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Monday, April 29, 2013
Reports: Cops shot outside Italian premier office
ROME (AP) ? Reports say two paramilitary police officers were shot and wounded outside the Italian premier's office as the new leader was sworn in about a kilometer (half-mile) away.
An AP television producer reported seeing one officer lying on the pavement, with blood pouring out of his neck. The Italian news agency ANSA said the assailant, described in reports as a man dressed in a suit and tie, had been detained by police.
The shooting came as Enrico Letta and his Cabinet took their oaths Sunday in the Quirinal presidential office, after he nailed down a coalition agreement between his center-left forces and the conservative bloc of ex-Premier Silvio Berlusconi.
It was unclear if there was any connection between the events, but political tensions have been running high in Italy.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/reports-cops-shot-outside-italian-premier-office-100457952.html
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Thursday, April 25, 2013
VTT involved in developing cellulose-based ethanol production in Brazil
![[ Back to EurekAlert! ]](http://www.eurekalert.org/images/back2e.gif){kind=small}
Public release date: 24-Apr-2013[ | E-mail |
Share ] Contact: Matti Siika-aho
matti.siika-aho@vtt.fi
358-207-225-137
VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland
VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland exports its expertise as a developer of biomass processing technology to Brazil. Odebrecht, a conglomerate and one of the southern hemisphere's largest enterprises, is making preparations for second generation ethanol production and plans to construct a demonstration plant. VTT acts as Odebrecht's research partner, tasked with developing the technology used in the company's processes.
VTT makes use of its experience in the development of biomass processing technology, applying it to the Brazilian sugar cane biomass processing industry. VTT's research centre in Brazil has been granted BRL 10 million (about EUR 3.8 million) in funding by the PAISS programme, which supports the Brazilian sugar-energy industry reform, for the development of production technology for Odebrecht's new demonstration plant.
The development project is aimed at combining cellulose-based second generation ethanol production with first generation ethanol production and integrating these with electricity production.
The provider of the funding, PAISS, is a programme stimulating the reform of the sugar-based energy and chemical sectors, established by the Brazilian Development Bank BNDES and the Brazilian organization financing technology and innovation projects FINEP.
VTT exports its expertise to Brazil especially in the role of a developer of biomass processing technology. VTT cooperates with local companies and research institutes in the use of biomass as a resource in the production of chemicals, energy and cellulose-based products. VTT Brasil, established in 2010, is a research centre that cooperates with Finnish companies operating in Brazil, and with local universities and research institutes.
###
For further information, please contact:
VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland
Matti Siika-aho, Principal Scientist
tel. +358 20 722 5137, matti.siika-aho@vtt.fi
VTT Brasil
Nilson Boeta, Managing Director
tel. +55 11 4064 9913, nilson.boeta@vttbrasil.com
Further information on VTT:
Olli Ernvall
Senior Vice President, Communications
358 20 722 6747
olli.ernvall@vtt.fi
http://www.vtt.fi
VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland is a leading multitechnological applied research organization in Northern Europe. VTT creates new technology and science-based innovations in co-operation with domestic and foreign partners. VTT's turnover is EUR 290 million and its personnel totals 3,100.
[ | E-mail | Share ] ?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Public release date: 24-Apr-2013[ | E-mail |
Share ] Contact: Matti Siika-aho
matti.siika-aho@vtt.fi
358-207-225-137
VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland
VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland exports its expertise as a developer of biomass processing technology to Brazil. Odebrecht, a conglomerate and one of the southern hemisphere's largest enterprises, is making preparations for second generation ethanol production and plans to construct a demonstration plant. VTT acts as Odebrecht's research partner, tasked with developing the technology used in the company's processes.
VTT makes use of its experience in the development of biomass processing technology, applying it to the Brazilian sugar cane biomass processing industry. VTT's research centre in Brazil has been granted BRL 10 million (about EUR 3.8 million) in funding by the PAISS programme, which supports the Brazilian sugar-energy industry reform, for the development of production technology for Odebrecht's new demonstration plant.
The development project is aimed at combining cellulose-based second generation ethanol production with first generation ethanol production and integrating these with electricity production.
The provider of the funding, PAISS, is a programme stimulating the reform of the sugar-based energy and chemical sectors, established by the Brazilian Development Bank BNDES and the Brazilian organization financing technology and innovation projects FINEP.
VTT exports its expertise to Brazil especially in the role of a developer of biomass processing technology. VTT cooperates with local companies and research institutes in the use of biomass as a resource in the production of chemicals, energy and cellulose-based products. VTT Brasil, established in 2010, is a research centre that cooperates with Finnish companies operating in Brazil, and with local universities and research institutes.
