Plants moderate climate warming

Monday, April 29, 2013

As temperatures warm, plants release gases that help form clouds and cool the atmosphere, according to research from IIASA and the University of Helsinki.

The new study, published in Nature Geoscience, identified a negative feedback loop in which higher temperatures lead to an increase in concentrations of natural aerosols that have a cooling effect on the atmosphere.

"Plants, by reacting to changes in temperature, also moderate these changes," says IIASA and University of Helsinki researcher Pauli Paasonen, who led the study.

Scientists had known that some aerosols ? particles that float in the atmosphere ? cool the climate as they reflect sunlight and form cloud droplets, which reflect sunlight efficiently. Aerosol particles come from many sources, including human emissions. But the effect of so-called biogenic aerosol ? particulate matter that originates from plants ? had been less well understood. Plants release gases that, after atmospheric oxidation, tend to stick to aerosol particles, growing them into the larger-sized particles that reflect sunlight and also serve as the basis for cloud droplets. The new study showed that as temperatures warm and plants consequently release more of these gases, the concentrations of particles active in cloud formation increase.

"Everyone knows the scent of the forest," says Ari Asmi, University of Helsinki researcher who also worked on the study. "That scent is made up of these gases." While previous research had predicted the feedback effect, until now nobody had been able to prove its existence except for case studies limited to single sites and short time periods. The new study showed that the effect occurs over the long-term in continental size scales.

The effect of enhanced plant gas emissions on climate is small on a global scale ? only countering approximately 1 percent of climate warming, the study suggested. "This does not save us from climate warming," says Paasonen. However, he says, "Aerosol effects on climate are one of the main uncertainties in climate models. Understanding this mechanism could help us reduce those uncertainties and make the models better."

The study also showed that the effect was much larger on a regional scale, counteracting possibly up to 30% of warming in more rural, forested areas where anthropogenic emissions of aerosols were much lower in comparison to the natural aerosols. That means that especially in places like Finland, Siberia, and Canada this feedback loop may reduce warming substantially.

The researchers collected data at 11 different sites around the world, measuring the concentrations of aerosol particles in the atmosphere, along with the concentrations of plant gases, the temperature, and reanalysis estimates for the height of the boundary layer, which turned out to be a key variable. The boundary layer refers to the layer of air closest to the Earth, in which gases and particles mix effectively. The height of that layer changes with weather. Paasonen says, "One of the reasons that this phenomenon was not discovered earlier was because these estimates for boundary layer height are very difficult to do. Only recently have the reanalysis estimates been improved to where they can be taken as representative of reality."

###

International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis: http://www.iiasa.ac.at

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/127976/Plants_moderate_climate_warming

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Shazam Brings On Former Yahoo Exec Rich Riley To Position For Growth And IPO

In March last year Yahoo?s SVP of the Europe, the Middle East and Africa region abruptly quit his role in the rejuvenation of Yahoo, supposedly to be closer to family in Sunnyvale. However, after an orderly departure he's now joined Shazam, the mobile music discovery app as CEO. Longtime CEO Andrew Fisher (since 2005) will become executive chairman. The London-based Shazam says it now has 300 million users in 200 countries, with 90 million of them in the U.S. and calls itself a "media engagement company."

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/AeD0_y_jB8k/

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No benefit of evening primrose oil for treating eczema, review suggests

Apr. 29, 2013 ? Research into the complementary therapies evening primrose oil and borage oil shows little, if any, benefit for people with eczema compared with placebo, according to a new systematic review. The authors, who published their review in The Cochrane Library, conclude that further studies on the therapies would be difficult to justify.

Atopic eczema, also known as atopic dermatitis, is an itchy skin condition with no known cure. Usually emerging in childhood, it affects about 10 to 20% of school age children, who may suffer with tight, red, painful skin, sleepless nights and low self-esteem due to appearance, itching and scratching. For around 60% of people, the disorder will improve or clear up by adulthood. Creams, ointments, bath additives, topical steroids and antihistamines are some of the treatments prescribed to ease the condition. However, people often turn to complementary therapies such as evening primrose oil and borage oil in the belief that they will avoid side effects of conventional eczema treatments. Both evening primrose oil and borage oil contain high quantities of gamma linoleic acid, which was once thought to play a role in reducing skin inflammation in eczema.

