NASA's Van Allen Probes reveal a new radiation belt around Earth
Feb. 28, 2013 ? NASA's Van Allen Probes mission has discovered a previously unknown third radiation belt around Earth, revealing the existence of unexpected structures and processes within these hazardous regions of space.
Previous observations of Earth's Van Allen belts have long documented two distinct regions of trapped radiation surrounding our planet. Particle detection instruments aboard the twin Van Allen Probes, launched Aug. 30, quickly revealed to scientists the existence of this new, transient, third radiation belt.
The belts, named for their discoverer, James Van Allen, are critical regions for modern society, which is dependent on many space-based technologies. The Van Allen belts are affected by solar storms and space weather and can swell dramatically. When this occurs, they can pose dangers to communications and GPS satellites, as well as humans in space.
"The fantastic new capabilities and advances in technology in the Van Allen Probes have allowed scientists to see in unprecedented detail how the radiation belts are populated with charged particles and will provide insight on what causes them to change, and how these processes affect the upper reaches of Earth's atmosphere," said John Grunsfeld, NASA's associate administrator for science in Washington.
This discovery shows the dynamic and variable nature of the radiation belts and improves our understanding of how they respond to solar activity. The findings, published February 28 in the journal Science, are the result of data gathered by the first dual-spacecraft mission to fly through our planet's radiation belts.
The new high-resolution observations by the Relativistic Electron Proton Telescope (REPT) instrument, part of the Energetic Particle, Composition, and Thermal Plasma Suite (ECT) aboard the Van Allen Probes, revealed there can be three distinct, long-lasting belt structures with the emergence of a second empty slot region, or space, in between.
"This is the first time we have had such high-resolution instruments look at time, space and energy together in the outer belt," said Daniel Baker, lead author of the study and REPT instrument lead at the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) at the University of Colorado in Boulder. "Previous observations of the outer radiation belt only resolved it as a single blurry element. When we turned REPT on just two days after launch, a powerful electron acceleration event was already in progress, and we clearly saw the new belt and new slot between it and the outer belt."
Scientists observed the third belt for four weeks before a powerful interplanetary shock wave from the sun annihilated it. Observations were made by scientists from institutions including LASP; NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.; Los Alamos National Laboratory in Los Alamos, N.M.; and the Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans, and Space at the University of New Hampshire in Durham.
Each Van Allen Probe carries an identical set of five instrument suites that allow scientists to gather data on the belts in unprecedented detail. The data are important for the study of the effect of space weather on Earth, as well as fundamental physical processes observed around other objects, such as planets in our solar system and distant nebulae.
"Even 55 years after their discovery, the Earth's radiation belts still are capable of surprising us and still have mysteries to discover and explain," said Nicky Fox, Van Allen Probes deputy project scientist at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md. "We thought we knew the radiation belts, but we don't. The advances in technology and detection made by NASA in this mission already have had an almost immediate impact on basic science."
The Van Allen Probes are the second mission in NASA's Living With a Star Program to explore aspects of the connected sun-Earth system that directly affect life and society. Goddard manages the program. The Applied Physics Laboratory built the spacecraft and manages the mission for NASA.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by NASA.
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Journal Reference:
D. N. Baker, S. G. Kanekal, V. C. Hoxie, M. G. Henderson, X. Li, H. E. Spence, S. R. Elkington, R. H. W. Friedel, J. Goldstein, M. K. Hudson, G. D. Reeves, R. M. Thorne, C. A. Kletzing, and S. G. Claudepierre. A Long-Lived Relativistic Electron Storage Ring Embedded in Earth's Outer Van Allen Belt. Science, 2013; DOI: 10.1126/science.1233518
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.
Menopause Causes Weight Gain ? Fact Or Fiction ... - jackie's bazaar
Related eBooks
Is menopause the main cause of weight gain for women in their 40?s and 50?s or is it just an excuse to let the pounds pile on? Almost 90% of women at pre-menopause and post-menopause gain weight during that period of their lives, but weight gain during menopause does not have to be inevitable.
Source:Menopause Causes Weight Gain ? Fact Or Fiction?
Related Reading:
Outliving Your Ovaries: An Endocrinologist Weighs The Risks And Rewards Of Treating Menopause With Hormone Replacement TherapyThe comprehensive work entitled ?Outliving Your Ovaries: An Endocrinologist Weighs The Risks And Rewards Of Treating Menopause With Hormone Replacement Therapy? provides break-through, new menopause research explaining why pharmaceutical topical bioidentical hormones are safer than the most commonly used hormones. Dr. Marina Johnson gives poignant, clinical stories from her29 years of clinical experience during which she has managed over 100,000 female patient visits. These stories depict the tragic consequences of estrogen deficiency and the joy of transformation that occurs when a woman is made whole again. This book will give a woman a guidebook that helps her evaluate the risks and benefits of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) in clear, easy-to-understand terms so she can better work with her own physician to determine what?s right for her.
REVIEWS:
"Finally-a clear concise prescription for women as they navigate the challenges of menopause. Debunking misconceptions, Dr. Johnson provides a roadmap for health and vitality in what can be truly golden years."
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"Dr. Marina Johnson has been the personal physician for my wife, Susan and myself for the last nine years. During this time, Dr. Johnson has provided us with a level of health care that can only be characterized as extraordinary. She takes the time to listen and explain and she does this in a manner that is clear and concise. She has tailored a health management program personalized for our individual needs and as a result, Susan and I are very healthy and vigorous for our age. I have owned or co-owned several companies, including one that went public on the NYSE in 1996. I am an educated, health consumer and I research and learn about health issues that are affecting Susan and me. I have learned from the business world that true talent is rare. There are perhaps only 1% in any given field that are truly the best at whatthey do and Dr Johnson is part of this elite group."
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"I believe this eBook will be a great benefit to women who are struggling in the area of hormonal imbalance. Dr. Johnson explains the difference between synthetic hormones and natural hormone replacement therapy. So many women are struggling with their hormones, hot flashes, mood swings, etc. Dr. Johnson brings her years of experience to answer women's questions and gives practical solutions that address the root of the problem versus treating the symptom! A must read for all women. She has provided excellent care for me and my family."
Menopause Sucks: What to Do When Hot Flashes and Hormones Make You and Everyone Else Miserable
Do they call menopause the change" because...
You have to change shirts three times a day-after you've sweat through them?
You have to change addresses, just to avoid all that mail from the AARP?
You have to change your diet to nothing but milk and broccoli?just to get your RDA of calcium?
