal of pathology study found the virus in a high proportion of postmortem brain samples taken from people who ' d died in their later decades, while it was absent in those from people who ' d died in youth or middle age. what effect does the virus have when it reaches your brain? the short answer : that depends. in certain people it seems to do much less damage than in others ; just as some of us never develop cold sores, some of us can have the herpes virus inside our brains without any horribly ill effects. but itzhaki believes that in other people — specifically those who carry apoe e4, a gene form, or allele, strongly linked to alzheimer ' s — the virus is not only reactivated by triggers like stress or a weakened immune system, but also actually begins to create the proteins that form the plaques and tangles presumed to be responsible for alzheimer ' s. if you ' re looking for evidence, itzhaki can show you a stack of it. in two studies, for example, she and several colleagues took brain samples from 109 deceased people — 61 of whom had had alzheimer ' s, 48 of whom hadn ' t — to search for any correlation between herpes, apoe e4, and alzheimer ' s. their results : people who had both the apoe e4 gene and the herpes virus in their brains were 15 times more likely to have alzheimer ' s than people who had neither. ( the researchers also found, intriguingly, that people who suffered from recurrent cold sores were almost six times as likely to have the apoe e4 gene as those who didn ' t get cold sores. ) a decade later, dr. federoff, then working at the university of rochester, administered the herpes virus to four different groups of mice, each of which had a different variation or absence of the apoe gene. he found that in mice with the specific apoe e4 variation, the virus was slower to become dormant than it was in mice with apoe e2, apoe e3, or no apoe gene, suggesting that the virus could be replicating faster in the e4 mice. " the results definitely suggest there ' s something different about having apoe e4,


mice with apoe e2, apoe e3, or no apoe gene, suggesting that the virus could be replicating faster in the e4 mice. " the results definitely suggest there ' s something different about having apoe e4, " says dr. federoff. still other research shows the direct impact of hsv - 1 itself. in 2007, a study by itzhaki and wozniak found that infecting lab samples of brain cells with the virus caused a buildup of the protein ( beta amyloid ) that ' s the primary component of the plaque clogging the brains of alzheimer ' s patients. the same study also found a similar result in the brains of mice that had been infected with hsv - 1. then there was january ' s study in the journal of pathology. in it, itzhaki and wozniak looked at brain samples from 11 deceased people ; six had had alzheimer ' s and five hadn ' t. while both groups had plaques ( not surprisingly, the alzheimer ' s group had far more ) and evidence of the herpes virus in their brains, there was a crucial difference in the concentration of the virus : in the alzheimer ' s patients, 72 percent of the virus ' s dna was found in the plaques, compared with only 24 percent that was found in the plaques of the non - alzheimer ' s brains. not surprisingly, all but one of the alzheimer ' s sufferers also carried the apoe e4 gene, compared with none of the samples from the non - alzheimer ' s people. wozniak is confident that these last two studies point to the same conclusion : " the results strongly suggest that hsv - 1 is a major cause of amyloid plaques — and probably of alzheimer ' s disease. " most popular in health


if you have a student in the marketing area, they will enjoy talking about how features of a product / service should be translated into benefits. this article will provide you with some background and some ideas to feed in to the discussion : the text in the box below is based on phrases given in the article. 1 write on the board these words : features tell, benefits sell. you might have to establish the meaning of ‘ feature ’ : something interesting or important about a product. and you will probably want to give ( or elicit ) a few quick and obvious examples of features and their benefits, such as power steering ( feature ) makes a car easier to park ( benefit ) ; or innovative design of a product ( feature ) means you look cool and stylish when you use it ( benefit ) ; or small size of a product ( feature ) means it easily fits into your bag or pocket ( benefit ). 2 have a warmer discussion on this topic. marketing people will have a lot to say about this ( marketers understand that you have to appeal to people ’ s emotions, not just give them dry information ). 3 after a general discussion, write the text below on the board. now ask the students to use the language on the board to write a few sentences about one of their own products / services and two of its features and resulting benefits. 4 when they finish, the students can read out their sentences and there will be further discussion, this time more specific to the students ’ own business.


functional diversity in marine ecosystems functional diversity refers to the variety of biological processes, functions or characteristics of a particular ecosystem in this case marine biodiversity. functional diversity reflects the biological complexity of an ecosystem. some scientists argue that examining functional diversity may in fact be the most meaningful way of assessing biodiversity while avoiding the difficult and usually impossible task of cataloging all species in marine ecosystems. by focusing on processes, it may be easier to determine how an ecosystem can most effectively be protected. protecting biological functions will protect many of the species that perform them. however, the exact function of most of the species is hardly known to date. there are several ways in which ecological classifications group organisms according to common functions : classification according to their habitat, to their position in the food web or to their functional feeding mechanism. classification by ‘ habitat ’ aquatic organisms can be divided into four major groups : pelagic, benthic, neuston and fringing, according to the water body which they inhabit. for the coastal wiki there are eleven sub - categories : pelagic organisms are those that live in ocean water and are not associated with the bottom. they thus inhabit the water column and can be divided into plankton and nekton. plankton are organisms that are suspended, ( they float or are weakly self - propelled ) in the water and drift with it as it moves. plankton is either passive and includes algae, bacteria and variety of animals. plankton is usually subdivided in phytoplankton ( photosynthethic organisms like algae ) and zooplankton ( animals ), what refers to their ecological function. plankton can also be subdivided in holoplankton and meroplankton. holoplankton are permanent members, represented by many taxa in the sea. meroplankton are temporary members, spending only a part of their life cycle in the plankton. they include larvae of anemones, barnacles, crabs and even fish, which later in life will join the nekton or the benthos. meroplankton are very much a feature of the sea, particularly coastal waters, as the often sedentary adult forms of coastal species use their planktonic stage for dispersal. nekton are organisms swimming actively in the water, it includes a variety of animals, mostly fish. benthos comprises organisms on the bed of the water body. animals attached to or living on the bottom are referred to as epifauna, while those which burrow into soft


in the water, it includes a variety of animals, mostly fish. benthos comprises organisms on the bed of the water body. animals attached to or living on the bottom are referred to as epifauna, while those which burrow into soft sediments or live in spaces between sediment particles are described as infauna. attached multicellular plants and algae are referred to as macrophytes, while single - celled or filamentous algae are called as periphyton or microphytobenthos. epiphytic algae are those which grow on macrophytes. benthic consumers can be divided by size into macrofauna ( > 500 μm ), meiofauna ( 10 - 500 μm ) and micro - organisms ( < 10 μm ). neuston are those organisms associated with the water surface, where they are supported by surface tension. most neuston require very still water surface and is therefore very restricted in the sea. fringing communities are floral communities that occur where the water is shallow enough for plentiful light to reach the bottom, allowing the growth of attached photosynthesisers, which may be entirely submerged or emergent into the air. marine communities are composed mostly out of algal seaweeds. wetlands are composed of this type of vegetation. there are a lot of other habitat classifications, for example the eunis habitat types classification.. this is a comprehensive pan - european system to facilitate the harmonized description and collection of data across europe through the use of criteria for habitat identification ; it covers all types of habitats from natural to artificial, from terrestrial to freshwater and marine. an example of the eunis habitat classification : marine habitats at level 1 is the following : - littoral rock and other hard substrata - littoral sediment - infralittoral rock and other hard substrata - circalittoral rock and other hard substrata - sublittoral sediment - deep - sea bed - pelagic water column - ice - associated marine habitats classification by position in the food web it is very difficult to make generalizations about the trophic relationships in coastal marine systems, because the ecological habitats are so diverse. a simplified description of a food web : the phytoplankton are the primary producers and are eaten by the zooplankton ( smallest floating animals ). the zooplankton are eaten by small fish ( sardines, herring ) and small fish are eaten by larger fish. at the


the unique design of literature & thought provides the literature and teaching support you need to meet the challenges of the common core english language arts curriculum. close reading strategies writing to sources appropriate text complexity academic vocabulary support text dependent questions and tasks essential questions ( whole book ) and cluster questions ( units ) focus on developing specific critical thinking skills through careful reading, textual analysis, discussion, and writing activities. outstanding literature and content - rich nonfiction and informational texts engage student ' s interest and focus attention on the critical thinking questions. selections provide the text complexity and academic vocabulary required by the common core state standards ( ccss ). new! professional learning — interactive online courses with experts from the great books foundation in close reading of literary texts, strategic reading of informational texts, and more are included with each teacher package. new! interactive whiteboard lessons — explicit modeling and instruction of critical thinking and reading skills, writing rubrics, and much more. new! expanded teacher guides — informational text strategies, citing evidence to support analyses and claims, practice with academic vocabulary, specific support for ccss in each selection ( including detailed ccss correlations ), and multiple assessment options. great books discussion guides for teachers — specific questioning strategies developed by the great books foundation supporting close text reading and discussion.


