Wednesday, October 31, 2012

New York streets flooded as Sandy slams into eastern U.S.

NEW YORK/REHOBOTH BEACH, Delaware (Reuters) - Sandy, one of the biggest storms to hit the United States, pounded the east coast on Tuesday, flooding large parts of New York City, bringing transport to a halt and interrupting the presidential campaign.

More than 5.5 million people were left without electrical power by the storm, which crashed ashore late on Monday near the gambling resort of Atlantic City, New Jersey. More than one million people across a dozen states were ordered to evacuate.

Heavy snows threatened mountainous regions inland, and huge population centers of Baltimore, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. lay in the storm's path.

"We have not seen the kind of flooding problems that certainly could have happened thus far, but we've still got a long ways to go to get through this storm," Washington Mayor Vincent Gray said on local television.

Streets of New York City filled with floodwater, raising fears that the city's subway tunnels could be inundated, and flying debris blew along deserted sidewalks. The city closed down subway, bus and commuter train systems on Sunday night.

In lower Manhattan, firefighters used inflatable orange boats to rescue utility workers trapped for three hours by rising floodwaters inside a power substation.

One of the Con Ed workers pulled from the floodwater, Angelo Amato, said he was part of a crew who had offered to work through the storm.

"This is what happens when you volunteer," he said.

Two people were killed in the New York borough of Queens -- a man in a house hit by a falling tree and a woman who stepped into an electrified puddle of water. Massachusetts police said one man was killed in Peabody in an accident related to the bad weather. Toronto police also recorded one death, a woman hit by flying debris.

Power and back-up generators failed at New York University hospital, and patients were being elsewhere for care.

Trees were downed across the region, falling debris closed a major bridge in Boston and floodwater and gusts of wind buffeted coastal towns such as Fairfield, Connecticut, home to many commuters into New York City, where police cruisers blocked access to the beaches.

"People are definitely not taking this seriously enough," said police officer Tiffany Barrett. "Our worst fear is something like Katrina and we can't get to people."

LARGEST EVER

The storm's wind field stretched from the Canadian border to South Carolina, and from West Virginia to an Atlantic Ocean point about halfway between the United States and Bermuda, easily one of the largest ever seen.

The National Hurricane Center said Sandy came ashore as a "post-tropical cyclone," meaning it still packed hurricane-force winds but lost the characteristics of a tropical storm. It had sustained winds of 80 miles per hour, well above the threshold for hurricane intensity.

With eight days to go before the election, President Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney canceled scheduled campaign events. Both candidates acted cautiously to avoid coming across as overtly political while millions of people are imperiled.

U.S. stock markets were closed on Monday for the first time since the attacks of September 11, 2001, and were set to remain shut on Tuesday. The federal government in Washington was closed, and schools were shut up and down the East Coast.

NYSE Euronext said there had been no damage to the New York Stock Exchange headquarters that could impair trading floor operations, but it was making contingency plans in case of such damage.

One disaster forecasting company predicted economic losses could ultimately reach $20 billion, only half insured.

Governors up and down the East Coast declared states of emergency. Maryland's Martin O'Malley warned there was no question Sandy would kill people in its path.

Sandy made landfall just south of Atlantic City, about 120 miles southwest of Manhattan. Casinos in the gambling destination had already shut down.

In New York, officials evacuated neighbors of a 90-story super luxury apartment building under construction after its crane partially collapsed in high winds, prompting fears the entire rig could crash to the ground.

New York electric utility Con Edison said it expected "record-size outages," with 588,000 customers in the city and nearby Westchester County without power. The company is facing both falling trees knocking down power lines from above and flood waters swamping underground systems from below.

While Sandy does not have the intensity of Hurricane Katrina, which devastated New Orleans in 2005, it killed 66 people in the Caribbean last week before pounding U.S. coastal areas as it moved north.

An AccuWeather meteorologist said Sandy "is unfolding as the Northeast's Katrina," and others said Sandy could be the largest storm to hit the mainland in U.S. history.

Off North Carolina, the U.S. Coast Guard rescued 14 of the 16 crew members who abandoned the replica ship HMS Bounty, using helicopters to lift them from life rafts. The Coast Guard later recovered the body of an "unresponsive" 42-year-old woman while continuing to search for the 63-year-old captain of the ship, which sank in 18-foot seas.

In New Jersey, Exelon Corp declared an alert around its Oyster Creek nuclear power plant be ause of rising waters, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission said. Officials said if waters rise further, they may be forced to use emergency water supplies from a fire hose to cool spent uranium fuel rods.

An alert-level incident, the second-lowest of four action levels, means there's a "potential substantial degradation in the level of safety" at a reactor.

(Additional reporting by Michael Erman, Edith Honan, Greg Roumeliotis, Janet McGurty, Scott DiSavino and Martinne Geller in New York, Barbara Goldberg in New Jersey, Mary Ellen Clark and Lynnley Browning in Connecticut, Daniel Lovering in Boston, Ian Simpson in West Virginia, Tabassum Zakaria and Susan Heavey in Washington, Jane Sutton in Miami, Writing by Ellen Wulfhorst, Paul Thomasch and Ben Berkowitz; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/massive-storm-sandy-crashes-ashore-jersey-001837944--finance.html

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More than 760,000 Con Ed customers in NYC still without power

(Reuters) - New York power company Consolidated Edison Inc said Wednesday it had restored power to over 160,000 of the 930,000 total customers knocked out by Hurricane Sandy, leaving about 764,000 still without power.

Sandy hit the U.S. East Coast Monday night and left almost 8.5 million homes and businesses without power in 21 states from North Carolina to Maine and as far west as Illinois, which surpassed the 8.4 million customers left in the dark by Hurricane Irene last year.

Sandy knocked out power to about 30 percent of Con Edison's more than three million power customers in New York City and Westchester County.

Con Edison said Sandy was the largest storm-related outage in its history. The previous record was the more than 200,000 customers affected by Hurricane Irene in 2011.

On Tuesday, Con Edison estimated that customers in Brooklyn and Manhattan served by underground electric equipment should have power back within four days.

Restoration to all customers in other areas served by overhead power lines will take at least a week.

Last night, the company said it had to cut power to about 160,000 customers in southern Brooklyn and central Staten Island due to Sandy-related problems on high-voltage systems supplying electricity to those areas.

The company also said it reduced voltage to several neighborhoods in Brooklyn by 8 percent last night as workers address the problem.

Officials at Con Edison were not immediately available to say where most of the outages were Wednesday morning. On Tuesday, the company said about 250,000 customers in Manhattan, 180,000 in Westchester County, 108,000 in Queens, 109,000 in Staten Island, 87,000 in Brooklyn, and 45,000 in the Bronx were without power. (Reporting by Scott DiSavino; Editing by James Dalgleish)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/more-760-000-con-ed-customers-nyc-still-121123027--finance.html

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Monday, October 29, 2012

monday melbourne roundup | blog | easy as (vegan) pie - australian ...

And so it was with a fizzle Melbourne International Arts Festival wrapped up for me this year. I *always* do this - over commit then end up not going to something or many things. Thankfully it was only one thing (Before Your Very Eyes) but I still suffer from FOMOD over it.

I finally got to clean the house properly for the first time in the month I've been back. Sometimes I feel like it's never going to end - but it has and it did and I sat on the couch on Saturday afternoon and thought that's it, I ain't moving.

Which always confirms up my fear that as soon as I stop, take stock I will slow down - if i don't maintain inertia I will stagnate.? B12 injections help, as does taking the proper amount of time for sleep (which I never do) and eating well.

How to maintain well oiled, balanced inertia? Something I've struggle with for the (almost) 9 years I've been living here. The answer is there isn't on a micro week level but there can (potentially) be at a macro year level.

