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Corn cobs eyed for bioenergy production

Public release date: 31-Jan-2013
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Contact: Ann Perry
ann.perry@ars.usda.gov
301-504-1628
United States Department of Agriculture - Research, Education and Economics

This press release is available in Spanish.

Corn crop residues are often left on harvested fields to protect soil quality, but they could become an important raw material in cellulosic ethanol production. U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) research indicates that soil quality would not decline if post-harvest corn cob residues were removed from fields.

This work, led by Agricultural Research Service (ARS) soil scientist Brian Wienhold, supports the USDA priority of developing new sources of bioenergy. ARS is USDA's chief intramural scientific research agency.

Wienhold , with the ARS Agroecosystem Management Research Unit in Lincoln, Neb., led studies that compared runoff rates and sediment loss from no-till corn fields where postharvest crop residues were either removed or retained. The scientists also removed cobs from half of the test plots that were protected by the residues.

After the test plots were established, the scientists generated two simulated rainfall events. The first occurred when the fields were dry, and the next occurred 24 hours later when the soils were almost completely saturated.

During the first event, on plots where residue was removed, runoff began around 200 seconds after the "rain" began. Runoff from plots protected by residues didn't start until around 240 seconds after it started to "rain."

Runoff from the residue-free plots contained 30 percent more sediment than runoff from all the residue-protected plots. But the presence or absence of cobs on the residue-protected plots did not significantly affect sediment loss rates.

Wienhold's team concluded that even though cob residues did slightly delay the onset of runoff, sediment loss rates were not significantly affected by the presence or absence of the cobs. The results indicated that the cobs could be removed from other residue and used for bioenergy feedstock without significantly interfering with the role of crop residues in protecting soils.

In a related study, Wienhold examined how the removal of cob residues affected soil nutrient levels. Over the course of a year, his sampling indicated that cobs were a source of soil potassium, but that they weren't a significant source of any other plant nutrients.

###

Read more about this research in the January 2013 issue of Agricultural Research magazine.

USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer. To file a complaint of discrimination, write: USDA, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights, Office of Adjudication, 1400 Independence Ave., SW, Washington, DC 20250-9410 or call 866-632-9992 (Toll-free Customer Service), 800-877-8339 (Local or Federal relay), 866-377-8642 (Relay voice users).
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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.

Corn cobs eyed for bioenergy production Public release date: 31-Jan-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Ann Perry
ann.perry@ars.usda.gov
301-504-1628
United States Department of Agriculture - Research, Education and Economics

This press release is available in Spanish.

Corn crop residues are often left on harvested fields to protect soil quality, but they could become an important raw material in cellulosic ethanol production. U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) research indicates that soil quality would not decline if post-harvest corn cob residues were removed from fields.

This work, led by Agricultural Research Service (ARS) soil scientist Brian Wienhold, supports the USDA priority of developing new sources of bioenergy. ARS is USDA's chief intramural scientific research agency.

Wienhold , with the ARS Agroecosystem Management Research Unit in Lincoln, Neb., led studies that compared runoff rates and sediment loss from no-till corn fields where postharvest crop residues were either removed or retained. The scientists also removed cobs from half of the test plots that were protected by the residues.

After the test plots were established, the scientists generated two simulated rainfall events. The first occurred when the fields were dry, and the next occurred 24 hours later when the soils were almost completely saturated.

During the first event, on plots where residue was removed, runoff began around 200 seconds after the "rain" began. Runoff from plots protected by residues didn't start until around 240 seconds after it started to "rain."

Runoff from the residue-free plots contained 30 percent more sediment than runoff from all the residue-protected plots. But the presence or absence of cobs on the residue-protected plots did not significantly affect sediment loss rates.

Wienhold's team concluded that even though cob residues did slightly delay the onset of runoff, sediment loss rates were not significantly affected by the presence or absence of the cobs. The results indicated that the cobs could be removed from other residue and used for bioenergy feedstock without significantly interfering with the role of crop residues in protecting soils.

In a related study, Wienhold examined how the removal of cob residues affected soil nutrient levels. Over the course of a year, his sampling indicated that cobs were a source of soil potassium, but that they weren't a significant source of any other plant nutrients.

###

Read more about this research in the January 2013 issue of Agricultural Research magazine.

USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer. To file a complaint of discrimination, write: USDA, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights, Office of Adjudication, 1400 Independence Ave., SW, Washington, DC 20250-9410 or call 866-632-9992 (Toll-free Customer Service), 800-877-8339 (Local or Federal relay), 866-377-8642 (Relay voice users).
[ | E-mail | Share ]
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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/2013-01/usdo-cce013113.php
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(RIA Novosti / Kirill Braga)

A non-commercial partnership will limit Internet users? access to websites; inquiries for controversial content will require personal requests.

The experiment will give users access to half a million hand-picked sites.

The Safe Internet League has announced that they had secured an agreement between itself, the governor of the Kostroma Region and all 29 internet services? providers that work there to conduct the experiment dubbed ?Clean Internet?.

The experiment will start in February once providers change their user agreements so that subscribers will only have access to a so called ?white list? of web-sites approved by the league?s experts. Those who wish to venture beyond the 500,000 approved websites will have to sign an additional agreement stating that they are doing so at their own risk.

Kostroma Region has a population of about 660,000 about 70% of whom live in urban areas.

The watchdog claims that by April they plan to expand the white list to one million sites, but as the Russian domain zone currently has about two million active sites (of four million registered), the initiative would most likely bar Kostroma residents from visiting half of all Russian web-sites.

Representatives of the League say that web-site owners would have to file requests to list their resources among the safe content and such a move would happen only after experts check into the application. If experts find pornography, violence, extremism or other illicit or illegal content on the site it will be excluded from the white list forever.

