Success in observation of swelling of single-particle of silicon electrode for lithium ion batteries during charging reaction
Apr. 26, 2013 ? The NIMS Global Research Center for Environment and Energy based on Nanomaterials Science (GREEN) and Tokyo Metropolitan University have measured the volumetric expansion of single particles of silicon accompanying the charging reaction. This finding demonstrated the importance of electrode design from the viewpoint of volumetric energy density.
The NIMS Global Research Center for Environment and Energy based on Nanomaterials Science (GREEN) and a research group at Tokyo Metropolitan University succeeded in measuring the volumetric expansion of single particles of silicon, which is a negative electrode material for lithium ion batteries, accompanying the charging reaction, and demonstrated the importance of electrode design from the viewpoint of volumetric energy density based on this finding.
A research group headed by Dr. Kiyoshi Kanamura (NIMS Special Researcher) and Dr. Kei Nishikawa (Postdoctoral Researcher) at the Global Research Center for Environment and Energy based on Nanomaterials Science (GREEN) of the National Institute for Materials Science (President: Sukekatsu Ushioda), in joint research with Tokyo Metropolitan University (President: Fumio Harashima), succeeded in measuring the volumetric expansion of single particles of silicon, which is a negative electrode material for lithium (Li) ion batteries, accompanying the charging reaction, and demonstrated the importance of electrode design from the viewpoint of volumetric energy density.
Li-ion batteries are a type of secondary cell in which a Li-containing transition metal oxide is used as the positive electrode and graphite is used as the negative electrode. Because Li-ion batteries have high energy density in comparison with other secondary cells, such as nickel-metal hydride (NIMH) batteries, etc., they are widely used as a power source for mobile electronics, and are also considered promising for electric vehicle (EV) and stationary power storage applications. At present, graphite is used as the negative electrode material, but in order to achieve higher energy density, materials which utilize the alloying reaction with lithium, represented by silicon, have attracted attention as next-generation negative electrode materials. The most important issues for practical application are elucidation of the mechanism of the large volume change which occur in the charging and discharging reactions, and control of those changes.
Researchers at Tokyo Metropolitan University established the technology of a single-particle measurement system to investigate the intrinsic electrochemical properties of single particles of electrode materials for Li-ion batteries. In the present research, this system was introduced in the ultra-dry room at the NIMS Global Research Center for Environment and Energy based on Nanomaterials Science (GREEN), and was used to perform electrochemical measurements of single particles (10-20?m) of silicon, which is seen as a next-generation negative electrode material. To date, the expansion ratio, etc. of single particles of silicon had been estimated from the theoretical crystal size, and volumetric changes accompanying the charging and discharging reactions had not been evaluated quantitatively. This research result was the world's first example of successful measurement of volumetric expansion of a single particle of silicon accompanying the charging reaction.
The results of this experiment clarified the fact that the volumetric expansion of silicon in the charging reaction is larger than the value estimated theoretically. Although this is thought to be due to the formation of an amorphous phase, etc. as the alloying reaction between the lithium and silicon proceeds, further study will be necessary in order to elucidate the detailed mechanism. Standards have now been established for Li-ion batteries for electric vehicle (EV) and cellphone applications. Conventionally, evaluations of material performance had centered on energy density per unit of mass. However, volumetric energy density is increasingly considered more important than mass energy density. As the present research showed, silicon displays larger volumetric expansion than the predicted value, which results in a decrease in real energy density. Thus, this research demonstrated the importance of actual measurement of volumetric expansion in the search for candidates for next-generation battery materials.
As described above, this research showed the importance of measuring the actual volumetric energy density when adopting a material that displays volumetric changes during charging/discharging in the electrodes of Li-ion batteries. Based on this result, electrode design guidelines which also consider volumetric changes are necessary in research and development in the search for next-generation materials for Li-ion batteries.
These research results was presented at the 80th Spring Meeting of the Electrochemical Society of Japan, which was held at Tohoku University on March 29.
Share this story on Facebook, Twitter, and Google:
Other social bookmarking and sharing tools:
Story Source:
The above story is reprinted from materials provided by National Institute for Materials Science.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
"Welcome to Myrtle Manor" stars Lindsay Colbert (right) and Taylor Burt.
By Ree Hines, TODAY contributor
Over the course of three days, three of the stars from the docu-series "Welcome to Myrtle Manor" were welcomed to South Carolina's Myrtle Beach Jail.
It all started in the early hours of Friday morning. That's when Amanda Adams, identified on the show's website as a "turtle hunting, four wheel driving redneck," was arrested for driving under the influence.
Officers were responding to a call about a single-vehicle collision when they found Adams' damaged Jeep Wrangler next to a downed electric pole. According to a report from the Myrtle Beach Police Department, when officers asked the 26-year-old how much she'd had to drink, she told them she'd consumed three beers and one shot, though later she added three more shots to that tally.
Her blood alcohol level was .20 -- .08 is the legal limit in South Carolina.
There was more trouble on Saturday night as Taylor Burt, known as "the king of Myrtle Beach nightlife" on the TLC series, was arrested for having sex with a minor under the age of 16.
According to the police report, a 15-year-old and her mother made the allegations against Burt, 28, on Friday. The girl went on to get physical exam at Grand Strand Regional Medical Center.
No further details have been made available about Burt's arrest.
But the brushes with the law continued on Sunday, with the latest incident involving 21-year-old Lindsay Colbert.
A Myrtle Beach police report reveals that Colbert was arrested for driving under the influence -- with a blood alcohol level above .15 -- and speeding.
A separate incident report described Adams' behavior as "an emotional rollercoaster throughout the procedure" and said the reality star asked the arresting officer, "Are you giving me (expletive) 'cause I am on the show?"
She was also said to have made racial slurs toward the officer.
TODAY.com reached to TLC about the arrests, but the network had no comment.
