Artificial Rain Created to Fight Latest Blue Algae Outbreak in Changchun

The meteorological department in Changchun, capital of northeast China's Jilin Province, has fired rockets into the air above a reservoir choked by blue-green algae to create artificial rain in an effort to curb the latest algae outbreak.

The city government has set aside ten million yuan to combat an outbreak of blue-green algae in Xinlicheng reservoir that provides water to the city, a government spokesman announced on Wednesday.

Swathes of blue and green algae began to appear last Wednesday in Xinlicheng Reservoir, one of the city's major water sources for100,000 residents.

On Tuesday, the water supply from both Xinlicheng and Shitoukoumen Reservoir was cut off. The supply from Xinlicheng has been shut off indefinitely but the local environmental authorities ruled that Shitoukoumen had not been affected.

Changchun used 770,000 tons of water per day before the outbreak of blue algae but the daily supply has plunged by 50,000 tons since the Xinlicheng reservoir water source was cut.

Changchun mayor Cui Jie said the ten million yuan would be spent on expanding pipes linking the city to the reservoir of Shitoukoumen, and transporting water with fire engines.

"We must do our best to ensure the drinking water supply for our citizens," said Cui, adding that he was considering closing car washes.

Recent outbreaks of blue-green algae in key lakes in eastern and southwestern China are mainly attributed to pollutants from chemical factories, but this time the finger is being pointed at agricultural fertilizers.

The algae may have been caused by fertilizers and pesticides from nearby cropland, local authorities say.

High temperatures and scant rainfall since June also contributed to the algae bloom and recent downpours have nourished the algae.

Changchun is home to a population of more than seven million, with 2.7 million living in the downtown area. The reservoir has a water storage capacity of 592 million cubic meters.

In the last two months, blue-green algae outbreaks have been reported in Taihu Lake, Chaohu Lake and the southwestern Dianchi Lake, endangering water supplies.

On July 4, water supplies to 200,000 people in Shuyang county, Jiangsu Province, were halted for more than 40 hours after ammonia and nitrogen were found in a local river.

The history of zoos

Human interest in keeping animals dates back to at least 1500 BC when Queen Hatshepsut of Egypt built a zoo. Many zoos were created by rulers in Africa, India and China to demonstrate their wealth and power.

The Greeks established the first zoos to study animal behaviour. They charged admission to view the specimens, and set up an education process. One of the most notable teachers at a Greek zoo was Aristotle. One of his best-known students was Alexander the Great, who collected many animals for the zoos.

British and European exploration of the world in the 18th and 19th centuries led to the discovery of many species of animals that they considered to be unusual. This encouraged the keeping of animals as exotica in Europe and Britain. The idea of zoos as places of entertainment also developed.

Hazel Blears launches search for role models to inspire Black boys

A major national search to recruit Black male role models gets underway today as Communities Secretary Hazel Blears calls for motivational Black and mixed heritage men to take a lead in inspiring the next generation of Black boys to achieve and succeed.

The creation of the first ever Black Boys' National Role Model programme is part of a package of measures to help raise the aspirations and attainment of some of today's young Black men.

Hazel Blears wants to encourage Black and mixed heritage men from all walks of life to come forward and play a part in lifting the sights of young Black boys.

A national modelling programme was one of the recommendations made to Government by an independent panel made up of members who had an in depth understanding of the realities of the lives of Black Boys and the barriers they face to success. The Government has responded positively to their report and is committed to taking action on all the REACH recommendations.

Too often role models can be celebrities and those who glamorise a world of crime, drugs, guns and gangs. The national role modelling programme will seek to challenge stereotypes, shine a light on positive images of Black male achievement - from businessmen to doctors, lawyers, artists and community workers. REACH is about getting these positive images onto the radar and ensuring that more young people know that every route is open to them.

Wright Brothers National Memorial NPS Salutes Outer Banks Group Volunteers

Several volunteers were recognized for their achievement of excellence. Jean and Bud Brinkley, Marjorie and John Grubka, Fred Hattman, Shirley Helms, Steve Jones, Mike Staples, and Julie and Ed Stetser received the National Park Service Volunteer Master Ranger Corp recognition for each donating over 500 hours of service last year.

"This tremendous number of donated hours equals almost 11 full-time paid staff members," stated Superintendent Michael B. Murray. "The support provided by our volunteers truly keeps us going. We are proud to recognize them during National Volunteer Week, April 27 to May 3."

Volunteers support a myriad of visitor services and special projects. Volunteers working at the visitor centers, lighthouses, supporting programs, and out on the beach with resource management are the most visible to the public. Volunteers also work with the Ocracoke ponies, in park offices, tracking use permits, photographing special events, and providing support for maintenance projects.

Dare and Hyde county residents comprise a majority of the volunteer corps, which is supplemented by non-local volunteers, and interns. Some organizations, such as the Cape Hatteras Anglers Club and Cape Hatteras Bird Club, also volunteer their services providing special programming for park visitors.

Bra Boys

Bra Boys, narrated by Russell Crowe, is an entertaining and insightful story about the infamous surf community of Sydney's eastern suburb, Maroubra. The documentary is told from the eyes of the 'Bra Boys' themselves, describing a life of struggle where the only places they can turn to is the surf and their brotherhood.

The story focuses on the life of the Abberton brothers: Sunny (writer), Koby, Jai and Dakota. The four hold family loyalty in the highest regard.

Growing up in a home with a heroin-addicted mother, the boys learned to look after each other from a young age. The home of their late grandmother Mavis - known to everyone as 'Ma' - served as a refuge for the boys and their friends.

Maroubra, a poverty-ridden suburb made up of commission flats that sits 'in the shadow of Long Bay Jail', seems to offer minimal options for its youths, who skip many days of school, lack any sort of direction and tend to become heavily involved with drugs, crime and violence.

The documentary shows the deep hatred the group have for police, and the instant mistrust of anyone outside their tribe, evident in the fighting to 'protect' their local beaches. Symbolising the strong loyalty of the group, Koby proudly sports the famous tattoo on his chest, with the words 'My Brother's Keeper'.

On trial for the murder of convicted rapist and murderer Tony Hines, Bra Boy Jai Abberton emphasises the unfortunate path taken by many: drugs and jail. The boys have been in the news for all of the wrong reasons, with one of the biggest incidents occurring in 2002, when a brawl broke out between the boys and off-duty police.

On the other hand the Bra Boys are well known for their surfing talent, producing many 'big wave' surfers including pro surfer Koby Abberton.

In one scene the brothers jet-ski out to one of the world's thickest and roughest waves, off the south-west coast of Australia. At the wave known as 'The Cyclops', the boys show off their extreme talent and utter fearlessness.

What Challenges Are Boys Facing and What Opportunities Exist to Address those Challenges?

Many adolescent boys are doing well. They graduate from high school, stay out of trouble, and reach adulthood prepared for the world of work and the responsibilities of family. For young men like these, opportunities have never been greater.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation commissioned a review of the literature on the risks and assets that affect boys ages 10 through 18. By summarizing and synthesizing the existing literature, the project aims to pinpoint what strengths make some boys likely to succeed and what risks, or challenges, increase the likelihood that they will struggle. It does not make an effort to compare boys to girls; it does not intend to imply that an issue for boys isn't also relevant for girls. In fact, research shows that many of the same risk and protective factors, as well as interventions, may be relevant for both boys and girls.

A major goal of the project is to provide information about approaches that help boys stay on the right track. These approaches range from formal programs, such as anti-drug or anti-gang programs, to environmental interventions, such as when a community bands together to create safe places for youth to congregate, to more informal approaches, such as when a concerned adult befriends a troubled adolescent.

The project has produced a brief on key findings, an annotated bibliography, and fact sheets focusing on seven research areas, or domains: mortality and victimization, juvenile delinquency, substance abuse, mental health, education, employment, and constructive use of time. The project examines the influence, both positive and negative, of boys' characteristics; their families, peers, and schools; and their communities. This project also highlights the positive impact that caring adults in families, schools, and communities can have on the well-being of boys and young men.

House arrest for 'drug delivery boy'

Despite concerns from Crown that a conditional sentence could not "control" him, a provincial court judge has sentenced a 23-year-old Courtenay man to one year house arrest for trafficking cocaine.

Phillip Morgan Saunders was initially arrested on Nov. 16, 2007, after police smelled marijuana during a scuffle over a bottle of vodka in Saunders' possession.

When returned to the detachment, a small amount of pot as well as 0.6 grams of cocaine were found on Saunders.

"He was rambling on about how the marijuana, the vodka and the coke were all his and he was bringing them home," said federal Crown prosecutor Bonnie Macdonald.

About three months later, as Saunders awaited trial on the drug possession charge, an unidentified source told police that a particular phone number was being used for a dial-a-dope operation.

Police called the number and set up a buy for three spitballs, or 1.2 grams, of cocaine. They were met by Saunders.

Defence lawyer Michael Harris said his client was not the one behind the dial-a-dope operation.