although diesel was born in paris, his parents were german. his father was a leather craftsman, and his mother a governess and language tutor. rudolf was a good student in primary school and was admitted at the age of 12 to the ecole primaire superieure, then regarded as the best in paris. on the outbreak of the franco - prussian war, however, he and his parents were considered enemy aliens, and were deported to neutral asylum in london. a cousin helped him to return to his father ' s home town, augsburg, where he entered the royal county trade school. from there he won a scholarship to the technische hochschule of munich, where he was an outstanding student. he became a protege of carl von linde, the pioneer of refrigeration. he was a devout lutheran. after graduation, he was employed for two years as a machinist and designer in winterthur, switzerland. after this, he returned to paris, where he was employed as a refrigeration engineer at linde refrigeration enterprises. in paris he became a connoisseur of the fine arts and an internationalist. he married in 1883, and had three children. he set up his first shop - laboratory in 1885 in paris, and began full - time work on his engine. this continued when he moved to berlin, working again for linde enterprises. in 1892 he was granted a german patent for the engine, and found some support for its continued development, this time in augsburg. rudolf diesel developed the idea of an engine that relied on a high compression of the fuel to ignite it, eliminating the spark plug used in the nikolaus otto internal combustion engine. he received a patent for the device on february 23, 1892 and a major milestone was achieved when he was able to run a single piston engine for one minute on february 17, 1894. the engine was fueled by powdered coal injected with compressed air. this machine stood 10 feet ( 3 m ) tall, and achieved a compression of 80 atmospheres ( 8100 kpa ). he built an improved prototype in early 1897 while working at the maschinenfabrik augsburg ( from 1906 on the man ) plant at augsburg. diesel ' s engine had some similarities with an engine invented by herbert akroyd stuart in 1890. diesel was embroiled for some years in various patent disputes and arguments over priority, but in the end he prevailed, and his invention came to be called the diesel engine. he continued its development over the next


herbert akroyd stuart in 1890. diesel was embroiled for some years in various patent disputes and arguments over priority, but in the end he prevailed, and his invention came to be called the diesel engine. he continued its development over the next three years, began production ( the first commercial engine was at a brewery in the united states ), and secured licenses from firms in several countries. he became a millionaire. diesel was something of an unstable character, having several nervous breakdowns, and was somewhat paranoid at times. he defended his priority of invention tenaciously. diesel toured the united states as a lecturer in 1904, and he self - published a two volume work on his social philosophy. he died under suspicious circumstances during a crossing of the english channel to harwich on september 29, 1913, possibly by suicide. a cross in his journal on the date he died was an indicator of suicide. a briefcase containing a very small sum of money and a large amount of bank statements showing debts, was left to his wife, martha. another theory revolves around the german military, which was beginning to use his engines on their submarines — something which mr. diesel opposed — and perhaps feared his potentially providing the technology to the british royal navy for use in their own submarines. his body was found in the channel a few days later. as was usual at the time, the seamen only took his belongings ( identified later by diesel ' s younger son eugen ) and then threw the body back into the sea. after diesel ' s death, the diesel engine underwent much further development, and became a very important replacement for the steam engine in many applications. this engine required a heavier, more robust construction than the gasoline engine, making it unsuitable for certain applications ( such as aviation ), but allowed the use of cheaper fuels. diesel was especially interested in using coal dust or vegetable oil as fuel for the engine, but this never materialized in any major way, at least until recent rises in fuel prices and concerns about oil reserves lead to more widespread use of vegetable oil and biodiesel — most diesel engines will function just as well using either. but the primary source of fuel has been what became known as diesel fuel, an oil byproduct derived from the refining of petroleum. the diesel engine became widespread in many other applications, such as stationary engines, submarines, ships, and much later, locomotives. recently, diesel engines have been designed, certified and flown that have overcome the weight penalty in light aircraft. these engines are designed to run on either diesel fuel or more


i recently watched a bbc documentary entitled out of africa, a five - part series chronicling the migration of homo sapiens out of africa and into asia, australia, europe, and the americas. although all five parts were fascinating, i was particularly rapt by the arrival of homo sapiens ( modern humans ) into europe some 40, 000 years ago after a 70, 000 year trek out of africa, only to discover that neanderthals, a proto - human and distant cousin had arrived some 100, 000 years earlier. neanderthals were a heartier, huskier species than homo sapiens, had a larger brain and more advanced technology, and had long since adapted to harsh european winters. however, 20, 000 years or so later, neanderthals had died out — completely. to this day, no neanderthal genetic markers have been found in modern humans. how is it possible that a physically more powerful, better environmentally adapted, and technologically more advanced proto - human did not survive, while homo sapiens, the weaker, less advanced interloper, not only survived but burgeoned to eventually populate the entire globe and create the marvelously modern societies of today? paleoanthropologists hot on the homo sapien trail out of africa have discovered in europe a marked difference between homo sapiens and neanderthals : homo sapiens may not have produced better weapons and tools, at least then, but they did make a quantum leap to produce art. they carved, pottered, sculpted, painted, and even made musical instruments, all with an eye on style rather than just making meaningless pretty. more importantly, their art embodied and transmitted — as art does — their identity, spirituality, and, their strong affinity for community. early homo sapien art strongly suggests that our predecessors engaged in an intellectual endeavor to create a unique and dynamic culture and to communicate that culture through art. homo sapien civilization, it seems, was predicated on the notion that life must be more than just survival, and that working together to survive allowed room for higher pursuit. conversely, there is no evidence of this intellectual “ artsy ” undertaking among neanderthals, who seem to have clung to a strictly utilitarian life for survival, which, ironically, led to their extinction when europe became encased in 13 feet of ice. because homo sapiens had cultivated a common cultural bond and strong communal ties, they were able to come together and huddle together, literally and figuratively, and, although


geoscience experts have developed a system of smart buoys that can predict the formation of self - reinforcing underwater waves, or solitons, 10 hours before they threaten the safety of oil rigs and divers. in 2008, martin goff and his colleagues at fugros, a geoscience consulting agency, successfully tested the system for three months in the andaman sea. now, global ocean associates have acknowledged the device as " the first deployed system with real - time warning capability. " scientists discover ancient rocks on the sea - floor that give them a window into the earth ' s mantle by gregory mone posted 04. 14. 2008 at 8 : 28 am 0 comments no, you can ' t hike or spelunk or even tunnel down to the center of the earth, even if movies like the core or this summer ' s 3d adventure flick, journey to the center of the earth, suggest otherwise. to find out about our planet ' s insides, scientists rely on very different tricks. and, apparently, a little luck. five amazing, clean technologies that will set us free, in this month ' s energy - focused issue. also : how to build a better bomb detector, the robotic toys that are raising your children, a human catapult, the world ' s smallest arcade, and much more.