The Safe Internet League is a non-commercial organization launched by several major internet providers and a Christian charity. The declared aim of the group is ridding the Internet of dangerous content through self-regulation in order to prevent government censorship.

However, it was the Safe Internet League that initiated the nationwide bill on internet blacklists that came into force in November. The new rule allows the authorities to force web-sites offline in an out-of-court order. Before this bill only courts could shut down illegal web-sites and prosecutors had to prove that the content posted there dangerous or harmful.

Internet professionals and activists are extremely sceptical about the initiative. The head of the unregistered Pirate Party of Russia, Pavel Rassudov, said the Safe Internet experiment was pure censorship and violated the Russian Constitution that guarantees the right to information access. The activist also said the Safe Internet League?s monopoly on judgment seemed strange and creating a broader panel for the purpose would be more appropriate.

An executive from the Foundation for Development of Internet Technologies and Infrastructure, Matvey Alekseyev, also said that it was not clear who granted the league?s experts the right to dictate their understanding of safety to ordinary internet users. He called on activists to start fighting actual paedophiles, not the internet videos as once the paedophiles are defeated the videos would also disappear.

Source: http://rt.com/politics/anti-pedophile-safe-internet-russian-169/

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braunelisha07

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Source: http://jobs.printweek.com/job/337851/account-executive-9-mnoths-ftc-london-pos/?TrackID=3

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braunelisha07

The waste of talent in Fisher Stevens' Stand Up Guys is criminal. It's the movie equivalent of shooting a man in Reno, just to watch him die.

This tale of three aging lawbreakers -- played by Al Pacino, Christopher Walken and Alan Arkin -- is not just clich?d. It's witless, to boot. The script by first-timer Noah Haidle longs for depth, even as it makes Viagra jokes (poor Pacino is forced utter them). It wants to be Tarantino-esque, blending wisecracks with wild violence. Instead, it just stumbles from one scene to the next, a long journey into night that will leave you dazed.

Walken plays Doc, who apparently spends his days painting the same landscape of an L.A. River bridge over and over. But on the day in which the story transpires, he packs up his paints and heads for the prison gates, where his best friend, Val (Pacino), is being released after a lengthy stretch.

Very quickly we get the gist: Doc has orders from their old boss, Claphands (Mark Margolis), to kill Val when he's released, because Claphands also has something he's holding over Doc's head. But Doc's deadline is 10 a.m. the next day, so he's willing to let Val have a memorable final night. Val knows this and is determined to make the most of it.

So let's see: hookers and blow, right? Well, hookers, at the least. And then a lot of driving around -- including springing their old pal Hirsch (Arkin) from the nursing home where he's spending his last days connected to an oxygen tank. Hirsch, their longtime getaway driver, takes them on a wild ride and gets a ride himself, when they head back to the same brothel where Val got his pipes cleaned.

But the sword of doom is hanging over Val -- and Claphands (as stupid and contrived a character name as any I've heard in a while) keeps sending thugs to intrude on his final hours. The joke (allegedly) is that these aging wiseguys have a few violent tricks left up their collective sleeves, which they pull off easily because the thugs are too stupid to expect them.

Arkin jolts the film to life during his brief sojourn on the screen. Pacino and Walken have an easy chemistry, but their material is too stale for them to ever really get any traction. There are moments, to be sure, including one when Pacino muses on mortality, when things feel real for a moment. But only for a moment.

There should be a penalty for assembling a cast this good (it includes Julianna Margulies and Lucy Punch) and then forcing them to work from a script as bad as this. If there were such a thing as movie jail, Stand Up Guys and its creators would be serving life without parole.

Find more reviews, interviews and commentary on my website.

?

Follow Marshall Fine on Twitter: www.twitter.com/Marshall Fine

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/marshall-fine/movie-review-istand-up-gu_b_2572732.html

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braunelisha07

As she scraped cold dirt from the remains of an extinct bison, Pam Groves wrinkled her nose at a rotten-egg smell wafting from gristle that still clung to the animal's bones. She lifted her head to scan the horizon, wary of bears that might be attracted to the flesh of a creature that gasped its last breath 40,000 years ago.

In the type of discovery they have dreamed about for years, Groves and Dan Mann, both researchers at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, in summer 2012 found in the thawing bank of a northern river almost the entire skeleton of a steppe bison that died during the last ice age.

In adventurous work sponsored by the Bureau of Land Management, Mann and Groves have been boating down lonely northern rivers for 15 years looking for scattered bones of ice age mammals, always hoping to find a complete skeleton or mummy of a mammoth, horse, or American lion. In mid-June, on a familiar stretch of river that flows northward on Alaska's North Slope, they rounded a river bend and saw the skull of a large bison trapped against a willow shrub.

Groves described the scene: "We were paddling downriver, battling through a nasty squall of hail and wind, thinking about our camping spot about a mile downriver," she said. "When the hail was just breaking up, we saw the upside-down skull with the lower jaw still attached. The teeth were really white. They stood out."

The pair landed their inflatable canoe at the base of the 60-foot bluff. Even before they stepped out in their rubber boots, Groves spotted other bones that told her this wasn't an ordinary site. Though this ever-changing wall had yielded many bones over the years, those were scattered remains of ice-age creatures separated by meandering river action and the crumbling and re-forming of permafrost-cemented bluffs. Mann said their typical discoveries resemble "Pleistocene in a blender." ...

Read the complete story at Alaska Dispatch.

?

Follow AlaskaDispatch.com on Twitter: www.twitter.com/alaskadispatch

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alaskadispatchcom/alaska-scientists-discove_b_2570807.html

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ALMATY, Kazakhstan (AP) ? A passenger plane crashed Tuesday near Kazakhstan's principal city, Almaty, likely killing all 20 on board, Kazakhstan airline SCAT said.