More information : http://www.canada.com/House+arrest+drug+delivery/1506620/story.html

Helium rains inside Jovian planets

LIVERMORE, Calif. – Models of how Saturn and Jupiter formed may soon take on a different look.

By determining the properties of hydrogen-helium mixtures at the millions of atmospheres of pressure present in the interior of Saturn and Jupiter, physicists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have determined the temperature at a given pressure when helium becomes insoluble in dense metallic hydrogen. The results are directly relevant to models of the interior structure and evolution of Jovian planets.

Hydrogen and helium are the two lightest and most common elements in the universe. Because of their ubiquitous nature, they are critical in cosmological nucleosynthesis and are essential elements of stars and giant planets. Hydrogen by itself in the observable universe provides clues to the origin and large-scale structures of galaxies.

However, scientists have struggled to determine what conditions are needed for the two elements to mix.

Ornithopter

Man has long been fascinated with birds and their ability to fly. Before the Wright Brothers achieved their first heavier-than-air controlled flight in 1903, hundreds of men and women attempted to fly in gliders, airships, balloons and other fantastic innovations. As early as the 15th century, Leonardo da Vinci studied the flight and wing structure of birds. His detailed design of a human-powered ornithopter - an aircraft deriving its thrust and lift from flapping wings - was based on these studies. Although he never actually flew the machines he designed, his ideas were replicated and modified throughout the next four centuries. In 1871, Alphonse Penaud successfully flew a rubber-powered model ornithopter - the Planophore - for a distance of 181 feet in 11 seconds. Since then, many other inventors have developed ornithopters. This turn-of-the-century photograph pictures Arnold Coblitz in his ornithopter. The engraving - Flugmaschine - depicts an ornithopter constructed and tested unsuccessfully by Swiss watchmaker Jakob Degen living in Vienna in the early 1800s. Even today, a team based at the University of Toronto's Institute for Aerospace Studies is conducting research on ornithopters.

US, Afghan troops kill 11 militants in south

International and Afghan troops killed 11 militants when a raid in Afghanistan's volatile south turned into a gunbattle with Taliban fighters, U.S. forces said Friday.

Fighting broke out during the Thursday night raid targeting a key Taliban insurgent in a village in Helmand province, the military said in a statement. The forces came under fire from militants inside a compound as they advanced and returned fire.

The U.S. military said the insurgent targeted in the attack was involved in making bombs that were used for roadside attacks in northern Helmand province.

One insurgent was captured and 11 killed in the fighting in Lashkar Gar district, west of the provincial capital of Kandahar. The statement said one militant tried to use women and children in the compound as human shields, but the force managed to shoot the man without harming the civilians.

A village elder told coalition forces the Taliban forced them to shelter the group for the night, the statement said.

The U.S. is sending 17,000 additional troops to Afghanistan to stamp out the resurgent Taliban who have taken de facto control of the south and continue to mount attacks through much of the rest of the country.

Senior U.S. officials say President Barack Obama also plans to deploy 4,000 trainers to build up Afghan forces as part of a new strategy to be announced Friday.
Source http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hvWEqwq3CrRvaQCmt21MfoYhjZJQD9765HJO3

Climate-related Changes on the Antarctic Peninsula Being Driven from the Top and the Bottom of the Ecosystem

Scientists have long established that the Antarctic Peninsula is one of the most rapidly warming spots on Earth. Now, new research using detailed satellite data indicates that the changing climate is affecting not just the penguins at the apex of the food chain, but simultaneously the microscopic life that is the base of the ecosystem.

The research was published in the March 13 edition of Science magazine by researchers with the National Science Foundation's (NSF) LTER (Long Term Ecological Research) program. The LTER, which has 26 sites around the globe, including two in Antarctica, enables tracking of ecological variables over time, so that the mechanisms of climate change impact on ecosystems can be revealed. The specific findings were made by researchers with the Palmer LTER, using data collected near Palmer Station and from the research vessel Laurence M. Gould. Both Palmer Station and the Laurence M. Gould are operated by NSF's Office of Polar Programs.

Hugh Ducklow, of the Marie Biological Laboratory at Woods Hole, the principal investigator for the Palmer LTER project, said that the new findings are scientifically significant, but they also are consistent with the climate trends on the Peninsula and other observed changes.

However, it took new scientific tools and analytical work by post-doctoral fellow Martin Montes Hugo to verify scientifically what scientists had been inferring from other changes for some time.

"I have to say the findings weren't a surprise; I think with the weight of all the other observations that we had on changes happening to organisms higher up in the food chain, we thought that phytoplankton weren't going to escape this level of climate change," Ducklow said. "But it took Martin to have all the right tools and the abilities to go in and do the analysis and prove what we suspected."

Those data, gathered over years, were essential to tracking patterns that supported the new findings.

"That's the beauty of the LTER program," he added.

Over the past 50 years, winter temperatures on the Peninsula have risen five times faster than the global average and the duration of sea-ice coverage has decreased. A warm, moist maritime climate has moved into the northern Peninsula region, pushing the continental, polar conditions southward.

As a result, the prevalence of species that depend on sea ice, such as Adelie penguins, Antarctic silverfish and krill, has decreased in the Peninsula's northern region, and new species that typically avoid ice, such as Gentoo and Chinstrap penguins, and lanternfish are moving into the habitat.

The LTER researchers show that satellite data on ocean color, temperature, sea ice and winds, indicate that phytoplankton at the base of the food chain are also responding to changes in sea-ice cover and winds driven by climate change. However, there are contrasting changes in northern and southern regions, and the satellite and ground-based data provide insights into the forcing mechanisms for each region.

The researchers weren't surprised that primary productivity in the waters of the Peninsula has changed dramatically over the last 20 years. But the contrasting changes in the north and south were a surprise.

Galactic Dust Bunnies Found to Contain Carbon After All

Galactic Dust Bunnies Found to Contain Carbon After All Using NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope, researchers have found evidence suggesting that stars rich in carbon complex molecules may form at the center of our Milky Way galaxy.

This discovery is significant because it adds to our knowledge of how stars form heavy elements -- like oxygen, carbon and iron -- and then blow them out across the universe, making it possible for life to develop.

Astronomers have long been baffled by a strange phenomenon: Why have their telescopes never detected carbon-rich stars at the center of our galaxy even though they have found these stars in other places? Now, by using Spitzer's powerful infrared detectors, a research team has found the elusive carbon stars in the galactic center.

"The dust surrounding the stars emits very strongly at infrared wavelengths," says Pedro García-Lario, a research team member who is on the faculty of the European Space Astronomy Center, the European Space Agency's center for space science. He co-authored a paper on this subject in the February 2009 issue of the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics.

"With the help of Spitzer spectra, we can easily determine whether the material returned by the stars to the interstellar medium is oxygen-rich or carbon-rich."

The team of scientists analyzed the light emitted from 40 planetary nebulae – blobs of dust and gas surrounding stars -- using Spitzer's infrared spectrograph. They analyzed 26 nebulae toward the center of the Milky Way -- a region called the "Galactic Bulge" -- and 14 nebulae in other parts of the galaxy. The scientists found a large amount of crystalline silicates and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, two substances that indicate the presence of oxygen and carbon.

This combination is unusual. In the Milky Way, dust that combines both oxygen and carbon is rare and is usually only found surrounding a binary system of stars. The research team, however, found that the presence of the carbon-oxygen dust in the Galactic Bulge seems to be suggestive of a recent change of chemistry experienced by the star.

The scientists hypothesize that as the central star of a planetary nebula ages and dies, its heavier elements do not make their way to the star's outer layers, as they do in other stars. Only in the last moments of the central star's life, when it expands and then violently expels almost all of its remaining outer gasses, does the carbon become detectable. That's when astronomers see it in the nebula surrounding the star. "The carbon produced through these recurrent 'thermal pulses' is very inefficiently dredged up to the surface of the star, contrary to what is observed in low-metallicity, galactic disk stars," said García-Lario. "It only becomes visible when the star is about to die."

This study supports a hypothesis about why the carbon in some stars does not make its way to the stars' surfaces. Scientists believe that small stars -- those with masses up to one-and-a-half times that of our sun -- that contain lots of metal do not bring carbon to their surfaces as they age. Stars in the Galactic Bulge tend to have more metals than other stars, so the Spitzer data support this commonly held hypothesis. Before the Spitzer study, this hypothesis had never been supported by observation.

This aging and expelling process is typical of all stars. As stars age and die, they burn progressively heavier and heavier elements, beginning with hydrogen and ending with iron. Towards the end of their lives, some stars become what are called "red giants." These dying stars swell so large that if one of them were placed in our solar system, where the sun is now, its outermost border would touch Earth's orbit. As these stars pulsate – losing mass in the process – and then contract, they spew out almost all of their heavier elements. These elements are the building blocks of all planets, including our own Earth (as well as of human beings and any other life forms that may exist in the universe).