With hot flashes, mood swings, and night sweats (oh, my!), menopause might not be your favorite phase of life. However, bestselling author Joanne Kimes is here to provide relief as welcome as hand-held fans and sweat-free sheets. In her signature, no-holds-barred style, Kimes dishes on:
Dealing with a rollercoaster of emotions
Anecdotes, remedies, and gentle tips to help you cope with all the physical changes you're facing
How to enjoy menopausal sex
Menopause brings about a whirlwind of emotional and physical transformations. Menopause Sucks gives you all the info?and belly laughs?you need to cool down during this hot change of life."The Cleveland Clinic Guide to Menopause (Cleveland Clinic Guides)From the nation?s top-ranked clinic for gynecology and endocrinology, the most important health information and advice on what to do before and during menopause
Regain Control and Enjoy A Vibrant, Healthy Midlife!
If you are one of the millions of women who want answers about menopause, help has arrived: Discover leading-edge menopause treatments that offer effective relief from symptoms, and gain optimism and peace of mind about your health!
In The Cleveland Clinic Guide to Menopause, Dr. Holly Thacker, a trailblazer in women?s health, cuts through the myths and misinformation and provides solid information to help you handle menopause more effectively. She also offers advice that helps you improve your vitality, longevity, and quality of life. Inside you?ll find guidance to help you:
Control menopause symptoms through safe, effective treatments that balance short-term results with your long-term health.
Understand the myths and facts about hormone therapy and sort through the inaccurate, misleading and conflicting information that?s so prevalent today.
Sleep better, boost your energy, and recharge your sex life?so you can regain short term results you want!
Get the facts about vitamins, supplements, and antidepressants.
Protect your long-term health by strengthening your bones, helping your heart, and taking smart steps to help prevent cancer and other diseases.
Cleveland Clinic is ranked consistently among the top hospitals in America by U.S. News & World Report. Its team of Women?s Health professionals offers coordinated, supportive care for the problems that affect women's lives, from breast cancer and infertility, to incontinence, pelvic floor disorders, and more.
Clouds, crowds and games improve UK manufacturingPublic release date: 28-Feb-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: EPSRC Press Release pressoffice@epsrc.ac.uk 01-793-444-404 Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council
Six research projects that will help improve manufacturing competitiveness in the UK by using the latest ICT developments have been awarded 12 million Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) grant funding as part of a 45 million package of investments in manufacturing research announced today by David Willetts, Minister for Universities and Science.
The projects will use concepts of cloud computing, crowdsourcing, gaming technology, ICT dashboards and platforms to provide new ways to develop, design and manage manufacturing.
Speaking ahead of the BIS Manufacturing Summit on Thursday, Mr Willetts said:
"The UK has a proud history of manufacturing but to build on this success industry needs access to the very latest science and technology. This 45 million package of investment will see our world-class research base investigating innovative new manufacturing equipment and techniques. This will support our industrial strategy in a range of important sectors, driving growth and keeping the UK ahead in the global race."
Mark Claydon-Smith, Manufacturing the Future Lead, EPSRC said: "Advanced manufacturing is highly knowledge-intensive and ICT has a huge role to play in improving manufacturing intelligence, supporting collaboration, increasing efficiency, speeding up innovation and enabling new business models and technologies. These six projects demonstrate the collaborative nature of manufacturing research with nine universities and over 70 manufacturing partners working together."
The projects are:
Cloud Manufacturing towards a resilient and scalable high value manufacturing. Led by Professor Svetan Ratchev, University of Nottingham. Grant value 2.4 million.
This research will use concepts of 'cloud manufacturing', as a new platform to provide resilient, cost effective, environmentally-friendly and knowledge-intensive distributed manufacturing. Within the 'cloud' a pool of data from design and manufacturing resources can be shared and readily accessed by users to improve manufacturing processes.
The multi-disciplinary research team will use complex systems, cloud computing and crowdsourcing methods in a radical departure from existing manufacturing ICT. The advantages are that manufacturers can optimise processes, respond quickly to change, and gain valuable data and knowledge from crowds. The research will lead to an increased participation by the UK's small and medium size companies in global manufacturing networks, allow longer term strategic capital and infrastructure investment, and will dramatically increase the utilisation of available manufacturing resources and skills.
Intelligent Decision Support and Control Technologies for Continuous Manufacturing of Pharmaceuticals and Fine Chemicals. Led by Professor Andonovic, University of Strathclyde with Loughborough University. Grant value 2.5 million.
The research team of chemical, electrical engineers and IT specialists will create IT tools based on advanced software using sensors, lasers and ultrasound. The IT system (Intelligent Decision Support) will collate real time data during the manufacture of pharmaceuticals and fine chemicals. It will be able to measure changes in a chemicals particle shape, form and size at a 100 micron level, as well as monitor and finely control the production processes. This will result in the production line being operated continuously, instead of in batches, as at present.
The project will cut current manufacturing times in the industry, reduce energy and operating costs, produce better quality products and increase flexibility. Changes to optimise products or in processes can be made easily. The deployment of advanced ICT will increase the global competitiveness of this key UK industry.
Prototyping Open Innovation Models for ICT- enabled Manufacturing in Food and Packaging. Led by Dr Sharon Baurley, Brunel University with the University of Nottingham. Grant value 1.8 million.
This research intends to harness and develop ideas from the social media sphere, using the power of the 'crowd' to develop new products and types of packaging within the food industry.
Involving a number of major industry partners the research will focus on designing a platform of ICT tools for state-of-the-art manufacturing processes allowing customers to be co-creators whilst products are being developed. The ICT tools and platform will gather content from users, organise those ideas, and integrate them with design and production systems.
The advantage of using consumers in product development will be a shorter time to market for new products, and the ability to integrate the design and manufacturing process with people, so enabling customers to have 'conversations' with brands and manufacturers.
Transforming the adoption of Product-Service Systems through innovations in applied gaming technology. Led by Professor Tim Baines, Aston University, with Professor K Ridgway, University of Sheffield and Professor S de Freitas, Coventry University. Grant value 1.5 million.
This research aims to help mainstream manufacturers transform their company models from manufacturing products only to providing services as well (product-service systems) by using video-gaming technologies and computer simulations.
The research team will create games using three dimensional virtual worlds which can represent and handle complex data systems of manufacturing companies adopting product service systems. Business managers can interact with the software to engage, inform and support attitudinal change within a business context. Industry partners will test out the games.
Three quarters of world-wide wealth is created through providing services so helping manufacturers compete in this way is seen as a huge opportunity, a competitive advantage, and key to manufacturing success in the UK.
The Language of Collaborative Manufacturing. Led by Dr Ben Hicks, University of Bath. Grant value 1.9 million.
Dr Hicks said: "Modern engineering projects such as aircraft manufacture operate globally, and involve thousands of engineers and companies. Managing such collaborative, large-scale, high-value engineering projects and the communications within them is complex and risky."