Almaty and surrounding areas have been shrouded in fog for the last two days and the accident appears to have been caused by limited visibility.

A SCAT statement said 15 passengers and five crew members were aboard the plane.

Visibility was limited, forcing the plane to make a second approach to Almaty airport, the airline said.

The Emergency Services Ministry said rescue workers have been dispatched.

Details on the crash were sparse, including the kind of plane. SCAT's website shows it flies Boeing 757s and 737s along with the Yak-42 and the An-24.

Interfax news agency cited the Almaty province deputy governor Amandyk Batalov as identifying the aircraft as a Canadian-made Bombardier CRJ200.

The Emergency Services Ministry said the plane, which it said was flying in from the northern city of Kokshetau, disappeared from radar around 13:13 p.m. local time (0713 GMT).

This is the second major aircraft accident recently in Kazakhstan. In December, 27 people died when an An-72 military plane crashed near the southern city of Shymkent during violent snowstorms.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/20-believed-dead-kazakhstan-plane-crash-091859516.html

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Source: http://stupidcelebrities.net/2013/01/nasty-woman-eats-cat-fur-on-my-strange-addiction-video/

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At just over 7 billion in number, human beings are kind of a big deal. Despite our greatness in numbers, however, there are quite a few other species sharing our little blue dot. Sadly, the one greatest in number isn't something you see every day or ... well, ever, for that matter. And say what you will about obesity in our society, but PBS' "Life By the Numbers" Digital Short (part of its new "It's Okay to be Smart" series) argues that human biomass (287 million tons) is nowhere near that of even a single species of krill (500 million tons). Take that, Richard Simmons!

See the full video, just below; if it does end up guilting you into weight loss with all that biomass talk, might we direct you towards the Hapifork?

Filed under: Science, Alt

Comments

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/01/28/pbs-digital-short-life-by-the-numbers/

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braunelisha07 · 28 January 2013

28 January 2013 Last updated at 03:54 ET By Francesca Williams BBC News

Britain needs to find a site for the long-term underground storage of high-level radioactive waste.

With some of it staying dangerous for up to 100,000 years, the government's agreed solution is to bury it - permanently.

Three Cumbria councils are due to vote on Wednesday on whether to proceed to the next stage in the process of investigating whether such a facility would be possible - and safe - in the county.

The underground storage facility would be up to four times the size of Sellafield - between 6 sq km and 23 sq km (2.5 and 9 sq miles).

Continue reading the main story

What is radioactive waste?

Material containing levels of radioactivity hazardous to humans and the environment
Usually a by-product of nuclear power generation - 95% of UK's radioactive waste comes from the nuclear power industry
Waste is categorised by its radioactivity level - high (heat-generating), intermediate and low
High level waste (HLW) is the liquid by-product of reprocessing highly-radioactive spent nuclear fuel
HLW is converted into glass blocks within steel containers, then placed in a store where it is cooled by air - for at least 50 years

Source: Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC)

At its smallest, it would be about the size of Workington or Whitehaven; at its biggest, larger than Carlisle.

Waste would be stored in underground vaults at a depth of between 200m (656ft) and 1,000m (3,280ft) and there would be some buildings on the surface.

About 1,000 construction workers would take about 15 years to complete it at an estimated cost of between ?12bn and ?20bn.

Currently, radioactive waste is stored above ground in various "long-term temporary" sites around the UK, mostly at Sellafield.

In its final report, the West Cumbria Managing Radioactive Waste Safely (MRWS) Partnership - set up to coordinate discussions - said there could be "positive and negative impacts".

Concerns include the noise and traffic caused by construction and possible effects on landscape, tourism, investment and jobs, the report said.

But the partnership said: "Our overall opinion is that, at this stage, we are fairly confident that an acceptable process can be put in place to assess and mitigate negative impacts, and maximise positive impacts."

The waste needs to go somewhere and MRWS is the only group still considering an underground storage facility in its area.

Continue reading the main story

Timeline highlights

March 2009 - West Cumbria Managing Radioactive Waste Safely (MRWS) Partnership is formed by Copeland and Allerdale Borough Councils and Cumbria County Council.

November 2009 - MRWS starts to inform residents about government plans to store radioactive waste underground.

March 2010 - a public meeting is held to discuss the possibilities.

June 2010 - a geological survey starts to assess which areas are unsuitable.

November 2010 - people are again asked for their views but West Cumbria Friends of the Earth, describes the consultation as "tokenistic."

September 2011 - MRWS members visit a research facility in France to find out about geological disposal in other countries.

November 2011 - a four-month consultation starts.

Feb 2012 - a study is published looking at how to counter bad publicity created by the research.

May 2012 - the results of an Ipsos Mori poll suggest a majority is in favour of considering hosting the facility. In Copeland, which covers Sellafield, 68% of people backed entering formal talks with government. Across Cumbria as a whole, 53% were in favour and 33% opposed.

July 2012 - MRWS publishes its final report. It says a suitable rock formation that could act as an effective barrier would be essential for the construction of a safe disposal facility.

October 2012 - The three councils ask the government for more time and further information before deciding whether to allow detailed studies and investigations to take place.

January 2013 - that decision is due to be made.

Dungeness in Kent, who had initially shown interest, withdrew at the end of 2012 in the face of opposition from residents.

The government, keen to attract volunteers, rather than impose the proposal on an unwilling area, has promised certain benefits, such as money for tourism marketing and clean-up, for any council which agreed to accept the storage facility.

Advocates of the plans say it will protect, and create, nuclear industry jobs, with more than 9,000 people already working at Sellafield.