FDA CLEARS CAMERA PILL TO PHOTOGRAPH SMALL INTESTINE

FDA today cleared for marketing a swallowable capsule containing a tiny camera that snaps pictures twice a second as it glides through the small intestine.

The product represents a technological advance in methods of examining the gastrointestinal tract.

The device, made by Given Imaging Ltd., an Israeli company with North American headquarters in Norcross, Ga., is intended to visualize the inside of the small intestine to detect polyps, cancer, or causes of bleeding and anemia.

Currently the standard method of detecting abnormalities in the intestines is through endoscopic examination in which doctors advance a scope down into the small intestine via the mouth. However, these scopes are unable to reach through all of the 20-foot-long small intestine, and thus provide only a partial view of that part of the bowel.

The camera capsule is designed to take photos of the entire small intestine, enabling doctors to see areas that the endoscope cannot reach.

The device, called the Given Diagnostic Imaging System, comes in capsule form and contains a camera, lights, transmitter and batteries. The capsule has a clear end that allows the camera to view the lining of the small intestine.

The patient swallows the capsule, and the natural muscular waves of the digestive tract propel it forward through the stomach, into the small intestine, through the large intestine, and then out in the stool. The capsule transmits the images to a data recorder, which is worn on a belt around the patient's waist. The physician then transfers the stored data to a computer for processing and analysis.

The battery has an expected life of eight hours, which is generally long enough to photograph the small intestine, but not long enough to photograph the entire gastrointestinal tract.

FDA cleared the device based on both animal and clinical studies of safety and effectiveness conducted by the manufacturer. In one of the human trials, Given Imaging studied the use of the camera capsule in patients with suspected small intestine disease. All patients had signs of either unexplained chronic gastrointestinal blood loss or anemia. All had undergone standard endoscopic and radiological evaluations prior to receiving the capsule.

Study results showed that the camera pill was safe, without any side effects, and was able to detect abnormalities in the small intestine, including parts that cannot be reached by the endoscope.

FDA cleared the device for use along with--not as a replacement for--other endoscopic and radiological evaluations of the small bowel. The capsule was not studied in the large intestine.

Yahoo's Bartz Shows Who's Boss

By Robert D. Hof


Just six weeks after taking over as chief executive of Yahoo! (YHOO) from co-founder Jerry Yang, Carol Bartz has now made it quite clear who's in charge and what demands she'll place on her executive team. On Feb. 26, Bartz announced an overhaul of the embattled company's management. The new, streamlined structure is intended to make the company "a lot faster on its feet," Bartz wrote in a post on Yahoo's official blog.

In one of the biggest changes, Chief Financial Officer Blake Jorgensen, who joined Yahoo in June 2007, will leave in the next few months after a new CFO is chosen. Jorgensen was a close ally of former Yahoo President Sue Decker, who left in January after being passed over for the top job. Jorgensen's departure follows those of mobile chief Marco Boerries earlier this week and news head Neeraj Khemlani, who's leaving for Hearst as vice-president and special assistant to the CEO for digital media.

The changes, though largely expected after recent reports in the blog BoomTown, are no less momentous for a company that for years has been hobbled by slow decision-making and ineffective execution on those decisions. As far back as 2006, one executive who has since left, Brad Garlinghouse, penned a now-famous "Peanut Butter Manifesto" that outlined those management problems. The new management organization has all major executives reporting directly to Bartz, who lamented in her blog post that there's "plenty that has bogged this company down." "It looks like she isn't afraid to go in with a chain saw," says Kevin Lee, CEO of search marketing firm Didit.

Source www.businessweek.com/technology/content/feb2009/tc20090226_871329.htm?chan=technology_technology+index+page_top+stories

Cox's Bazar

Miles of golden sands, towering cliffs, surfing waves, rare conch shells, colorful Pagodas, Buddhist Temples and delightful sea-food - all this makes what Cox's Bazar is today , the tourist capital of Bangladesh. The World's longest uninterrupted (120 km.) beach slopes here down to the blue waters of the Bay of Bengal against the picturesque background of a chain of hills covered with deep green forests.

Cox's Bazar is one of the most attractive tourist spots in the world. The warm, shark free, waters are good for bathing and swimming & while the sandy beaches offer opportunities for sun-bathing.

The beauty of the setting-sun behind the waves of the sea is simply captivating. Locally made cigars and handloom products of the tribal Rakhyne families are good buys.

Located at a distance of 152 km. south of Chittagong, Cox's Bazar is connected both by air and road from Dhaka and Chittagong.

Visit to the fascinating picnic spots at Himchari and Teknaf, the Buddhist Temple at Ramu and nearby islands of Sonadia and St. Martin's, Inani Beach and Moheshkhali are certain to become unforgettable experiences for every visitor.

Paleoclimatology

Paleoclimatology is the study of climate prior to the widespread availability of records of temperature, precipitation and other instrumental data. NOAA is particularly interested in the last few thousand years because this is the best dated, best sampled part of the past climatic record and can help us establish the range of natural climatic variability in a period prior to global-scale human influence.

Environmental recorders are used to estimate past climatic conditions and thus extend our understanding far beyond the 100+ year instrumental record. "Proxy" records of climate have been preserved in tree rings, locked in the skeletons of tropical coral reefs, extracted as ice cores from glaciers and ice caps, and buried in laminated sediments from lakes and the ocean.

Electronic Transactions Ordinance

To provide a clear legal framework for the conduct of e-business in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, the Electronic Transactions Ordinance (Cap. 553) (the Ordinance) was enacted on 5 January 2000. The PDF file format Electronic Transactions (Amendment) Ordinance 2004 (the Amendment Ordinance) was also enacted and came into operation on 30 June 2004 to update and improve the Ordinance. In general, the Ordinance, as amended by the Amendment Ordinance, seeks to -

1. accord electronic record and electronic signature (please see the note below) the same legal status as that of their paper-based counterparts; and


2. establish a voluntary recognition scheme for certification authorities to enhance public confidence in electronic transactions.

(Note : For transactions not involving Government entities, a signature requirement under the law can be met by any form of electronic signature so long as it is reliable, appropriate and agreed by the recipient of the signature. For transactions involving Government entities, a signature requirement under the law can be satisfied by digital signature.)

Green supercomputing paves the way for sharing scientific research and collaboration

Energy efficiency ranks second when compared to renewable power generation as a solution to climate change, but for Phillip Dickens, a professor at the University of Maine, it is first in the world of supercomputing.

With the evolution of supercomputers over the last few years, speed, memory and capability have increased tremendously. The early models of computers were enormous in size, often filling a large room. One of the challenges of having a computer this size was the large amount of heat that it generated and how to keep it cool. Two dominant factors that have influenced supercomputer design are Moore's Law and economies of scale.

Today, a modern desktop computer running at 2.66 GHz is more powerful than a 10-year-old supercomputer, and costs considerably less.

In addition, parallelization allows for several smaller parts to work simultaneously and limits the amount of information that can be transferred between processing units. Clusters of computers can also be programmed to function as a single large computer. There are many possibilities that can maximize the energy efficiency of the hardware and software of supercomputers.

Dickens received a two year, $200,000 National Science Foundation (NSF) research grant that funded the development of a scientific grid portal in Maine and the purchase of an energy efficient supercomputer. The purpose of the grid-portal is to make research from the University of Maine Institute of Climate Modeling available to top research scientists down to school age children.

Results of widely used ice sheet models, tools for climate change research, prototype versions of object based caching system, real-time animations and video are just a few of the applications that will be available. In addition, the grid portal will provide the larger community with the computing power, storage capacity, and rendering engine to execute very high-resolution models and receive animations and other visual information in real time.

In a demonstration of energy efficiency, the University of Maine, Department of Computer Science, unveiled the first cyclist-powered "green" supercomputer. Powered by 10 cyclists, the eco-friendly SiCortex SC648 supercomputer successfully ran a program demonstrating glacial melting for 20 minutes.

"The fact that a computer can be powered by a team of cyclists underscores how efficient computers have become," said University of Maine professor George Markowsky.

Computer scientists are continually searching for new ways to reduce the amount of energy it takes to operate computer systems. The SiCortex SC648 is the first of two low power HPC systems to be developed in the state of Maine. It combines desktop accessibility with low cooling requirements of a standard PC, but has the speed and power for high-productivity computing. The SC648 can develop, distribute, run multiple applications and uses 1000 watts of power. In addition to the SC648, the University of Maine has also invested in the SiCortex SC072. It provides answers to complex scientific computing challenges as quickly as conventional cluster computers, but at the fraction of the energy requirement using 300 watts of power. Both computer systems will power the University of Maine Scientific Grid Portal and provide access to computing resources, scientific applications and research animations.

"The computer industry is still in the early phase of realizing the importance of power consumption. Most computer users today don't think about energy and infrastructure costs when making a buying decision. With climate change looming, energy costs skyrocketing and the economy stumbling, power requirements are being thrust into the foreground," said James Bailey, marketing director of SiCortex.