"Companies need to minimise delivery setbacks, cost overruns, risk and collapsed projects. For example, overruns on engineering projects cost the US economy $150 million a day (96 million)."
Dr Hicks and the research team will produce a new suite of ICT tools and a 'next generation project dashboard' to address these issues. They will analyse the relationship between emails and Computer Aided Design (CAD) models, simulations and reports in order to predict the status and performance of a project. They will identify the successful characteristics of project phases, and create methods to aid the management of intellectual property, and the capture of design records, lessons learned, decisions taken, and rationale to help manufacturing.
As a result the status of engineering projects will be interpreted better, enabling early warning of issues, improved management, increased productivity, and ultimately improve a product's design and manufacture.
Adaptive Informatics for Intelligent Manufacturing. Led by Professor Andrew West, University of Loughborough. Grant value 1.9 million.
A multi-disciplinary team from the University of Loughborough and practitioners from industry will form a research cluster with the aim to improve global competitiveness in the supply chains of the defence, automotive and aerospace industries.
The project will support manufacturing practices and infrastructures by developing a range of intelligent software services that can be used throughout the lifecycle of the product or process on demand. The research will bridge the information gaps associated with inefficient supply chain integration and a lack of knowledge on operational usage throughout product and process lifecycles.
This project aims to deliver an ICT solution for companies which captures and analyses a larger range of data, faster, at lower cost and manage it better than ever before. This will improve a company's efficiencies, increase market share and develop new products, processes and services. It will enable supply chains to remove defects generated throughout manufacturing, share lifecycle knowledge of product and processes, optimise strategy and understand the impact of legislation, technologies and the impact of adopting new designs and business models.
The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) is the UK's main agency for funding research in engineering and the physical sciences. EPSRC invests around 800 million a year in research and postgraduate training, to help the nation handle the next generation of technological change. The areas covered range from information technology to structural engineering, and mathematics to materials science. This research forms the basis for future economic development in the UK and improvements for everyone's health, lifestyle and culture. EPSRC works alongside other Research Councils with responsibility for other areas of research. The Research Councils work collectively on issues of common concern via Research Councils UK. www.epsrc.ac.uk
Industry partners for the projects:
Cloud Manufacturing: IBM UK Ltd, ARM Ltd, PA Consulting Group, RTI, Midlands Aerospace Alliance, GBA Group of Companies, NineSigma Europe BVBA, BioProject Consultancy Ltd, Afroalpine Pharma Ltd, Manufacturing Technology Centre, EADS Airbus, Zagaya, Hewlett Packard plc, DLA Piper UK LLP.
Intelligent Decision Support and Control Technologies for Continuous Manufacturing of Pharmaceuticals and Fine Chemicals: Operational Management: Umit Bititci. Industrial Co-Creators: GlaxoSmithKline PLC, AstraZeneca, Process Systems Enterprise (PSE), Perceptive Engineering,GSE Systems Ltd, Honeywell, Siemens, Accelrys, Intelligence Business Solutions, Gilden Photonics, Mettler Toledo, Sympatec.
Prototyping open innovation models for ICT-enabled manufacturing in food and packaging: Autodesk GmbH, Leatherhead Food International, Campden BRI, EnginSoft UK Ltd, Hayes Town Partnership, Giraffe Innovation Consultants.
Transforming the adoption of Product-Service Systems through innovations in applied gaming technology: TEKS, Xerox UK Ltd, UK Council for Electronic Business, Technicut, Finning UK Ltd, Total Eclipse, Ford Motor Company, Serious Games International, SEMTA, Second Places Ltd, PlayGen, PERA Innovation, MAHER Ltd, MAN Truck and Bus Ltd, Virtualware Labs, Footprint Sheffield Ltd, AMRC, Birmingham Science Park, BIS, HCL Technologies Ltd, Alstom.
The Language of Collaborative Manufacturing: Delcam International plc, FBM Babcock Marine Ltd, Arup Group Ltd, Volvo Aero Corporation, Dyson Appliances Ltd, Airbus, CIMPA SAS, National Centre for Text Mining, Shapespace, Jaguar Land Rover.
Adaptive Informatics for Intelligent Manufacturing (AI2M): Manufacturing Technology Centre, SAP AG, MOD, Ford Motor Company, KET Ltd, Invotec Circuits, GE Aviation, S2S Electronics Ltd, MTG Research Ltd.
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?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Clouds, crowds and games improve UK manufacturingPublic release date: 28-Feb-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: EPSRC Press Release pressoffice@epsrc.ac.uk 01-793-444-404 Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council
Six research projects that will help improve manufacturing competitiveness in the UK by using the latest ICT developments have been awarded 12 million Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) grant funding as part of a 45 million package of investments in manufacturing research announced today by David Willetts, Minister for Universities and Science.
The projects will use concepts of cloud computing, crowdsourcing, gaming technology, ICT dashboards and platforms to provide new ways to develop, design and manage manufacturing.
Speaking ahead of the BIS Manufacturing Summit on Thursday, Mr Willetts said:
"The UK has a proud history of manufacturing but to build on this success industry needs access to the very latest science and technology. This 45 million package of investment will see our world-class research base investigating innovative new manufacturing equipment and techniques. This will support our industrial strategy in a range of important sectors, driving growth and keeping the UK ahead in the global race."
Mark Claydon-Smith, Manufacturing the Future Lead, EPSRC said: "Advanced manufacturing is highly knowledge-intensive and ICT has a huge role to play in improving manufacturing intelligence, supporting collaboration, increasing efficiency, speeding up innovation and enabling new business models and technologies. These six projects demonstrate the collaborative nature of manufacturing research with nine universities and over 70 manufacturing partners working together."
The projects are:
Cloud Manufacturing towards a resilient and scalable high value manufacturing. Led by Professor Svetan Ratchev, University of Nottingham. Grant value 2.4 million.
This research will use concepts of 'cloud manufacturing', as a new platform to provide resilient, cost effective, environmentally-friendly and knowledge-intensive distributed manufacturing. Within the 'cloud' a pool of data from design and manufacturing resources can be shared and readily accessed by users to improve manufacturing processes.
The multi-disciplinary research team will use complex systems, cloud computing and crowdsourcing methods in a radical departure from existing manufacturing ICT. The advantages are that manufacturers can optimise processes, respond quickly to change, and gain valuable data and knowledge from crowds. The research will lead to an increased participation by the UK's small and medium size companies in global manufacturing networks, allow longer term strategic capital and infrastructure investment, and will dramatically increase the utilisation of available manufacturing resources and skills.