never mind the movie stars pulling up to the oscars in their priuses. when the u. s. army announces, as it did recently, that it is developing a new hybrid humvee to save fuel and extend range, you can be sure that hybrid technology has arrived. hybrid vehicles improve efficiency by integrating a combustion engine with an electric drive train - a combo that recaptures braking energy, stores unused idle power, and reduces engine weight to increase mileage. but as today´s generation of hybrids flies out of showrooms, the stage is set for the next fleet, which will slash gas use and emissions much further. they´re called plug - in hybrid electric vehicles ( phevs ), and they recharge overnight in home garages to take advantage of low off - peak electric rates. " the implications for our national oil addiction are profound, " says daniel kammen, director of the university of california at berkeley´s renewable and appropriate energy laboratory. " if the current u. s. vehicle fleet were replaced overnight with phevs, oil consumption would decrease by 70 to 90 percent, eliminating the need for oil imports and leaving the u. s. self - sufficient in oil for many years to come. " even if the electrical power for those vehicles were drawn from coal - fired power plants, co2 emissions would drop by more than half. if the power were produced by renewable energy sources, and the fuel in the tank were biodiesel or ethanol [ facing page ], the proposition gets exponentially better. clearly, though, it´s not going to happen overnight. with the exception of daimlerchrysler, which has built a plug - in prototype based on its dodge sprinter cargo van, automakers have been slow to get into the plug - in hybrid market. aftermarket conversion kits will hit the streets for the first time later this year [ see " can i plug in my prius? " on page 84 ], tempting mileage - obsessed prius owners like david k. garman, undersecretary of the u. s. department of energy. " like most americans, " he says, " i drive less than 40 miles a day, back and forth to work. if i´m able to drive in all - electric mode, i won´t need to use the gas tank. that, to me, is a game changer. " it may not be the only agent of change. whether cars are run by hybrid or conventional drive trains, the fuel - saving potential of reduced


won´t need to use the gas tank. that, to me, is a game changer. " it may not be the only agent of change. whether cars are run by hybrid or conventional drive trains, the fuel - saving potential of reduced vehicle weight is often overlooked, says amory lovins, co - founder of the rocky mountain institute, a natural - resources think tank in colorado. " by substituting high - strength, lightweight composite materials for steel, " he says, " automakers could roughly double the efficiency of hybrids. in terms of fuel - efficiency, that´s by far the most effective and doable approach. " moreover, sometimes the simplest tweaks can have big effects. a recent study by the federal national renewable energy laboratory found that if every car and truck on america´s roads was equipped with ventilated seats, air - conditioning - related gasoline consumption could be reduced by 7. 5 percent, dropping fuel intake by 522 million gallons a year. now, there´s a cool idea. the 300mpg drag racer in the late 1940s, andrew frank was a hot - rodding teenager who mounted a cadillac v12 engine in his 1936 ford. by the 1990s, he was a mechanical - engineering professor at the university of california at davis who pulled big engines out of suvs and swapped them for smaller ones boosted by plug - in electric motors. his first " plug - in hy - brid " got 68 mpg without sacrificing horsepower. frank is now fielding a student team for the u. s. department of energy´s clean - vehicle competition, challenge x. the group is building a 300 - mpg plug - in hybrid with an ethanol - powered gasoline engine and a solar - powered electric motor. sounds responsibly efficient. but the professor is still a hot - rodder at heart : " last year we had a ford explorer that we converted into a plug - in hybrid, and it had so much torque that we couldn´t keep the axles from snapping. with six of my students in there, it could still burn rubber. " he is now fielding a student team for the u. s. department of energy´s clean - vehicle competition, challenge x. " we were getting 64 miles per gallon without sacrificing anything on the power side, " frank says. " but i saw that the most important thing is that energy for cars could be supplied by solar energy and wind using existing technology. " five amazing, clean technologies that will set us free,


intracranial tumors comprise approximately 2 % of all adult cancers, but form a larger fraction within the group of childhood tumors. gliomas account for approximately 60 % of all intracranial tumors and are classified according to the suggested cell of origin, differentiation and malignancy grade. the prognosis for high - grade gliomas is poor due to limited possibilities of curative treatment. gliomas are tumors of neuroepithelial tissue and comprise a complex and heterogeneous group of tumors representing counterparts to various normal inhabitant cells of the central nervous system ( cns ). the most common form of glioma is astrocytoma, representing approximately one third of all gliomas. astrocytomas are defined based on morphological features such as cellularity, nuclear atypia, mitotic rate, endothelial proliferation and necrosis, and assigned to grades i - iv according to the current who classification system. these include pilocytic astrocytoma ( grade i ), astrocytoma ( grade ii ), anaplastic astrocytoma ( grade iii ), and glioblastoma ( grade iv ). the various forms of glioma are highly vaiable and several phenotypically different cell types exist, including gemistocytic glioma cells. gemistocytic cells resemble a morphological alteration that can also be found in reactive astrocytes and is characterized by eosinophilic staining of a large, swollen cytoplasm. approximately 15 % of gliomas are oligodendrogliomas. histologically, oligodendrogliomas commonly show uniform cell architecture with increased numbers of delicate blood vessels. the tumor cell nuclei are mainly round and regular, and often surrounded by an artifactual perinuclear clearing that results in the so called? fried egg? appearance. high - grade oligodendrogliomas ( anaplastic oligodendrogliomas ) are recognized by features such as increased cellularity, mitotic activity and nuclear pleomorphism, as well as necrosis and endothelial proliferation. additional forms of glioma include mixed gliomas such as oligoastrocytoma and ependymal tumors. examples of other neuroepithelial tumors that grow within the cns are neuronal and mixed neuronal - glial tumors, as well as embryonal tumors including neuroblastoma and medulloblastoma. the


richard childress racing january 25, 2013 science on the fast track " racing teaches you to think broad, and people who are used to working in intense environments are valued members of the team. " author : rachel kaufmann date : jan. 11, 2013 along a racetrack ' s " pit road, " crew chiefs and race engineers for various nascar teams await their drivers ' inevitable pit stop. the souped - up racers need fresh tires and to top off their fuel. every 30 - second lap, the ground shakes as 43 cars whip past at 200 miles per hour. stock car racing isn ' t rocket science — and yet the track is usually crawling with people who are, in effect, rocket scientists. you might not expect it from a sport that evolved out of bootleggers racing their moonshine down twisty appalachian roads, but modern racing teams use computational fluid dynamics simulations, wind tunnels, and the highly technical know - how of engineers to eke milliseconds out of each driver ' s lap time. " if you go to these race shops, you think you walked into a hospital operating room. it ' s absolutely spotless, " says robert johnson, dean of the college of engineering at the university of north carolina ( unc ), charlotte, and co - founder of the college ' s motorsports program. " these are not shade - tree mechanics having some fun. " instead, these are highly skilled engineers pushing automobiles to their limits, sometimes using that experience as a springboard to advance their careers. engineered for speed when eric warren began working in motorsports, he didn ' t know of any other ph. d. - level scientists or engineers in nascar. " now, on my team alone, there are four different ph. d. s., " he says. warren, whose degree is in aerospace engineering, oversees engineering and also " the whole racing effort " for richard childress racing in welcome, north carolina. as a graduate student in the mid - 1990s, warren bumped into the owner of kranefuss - haas racing ( now penske racing ) when visiting a friend at the team ’ s north carolina headquarters. " he said, ' call me, we need somebody like you, ' " warren says. " he convinced me to get into racing, which was very difficult to comprehend at the time. at the time, nascar wasn ' t seen as a technical thing. it was like, ' ok, i ' ve been working on research in aerodynamics, working with nasa langley [ research center ]. ' [