###
For further information, please contact:
VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland
Matti Siika-aho, Principal Scientist
tel. +358 20 722 5137, matti.siika-aho@vtt.fi
VTT Brasil
Nilson Boeta, Managing Director
tel. +55 11 4064 9913, nilson.boeta@vttbrasil.com
Further information on VTT:
Olli Ernvall
Senior Vice President, Communications
358 20 722 6747
olli.ernvall@vtt.fi
http://www.vtt.fi
VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland is a leading multitechnological applied research organization in Northern Europe. VTT creates new technology and science-based innovations in co-operation with domestic and foreign partners. VTT's turnover is EUR 290 million and its personnel totals 3,100.
[ | E-mail | Share ] ?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-04/vtrc-vii042413.php
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Wednesday, April 24, 2013
Strengthening legumes to tackle fertilizer pollution
Apr. 23, 2013 ? The overuse of nitrogen fertilizers in agriculture can wreak havoc on waterways, health and the environment.
An international team of scientists aims to lessen the reliance on these fertilizers by helping beans and similar plants boost their nitrogen production, even in areas with traditionally poor soil quality.
Researchers from the Center of Plant Genomics and Biotechnology at the Technical University of Madrid (UPM) and the Advanced Photon Source (APS) at the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory report as an advance article April 5 for the Metallomics journal of The Royal Society of Chemistry on how to use X-ray analysis to map a path to increasing the amount of nitrogen that legumes deposit into the soil.
Cultivation of legumes, the plant family that includes peas, beans, alfalfa, soybeans, and peanuts, is one of the main ways farmers add natural nitrogen to agricultural fields. Rotating bean and corn crops to take advantage of the nitrogen beans deposit in the soil has long been a global farming tradition. Legumes use iron in the soil to carry out a complex chemical process called nitrogen fixation, which collects atmospheric nitrogen and converts it into organic forms that help the plant grow. When the plant dies, the excess nitrogen is released back into to the soil to help the next crop.
But often legumes are grown in areas with iron-depleted soil, which limits their nitrogen fixation. That's where research can lend a hand. The Argonne-UPM team has created the world's first model for how iron is transported in the plant's root nodule to trigger nitrogen fixation. This is the first step in modifying the plants to maximize iron use.
"The long-term goal is to help sustainable agriculture practices and further diminish the environmental damage from overuse of nitrogen fertilizers," said Manuel Gonzalez-Guerrero, lead author of the paper from UPM. "This can be done by maximizing the delivery of essential metal oligonutrients to nitrogen-fixing rhizobia."
The research team, which included Lydia Finney and Stefan Vogt from the APS, used high-energy X-rays from the 8-BM and 2-ID-E beamlines of the APS to track the distribution of minute iron amounts in the different developmental regions of rhizobia-containing roots. This is the first high-energy X-ray analysis of plant-microbe interactions.
X-rays, such as those from the APS, provided a high sensitivity to elements and a high spatial resolution not attainable by other means. Full details can be found in the paper Iron distribution through the developmental stages of Medicago truncatula nodules.
In future studies at the APS, Gonzalez-Guerrero hopes to identify and characterize the key biological proteins responsible for iron transportation. That would give researchers targets to manipulate and screen for new legume varieties with increased nitrogen-fixation capabilities and higher nutritional value.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by DOE/Argonne National Laboratory. The original article was written by Tona Kunz.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Journal Reference:
- Benjam?n Rodr?guez-Haas, Lydia Finney, Stefan Vogt, Pablo Gonz?lez-Melendi, Juan Imperial, Manuel Gonzalez-Guerrero. Iron distribution through the developmental stages of Medicago truncatula nodules. Metallomics, 2013; DOI: 10.1039/C3MT00060E
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/most_popular/~3/WFDVPPsK7IM/130423161911.htm
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Monday, April 22, 2013
Parents of Boston suspect describe his Russia trip
FILE - This combination of undated file photos shows Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, left, and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19. The FBI says the two brothers are the suspects in the Boston Marathon bombing, and are also responsible for killing an MIT police officer, critically injuring a transit officer in a firefight and throwing explosive devices at police during a getaway attempt in a long night of violence that left Tamerlan dead and Dzhokhar captured, late Friday, April 19, 2013. The ethnic Chechen brothers lived in Dagestan, which borders the Chechnya region in southern Russia. They lived near Boston and had been in the U.S. for about a decade, one of their uncles reported said. Since Monday, Boston has experienced five days of fear, beginning with the marathon bombing attack, an intense manhunt and much uncertainty ending in the death of one suspect and the capture of the other. (AP Photo/The Lowell Sun & Robin Young, File)