Although Dickens is at the forefront of "green" supercomputing, his desire exceeds the current eco-friendly capabilities. "We are still in the beginning phase. It would have been nice to show multiple displays, all executing different phases, showing different processes. We have one application now and we are looking to get more because there is a lot of demand," he said.

The South Pole: A Premier Observatory

Astronomers work at the South Pole to take advantage of excellent viewing conditions. Cold, dry Antarctica will allow SPT to more easily detect the cosmic microwave background (CMB) radiation, the afterglow of the big bang, with minimal interference from water vapor. On the electromagnetic spectrum, the CMB falls somewhere between heat radiation and radio waves.

The CMB is largely uniform, but it contains tiny ripples of varying density and temperature. These ripples reflect the seeds that, through gravitational attraction, grew into the galaxies and galaxy clusters visible to astronomers today. The SPT's first key science project will be to study small variations in the CMB to determine if dark energy began to affect the formation of galaxy clusters by fighting against gravity over the past few billion years.

Galaxy clusters are groups of galaxies, the largest celestial bodies that gravity can hold together. "Our galaxy, the Milky Way, is in one of these clusters," Meyer said. "And these clusters of galaxies actually change with time."

The CMB allows astronomers to take snapshots of the infant universe, when it was only 400,000 years old. No stars or galaxies had yet formed. If dark energy changed the way the universe expanded, it would have left its "fingerprints" in the way it forced galaxies apart over the deep history of time. Different causes would produce a different pattern in the formation of galaxy clusters.

According to one idea, dark energy could be Albert Einstein's cosmological constant: a steady force of nature operating at all times and in all places. Einstein introduced the cosmological constant into his theory of general relativity to accommodate a stationary universe, the dominant idea of the day. If Einstein's idea is correct, scientists will find that dark energy was much less influential in the universe 5 billion years ago than it is today.

"Clusters weren't around in the early universe. They took a long time to evolve," Carlstrom said.

Another version of the dark energy theory, called quintessence, suggests a force that varies in time and space. Some scientists even suggest there is no dark energy at all, and that gravity merely breaks down on vast intergalactic scales.

To pinpoint when dark energy became important, SPT will use a phenomenon called the Sunyaev-Zeldovich effect, which distorts the CMB as it passes through the hot gas of intervening galaxy clusters. As the microwaves interact with gas in the clusters, some of the microwaves get kicked into a higher frequency. SPT will measure the slight temperature difference associated with the frequency change and produce an image of the gas in the cluster.

SPT can scan large regions of the sky quickly. Scientists expect it to detect thousands, or even tens of thousands, of galaxy clusters within a few years. "To get a meaningful constraint on dark energy through measuring galaxy clusters, you need something like this South Pole Telescope," Carlstrom said. "The cluster SZ [Sunyaev-Zeldovich] signals cover small patches in the sky relative to the intrinsic variations in the cosmic microwave background. To get the necessary resolution, you need a big telescope. Now we have one."

Senior members of the SPT team include William Holzapfel, Adrian Lee and Helmuth Spieler from the University of California at Berkeley and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laborator; Joe Mohr, from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; John Ruhl from Case Western Reserve University; Antony Stark, from the Harvard-Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory; Matt Dobbs from McGill University; and Erik Leitch of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

SLIPPERY ELM - Ulmus rubra, Muhl

EXCEPT FOR SCATTERED counties in the Ozarks, slippery elm is found in almost every county in the state. Like American elm, slippery elm is a water-loving tree and grows best on moist, rich soils on lowers slopes, stream banks, river terraces and bottomlands.

The leaf is alternate, simple, with a coarsely double saw-toothed edge. It ranges from five to seven inches long and two to three inches wide. It is egg-shaped with the broadest part above the middle and the base slightly uneven. The tip is drawn out to a long, narrow point. The upper surface of the leaf is dark green and very rough while the under-surface is lighter and hairy. This rough leaf distinguishes it from the American elm which has a smooth leaf.

The fruit occurs in clusters and each seed and stem is 3/4 inch long. A single seed is surrounded by a thin, papery wing, smooth around the edge. It is common to see small drifts of elm seeds along sidewalks in metropolitan areas after a heavy rain.

Twigs are slender to moderately stout. They are gray and very rough to the touch. The buds are egg-shaped, pointed and covered with dark chestnut-brown hairs. The bark on older trees is reddish-brown. It is furrowed with platy or scaly ridges and the inner bark contains a sticky sap once used as a medicine by Indians and pioneers.

Like American elm, the seeds, buds, and leaves of slippery elm furnish food for the gray and fox squirrel and deer.The wood of slippery elm is heavy, tough, and strong. Of all the elms, it has the best and most durable lumber. It is used in the manufacture of furniture and for many other uses. Because of intertwined fibers, it is hard to split with an axe. Unprotected piles of lumber will twist and warp.

Growing along with slippery elm may be American elm, black cherry, white ash, blue ash, black walnut, bitternut hickory, bur oak, basswood, silver maple, and white oak. This elm is also susceptible to Dutch elm disease and many leaf-chewing insects.

Fresh or Frozen, Defender Is a Good Potato

Long, white-skinned potatoes in the produce section of your supermarket might be "Defender"—the only commercially grown potato in the United States today with tubers and leaves that fend off late blight disease. Worldwide, late blight is generally regarded as one of the worst diseases of potatoes.

Besides starring as a fresh-market potato, Defender also can be processed into frozen products. ARS scientists in the Small Grains and Potato Research Unit , Aberdeen, Idaho, and the Vegetable and Forage Crop Research Unit, Prosser, Wash., worked with university colleagues to in Idaho, Oregon and Washington develop this superior spud. They put it through more than a decade of rigorous outdoor tests before making it available to growers, processors, potato-seed companies and others last year.

The plant's natural resistance to late blight allows growers to use either no fungicides—or much smaller amounts—to control the disease. This feature makes the potato ideal for conventional and organic farms alike.

Kimberlites

Active exploration for diamondiferous kimberlite pipes is ongoing in northeastern Namibia, where kimberlite indicator minerals (e.g. ilmenite, garnet, chrom-diopside) as well as micro-diamonds have been recovered.

Companies exploring for diamondiferous kimberlites include Motapa Diamonds Incorporation, Mount Burgess Mining N.L and DeBeers. Past exploration of kimberlite pipes within the Gibeon Kimberlite Province was unable to delineate diamondiferous kimberlites due to their off-craton setting. To date, no economic diamondiferous kimberlite pipes have been discovered, but great potential exists on both the Congo and Kalahari cratons.

A new national park on Aboriginal land at Cape York

Queensland's second national park (Cape York Peninsula Aboriginal land) was dedicated on 8 August 2008. The new KULLA (McIlwraith Range) National Park (Cape York Peninsula Aboriginal land) is an area of outstanding beauty and biological richness with spectacular escarpments, gorges, waterfalls and rainforests that has been the home of Aboriginal people for thousands of years. It’s jointly managed by the Kulla Land Trust and the Queensland Government.

Money Market Funds

Money market funds have relatively low risks, compared to other mutual funds (and most other investments). By law, they can invest in only certain high-quality, short-term investments issued by the U.S. government, U.S. corporations, and state and local governments. Money market funds try to keep their net asset value (NAV) — which represents the value of one share in a fund — at a stable $1.00 per share. But the NAV may fall below $1.00 if the fund's investments perform poorly.

Investor losses have been rare, but they are possible.Money market funds pay dividends that generally reflect short-term interest rates, and historically the returns for money market funds have been lower than for either bond or stock funds. That's why "inflation risk" — the risk that inflation will outpace and erode investment returns over time — can be a potential concern for investors in money market funds.

UK losing out to the new members of the EU in attracting FDI

With the expansion of the EU with ten new members in 2004, and more set to join in 2007, foreign investors have a much broader selection of lower-wage markets and skill sets from which to choose. The UK has positioned itself as a mature market, producing higher-value goods and services and with a highlyskilled workforce, and continues to be the leading investment location in Europe, according to the UNCTAD World Investment Report 2006.

In line with its positioning as a high-value market, the UK attracts more European headquarters and R&D projects than any other European country1. The UK's focus is to attract hi-tech companies, and exploit the wider aspects of innovation in a variety of knowledgedriven industries.

French and Italian painting of the 17th century

In Italy, the Counter-reformation helped drive a style of painting that was emotional and direct. Artists again emphasized careful observation of the natural world and looked to the examples of past masters. Their classical approach would leave its mark all over Europe for more than 100 years and, in France, would be institutionalized in the French Academy, founded in 1648. Fueled by the wealth of the Vatican and the spate of construction of new buildings, seventeenth-century Rome offered great opportunities for artists. Domenico Fetti saw the Veil of Veronica when it was exhibited at Saint Peter's in Rome and made it the subject of a moving portrayal of Christ in his suffering.