using an ultra - bright electron source, scientists at the university of toronto have recorded atomic motions in real time, offering a glimpse into the very essence of chemistry and biology at the atomic level. their recording is a direct observation of a transition state in which atoms undergo chemical transformation into new structures with new properties. using a new tool called a quantum simulator — based on a small - scale quantum computer —... a massive telescope buried in the antarctic ice has detected 28 extremely high - energy... a fried breakfast food popular in spain provided the inspiration for the development of doughnut - shaped droplets that may provide scientists with a new approach for studying fundamental issues in physics, mathematics, and materials. the doughnut - shaped droplets, a shape known as toroidal, are formed from two dissimilar liquids using a simple rotating stage and an injection needle. the massive ball of iron sitting at the center of earth is not quite as " rock - solid " as has been thought, say two stanford university mineral physicists. by conducting experiments that simulate the immense pressures deep in the planet ' s interior, the researchers determined that iron in earth ' s inner core is only about 40 % as strong as previous studies estimated. graphene has dazzled scientists ever since its discovery more than a decade ago. but one long - sought goal has proved elusive : how to engineer into graphene a property called a band gap, which would be necessary to use the material to make transistors and other electronic devices. new findings by massachusetts institute of technology researchers are a major step toward making graphene with this coveted property. with the hand of nature trained on a beaker of chemical fluid, the most delicate flower structures have been formed in a harvard university laboratory — and not at the scale of inches, but microns. these minuscule sculptures, curved and delicate, don ' t resemble the cubic or jagged forms normally associated with crystals, though that ' s what they are. rather, fields of flowers seem to bloom from the surface of a submerged glass slide. a new joint innovation by the national physical laboratory and the university of cambridge could pave the way for redefining the ampere in terms of fundamental constants of physics. the world ' s first graphene single - electron pump provides the speed of electron flow needed to create a new standard for electrical current based on electron charge. described as the " most beautiful experiment in physics, " richard feynman emphasized how the diffraction of individual particles at a grating is an unambiguous demonstration of


needed to create a new standard for electrical current based on electron charge. described as the " most beautiful experiment in physics, " richard feynman emphasized how the diffraction of individual particles at a grating is an unambiguous demonstration of wave - particle duality and contrary to classical physics. a research team recently used carefully made fluorescent molecules and nanometric detection accuracy to provide clear and tangible evidence of the quantum behavior of large molecules in real time. bubble baths and soapy dishwater and the refreshing head on a beer : these are foams, beautiful yet ephemeral as the bubbles pop one by one. now, a team of researchers has described mathematically the successive stages in the complex evolution and disappearance of foamy bubbles, a feat that could help in modeling industrial processes in which liquids mix or in the formation of solid foams such as those used to cushion bicycle helmets. an international team of physicists has found the first direct evidence of pear - shaped nuclei in exotic atoms. the findings could advance the search for a new fundamental force in nature that could explain why the big bang created more matter than antimatter — a pivotal imbalance in the history of everything. from powerful computers to super - sensitive medical and environmental detectors that are faster, smaller, and use less energy — yes, we want them, but how do we get them? in research that is helping to lay the groundwork for the electronics of the future, university of delaware scientists have confirmed the presence of a magnetic field generated by electrons which scientists had theorized existed, but that had never been proven until now. physicists working with optical tweezers have conducted work to provide an all - in - one guide to help calculate the effect the use of these tools has on the energy levels of atoms under study. this effect can change the frequency at which atoms emit or absorb light and microwave radiation and skew results ; the new findings should help physicists foresee effects on future experiments. physicists in switzerland have demonstrated one of the quintessential effects of quantum optics — known as the hong - ou - mandel effect — with microwaves, which have a frequency that 100, 000 times lower than that of visible light. the experiment takes quantum optics into a new frequency regime and could eventually lead to new technological applications. the allure of personalized medicine has made new, more efficient ways of sequencing genes a top research priority. one promising technique involves reading dna bases using changes in electrical current as they are threaded through a nanoscopic hole. now, a


technological applications. the allure of personalized medicine has made new, more efficient ways of sequencing genes a top research priority. one promising technique involves reading dna bases using changes in electrical current as they are threaded through a nanoscopic hole. now, a team led by university of pennsylvania physicists has used solid - state nanopores to differentiate single - stranded dna molecules containing sequences of a single repeating base. an international research team led by astronomers from the max planck institute for radio astronomy used a collection of large radio and optical telescopes to investigate in detail a pulsar that weighs twice as much as the sun. this neutron star, the most massive known to date, has provided new insights into the emission of gravitational radiation and serves as an interstellar laboratory for general relativity in extreme conditions. using uniquely sensitive experimental techniques, scientists have found that laws of quantum physics — believed primarily to influence at only sub - atomic levels — can actually impact on a molecular level. the study shows that movement of the ring - like molecule pyrrole over a metal surface runs counter to the classical physics that govern our everyday world. in a process comparable to squeezing an elephant through a pinhole, researchers at missouri university of science and technology have designed a way to engineer atoms capable of funneling light through ultrasmall channels. their research is the latest in a series of recent findings related to how light and matter interact at the atomic scale. cancer cells that can break out of a tumor and invade other organs are more aggressive and nimble than nonmalignant cells, according to a new multi - institutional nationwide study. these cells exert greater force on their environment and can more easily maneuver small spaces. one simple phenomenon explains why practical, self - sustaining fusion reactions have proved difficult to achieve : turbulence in the superhot, electrically charged gas, called plasma, that circulates inside a fusion reactor can cause the plasma to lose much of its heat. this prevents the plasma from reaching the temperatures needed to overcome the electrical repulsion between atomic nuclei. until now. lawrence berkeley national laboratory ’ s sound - restoration experts have done it again. they ’ ve helped to digitally recover a 128 - year - old recording of alexander graham bell ’ s voice, enabling people to hear the famed inventor speak for the first time. the recording ends with bell saying “ in witness whereof, hear my voice, alexander graham bell. ” researchers at university of california, santa barbara in collaboration with colleagues at the ecole polytechnique in france, have conclusively identified auger recombination


bell saying “ in witness whereof, hear my voice, alexander graham bell. ” researchers at university of california, santa barbara in collaboration with colleagues at the ecole polytechnique in france, have conclusively identified auger recombination as the mechanism that causes light - emitting diodes ( leds ) to be less efficient at high drive currents. a harvard university - led team of researchers has created a new type of nanoscale device that converts an optical signal into waves that travel along a metal surface. significantly, the device can recognize specific kinds of polarized light and accordingly send the signal in one direction or another. the planet - hunting kepler telescope has discovered two planets that seem like ideal places for some sort of life to flourish. according to scientists working with the nasa telescope, they are just the right size and in just the right place near their star. the discoveries, published online thursday, mark a milestone in the search for planets where life could exist. throughout decades of research on solar cells, one formula has been considered an absolute limit to the efficiency of such devices in converting sunlight into electricity : called the shockley - queisser efficiency limit, it posits that the ultimate conversion efficiency can never exceed 34 % for a single optimized semiconductor junction. now, researchers have shown that there is a way to blow past that limit. scientists in australia have recently demonstrated that ultra - short durations of electron bunches generated from laser - cooled atoms can be both very cold and ultra - fast. the low temperature permit sharp images, and the electron pulse duration has a similar effect to shutter speed, potentially allowing researchers to observe critical but quick dynamic processes, such as the picosecond duration of protein folding. a university of missouri engineer has built a system that is able to launch a ring of plasma as far as two feet. plasma is commonly created in the laboratory using powerful electromagnets, but previous efforts to hold the super - hot material through air have been unsuccessful. the new device does this by changing how the magnetic field around the plasma is arranged. physicists operating an experiment located half a mile underground in minnesota reported this weekend that they have found possible hints of dark - matter particles. the cryogenic dark matter search experiment has detected three events with the characteristics expected of dark matter particles.


the power of fits ). remote central - station solar requires years, or even decades to permit and build, and requires costly new transmission that is highly inefficient ( 7 - 12 % line losses ). it also commits us to a path - dependency that could preclude taking the more desert - friendly, efficient and cost - effective distributed path. there really is no doubt - solar generation in the already built environment is faster, cheaper, more democratic, efficient and better for local economies and the environment than industrial solar. ( also see rocky mountain institute, " obama ' s renewable energy plan : let ' s raise the roof " ) one has to wonder why nrdc and other industry - friendly environmental groups cling stubbornly to a misguided policy that is in direct conflict with their purported mission to protect the environment. could the answer lie in the fact that current board members and former influential players ( like r. f. kennedy, jr., john bryson and carl pope ) are themselves heavily invested in these projects? isn ' t it time to focus on proven policies that cash in on the 60 % efficiency dividend and generate the energy where its used rather than fueling an increasingly divisive and confusing policy of advocating for the unnecessary destruction of our public and other valuable undeveloped lands? the information and views expressed in this blog post are solely those of the author and not necessarily those of renewableenergyworld. com or the companies that advertise on this web site and other publications. this blog was posted directly by the author and was not reviewed for accuracy, spelling or grammar. to add your comments you must sign - in or create a free account.