An injured Pakistani girl cries while getting medical treatment at a local hospital following a bomb blast, in Peshawar, Pakistan on Sunday, April 28, 2013. Pakistani Taliban detonated bombs at the campaign offices of two politicians in the country's northwest on Sunday, police said, killing many people in an escalation of attacks on secular, left-leaning political parties. (AP Photo/Mohammad Sajjad)
An injured Pakistani girl cries while getting medical treatment at a local hospital following a bomb blast, in Peshawar, Pakistan on Sunday, April 28, 2013. Pakistani Taliban detonated bombs at the campaign offices of two politicians in the country's northwest on Sunday, police said, killing many people in an escalation of attacks on secular, left-leaning political parties. (AP Photo/Mohammad Sajjad)
Pakistani police officers and volunteers visit the site of an explosion in Peshawar, Pakistan on Sunday, April 28, 2013. Pakistani Taliban detonated bombs at the campaign offices of two politicians in the country's northwest on Sunday, police said, killing many people in an escalation of attacks on secular, left-leaning political parties. (AP Photo/Mohammad Sajjad)
PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) ? A suicide bomber targeting policemen killed six people in northwestern Pakistan on Monday in the latest attack ahead of next month's parliamentary election, police said.
The bomber, who was riding a motorcycle, detonated his explosives as a police patrol passed in the main northwestern city of Peshawar, said city police chief Liaqat Ali Khan.
Three policemen were among over 30 people who were wounded by the blast, Khan said. Many of the dead and wounded were from a nearby passenger bus, which bore the brunt of the attack.
Local TV footage showed the wreckage of the bus and the motorcycle, as rescue workers rushed wounded people to hospitals in the city.
No one immediately claimed responsibility, but suspicion will likely to fall on the Pakistani Taliban. The group has been waging a bloody insurgency against the government for years and has stepped up attacks ahead of the May 11 parliamentary election.
On Sunday, the Taliban killed 11 people in bomb attacks on a political rally and two campaign offices in the northwest, part of their quest to disrupt the election. The group has killed at least 60 people in attacks on politicians and party workers since the beginning of April.
The Taliban have specifically targeted more secular political parties that have supported military offensives against the militants in the northwest. The Taliban have largely spared Islamic parties and others who believe the government should strike a peace deal with the militants, rather than fight them.
There is a concern that the violence could benefit the parties that take a softer line toward the militants because they are able to campaign more freely.
"Unless the government, the country's independent election commission and security forces ensure that all parties can campaign freely without fear, the election may be severely compromised," Ali Dayan Hasan, the head of Human Rights Watch in Pakistan, said in a statement issued Monday.
SARMs + 5-alpha reductase blockers = a more effective cure for ...
Hello, have someone of you tried the combination of SARMS with 5-AR blockers (finasteride, Dutasteride)? I wonder, because I would like to share my experience.
Last year in summer, as I long-time minoxidil user for nearly 16 years, I wanted to regrow hair in my temples with the help of finasteride. I began in late June on 1 mg/day. After few weeks of mild shedding, I suddenly started to experience an almost explosive regrowth in early August. Well, it was mostly thin vellus hair, but I couldn't believe my eyes, because the hair was growing even on the sides of my forehead, which I previously regarded as utterly impossible. I thought that in the following months, I could get my NW 1.5 hairline to a cosmetically acceptable NW 1.
Alas, it didn't happen. In early September the regrowth stopped and in late October, everything turned upside down by 180 degrees and I started to lose hair in my temples. Now, I won't annoy you by the description of the following 6 months that were an ordeal for me. I still don't know, why I suddenly started to lose hair. But I think that I already know, why I was regrowing it in summer: It was not the effect of finasteride, but a concurrent use of finasteride with SARMS (Ostarine, S4) that I was taking in July and August.
Actually, I thought that the use of SARMS at the beginning of a finasteride therapy was not a good idea, and that SARMS would compromise the effect of finasteride, because in studies done in rats, their effect on prostate was roughly half that of finasteride. But I have no other explanation, because in December I did blood tests and my dihydrotestosterone was 32 ng/dl - an utter joke! In January, I achieved only a marginally lower value - 25 ng/dl, but at a much lower testosterone level. Considering that these values are not much different from the range in adult men (30-85 ng/dl) and considerably higher than those in the average finasteride user (ca. 15 ng/dl), I think that finasteride alone couldn't be responsible for the regrowth. It must have been the combined effect of finasteride and SARMS. The sudden end of this short regrowth phase coincided exactly with the quitting of SARMS, after all. Further, in July, I measured my testosterone and it was markedly suppressed - 50 ng/dl. So, SARMS suppressed testosterone, blocked dihydrotestosterone receptors, and finasteride probably erased the remaining dihydrotestosterone in my blood to such a degree that it was able to wake up my hair follicles. (I have never observed any hair regrowth on SARMS alone before!)
At this moment, the state of my hair is stable. The shedding slowed down and later stopped during March, after I started to add Dutasteride to my daily finasteride regime. Now I am at 0.33 mg/dut day + 1.25 mg fin/day, and my dihydrotestosterone levels finally began to drop (17 ng/dl). I am really curious, if increasing the Dutasteride dosage leads to the same regrowth like during the last summer. At least, I know that it is possible in me. Unfortunately, I don't plan to touch SARMS anymore, because the depressive winter shedding scared me so much that now I am afraid to use whatever anabolic drugs. (It's irrational, I know.) In any case, I think that my story can be an inspiration for other experimenters.
Last edited by EliteFitnessGuy; Today at 11:21 AM.
DALLAS (AP) ? The Dallas Stars fired general manager Joe Nieuwendyk on Sunday after four seasons, two coaches and no playoff appearances.
The dismissal came the day after Dallas completed a 22-22-4 season. The Stars missed the playoffs for the fifth season in a row.
Owner Tom Gaglardi said in a statement that Nieuwendyk represented the Stars "extremely well" and "helped put pieces in place that will once again turn this team into a contender." He added, however, the team must go "in a different direction with our intentions set on returning to the elite" of the NHL.