The French state from the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries witnessed a form of government based on the absolute monarchy, which reached its apogee under the reign of the Sun King, Louis XIV, from 1643 until 1715. Louis' desire to glorify his dignity and the magnificence of France found expression in a distinctly French style that rivaled the more exuberant Italian form of the baroque. The history and landscape paintings of Nicolas Poussin and Claude Lorrain are characterized by symmetry and clarity of form; the artist's organization of his compositions was to demonstrate the power of reason that pervaded seventeenth-century French culture.

US in $800-bn Move To Spur Consumer Loans

In its continued fight against the economic meltdown, the US Government on Tuesday announced yet another package of a whopping $800 billion (about Rs 40 lakh crore) with a view to augmenting consumer loans by the near-bankrupt banking and mortgage institutions.This mega package is in addition to the $700-billion rescue plan, which was cleared after several rounds of intense debate in the US Congress.

The US Federal Reserve said it would buy mortgage-backed securities (MBS) worth $600 billion, which would in turn encourage lending. Further, the apex bank would launch a new facility aimed at thawing the credit market for consumers, especially in supporting issuance of auto and student loans.

In a statement on Tuesday, the US Fed announced that it would launch a programme to purchase direct obligations of housing-related Government-Sponsored Enterprises (GSEs) and mortgage-backed securities of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae.

The apex bank pointed out that the action was being taken to reduce cost and increase availability of credit for purchase of houses. This would, in turn, help in supporting housing markets and foster better financial market conditions.
"Purchases of up to $100 billion in GSE's direct obligations under the programme will be conducted with the Federal Reserve's primary dealers through a series of competitive auctions and will begin next week.

"Purchases of up to $500 billion in MBS will be conducted by asset managers selected via a competitive process with a goal of beginning these purchases before year-end," the US Fed noted.

Further, in a separate statement, the apex bank said it would create Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility (TALF) to lend up to $200 billion, to unfreeze the credit needs of consumers and small businesses.

Grotto Falls

Trillium Gap Trail meanders through an old-growth hemlock forest and actually runs behind the 25 foot high waterfall. The cool, moist environment near the falls is ideal for salamanders and summer hikers. The hike is 3 miles roundtrip and considered moderate in difficulty.

Access trail: Trillium GapTrailhead: From the parkway in Gatlinburg, turn at traffic light #8 and follow Historic Nature Trail into Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Take Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail (no RVs or trailers; closed in winter ) to stop #5 where there is a large parking area.

Lung Cancer

Also called: Bronchogenic carcinoma
Lung cancer is one of the most common cancers in the world. It is a leading cause of cancer death in men and women in the United States. Cigarette smoking causes most lung cancers. The more cigarettes you smoke per day and the earlier you started smoking, the greater your risk of lung cancer. High levels of pollution, radiation and asbestos exposure may also increase risk.

Common symptoms of lung cancer include
* A cough that doesn't go away and gets worse over time

* Constant chest pain

* Coughing up blood

* Shortness of breath, wheezing, or hoarseness

* Repeated problems with pneumonia or bronchitis

* Swelling of the neck and face

* Loss of appetite or weight loss

* Fatigue

There are many types of lung cancer. Each type of lung cancer grows and spreads in different ways and is treated differently. Treatment also depends on the stage, or how advanced it is. Treatment may include chemotherapy, radiation and surgery.

Multiple fruit

A multiple fruit is one formed from a cluster of flowers (called an inflorescence). Each flower produces a fruit, but these mature into a single mass. Examples are the pineapple, edible fig, mulberry, osage-orange, and breadfruit.In some plants, such as this noni, flowers are produced regularly along the stem and it is possible to see together examples of flowering, fruit development, and fruit ripening.

In the stages of flowering and fruit development in the noni or Indian mulberry (Morinda citrifolia) can be observed on a single branch. First an inflorescence of white flowers called a head is produced. After fertilization, each flower develops into a drupe, and as the drupes expand, they become connate (merge) into a multiple fleshy fruit called a syncarpet.

There are also many dry multiple fruits, e.g.
* Tuliptree, multiple of samaras.

* Sweet gum, multiple of capsules.

* Sycamore and teasel, multiple of achenes.

* Magnolia, multiple of follicles.

World leaders have hailed the election of Senator Barack Obama as the first black president of the United States.

UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown called Tuesday's poll historic and said he and Mr Obama "share many values".

Chinese President Hu Jintao said he looked forward to strengthening dialogue. France's Nicolas Sarkozy said the poll had raised "enormous hope".

Outgoing US President George W Bush said Mr Obama could count on "complete co-operation" during the transition.

The president-elect will take over the presidency in January.

Democratic officials quoted by the Associated Press news agency say Illinois Congressman Rahm Emanuel has been offered the job of Mr Obama's White House chief-of-staff.

Blessing

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said he was looking forwards "to an era of renewed partnership and a new multilateralism".

In Kenya - the birthplace of Mr Obama's father - President Mwai Kibaki declared a national holiday on Thursday.

Pope Benedict XVI asked for "God's blessings on the American people".

The BBC's Justin Webb in Washington says Americans have made two fundamental statements about themselves - that they are profoundly unhappy with the status quo, and that they are slamming the door on the country's racial past.

At the White House, Mr Bush told reporters: "History was made yesterday."

He congratulated the president-elect on an "impressive victory" and said it represented strides "toward a more perfect union".

20th Century Drought

The Dust Bowl Drought

The Dust Bowl drought was a natural disaster that severely affected much of the United States during the 1930s. The drought came in three waves, 1934, 1936, and 1939-40, but some regions of the High Plains experienced drought conditions for as many as eight years. The "dust bowl" effect was caused by sustained drought conditions compounded by years of landPhotos from Library of Congress and U.S. National Archives management practices that left topsoil susceptible to the forces of the wind. The soil, depleted of moisture, was lifted by the wind into great clouds of dust and sand which were so thick they concealed the sun for several days at a time. They were referred to as" black blizzards".

The agricultural and economic damage devastated residents of the Great Plains. The Dust Bowl drought worsened the already severe economic crises that many Great Plains farmers faced. In the early 1930s, many farmers were trying to recover from economic losses suffered during the Great Depression. To compensate for these losses, they began to increase their crop yields. High production drove prices down, forcing farmers to keep increasing their production to pay for both their equipment and their land. When the drought hit, farmers could no longer produce enough crops to pay off loans or even pay for essential needs. Even with Federal emergency aid, many Great Plains farmers could not withstand the economic crisis of the drought. Many farmers were forced off of their land, with one in ten farms changing possession at the peak of the farm transfers.PDSI Animation, 1930s and 1950s (6 year time frame)

In the aftermath of the Dust Bowl, it was clear that many factors contributed to the severe impact of this drought. A better understanding of the interactions between the natural elements (climate, plants, and soil) and human-related elements (agricultural practices, economics, and social conditions)of the Great Plains was needed. Lessons were learned, and because of this drought, farmers adopted new cultivation methods to help control soil erosion in dry land ecosystems. Subsequent droughts in this region have had less impact due to these cultivation practices.

Indian Health & Family Welfare

India is rapidly gaining ground in the international scenario as a popular destination for foreign travelers, international students, and even for some others who opt to migrate to this mystical land for health and medical tourism. The country, which had been reeling under the onslaught of British colonial rule, managed to fight all odds and has successfully created a niche for itself. It has metamorphosed into one of the most sought after destinations for travel, much due to the presence of several renowned world heritage sites, and an inherent spiritualistic force, which pulls enthusiastic travelers towards it.

McCain Uses Biden's 'Crisis' Prediction To Question Obama

Republican running mates John McCain and Sarah Palin raised new questions about Barack Obama's readiness to lead Tuesday, taking advantage of Joe Biden's claims that Obama would face a "generated crisis."Biden's comments seemed to hand the McCain campaign yet another last-minute line of attack as the Arizona senator tries to close the gap between him and his Democratic rival in the final two weeks of the presidential campaign."We don't want a president who invites testing from the world at a time when our economy is in crisis and Americans are already fighting in two wars," McCain said Tuesday in Harrisburg, Pa. "Thanks for the warning, Joe," Palin said to cheers from about 2,500 supporters at the Reno-Sparks Convention Center in Nevada. Biden made the comments over the weekend to two fundraising audiences in Seattle, saying he expected world figures to test Obama early if he wins the election in two weeks.

"Mark my words. It will not be six months before the world tests Barack Obama like they did John Kennedy. The world is looking," Biden said. "Watch, we're gonna have an international crisis, a generated crisis, to test the mettle of this guy."The McCain campaign jumped on the remarks, with McCain and Palin bringing them up on the stump Monday evening and Tuesday. McCain on Tuesday, in response to Biden's reference to President Kennedy, recalled being ready to launch a bombing run during the October 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis."I was on board the USS Enterprise," McCain, a former naval aviator, said. "I sat in the cockpit, on the flight deck of the USS Enterprise, off of Cuba. I had a target. My friends, you know how close we came to a nuclear war." As the crowd of several thousand began to swell with cheers and applause, he added: "America will not have a president who needs to be tested. I've been tested, my friends."