Jamie Reed, Labour MP for Copeland, which encompasses the plant, said: "Cumbria stands to benefit hugely, in a genuinely unprecedented fashion, should a Geological Disposal Facility (GDF) ever be sited here."

He stressed the "investment package" must be suitable, the final decision must "rest with a local referendum not politicians" and unsuitable geology would put paid to the whole scheme.

Lynn Berger, who runs the Woolpack Inn near Boot in the Eskdale Valley, is more concerned about the effect of "scaremongering" on tourism than the facility itself.

"It's not going to make any difference to us from a radiation point of view," she said.

"And, if anything, everything is so much more controlled because it [Sellafield] is there. The house isn't going to fall down, we're not going to bash a hole in the cellar wall and find the beer turns green."

John Rowlands, of Romar Innovate in Whitehaven, is also positive: "We've had waste stores at Sellafield before and it hasn't affected the industry.

"The nuclear industry has worked alongside tourism for as long as I can remember."

There are concerns about safety and, particularly, the perception of safety among tourists and investors.

Critics are also concerned about visual damage to the landscape and the effect on farming.

Some point out the research is pointlessly going over old ground, citing a plan by Nirex, the agency then responsible for the disposal of nuclear waste, to build an underground waste laboratory in the 1990s which was scrapped after a planning inspector ruled the area's geology made it unsafe.

Former Nirex inspector, Chris McDonald, has said he was "very surprised" West Cumbria was again being suggested as a potential site and "the probability of their finding a suitable site is low".

The Lake District National Park Authority has already told the government that a repository "would not be in the long-term interests of the Lake District" and would risk the area's "brand image".

Its chairman, Bill Jefferson, has said the effects on the landscape and tourism could be disastrous and that tourism brings more income to the area than the nuclear industry.

Campaigner Harry Marsland, from Keswick, has said a "nuclear dump will do significant damage" to the area's image.

"In Cumbria tourism is worth ?2bn per annum, and employs 56,000 people directly, plus it provides the work for countless trades people, suppliers and retailers. Let's be clear, it depends upon the Lake District," he said.

Cumbria County Council, Copeland Borough Council and Allerdale Borough Council will decide whether to move to the next stage of a process that is still decades away from completion, even if approved.

They have sought further assurances from the government, including clarification on when, exactly, they could legally withdraw from the process should they want to.

"Stage 4" would involve undertaking vast geological investigations, properly testing theories for and against, and holding formal talks with the government over any "community benefits package".

Unsuitable sites will be ruled out and, if any remain, further tests will be carried out, including seismic surveys.

If any site is ultimately deemed acceptable construction could begin as soon as 2025.

For more on this story watch Inside Out at 19:30 GMT on BBC One on Monday 28 January.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cumbria-21161367#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa

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braunelisha07

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Source: http://nicecraftshobbieshome534.blogspot.com/2013/01/container-gardening-how-to-grow-food.html

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braunelisha07

GARY, Ind. (AP) ? When medical students have finished their study and practice on cadavers, they often hold a respectful memorial service to honor these bodies donated to science.

But the ceremonies at one medical school have a surreal twist: Relatives gather around the cold steel tables where their loved ones were dissected and which now hold their remains beneath metal covers. The tables are topped with white or burgundy-colored shrouds, flags for military veterans, flowers and candles.

The mixture of grace and goth at the Indiana University School of Medicine-Northwest campus might sound like a scene straight out filmmaker Tim Burton's quirky imagination. Yet, despite the surrounding shelves of medical specimens and cabinets of human bones, these dissection lab memorials are more moving than macabre.

The medical students join the families in the lab and read letters of appreciation about the donors, a clergy member offers prayers, and tears are shed.

Family members are often squeamish about entering that room. This year's ceremony was last Friday, and relatives of one of the six adult donors being honored chose not to participate. And some who did attend had mixed feelings.

Joan Terry of Griffith, Ind., came to honor her sister, Judy Clemens, who died in 2011 at age 51 after a long battle with health problems including multiple sclerosis and osteoporosis. Terry said she felt a little hesitant about being in the dissection lab and was relieved that nothing too graphic was visible.

"I was kind of looking forward to coming," Terry said. "This is ... like a closure. I know Judy's not with us anymore. I know that she's dancing on the streets of gold in heaven. She's probably smiling knowing that her body's helping other people, helping these young doctors learn something about her, because that's what she wanted. That's the type of person that she was. She was always giving."

More than three dozen students, donors' relatives and campus staff members crowded the anatomy lab during Friday's memorial, surrounding the tables and standing solemnly along the room's perimeter. Some dabbed their eyes as prayers and remembrances were said, but faces were mostly stoic and there was no sobbing. The lab's usual odor of formaldehyde was strangely absent, masked perhaps by the sweet aroma of bouquets decorating the cadaver tables.

Some donors' relatives wore formal funeral attire. Terry, noting her plain pink T-shirt, said her sister wasn't a fancy person, either. Terry closed her eyes and struggled not to cry during the service, saying beforehand that Clemens "would be upset if I did."

Abdullah Malik, a medical student who worked on Judy Clemens, thanked her in a letter he read aloud during the ceremony.

"To have the courage and fortitude to endure as much as she did is a testament to her strength and an inspiration to us all," he read, standing next to Clemens' sister beside the dissection table holding Clemens' remains.

Ernest Talarico Jr., an assistant professor and director of anatomy coursework, created the unusual program and began holding the laboratory ceremonies in 2007. The cadavers are considered the medical students' first patients, and students are encouraged to have contact with the donors' families during the semester, too.

At other medical schools, donated bodies remain anonymous and students never meet the families. Talarico said his program humanizes the learning experience.