in writing by the parents or guardians, religion shall be allowed to be taught to their children or wards in public elementary and high schools within the regular class hours by instructors designated or approved by the religious authorities of the religion to which the children or wards belong, without additional cost to the government. ( 2 ) educational institutions, other than those established by religious groups and mission boards, shall be owned solely by citizens of the philippines or corporations or associations at least sixty per centum of the capital of which is owned by such citizens. the congress may, however, require increased filipino equity participation in all educational institutions. the control and administration of educational institutions shall be vested in citizens of the philippines. no educational institution shall be established exclusively for aliens and no group of aliens shall comprise more than one - third of the enrolment in any school. the provisions of this subsection shall not apply to schools established for foreign diplomatic personnel and their dependents and, unless otherwise provided by law, for other foreign temporary residents. ( 2 ) academic freedom shall be enjoyed in all institutions of higher learning. ( 3 ) every citizen has a right to select a profession or course of study, subject to fair, reasonable, and equitable admission and academic requirements. ( 4 ) the state shall enhance the right of teachers to professional advancement. non - teaching academic and non - academic personnel shall enjoy the protection of the state. ( 5 ) the state shall assign the highest budgetary priority to education and ensure that teaching will attract and retain its rightful share of the best available talents through adequate remuneration and other means of job satisfaction and fulfillment. ( … ) the government shall take steps to initiate and sustain the use of filipino as a medium of official communication and as a language of instruction in the educational system. the state shall give priority to education [... ] no person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law, nor shall any person be denied the equal protection of the laws. the state shall guarantee equal access to opportunities for public service, and prohibit political dynasties as may be defined by law. the congress shall give highest priority to the enactment of measures that protect and enhance the right of all the people to human dignity, reduce social, economic, and political inequalities, and remove cultural inequities by equitably diffusing wealth and political power for the common good. to this end, the state shall regulate the acquisition, ownership, use, and disposition of property and its increments. ( 1 ) the


feb. 17, 2009 the genome of a marine bacterium living 2, 500 meters below the ocean ' s surface is providing clues to how life adapts in extreme thermal and chemical gradients, according to an article published feb. 6 in the journal plos genetics. the research focused on the bacterium nautilia profundicola, a microbe that survives near deep - sea hydrothermal vents. microorganisms that thrive at these geysers on the sea floor must adapt to fluctuations in temperature and oxygen levels, ranging from the hot, sulfide - and heavy metal - laden plume at the vents ' outlets to cold seawater in the surrounding region. the study combined genome analysis with physiological and ecological observations to investigate the importance of one gene in n. profundicola. that gene, called rgy, allows the bacterium to manufacture a protein called reverse gyrase when it encounters extremely hot fluids from the earth ' s interior. previous studies found the gene only in microorganisms growing in temperatures greater than 80°c, but n. profundicola thrives best at much lower temperatures. " the gene ' s presence in n. profundicola suggests that it might play a role in the bacterium ' s ability to survive rapid and frequent temperature fluctuations in its environment, " said assistant professor of marine biosciences barbara campbell, the study ' s lead scientist. additional university of delaware contributors were professor of marine biosciences stephen craig cary, assistant professor of marine biosciences thomas hanson, and julie smith, marine biosciences doctoral student. also collaborating on the project were researchers from the davis and riverside campuses of the university of california ; the university of louisville ; the university of waikato in hamilton, new zealand ; and the j. craig venter institute in rockville, md. the researchers also uncovered further adaptations to the vent environment, including genes necessary for growth and sensing environmental conditions, and a new route for nitrate assimilation related to how other bacteria use ammonia as an energy source. photosynthesis cannot occur in the hydrothermal vents ' dark environment, where hot, toxic fluids oozing from below the seafloor combine with cold seawater at very high pressures. these results help to explain how microbes survive near the vents, where conditions are thought to resemble those found on early earth. nautilia profundicola contains all the genes necessary for life in conditions widely believed to mimic those in our planet ' s early biosphere and could aid in understanding of how life evolved


aug. 5, 2009 divers who held their breath for several minutes had elevated levels of a protein that can signal brain damage, according to a new study from the journal of applied physiology. however, the appearance of the protein, s100b, was transient and leaves open the question of whether lengthy apnea ( breath - holding ) can damage the brain over the long term. " the results indicate that prolonged, voluntary apnea affects the integrity of the central nervous system, and may have cumulative effects, " the swedish researchers said. the release of s100b into the blood suggests that holding one ' s breath for a long time disrupts the blood - brain barrier, they said. the concern is that repetitive exposures to severe hypoxia ( lowered oxygen supply ), such as that experienced by individuals training and competing in static apnea diving events, could cause neurological damage over time. the researchers recommended further research on free divers that would begin early in their careers and follow them for years to monitor their neurological function. the study is " increased serum levels of the brain damage marker s100b after apnea in trained breath - hold divers : a study including respiratory and cardiovascular observations. " the researchers are johan p. a. andersson, mats h. liner and henrik jonsson, of lund university in sweden. the american physiological society published the study. free diving is a tradition there is a tradition of breath - hold diving in japan and some other parts of the world that goes back hundreds of years, although the occupation has been dying out. these divers harvest seaweed, shellfish and other growth from the sea bottom, diving dozens of times per day. some divers routinely dive to depths of 90 feet on a single breath while others dive in the 15 - 30 foot range. more recently, breath - hold diving has become a competitive sport. competitive events include how long divers can remain underwater, how far they can swim underwater and how deep they can dive. participants must undergo intense training to increase their lung capacity while learning crucial safety measures. breath - hold diving often leads to hypoxia, elevated blood pressure, slowed heartbeat and other physiological changes. however, whether the sport causes any long - term damage to the brain has remained a point of contention. studies have produced conflicting results. the authors of this study see cause for concern, noting that in six international competitions between 1998 and 2004, 10 % of the contestants in the static apnea events were disqualified after they lost either motor control or consciousness. in this event, participants float face down on the


this study see cause for concern, noting that in six international competitions between 1998 and 2004, 10 % of the contestants in the static apnea events were disqualified after they lost either motor control or consciousness. in this event, participants float face down on the water for as long as possible without coming up for air. the world record for the event is 11 minutes 35 seconds. divers at international competitions routinely hold their breath 4 - 7 minutes. " whether such hypoxic episodes are associated with a risk for brain damage in these athletes remains to be established, " the researchers said. " studying the changes in established biochemical markers of brain damage after such performances offers the possibility to address this question. " breath hold experiment nine competitive breath - hold divers ( eight men and one woman ) took part in this study, along with six individuals who had limited experience with breath - hold diving. the nine competitive divers formed the experimental group, while the non - divers acted as the controls the researchers told the participants to lie on their backs on a cot and hold their breath for as long as possible. the conditions were dry, but mimicked a static apnea dive in which the divers float face down holding their breath. the divers used whatever preparatory techniques they customarily use in competition, such as hyperventilating, insufflation ( filling the lungs with as much air as possible ) and breath - holding warm - ups. the researchers took arterial blood samples from a catheter inserted into the artery that runs through the wrist. they took samples before the breath hold, at the end of the breath hold and at fixed intervals for the two hours following the end of the breath hold. the researchers also measured arterial blood gases. they did the same measurements on the individuals in the control group, but the controls rested on their backs for the entire experiment, without performing the breath hold or the warm - ups. among the findings of this experiment : - the average breath - hold time was 5 minutes 35 seconds. the longest was 6 minutes 43 seconds and the shortest was 4 minutes 41 seconds. - the marker for brain damage, s100b, rose in seven of the nine divers. - the controls showed no change in s100b - on average, s100b rose 37 % within 10 minutes after the apnea ended. - s100b levels returned to normal within two hours for all the participants. - the divers showed signs of asphyxia, that is, blood oxygen levels fell, while carbon dioxide levels rose. the s100b levels, while