I know March and October are the most insane months of the year for me (with January and August merely ridiculous) - I need to start planning my energy at that level, clear my diary months in advance. I get better at it every year. Lets see what 2013 has for me. For now I sleep/rest until January (though will be going to Sydney twice before then). Finishing school mid year will also help MUCHO.

out.

the last of the haussmans - national theatre live

Flawlessly performed, great set design, whip smart dialogue but deflated quite substantially in the second half. Not quite fully baked and didn't really have the cojones to face head on what he was alluding/building to in the first half. I feel ya buddy but you can't tap out halfway through an exorcism. 3/5

we're gonna die - melbourne international arts festival

More cabaret than theatre, Young Jean Lee says she creates work on the last thing in the world she would like to discuss. Cue an intensely personal and raw performance surrounding some of the most painful moments of her life and the pieces of advice that helped her get through.

The Fairfax was the WORST venue for this performance - it should have been at the Arts Festival Hub. I feel like that really let the show down. Nevertheless Young Jean Lee is an enigmatic and captivating performer - the songs created by her backing band Future Wife are intensely sweet and completely appropriate for the material.

I found this really special. 4/5

You can watch the beginning of We're Gonna Die on Vimeo.

an enemy of the people - melbourne international arts festival

I don't really know what to say about this. I found it INTENSELY egomanical but also very thought provoking and entertaining.

The text was handled insensitively I think but the production surrounding it was very very compelling. It sits so far outside theatre I usually see I've found myself pondering it for days. There was also a dog! I've never seen an animal performer onstage before!

This production left my head all mushy - there was so much going on, a lot in the name of naturalism that was at times frustrating but then also lulling. So yeah hrm. Bummed I didn't go to Hedda Gabler last year.. I had a ticket and everything! 3/5

Source: http://www.easyasveganpie.net/2012/10/monday-melbourne-roundup_29.html

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Friday, October 26, 2012

Nepal Women v Sri Lanka Women ? Asian Cricket Council Women's ...

Nepal Women v Sri Lanka Women ? Asian Cricket Council Women's Twenty20 Asia Cup (Group B) ? Match Update

Sri Lanka Women skipper Shashikala Siriwardene led from the front with a useful all-round performance, and guided her team to a 20-run victory over the Nepal Women in their Group B match during the ongoing Asian Cricket Council Women's Twenty20 Asia Cup, at the Guanggong International Cricket Stadium in Guangzhou, China, today on October 25.

The Sri Lanka Women won the toss and elected to bat first ? however, the efforts of the Nepal Women skipper Rubina Chhetry (4-0-7-4) and Sonu Khadka (4-0-19-2) ensured that the Lankan Women were not allowed to proceed beyond a final total of 78.

The Sri Lanka Women opened their innings with Inoka Galagedara (2) and Yasoda Mendis (3), but both were ineffective and fell prey to Chhetry ? the former was trapped lbw by Chhetry in the second over, while the latter was caught and bowled by the Nepal Women skipper.

Chamari Atapattu (7) followed in the very next over, caught out by Nepal Women wicketkeeper Mamta Thapa off Khadka, and by this point, the Sri Lanka Women were at 16 for 3. However, the team received some respite with the innings of skipper and Player of the Match Siriwardene, who top-scored for the team with 23, in addition to setting up a 19-run partnership with Sandamali Dolawatte (11).

After the latter was dismissed at the hands of Sarita Magar in the 12th over, Siriwardene kept the innings moving forward with a 26-run stand for the 5th wicket with wicketkeeper batter Dilani Manodara (15).Their combined efforts got the team up to 61 by the 17th over, after which Karuna Bhandari finally succeeded in dislodging Siriwardene.

From there onwards, the batters registered mediocre performances ? Eshani Kaushalya (8) was sent packing by Khadka in the 19th over, and the final over saw both Manodara and Chamani Seneviratna (2) dismissed by Chhetry. By the end of 20 overs, the Sri Lanka Women posted a final total of 78.

While the target was anything but daunting, the Nepal Women were undone by the assaults of Sri Lanka?s Siriwardene (4-0-8-2) and Dolawatte (4-1-8-2), in addition to their own shoddy running, which led to four dismissals via run out.

None of the Nepal Women managed to reach the double digit mark, and the highest score was Sita Rana Magar?s 9. Registering a string of unremarkable performances, the Nepal Women batters crumbled one by one, and by the end of 20 overs, found themselves at 58, with the Sri Lanka Women going on to claim a 20-run win.

Source: http://blogs.bettor.com/Nepal-Women-v-Sri-Lanka-Women-Asian-Cricket-Council-Womens-Twenty20-Asia-Cup-Group-B-Match-Update-a197685

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Thursday, October 25, 2012

Google cameras map popular Grand Canyon trails

3 hrs.

Google and its street-view cameras already have taken users to narrow cobblestone alleys in Spain using a tricycle, inside?the Smithsonian with a push?cart and to British Columbia's snow-covered slopes by snowmobile.

The search giant now has brought its all-seeing eyes ? mounted for the first time on a backpack ? down into the Grand Canyon, showcasing the attraction's most popular hiking trails on the South Rim and other walkways.

It's the latest evolution in mapping technology for the Mountain View, Calif., company, which has used a rosette of cameras to photograph thousands of cities and towns in dozens of countries for its Street View feature. With a click of the mouse, Internet users are transported virtually for a 360-degree view of locales they may have read about only in tourist books and seen in flat, 2-D images.

"Any of these sort of iconic, cultural, historical locations that are not accessible by road is where we want to go," said Ryan Falor, product manager at Google.

Google announced the trekker earlier this year but made its first official collection of data this week at the Grand Canyon.

The backpacks aren't ready for volunteer use, but Google has said it wants to deploy them at national forests, to the narrow streets of Venice, Mount Everest and to ancient ruins and castles.

The move to capture the Grand Canyon comes after Apple chose to drop Google Maps from its mobile operating systems and opted to use its own mapping program that was derided for, among other things, poor directions and missing towns.

Steve Silverman, operations manager for Google didn't directly address the competition in saying: "Just trying to document a trail, it's going to be hard to beat this."

Google launched its Street View feature in 2007 and has expanded from five U.S. cities to more than 3,000 in 43 countries. Google teams and volunteers have covered more than 5 million miles with the Street View vehicles on a scale that other companies haven't approached, said Mike Dobson, president of Telemapics, a company that monitors mapping efforts.

"You could safely say that it's a standout, well-used application and they don't really have any competition," he said.

As the sun rose Monday, Luc Vincent, Google engineering director, strapped on one of the 40-pound backpacks and set down the Bright Angel Trail to the Colorado River ? a nearly 10-mile hike that goes from 6,900 feet in elevation to 2,400 feet. He hiked back up from Phantom Ranch, which can be 30 degrees warmer than at the rim, through the South Kaibab Trail and also gathered data on other trails.

The so-called trekker captures images every 2.5 seconds with 15 cameras that are 5 megapixels each from the rest areas, the steep switchbacks, the change from juniper trees to scrub brush and the traffic that moves aside as a courtesy to mule riders.

The GPS data is limited, so Google must compensate with sensors that record temperature, vibrations and the orientation of the device as it changes, before it?stitches?the images together and makes them available to users in a few months, Falor said.

Hikers that were on the trail when the data was gathered will have their faces blurred ? an attempt by Google to ensure privacy. Street View has run into problems in places like Europe and Australia for scooping up information transmitted over unsecured wireless networks.

A removable hard drive on the trekker stores the data gathered at the Grand Canyon. Tourists looked at the trekker strangely this week, as if it was something from outer space.

Sharon Kerfoot, a first-time visitor from Alberta said being able to view the terrain ahead of time, gauge the difficulty of the hike and know just how wide the path is would benefit those considering a trip to the Grand Canyon. She and a group of friends headed down the same path as Vincent but on mules, not foot.

"I think it's an excellent idea to give people a broader perspective on what they're getting into," she said.

What the images won't tell visitors is how much water they should carry down the trails, how to prepare for temperature changes, what type of food to bring and how much, and how best to protect the natural resources, park spokeswoman Maureen Oltrogge said.