The team is to announce its new GM on Monday. While the Stars have not said who it is, Gaglardi is "confident we have found the right general manager to return us to the pathway of success."
The team has refused to comment on reports that Jim Nill, Detroit's longtime assistant GM, will get the job.
The future of coach Glen Gulutzan wasn't addressed by the team in its statement. Dallas holds an option for a third season for Gulutzan, who is 64-57-9 in his two seasons after ending the lockout-shortened season with a 3-0 home loss to Detroit. The Stars dropped their last five games and won only once in their last seven after a five-game winning streak.
When asked about his job after Saturday night's game, Gulutzan said that wasn't under his control. He did praise Nieuwendyk.
"All I can say is that Joe's been tremendous for me. I think he's done a hell of a job," Gulutzan said. "You can see with our farm team and the young guys that we have here."
As a player in Dallas, Nieuwendyk won the Conn Smythe Award as playoff MVP in 1999 when the Stars won their only Stanley Cup.
When hired by Nieuwendyk two years ago to replace the fired Marc Crawford, the 41-year-old Gulutzan had never coached in the NHL. Gulutzan had been a successful minor league coach.
Crawford was hired following Dave Tippett's firing in 2009, after the Stars missed the playoffs a year after making it to the Western Conference finals. Tippett later that year replaced Wayne Gretzky as coach in Phoenix and led the Coyotes to the playoffs. He was honored as the league's top coach.
The Stars weren't eliminated from the playoff chase until Thursday night. They stayed in postseason contention even after longtime captain Brenden Morrow was traded, a week before 41-year-old points leader Jaromir Jagr and Derek Roy were dealt at the trading deadline.
Dallas got several young players and extra draft picks in those deals. Within days after Jagr and Roy were traded, the young Stars went on a season-best five-game winning streak.
Morrow waived his no-trade clause to go to Pittsburgh, which entered the playoffs as the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference. Morrow's rookie season in Dallas was 1999-2000, when the Stars were the Stanley Cup runner-up a year after their title.
Museum officials say a fire is blazing through The Museum of Danish Resistance in Copenhagen, destroying large parts of the building.
They said Sunday that no one has been injured in the fire and firefighters and staff that rushed to the scene managed to save the majority of artifacts.
The fire started in the museum cafe early Sunday and quickly spread to the exhibition hall. The cause is not yet known.
The museum exhibits objects related to the Danish resistance to the German occupation during World War II.
UFC 159 is just over 48 hours from now. What questions will be answered by Saturday's fights?
Does Chael Sonnen have any real chance at beating UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones? Sonnen's moving up to 205 lbs. after spending his entire UFC career at middleweight. He is 2-3 in his last five fights, with both losses coming to Anderson Silva. Two of those wins were decisions, including a close one with Michael Bisping. Though Sonnen talks a good game, he just isn't on the same level as Jones. Every fighter has a puncher's chance in the cage. Will Sonnen find that one punch to get it done?
Will any punches be thrown in Phil Davis and Vinny Magalhaes' bout? When a Division I NCAA champion wrestler and a world champion jiu-jitsu player face off, will their ground game be neutralized? Watching their match will be like a chess match unfold.
Can Jim Miller change UFC president Dana White's mind about the next lightweight title shot? After Benson Henderson defended the UFC lightweight championship belt, White said the next title shot will go to the winner of Gray Maynard's May bout with T.J. Grant. Miller said this week that he wants to perform so well against Pat Healy that White will be forced to reconsider.
"It all comes down to timing and performances," he said. "I'm looking to make a statement on Saturday night. I'm hoping Dana forgets all the things he just said about the Maynard-Grant fight. It's happened before. Nothing's guaranteed about a No. 1 contender spot. I might (have to do some talking). But I plan on making some noise with my fists and my elbows and my knees."
Will Miller be able to get that title shot he's always wanted?
Can Sheila Gaff's finishing ability neutralize Sara McMann's wrestling? McMann is one of the most well-credentialed wrestlers to ever enter the octagon. She was an Olympic silver medalist in 2004, plus has three medals from world championships. Gaff's last three fights have ended in a first-round knockout, so will she be able to come up with another big finish against McMann's elite wrestling?
With HIPAA Compliance, Cloud Storage Platform Box Makes A Big Push Into Healthcare; Invests In Drchrono
Cloud storage company Box is making a big push into the healthcare sector today. Not only has Box received HIPAA compliance, but the company has announcing a new set of partners in the space, as well as an equity investment in drchrono, a startup that simplifies the professional lives of doctors by bringing electronic health records and much more to the iPad.
For ancient Maya, a hodgepodge of cultural exchanges
For ancient Maya, a hodgepodge of cultural exchangesPublic release date: 25-Apr-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Natasha Pinol npinol@aaas.org 202-326-6440 American Association for the Advancement of Science
Study shows that ancient Maya civilization interacted with more than just Olmecs
This release is available in Arabic, Japanese, French, Spanish and Chinese.
The ancient Maya civilization of Mesoamerica may have developed its unique culture and architecture via contact with many other groupsnot just exclusive contact with the Olmec people or on its own, without any outside influences, as researchers have debated. According to a new study, the formal plazas and pyramids at Ceibal, an ancient Maya site in Guatemala, probably arose from broad cultural exchanges that took place across southern Mesoamerica from about 1,000 to 700 BCE.
Until now, two theories have dominated the debate concerning the origin of the Maya civilization: one suggesting that the Maya developed almost entirely on their own in what is now southern Mexico, Guatemala, and Belize, and another suggesting that the older Olmec civilization was the Maya's dominant cultural influence. Takeshi Inomata and Daniela Triadan, a husband-and-wife team from the University of Arizona in Tucson, along with colleagues from the U.S. and Japan, however, found that neither of these theories could tell the full story of the Maya.