jan. 30, 2011 in a new study, scientists at the university of maryland and the institut pasteur show that bacteria evolve new abilities, such as antibiotic resistance, predominantly by acquiring genes from other bacteria. the researchers new insights into the evolution of bacteria partly contradict the widely accepted theory that new biological functions in bacteria and other microbes arise primarily through the process of gene duplication within the same organism. their just released study will be published in the open - access journal plos genetics on january 27. microbes live and thrive in incredibly diverse and harsh conditions, from boiling or freezing water to the human immune system. this remarkable adaptability results from their ability to quickly modify their repertoire of protein functions by gaining, losing and modifying their genes. microbes were known to modify genes to expand their repertoire of protein families in two ways : via duplication processes followed by slow functional specialization, in the same way as large multicellular organisms like us, and by acquiring different genes directly from other microbes. the latter process, known as horizontal gene transfer, is notoriously conspicuous in the spread of antibiotic resistance, turning some bacteria into drug - resistant ' superbugs ' such as mrsa ( methicillin - resistant staphylococcus aureus ), a serious public health concern. the researchers examined a large database of microbial genomes, including some of the most virulent human pathogens, to discover whether duplication or horizontal gene transfer was the most common expansion method. their study shows that gene family expansion can indeed follow both routes, but unlike in large multicellular organisms, it predominantly takes place by horizontal transfer. first author todd treangen, a postdoctoral researcher in the university of maryland center for bioinformatics and computational biology and co - author eduardo p. c. rocha of the institut pasteur conclude that because microbes invented the majority of life ' s biochemical diversity - - from respiration to photosynthesis - -, " the study of the evolution of biology systems should explicitly account for the predominant role of horizontal gene transfer in the diversification of protein families. " other social bookmarking and sharing tools : - todd j. treangen, eduardo p. c. rocha. horizontal transfer, not duplication, drives the expansion of protein families in prokaryotes. plos genetics, 2011 ; 7 ( 1 ) : e1001284 doi : 10. 1371 / journal. pgen. 1001284 note : if no author is given, the source


feb. 24, 2011 why, and when, do we learn to speak the way that we do? research from north carolina state university on african - american children presents an unexpected finding : language use can go on a roller - coaster ride during childhood as kids adopt and abandon vernacular language patterns. " we found that there is a ' roller - coaster effect, ' featuring an ebb and flow in a child ' s use of vernacular english over the course of his or her language development, " says dr. walt wolfram, william c. friday distinguished university professor of english linguistics at nc state and co - author of several recent papers describing the research. " this was totally unanticipated. " vernacular english is defined here as culturally specific speech patterns that are distinct from standard english ; in this case, the vernacular is african - american english ( aae ). one implication of the finding involves education, since teachers often advocate teaching standard english early in a childhood education. " this approach does seem to work at first, " wolfram says, " but it doesn ' t last. " in other words, if a school system wants its students to graduate high school with a strong foundation in standard english, it may have to revisit standard english later in the education curriculum. specifically, the researchers found that children come to school speaking english with a relatively high number of vernacular features. then, through the first four grades of elementary school, those features are reduced, as children adopt more standard english language patterns. as the children move toward middle school, the level of vernacular rises - - though many children often reduce their use of vernacular again as they enter high school. " this finding reveals a cyclic pattern in the use of african - american vernacular english that no one expected to see during children ' s language development, " says janneke van hofwegen, a research associate at nc state and co - author of the study. " this wasn ' t even a hypothesis when we began the study. " the researchers note that, while their data looked solely at african - american children, the findings may be applicable more broadly to other groups. the research stems from the longest, and largest, study ever to examine the longitudinal development of language in african - american children. the study began in 1990, following 88 african - american children from central north carolina in order to track their language development. the study is ongoing, with 68 of the original participants still being tracked. the data is collected by the frank porter graham child development institute in chapel hill, n.


88 african - american children from central north carolina in order to track their language development. the study is ongoing, with 68 of the original participants still being tracked. the data is collected by the frank porter graham child development institute in chapel hill, n. c. the retention rate of the participants is remarkably high, particularly given that approximately 71 percent of the children were living below the poverty line in 1990. " it ' s incredible, and gives us a rare opportunity to study language development in children, " wolfram says. the study also gives researchers an impressive array of data, providing them with access to school and test data, as well as the data collected through the study ' s own interviews and surveys. researchers are currently assessing how and whether dialect use is related to literacy skills, as well as the role that mothers play in their children ' s use of vernacular. other social bookmarking and sharing tools : - wolfram, walt, janneke van hofwegen, mary kohn, jennifer renn. trajectories of development in aae : the first 17 years. proceedings of the conference on african american language in popular culture, ( in press ) - janneke van hofwegen, walt wolfram. coming of age in african american english : a longitudinal study. journal of sociolinguistics, 2010 ; 14 ( 4 ) : 427 doi : 10. 1111 / j. 1467 - 9841. 2010. 00452. x note : if no author is given, the source is cited instead.


tumour and do not end up in the liver, gut and skin where they could cause nasty side - effects like smaller particles do. " work in the laboratory and in animals had already shown that the minicells worked in the way they were designed to, but this trial is the first time that they have been used in humans. professor solomon said : " in this study we loaded the cells with a cytotoxic chemotherapy drug called paclitaxel ( which is currently used in many tumour types ) and coated the minicells with an antibody targeting the loaded minicells to tumours expressing the epidermal growth factor receptor ( egfr ) - - a protein that is found on the surface of many cancer cells. the study was then conducted in the way standard phase i studies are conducted to determine the safety and toxicity of minicells by treating small groups of patients with progressively higher doses of minicells and closely monitoring safety and toxicity. " a total of 28 patients with advanced, incurable cancers were treated with the minicells in four centres in australia. ten patients had stable disease at six weeks and received more than one cycle of minicells. " the key finding of the study is that minicells can be given safely to patients with advanced cancer, " said prof solomon. " additionally, we showed that we could give multiple doses and one patient received 45 doses over 15 months. the major toxicity we observed was a mild self - limiting fever seen on the day of the infusion with little or no side - effects seen in the remainder of the following week. at higher doses we found that there were additional side - effects, in particular changes in liver function tests, which, although asymptomatic, prevented us from raising the doses of the treatment higher. " this important study shows for the first time that these bacterially - derived minicells can be given safely to patients with cancer. it thereby allows further clinical exploration of a completely new paradigm of targeted drug delivery using this platform coupled with different ' payloads ' of cell - killing drugs or other treatments such as rna interference, and with different targeting antibodies. " he concluded : " the minicell technology is a platform for the targeted delivery of many different molecules, including drugs and molecules for silencing rogue genes which cause drug resistance in late stage cancer. the technology can also be viewed as a powerful antibody drug conjugate where up to a million molecules of drug can be attached to targeting antibodies and delivered to the body in a


for silencing rogue genes which cause drug resistance in late stage cancer. the technology can also be viewed as a powerful antibody drug conjugate where up to a million molecules of drug can be attached to targeting antibodies and delivered to the body in a safe way. in the future this will enable a truly personalised medicine approach to cancer treatment, since the minicell payload can be adjusted depending on the genetic profile of the patient. " phase ii trials of the minicells are now being planned, including a trial in patients with glioblastoma ( a type of brain tumour ) using minicells loaded with doxorubicin. the researchers also want to develop imaging methods to track the minicells in patients. professor stefan sleijfer, the scientific chair of the eortc - nci - aacr symposium, from erasmus university medical centre ( the netherlands ), commented : " approaches resulting in selective delivery of anti - cancer drugs to tumour cells is highly interesting as it may lead to a reduction in adverse side - effects and improved anti - tumour activity. in this respect, the use of ' minicells ' is a novel and promising technique. " eortc [ european organisation for research and treatment of cancer, nci [ national cancer institute ], aacr [ american association for cancer research ]. abstract no : 585. poster session, phase i trials, 09. 00 hrs, 9 november. the study was funded by engeneic. prof solomon has not received any remuneration from engenic and declares no relevant conflicts of interest. other social bookmarking and sharing tools : note : if no author is given, the source is cited instead.