"Stitched together with other information out there, the technology could be valuable," she said.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/travel/travelkit/google-cameras-map-popular-grand-canyon-trails-1C6643654

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Outgoing Seneca Nation president discusses gaming - Indianz.Com

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Interview: Outgoing Seneca Nation president discusses gaming

Wednesday, October 24, 2012
Filed Under: New York
?

"The Seneca Nation of Indians is proceeding with a plan to build a $130 million casino in downtown Buffalo, even as opposition groups note that the legality of the gambling operation remains under scrutiny in federal court. Outgoing Seneca Nation President Robert Odawi Porter sat down with The News? Brian Meyer to discuss the project and other issues in the weekly ?In Focus? interview series. Here is a summary of some of the issues discussed. Watch the eight-minute interview at www.buffalonews.com/video. Meyer: [The proposed downtown] casino is a scaled-down casino. Some critics say this is not going to be the magnet for tourists. Porter: It?s going to be the right size facility for the location. The economy dealt us a blow from the original plan. What we have now is a facility that was designed in a collaborative manner with our neighbors. We worked not just with the city but with surrounding businesses to make sure that this particular design of the casino maximized traffic flow and integration with what?s going on in the waterfront. Meyer: At what point do we say there?s saturation? At what point do we say there are too many casinos? Porter: The gaming corporation of our nation wouldn?t be building this if it weren?t an economic opportunity there. But it?s the right-sized economic opportunity." Get the Story:
In Focus: Outgoing Seneca Nation President Robert Odawi Porter (The Buffalo News 10/24)

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Source: http://www.indianz.com/IndianGaming/2012/025589.asp

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Ballmer: Windows 8 PCs Are ?The Best PCs Ever.? The Experience Is ?Truly Magical?

P1010462-croppedAt Windows 8 launch event, Microsoft co-founder and CEO Steve Ballmer took the stage to discuss Windows 8 on desktops, laptops and tablets today. According to Ballmer, who was his own energetic self today, today marks the start of a "new era for Microsoft and our customers." According to Ballmer, the new slate of Windows PCs that's coming on the market in the next few weeks will be the "best PCs ever." Indeed, he called the whole Windows 8 experience "magical." Ballmer says users will "love the experience."

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/YE5OzzVwKb8/

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You don't own Kindle books, Amazon reminds customer

2 hrs.

On a dark and stormy night, an employee of your local bookstore strolls into your home, starts tossing books you'd purchased over the last few years into a box, and???despite your protest???takes them all away without saying a word.

Thankfully that's not what happened to Linn Jordet Nygaard. Well, not exactly.?The Norwegian woman?found herself on the wrong side of bureaucracy, but the outcome was much the same (without as much mud on the carpet): Amazon turned off her Kindle account, blocking her from her own books. And they wouldn't tell her why.

"Two weeks ago my Kindle started showing stripes on the?screen and I contacted Amazon support," Nygaard told NBC News. "Someone immediately found the Kindle in the system and told me they?would replace it free of charge. They could only ship the replacement?to UK because it was originally purchased there, and I told them I?would find an address the next day. (I live in Norway, but have a?friend who lives in London.)"?

Nygaard was pleased with Amazon's prompt service, she told us, even though this was her second Kindle to fall victim?to "stripes" on the ePaper screen.

But when Nygaard attempted to log into her Amazon account the next day, her account was suspended???and with it access to her library of 43 books.

Those friendly phone-based customer support folks couldn't access Nygaard's account either, and she was passed on to "account specialists" who only communicated via email. That's when things took a Kafkaesque turn (as documented by her friend, Martin Bekkelund, on his blog). A man named Michael Murphy with Amazon UK's "Executive Customer Relations" told Nygaard her account had been determined to be "directly related to another which has been previously closed for abuse of our policies." Which policies? He wouldn't say. What other account? Murphy wouldn't share that, either.

Instead, Murphy would only pass on this shrilly authoritarian boilerplate:

Per our Conditions of Use which state in part: Amazon.co.uk and its affiliates reserve the right to refuse service, terminate accounts, remove or edit content, or cancel orders at their sole discretion.

Please know that any attempt to open a new account will meet with the same action.

Now just to spoil the story, I'll skip to the happy ending for Nygaard: After taking her story public, Amazon saw the error of their ways and restored her Kindle library. She's still waiting on her replacement Kindle, but in the meantime has access to her library through the Kindle iOS app on her iPad.

But Amazon doesn't get?off the hook so easily. When we?reached out to the company Monday, their PR representative would only send us a canned response they'd dropped into their customer forum: "We would like to clarify our policy on this topic. Account status should not affect any customer's ability to access their library." (Amazon loves copying-and-pasting, it seems.) Our follow up question ??"Why wasn't [Nygaard] told why her account was cancelled?" ??hasn't been answered yet.

And it probably won't be. Nygaard's little dust-up with Amazon isn't, in and of itself, a big deal. But it serves as a bitter reminder that we don't ever truly own the digital goods and software we buy online. Instead, we rent them, or hold them in a sort of long-term lease, the terms of which are brokered and policed exclusively by the leaseholder.?

As Boing Boing's Cory Doctorow put it in a blog post yesterday:??

This fine print will always have a clause that says you are a mere?tenant farmer of your books, and not their owner, and your right to?carry around your "purchases" (which are really conditional licenses,?despite misleading buttons labeled with words like "Buy this with one?click" ? I suppose "Conditionally license this with one click" is?deemed too cumbersome for a button) can be revoked without notice or?explanation (or, notably, refund) at any time.

The core issue might actually be a simple matter of semantics: when we click a digital button that is labelled "Buy," we expect that we're actually buying something. But we're not buying anything, we're licensing it. Just last year, the Supreme Court ruled that the first-sale doctrine does not apply to software???or e-books. Or apps. Nor pretty much everything you "Buy" online that doesn't get shipped to your home in a cardboard box.

Those long End User License Agreements you have to read before you use a new piece of software? Those are are legally binding, because you've clicked a button labeled "Agree." But for some reason, online retailers can label their buttons "Buy" when they actually mean "Rent," and there's nothing we can do about it save filing a lawsuit.

You could call Nygaard's experience a tempest in a teapot, a matter of a few hundred dollars worth of goods that, after a little public outcry, were fixed without issue. But you'd?still be pretty angry if and when it happens to you. (It is worth noting that despite Amazon's stated policy that customers can still access their previously purchased Kindle library even if their account is suspended, Nygaard couldn't download her books to a new device because her account was suspended.?

As she explained to us, "Before I started emailing Mr. Murphy, I could not log in to my account from Web or iPhone. And my Kindle?screen was broken so the fact that the books were still there didn't?help me much."

I was curious if there was any merit to my idea of attempting to hold retailers to these "Truth in Buttons" terms, so I asked Intellectual Property attorney Seth Greenstein, who wrote about about case law for reselling e-books a couple years back, if the notion held water. As?Greenstein?explained in an email to NBC News, it's not all completely settled:

All sales through Apple and other online retailers are subject to terms of use that set forth the conditions of sale. You may buy a track from the iTunes Store that can be used on a certain number of devices, or a copy of an e-book that comes with restrictions as to the ability to lend or the devices on which it is viewable ? a ?sale? with ?conditions.? The ?conditions? apply only to the person who entered into the agreement; they do not necessarily bind a third party.

In the patent context, the Supreme Court this term has granted review of a case to determine whether first sale privileges are defeated by a purchase ?with conditions.? Typically this arises where the seller marks products ?single use only.? The question is whether that is enforceable only under contract law, in which case it applies only to the purchaser; or, as a matter of patent law, against anybody. Why does this make a difference? Take a case I litigated in which Lexmark placed a ?single use? type of restriction on its cartridge boxes attempting to prevent its aftermarket competitors from refurbishing and refilling cartridges and selling them for far less than the price of a new cartridge. If the restriction is upheld under patent law, Lexmark could claim these aftermarket companies infringe its patents. If not, the aftermarket competitors may be lawful. The courts found that the first sale doctrine (called ?patent exhaustion?) trumpted the single use restriction. Now the Supreme Court will have the last word.