Democratic aides said that Biden was merely reciting history and assuring supporters that Obama is the man for the job. But Palin on Tuesday linked Biden's comments to Obama's foreign policy positions. She said the "crisis" scenarios Biden referenced could be triggered by Obama's willingness to sit down with "the world's worst dictators," his willingness to send U.S. military into Pakistan without the approval of their government, or other positions. "But I guess the looming crisis that most worries the Obama campaign right now is Joe Biden's next speaking engagement. Let's call that crisis scenario number five," she said. The McCain campaign is trying to build steam off Biden's remark as it incorporates several other lines of attack into its day-to-day message. McCain already has gotten significant political mileage out of the man known as Joe the Plumber, who was filmed asking Obama about his tax policies two weekends ago and became the rhetorical centerpiece of the final presidential debate last week. Republicans seized on Obama's response that he would "spread the wealth around" if elected.

The McCain campaign has gone so far as to liken Obama's philosophy to "socialism." Pennsylvania Democratic Rep. John Murtha also seemed to do Republicans a favor after he called his own constituents "racist" in a newspaper interview. He later apologized and then clarified, saying some of his constituents are just "rednecks." As McCain struggles against the odds to lock down support in Obama-leaning Pennsylvania, he cited Murtha's remarks Tuesday."You may have noticed that Senator Obama's supporters have been saying some pretty nasty things about western Pennsylvania lately," he said. McCain fumbled his next line: "And you know I couldn't agree with them more." But he continued: "I could not disagree with those critics more. This is a great part of America. This is where people love their country and they serve it."

Wayne Rooney Scores Twice As England Win

Wayne Rooney scored twice as England took a giant stride towards World Cup qualification by beating Belarus to make it maximum points from four games.

Steven Gerrard gave England the lead from 30 yards after 11 minutes, but Pavel Sitko headed a deserved leveller for Belarus before the break.Rooney turned in a cross from Emile Heskey five minutes after the break.And he lifted home a superb third from Gerrard's pass 16 minutes from time to give coach Fabio Capello another win.It gives England a perfect record of 12 points so far, with Capello's huge reputation bolstered further by two convincing away wins against dangerous opposition in Croatia and Belarus.

And for Gerrard, a spectacular strike will increase his fragile self-confidence in an England shirt and silence any lingering doubts about his worth at international level.Rooney's double also demonstrated his growing maturity as he provided a deadly spearhead to the attack, ably assisted by the powerful Heskey, who was winning his 50th England cap.The Manchester United striker has now scored five goals in England's last three qualifiers as he plays a leading role in the new Capello era.Gerrard had pleaded with coach Capello to keep faith with him after a low-key display in the win against Kazakhstan - and he repaid his confidence with a stunning opener. He picked up the ball from Rooney before placing a perfect slide-rule finish into the bottom corner beyond Belarus keeper Yury Zhevnov from fully 30 yards.Instead of settling England, the goal was the signal for a period of Belarus dominance, with keeper David James having to save from Dmitry Molosh and Vitaly Kutuzov.

Heskey was working tirelessly up front to keep the Belarus defence occupied, and his fine cross set up Rooney for a far post header, but he could not find the target.Belarus were in the ascendancy, however, and it was no surprise when they drew level after 28 minutes at the end of a glorious 23-pass move.Igor Stasevich was the creator, popping up an inviting cross to the far post for Sitko to arrived unmarked and head beyond the exposed James.England needed to apply more pressure to the gifted Belarus attacking players after the break, and Rooney almost provided the perfect start with a great run that was only marred by a tame finish.He made no mistake as England regained the lead after 50 minutes, but credit must go to Heskey again with a powerful run and perfect cross for Rooney to slide home from close range.

As Belarus attempted to force their way back into contention, Capello made two changes to his attacking personnel, sending on Shaun Wright-Phillips for Theo Walcott and Peter Crouch for the excellent Heskey, who was struggling with an injury.It did not stop Rooney taking the game by the scruff of the neck and he scored his second, and England's third, with a goal of the highest class 16 minutes from time.Gerrard slid a superb instant pass into his path, and Rooney dummied a defender before lifting a composed finish over Zhevnov.The Liverpool captain should have added a fourth five minutes from time when he rounded Zhevnov, but carelessly shot again the outside of the post with the goal at his mercy.It was not a costly miss as England entered new territory by winning their opening four World Cup qualifiers for the first time.

Software engineering in China

Software is ubiquitous. It runs our businesses and controls our phones, entertainment devices, appliances, automobiles, and countless other things that humans manufacture. Even sneakers! Adidas recently announced that its latest running shoe has an embedded computer chip to adjust the shoe's performance for each individual step during a run. Although the United States now has the greatest number of companies that depend on automation, the rest of the industrial world isn't far behind. Just observe how many people in cities around the globe are walking down the street -- or worse, driving a car -- with cell phones glued to their ears.

Years ago, the term software crisis entered our everyday vocabulary because it was clear that we needed more software than we could produce. How can we keep up with the demand without sacrificing software quality?

Many companies have turned to international outsourcing, where India and Eastern Europe lead the market for software services. Both offer an educated workforce available at low cost for high-quality work. But today, another important contender is entering that marketplace: The People's Republic of China. For years, the Chinese educational system has been gearing up to meet the demand for software engineers who can compete in the global marketplace. Below, we will look at China's emergence first from the perspective of Professor Haiqing Liu of Wuhan University, a visiting scholar at Worcester Polytechnic Institute during the 2004-2005 academic year. Then, I will report what I learned from my own informal, Web-based research on the state of the Chinese software industry.

Japanese Snapping Up Wall Street Banks

Amid the U.S. financial turmoil, Japanese financial firms have been aggressive in buying assets or taking over business networks of U.S. financial institutions. Mitsubishi UFJ (MUFJ) Financial Group, Japan's second largest financial institution in terms of assets, abruptly announced it would acquire up to 20 percent in Morgan Stanley, the world's second largest investment bank.

The announcement came only a few hours after Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, the last two remaining out of the five largest American investment banks, said they would turn into bank holding companies.

The takeover price will be between 400 billion yen (about W4,280 billion) and 900 billion yen (about W9,640 billion), Japanese media outlets said. MUFJ is a supersize financial group with assets of 194 trillion yen, the result of a merger of the Mitsubishi Tokyo Financial Group, Japan's second largest financial group, and UFJ Holdings, Japan's fourth largest financial firm, in 2005.

Nomura Holdings, Japan's largest securities firm, beat Barclays Group of Britain in the takeover bid for Lehman Brothers, the U.S.’ fourth largest investment bank, which has filed for bankruptcy.

This was not the first time Japanese firms have been aggressive in their bid to buy American firms. During the "bubble economy" in the late 1980s, Japanese conglomerates or large investors were busy property shopping in the U.S. and Europe. Mitsubishi Estate's purchase of the Rockefeller Center building in New York in 1989 was a symbolic incident. In a poll in the U.S. at the time, Americans said Japanese economic power was more fearsome than Soviet military power. But Japanese property shopping spree in the U.S. ended up in failure when the economic bubble burst.

Japan experienced a "lost decade" while the American economy boomed in the 1990s. But in 2007, Japanese economic growth (2.1 percent) overtook that of the U.S. (2 percent) for the first time in 15 years. Based on their restored economic power, the Japanese are back.

Cell biology

Cell biology (also called cellular biology or formerly cytology, from the Greek kytos, "container") is an academic discipline that studies cells – their physiological properties, their structure, the organelles they contain, interactions with their environment, their life cycle, division and death. This is done both on a microscopic and molecular level. Cell biology research extends to both the great diversity of single-celled organisms like bacteria and the many specialized cells in multicellular organisms like humans.

Knowing the composition of cells and how cells work is fundamental to all of the biological sciences. Appreciating the similarities and also differences between cell types is particularly important to the fields of cell and molecular biology. These fundamental similarities and differences provide a unifying theme, allowing the principles learned from studying one cell type to be extrapolated and generalized to other cell types. Research in cell biology is closely related to genetics, biochemistry, molecular biology and developmental biology.

Biotechnology

Biotechnology is technology based on biology, especially when used in agriculture, food science, and medicine. The United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity defines biotechnology as:

Any technological application that uses biological systems, living organisms, or derivatives thereof, to make or modify products or processes for specific use.

Biotechnology is often used to refer to genetic engineering technology of the 21st century, however the term encompasses a wider range and history of procedures for modifying biological organisms according to the needs of humanity, going back to the initial modifications of native plants into improved food crops through artificial selection and hybridization. Bioengineering is the science upon which all biotechnological applications are based. With the development of new approaches and modern techniques, traditional biotechnology industries are also acquiring new horizons enabling them to improve the quality of their products and increase the productivity of their systems.