Talarico views the services as life-affirming and a chance to give thanks. The education these donated bodies have provided is invaluable, he says, teaching doctors-to-be how the body works, and what causes things to go wrong.

"We look at it as a celebration of the lives of those individuals and the gift that they have given to us," Talarico said.

He considers the location fitting.

"I think it is appropriate in that we honor them in the setting in which they desired to give what they viewed as their last gift to humanity," he said.

Malik, the medical student, said knowing the donors' identities and meeting their families enriches the students' medical education.

"Once you put a name and a face to the body that you're working with, once you kind of put an identity to it, you kind of connect to it in a really meaningful and powerful way," he said.

Medical student Kyle Parker said he admired the donors' relatives for showing up, and wondered if he were in their shoes, "would I be willing to meet the people who have actually dissected my family member?"

Parker said he hopes the answer would be yes.

___

Online:

Indiana University School of Medicine-Northwest: http://iusm-nw.medicine.iu.edu

___

AP Medical Writer Lindsey Tanner can be reached at: http://www.Twitter.com/LindseyTanner

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/cadavers-honored-med-student-dissection-lab-080822976.html

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After the NFC jumped out in front 10-7 in the Pro Bowl?s initial 16 minutes, Chiefs linebacker Derrick Johnson briefly returned the lead to the AFC by reading Giants quarterback Eli Manning?s eyes in zone coverage and picking off Eli?s pass, which was intended for Vikings tight end Kyle Rudolph.

Johnson beat everyone to the house for a 42-yard pick six, putting the AFC up 14-10 early in the second quarter.

The NFC rallied back on its next drive, keyed by a BeastMode run out of Seahawks running back Marshawn Lynch. Lynch shed five tackles for a vicious 12-yard gain, easily the best run of a Pro Bowl that has so far been decidedly pass happy.

Two snaps after Lynch?s run, Eli hit Giants teammate Victor Cruz for a nine-yard touchdown on an in route out of the slot, giving the NFC the lead back at 17-14. Cruz, as he is known to do, performed a quick salsa dance in the end zone to celebrate.

Trailing by three points midway through the second quarter, the AFC replaced Peyton Manning at quarterback with Matt Schaub of the Texans. On a 40-yard bomb attempt intended for Broncos receiver Demaryius Thomas, Schaub was intercepted by Falcons safety William Moore. Moore returned the pick 27 yards to the NFC 28.

Eli got aggressive with under three minutes remaining in the first half. He noticed Rudolph in Chiefs linebacker Tamba Hali?s coverage down the right sideline, waved Rudolph to continue his route downfield, and hit him for a deep gain of 52 behind a lumbering Hali.

The first flag of the game was called on Broncos cornerback Champ Bailey toward the end of the second quarter. When explaining the penalty, official Ed Hochuli made sure to announce that ?Yes, there are penalties in the Pro Bowl.? (Yes, Hochuli really said that.)

Bailey was covering Bucs receiver Vincent Jackson in the end zone when whistled, so the ball was placed at the AFC?s one-yard line.

Lynch punched it in from a yard out, increasing the NFC?s lead to 24-14. Eli led yet another touchdown drive to close out the half, going 75 yards in the final 68 seconds with a three-yard scoring strike to Rudolph to cap it off.

As of halftime, top performers in the 2013 Pro Bowl so far have included Rudolph (five catches, game-high 122 yards, one touchdown), Jackson (five catches, 86 yards, one touchdown) and Cruz (game-high eight catches, 66 yards, touchdown).

Through two quarters, Rudolph is the favorite for Pro Bowl MVP.

Source: http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/01/28/poll-61-percent-of-players-disapprove-of-goodells-performance/related/

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This is a guest post by Frank Swain who works at the Royal Statistical Society on a project to develop science training for journalists.

?

On the screen in front of us stands row upon row of little grey figures, four hundred in all if you count the ones cut off by the skewed aspect ratio. Five of the figures are stained red. They are dead. They developed pancreatic cancer. The rest are still enjoying their bacon sandwiches.

And so, the professor stood in front of the screen concludes, the relative risk associated with eating processed meat is 20%, or to put it another way, one extra death for every four hundred people. A relative risk increase of 20%, but an absolute risk increase of just 1 percentage point. The same statistic, but two entirely different news stories, depending on how you frame it.

A hand goes up. ?Whose responsibility is it,? the woman asks, ?to convert those numbers??

It?s a good question. In public health studies, risk factors are often presented in relative terms, because that format makes sense when discussing interventions on a population scale. How many lives could be saved by encouraging British citizens to skip that second sausage? ?But when discussing personal health choices, it?s absolute risks, not relative ones, that are most useful. Tell me my diet ramps up my risk of cancer by 20% and I may choke on my pork scratchings, but tell me that I?m shaving my life expectancy by a year and I?ll probably decide the intervening half-century is better spent in the company of fry ups.

When science makes the crossover from academic into public discourse, whose responsibility is it to adjust the language accordingly? A common attitude within the science community seems to be that journalists reporting on science stories ought to be able to substitute risk factors and odds ratios as easily as epidemiologists do. That?s a facile argument to make, but journalists are also the least equipped to do this, both in terms of time and ability. It is important, however, that journalists understand how influential this kind of reframing can be, and how it can take control of the reporting line if left unbridled.

The goal of delivering that understanding is what led me to this secluded corner of the UK?s Channel 4 newsroom, listening to the professor talk about relative risk and other statistical concepts to over a dozen journalists. The workshop, and many more like it, have come about through the Royal Statistical Society?s publicly-funded BenchPress project, which aims to develop science and statistical training for journalists. The project was set up in response to a white paper published by the UK Government?s department for Business, Innovation and Skills in 2010 which highlighted a dearth in the availability of such training, both within the industry and within the classrooms that supply it with new graduates. As part of the project, I?ve developed a network of a dozen volunteer speakers who regularly visit schools and newsrooms across the country to help future potential communicators and journalists get to grips with numbers. ?The passion of the volunteers?all working scientists?helps ensure that both junior and more senior journalists produce science news stories that are as robust and accurate as possible.