If the world's governments determine that customers don't have the same right of ownership over digital goods as we do over our material goods, the least they could do is force companies Amazon to be truthful about what is sold, and what is actually just rented. And it will probably take a lawsuit or legislative action to force Amazon to speak truthfully about the transactions, if only because it changes the perceived value in a customer's mind: $15 to rent a file that contains a book that can be taken away from you at any time, without explanation or recourse, starts to sound a little expensive.

Joel Johnson is a tech & science reporter who lives in Brooklyn. He is undecided about artisanal mayonnaise.

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/technolog/you-dont-own-your-kindle-books-amazon-reminds-customer-1C6626211

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In France, tensions flare over proposed sale of church to Muslim group

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Source: http://www.icare.to/article.php?id=42025&lang=en

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Wednesday, October 24, 2012

NFL to run career program at Stanford

Published: Oct 22, 2012 at 1:33 PM PDT
Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is seen in an April 17, 2012, file photo. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)
STANFORD, Calif. (AP) ? Condoleezza Rice will be a keynote speaker when the NFL holds its career transition program at the Stanford Graduate School of Business this week.

Forty former players are expected to attend the four-day event that begins Friday.

Rice, the former Secretary of State, is a professor of political science at Stanford. She says, "As an educator, I look forward to working with the NFL to help these players find their footing in their new careers so they can have a lasting impact in their communities."

The program began in 2006 and more than 700 NFL players have taken part.

Source: http://www.bakersfieldnow.com/sports/NFL-to-run-career-program-at-Stanford-175296791.html

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Weight Loss Surgery Information Session at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania

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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/events-calendar-bariatrics-surgery-penn-medicine/~3/axKqZ38YvVg/

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Sweden: Postdoctoral Position in High Performance Computing ...

Position Description: KTH School of Computer Science and Communication (CSC) announces a postdoctoral position in Scientific Computing. KTH Computer Science and Communication is one of the most outstanding research and teaching environments in Information Technology in Sweden with activities at KTH and partly at Stockholm University. We conduct education and research in theoretical computer science, from theory building and analysis of mathematical models to algorithm construction, implementation and simulation.

The applied computer science research and education dealing with computer vision, robotics, machine learning, computational biology, neuroinformatics and neural networks, including high performance computing, visualization and speech and music communication. It also conducts applied research and training in media technology, human-computer interaction, interaction design and sustainable development.

The department for High Performance Computing and Visualization (HPCViz) was formed in 2012 to address current and emerging challenges for efficient use of large-scale computational resources, efficient and varied manipulations of massive data sets, and method and model development taking advantage of the new possibilities offered by modern computational infrastructure and the access to large data sets. The Computational Technology Laboratory (CTL) at HPCViz now opens a postdoctoral position in the area of scientific computing.

CTL research is focused on computational mathematical modeling with differential equations, and the development, analysis and implementation of general, reliable and efficient methods for the computer simulation of complex systems of high scientific and industrial importance. The core technology is adaptive finite element methods for turbulent fluid flow and multiphysics, implemented in the open source software project FEniCS. Uncertainty quantification, data assimilation and inverse problems are also areas of high interest.

Current application projects include aerodynamics and aeroacoustics of vehicles and airplanes, ocean and atmosphere modeling, and biomedical modeling of the human heart and the human voice.
The goal of the candidate is to add new expertise to the group, and to work in one or more projects.

Qualifications:

Candidates should have (or soon receive) a Ph.D. in an area related to the research focus of CTL (applied mathematics, computer science, numerical analysis, scientific computing, or similar), and demonstrate exceptional research accomplishments (or promise). Solid knowledge and experience of numerical methods for the solution of partial differential equations is a requirement, as well as good programming skills.

How to Apply:

Application shall include the following documents:
1. Curriculum vitae
2. Transcripts from university/university college
3. Brief description of why the applicant is interested in the position.
4. Names and contact information of two references.
Please observe that all material needs to be in English, apart from the official document.

Applications via email are to be sent to: Susanne Bergman, e-mail?jobs@csc.kth.se .
Write reference number in the email subject. (CV, etc should be sent as an attachment, as pdf-files.)

We also accept hard copy applications sent to:
KTH, CSC
Att. Susanne Bergman,
Lindstedtsv?gen 3, plan 4,
SE-100 44 Stockholm, Sweden

We are currently gathering information to help improve our recruitment process. We would, therefore, be very grateful if you could include an answer to the following question within your application: Where did you initially come across this job advertisement?

For More Information

Source: http://www.youngbrigades.com/postdoctoral-fellowships/sweden-postdoctoral-position-in-high-performance-computing-applied-mathematics-computer-science-numerical-analysis-scientific-computing-or-similar-areas.html

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'; // gmap.getContainer().appendChild(container); // return container; // }; // that.getDefaultPosition = function() { // return new GControlPosition(G_ANCHOR_BOTTOM_RIGHT, new GSize(3, 17)); // }; // that.selectable = function() { return true }; // // add to map // setTimeout(function() { params.map.gmap.addControl(that) }, 1000); // } // ElevationProfile2Empty.prototype = new GControl(); function updateEmbedLink() { var w = parseInt($('embed_width').value); var h = parseInt($('embed_height').value); var t = map().getMapTypeId(); //... allocate space in the iframe for the "powered by text" var hf = h + 115; var frame_start = ''; var frame_src = 'http://www.bikemap.net/route/1886242/' + 'widget?width=' + w + '&height=' + h + '&maptype=' + t + '&extended=true&unit=km&redirect=no' ; $('embed_link').value = frame_start + frame_src + frame_end ; } function reverseRoute(reverse) { if (reverse) { kmPoints = kmPointsBackward; Route.drawStartEndMarkers(vertices.last(), vertices.first()); } else { kmPoints = kmPointsForward; Route.drawStartEndMarkers(vertices.first(), vertices.last()); } Route.resetKmMarkers(); } function zoomOut() { map().map.setCenter(map().map.getCenter(), map().map.getZoom() - 3); showZoomIn(); } function showZoomIn() { $('zoomout').hide(); $('zoomin').show(); } function zoomIn() { var bounds = new $B({south: 35.63985, west: -106.79852, north: 36.99249, east: -105.93171}); map().map.zoomToExtent(bounds); $('zoomout').show(); $('zoomin').hide(); } //]]> \n \n\n", width: 400, height: 300 }); setTimeout('create_info_modal.open()', 10); } // show zoomin button if (location.hash) showZoomIn(); MTK.event.addListener(map, "idle", showZoomIn); // create elevation profile var elevationParams = { map: map, opacity: 0.65, unit: unit.name, icon: new MTK.Icon(Icons.route()), style: { marginBottom: 15 }, reverse: true, onmouseover: function() { Route.kmMarkersOn(map) }, onmouseout: function() { Route.kmMarkersOff(map) }, onreverse: function(is_reverse) { if (is_reverse) { kmPoints = kmPointsBackward; Route.drawStartEndMarkers(vertices.last(), vertices.first()); } else { kmPoints = kmPointsForward; Route.drawStartEndMarkers(vertices.first(), vertices.last()); } Route.resetKmMarkers(); }, i8n: { clickAndDrag: "Click and drag to select section", title: "Elevation Profile", reverse: "Show reverse profile" }, js: "http://mtk2.toursprung.com/static/custom/bikemap/18/1886242.elevation2.profile.js" }; new MTK.ElevationProfile(elevationParams); //0 // ? new ElevationProfile2Empty(elevationParams) // : new MapToolkit.ElevationProfile2(elevationParams); }); //]]>

Source: http://www.bikemap.net/route/1886242

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Google cameras map popular Grand Canyon trails