FILE - This combination of undated file photos shows Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, left, and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19. The FBI says the two brothers are the suspects in the Boston Marathon bombing, and are also responsible for killing an MIT police officer, critically injuring a transit officer in a firefight and throwing explosive devices at police during a getaway attempt in a long night of violence that left Tamerlan dead and Dzhokhar captured, late Friday, April 19, 2013. The ethnic Chechen brothers lived in Dagestan, which borders the Chechnya region in southern Russia. They lived near Boston and had been in the U.S. for about a decade, one of their uncles reported said. Since Monday, Boston has experienced five days of fear, beginning with the marathon bombing attack, an intense manhunt and much uncertainty ending in the death of one suspect and the capture of the other. (AP Photo/The Lowell Sun & Robin Young, File)
This June 2012 booking photo released by the Natick, Mass., police shows Zubeidat K. Tsarnaeva, mother of Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the two men who set off bombs near the Boston Marathon finish line Monday, April 15, 2013 in Boston. Zubeidat Tsarnaeva was arrested in June 2012 on a shoplifting charge at a Lord & Taylor store in Natick. (AP Photo/Natick Police Department)
The father of the Boston bomb suspects, Anzor Tsaraev, speaks to the media at his home in Makhachkala, the capital of Dagestan, a predominantly Muslim republic in southern Russia, Friday, April 19, 2013. The two ethnic Chechen brothers, Tamerlan Tsarnaev and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, turned suspects in US marathon bombing, one dead, one still alive and at large on Friday, came from Dagestan, a Russian republic bordering the province of Chechnya. (AP Photo/Kurban Labazanov)
MAKHACHKALA, Russia (AP) ? The parents of Tamerlan Tsarnaev insisted on Sunday that he came to Dagestan and Chechnya last year to visit relatives and had nothing to do with the militants operating in this volatile part of Russia. But the Boston bombing suspect could not have been immune to the attacks that savaged the region during his six-month stay.
Tsarnaev , 26, and his 19-year-old brother, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, are accused of setting off the two bombs near the finish line of the Boston Marathon on April 15 that killed three people and wounding more than 180 others.
Three days later, investigators say they killed a university police officer, carjacked a man and led police on a chase that resulted in a shootout that left Tamerlan Tsarnaev dead. His younger brother escaped, but was captured the next day, alive but badly wounded.
When the two ethnic Chechen suspects were identified, the FBI said it reviewed its records and found that in early 2011, a foreign government ? which law enforcement officials confirmed was Russia ? had asked for information about Tamerlan Tsarnaev. The FBI said it was told that Tsarnaev was a "follower of radical Islam" and was preparing to travel to this foreign country to join unspecified underground groups.
The FBI said that it responded by interviewing Tsarnaev and family members, but found no terrorism activity.
No evidence has emerged since to link Tsarnaev to militant groups in Russia's Caucasus. And on Sunday the Caucasus Emirate, which Russia and the U.S. consider a terrorist organization, denied involvement in the Boston attack.
But a trip Tsarnaev made back to Russia in January, 2012, has raised questions.
His father said his son stayed with him in Makhachkala, the capital of Dagestan, where the family lived briefly before moving to the United States a decade ago. The father had only recently returned.
"He was here, with me in Makhachkala," Anzor Tsarnaev told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. "He slept until 3 p.m., and you know, I would ask him: 'Have you come here to sleep?' He used to go visiting, here and there. He would go to eat somewhere. Then he would come back and go to bed."
He said his son went to the mosque for prayers, but would not have come under the influence of radical imams, who he said stay up in the mountain villages.
A woman who works in a small shop opposite Tsarnaev's apartment building said she only saw his son during the course of one month last summer. She described him as a dandy.
"He dressed in a very refined way," said Madina Abdullaeva. "His boots were the same color as his clothes. They were summer boots, light, with little holes punched in the leather."
Anzor Tsarnaev said they traveled together to neighboring Chechnya. "He went with me twice, to see my uncles and aunts. I have lots of them," the father said.
He said they also visited one of his daughters, who lives in the Chechen town of Urus-Martan with her husband. His son-in-law's brothers all work in the police force under Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, he said.
Moscow has given Kadyrov a free hand to stabilize Chechnya following two wars between federal troops and Chechen separatists beginning in 1994, and his feared police and security forces have been accused of rampant rights abuses.
What began in Chechnya as a fight for independence has morphed into an Islamic insurgency that has spread throughout Russia's Caucasus, with the worst of the violence now in Dagestan.