Later this week, Hilda Bastian and Evelyn Lamb will host a discussion of rogue statistics at this year?s ScienceOnline conference, and the problems these can cause in politics and the media. ?One of the most important roles of math blogging for non-mathematicians,? they write, ?is clarifying the ways in which things are abused, and how we can make the true meaning of statistics clear without losing the attention of the audience.? I?d argue that?s a sentiment shared by journalists of all stripes, not just math bloggers. No one I?ve approached?neither college nor newsroom?has yet turned down the offer of a free workshop on science and statistics. Everyone in the industry is aware that the era of data journalism is fast approaching. Already political pundits in the US have seen their audiences depart in droves for the analytical pronouncements of quant Nate Silver. My advice to Bastian and Lamb is this: don?t be content to stop at math bloggers. The world?s hacks are just as eager to get their numbers right, if you?ll only help them along the way.

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=8867db904937674d1167ca8a29b96ce1

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Buy on the merchant's website looking and browse reviews. If you're attempting to search out The Stepdad's Guide: Resolving Family Conflict with the simplest price. This is the most effective price for you. Where you'll find these item is by on-line looking stores? Read the review on The Stepdad's Guide: Resolving Family Conflict Now, it's special worth. So do not lose it.

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Blended families seem destined to fail. Most do, but they don?t have to. Many couples who stay together discover the secret. Now the secret's in your hands! The Stepdad?s Guide reveals five common roadblocks these families face -and gives couples the tools to save their marriage.

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Source: http://popstepparentingblendedfamili137.blogspot.com/2013/01/the-stepdad-guide-resolving-family.html

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WASHINGTON (AP) ? President Barack Obama is a big football fan with two daughters, but if he had a son, he says he'd "have to think long and hard" before letting him play because of the physical toll the game takes.

"I think that those of us who love the sport are going to have to wrestle with the fact that it will probably change gradually to try to reduce some of the violence," Obama tells The New Republic.

"In some cases, that may make it a little bit less exciting, but it will be a whole lot better for the players, and those of us who are fans maybe won't have to examine our consciences quite as much."

In an interview in the magazine's Feb. 11 issue, Obama said he worries more about college players than he does about those in the NFL.

"The NFL players have a union, they're grown men, they can make some of these decisions on their own, and most of them are well-compensated for the violence they do to their bodies," Obama said. "You read some of these stories about college players who undergo some of these same problems with concussions and so forth and then have nothing to fall back on. That's something that I'd like to see the NCAA think about."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-01-27-US-Obama-Football/id-efce4332b2b74f989f55a31703f7e124

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| Politics - Top Stories Stories, RSS Feeds and Widgets via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/279735415?client_source=feed&format=rss

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Friday, January 25, 2013

Cells in the immune system called macrophages normally engulf and kill intruding bacteria, holding them inside a membrane-bound bag called a vacuole, where they kill and digest them.

Some bacteria thwart this effort by ripping the bag open and then escaping into the macrophage's nutrient-rich cytosol compartment, where they divide and could eventually go on to invade other cells.

But research from the University of North Carolina School of Medicine shows that macrophages have a suicide alarm system, a signaling pathway to detect this escape into the cytosol. The pathway activates an enzyme, called caspase-11, that triggers a program in the macrophage to destroy itself.

"It's almost like a thief sneaking into the house not knowing an alarm will go off to knock down the walls and expose him to capture by the police," says study senior and corresponding author Edward Miao, PhD, assistant professor of microbiology and immunology at UNC. "In the macrophage, this cell death, called pyroptosis, expels the bacterium from the cell, exposing it to other immune defense mechanisms."

A report of the research appears online in the journal Science on Thursday January 24, 2013.

Miao, also a member of the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, says the new findings show that having this detection pathway protects mice from lethal infection with the type of vacuole-escaping Burkholderia species: B. thailandensis and B. pseudomallei.

Both are close relatives. But they differ in lethality. B. pseudomallei is potentially a biological weapon. Used in a spray, it could potentially infect people via aerosol route, causing sickness and death. Moreover, it also could fall into a latent phase, "essentially turning into a 'sleeper' inside the lungs and hiding there for decades," Miao explains. In contrast, B. thailandensis, which shares many properties with its species counterpart, is not normally able to cause any disease or infection

These environmental bacteria are ubiquitous throughout S.E. Asia, and were it not for the caspase-11 pathway defense system, that part of the world could be uninhabitable, Miao points out.

This grim possibility clearly emerged in the study. Mice that lack the caspase-11 detection pathway succumb to infection not only by B. pseudomallei, but also to the normally benign B. thailandensis. "Thus caspase-11 is critical for surviving exposure to ubiquitous environmental pathogens," the authors conclude.

Miao points to research elsewhere showing that the pathway's abnormal activation in people with septic shock, overwhelming bacterial infection of the blood, is associated with death. "We discovered what the pathway is supposed to do, which may help find ways to tone it down in people with that critical condition.

As to bioterrorism, the researcher says it may be possible to use certain drugs already on the market that safely induce the caspase-11 pathway. "Since this pathway requires pre-stimulation with interferon cytokines, it is conceivable that pre-treating people with interferon drugs could ameliorate a bioterror incident. This could be quite important in the case of Burkholderia, since these bacteria are naturally resistant to numerous antibiotics.