Intelligent Decision Support and Control Technologies for Continuous Manufacturing of Pharmaceuticals and Fine Chemicals. Led by Professor Andonovic, University of Strathclyde with Loughborough University. Grant value 2.5 million.
The research team of chemical, electrical engineers and IT specialists will create IT tools based on advanced software using sensors, lasers and ultrasound. The IT system (Intelligent Decision Support) will collate real time data during the manufacture of pharmaceuticals and fine chemicals. It will be able to measure changes in a chemicals particle shape, form and size at a 100 micron level, as well as monitor and finely control the production processes. This will result in the production line being operated continuously, instead of in batches, as at present.
The project will cut current manufacturing times in the industry, reduce energy and operating costs, produce better quality products and increase flexibility. Changes to optimise products or in processes can be made easily. The deployment of advanced ICT will increase the global competitiveness of this key UK industry.
Prototyping Open Innovation Models for ICT- enabled Manufacturing in Food and Packaging. Led by Dr Sharon Baurley, Brunel University with the University of Nottingham. Grant value 1.8 million.
This research intends to harness and develop ideas from the social media sphere, using the power of the 'crowd' to develop new products and types of packaging within the food industry.
Involving a number of major industry partners the research will focus on designing a platform of ICT tools for state-of-the-art manufacturing processes allowing customers to be co-creators whilst products are being developed. The ICT tools and platform will gather content from users, organise those ideas, and integrate them with design and production systems.
The advantage of using consumers in product development will be a shorter time to market for new products, and the ability to integrate the design and manufacturing process with people, so enabling customers to have 'conversations' with brands and manufacturers.
Transforming the adoption of Product-Service Systems through innovations in applied gaming technology. Led by Professor Tim Baines, Aston University, with Professor K Ridgway, University of Sheffield and Professor S de Freitas, Coventry University. Grant value 1.5 million.
This research aims to help mainstream manufacturers transform their company models from manufacturing products only to providing services as well (product-service systems) by using video-gaming technologies and computer simulations.
The research team will create games using three dimensional virtual worlds which can represent and handle complex data systems of manufacturing companies adopting product service systems. Business managers can interact with the software to engage, inform and support attitudinal change within a business context. Industry partners will test out the games.
Three quarters of world-wide wealth is created through providing services so helping manufacturers compete in this way is seen as a huge opportunity, a competitive advantage, and key to manufacturing success in the UK.
The Language of Collaborative Manufacturing. Led by Dr Ben Hicks, University of Bath. Grant value 1.9 million.
Dr Hicks said: "Modern engineering projects such as aircraft manufacture operate globally, and involve thousands of engineers and companies. Managing such collaborative, large-scale, high-value engineering projects and the communications within them is complex and risky."
"Companies need to minimise delivery setbacks, cost overruns, risk and collapsed projects. For example, overruns on engineering projects cost the US economy $150 million a day (96 million)."
Dr Hicks and the research team will produce a new suite of ICT tools and a 'next generation project dashboard' to address these issues. They will analyse the relationship between emails and Computer Aided Design (CAD) models, simulations and reports in order to predict the status and performance of a project. They will identify the successful characteristics of project phases, and create methods to aid the management of intellectual property, and the capture of design records, lessons learned, decisions taken, and rationale to help manufacturing.
As a result the status of engineering projects will be interpreted better, enabling early warning of issues, improved management, increased productivity, and ultimately improve a product's design and manufacture.
Adaptive Informatics for Intelligent Manufacturing. Led by Professor Andrew West, University of Loughborough. Grant value 1.9 million.
A multi-disciplinary team from the University of Loughborough and practitioners from industry will form a research cluster with the aim to improve global competitiveness in the supply chains of the defence, automotive and aerospace industries.
The project will support manufacturing practices and infrastructures by developing a range of intelligent software services that can be used throughout the lifecycle of the product or process on demand. The research will bridge the information gaps associated with inefficient supply chain integration and a lack of knowledge on operational usage throughout product and process lifecycles.
This project aims to deliver an ICT solution for companies which captures and analyses a larger range of data, faster, at lower cost and manage it better than ever before. This will improve a company's efficiencies, increase market share and develop new products, processes and services. It will enable supply chains to remove defects generated throughout manufacturing, share lifecycle knowledge of product and processes, optimise strategy and understand the impact of legislation, technologies and the impact of adopting new designs and business models.
The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) is the UK's main agency for funding research in engineering and the physical sciences. EPSRC invests around 800 million a year in research and postgraduate training, to help the nation handle the next generation of technological change. The areas covered range from information technology to structural engineering, and mathematics to materials science. This research forms the basis for future economic development in the UK and improvements for everyone's health, lifestyle and culture. EPSRC works alongside other Research Councils with responsibility for other areas of research. The Research Councils work collectively on issues of common concern via Research Councils UK. www.epsrc.ac.uk
Industry partners for the projects:
Cloud Manufacturing: IBM UK Ltd, ARM Ltd, PA Consulting Group, RTI, Midlands Aerospace Alliance, GBA Group of Companies, NineSigma Europe BVBA, BioProject Consultancy Ltd, Afroalpine Pharma Ltd, Manufacturing Technology Centre, EADS Airbus, Zagaya, Hewlett Packard plc, DLA Piper UK LLP.
Intelligent Decision Support and Control Technologies for Continuous Manufacturing of Pharmaceuticals and Fine Chemicals: Operational Management: Umit Bititci. Industrial Co-Creators: GlaxoSmithKline PLC, AstraZeneca, Process Systems Enterprise (PSE), Perceptive Engineering,GSE Systems Ltd, Honeywell, Siemens, Accelrys, Intelligence Business Solutions, Gilden Photonics, Mettler Toledo, Sympatec.
Prototyping open innovation models for ICT-enabled manufacturing in food and packaging: Autodesk GmbH, Leatherhead Food International, Campden BRI, EnginSoft UK Ltd, Hayes Town Partnership, Giraffe Innovation Consultants.
Transforming the adoption of Product-Service Systems through innovations in applied gaming technology: TEKS, Xerox UK Ltd, UK Council for Electronic Business, Technicut, Finning UK Ltd, Total Eclipse, Ford Motor Company, Serious Games International, SEMTA, Second Places Ltd, PlayGen, PERA Innovation, MAHER Ltd, MAN Truck and Bus Ltd, Virtualware Labs, Footprint Sheffield Ltd, AMRC, Birmingham Science Park, BIS, HCL Technologies Ltd, Alstom.
The Language of Collaborative Manufacturing: Delcam International plc, FBM Babcock Marine Ltd, Arup Group Ltd, Volvo Aero Corporation, Dyson Appliances Ltd, Airbus, CIMPA SAS, National Centre for Text Mining, Shapespace, Jaguar Land Rover.