In February, 2012, shortly after Tamerlan Tsarnaev's arrival in Dagestan, a four-day operation to wipe out several militant bands in Chechnya and Dagestan left 17 police and at least 20 militants dead. In May, two car bombs shook Makhachkala, killing at least 13 people and wounding about 130 more. Other bombings and shootings targeting police and other officials took place nearly daily.
The Caucasus Emirate said Sunday that its mujahedin are not fighting with the United States. "We are at war with Russia, which is not only responsible for the occupation of the Caucasus, but also for heinous crimes against Muslims," it said in a statement on the Kavkaz Center website.
The group suggested that Russia's secret services would have had a greater interest in carrying out the attack in Boston.
Despite the violence in Dagestan, Anzor Tsarnaev said Sunday that his son did not want to leave and had thoughts on how he could go into business. But the father said he encouraged him to go back to the United States and try to get citizenship. Tamerlan Tsarnaev returned to the U.S. in July.
His mother said that he was questioned upon arrival at New York's airport.
"And he told me on the phone, 'imagine, Mama, they were asking me such interesting questions as if I were some strange and scary man: Where did you go? What did you do there?,' " Zubeidat Tsarnaeva recalled her son telling her at the time.
Both parents insist that the FBI continued to monitor Tamerlan Tsarnaev and that both of their sons were set up.
Their mother went so far on Sunday to claim that the FBI had contacted her elder son after the deadly bombs exploded at the marathon. If true it would be the first indication that the FBI considered him a suspect before Boston descended into violence on Thursday.
At FBI headquarters in Washington, spokesman Michael Kortan stood by the bureau's public statement of two days ago in which the bureau described a 2011 FBI interview of Tamerlan Tsarnaev. Kortan said the 2011 interview was the only FBI contact with Tamerlan Tsarnaev. The FBI statement from two days ago says that the FBI did not learn of the identity of Tamerlan and his brother until Friday after the gun battle in which Tamerlan was killed.
The mother's claim could not be independently confirmed, and she has made statements in the past that appeared to show a lack of full understanding of what occurred in Boston.
Investigators released photos and video of the two Tsarnaev brothers on Thursday afternoon, but at that point their identities were not known. By late that night Tamerlan Tsarnaev was dead.
Tsarnaeva said her elder son told her by telephone that the FBI had called to inform him that they considered him a suspect and he should come in for questioning.
She said her son refused. "I told them, what do you suspect me of?" Tsarnaeva quoted her son as saying. "This is your problem and if you need me you should come to where I am."
He then told her he was going to drive his younger brother to the university, she said, speaking by telephone from Chechnya. Tsarnaeva claimed that her son later called his wife to tell her they were being chased and fired upon.
___
Associated Press writer Lynn Berry contributed from Moscow.
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Sunday, April 21, 2013
Dr. Phil slams entitled 'Teen Mom' Farrah
CBS Television Distribution
"Teen Mom" Farrah Abraham was not happy on "Dr. Phil."
By Drusilla Moorhouse, TODAY contributor
If embattled "Teen Mom" star Farrah Abraham was looking for sympathy during her Friday appearance on "Dr. Phil," she went to the wrong show.
Unlike his celebrity counterpart and "Teen Mom" reunion host Dr. Drew Pinsky, Dr. Phil McGraw didn't coddle the reality personality, who recently made headlines for a DUI and filming a pornographic video.
"Perhaps unlike your mother, I don't care whether you throw a fit," pointed out the psychologist, who was also joined by Farrah's parents (and "Teen Mom" co-stars) Debra Danielson and Michael Abraham.
"You're upset because I ask questions that you don't have good answers for," he added when the single mom irritably complained, "I'm sorry I'm here. I'm sorry I have to be put in this situation."
"You have an incredible sense of entitlement, and when you don't get your way, you get upset," responded the incredibly astute psychologist, drawing hearty applause from the audience. (And maybe a few viewers at home!)
Farrah also continued to make excuses about her DUI?while being grilled by the good doctor. "I wouldn't want to hit someone, I wouldn't want to kill someone," she said, as if her intentions factored into driving while intoxicated. "When you're just saying, 'Oh yeah, Farrah, you were, like, purposely drinking and driving,' no. I wasn't purposely, I wasn't trying."
The young mom also insisted that her adult film was merely a "personal video" and calls co-star James Deen just a "prop in the background": "It's more about me. I'm celebrating my body and my feminine side. This is something that never should have been talked about publicly because it was something that I personally wanted when I'm older. I want those sexy photos of me of my best year."