The researchers analysed the benefits and side effects associated with evening primrose oil and borage oil in 27 studies involving a total of 1,596 people (adults and children) in 27 countries. Participants took evening primrose oil or borage oil, or a placebo, for between 3-24 weeks. Overall, the researchers found that taking evening primrose or borage oil offered no clear improvement of eczema symptoms over placebos. Commonly used placebos included olive oil and paraffin oil. There was also no improvement in quality of life with the complementary therapies, although only two studies considered this measure.

"There is no evidence that taking either evening primrose or borage oil is of benefit to eczema sufferers," said lead researcher Joel Bamford of the University of Minnesota Medical School and Essentia Health System in Duluth, Minnesota, US. "Given the strength of the evidence in our review, we think further studies on the use of these complementary therapies to treat eczema would be hard to justify."

Some participants in the studies experienced mild side effects such as headaches and stomach upsets or diarrhea as they also did while taking placebos. However, none of the selected studies evaluated or mentioned bleeding or anti-clotting effects, which have previously been associated with evening primrose oil. "Consumers need to be warned that oral evening primrose oil is listed as a known cause of increased bleeding for those taking Coumadin or warfarin, a very common medication," said Bamford.

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Journal Reference:

1. Katja Boehm, Max H Pittler, Niall Wilson, Christel van Gool, Rosemary Humphreys, Edzard Ernst. Oral evening primrose oil and borage oil for atopic eczema. Cochrane Review, 2013 DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD004416

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

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.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/-8uZ96WRgmw/130429210913.htm

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Sea surface temperatures reach highest level in 150 years on Northeast continental shelf

Apr. 26, 2013 ? Sea surface temperatures in the Northeast Shelf Large Marine Ecosystem during 2012 were the highest recorded in 150 years, according to the latest Ecosystem Advisory issued by NOAA's Northeast Fisheries Science Center (NEFSC). These high sea surface temperatures (SSTs) are the latest in a trend of above average temperature seen during the spring and summer seasons, and part of a pattern of elevated temperatures occurring in the Northwest Atlantic, but not seen elsewhere in the ocean basin over the past century.

The advisory reports on conditions in the second half of 2012.

Sea surface temperature for the Northeast Shelf Ecosystem reached a record high of 14 degrees Celsius (57.2?F) in 2012, exceeding the previous record high in 1951. Average SST has typically been lower than 12.4 C (54.3 F) over the past three decades.

Sea surface temperature in the region is based on both contemporary satellite remote-sensing data and long-term ship-board measurements, with historical SST conditions based on ship-board measurements dating back to 1854. The temperature increase in 2012 was the highest jump in temperature seen in the time series and one of only five times temperature has changed by more than 1 C (1.8 F).

The Northeast Shelf's warm water thermal habitat was also at a record high level during 2012, while cold water habitat was at a record low level. Early winter mixing of the water column went to extreme depths, which will impact the spring 2013 plankton bloom. Mixing redistributes nutrients and affects stratification of the water column as the bloom develops.

Temperature is also affecting distributions of fish and shellfish on the Northeast Shelf. The advisory provides data on changes in distribution, or shifts in the center of the population, of seven key fishery species over time. The four southern species -- black sea bass, summer flounder, longfin squid and butterfish -- all showed a northeastward or upshelf shift. American lobster has shifted upshelf over time but at a slower rate than the southern species. Atlantic cod and haddock have shifted downshelf."

"Many factors are involved in these shifts, including temperature, population size, and the distributions of both prey and predators," said Jon Hare, a scientist in the NEFSC's Oceanography Branch. A number of recent studies have documented changing distributions of fish and shellfish, further supporting NEFSC work reported in 2009 that found about half of the 36 fish stocks studied in the Northwest Atlantic Ocean, many of them commercially valuable species, have been shifting northward over the past four decades.

The Northeast U.S. Continental Shelf Large Marine Ecosystem (LME) extends from the Gulf of Maine to Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. The NEFSC has monitored this ecosystem with comprehensive sampling programs since1977. Prior to 1977, this ecosystem was monitored by the NEFSC through a series of separate, coordinated programs dating back decades.