"But first we have to find out if they would work in animal models, and consider the logistics of interferon stockpiling, which are currently cost prohibitive."

###

University of North Carolina Health Care: http://www.med.unc.edu

Thanks to University of North Carolina Health Care for this article.

This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/126466/Immune_cell_suicide_alarm_helps_destroy_escaping_bacteria

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BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) ? A lawyer for three Romanians accused of stealing valuable paintings from a museum in the Netherlands insisted Friday there was insufficient evidence to charge them.

At a court hearing in Bucharest, the Romanian capital, defense lawyer Doina Lupu urged that the three men not be extradited to the Netherlands for allegedly stealing seven works by Picasso, Monet and Matisse, among others.

"There is no evidence that this was an organized criminal group," she said. "The arrests were based on assumptions and on simple declarations and these are not enough. "

All three men deny any links to the Oct. 16 theft at Rotterdam's Kunsthal gallery.

A prosecutor told the court Friday that suspect Radu Dogaru took two paintings ? one each by Henri Matisse and Paul Gauguin ? to be evaluated by Maria Dragu, the curator for foreign paintings at the Romanian National Art Museum.

Dogaru denied this and Dragu is on leave, the Romanian museum said Friday.

The other two suspects, Alexandru Bitu and Eugen Darie, also denied being involved in the theft. Darie did tell the court he had visited the Kunsthal gallery twice to look at its bronze sculptures.

The Bucharest Court ruled Friday that the men should be kept in custody pending an investigation.

The thieves broke in Oct. 16 through a rear emergency exit at the gallery, grabbed the paintings off the wall and fled, all within two minutes.

The stolen paintings came from the private Triton Foundation, a collection of avant-garde art put together by multimillionaire Willem Cordia, an investor and businessman, and his wife, Marijke Cordia-Van der Laan. Willem Cordia died in 2011.

The stolen paintings were: Pablo Picasso's 1971 "Harlequin Head;" Claude Monet's 1901 "Waterloo Bridge, London" and "Charing Cross Bridge, London;" Matisse's 1919 "Reading Girl in White and Yellow;" Gauguin's 1898 "Girl in Front of Open Window;" Meyer de Haan's "Self-Portrait," around 1890; and Lucian Freud's 2002 work "Woman with Eyes Closed."

The gallery said it had a "state-of-the-art" automated alarm system.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/lawyer-no-proof-charge-romanians-art-theft-124141340.html

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'I'm really excited about it,' says Army veteran Starlyn Lara of the Pentagon's decision on allowing women in combat.
By Gil Kaufman

Photo: Getty Images

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1700778/women-military-combat-ban-lift-reactions.jhtml

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Apple CEO/FILE

WASHINGTON, Jan 24 ? Global tablet computer sales are expected to hit 145 million this year, a research firm said Wednesday in the latest upgrade of the sizzling segment.
ABI Research said it raised its forecast due to ?a combination of new market entrants, more affordable choices for consumers, and increased adoption by business audiences.?

?The rate of innovation is slowing as tablet vendors augment their product portfolios to meet the needs of market audiences,? says ABI?s Jeff Orr.

?The late 2012 launches of Apple?s iPad mini and a variety of slates based on Intel architecture and new Windows operating systems will only begin to show their progress this year.?

ABI said North America will account for just over 50 percent of worldwide sales.

Business sales are expected to account for 19 percent of the total, as corporate customers look to newer models aimed at their users.

Sales data from 2012 are still being compiled, but some forecasts indicated the total number of tablets sold would be around 126 million.

Author: AFP
AFP has written 754 posts
Agence France-Presse is a global news agency delivering fast, in-depth coverage of the events shaping our world from wars and conflicts to politics, sports, entertainment and the latest breakthroughs in health, science and technology.

Source: http://www.capitalfm.co.ke/business/2013/01/tablet-sales-forecast-leaps-again/

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??? I am an interactive teacher who loves creative interaction. For me, a classroom holds opportunity and promise...but also a great challenge. The room is a first impression that can either intimidate or welcome..it can inspire or stifle. Preparations for a lesson always include making the room work for me; getting the right setting for engaging every aspect of a child and sparking their interests.
??? First consideration: what's available? Tables and chairs? Open floor space? Shelves or a sink? Some classrooms are equip with toys or books. Along with the available elements, layout is important. If I share a space with another ministry then I need to be mindful about the set up. Knowing the elements that already exist and how they are arranged help me set my mind to the next order of business.
?? My next consideration: What do I have at home? Basic art/craft supplies, paper goods, and some toys can easily be toted back and forth. Cookie sheets and magnets, rice in a tub, simple every day items can be creative avenues for little hands. It is amazing what house hold goods have traveled with me to aid in the lessons of the day.
?? Another question on the list: Do I have help? This helps me determine how far apart to set creative stations, not to mention some activities are just easier with a few more hands.
?? When a child enters my classroom there are tables or corners of activity waiting for them... a kitchen set up, a table with water colors, a reading corner and maybe a dress up nook. Each area relates in some way to the lesson at hand..this sparks conversation that prepares for the lesson and gets them engaged in the learning process. If the children are young, then plenty of open space is left for music and movement - getting those wiggly bodies some relief from quiet activities.
?? Carpet on the floor and paint on the walls really don't matter when it comes to welcoming a learning environment. I prefer a simple room that allows me the freedom to tote things in and change the objects as the need calls for it. It warms my heart when a little one enters the classroom asking 'what's in the box today'.. they know me..and know we are going to learn, grow, and engage our hearts. There in I know I have made the room work for me.

Source: http://simplyscaife.blogspot.com/2013/01/simply-serving-make-room-work-for-you.html

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Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., speaks with reporters following a Democratic strategy session at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2013. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? The tradition-laden Senate voted Thursday to modestly curb filibusters, using a bipartisan consensus rare in today's hyper-partisan climate to make it a bit harder but not impossible for outnumbered senators to sink bills and nominations.