If Farrah's video is ever distributed, which she isn't ruling out, at least two people won't be watching: her parents.
"I wouldn't even condone a sexual photograph," said Debra, who said news of the X-rated shoot came as "a total shock and total surprise."
Both of Farrah's parents seem to think that their objections to the sex video are "generational." (News flash: Approximately one billion young people would disagree.)
"I would imagine a lot of people -- maybe not your age, (not) my age -- they use technology for a lot of different things nowadays that maybe we don't accept," he told Dr. Phil. "There are a lot of people out there who use their PDAs for a lot of things. I'm not trying to condone this because I think the facts are still trying to come out. I'm not justifying what people do in private. That's their business."
But as Dr. Phil noted, most people aren't hiring a business (specifically, an adult film company) to film their private business -- or considering profiting from its distribution. ?
"I don't know the ramifications," Farrah said about a public release of the video, adding that her "legal team and personal advisers" have pointed out that its sale might provide "a certain amount of income ... so you can do the endeavors you want to do. I'm just figuring out what I want to do."
If it is sold, she added, "I think it would have to be more than" the $2 million figure quoted in previous reports.
"I'm not worried about my daughter seeing this," she said about 4-year-old Sophia one day watching the racy flick. "If she ever does bring it up, talks or asks questions or any of those things, I'm open. I'm honest, and we'll deal with that."
Maybe in 10 years Sophia will write a follow-up to her mom's own memoir: "My Teenage Dream Ended When I Watched My Mom's Adult Film"?
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Saturday, April 20, 2013
G20 agrees not to set hard targets on debt reduction
By Anna Yukhananov and Louise Egan
(Reuters) - Finance leaders of the G20 economies on Friday edged away from a long-running drive toward government austerity in rich nations, rejecting the idea of setting hard targets for reducing national debt in a sign of worry over a sluggish global recovery.
The G20 club of advanced and emerging economies also said it would be watching for negative effects from massive monetary stimulus efforts, such as Japan's - a nod to concerns of developing nations that those policies risked flooding their economies with hot capital and driving up their currencies.
Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said at a news conference that officials from the Group of 20 nations believed overall debt reduction was more important than specific figures.
"We agreed that these would be soft parameters, these would be some kind of strategic objectives and goals which might be amended or adjusted, depending on the specific situations in the national economies," he said.
Russia - this year's G20 chair - had hoped to secure an agreement on setting fixed targets for reducing debt by the time G20 leaders meet in St. Petersburg in September.
But the United States and Japan have firmly opposed the idea of committing to fixed debt-to-GDP targets, with Washington trying to keep the focus of the G20 on growth.
"Quite frankly, the language could have been stronger but it's sufficient to move this forward," said Canadian Finance Minister Jim Flaherty.
When asked if he would agree to a target of 60 percent debt-to-GDP, Flaherty said: "That target or a better one. We in Canada support targets ... I think it's sensible for the G20 to set minimum targets."
WATCHING JAPAN
In a communiqu? after a two-day meeting, the G20 said it would be "mindful" of possible side effects of extended periods of monetary stimulus, a phrase added at the insistence of South Korea to take into account the concerns of emerging markets.
"Monetary policy should be directed toward domestic price stability and continuing to support economic recovery," the statement said.
Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said the G20 language was not directly aimed at the BOJ's $1.4 trillion monetary stimulus announced earlier this month.
Still, Siluanov said the G20 agreed that greater monitoring of the side effects of Japan's policy easing was needed. Kuroda, though, said specific side effects were not discussed.
The BOJ is not alone in flooding its economy with cheap funds to try to boost borrowing and spending. The U.S. Federal Reserve, the Bank of England and, to some extent, the European Central Bank have as well.
The G20 leaders urged the euro zone to quickly move toward a banking union, a key element in stabilizing the euro zone. However, Germany repeated on Friday its earlier position that European Union laws needed to be changed before one of the elements of the banking union, a scheme for winding down failing banks, can be introduced - which is likely to delay the process.
The struggles of the euro zone dominated G20 discussions, delegates said, as harsh austerity measures have failed to lift the region out of its economic slumber. The United States has been pressing Europe to ease up on its budget cutting.
"It was supposed to be a G20 meeting, but for a moment I thought it was a G7 meeting. All that we heard was how sick Europe is and how badly affected many countries of the world are," said India's finance minister, P. Chidambaram, who spoke at the Peterson Institute in Washington.
"They have a very accommodative monetary policy. They are doing whatever it takes to rescue economies that seem to be tumbling one after another."