In this Monday Oct. 22, 2012, photo, Google product manager Ryan Falor walks with the Trekker during a demonstration for the media along the Bright Angel Trail at the South Rim of the Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona. The search engine giant is using the nearly 40-pound, backpack-sized camera unit to showcase the Grand Canyon?s most popular hiking trails on the South Rim and other off-road sites. It?s about 4 feet in height when set on the ground, and when worn, the camera system extends 2 feet above the operator?s shoulders. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

In this Monday Oct. 22, 2012, photo, Google product manager Ryan Falor walks with the Trekker during a demonstration for the media along the Bright Angel Trail at the South Rim of the Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona. The search engine giant is using the nearly 40-pound, backpack-sized camera unit to showcase the Grand Canyon?s most popular hiking trails on the South Rim and other off-road sites. It?s about 4 feet in height when set on the ground, and when worn, the camera system extends 2 feet above the operator?s shoulders. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

In this Monday Oct. 22, 2012, photo, Google product manager Ryan Falor works with the Trekker during a demonstration for the media along the Bright Angel Trail at the South Rim of the Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona. The search engine giant is using the nearly 40-pound, backpack-sized camera unit to showcase the Grand Canyon?s most popular hiking trails on the South Rim and other off-road sites. It?s about 4 feet in height when set on the ground, and when worn, the camera system extends 2 feet above the operator?s shoulders. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

This Monday Oct. 22, 2012, photo shows the mast of Google's Trekker during a demonstration for the media along the Bright Angel Trail at the South Rim of the Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona. The search engine giant is using the nearly 40-pound, backpack-sized camera unit to showcase the Grand Canyon?s most popular hiking trails on the South Rim and other off-road sites. It?s about 4 feet in height when set on the ground, and when worn, the camera system extends 2 feet above the operator?s shoulders. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

In this Monday Oct. 22, 2012, photo, Google operations manager Steve Silverman stands along the canyon wall wearing the Trekker during a demonstration for the media along the Bright Angel Trail at the South Rim of the Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona. The search engine giant is using the nearly 40-pound, backpack-sized camera unit to showcase the Grand Canyon?s most popular hiking trails on the South Rim and other off-road sites. It?s about 4 feet in height when set on the ground, and when worn, the camera system extends 2 feet above the operator?s shoulders. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

In this Monday Oct. 22, 2012 photo, Google operation manager Steve Silverman is silhouetted against a canyon wall as he poses with the Trekker during a demonstration for the media along the Bright Angel Trail at the South Rim of the Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona. The search engine giant is using the nearly 40-pound, backpack-sized camera unit to showcase the Grand Canyon?s most popular hiking trails on the South Rim and other off-road sites. It?s about 4 feet in height when set on the ground, and when worn, the camera system extends 2 feet above the operator?s shoulders. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

(AP) ? Google and its street-view cameras already have taken users to narrow cobblestone alleys in Spain using a tricycle, inside the Smithsonian with a push cart and to British Columbia's snow-covered slopes by snowmobile.

The search giant now has brought its all-seeing eyes ? mounted for the first time on a backpack ? down into the Grand Canyon, showcasing the attraction's most popular hiking trails on the South Rim and other walkways.

It's the latest evolution in mapping technology for the Mountain View, Calif., company, which has used a rosette of cameras to photograph thousands of cities and towns in dozens of countries for its Street View feature. With a click of the mouse, Internet users are transported virtually for a 360-degree view of locales they may have read about only in tourist books and seen in flat, 2-D images.

"Any of these sort of iconic, cultural, historical locations that are not accessible by road is where we want to go," said Ryan Falor, product manager at Google.

Google announced the trekker earlier this year but made its first official collection of data this week at the Grand Canyon.

The backpacks aren't ready for volunteer use, but Google has said it wants to deploy them at national forests, to the narrow streets of Venice, Mount Everest and to ancient ruins and castles.

The move to capture the Grand Canyon comes after Apple chose to drop Google Maps from its mobile operating systems and opted to use its own mapping program that was derided for, among other things, poor directions and missing towns.

Steve Silverman, operations manager for Google didn't directly address the competition in saying: "Just trying to document a trail, it's going to be hard to beat this."

Google launched its Street View feature in 2007 and has expanded from five U.S. cities to more than 3,000 in 43 countries. Google teams and volunteers have covered more than 5 million miles with the Street View vehicles on a scale that other companies haven't approached, said Mike Dobson, president of Telemapics, a company that monitors mapping efforts.

"You could safely say that it's a standout, well-used application and they don't really have any competition," he said.

As the sun rose Monday, Luc Vincent, Google engineering director, strapped on one of the 40-pound backpacks and set down the Bright Angel Trail to the Colorado River ? a nearly 10-mile hike that goes from 6,900 feet in elevation to 2,400 feet. He hiked back up from Phantom Ranch, which can be 30 degrees warmer than at the rim, through the South Kaibab Trail and also gathered data on other trails.

The so-called trekker captures images every 2.5 seconds with 15 cameras that are 5 megapixels each from the rest areas, the steep switchbacks, the change from juniper trees to scrub brush and the traffic that moves aside as a courtesy to mule riders.

The GPS data is limited, so Google must compensate with sensors that record temperature, vibrations and the orientation of the device as it changes, before it stiches the images together and makes them available to users in a few months, Falor said.

Hikers that were on the trail when the data was gathered will have their faces blurred ? an attempt by Google to ensure privacy. Street View has run into problems in places like Europe and Australia for scooping up information transmitted over unsecured wireless networks.

A removable hard drive on the trekker stores the data gathered at the Grand Canyon. Tourists looked at the trekker strangely this week, as if it was something from outer space.

Sharon Kerfoot, a first-time visitor from Alberta said being able to view the terrain ahead of time, gauge the difficulty of the hike and know just how wide the path is would benefit those considering a trip to the Grand Canyon. She and a group of friends headed down the same path as Vincent but on mules, not foot.

"I think it's an excellent idea to give people a broader perspective on what they're getting into," she said.

What the images won't tell visitors is how much water they should carry down the trails, how to prepare for temperature changes, what type of food to take and how much, and how best to protect the natural resources, park spokeswoman Maureen Oltrogge said.

"Stitched together with other information out there, the technology could be valuable," she said.

___

Follow Felicia Fonseca on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/FonsecaAP

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/495d344a0d10421e9baa8ee77029cfbd/Article_2012-10-24-Google-Grand%20Canyon/id-cf5d0b5fbb4746669b13b9ad641c23f2

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Video: Is Akin hurting the GOP brand?

Surface RT review: Microsoft tablet mixed blessing

??Surface RT, Microsoft's first foray into personal computing, is a hardware success, and the company should be proud. Windows RT, the operating system that runs on it, is less of a reason for self-back-patting, however.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036697/vp/49513383#49513383

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Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Top Tips For Student Budgeting | Frugal Finance

Budgeting is a massive part of student life. It generally comes as quite a shock to new students who have never had to buy food, household goods or look after themselves in general. It pays to get good at budgeting pretty quick when you get to uni, it really will help you in the long run!

Here are a few of the top tips to make sure your first few months go off without a hitch:

Recording ? In your very first month of university, try to record how much money you spend on what and when. This will help you create an initial budget that can act as a benchmark for the rest of the year. You can also review on which areas you could be skimming the fat.

Books ? Yes the first year of university does come with an inevitable spend on academic literature and there is no way of getting round that. There are though, ways of getting around the premium prices you can find at the high street book stores. First of all, you don?t have to buy every single book on your reading list; many of them will be available from your university library anyway.

But the downside of library borrowing is that a lot of texts are very popular and when it comes to writing an essay, the majority of the people on your course could be scrapping for the same book. In this instance always go for second hand. There is an abundance of online book stores where you can get the literature you need for much cheaper.