Adaptive Informatics for Intelligent Manufacturing (AI2M): Manufacturing Technology Centre, SAP AG, MOD, Ford Motor Company, KET Ltd, Invotec Circuits, GE Aviation, S2S Electronics Ltd, MTG Research Ltd.
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
An artist's conception shows a comet streaking through Martian skies.
By Nancy Atkinson Universe Today
There is an outside chance that a newly discovered comet might be on a collision course with Mars. Astronomers are still determining the trajectory of the comet, named C/2013 A1 (Siding Spring), but at the very least, it is going to come fairly close to the Red Planet in October of 2014.
"Even if it doesn?t impact, it will look pretty good from Earth, and spectacular from Mars, probably a magnitude -4 comet as seen from Mars' surface,"?Australian amateur astronomer Ian Musgrave wrote.
The comet was discovered in the beginning of 2013 by comet-hunter Robert McNaught at the Siding Spring Observatory in New South Wales, Australia. According to a?discussion on the IceInSpace amateur astronomy forum,?when the discovery was initially made, astronomers at the Catalina Sky Survey in Arizona looked back over their observations to find "pre-recovery" images of the comet dating back to Dec. 8, 2012. These observations placed the orbital trajectory of comet C/2013 A1 right through Mars orbit on Oct. 19, 2014.
However, after 74 days of observations,?comet specialist Leonid Elenin?notes that current calculations put the closest approach of the comet at a distance of 67,853 miles (109,200 kilometers), or 0.00073 AU from Mars in October 2014. That close pass has many wondering if any of the Mars orbiters might be able to acquire high-resolution images of the comet as it passes by.
But as?Ian O?Neill from Discovery Space?points out, since the comet has only been observed for 74 days (so far), so it?s difficult for astronomers to forecast precisely where the comet will be 20 months from now. "Comet C/2013 A1 may fly past at a very safe distance of 0.008 AU (650,000 miles)," O'Neill wrote, "but to the other extreme, its orbital pass could put Mars directly in its path. At time of Mars close approach (or impact), the comet will be barreling along at a breakneck speed of 35 miles per second (126,000 miles per hour)."
Elenin said that since C/2013 A1 is a hyperbolic comet and moves in a retrograde orbit, its velocity with respect to the planet will be very high, approximately 56 kilometers per second (126,000 mph). "With the current estimate of the absolute magnitude of the nucleus M2 = 10.3, which might indicate the diameter up to 50 kilometers [30 miles], the energy of impact might reach the equivalent of staggering 2?10^10 megatons!"
While the massive Comet Shoemaker?Levy 9 (9.3 miles or 15 kilometers in diameter) that crashed into Jupiter in 1994 was spectacular as seen from Earth orbit by the Hubble Space Telescope, the sight of C/2013 A1 slamming into Mars would be off the charts.
Astronomers are certainly keeping an eye on this comet, and they will refine their measurements as more data comes in. You can see the orbital parameters available so far at?JPL?s Solar System Dynamics website.
More about comets:
This report originally appeared on the Universe Today website as "Is a Comet on a Collision Course With Mars?" Copyright 2013 Universe Today. Reprinted with permission.
Clear promises Leap Motion support in Mac app, offers a glimpse of what's to come
We've seen some big Leap Motion deals announced, and some fairly impressive demos, but we haven't yet heard of many big-name apps that will support the gesture control technology. While not the biggest around, Realmac has today confirmed that the Mac version of its Clear to-do app -- itself noted for its novel interface -- will indeed support the motion controller "later this year." Details are light beyond that, but the company's offered a peek at what you can expect in the brief video after the break.
Pirate Bay abandons Sweden for Norway and Spain after legal threats
Published time: February 26, 2013 18:25 Edited time: February 26, 2013 13:44
The Swedish Pirate Party has handed over hosting of the Pirate Bay to sister parties in Norway and Spain after the country?s copyright lobby sent a letter threatening criminal charges for hosting the controversial file-sharing website.
The Swedish Rights Alliance gave the party until Tuesday to cut all ties with the Pirate Bay following threats of serious legal consequences. In a letter sent directly to the party's board members earlier this month, the Swedish Pirate Party was accused of violating copyright law by acting as an Internet service provider for the popular bittorrent site.
The alliance also charged that the Supreme Court of Sweden had ?legally settled that not only those who operate an illegal file-sharing service, but also those who provide internet access to such an illegal service are committing a criminal act.?
The Rights Alliance said that such violations of copyright law could entail stiff fines for noncompliance, payment of damages and even potential prison terms. ?These rules apply to legal entities, including non-profit organizations such as The Pirate Party and Serious Tubes, their board members, and other representatives of the organizations,? the letter continued.
The Pirate Bay?s decision to move its web-hosting services to Norway and Spain likely stems from legal precedents indicating more favorable climates for file-sharing sites.
In 2010, the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) and several movie studios were unable to force a Norwegian ISP to block the Pirate Bay. Spanish courts have so far failed to react to dozens of site closure requests from rightsholders, and threats from the United States that Spain will be put on a trade blacklist.
Swedish Pirate Party Leader Anna Troberg hailed the shift as a positive sign that despite legal pressure at home, the movement is continuing to become an international platform for reforming copyright laws and patents.
?Today, there are more than sixty different Pirate Parties all around the world. Every cut connection to The Pirate Bay will generate two new connections,? Torrent Freak quoted her as saying.
She further said that to take the Rights Alliance on at this time would not be prudent, despite the tenuous legal claims leveled at the Pirate Party.
?It would be crazy to enter a game where the rules are decided by the other team,? she said. ?The Pirate Party?s mission is not to produce martyrs for the copyright industry. Our mission is to create longterm political change that ensures that the copyright industry in the future will not be allowed to threaten companies, organizations and individuals into silence with our common judicial system as a weapon.?
Rick Falkvinge, the Pirate Party founder and a self-described evangelist of sensible information policy, told RT that Swedish courts have displayed ?remarkable and remorseless corruption when it comes to copyright monopoly cases in general, and The Pirate Bay cases in particular.?
?Being in the moral and legal right is something completely different from winning in a courtroom,? he said. ?In the trial against the Pirate Bay operators, you saw everything from a corrupt judge who was part of the same interest group as the plaintiffs to an investigating police officer who was flat-out hired by Warner Brothers while doing the investigation.?
"It was a travesty of everything justice is supposed to be,? Falkvinge added.
Linking insulin to learning: Insulin-like molecules play critical role in learning and memory
Feb. 26, 2013 ? Though it's most often associated with disorders like diabetes, Harvard researchers have shown how the signaling pathway of insulin and insulin-like peptides plays another critical role in the body -- helping to regulate learning and memory.