Microbiology

Microbiology is the study of microorganisms, which are unicellular or cell-cluster microscopic organisms. This includes eukaryotes such as fungi and protists, and prokaryotes, which are bacteria and archaea. Viruses, though not strictly classed as living organisms, are also studied. In short; microbiology refers to the study of life and organisms that are too small to be seen with the naked eye.

Microbiology is a broad term which includes virology, mycology, parasitology and other branches. A microbiologist is a specialist in microbiology.

Microbiology is researched actively, and the field is advancing continually. We have probably only studied about one percent of all of the microbe species on Earth. Although microbes were first observed over three hundred years ago, the field of microbiology can be said to be in its infancy relative to older biological disciplines such as zoology and botany.

.NET Framework

The .NET Framework provides a run-time that is used to interpret intermediate code, code that is compiled from a development environment such as Microsoft’s Visual Studio when the language is C# or Visual Basic.NET. The code requires the run-time in order to execute. The code is referred to as "intermediate" because the result of the compilation is not a result that could be run at the machine level, or in other words to run without the aid of the run-time. The run-time is a service process that provides the framework for the execution of the intermediate code. The run-time acts as an interpreter of the intermediate code and then provides the structure for it to run on the operating system. Lower level capabilities it provides includes memory management, process management, and I/O management. In many cases the run-time is simply providing an abstraction level to the Windows API opening up nearly all of its capabilities to the programmer

The purpose of a run-time is to support the use rapid application development languages, such as C# and Visual Basic.NET. Highly capable run-times, such as the .NET Framework offer significant capabilities and access to the operating system and I/O. This allows a developer to create a powerful application very quickly.

Run-times are not necessarily striving for cross platform compatibility, while run-times such as Sun’s Java might.

Scripting (meta) language interpreters act similar to a run-time, although the code for many scripting languages is not pre-compiled as they are in .NET languages. Pre-compiling speeds up the act of loading the application into memory and also ensures a more compact executable file.

Google Earth Plus

Google Earth can be upgraded to a Plus edition for a $20 annual subscription fee. Google Earth Plus is an individual-oriented paid subscription upgrade to Google Earth and adds the following features:

* GPS integration: read tracks and waypoints from a GPS device. A variety of third party applications have been created which provide this functionality using the basic version of Google Earth by generating KML or KMZ files based on user-specified or user-recorded waypoints. However, Google Earth Plus provides direct support for the Magellan and Garmin product lines, which together hold a large share of the GPS market. The Linux version of the Google Earth Plus application does not include any GPS functionality.
* Higher resolution printing.
* Customer support via email.
* Data importer: read address points from CSV files; limited to 100 points/addresses. A feature allowing path and polygon annotations, which can be exported to KML, was formerly only available to Plus users, but was made free in version 4.0.2416.

Network telescope

A network telescope (also known as a darknet, internet motion sensor or black hole) is an internet system that allows one to observe different large-scale events taking place on the Internet. The basic idea is to observe traffic targeting the dark (unused) address-space of the network. Since all traffic to these addresses is suspicious, one can gain information about possible network attacks (random scanning worms, and DDoS backscatter) as well as other misconfigurations by observing it.

The resolution of the Internet telescope is dependent on the number of dark addresses it monitors. For example, a large Internet telescope that monitors traffic to 16,777,216 addresses (a /8 Internet telescope in IPv4), has a higher probability of observing a relatively small event than a smaller telescope that monitors 65,536 addresses (a /16 Internet telescope).

A variant of a network telescope is a sparse darknet, or greynet, consisting of a region of IP address space that is sparsely populated with 'darknet' addresses interspersed with active (or 'lit') IP addresses.

Wide Area Augmentation System

The Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS) is an air navigation aid developed by the Federal Aviation Administration to augment the Global Positioning System (GPS), with the goal of improving its accuracy, integrity, and availability. Essentially, WAAS is intended to enable aircraft to rely on GPS for all phases of flight, including precision approaches to any airport within its coverage area.

WAAS uses a network of ground-based reference stations (Benchmark DGPSRs transmitting differential corrections (DCs, located within spaces protected from the public inside airportsin North America and Hawaii, to measure small variations in the GPS satellites' signals in the western hemisphere. Measurements from the reference stations are routed to master stations, which queue the received DCs and send the correction messages to geostationary WAAS satellites in a timely manner (at least every 5 seconds or better). Those satellites broadcast the correction messages back to Earth, where WAAS-enabled GPS receiver uses the corrections while computing its position to improve accuracy. The longer any given DC has been delayed, the less benefit it will produce.

The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) calls this type of system a Satellite Based Augmentation System (SBAS). Europe and Asia are developing their own SBASs, the Indian Gagan, the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS) and the Japanese Multi-functional Satellite Augmentation System (MSAS), respectively. Commercial systems include StarFire and OmniSTAR.

Database transaction

A database transaction is a unit of work performed against a database management system or similar system that is treated in a coherent and reliable way independent of other transactions. A database transaction, by definition, must be atomic, consistent, isolated and durable. These properties of database transactions are often referred to by the acronym ACID.

Transactions provide an "all-or-nothing" proposition stating that work units performed in a database must be completed in their entirety or take no effect whatsoever. Further, transactions must be isolated from other transactions, results must conform to existing constraints in the database and transactions that complete successfully must be committed to durable storage.

Transaction processing system

A 'Transaction Processing SystemTo be considered a transaction processing system the computer must pass the ACID test.

From a technical perspective, a Transaction Processing System (or Transaction Processing Monitor) monitors transaction programs, a special kind of programs. The essence of a transaction program is that it manages data that must be left in a consistent state. E.g. if an electronic payment is made, the amount must be either both withdrawn from one account and added to the other, or none at all. In case of a failure preventing transaction completion, the partially executed transaction must be 'rolled back' by the TPS. While this type of integrity must be provided also for batch transaction processing, it is particularly important for online processing: if e.g. an airline seat reservation system is accessed by multiple operators, after an empty seat inquiry, the seat reservation data must be locked until the reservation is made, otherwise another user may get the impression a seat is still free while it is actually being booked at the time. Without proper transaction monitoring, double bookings may occur. Other transaction monitor functions include deadlock detection and resolution (deadlocks may be inevitable in certain cases of cross-dependence on data), and transaction logging (in 'journals') for 'forward recovery' in case of massive failures.

Transaction Processing is not limited to application programs. The 'journaled file system' provided with IBMs AIX Unix operating system employs similar techniques to maintain file system integrity, including a journal.

Hierarchical model

In a hierarchical data model, data is organized into a tree-like structure. The structure allows repeating information using parent/child relationships: each parent can have many children but each child only has one parent. All attributes of a specific record are listed under an entity type. In a database, an entity type is the equivalent of a table; each individual record is represented as a row and an attribute as a column. Entity types are related to each other using 1: N mapping, also known as one-to-many relationships. The most recognized example of hierarchical model database is an IMS designed by IBM.

Encryption of mail sessions

All relevant email protocols have an option to encrypt the whole session. Remarkably, those options prevent a user's name and password from being sniffed, therefore they are recommended for nomadic users and whenever the internet access provider is not trusted. On sending mail, users can only control encryption at the hop from a client to its configured outgoing mail server. At any further hop, messages may be transmitted with or without encryption, depending solely on the general configuration of the transmitting server and the capabilities of the receiving one.

Encrypted mail sessions deliver messages in their original format, i.e. plain text or encrypted body, on a user's local mailbox and on the destination server's. The latter server is operated by an email hosting service provider, possibly a different entity than the internet access provider currently at hand.

AntiVirus Gold

AntiVirus Gold is a piece of rogue software that poses as a legitimate antivirus program. It is typified by a small icon in the system tray, with a link directing to download the offending software. It could also possibly do a homepage hijack. There have also been many variants of this malware, such as Antivirus Golden, Antispyware Gold and the like. They seem to be related to both WinAntiVirus and Winfixer. Typically, said infections are installed by the Vundo, SysProtect or SmitFraud trojans.

Gathering of addresses

In order to send spam, spammers need to obtain the e-mail addresses of the intended recipients. To this end, both spammers themselves and list merchants gather huge lists of potential e-mail addresses. Since spam is, by definition, unsolicited, this address harvesting is done without the consent (and sometimes against the expressed will) of the address owners. As a consequence, spammers' address lists are inaccurate. A single spam run may target tens of millions of possible addresses — many of which are invalid, malformed, or undeliverable.

Sometimes, if the sent spam is "bounced" or sent back to the sender by various programs that eliminate spam, or if the recipient clicks on an unsubscribe link, that may cause that email address to be marked as "valid", which is interpreted by the spammer as "send me more".

Adaptive system

An adaptive system is a system that is able to adapt its behavior according to changes in its environment or in parts of the system itself. A human being, for instance, is certainly an adaptive system; so are organizations and families. Some man-made systems can be made adaptive as well; for instance, control systems utilize feedback loops in order to sense conditions in their environment and adapt accordingly. Robots incorporate many of these control systems. Neural Networks are a common type of algorithmic implementation of adaptive systems.