Pay off the boring stuff first ? This is a standard rule of thumb and it goes for everyone, not just university students. As long as you have the big stuff, phone bills, utilities, rent etc. covered you shouldn?t get into too much trouble. If you would rather spend your excess money on drinking than going food shopping that?s fine, as long as you?re not evicted from your house!

Mike writes for an essay writing company offering academic services to students around the world called Essay-Site.com.

Source: http://www.frugalfinance.co.uk/top-tips-for-student-budgeting/

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No comments - John Vespasian

Imagine for a moment that you would able to go after your goals without having to fear criticism from friends and family. Would you devote more efforts to pursuing your ambitions if you did not have to worry about ridicule in case of failure? How far would you invest yourself if you never had to deal with discouragement and doubts??

We fear failure more than we crave success

?There are good reasons why we fear failure more than we crave success. If we formulate the proposition in purely material terms, the discomfort suffered from not having any car is far superior than the advantages derived from having two cars; similarly, the terror of losing all our savings in a stock market crash is stronger than the perspective of doubling our assets if stock prices rise.

Worry and anxiety are powerful inhibitors of achievement. Fear can make us discard viable initiatives; apprehension may consume our energies and prevent us from moving forward; concern can block reasonable attempts to improve our situation.

Our minds tend to blow risks out of proportion

We stay behind because our minds blow risks out of proportion; we give up too soon because we underestimate our capacity to adopt preventive measures; we walk downtrodden paths for fear of lions that we have never seen; we stick to unproductive routines to avoid the discomfort associated with change.

Books and lectures that recommend to take risks remain unconvincing to most people. Common sense weighs heavier than motivational speeches. Change is disruptive; we crave what we can gain less than we dread what we can lose. Cheerful words and doubtful promises are not sufficient to assuage our concerns. Only realism can prompt us to overcome fear; only rationality can lead us to take entrepreneurial risks.

Self-confidence needs to be built?

Thinking must take place before action if such action is to be productive; planning must take place before implementation if success is to be attained. Self-confidence needs to be built before it can be applied; skills must be acquired before they can be employed. How can we overcome exaggerated fears and take well-calculated steps? In which way can we increase our chances of success?

Using reason to dismantle doubts and inhibition

Reason is the most powerful tool for dismantling falsehoods. If we grow convinced that we stand a good chance of accomplishing our goals, we will become less worried and more adventurous. Logic is our cardinal ally for contesting overblown concerns. The best way to face fear is to demonstrate its irrationality, namely:

1. Compare the risk with its actual likelihood

The intensity of a potential catastrophe is independent of the likelihood of its occurrence. Salesmen promote insurance policies by painting vivid pictures of misfortune, but their sales presentations seldom mention the actual statistical probability of such misfortune taking place.

2. Assess threats objectively, not emotionally

The perception of risk is heavily influenced by cultural stereotypes. Saving rates differ from country to country according to how citizens see their future; the willingness to change jobs and move to a distant city is higher in the US than in Europe; the proportion of the population that invests in the stock market also varies from country to country.

3. Quantify the potential damage?

Potential dangers need to be quantified in order to be properly assessed. If emotions take control, they will exaggerate the negative consequences of risk. On many occasions, the material damages that people actually suffer are minor compared to the accompanying psychological discomfort.

4. Eliminate?distortions from your perception

Many things we fear arise from stories written by marketeers. Why do California residents protect themselves more often against earthquakes than against divorce? Because salesmen market earthquake insurance very effectively, while at the same time, few couples are aware that a pre-nuptial agreement can protect them against a devastating divorce.

Taking the time to assess risks objectively is essential for making good decisions. If you are considering a challenging professional move, forget about irrational fears and ask yourself the right questions: if your new job proves to be a disappointment, what is the actual likelihood of your becoming unemployed? Even if you lost your new position, how long would it reasonably take you to regain employment?

We worry about risks that have been exaggerated by marketeers trying to promote their products or services. Those who sell pension plans frequently paint grim pictures of retired people living in poverty and rightly so. There is no reason why salesmen should refrain from offering their insurance policies, but it is up to us to appraise risks according to their true gravity.

Use reason to acquire an unbreakable self-confidence

The next time that you hesitate between taking action or staying put, do not make a decision until you have assessed all facts. Make an effort to discard emotions that might be polluting your perception. Quantify the positive and negative aspects; weigh off the severity of risks with the likelihood of their occurrence.

Logical analysis reshapes risks and unveils opportunities. Thoughtfulness replaces concern with prudence and worry with caution. On most occasions, a rational assessment of advantages and disadvantages will prompt individuals to take initiative. Becoming an entrepreneur in your everyday life begins with understanding risks and our ability to deal with them effectively.

For more information about rational living and personal development, I refer you to my book about how to be rational? "The 10 Principles of Rational Living"

[Text: http://johnvespasian.blogspot.com]

[Image by jimbowen0306 under Creative Commons Attribution License. See the license terms under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/us]

Source: http://johnvespasian.blogspot.com/2012/10/how-to-be-fearless-amidst-constan.html

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New self-healing coating for aluminum developed to replace cancer-causing product

ScienceDaily (Oct. 22, 2012) ? A research team at the University of Nevada, Reno has developed a new environmentally-friendly coating for aluminum to replace the carcinogenic chromate coatings used in aerospace applications. The chromate conversion coatings have been used for more than 50 years to protect aluminum from corrosion.

The team presented their research last week at the international Pacific Rim Meeting on Electrochemical and Solid-State Science in Hawaii.

"It was well received at the conference," Dev Chidambaram, lead scientist and assistant professor of materials science and engineering at the University of Nevada, said. "There is no question that this will be able to replace the chromate-based coating. Even though the coating formulation is yet to be optimized, the coating has shown exceptional performance."

Attempts to replace chromate coatings with non-toxic coatings have been underway since the 1980s. The awareness on effects of chromates was brought to the forefront in 1993 by the real-life incident involving Erin Brokovich and depicted in the movie released in 2000 of the same name. Although the use of chromates for consumer and automotive applications has been banned, it is still in use by the defense and aerospace industries under various exemptions.

The carcinogenic coatings were exempted from the ban due to unavailability of suitable replacement combined with the high human and financial cost of failure from corrosion. The search for a suitable replacement has been elusive primarily due to one main characteristic of the coating referred to as "self-healing," the ability of the coating to heal itself after being damaged or scratched.

When scratched, the coating components from nearby sites migrate to the damaged region and re-protect the underlying alloy. A short video of the coating formation is on Chidambaram's website, www.electrochemical.org/ under the heading "Cool Videos."

Chidambaram's formulation performs comparably to the chromate formula in its ability for self-healing, which is important to the defense and aerospace industry. The coating can be applied to all aluminum products. The new formula creates an environmentally-benign molybdate-based coating that provides corrosion protection to aluminum, used for aircraft and spacecraft. These coatings, when damaged, will re-heal themselves.

The University of Nevada, Reno team developed and tested more than 300 coatings before arriving at this formulation. They used a complimentary suite of advanced surface analytical techniques such as Raman microspectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, energy dispersive spectroscopy, secondary ion mass spectroscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy to conclusively prove the presence of molybdate in the scratched region. Further, using electrochemical testing, the team showed the coating re-protected itself via self-healing upon scratch test.

The team includes graduate student David Rodriquez, who conducted the extensive testing on the materials, and undergraduate aerospace engineering major at the University of Colorado, Boulder intern Roshan Misra, who began the project as a high school summer intern from Reno High School. The team is still working to optimize the coating formulation for even better protection.

"This has taken 14 years of work, continuing on work I did at the State University of New York at Stony Brook and the Brookhaven National Laboratory," Chidambaram said.

Share this story on Facebook, Twitter, and Google:

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Nevada, Reno, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.