In addition to showing that the insulin-like peptides play a critical role in regulating the activity of neurons involved in learning and memory, a team of researchers led by Yun Zhang, Associate Professor of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, show that the interaction between the molecules can fine-tune how, or even if, learning takes place. Their work is described in a February 6 paper in Neuron.
"People think of insulin and diabetes, but many metabolic syndromes are associated with some types of cognitive defects and behavioral disorders, like depression or dementia," Zhang said. "That suggests that insulin and insulin-like peptides may play an important role in neural function, but it's been very difficult to nail down the underlying mechanism, because these peptides do not have to function through synapses that connect different neurons in the brain"
To get at that mechanism, Zhang and colleagues turned to an organism whose genome and nervous system are well described and highly accessible by genetics -- C. elegans.
Using genetic tools, researchers altered the small, transparent worms by removing their ability to create individual insulin-like compounds. These new "mutant" worms were then tested to see whether they would learn to avoid eating a particular type of bacteria that is known to infect the worms. Tests showed that while some worms did learn to steer clear of the bacteria, others didn't -- suggesting that removing a specific insulin-like compound halted the worms' ability to learn.
Researchers were surprised to find, however, that it wasn't just removing the molecules that could make the animals lose the ability to learn -- some peptide was found to inhibit learning.
"We hadn't predicted that we would find both positive and negative regulators from these peptides," Zhang said. "Why does the animal need this bidirectional regulation of learning? One possibility is that learning depends on context. There are certain things you want to learn -- for example, the worms in these experiments wanted to learn that they shouldn't eat this type of infectious bacteria. That's a positive regulation of the learning. But if they needed to eat, even if it is a bad food, to survive, they would need a way to suppress this type of learning."
Even more surprising for Zhang and her colleagues was evidence that the various insulin-like molecules could regulate each other.
"Many animals, including the humans, have multiple insulin-like molecules and it appears that these molecules can act like a network," she said. "Each of them may play a slightly different role in the nervous system, and they function together to coordinate the signaling related to learning and memory. By changing the way the molecules interact, the brain can fine tune learning in a host of different ways."
Going forward, Zhang said she hopes to characterize more of the insulin-like peptides as a way of better understanding how the various molecules interact, and how they act on the neural circuits for learning and memory.
Understanding how such pathways work could one day help in the development of treatment for a host of cognitive disorders, including dementia.
"The signaling pathways for insulin and insulin-like peptides are highly conserved in mammals, including the humans," Zhang said. "There is even some preliminary evidence that insulin treatment, in some cases, can improve cognitive function. That's one reason we believe that if we understand this mechanism, it will help us better understand how insulin pathways are working in the human brain."
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Harvard University.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Journal Reference:
Zhunan Chen, Michael Hendricks, Astrid Cornils, Wolfgang Maier, Joy Alcedo, Yun Zhang. Two Insulin-like Peptides Antagonistically Regulate Aversive Olfactory Learning in C.?elegans. Neuron, 2013; 77 (3): 572 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2012.11.025
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Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
Capitals Beat Hurricanes 3-0: Washington Shuts Down Alexander Semin (VIDEO)
WASHINGTON -- The Washington Capitals shut down former teammate Alexander Semin, scored a goal with a one-of-a-kind combo and put together a second consecutive impressive performance, beating the Carolina Hurricanes 3-0 Tuesday night in their quest to make a quick last-to-first move in the Southeast Division.
Nicklas Backstrom scored in the first period and supplied the pass for John Erskine's goal in the second ? the first Backstrom-to-Erskine score in their six seasons as teammates. John Carlson scored in the third and Braden Holtby, who signed a two-year contract extension Monday, made 33 saves for his fifth career shutout for the Capitals.
After a miserable start to the season, Washington has back-to-back wins by more than one goal for the first time this season. The victory moved the Capitals within four points of the Hurricanes, who led the NHL's weakling division at the start of the day's play.
Cam Ward, under pressure for much of the game, kept it from turning into an ugly rout by making 37 saves for the Hurricanes, who have lost four of five and are 0-5 against Southeast Division opponents.
Making his debut on the visitor's bench at the Verizon Center was Semin, who was booed and whooped derisively whenever he touched the puck. He ranks as the Capitals' No. 5 all-time goal-scorer and was often touted as having more natural talent than two-time league MVP Alex Ovechkin, but his seven seasons in Washington were marred by criticisms about his work ethic, a complaint voiced again by Washington forward Troy Brouwer on Monday.
The Capitals allowed Semin to depart via free agency last summer, and he appeared determined to show up his old team. He shot the puck more than anyone else in the first period ? three on goal, two wide of the net. He had a solo breakaway on a penalty kill early that was thwarted when his shot ricocheted off Holtby's glove, giving the fans another excuse to let out a huge cheer.
Semin finished with nine shots, including four on goal.
The second period brought a moment as unusual as the sight of Semin in an opposing uniform ? one that was years in the making. Backstrom had 278 assists since entering the NHL with the Capitals in 2007, but none of them set up Erskine, who had only nine goals in his seven seasons in Washington.
But the pair produced just 31 seconds into the period, when Backstrom found Erskine trailing the rush. Erskine, who also signed a two-year contract extension Monday, teed up a slap shot that beat Ward on the stick side.
Ward was otherwise on top of his game, making point-blank saves on Brouwer and Joel Ward in the second period. The Ward-on-Ward save was an incredible piece of glove work, with the goalie reaching back to deflect the puck just as it was about to cross the goal line.
The Capitals opened the scoring on a power-play goal by Backstrom, who perched in front of the crease to receive a pass from Mike Ribeiro. Washington has scored first in eight straight games.
Notes: The Capitals had a season-high 40 shots on goal. ... Washington D Mike Green returned after missing three games with a lower-body injury. ... Because of uncertainty over the availability of Backstrom (illness) and LW Jason Chimera (lower body) after Monday's practice, the Capitals recalled F Casey Wellman from Hershey of the AHL. ... Carolina F Jeff Skinner (concussion) missed his fifth consecutive game, and D Jamie McBain (upper body) sat out his fourth straight.
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Follow Joseph White on Twitter: http://twitter.com/JGWhiteAP
Suspected killer of Tunisia opponent arrested: police | Morocco ...
TUNIS, Feb 25, 2013 (AFP)
The suspected killer of leftist opposition politician Chokri Belaid whose murder sparked a political crisis in Tunisia was arrested on Monday, police sources said.
They said the suspect was arrested along with an alleged accomplice, both members of the radical Muslim Salafist movement. The main suspect, a 31-year-old furniture maker, was arrested in the Carthage suburb of Tunis.