"In terms of the origins of lowland Maya civilization, their relationship [with the Olmec] is always a focus of debate," Inomata explained. "We're now saying that it probably wasn't just the Olmec, but a lot of other groupsfor example, those living in central Chiapas and those on the southern Pacific coastthat had a lot of important interactions with the lowland Maya."
The researchers' report appears in the 26 April issue of the journal Science, which is published by AAAS, the science society.
By the time sedentary communities began appearing in the Maya lowlands of southern Mexico, Guatemala, and Belize during what's known as the early Middle Preclassic periodfrom about 1,000 to 700 BCEthe Gulf Coast Olmec were already well-established in nearby regions, researchers say. Given this timeline, many anthropologists have viewed the Olmec as a "mother culture," or one that provided cultural innovations, such as art styles and political structure, to other populations.
The coastal Olmec hub of La Venta, for example, hosted architectural styles that were likewise found at Ceibal. But, Inomata and the other researchers now provide radiocarbon dating measurements taken from some of the ceremonial structures at Ceibal, like plazas and platforms, which predate the growth of La Venta as a major center by as much as 200 years. These findings imply that La Venta could not have been the primary influence on Ceibal that researchers once thought it was. Instead, Inomata and his team suggest that both Ceibal and La Venta participated in a broader cultural shift that was taking place in Mesoamerica between about 1,150 and 800 BCE.
"The main complex at Ceibal is made up of a plaza area, a western platform or pyramid and an eastern mound," said Inomata. "This is generally known as an 'E-Group Assemblage,' and they can be found across southern Mesoamerica." Many researchers have resisted using the term to refer to the structures at La Venta, since it was originally coined to describe Mayan architecture. But, Inomata and his team argue that the ceremonial constructions at La Venta should also be classified as such E-Group Assemblages.
"Possibly, their uses were very similar," Inomata continued. "Ritual was very important to these civilizations, and there is a series of ritual deposits in the plaza at Ceibal Such rituals often included greenstone axes, made from jade or other imported, precious stones, which were deposited [in the plaza] as a kind of offering."
Such ritualistic offerings have been found elsewhere in southern Mesoamerica, including two contemporaneous sites in Chiapas, Mexico.
Inomata and his team suggest that E-Group Assemblages at Ceibal began as small structures, just two meters tall. But, with continuous renovation, the ceremonial constructions grew taller and taller, eventually becoming pyramids, which became very important to the later Maya people.
Taken together, the findings do not suggest that the Maya civilization was older than the Olmec culture, nor do they prove that the Maya developed independently. Instead, they show that the Maya actively participated in a major social shift that took place over a wide area.
"We are seeing this new form of architecture, which probably reflects a new form of society and social order," says Inomata. "This new form of social order emerged not from one center, such as the Gulf Coast Olmec, but through broad interactions among diverse groups, including the lowland Maya."
###
The report by Inomata et al. was supported by the National Geographic Society; the National Science Foundation; the National Endowment for the Humanities; the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology; the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science and the Alphawood Foundation.
The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is the world's largest general scientific society, and publisher of the journal, Science as well as Science Translational Medicine and Science Signaling. AAAS was founded in 1848, and includes 261 affiliated societies and academies of science, serving 10 million individuals. Science has the largest paid circulation of any peer-reviewed general science journal in the world, with an estimated total readership of 1 million. The non-profit AAAS is open to all and fulfills its mission to "advance science and serve society" through initiatives in science policy, international programs, science education, and more. For the latest research news, log onto EurekAlert!, www.eurekalert.org, the premier science-news Web site, a service of AAAS.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
For ancient Maya, a hodgepodge of cultural exchangesPublic release date: 25-Apr-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Natasha Pinol npinol@aaas.org 202-326-6440 American Association for the Advancement of Science
Study shows that ancient Maya civilization interacted with more than just Olmecs
This release is available in Arabic, Japanese, French, Spanish and Chinese.
The ancient Maya civilization of Mesoamerica may have developed its unique culture and architecture via contact with many other groupsnot just exclusive contact with the Olmec people or on its own, without any outside influences, as researchers have debated. According to a new study, the formal plazas and pyramids at Ceibal, an ancient Maya site in Guatemala, probably arose from broad cultural exchanges that took place across southern Mesoamerica from about 1,000 to 700 BCE.
Until now, two theories have dominated the debate concerning the origin of the Maya civilization: one suggesting that the Maya developed almost entirely on their own in what is now southern Mexico, Guatemala, and Belize, and another suggesting that the older Olmec civilization was the Maya's dominant cultural influence. Takeshi Inomata and Daniela Triadan, a husband-and-wife team from the University of Arizona in Tucson, along with colleagues from the U.S. and Japan, however, found that neither of these theories could tell the full story of the Maya.
"In terms of the origins of lowland Maya civilization, their relationship [with the Olmec] is always a focus of debate," Inomata explained. "We're now saying that it probably wasn't just the Olmec, but a lot of other groupsfor example, those living in central Chiapas and those on the southern Pacific coastthat had a lot of important interactions with the lowland Maya."
The researchers' report appears in the 26 April issue of the journal Science, which is published by AAAS, the science society.
By the time sedentary communities began appearing in the Maya lowlands of southern Mexico, Guatemala, and Belize during what's known as the early Middle Preclassic periodfrom about 1,000 to 700 BCEthe Gulf Coast Olmec were already well-established in nearby regions, researchers say. Given this timeline, many anthropologists have viewed the Olmec as a "mother culture," or one that provided cultural innovations, such as art styles and political structure, to other populations.
The coastal Olmec hub of La Venta, for example, hosted architectural styles that were likewise found at Ceibal. But, Inomata and the other researchers now provide radiocarbon dating measurements taken from some of the ceremonial structures at Ceibal, like plazas and platforms, which predate the growth of La Venta as a major center by as much as 200 years. These findings imply that La Venta could not have been the primary influence on Ceibal that researchers once thought it was. Instead, Inomata and his team suggest that both Ceibal and La Venta participated in a broader cultural shift that was taking place in Mesoamerica between about 1,150 and 800 BCE.