what is scientology? scientology definiton : scio ( latin ) “ knowing, in the fullest sense of the word, ” logos ( greek ) “ study of. ” thus scientology means “ knowing how to know. ” developed by l. ron hubbard, scientology is a religion that offers a precise path leading to a complete and certain understanding of one ’ s true spiritual nature and one ’ s relationship to self, family, groups, mankind, all life forms, the material universe, the spiritual universe and the supreme being. scientology addresses the spirit — not the body or mind — and believes that man is far more than a product of his environment, or his genes. scientology comprises a body of knowledge which extends from certain fundamental truths. prime among these are : man is an immortal spiritual being. his experience extends well beyond a single lifetime. his capabilities are unlimited, even if not presently realized. within the vast amount of data which makes up scientology ’ s religious beliefs and practices there are many principles which, when learned, give one a new and broader view of life. knowing the tone scale, for instance, a person can see how best to deal with a grumpy child, mollify an upset friend or get an idea across to a staid employer. these principles amount to a huge area of observation in the humanities. it is a body of knowledge there for the learning. there is nothing authoritarian in it. it is valuable purely as a body of knowledge. scientology helps each being to regain awareness of himself or herself as an immortal spiritual being and the rehabilitation of full spiritual potential — to achieve a recognition of spiritual existence and one ’ s relationship to the supreme being. god is identified in scientology as the eighth dynamic. all scientology services bring people closer to the eighth dynamic, and the congregational services especially focus on this. it is a bringing together of many beings in a joint spiritual experience and an occasion to recognize the ultimate which is the eighth dynamic or god. the church of scientology sunday service consists of a reciting of the creed of the church, a sermon based on the writings of the scientology founder l. ron hubbard, congregational group auditing and prayer. there may also be music and singing, as well as announcements of church events and programs.


can we teach computers what “ truth ” means? it ’ s harder than it sounds. courtesy of null0 / flickr this article arises from future tense, a partnership of slate, the new america foundation, and arizona state university. from feb. 28 through march 2, future tense will be taking part in emerge, an annual conference on asu ’ s tempe campus about what the future holds for humans. this year ’ s theme : the future of truth. visit the emerge website to learn more and to get your ticket. i ’ d like to begin with two different ideas of truth. the first appears to be the simplest : “ it is true that 1 + 1 = 2. ” the second is from the beginning of the declaration of independence : “ we hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. ” now, these sound like quite different ideas about truth. but the process of trying to teach computers to understand truths like these — difficult for both notions — is revealing the ways in which they are similar. the term artificial intelligence was coined in 1955 by a computer scientist named john mccarthy. early on, mccarthy enunciated his key aim as the systematization of common sense knowledge. in 1959, he wrote : “ [ a ] program has common sense if it automatically deduces for itself a sufficiently wide class of immediate consequences of anything it is told and what it already knows. ” this has proven very difficult, primarily because it is difficult to encode, in a systematic fashion, what it means to say something is true. even “ 1 + 1 = 2 ” is less obvious than it seems at first. beginning in the early part of the 20th century, mathematicians and philosophers, led at first by bertrand russell and gottlob frege and later by ludwig wittgenstein, kurt godel, alan turing, and others, tried to see whether mathematical knowledge — facts like “ 1 + 1 = 2 ” — could be reduced to the laws of logic. ( by logic, frege meant “ those laws of thought that transcend all particulars. ” the most basic principle of logic is perhaps the conviction that nothing exists — it is possible to name a set that has no elements. ) david hilbert, the dean of mathematics at the dawn of the century, had thought that such a reduction was possible and posed it as a challenge. but hilbert


the conviction that nothing exists — it is possible to name a set that has no elements. ) david hilbert, the dean of mathematics at the dawn of the century, had thought that such a reduction was possible and posed it as a challenge. but hilbert was doomed to failure here. the reason for this, at a basic level, is self - reference. sentences like “ this sentence is false ” turn out to pose a nasty set of technical challenges that make it impossible to fully express mathematical knowledge as a consequence of logical axioms — things that are held, on their face, to be true. godel, an austrian logician who would become a good friend of albert einstein ’ s after both of them settled in princeton, proved this in a 1931 paper, whose consequences were later strengthened by turing. godel ’ s incompleteness theorem says that in any sufficiently strong logical system ( meaning one that is rich enough to express mathematics ), it is impossible to prove that the axioms — the assumptions — of the system do not lead to a contradiction. the importance of godel ’ s incompleteness theorems for artificial intelligence is something that remains hotly debated. one school of thought, as ernest nagel and james newman wrote in 1956, holds that incompleteness means “ that the resources of the human intellect have not been, and cannot be, fully formalized, and that new principles of demonstration forever await invention and discovery. ” the other school of thought says, basically, “ don ’ t worry about it! ” the best - known recent exponent of this school is ray kurzweil, who claims, without much evidence, that “ there is an essential equivalence between a computer and the brain. ” kurzweil ’ s overheated triumphalism aside ( he seems determined to prove that careful thought is not necessary to be human by displaying a tremendous lack of care himself ), this is not a question that we need to resolve to say something about what current progress in artificial intelligence is doing to the idea of truth. even if nagel and newman are right and human intellect cannot be fully formalized, computer scientists have come a long way since john mccarthy first enunciated the aim of formalizing common sense. computer scientists have worked to come up with formal descriptions of the everyday world. here is a short list, taken from the stanford encyclopedia of philosophy of some of scenarios they ’ ve tried to encode : the baby scenario, the bus ride scenario, the chess board scenario, the ferryboat connection scenario, the furniture assembly


world. here is a short list, taken from the stanford encyclopedia of philosophy of some of scenarios they ’ ve tried to encode : the baby scenario, the bus ride scenario, the chess board scenario, the ferryboat connection scenario, the furniture assembly scenario, the hiding turkey scenario, the kitchen sink scenario, the russian turkey scenario, the stanford murder mystery, the stockholm delivery scenario, the stolen car scenario, the stuffy room scenario, the ticketed car scenario, the walking turkey scenario, and the yale shooting anomaly. let ’ s take the last of these — the yale shooting anomaly, which aims to formally codify the fact that an unloaded shotgun, if loaded and then shot at a person, would kill the person. classical logic dealt with things like “ 1 + 1 = 2 ” which are true, ( or false, like 1 = 0 ) for all time. they were true, are true, and always will be true. it doesn ’ t allow for things to happen. but to encode common - sense knowledge, computer scientists need a way to allow for events to take place. they also need ways to encode spatial locations. some of this had been worked out in a rigorous but limited way, in what philosophers call modal logic, which was first enunciated by c. i. lewis in 1918. but modal logic was too limited for computer scientists to use in semireal world systems. in the languages that computer scientists have come up with, as in the yale shooting anomaly, they were unable to preclude the possibility that the shotgun would spontaneously unload itself. it ’ s not that computer scientists think that that will happen ; it ’ s that they struggle to formalize how it can ’ t. ( since the yale shooting anomaly was first stated in 1986, many solutions have been proposed, but it remains an area of research. ) a central challenge computer scientists face is what ’ s called the ramification problem : how to codify that fact that if i walk into a room, my shirt does, too. this is paralleled by the “ frame problem, ” first enunciated by mccarthy in 1969, which is the “ problem of efficiently determining which things remain the same in a changing world. ” these problems are considerably harder than careless cheerleaders like kurzweil make them out to be. the central result of logicians in the 20th century was that, in the end, it will always be necessary to extend your axioms — things you just assume to be true without