The second man was allegedly the getaway motorbike rider for the lone, hooded gunman who shot dead Belaid, 48, at close range in front of his Tunis? home on February 6, two police officers told AFP.
They said the arrests were carried out on the strength of the testimony of a woman who had witnessed the killing and has since been placed under police protection. Several online media also reported the two arrests, but the interior ministry spokesman was unreachable for comment.
Interior Minister Ali Larayedh, who has been tapped to form a new government in the face of the deepening crisis sparked by Belaid?s killing, said last week that arrests had been made. ?The investigation has not led yet to identify the killer, those behind the murder and its motives,? said Larayedh, refusing to elaborate or disclose the number of arrests.
Belaid?s family has blamed the ruling Ennahda party for being behind the killing, an accusation the Islamists have vehemently denied. The assassination triggered days of unrest as people took to Habib? Bourguiba Avenue, epicentre of the 2011 uprising that toppled ex-dictator Zine? El Abidine Ben Ali, exacerbating a long-running political crisis in Tunisia.
On the day of the murder, prime minister Hamadi Jebali proposed the formation of a government of technocrats as a way out of the crisis. But the initiative was rejected by his own Ennahda party, leading to his resignation.
Christine Hassler: What I Would Tell My 20-Something Self
I'm writing this blog after facilitating a retreat for YPO where most of the participants were 20-somethings. I was inspired by their strong intentions to be successful in all aspects of their lives. I was also touched by the incredible amount of pressure, expectations, confusion, and anxiety that they were experiencing. Embarking on the decade where they feel like they have to "figure it all out" felt incredibly overwhelming to them.
I totally get it -- because that is how I felt in my 20s. I believed that I was supposed to have a plan for my entire life, and put an extraordinary amount of pressure on myself. I was able to create a lot of external results, but it cost me a lot of joy, peace, play, and presence during my twenties.
As I taught and guided them this weekend, I also reflected upon my own 20-something experience, which was a very challenging decade for me. As I look back with gratitude and compassion, there are many things I want to tell my 20-something self. Here are some of the things I would say to her:
Please don't be so hard on yourself.
Be gentle.
Speak to yourself in more loving and encouraging ways. Your inner dialogue is the most powerful voice you hear. Turn down the volume of the critic so the voice of your inner knowing gets louder.
Smile. A lot.
You are doing the best you can. Always looking for ways to be more, better or different is NOT the formula for success.
You think it is motivating you to create results, but it is completely exhausting.
Look for what inspires you rather than what drives you. Allow your curiosity to lead you.
You know that guy you are obsessed about getting to like you? In five years you won't even remember his name.
You know that job you are devastated about not getting? There is a way better opportunity coming around soon.
Don't wait for fear to go away before you go after something you want. Being scared is natural. You'll become more courageous each time you feel fear and do it anyway.
Stop comparing yourself to others, it is preventing you from seeing and discovering your own unique gifts and what you are here to express to the world. Know that the qualities you admire in others are the qualities you need to recognize and nurture inside yourself.
Your parents are people too, with issues and triggers. They are getting used to having an adult child, just as you are getting used to being an adult.
You are going to get over your heartbreak. I know it feels so painful right now. Cry all your tears, get it out, and then let it go. Take the lessons you learned and move forward. You will love and be loved again. And you will be so grateful for your heartache because it taught you so much about love.
Take leaps of faith -- even when you don't know where you are going to land. You are going to develop so much courage and trust in yourself as you take risks. It's okay not to be 100 percent sure -- 51 percent sure is enough to take the leap.
Be of service. Have a generous heart. That is how you make a difference in the world.
Enjoy your body. Stop obsessing about it. Stop trying to make it into some perfect image of what you think it should be. You look fantastic, take lots of pictures and wear bikinis more often.
"No" is a complete sentence. You don't need to follow it with justifications and apologies.
The decisions you are making are not all forever decisions. I know you feel so much pressure to figure it all out right now and everything feels like a major decision. It's not. Choose what feels the best for right now and trust you will learn from each choice you make.
You will find your passion and purpose. Everything that you are going through now is a piece of the puzzle. Just because you don't know how the puzzle comes together yet doesn't mean it's not being assembled.
Sometimes figuring out what you want is a process of elimination. Let yourself experiment and try different things. It's okay to change your mind, and the only way you'll know if something is a fit is if you try it.
Cultivate your friendships. They will become the family you get to choose. Find friends who will grow with you, and let go of the friendships that have reached their expiration date.
List the things you are grateful for every day.
Nurture your relationship with a higher power. Spend time in the silence and get to know the divine. You are not separate.
What other people think of you is none of your business. People are always going to judge you. So what!? It's impossible to please everyone or be liked by everyone. Be you, the real you, not the version you think you need to be for others.
You are enough. You are perfect just the way you are.
Ask for help and support. You do not have to figure everything out on you own, and you are not supposed to have everything figured out right now. It's okay not to know how, what, when, where and why.
Take compliments.
You are doing the best you can. And so is everyone else.
Enjoy the moment. Your mind is always in the future. Stop living in when/then's. Be here now and have fun. This is a time in your life where you can be a bit selfish and focus on what makes you happy.
Forgive -- yourself and anyone else you are holding judgments against.
You are not alone. So many other people feel the same way you do. Be willing to be vulnerable.
Rejection is God's protection. You can't always get what you want, but you do always get what you need -- just not in the form or on the timeline you may have expected.
Each step is moving you forward, even if you feel like you are moving backward.
Breathe. Slow down. Take your time. It all works out. Your dreams come true and there are magical surprises is store. Life is amazing now, and it gets even better!!
You are loved. I love you.
From your 30-something self, Christine
For more by Christine Hassler, click here.
For more on wisdom, click here.
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We rarely have the opportunity to look at our workspaces from above, but hopefully a glance from the top still shows a nicely organized and designed office. Lori and Ken put this comfortable little room together that easily passes the bird's eye view test.
Like with most well-designed home offices, you see mostly black, white, gray, and splashes of color here and there. Lori and Ken used bold red, green, and yellow in both the furniture and the art to provide a consistently attractive look. To see their entire home, hit up Apartment Therapy Tech for the tour.
If you have a workspace of your own to show off, add it to the Lifehacker Workspace Showcase. Be sure to include some details about your setup and why it works for you, and you just might see it featured on the front page of Lifehacker.
Kerry urges Syrian opposition to attend Rome talks
BERLIN (AP) ? Skeptical Syrian opposition leaders agreed Monday to attend an international conference in Rome after first threatening to boycott the session that was to be the centerpiece of Secretary of State John Kerry's his first overseas mission in his new job.