"The main complex at Ceibal is made up of a plaza area, a western platform or pyramid and an eastern mound," said Inomata. "This is generally known as an 'E-Group Assemblage,' and they can be found across southern Mesoamerica." Many researchers have resisted using the term to refer to the structures at La Venta, since it was originally coined to describe Mayan architecture. But, Inomata and his team argue that the ceremonial constructions at La Venta should also be classified as such E-Group Assemblages.
"Possibly, their uses were very similar," Inomata continued. "Ritual was very important to these civilizations, and there is a series of ritual deposits in the plaza at Ceibal Such rituals often included greenstone axes, made from jade or other imported, precious stones, which were deposited [in the plaza] as a kind of offering."
Such ritualistic offerings have been found elsewhere in southern Mesoamerica, including two contemporaneous sites in Chiapas, Mexico.
Inomata and his team suggest that E-Group Assemblages at Ceibal began as small structures, just two meters tall. But, with continuous renovation, the ceremonial constructions grew taller and taller, eventually becoming pyramids, which became very important to the later Maya people.
Taken together, the findings do not suggest that the Maya civilization was older than the Olmec culture, nor do they prove that the Maya developed independently. Instead, they show that the Maya actively participated in a major social shift that took place over a wide area.
"We are seeing this new form of architecture, which probably reflects a new form of society and social order," says Inomata. "This new form of social order emerged not from one center, such as the Gulf Coast Olmec, but through broad interactions among diverse groups, including the lowland Maya."
###
The report by Inomata et al. was supported by the National Geographic Society; the National Science Foundation; the National Endowment for the Humanities; the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology; the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science and the Alphawood Foundation.
The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is the world's largest general scientific society, and publisher of the journal, Science as well as Science Translational Medicine and Science Signaling. AAAS was founded in 1848, and includes 261 affiliated societies and academies of science, serving 10 million individuals. Science has the largest paid circulation of any peer-reviewed general science journal in the world, with an estimated total readership of 1 million. The non-profit AAAS is open to all and fulfills its mission to "advance science and serve society" through initiatives in science policy, international programs, science education, and more. For the latest research news, log onto EurekAlert!, www.eurekalert.org, the premier science-news Web site, a service of AAAS.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Gwyneth Paltrow: Most Hated & Most Beautiful Woman?
If Gwyneth Paltrow cares about public opinion, she's getting some seriously mixed signals. The 40-year-old actress was just named the most hated person in Hollywood in Star magazine's annual fan-voted poll, but she has also just been given the title of the world's most beautiful woman.
MUMBAI (Reuters) - India's Idea Cellular Ltd reported its fourth straight quarter of earnings growth, riding on strong customer additions and a court decision that removed some smaller competitors from the market.
Older companies such as top carrier Bharti Airtel and Vodafone's India unit as well as Idea have benefited from a court order last year that revoked permits awarded in a scandal-tainted sale, causing several smaller rivals to either fold up or cut back operations.
Idea, part of the Aditya Birla conglomerate, said consolidated net profit rose to 3.1 billion rupees ($57 million)in its fourth quarter through March from 2.4 billion a year ago.
Analysts had on average expected a net profit of 2.8 billion rupees, according to Thomson Reuters data.
Revenue rose 13 percent to 60.6 billion rupees at the company, which is part-owned by Malaysia's Axiata Group Bhd.
Idea, which said it would pay its first ever dividend of 0.30 rupees per share, ended the quarter with 121.6 million subscribers, compared with 112.7 million a year ago.
The company's expansion comes despite the mobile sector being dogged by regulatory uncertainty, including surcharges on existing airwaves owned by operators and the government's demand that they stop providing 3G data services through roaming pacts among each other.
Bharti Airtel and Idea earlier this year raised call prices by withdrawing offers and cutting discounts as they face higher costs.
According to StarMine SmartEstimates, which weighs analyst forecasts according to their accuracy, Idea Cellular is expected to achieve revenue growth of 12.8 percent over the next 12 months, higher than peers Bharti Airtel and Reliance Communication, forecast at 10.7 percent and 7.7 percent respectively. ($1 = 54.3762 Indian rupees)
(Additional reporting by Patturaja Murugaboopathy in Banaglore; Editing by Matt Driskill and David Holmes)
Gingrich campaign worker accused of blackmailing women
Callista Gingrich and Ellis the Elephant (John Moore/Getty Images)
As it turns out, there may be junk in that trunk.
A Republican presidential campaign worker who was charged this week with cyberstalking young women often bragged about about dressing up as "Ellis the Elephant," a character in Callista Gingrich's children's books who would appear during book signings with her husband, former Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich.
The FBI on Tuesday accused Adam Savader, a former George Washington University student who worked for Gingrich's presidential campaign and interned for Republican vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan, of sending 15 young women anonymous text messages saying he had nude pictures of them and that he would forward them to their family and friends if they did not send him more pictures.
According to a sworn affidavit filed in Michigan last week, Savader allegedly obtained nude pictures of some of the women and posted them without their consent on photo-sharing websites. Savader used the Google Voice program to shield his phone number when contacting the women between September 2012 and April 1, 2013, according to the complaint.
While working for Gingrch, Savader volunteered to dress up in a furry elephant costume to appear alongside Newt and Callista Gingrich during events. Callista Gingrich is the author of two books for children, "Sweet Land of Liberty" and "Land of the Pilgrims' Pride," in which the character Ellis, a large friendly elephant, teaches kids about American history. Several Gingrich interns and staffers dressed up as the character during the campaign.
During the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, D.C., in March, Savader told Yahoo News that he was chosen to wear the Ellis costume for the Gingrich events, although he did not specify how many times he put on the costume.