SOFT DEBT TARGETS
The drive toward government austerity has been undercut by weakness in economies that took severe measures to cut deficits, including Britain, which is headed into its third recession in the last five years. The U.S. economy also shows some signs of strain that economists pin on belt-tightening in Washington.
Earlier this week, the International Monetary Fund reduced its forecast for global growth and reiterated its call for some European countries to throttle back their austerity drives.
Fitch cut its credit rating on Britain on Friday to double-A-plus, citing expectations that general government debt will rise to 101 percent of GDP by 2015-2016 due to weak economic growth.
In an interview with BBC television, IMF chief Christine Lagarde said now might be time for Britain to consider relaxing its focus on austerity given the recent weakness in its economy.
Siluanov also said a greater amount of coordination was needed with the IMF on global liquidity, with recommendations expected by next July.
G20 ministers called on the Financial Stability Board to oversee work on reforms for short-term interest rate benchmarks such as Libor in the aftermath of a global rate-rigging scandal. FSB was asked to report back in July on its progress.
(Additional reporting by Reuters G20 reporting team; Writing by David Gaffen; Editing by Dan Burns and Tim Ahmann)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/debt-levels-big-monetary-stimulus-tap-g20-051914375--business.html
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Xbox 360 leads console sales for 27th consecutive month
(Adds quotes, team news for Villa game) By Sonia Oxley MANCHESTER, England, April 19 (Reuters) - Manchester United winger Ashley Young will miss the rest of the season with an ankle injury, manager Alex Ferguson said on Friday. The England international picked up the problem in this month's 2-1 defeat by Manchester City and attended Wednesday's 2-2 draw at West Ham United on crutches. "Ashley is out for the season," Ferguson, whose side can secure the Premier League title on Monday if they beat Aston Villa and second-placed Manchester City lose at Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday, told MUTV. ...
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/xbox-360-leads-console-sales-27th-consecutive-month-182533136.html
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Friday, April 19, 2013
New solar-cell coating could enable a major boost in efficiency
Apr. 18, 2013 ? 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 percent for a single optimized semiconductor junction.
Now, researchers at MIT have shown that there is a way to blow past that limit as easily as today's jet fighters zoom through the sound barrier -- which was also once seen as an ultimate limit.
Their work appears this week in a report in the journal Science, co-authored by graduate students including Daniel Congreve, Nicholas Thompson, Eric Hontz and Shane Yost, alumna Jiye Lee '12, and professors Marc Baldo and Troy Van Voorhis.
The principle behind the barrier-busting technique has been known theoretically since the 1960s, says Baldo, a professor of electrical engineering at MIT. But it was a somewhat obscure idea that nobody had succeeded in putting into practice. The MIT team was able, for the first time, to perform a successful "proof of principle" of the idea, which is known as singlet exciton fission. (An exciton is the excited state of a molecule after absorbing energy from a photon.)
In a standard photovoltaic (PV) cell, each photon knocks loose exactly one electron inside the PV material. That loose electron then can be harnessed through wires to provide an electrical current.
But in the new technique, each photon can instead knock two electrons loose. This makes the process much more efficient: In a standard cell, any excess energy carried by a photon is wasted as heat, whereas in the new system the extra energy goes into producing two electrons instead of one.
While others have previously "split" a photon's energy, they have done so using ultraviolet light, a relatively minor component of sunlight at Earth's surface. The new work represents the first time this feat has been accomplished with visible light, laying a pathway for practical applications in solar PV panels.
This was accomplished using an organic compound called pentacene in an organic solar cell. While that material's ability to produce two excitons from one photon had been known, nobody had previously been able to incorporate it within a PV device that generated more than one electron per photon.
"Our whole project was directed at showing that this splitting process was effective," says Baldo, who is also the director of the Center for Excitonics, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy. "We showed that we could get through that barrier."
The theoretical basis for this work was laid long ago, says Congreve, but nobody had been able to realize it in a real, functioning system. "In this system," he says, "everyone knew you could, they were just waiting for someone to do it."
"This is the landmark event we had all been waiting to see," adds Richard Friend, the Cavendish Professor of Physics at the University of Cambridge, who was not involved in this research. "This is really great research."
Since this was just a first proof of principle, the team has not yet optimized the energy-conversion efficiency of the system, which remains less than 2 percent. But ratcheting up that efficiency through further optimization should be a straightforward process, the researchers say. "There appears to be no fundamental barrier," Thompson says.
While today's commercial solar panels typically have an efficiency of at most 25 percent, a silicon solar cell harnessing singlet fission should make it feasible to achieve efficiency of more than 30 percent, Baldo says -- a huge leap in a field typically marked by slow, incremental progress. In solar cell research, he notes, people are striving "for an increase of a tenth of a percent."