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/~3/o3fvarSusSQ/121022145449.htm

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New self-healing coating for aluminum developed to replace cancer-causing product

New self-healing coating for aluminum developed to replace cancer-causing product [ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 22-Oct-2012
[ | E-mail | Share Share ]

Contact: Mike Wolterbeek
mwolterbeek@unr.edu
University of Nevada, Reno

University of Nevada, Reno research team finds elusive self-healing formulation for defense, aerospace

RENO, Nev. A research team at the University of Nevada, Reno has developed a new environmentally-friendly coating for aluminum to replace the carcinogenic chromate coatings used in aerospace applications. The chromate conversion coatings have been used for more than 50 years to protect aluminum from corrosion.

The team presented their research last week at the international Pacific Rim Meeting on Electrochemical and Solid-State Science in Hawaii.

"It was well received at the conference," Dev Chidambaram, lead scientist and assistant professor of materials science and engineering at the University of Nevada, said. "There is no question that this will be able to replace the chromate-based coating. Even though the coating formulation is yet to be optimized, the coating has shown exceptional performance."

Attempts to replace chromate coatings with non-toxic coatings have been underway since the 1980s. The awareness on effects of chromates was brought to the forefront in 1993 by the real-life incident involving Erin Brokovich and depicted in the movie released in 2000 of the same name. Although the use of chromates for consumer and automotive applications has been banned, it is still in use by the defense and aerospace industries under various exemptions.

The carcinogenic coatings were exempted from the ban due to unavailability of suitable replacement combined with the high human and financial cost of failure from corrosion. The search for a suitable replacement has been elusive primarily due to one main characteristic of the coating referred to as "self-healing," the ability of the coating to heal itself after being damaged or scratched.

When scratched, the coating components from nearby sites migrate to the damaged region and re-protect the underlying alloy. A short video of the coating formation is on Chidambaram's website, www.electrochemical.org/ under the heading "Cool Videos."

Chidambaram's formulation performs comparably to the chromate formula in its ability for self-healing, which is important to the defense and aerospace industry. The coating can be applied to all aluminum products. The new formula creates an environmentally-benign molybdate-based coating that provides corrosion protection to aluminum, used for aircraft and spacecraft. These coatings, when damaged, will re-heal themselves.

The University of Nevada, Reno team developed and tested more than 300 coatings before arriving at this formulation. They used a complimentary suite of advanced surface analytical techniques such as Raman microspectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, energy dispersive spectroscopy, secondary ion mass spectroscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy to conclusively prove the presence of molybdate in the scratched region. Further, using electrochemical testing, the team showed the coating re-protected itself via self-healing upon scratch test.

The team includes graduate student David Rodriquez, who conducted the extensive testing on the materials, and undergraduate aerospace engineering major at the University of Colorado, Boulder intern Roshan Misra, who began the project as a high school summer intern from Reno High School. The team is still working to optimize the coating formulation for even better protection.

"This has taken 14 years of work, continuing on work I did at the State University of New York at Stony Brook and the Brookhaven National Laboratory," Chidambaram said.

###

Chidambaram, as the director of the University's Materials and Electrochemical Research Laboratory (MER Lab), has obtained nearly $3 million in externally-funded research grants in the past three years and directs eight doctoral students and one postdoctoral associate. He is also the director of the materials science and engineering graduate program and the Chemical and Materials Department in the College of Engineering.

Nevada's land-grant university founded in 1874, the University of Nevada, Reno has an enrollment of 18,000 students and is ranked in the top tier of the nation's best universities. Part of the Nevada System of Higher Education, the University has the system's largest research program and is home to the state's medical school. With outreach and education programs in all Nevada counties and with one of the nation's largest study-abroad consortiums, the University extends across the state and around the world. For more information, visit www.unr.edu.


[ Back to EurekAlert! ] [ | E-mail | Share 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.


New self-healing coating for aluminum developed to replace cancer-causing product [ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 22-Oct-2012
[ | E-mail | Share Share ]

Contact: Mike Wolterbeek
mwolterbeek@unr.edu
University of Nevada, Reno

University of Nevada, Reno research team finds elusive self-healing formulation for defense, aerospace

RENO, Nev. A research team at the University of Nevada, Reno has developed a new environmentally-friendly coating for aluminum to replace the carcinogenic chromate coatings used in aerospace applications. The chromate conversion coatings have been used for more than 50 years to protect aluminum from corrosion.

The team presented their research last week at the international Pacific Rim Meeting on Electrochemical and Solid-State Science in Hawaii.

"It was well received at the conference," Dev Chidambaram, lead scientist and assistant professor of materials science and engineering at the University of Nevada, said. "There is no question that this will be able to replace the chromate-based coating. Even though the coating formulation is yet to be optimized, the coating has shown exceptional performance."

Attempts to replace chromate coatings with non-toxic coatings have been underway since the 1980s. The awareness on effects of chromates was brought to the forefront in 1993 by the real-life incident involving Erin Brokovich and depicted in the movie released in 2000 of the same name. Although the use of chromates for consumer and automotive applications has been banned, it is still in use by the defense and aerospace industries under various exemptions.

The carcinogenic coatings were exempted from the ban due to unavailability of suitable replacement combined with the high human and financial cost of failure from corrosion. The search for a suitable replacement has been elusive primarily due to one main characteristic of the coating referred to as "self-healing," the ability of the coating to heal itself after being damaged or scratched.

When scratched, the coating components from nearby sites migrate to the damaged region and re-protect the underlying alloy. A short video of the coating formation is on Chidambaram's website, www.electrochemical.org/ under the heading "Cool Videos."

Chidambaram's formulation performs comparably to the chromate formula in its ability for self-healing, which is important to the defense and aerospace industry. The coating can be applied to all aluminum products. The new formula creates an environmentally-benign molybdate-based coating that provides corrosion protection to aluminum, used for aircraft and spacecraft. These coatings, when damaged, will re-heal themselves.

The University of Nevada, Reno team developed and tested more than 300 coatings before arriving at this formulation. They used a complimentary suite of advanced surface analytical techniques such as Raman microspectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, energy dispersive spectroscopy, secondary ion mass spectroscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy to conclusively prove the presence of molybdate in the scratched region. Further, using electrochemical testing, the team showed the coating re-protected itself via self-healing upon scratch test.

The team includes graduate student David Rodriquez, who conducted the extensive testing on the materials, and undergraduate aerospace engineering major at the University of Colorado, Boulder intern Roshan Misra, who began the project as a high school summer intern from Reno High School. The team is still working to optimize the coating formulation for even better protection.

"This has taken 14 years of work, continuing on work I did at the State University of New York at Stony Brook and the Brookhaven National Laboratory," Chidambaram said.

###

Chidambaram, as the director of the University's Materials and Electrochemical Research Laboratory (MER Lab), has obtained nearly $3 million in externally-funded research grants in the past three years and directs eight doctoral students and one postdoctoral associate. He is also the director of the materials science and engineering graduate program and the Chemical and Materials Department in the College of Engineering.

Nevada's land-grant university founded in 1874, the University of Nevada, Reno has an enrollment of 18,000 students and is ranked in the top tier of the nation's best universities. Part of the Nevada System of Higher Education, the University has the system's largest research program and is home to the state's medical school. With outreach and education programs in all Nevada counties and with one of the nation's largest study-abroad consortiums, the University extends across the state and around the world. For more information, visit www.unr.edu.