Savader enjoyed having his picture taken with politicians and media figures, which he often posted online. His Facebook page is filled with photos of him with several prominent politicos and actors, including Ryan, former GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, Minnesota Sen. Al Franken, Georgia Rep. Tom Price, Michelle Duggar from the TV show "19 Kids and Counting," tax lobbyist Grover Norquist, actor Allen Covert, Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker.
Savador is currently being held in federal custody, the FBI said.
Apr. 25, 2013 ? After years of scientific uncertainty and speculation, researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill show exactly how trees help create one of society's predominant environmental and health concerns: air pollution.
It has long been known that trees produce and emit isoprene, an abundant molecule in the air known to protect leaves from oxygen damage and temperature fluctuations. However, in 2004, researchers, contrary to popular assumptions, revealed that isoprene was likely involved in the production of particulate matter, tiny particles that can get lodged in lungs, lead to lung cancer and asthma, and damage other tissues, not to mention the environment.
But exactly how was anybody's guess.
Jason Surratt, assistant professor of environmental sciences and engineering at the Gillings School of Global Public Health, now reveals one mechanism by which isoprene contributes to the production of these tiny, potentially health-damaging particles.
The study found that isoprene, once it is chemically altered via exposure to the sun, reacts with human-made nitrogen oxides to create particulate matter. Nitrogen oxides are pollutants created by cars, trucks, aircrafts, coal plants and other large scale sources.
"The work presents a dramatic new wrinkle in the arguments for reducing man-made pollutants worldwide," said Surratt, whose work was published this month in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. "Isoprene evolved to protect trees and plants, but because of the presence of nitrogen oxides, it is involved in producing this negative effect on health and the environment."
"We certainly can't cut down all the trees," Surratt adds, "but we can work on reducing these man-made emissions to cut down the production of fine particulate matter."
With the precise mechanism now revealed, researchers can plug it into air quality models for better predicting episodes of air pollution and potential effects on earth's climate. The advance would allow researchers and environmental agencies to evaluate and make regulatory decisions that impact public health and climate change.
"We observe nature's quirks, but we must always consider that our actions do have repercussions," said Surratt. "It's the interaction between these natural and man-made emissions that produces this air pollution, smog and fine particulate matter -- and now we know one reason for how it happens."
Share this story on Facebook, Twitter, and Google:
Other social bookmarking and sharing tools:
Story Source:
The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Journal Reference:
Y.-H. Lin, H. Zhang, H. O. T. Pye, Z. Zhang, W. J. Marth, S. Park, M. Arashiro, T. Cui, S. H. Budisulistiorini, K. G. Sexton, W. Vizuete, Y. Xie, D. J. Luecken, I. R. Piletic, E. O. Edney, L. J. Bartolotti, A. Gold, J. D. Surratt. Epoxide as a precursor to secondary organic aerosol formation from isoprene photooxidation in the presence of nitrogen oxides. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2013; 110 (17): 6718 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1221150110
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.
BOSTON (AP) ? The surviving suspect in the Boston Marathon bombings acknowledged to the FBI his role in the attacks but did so before he was advised of his constitutional right to keep quiet and seek a lawyer, U.S. officials said Wednesday.
Once Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was read his rights on Monday, he immediately stopped talking, according to four officials of both political parties who were briefed on the interrogation but insisted on anonymity because the briefing was private.
After roughly 16 hours of questioning, investigators were surprised when a magistrate judge and a representative from the U.S. Attorney's office entered the hospital room and read Tsarnaev his rights, the four officials and one law enforcement official said. Investigators had planned to keep questioning him.
It is unclear whether any of this will matter in court since the FBI says Tsarnaev confessed to a witness and U.S. officials said Wednesday that physical evidence, including a 9 mm handgun and pieces of a remote-control device commonly used in toys, was recovered from the scene.
But the debate over whether suspected terrorists should be read their Miranda rights has become a major sticking point in the debate over how best to fight terrorism. Many Republicans, in particular, believe Miranda warnings are designed to build court cases, and only hinder intelligence gathering.
Christina DiIorio Sterling, a spokeswoman for U.S. Attorney Carmen Ortiz, said in an email, "This remains an ongoing investigation and we don't have any further comment."
Before being advised of his rights, the 19-year-old suspect told authorities that his older brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, only recently had recruited him to be part of the attack, two U.S. officials said.
The CIA, however, named Tamerlan to a terrorist database 18 months ago, officials said Wednesday, an acknowledgment that will undoubtedly prompt congressional inquiry about whether investigators took warnings from Russian intelligence officials seriously enough.
The U.S. officials who discussed the terrorist database and other details of the investigation are in addition to those who discussed the Miranda warning. They were close to the investigation and insisted on anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the case with reporters.
Tamerlan Tsarnaev, whom authorities have described as the driving force behind the plot, was killed in a shootout with police. Dzhokhar is recovering in a hospital from injuries suffered during a getaway attempt.
Authorities had previously said Dzhokhar exchanged gunfire with them for more than an hour Friday night before they captured him inside a boat covered by a tarp in a suburban Boston neighborhood backyard. But two U.S. officials said Wednesday that he was unarmed when captured, raising questions about the gunfire and how he was injured.
More than 4,000 mourners at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology paid tribute to a campus police officer who authorities say was gunned down by the bombing suspects.
Among the speakers in Cambridge, just outside Boston, was Vice President Joe Biden, who condemned the bombing suspects as "two twisted, perverted, cowardly, knockoff jihadis."
Investigators have said the brothers appeared to have been radicalized through jihadist materials on the Internet and have found no evidence tying them to a terrorist group.
Dzhokhar told the FBI that they were angry about the U.S. wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and the killing of Muslims there, officials said.
Dzhokhar's public defender had no comment on the matter Wednesday. His father has called him a "true angel," and an aunt has insisted he's not guilty.
Investigators have found pieces of remote-control equipment among the debris and were analyzing them, officials said. One official described the detonator as "close-controlled," meaning it had to be triggered within several blocks of the bombs.