Opposition leaders had protested what they see as inaction by other nations in the face of violence from Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime.
Kerry not only made a public plea at a joint news conference Monday with British Foreign Secretary William Hague, he also called Moaz Khatib, leader of the Syrian Opposition Council, "to encourage him to come to Rome," a senior U.S. official said. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to speak publicly on the matter, described the conversation as "good" but declined to offer more detail.
Spokesman Walid al-Bunni said the council had decided to send a delegation to Rome after all.
Al-Bunni told Al-Arabiya TV the decision was made based on guarantees al-Khatib heard from western diplomats that the conference would be different and that the opposition would receive real commitments this time. "We will go and we will see if the promises are different this time," he said.
After speaking with Khatib, Kerry flew to Berlin from London, the first stop of his first trip as secretary of state ? a hectic nine-country dash through Europe and the Middle East.
Kerry had also dispatched his top Syrian envoy to Cairo in hopes of convincing opposition leaders that their participation is critical to addressing questions from potential donors and securing additional aid from the United States and Europe.
"We are determined that the Syrian opposition is not going to be dangling in the wind, wondering where the support is, if it is coming," Kerry told reporters in London after meeting British Prime Minister David Cameron and Hague. "We are not going to let the Syrian opposition not have its ability to have its voice properly heard in this process."
For his part, Hague said the violence in Syria, especially recent scud missile attacks on the city of Aleppo, was unacceptable and that the west's current position could not be sustained while an "appalling injustice" is being done to Syrian citizens.
"In the face of such murder and threat of instability, our policy cannot stay static as the weeks go by," Hague told reporters, standing beside Kerry. "We must significantly increase support for the Syrian opposition. We are preparing to do just that."
Kerry agreed.
"We are not coming to Rome simply to talk, we are coming to Rome to talk about next steps," Kerry said, adding that he was sympathetic to opposition complaints that they were not getting the support they need to defend themselves against the Assad regime or oust him from power.
"I am very sensitive to that frustration," recalling that as a U.S. senator he was one of several who pushed the administration to consider military aid to the Syrian opposition.
"But I am the new secretary of state ... and the president of the United States has sent me here and sent me to this series of meetings and in Rome because he is concerned about the course of events.
"This moment is ripe for us to be considering what more we can do," he said, adding that if the opposition wants results, "join us" in Rome.
Meanwhile, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem said Monday the Assad regime was ready to hold talks with opposition leaders, the first time that a high-ranking Syrian official has stated publicly that the government would meet with the opposition. Al-Moallem made his comments after meeting in Moscow with Russian officials.
In Washington, State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell said Moallem's remarks appeared positive but expressed caution about the seriousness of the offer.
"I don't know their motivations, other than to say they continue to rain down horrific attacks on their own people," Ventrell told reporters. "So that speaks pretty loudly and clearly."
If the Assad regime is serious, he said, it should inform the U.N. peace envoy, Lakhdar Brahimi of its readiness for talks. Ventrell said the Assad regime hasn't yet done that.
Obama administration officials have debated whether the U.S. should arm the rebels, with Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey having said they urged such a course of action. The White House has been unwilling to do so for fears the weapons could end up in the wrong hands. Currently, the U.S. provides only non-lethal support and humanitarian aid.
The United Nations says at least 70,000 people have been killed in Syria's 2-year civil war, which began as an uprising against Assad's regime.
Kerry said the Syrian people "deserve better" than the violence currently gripping their country as he stood alongside Britain's Foreign Secretary William Hague.
___
Associated Press writers Cassandra Vinograd in London and Bradley Klapper in Washington contributed to this report.
Nokia to Share Entire Navigation Suite With Other Windows Phones
Nokia has announced that it is to share its Drive, Maps and Transit apps with other Windows Phone handsets. Under the new name Here, users of non-Nokia handsets will finally be able to use the Finns' excellent navigation software. More »
NVIDIA Hates The Benchmark Game, But Lifts The Veil On Tegra 4 Performance Anyway
Flash back a month or so to CES -- NVIDIA CEO Jen-Hsun Huang officially pulled back the curtain on the company's new Tegra 4 chipset, and called it the "world's fastest mobile processor." It was a hell of a claim to make, but the company did little to justify it at the time aside from pointing to its array of Cortex A15 CPU cores and its "72 GPU cores." Fortunately, NVIDIA is much chattier here at MWC, and was eager to show off rather impressive benchmarks for its latest and greatest mobile chipset.
Lyoto Machida pulls out split-decision win over Dan Henderson at UFC 157
ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Lyoto Machida took a split decision over Dan Henderson in the co-main event at UFC 157 on Saturday. The judges saw it 29-28, 28-29, 29-28 for Machida.
Machida was elusive as usual in the first round, but Henderson was able to sneak in and land a few kicks and punches. At the end of the round, Machida took Henderson down with a leg trip and landed strikes.
The second round showed Machida still being elusive and keeping his distance from Henderson. Machida tried for a front kick several times, but couldn't land it. Meanwhile, Henderson couldn't land much.
Henderson is known for his big, overhand punches. Most of the time, when he throws it, it can mean the end of a fight. However, he had trouble getting close enough to Machida for the overhand to work.
In the third round, Machida moved in for a takedown but ended up with Henderson on top. Henderson used elbows from the top, but Machida was able to get out with less than two minutes left in the fight.
Before the fight, UFC president Dana White said that the winner of this bout will get the next title shot. UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones will put the title up against Chael Sonnen in April, but the next fight will likely go to Machida.
Machida was once the UFC light heavyweight champion, but lost the title to Rua in 2010. Since then, he has wins over Randy Couture and Ryan Bader, but losses to current champion Jon Jones and Quinton Jackson. It will be his third chance at the light heavyweight title. He won it with a knockout of Rashad Evans in 2009, but lost to Jones in 2011.
Henderson had a long layoff between fights. His last bout was one of the best in MMA history. In November of 2011, Henderson defeated Mauricio Rua in a five-round decision. Since then, Henderson had a fight lined up with Jones in September, but had to pull out at the last minute because of a knee injury. His record falls to 29-9. He's 42 years old, and against Machida, looked slow and old for the first time in his career.
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Public release date: 28-Feb-2013
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We rarely have the opportunity to look at our workspaces from above, but hopefully a glance from the top still shows a nicely organized and designed office. Lori and Ken put this comfortable little room together that easily passes the bird's eye view test. 
Flash back a month or so to CES -- NVIDIA CEO Jen-Hsun Huang officially pulled back the curtain on the company's new
ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Lyoto Machida took a split decision over Dan Henderson in the co-main event at UFC 157 on Saturday. The judges saw it 29-28, 28-29, 29-28 for Machida.