[ Back to EurekAlert! ] [ | E-mail | Share 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/2012-10/uonr-nsc102212.php

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Monday, October 22, 2012

7 experts convicted for not warning of quake risk

FILE - In this April 7, 2009 file photo a man sits on rubbles in the village of Onna, a day after a powerful earthquake struck the Abruzzo region in central Italy. An Italian court Monday, Oct. 22, 2012 has convicted seven scientists and experts of manslaughter for failing to adequately warn citizens before an earthquake struck central Italy in 2009, killing more than 300 people. The court in L'Aquila Monday evening handed down the convictions and six-year-prison sentences to the defendants, members of a national "Great Risks Commission." In Italy, convictions aren't definitive until after at least one level of appeals, so it is unlikely any of the defendants would face jail immediately. Scientists worldwide had decried the trial as ridiculous, contending that science has no way to predict quakes. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino, File)

FILE - In this April 7, 2009 file photo a man sits on rubbles in the village of Onna, a day after a powerful earthquake struck the Abruzzo region in central Italy. An Italian court Monday, Oct. 22, 2012 has convicted seven scientists and experts of manslaughter for failing to adequately warn citizens before an earthquake struck central Italy in 2009, killing more than 300 people. The court in L'Aquila Monday evening handed down the convictions and six-year-prison sentences to the defendants, members of a national "Great Risks Commission." In Italy, convictions aren't definitive until after at least one level of appeals, so it is unlikely any of the defendants would face jail immediately. Scientists worldwide had decried the trial as ridiculous, contending that science has no way to predict quakes. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino, File)

FILE - In this April 6, 2009 file photo released by the Italian Guardia Forestale (Forestry Police Force) an aerial view of the destruction following an earthquake in the city of L'Aquila, central Italy. An Italian court Monday, Oct. 22, 2012 has convicted seven scientists and experts of manslaughter for failing to adequately warn citizens before an earthquake struck central Italy in 2009, killing more than 300 people. The court in L'Aquila Monday evening handed down the convictions and six-year-prison sentences to the defendants, members of a national "Great Risks Commission." In Italy, convictions aren't definitive until after at least one level of appeals, so it is unlikely any of the defendants would face jail immediately. Scientists worldwide had decried the trial as ridiculous, contending that science has no way to predict quakes. (AP Photo/Guardia Forestale, File)

FILE - In this April 6, 2009 file photo Alfredo Gianmaria is carried away by rescuers after a four-storey building collapsed following a earthquake in L'Aquila, central Italy. An Italian court Monday, Oct. 22, 2012 has convicted seven scientists and experts of manslaughter for failing to adequately warn citizens before an earthquake struck central Italy in 2009, killing more than 300 people. The court in L'Aquila Monday evening handed down the convictions and six-year-prison sentences to the defendants, members of a national "Great Risks Commission." In Italy, convictions aren't definitive until after at least one level of appeals, so it is unlikely any of the defendants would face jail immediately. Scientists worldwide had decried the trial as ridiculous, contending that science has no way to predict quakes. (AP Photo/Pier Paolo Cito, File)

FILE - In this April 10, 2009 file photo a woman with a toddler gets closer to the white coffin of a child, prior to the funerals for quake victims in L'Aquila, central Italy. An Italian court Monday, Oct. 22, 2012 has convicted seven scientists and experts of manslaughter for failing to adequately warn citizens before an earthquake struck central Italy in 2009, killing more than 300 people. The court in L'Aquila Monday evening handed down the convictions and six-year-prison sentences to the defendants, members of a national "Great Risks Commission." In Italy, convictions aren't definitive until after at least one level of appeals, so it is unlikely any of the defendants would face jail immediately. Scientists worldwide had decried the trial as ridiculous, contending that science has no way to predict quakes. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno, File)

Defendants Claudio Eva, center, and Bernardo De Bernardinis, third from right, a former official of the national Civil Protection agency, listen to the verdict at L'Aquila court, Italy, Monday, Oct. 22, 2012. An Italian court has convicted seven scientists and experts of manslaughter for failing to adequately warn citizens before an earthquake struck central Italy in 2009, killing more than 300 people. The court in L'Aquila Monday evening handed down the convictions and six-year-prison sentences to the defendants, members of a national "Great Risks Commission." In Italy, convictions aren't definitive until after at least one level of appeals, so it is unlikely any of the defendants would face jail immediately. Scientists worldwide had decried the trial as ridiculous, contending that science has no way to predict quakes. (AP Photo/Raniero Pizzi)

L'AQUILA, Italy (AP) ? In a verdict that sent shock waves through the scientific community, an Italian court convicted seven experts of manslaughter on Monday for failing to adequately warn residents of the risk before an earthquake struck central Italy in 2009, killing more than 300 people.

The defendants, all prominent scientists or geological and disaster experts, were sentenced to six years in prison.

Earthquake experts worldwide decried the trial as ridiculous, contending there was no way of knowing that a flurry of tremors would lead to a deadly quake.

"It's a sad day for science," said seismologist Susan Hough, of the U.S. Geological Survey in Pasadena, Calif. "It's unsettling."

That fellow seismic experts in Italy were singled out in the case "hits you in the gut," she said.

In Italy, convictions aren't definitive until after at least one appeal, so it was unlikely any of the defendants would face jail immediately.

Italian officials and experts have been prosecuted for quake-triggered damage in the past, including a 2002 school collapse in southern Italy that killed 27 children and a teacher. But that case centered on allegations of shoddy construction in quake-prone areas.

Among those convicted Monday were some of Italy's best known and most internationally respected seismologists and geological experts, including Enzo Boschi, former head of the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology.

"I am dejected, desperate," Boschi said. "I thought I would have been acquitted. I still don't understand what I was convicted of."

The trial began in September 2011 in this Apennine town, whose devastated historic center is still largely deserted.

The defendants were accused of giving "inexact, incomplete and contradictory information" about whether small tremors felt by L'Aquila residents in the weeks and months before the April 6, 2009, quake should have been grounds for a warning.

The 6.3-magnitude temblor killed 308 people in and around the medieval town and forced survivors to live in tent camps for months.

Many much smaller tremors had rattled the area in the previous months, causing frightened people to wonder if they should evacuate.

"I consider myself innocent before God and men," said another convicted defendant, Bernardo De Bernardinis, a former official of the national Civil Protection Agency.

Prosecutors had sought convictions and four-year sentences during the trial. They argued that the L'Aquila disaster was tantamount to "monumental negligence," and cited the devastation wrought in 2005 when levees failed to protect New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina.

Relatives of some who perished in the 2009 quake said justice had been done. Ilaria Carosi, sister of one of the victims, told Italian state TV that public officials must be held responsible "for taking their job lightly."

The world's largest multidisciplinary science society, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, condemned the charges, verdict and sentencing as a complete misunderstanding about the science behind earthquake probabilities.

There are swarms of seismic activity regularly in Italy and most do not end up causing dangerous earthquakes, said geologist Brooks Hanson, deputy editor of the organization's Science magazine. He said that if seismologists had to warn of a quake with every series of tremors, there would be too many false alarms and panic.

"With earthquakes we just don't know," Hanson said Monday. "We just don't know how a swarm will proceed."

Quake scientist Maria Beatrice Magnani, who followed the trial closely and knows the defendants professionally, called the outcome "pretty shocking."

She disagreed with putting scientists on trial, and contended that the death toll would have been lower had buildings in the quake-prone area been better reinforced.

The verdict left Magnani and others in the field wondering about the way they articulate their work.

"We need to be extremely careful about what we say, and the information we provide has to be precise. We cannot allow ourselves to slip," said Magnani, an associate research professor at the University of Memphis.

Comments on Twitter about the verdict abounded, with references to Galileo, the Italian scientist who was tried as a heretic in 1633 for his contention that the Earth revolved around the sun and not vice versa as Roman Catholic Church teaching then held. In 1992, Pope John Paul II declared that the church had erred in its ruling against the astronomer.

Still, some experts argued that the trial was about communicating risk and not about whether scientists can or cannot predict earthquakes.

"This was about how they communicated" with a frightened public, said David Ropeik, a risk communications consultant who teaches at Harvard and offered advice to one defendant scientist. It was "not Galileo redux," he said.

Defense lawyer Filippo Dinacci predicted that the L'Aquila court's verdict would have a chilling effect on officials tasked with protecting Italians in natural disasters. Public officials would be afraid to "do anything," Dinacci told reporters.

___

Frances D'Emilio reported from Rome. AP science writers Alicia Chang in Los Angeles and Seth Borenstein in Washington contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-10-22-EU-Italy-Quake-Trial/id-4a6b6682ebc342dbb68bb4b126f517b9

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