That evidence could be key to the court case. And an FBI affidavit said one of the brothers told a carjacking victim during their getaway attempt, "Did you hear about the Boston explosion? I did that."
Officials also recovered a 9 mm handgun believed to have been used by Tamerlan from the site of a Thursday night gunbattle that injured a Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority officer, two U.S. officials said.
The officials told the AP that no gun was found in the boat. Boston police Commissioner Ed Davis said earlier that shots were fired from inside the boat.
Asked whether the suspect had a gun in the boat, Davis said, "I'm not going to talk about that."
Kurt Schwartz, director of the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency, did respond to the report.
"Within half a mile of where this person was captured, a police officer was shot. And I know who shot him." Schwartz said. "And there were three bombs that went off, and I know where those bombs came from. ... To me, it does not change anything. This guy was captured alive and will survive. True or not true, it doesn't change anything for me."
The suspects' parents, Anzor Tsarnaev and Zubeidat Tsarnaeva, plan to fly to the U.S. from Russia on Thursday, the father was quoted as telling the Russian state news agency RIA Novosti. The family has said it wants to take Tamerlan's body back to Russia.
In Russia, U.S. investigators traveled to the predominantly Muslim province of Dagestan and were in contact with the brothers' parents, hoping to gain more information.
Investigators are looking into whether Tamerlan, who spent six months in Russia's turbulent Caucasus region in 2012, was influenced by the religious extremists who have waged an insurgency against Russian forces in the area for years. The brothers have roots in Dagestan and neighboring Chechnya but had lived in the U.S. for about a decade.
While in the U.S., the brothers received welfare benefits.
The Office of Health and Human Services in Massachusetts confirmed a Boston Herald report Wednesday that Tamerlan, his wife and daughter had received welfare benefits up until last year, when he became ineligible based on family income.
The state also says Tamerlan and his brother received welfare benefits as children through their parents while the family lived in Massachusetts.
Neither was receiving benefits at the time of the bombing.
At MIT, bagpipes wailed as students, faculty and staff members and throngs of law enforcement officials paid their respects to MIT police Officer Sean Collier, who was ambushed in his cruiser three days after the bombing.
Biden told the Collier family that no child should die before his or her parents, but that, in time, the grief will lose some of its sting.
"The moment will come when the memory of Sean is triggered and you know it's going to be OK," Biden said. "When the first instinct is to get a smile on your lips before a tear to your eye."
The vice president also sounded a defiant note.
"The purpose of terror is to instill fear," he said. "You saw none of it here in Boston. Boston, you sent a powerful message to the world."
In another milestone in Boston's recovery, the area around the marathon finish line was reopened to the public, with fresh cement still drying on the repaired sidewalk. Delivery trucks made their way down Boylston Street under a heavy police presence, though some damaged stores were still closed.
"I don't think there's going to be a sense of normalcy for a while," Tom Champoux, who works nearby, said as he pointed to the boarded-up windows. "There are scars here that will be with us for a long time."
___
Jakes and Dozier reported from Washington. Associated Press writers David Crary, Bridget Murphy and Bob Salsberg in Boston, Lynn Berry in Moscow and Matt Apuzzo, Adam Goldman, Eric Tucker, Pete Yost and Eileen Sullivan in Washington contributed to this report.
By Gregory Blachier MONTE CARLO (Reuters) - Rafael Nadal admitted he is still trying to recapture his best form but remained optimistic for the French Open after losing his Monte Carlo crown to Novak Djokovic on Sunday. Nadal, who returned to action in March after seven months out with injury, went down 6-2 7-6 to the Serbian world number one, ending his eight-year reign on the principality's clay. "I need to put in a little bit more physical performance," the Spaniard told a news conference. "That's the real thing - to play all the points with the same intensity. ...
YA'AN, China (AP) ? Residents awoke Sunday after spending the night outdoors or in their cars in a town near the epicenter of a powerful earthquake that struck the steep hills of China's southwestern Sichuan province, leaving at least 160 people dead and more than 6,700 injured.
The earthquake Saturday morning triggered landslides and disrupted phone and power connections in mountainous Lushan county five years after a devastating quake wreaked widespread damage across the region.
The village of Longmen was hit particularly hard, with authorities saying nearly all the buildings there had been destroyed in a frightening minute-long shaking by the quake.
In nearby Ya'an town, where aftershocks were felt nearly a day after the quake, residents sat in groups outside convenience stores watching the news on television sets. Fourteen-year-old Wang Xing sat with her family on chairs by the roadside in the cool night air, a large blanket on her lap.
Wang and her relatives decided to spend the night in their cars. "We don't feel safe sleeping at home tonight," said Wang, a student. She said the quake left tears on the walls of her family's house. "It was very scary when it happened. I ran out of my bed and out of the house. I didn't even have my shoes on."
Along the main roads leading to the worst-hit county of Lushan, ambulances, fire engines and military trucks piled high with supplies waited in long lines, some turning back to try other routes when roads were impassable.
Rescuers were forced to dynamite boulders that had fallen across roads to reach Longmen and other damaged areas lying farther up the mountain valleys, state media reported.
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang arrived Saturday afternoon by helicopter in Ya'an to direct rescue efforts, the official Chinese news agency Xinhua reported.
"The current priority is to save lives," Li said, after visiting hospitals, tents and climbing on a pile of rubble to view the devastation, according to Xinhua.
The China Earthquake Administration said at least 160 people had died, and more than 6,700 were injured. At least 96 people were killed in Lushan, and in the jurisdiction of Ya'an, which administers Lushan, 19 people were reported missing, the administration said.
The quake ? measured by the earthquake administration at magnitude-7.0 and by the U.S. Geological Survey at 6.6 ? struck the steep hills of Lushan county shortly after 8 a.m., when many people were at home, sleeping or having breakfast.
The quake's shallow depth, less than 13 kilometers (8 miles), likely magnified the impact.