Solar panel efficiencies can also be improved by stacking different solar cells together, but combining solar cells is expensive with conventional solar-cell materials. The new technology instead promises to work as an inexpensive coating on solar cells.
The work made use of a known material, but the team is now exploring new materials that might perform the same trick even better. "The field is working on materials that were chanced upon," Baldo says -- but now that the principles are better understood, researchers can begin exploring possible alternatives in a more systematic way.
Christopher Bardeen, a professor of chemistry at the University of California at Riverside who was not involved in this research, calls this work "very important" and says the process used by the MIT team "represents a first step towards incorporating an exotic photophysical process (fission) into a real device. This achievement will help convince workers in the field that this process has real potential for boosting organic solar cell efficiencies by 25 percent or more."
The research was performed in the Center for Excitonics and supported by the U.S. Department of Energy. MIT has filed for a provisional patent on the technology.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The original article was written by David L. Chandler.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Journal Reference:
- D. N. Congreve, J. Lee, N. J. Thompson, E. Hontz, S. R. Yost, P. D. Reusswig, M. E. Bahlke, S. Reineke, T. Van Voorhis, M. A. Baldo. External Quantum Efficiency Above 100% in a Singlet-Exciton-Fission-Based Organic Photovoltaic Cell. Science, 2013; 340 (6130): 334 DOI: 10.1126/science.1232994
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
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Wednesday, April 17, 2013
Tuesday, April 16, 2013
Antarctic ice tells conflicting story about climate change's role in big melt
Two different areas of Antarctica tell two very different stories about how climate change might be affecting ice melt. The data appear to confirm that climate change impacts can be very local.
An inflatable boat carries tourists past an iceberg along the Antarctic Peninsula. The peninsula appears to be significantly affected by climate change.
Andrew Halsall/Aurora Expeditions/AP/File
EnlargeSince the early 1990s, glaciers draining Antarctica's vast ice sheets have dumped ice into the ocean at an an eye-popping rate.
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Now, two new studies of ice cores from different parts of the continent are yielding important clues as to why the loss rates have been so high.
On the Antarctic Peninsula, global warming appears to be taking a direct toll. Glaciers are melting mainly from the top down. The peninsula is losing land ice in the summer at a rate unmatched in the past 1,000 years.
For the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, one of two vast continental sheets, losses also have been relatively large. There, however, floating ice shelves that form the seaward end of glaciers are melting from the bottom up. Today's losses are comparable to those that have occurred a few other times over the past 2,000 years. The authors say that for now, the evidence points to the extended reach of naturally shifting climate patterns in the tropical Pacific as driving the losses.
At first blush, the two might appear to be at loggerheads. Instead, researchers suggest, the two highlight how, as on other continents, the intensity of global warming's impact at the bottom of the world depends on location, location, location. And both point to the challenge researchers still face in forecasting the future of the continent's ice chest in a warming climate.
Each in its own way "provides guidance on projecting the future of sea-level rise," notes Richard Alley, a glaciologist at Penn State University in University Park, Pa., who was not a participant in either study.
Researchers have a keen interest in trying to understand and project ice losses in Antarctica, as well as on Greenland, with global warming. Previous studies have shown that since 1992, the loss of ice from polar caps is raising sea levels by an average of about 0.59 millimeters a year.
The West Antarctic Ice Sheet alone could boost sea levels an average of 10 feet if it melts ? an increase that would occur over hundreds to thousands of years, notes Eric Steig, a researcher at the University of Washington who led one of the two research efforts.
Between 1992 and 2011, the peninsula lost ice at rate of 20 billion tons a year, according to a study published last November in the journal Science. The West Antarctic Ice Sheet lost 65 billion tons a year, and the East Antarctic Ice Sheet ? the continent's largest ? lost 14 billion tons a year, although the uncertainties in that number are so large the loss could just as well have been nothing.
Antarctic Peninsula
The Antarctic Peninsula is an extended arm of land that last shook hands with the southern tip of South America roughly 235 million years ago when the two continents drifted apart. It's mountainous and extends into the Southern Ocean to some 250 miles above the Antarctic Circle.
"In some ways, it's a climate oddity," writes Robert Mulvaney, a researcher with the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) and a member of the team formally reporting its results on the region's ice Sunday in the journal Nature Geoscience, in an e-mail. Relatively warm westerly winds, laden with with ocean moisture, blow across the peninsula. So it tends to be warmer than the mainland and experiences higher snowfall rates.