Diffusion of innovations theory can help to explain the uptake of new ideas, practices and products by individuals and social groups -- human adaptive systems.

Systems engineering

Systems engineering is an interdisciplinary field of engineering, that focuses on the development and organization of complex artificial systems. Systems engineering is defined by INCOSE as "a branch of engineering whose responsibility is creating and executing an interdisciplinary process to ensure that customer and stakeholder's needs are satisfied in a high quality, trustworthy, cost efficient and schedule compliant manner throughout a system's entire life cycle, from development to operation to disposal. This process is usually comprised of the following seven tasks: State the problem, Investigate alternatives, Model the system, Integrate, Launch the system, Assess performance, and Re-evaluate. The systems engineering process is not sequential: the tasks are performed in a parallel and iterative manner."

Systems intelligence

Systems intelligence is human action that connects sensitivity about a systemic environment with systems thinking, thus spurring a persons problem solving capabilities and invoking performance and productivity in everyday situations. Systems intelligence, abbreviated SI, is intelligent behavior in complex systems, that are often human in nature. Key concepts a person uses when acting systems intelligently are perception of systemic occurrencies, feedback from the system's structure and interaction with the system's agents and subsystems.

Types of systems psychology

In the scientific literature different kind of systems psychology have been mentioned in the scientific literature:

Applied systems psychology
De Greene in 1970 described applied systems psychology as being connected with engineering psychology and human factor.

Cognitive systems theory
Cognitive systems psychology is a part of cognitive psychology and like existential psychology, attempts to dissolve the barrier between conscious and the unconscious mind.

Contract-systems psychology
Contract-systems psychology is about the human systems actualization through praticipative organizations.

Family systems psychology
Family systems psychology is a more general name for the subfield of family thearpists and like Murray Bowen, Michael E. Kerr, and Baard. and researchers have begun to theoretize a psychology of the family as a system.

Organismic-systems psychology
Through the application of organismic-systems biology to human behavior Ludwig von Bertalanffy conceived and developed the organismic-systems psychology, as the theoretical prospect needed for the gradual comprehension of the various ways human personalities may evolve and how could they evolve properly, being supported by a holistic interpretation of human behavior.

Developmental robotics

Developmental Robotics (DevRob), sometimes called epigenetic robotics, is a methodology that uses metaphors from developmental psychology to develop controllers for autonomous robots. The focus is on a single robot going through stages of autonomous mental development. Researchers in this field study artificial emotions, self-motivation, and other methods of self-organization.

DevRob is related to, but differs from, evolutionary robotics (ER). ER uses populations of robots that evolve over time, whereas DevRob is interested in how the organization of a single robot's control system develops through experience, over time.

DevRob is also related to work done in the domains of Robotics, Artificial Life.

Similar to developmental robotics, Epigenetic robotics is an interdisciplinary research area with the goal of understanding biological systems by the integration between neuroscience, developmental psychology and engineering sciences. Epigenetic systems are characterized by a prolonged developmental process through which varied and complex cognitive and perceptual structures emerge as a result of the interaction of an embodied system with a physical and social environment. An additional goal is to enable robots to autonomously develop skills for any particular environment instead of programming them for a specific environment.

Islamic Golden Age

The Islamic Golden Age, also sometimes known as the Islamic Renaissance, is traditionally dated from the 8th century to the 13th century, though some have extended it to the 15^th or 16^th centuries. During this period, engineers, scholars and traders in the Islamic world contributed to the arts, agriculture, economics, industry, law, literature, navigation, philosophy, sciences, and technology, both by preserving and building upon earlier traditions and by adding inventions and innovations of their own. Howard R. Turner writes: "Muslim artists and scientists, princes and laborers together created a unique culture that has directly and indirectly influenced societies on every continent."

Cargo

Cargo is a term used to denote goods or produce being transported generally for commercial gain, usually on a ship, plane, train, van or truck. Nowadays containers are used in most intermodal long-haul cargo transport.

Cargo represents a concern to U.S. national security. It was reported out of Washington, DC that in 2003 over 6 million cargo containers are entering the United States each year. After the terrorist attacks of September 11th, the security of this magnitude of cargo has become highlighted. The latest US Government response to this threat is the CSI: Container Security Initiative. CSI is a program intended to help increase security for containerized cargo shipped to the United States from around the world.

Pre-Columbian Islamic contact theories

Pre-Columbian Islamic contact theories are theories which contend that medieval Muslim explorers from the Islamic world (specifically Al-Andalus, Africa or China) may have reached the Americas (and possibly made contact with the indigenous peoples of the Americas) at some point before Christopher Columbus' first voyage to the Americas in 1492. Proponents of these theories cite as evidence reports of expeditions and voyages conducted by Muslim navigators and adventurers who they allege reached the Americas from the late 9th century onwards

Prototyping

Prototyping is the process of quickly putting together a working model (a prototype) in order to test various aspects of a design, illustrate ideas or features and gather early user feedback. Prototyping is often treated as an integral part of the system design process, where it is believed to reduce project risk and cost. Often one or more prototypes are made in a process of iterative and incremental development where each prototype is influenced by the performance of previous designs, in this way problems or deficiencies in design can be corrected. When the prototype is sufficiently refined and meets the functionality, robustness, manufacturability and other design goals, the product is ready for production.

Object database

In an object oriented database, information is represented in the form of objects as used in object-oriented programming. When database capabilities are combined with object programming language capabilities, the result is an object database management system (ODBMS). An ODBMS makes database objects appear as programming language objects in one or more object programming languages. An ODBMS extends the programming language with transparently persistent data, concurrency control, data recovery, associative queries, and other capabilities.

Database security

Database security is the system, processes, and procedures that protect a database from unintended activity. Unintended activity can be categorized as authenticated misuse, malicious attacks or inadvertent mistakes made by authorized individuals or processes. Database security is also a specialty within the broader discipline of computer security.

Traditionally databases have been protected from external connections by firewalls or routers on the network perimeter with the database environment existing on the internal network opposed to being located within a demilitarized zone. Additional network security devices that detect and alert on malicious database protocol traffic include network intrusion detection systems along with host-based intrusion detection systems.

Proxy server

In computer networks, a proxy server is a server (a computer system or an application program) which services the requests of its clients by forwarding requests to other servers. A client connects to the proxy server, requesting some service, such as a file, connection, web page, or other resource, available from a different server. The proxy server provides the resource by connecting to the specified server and requesting the service on behalf of the client. A proxy server may optionally alter the client's request or the server's response, and sometimes it may serve the request without contacting the specified server. In this case, it would 'cache' the first request to the remote server, so it could save the information for later, and make everything as fast as possible.

SQL (Structured Query Language)

SQL (Structured Query Language) (pronounced /ɛskjuːˈɛl/ officially, although the unofficial pronunciation /ˈsiːkwəl/ is often used (see below)) is a database computer language designed for the retrieval and management of data in relational database management systems (RDBMS), database schema creation and modification, and database object access control management.

SQL is a standard interactive and programming language for querying and modifying data and managing databases. Although SQL is both an ANSI and an ISO standard, many database products support SQL with proprietary extensions to the standard language.

Toxicity of Metabolites

Many substances regarded as poisons are toxic only indirectly. An example is "wood alcohol," or methanol, which is chemically converted to formaldehyde and formic acid in the liver. It is the formaldehyde and formic acid that cause the toxic effects of methanol exposure. Many drug molecules are made toxic in the liver, a good example being acetaminophen (paracetamol), especially in the presence of alcohol. The genetic variability of certain liver enzymes makes the toxicity of many compounds differ between one individual and the next. Because demands placed on one liver enzyme can induce activity in another, many molecules become toxic only in combination with others.

Human-powered transport

Human-powered transport is the transport of person(s) and/or goods using human muscle power. Like animal-powered transport, human-powered transport has existed since time immemorial in the form of walking, running and swimming. Modern technology has allowed machines to enhance human-power.

Although motorization has increased speed and load capacity, many forms of human-powered transport remain popular for reasons of lower cost, leisure, physical exercise and environmentalism. Human-powered transport is sometimes the only type available (especially in underdeveloped or inaccessible regions), and is considered an ideal form of sustainable transportation.

Computer Printer

A computer printer, or more usually a printer, produces a tough copy (permanent human-readable text and/or graphics) of documents stored in electronic form, generally on physical print media such as paper or transparencies. Many printers are mostly used as local computer peripherals, and are attached by a printer cable to a computer which serves as a text source. Some printers, commonly known as network printers, have built-in network interfaces (typically wireless or Ethernet), and can offer as a hardcopy device for any customer on the network. Individual printers are often planned to support both local and network linked users at the same time.

In addition, many modern printers can straight interface to electronic media such as memory sticks or memory cards, or to image capture devices such as digital cameras, scanners; some printers are combined with a scanners and/or fax machines in a single unit. Printers that contain non-printing features are sometimes called Multi-Function Printers (MFP) or Multi-Function Devices (MFD).