Lushan, 115 kilometers (70 miles) west of the provincial capital of Chengdu, reported the most deaths, but there was concern that casualties in neighboring Baoxing county might have been under-reported because roads were blocked and power and phone services cut off.
It rained Saturday night, slowing rescue work, with forecasts predicting more rain in the next several days. The China Meteorological Administration warned of possible landslides and other geological disasters.
Tens of thousands of people moved into tents or cars, unable to return home or too afraid to go back as aftershocks continued to jolt the region.
Lushan, where the quake struck, lies where the fertile Sichuan plain meets foothills that eventually rise to the Tibetan plateau and sits atop the Longmenshan fault.
It was along that fault line that a devastating magnitude-7.9 quake struck on May 12, 2008, leaving more than 90,000 people dead or missing and presumed dead in one of the worst natural disasters to strike China in recent decades.
"It was just like May 12," Liu Xi, a writer in Ya'an city, said via a private message on his account on the Twitter-like Weibo service. "All the home decorations fell at once, and the old house cracked."
The official Xinhua News Agency said the well-known Bifengxia panda preserve, which is near Lushan, was not affected by the quake. Dozens of pandas were moved to Bifengxia from another preserve, Wolong, after its habitat was wrecked by the 2008 quake.
As in most natural disasters, the government mobilized thousands of soldiers and others, sending excavators and other heavy machinery as well as tents, blankets and other emergency supplies. Two soldiers died after their vehicle slide off a road and rolled down a cliff, state media reported.
The Chinese Red Cross said it had deployed relief teams with supplies of food, water, medicine and rescue equipment to the disaster areas.
Aerial photos released by the military and shown on state television showed individual houses in ruins in Lushan and outlying villages flattened into rubble. The roofs of some taller buildings appeared to have slipped off, exposing the floors beneath them.
The earthquake administration said there had been at least 712 aftershocks, including two of magnitude-5.0 or higher.
"It's too dangerous," said a person with the Weibo account Chengduxinglin and with a Lushan geotag. "Even the aftershocks are scary."
While rescuers and state media rushed to the disaster scene, China's active social media users filled the information gap. They posted photos of people fleeing to streets for safety and of buildings flattened by the quake. They shared information on the availability of phone services, apparently through data services.
__
Associated Press writer Didi Tang contributed from Beijing.
Amanda Bynes is fighting back against the media outlets that have been calling her crazy and watching her every move, In Touch, US Weekly and Perez Hilton are on her hit list, so to speak and she is now using Twitter to say her peace. If In Touch, US Weekly and Perez Hilton are not careful they are going end up with a big fat lawsuit courtesy of Bynes, who has had it with their negative reporting about her. In fact earlier today she unleashed on US Weekly magazine attacking the editorial staff. “Yet again, I?m suing @UsWeekly for writing another false story. NOTHING is wrong with me! All Trash mags ? contact me personally since you r talking to people I DON?T KNOW then claiming they know me. Please say names of those supposed sources, they sound like you made them up like the crazy person you?re trying to portray me as in your ugly magazine.?I?m talking to the ugly Asian editor and all the ugly women I met when I did a shoot with you. I am suing you every week you put up awful photos with a false ?I?m crazy? story. You have never contacted me once [...]
DETROIT (AP) ? Vice President Joe Biden on Saturday said the strength of those devastated by the Boston Marathon bombing, Texas plant explosion and Connecticut school shooting is remarkable and proof that some good can come from carnage and pain.
"It showed the incredible resilience, heroism, commitment and love of the people who responded to these tragedies," Biden said at a major fundraiser for Democrats in Michigan, which could play a big role in the 2016 presidential election.
Biden's 50-minute speech in Detroit came at the end of a difficult week marked by violence, tragedy and a jarring defeat for the Obama administration on gun control. The vice president said he was amazed to see footage of marathon runners moving forward despite the explosions.
"I wondered what in the heck are they doing? Were they running away from harm? They were running through it. They were running to a hospital. They were running to help their fellow runners and citizens watching. It was an instinct, sort of stamped in our DNA," he told 1,500 gathered for the state Democratic Party's annual Jefferson-Jackson dinner.
Biden, who has not ruled out a presidential bid in 2016, led the Obama administration's gun-control push. It was defeated Wednesday in the Senate.
The vice president credited Newtown, Conn., victims' families for reliving their losses over and over again while lobbying Congress to act.
He said senators told him not to ask for their vote because "even if we do this, it will never pass the House." Not one of the more than 15 Republican and Democratic senators he called gave him a "substantive reason" for opposing it, he said.
Five still voted for it and "believed that they may be writing themselves into the second edition of 'Profiles of Courage,'" he said.
Biden said winning back the Republican-controlled House in 2014 is crucial and that the American people are on the side of expanded background checks for gun purchases.
He turned his attention to more typical fare for such a political gala ? criticizing the GOP's budget proposals and talking up Democrats' vision for the middle class. He also criticized Michigan's new right-to-work law, which prohibits workers from having to pay union fees or dues.
"We know that the future of this country is going to continue to be built on the backs of the middle class. And we understand it was organized labor who built that middle class. Therefore labor must have a seat at the table, not this right to work for less," he said to loud applause.
Biden never mentioned the 2016 presidential election. Michigan could be important in the campaign because it could have one of the earlier Democratic primaries and is a traditional stronghold for Democrats. The party's candidate has won the past six presidential races in the state.
In May, Biden will keynote a Democratic fundraising dinner in South Carolina, which traditionally holds one of the first primaries of the season.
UFC 159 is just over 48 hours from now. What questions will be answered by Saturday's fights?
Cloud storage company Box is making a big push into the healthcare sector today. Not only has Box received HIPAA compliance, but the company has announcing a new set of partners in the space, as well as an equity investment in ![[ Back to EurekAlert! ]](http://www.eurekalert.org/images/back2e.gif){kind=small}
Public release date: 25-Apr-2013
Share ] 