polishing characteristics and problems pyrrhotite, chalcopyrite, magnetite and pentlandite. kambalda, western australia the section has been partially polished with 6µm diamond paste. individual grains of pyrrhotite ( brown ) are clearly seen due to differential polishing. crystals in some orientations still retain many polishing pits ( black ) whereas others are well polished. chalcopyrite ( yellow, centre bottom ) and magnetite ( light grey, bottom right ) are present. pentlandite ( pale yellow - brown, centre right and close to a diagonal fracture ) has higher reflectance than pyrrhotite and is just visible within the largest pyrrhotite crystal as small pentlandite flame - like exsolution bodies along a fracture - dark grey area ( bottom right ) is silicate, black areas are polishing pits. coarse features, especially grain boundaries, are well shown after initial polishing, but fine features are still difficult to see. llmenite and haematite. kimberlite pipe. unknown provenance this section has been polished with 1µm diamond paste, but shows extensive plucking. host magnesium - rich ilmenite crystals ( brown ) carry lath - shaped haematite exsolution bodies ( blue - grey ). plucked areas ( black ) have the same size, shape and orientation as the haematite, suggesting that it has been preferentially removed. if more than one phase is plucked in a section then it becomes difficult to estimate modal percentages. bornite, stromeyerite, chalcocite, pyrite and tetrahedrite group mineral. unknown provenance this section has been polished with ¼ µm diamond paste. although the section is scratch - free has enormous relief and hence shows strong shadows about the harder phases. euhedral to subhedral pyrite ( pale yellow, high reflectance ), a tetrahedrite group mineral ( light grey, centre and top centre ) and quartz ( dark grey, bottom centre ) show high relief against the softer copper and silver sulphides. bornite ( brown - red, left ) has an symplectite - like intergrowth with, and inclusions of, chalcocite ( light blue ). stromeyerite ( light lilac - grey, centre right ) also is complexly intergrown with chalcocite. although relief accentuates the symplectite texture of the softer phases, they remain poorly polished


light blue ). stromeyerite ( light lilac - grey, centre right ) also is complexly intergrown with chalcocite. although relief accentuates the symplectite texture of the softer phases, they remain poorly polished in areas close to high relief minerals. minerals forming thin rims around the harder phases would be ' lost ' within the shadows. bornite ( top and bottom right ) is purple coloured rather than brown, this is tarnish which has been protected by the adjacent quartz crystals from removal. chloanthite, rammelsbergite, pyrargyrite, argentopyrite, acanthite and altered argentopyrite. tynebottom mine, north pennines, britain this section has been polished with ¼µm diamond paste but shows the effects of overpolishing. chloanthite ( cream - white ) is overgrown by rhombic rammelsbergite ( pale blue - white, slightly lower reflectance, centre ) on the edge next to pyrargyrite. pyrargyrite ( blue ) and argentopyrite ( brown ) overgrow the arsenides. in argentopyrite the slightly higher reflectance patches with a lighter surface colour in the centre of the crystals are more overpolished than the margins. the pyrargyrite crystal ( bottom centre left ) also shows the same effect. acanthite ( light blue - grey, bottom left ) is less strongly coloured than pyrargyrite and more poorly polished. fine - grained porous aggregates of pyrite, marcasite and an uncharacterized mineral, agfe11s8, have pseudomorphed argentopyrite ( bottom right ) but individual crystals cannot be identified at this magnification. calcite ( dark grey ) is the main gangue. pyrrhotite, chalcopyrite, native gold and galena. cabacal 1, mato grosso, brazil the final polishing conditions are not known. native gold shows relief, compare gold ( golden - yellow, high reflectance, strong relief, centre top ) within the silicate gangue with gold ( centre bottom ) intergrown with chalcopyrite ( yellow - green, bottom centre ) and pyrrhotite ( brown, right ) where it shows less relief minor amounts of galena ( blue - grey, top centre ) are intergrown with pyrrhotite and gold, but are difficult to


, bottom centre ) and pyrrhotite ( brown, right ) where it shows less relief minor amounts of galena ( blue - grey, top centre ) are intergrown with pyrrhotite and gold, but are difficult to see. the high reflectance and colour of gold give adjacent crystals of chalcopyrite and pyrrhotite anomalously low reflectance and colours. these effects are more marked to the eye than the photomicrograph suggests. gangue phases ( greys ) are quartz ( left ) and phyllosilicates ( centre ). black areas are polishing pits. sphalerite, galena, haematite and magnetite. jersey, channel islands, britain final polishing with ¼ µm diamond paste. despite a wide variation in hardness between the phases, there is little relief. sphalerite ( light grey, left ) is intergrown with galena ( white, centre ) and euhedral magnetite ( brown, bottom centre ). haematite ( pale blue, bottom centre ) laths are being replaced by galena ( centre ). the gangue is quartz ( dark grey, bottom centre ) and abundant coarse - grained carbonate with a slightly higher reflectance than quartz.


publisher : u. s. census bureau social explorer ; u. s. census bureau ; design and methodology, american community survey. u. s. government printing office, washington, dc, 2009. a term used in 2000 to describe the data that were asked of " 100 percent " of the population in census 2000. that is, questions that were collected for all people on both the census short - form and long - form questionnaires. in 2000, this included sex, relationship, age / date of birth, hispanic origin, race, and tenure. one of four key dimensions of survey quality, accessibility refers to the ability of the data users to readily obtain and use survey products. the average number of basic acs items reported per person, including sex, age ( counted double ), relationship, marital status, hispanic origin, and race. a questionnaire for an occupied unit must have an acceptability index of 2. 5 or greater to be considered an interview. one of four key dimensions of survey quality. accuracy refers to the difference between the survey estimate and the true ( unknown ) value. attributes are measured in terms of sources of error ( for example, coverage, sampling, nonresponse, measurement, and processing ). address control file the residential address list used in the 1990 census to label questionnaires, control the mail response check - in operation, and determine the nonresponse follow - up workload. address corrections from rural directories a post - census 2000 master address file ( maf ) improvement operation where census bureau staff reviewed commercial directories for 300 rural counties in 10 midwestern states to obtain new city - style addresses for maf records that did not contain a city - style address. conducted in 2002, over 15, 000 city - style addresses were associated with maf records that previously lacked a city - style address. a census 2000 field operation to develop the address list in areas with predominantly non - city - style mailing addresses. a lister captured the address and / or a physical / location description for each living quarters within a specified assignment area. the lister marked the location of each residential structure on a block map by placing a spot on the map indicating its location and assigning a map spot number. the lister also updated and corrected features on the map if necessary. this activity was called " prelist " in the 1990 census. geographic areas, usually with legally defined boundaries but often without elected officials, created to administer elections and other governmental functions. administrative areas include school districts, voting districts, zip codes,


necessary. this activity was called " prelist " in the 1990 census. geographic areas, usually with legally defined boundaries but often without elected officials, created to administer elections and other governmental functions. administrative areas include school districts, voting districts, zip codes, and nonfunctioning minor civil divisions ( mcds ) such as election precincts, election districts, and assessment districts. imputation method required when values for missing or inconsistent items cannot be derived from the existing response record. in these cases, the imputation must be based on other techniques such as using answers from other people in the household, other responding housing units, or people believed to have similar characteristics. such donors are reflected in a table referred to as an allocation matrix. american community survey ( acs ) alert this periodic electronic newsletter informs data users and other interested parties about news, events, data releases, congressional actions, and other developments associated with the acs. american community survey demonstration program the full set of testing, research, and development program activities that started in 1994 and continued until the acs was fully implemented in 2005. american community survey full implementation the period beginning in january 2005 during which the acs interviewing of its housing unit sample was conducted in every county and puerto rico municipio as well as all american indian and alaska native areas and hawaiian homelands. the full implementation initial sample size is approximately 3 million addresses each year, and includes group quarters ( gq ) facilities which were added beginning in january 2006. american community survey test sites the acs demonstration program expanded from an initial four test counties in 1996 to 36 test counties in 1999. when the term acs test site is used, it refers to data from these 36 counties. american factfinder ( aff ) an electronic system for access and dissemination of census bureau data on the internet. the system offers prepackaged data products and user - selected data tables and maps from census 2000, the 1990 census of population and housing, the 1997 and 2002 economic censuses, the population estimates program, annual economic surveys, and the acs. american indian area, alaska native area, hawaiian homeland ( aianahh ) a census bureau term referring to the following types of areas : federal and state american indian reservations, american indian off - reservation trust land areas ( individual or tribal ), oklahoma tribal statistical areas ( in 1990 tribal jurisdictional statistical area ), tribal designated statistical areas, state designated american indian statistical areas, alaska native regional corporations, alaska native village statistical areas, and hawaiian homelands. imputation method in which values for