The rules changes would reduce yet not eliminate the number of times opponents ? usually minority-party Republicans these days ? can use filibusters, procedural tactics which can derail legislation and which can be stopped only by the votes of 60 of the 100 senators.

In return, the majority party ? Democrats today ? would have to allow two minority amendments on bills, a response to Republican complaints that Democrats often prevent them from offering any amendments at all. The new procedures also would limit the time spent debating some bills and nominations, allowing some to be completed in hours that could otherwise take a day or more.

The changes were broken into two pieces and approved by votes of 78-16 and 86-9. In both roll calls, Republican opponents were joined by Sen. Bernie Sanders, a Vermont independent who usually sides with Democrats. Many of the GOP "no" votes came from tea party-backed senators like Sens. Mike Lee, R-Utah; Rand Paul, R-Ky.; and Marco Rubio, R-Fla.

The two votes and a brief debate took less than an hour, impressively quick for the Senate. They came after a more typical day that featured a sprinkling of senators' speeches and long periods when the Senate chamber idled with no one talking, while private negotiations off the floor nailed down final details.

President Barack Obama said the Senate action would help his agenda in Congress.

"At a time when we face critical decisions on a whole range of issues ? from preventing further gun violence, to reforming our broken immigration system, to getting our fiscal house in order and creating good paying jobs ? we cannot afford unnecessary obstruction. And I am hopeful that today's bipartisan agreement will pave the way for the Senate to take meaningful action in the days and weeks ahead," Obama said in a written statement.

The pact leaves the Senate's minority party with far more power than it has in the House, where rules let a united majority party easily muscle through its priorities. It also falls short of changes Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., had been threatening to ram through using the 55 votes Democrats have, a technique nicknamed the "nuclear option" because it is considered likely to produce harsh GOP retaliation that could grind work to a virtual halt.

"I'm glad cooler heads have prevailed here once again, and those who were clamoring for the nuclear option, most of whom have never served a day of their lives in the minority, didn't prevail," said McConnell, who worked out the agreement with Reid. He added that Republicans felt rules changes were not needed, merely a willingness by both parties to allow "vigorous debate and a robust amendment process."

Reid said the changes would increase Senate efficiency while protecting lawmakers in the minority party, warning that he would consider future changes if Thursday's package didn't do enough.

"We were elected to get things done for the middle class ? not waste time with endless stalling tactics that cause even bills with broad bipartisan support to languish for weeks," Reid said.

Democrats say Republican use of filibusters has become almost routine and far too frequent. Republicans say they use it because Reid often blocks them from offering amendments.

The rules also don't go nearly as far as restrictions championed by a group of newer Democratic senators, such as requiring filibustering senators to physically debate on the Senate floor, as portrayed by the actor Jimmy Stewart in the classic 1939 film, "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington." Such filibusters have been rare for decades.

Democrats said this week that they lacked the votes to force that proposal through the Senate.

Even so, the agreement was remarkable in a period of bitter partisan clashes over Obama's budgetary, tax and social initiatives and GOP efforts to block them. It will streamline some of the Senate's work and avoid what could have been prolonged, nasty battling between the two parties if Democrats ? frustrated by the GOP's growing reliance on the delays ? tried forcing more decisive changes.

The deal gave each side something it wanted: Quicker action for Democrats, guaranteed amendments for Republicans. And it avoided clamping tight limits on filibusters that would alienate veteran lawmakers wary that their party could fall into the minority after any election.

Months ago, Reid said he favored completely banning filibusters when the Senate tries to begin debating a measure, a tactic Republicans have been using more in recent years. He threatened to use Democrats' strength in the Senate to enact that change and perhaps others by a simple majority vote, instead of the two-thirds majority most rules changes require.

Tight restraints on filibusters were championed by less-senior Democrats like Sens. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., and Tom Udall, D-N.M. They are frustrated with the chamber's often glacial debates and the ability of the minority ? these days Republicans ? to kill bills with less than majority support.

"Are they everything I want? Of course not," Udall said in an interview. But he said the Senate is "moving in the right direction. With these changes, it will make this a more efficient institution."

The liberal group Common Cause, which has filed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the filibuster, criticized Reid for the agreement, saying the senator "has gone missing in the fight for filibuster reform."

As part of the agreement, filibusters could be avoided when the Senate tries beginning debate on legislation. In return, the majority leader would have to allow each party to offer at least two amendments ? addressing a major complaint of Republicans that their amendments are often shut out.

In addition, once the Senate votes to limit debate on certain nominations ? district court judges and administration posts below Cabinet level ? the debate would be limited to two hours, far below the 30 hours now allowed. The proposal was aimed at speeding the time spent on such nominations.

In addition, instead of three separate opportunities for opponents of a bill to wage filibusters to block a Senate vote allowing the chamber to try writing compromise legislation with the House, there would only be one such filibuster allowed.

According to the Senate Historian's Office, there were 73 "cloture" votes to end filibusters in the two-year Congress that ended earlier this month. There were 91 such votes in the Congress that served in the two previous years, and 112 in the two-year Congress before that. Republicans were the Senate minority party in each of those Congresses.

Those are the three highest number of cloture votes in any Congress since the Senate started allowing such votes to end filibusters nearly 100 years ago.

___

Associated Press writers Jim Abrams, Stephen Ohlemacher, Andrew Taylor and David Espo contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2013-01-24-US-Senate-Filibuster-Fight/id-b0c77e2bca194623ab5d17ccdcec7302

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Thursday, January 31, 2013

Wednesday, January 30, 2013