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The latest from Boston: Chat with Yahoo! editors
Call it ?terrorism? if a label helps you make sense of this madness. Find who did it and squash him?or them?with what President Obama called ?the full weight of justice.? But in the broad scheme of things, such loose ends matter less than this: Life in America changed with the Boston Marathon bombings?again, and as with past attacks, for the much worse.
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Monday, April 15, 2013
Smart Projects For Your Home | The Fool on the Hill
Now that we have entered a new financial year, it makes sense to think about where you invest your hard earned money. If you have had a pleasant surprise with an income tax refund then you may be in an indulgent mood, by investing in your home you can indulge in a manner which will reap financial rewards.
Currently, the housing market is not at its healthiest, meaning you are unlikely to receive your home?s maximum value. Therefore, instead of moving up the property ladder, you can invest your savings in making upgrades which will pay off when you decide to sell. Location is key, if your home is in a good position and surrounded by higher value properties, it?s time to make some changes.
Loft Conversion
A growing family could mean that you are on the lookout for a bigger home. You can, however, satisfy your need for room without the financial costs off moving now. Adding an extra bedroom will help accommodate your growing clan, and add a significant amount to the value of your home.
You could plan a ground floor extension, but this will take time, require permission , cause disruption throughout the whole house and may not be worth the investment.
A more cost effective way is a loft conversion. This requires just a simple survey to ensure the building is structurally sound, and may not even need permission. Costing around ?20,000, and taking a matter of weeks with minimal disruption, it will easily add this onto the value of your home.
Kitchen & Bathroom
It is unlikely that you spent most of your time in these two rooms, however, your estate agent will tell you that these are the two most important. Tired looking units give an impression of uncleanliness and will turn buyers away, by upgrading you can add value and make your home easier to sell.
If these rooms are looking very lived-in, a basic refit will do wonders for your home?s value. You can have this done for around ?15,000, which will return the investment with interest.
New ?Windows
Rising fuel bills mean that it makes more sense than ever to spend on energy efficiency. A new set of A-rated windows will brighten up your home and take a large bite out of your heating bill, saving you hundreds of pounds in the long term.
Buyers also love energy efficient homes so, like new kitchen and bathroom units, they will make your home far easier to sell while increasing its value. Depending on the size of your home, this will cost around ?2,000 and easily add this amount to your home?s value.
The best upgrade for you depends on your home and its location, every property has a ceiling price so getting the opinion of an estate agent will help you make the right decision.
Author Bio: Joe is a blogger for Force8 doors and windows who writes about property, home improvement, interior design and green living.
Source: http://dfoolonthehill.com/smart-projects-for-your-home/
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Saturday, April 13, 2013
Rick Ross Apologizes For Rape Lyric Again
'For me to suggest that violation be brought to a woman is one of my biggest mistakes and regrets,' Ross says after losing Reebok deal.
By Rob Markman
Rick Ross
Photo: Johnny Nunez/ WireImage
Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1705563/rick-ross-rape-lyric-apology.jhtml
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Tuesday, April 2, 2013
BMW Sells "M Performance" Software Hack for $1,100
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It's common knowledge that manufacturers hold back on tuning every last ounce of performance from their engines. It's also fact that factory authorized tuners like Volvo's Polestar offer four-figure software tweaks that not only boost horsepower and torque, but have also been known to increase fuel economy, to boot.
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Keen to broaden the accessibility of their "M" branded performance division, BMW now offers an M Performance Power Kit software upgrade for 2012 335i sedan and 335i xDrive sedans which the manufacturer says was "developed through consultation by the engineers at BMW M GmbH,"?and elevates horsepower from 300 to 320, which improves the 0-60 mph time by .2 seconds. Torque rises 17 lb-ft to 317 lb-ft on manual-equipped cars, and 32 lb-ft on autos. Not mentioned on the 3-series spec sheet is what BMW calls a "highly-emotional 'exhaust burble' sound during engine overrun conditions." The $1,100 price tag doesn't include installation from BMW dealers, which the manufacturer says retains the 4 year/50,000 mile warranty that comes with the car when new.
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While Mercedes-Benz has been known to charge up to $9,000 on "Performance Packages" for AMG models which essentially increase turbocharger boost, up the top speed, and add a limited slip differential, BMW's tactic introduces their "M" mentality onto non-M cars in a manner that echoes their optional "M Sport" treatment which adds zippier wheels, suspension, and bodywork for $3,200. BMW's software upgrades will surely attract buyers seeking a quick, relatively cheap hit of power, but it also might signal a bigger D.I.Y. trend of consumers wondering how they can extract more power from their bottled up engines themselves, without having to pay the proverbial piper.
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