Warming conditions on the Northeast Shelf in the spring of 2012 continued into September, with the most consistent warming conditions seen in the Gulf of Maine and on Georges Bank. Temperatures cooled by October and were below average in the Middle Atlantic Bight in November, perhaps due to Superstorm Sandy, but had returned to above average conditions by December.

"Changes in ocean temperatures and the timing and strength of spring and fall plankton blooms could affect the biological clocks of many marine species, which spawn at specific times of the year based on environmental cues like water temperature," Kevin Friedland, a scientist in the NEFSC Ecosystem Assessment Program, said. He noted that the contrast between years with, and without, a fall bloom is emerging as an important driver of the shelf's ecology. "The size of the spring plankton bloom was so large that the annual chlorophyll concentration remained high in 2012 despite low fall activity. These changes will have a profound impact throughout the ecosystem."

Michael Fogarty, who heads the Ecosystem Assessment Program, says the abundance of fish and shellfish is controlled by a complex set of factors, and that increasing temperatures in the ecosystem make it essential to monitor the distribution of many species, some of them migratory and others not.

"It isn't always easy to understand the big picture when you are looking at one specific part of it at one specific point in time," Fogarty said, a comparison similar to not seeing the forest when looking at a single tree in it. "We now have information on the ecosystem from a variety of sources collected over a long period of time, and are adding more data to clarify specific details. The data clearly show a relationship between all of these factors."

"What these latest findings mean for the Northeast Shelf ecosystem and its marine life is unknown," Fogarty said. "What is known is that the ecosystem is changing, and we need to continue monitoring and adapting to these changes."

Ecosystem advisories have been issued twice a year by the NEFSC's Ecosystem Assessment Program since 2006 as a way to routinely summarize overall conditions in the region. The reports show the effects of changing coastal and ocean temperatures on fisheries from Cape Hatteras to the Canadian border. The advisories provide a snapshot of the ecosystem for the fishery management councils and also a broad range of stakeholders from fishermen to researchers.

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Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_science/~3/OO7wc-3mfWU/130426115614.htm

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Sumo Logic bets on cloud for Big Data crunching

By Sayantani Ghosh

(Reuters) - Sumo Logic, which makes cloud-based tools to crunch data on a massive scale, expects a sevenfold increase in the number of its customers this year as "Big Data" gains in popularity, its chief executive said.

The privately owned startup is among a handful of companies to have caught the eye of investors in search of the next Splunk , the Big Data trailblazer that has more than doubled in value since going public a year ago.

Big Data firms analyze vast troves of information that can be culled from social media, Web searches, financial records and other mountains of digital facts and figures. They can operate more simply and cheaply than expensive data warehouses.

With no short-term need for financing, Sumo Logic has no immediate plans to follow Splunk to the stock market, Chief Executive Vance Loiselle told Reuters in an interview. What sets Sumo Logic apart, he says, is its use of cloud platforms.

"Sure, on-premise solutions had their day, but so did the triceratops, if you catch my drift," he said.

The Big Data industry is expected to drive $54.59 billion in IT spending by 2016, compared with about $27 billion in 2011, according to data from market research firm Gartner.

Shares of Splunk, the first Big Data company to go public in April 2012, closed at $42.14 on the Nasdaq on Tuesday, compared with an initial public offering price of $17.

Tableau Software Inc is preparing to conduct the next IPO in the sector, having filed with U.S. regulators this month for a listing to raise up to $150 million.

Data analytics companies say they are attracting more customers. Splunk, which expects to break even on an adjusted basis this year, plans to add 2,000 customers.

Loiselle said he expected Sumo Logic to end the year with about 600 customers. It currently has around 85 or 90, he said, including Netflix Inc , Progress Software Corp and LimeLight Networks Inc .

It also plans to double employee numbers from about 80 this year, he said.

'REAL-TIME ANALYTICS'

Mountain View, California-based Sumo Logic has raised $50.5 million in three rounds of funding, most recently in November, and counts Accel Partners, Greylock Partners and Sutter Hill Ventures among its investors.

The company was launched in early 2010 by Kumar Saurabh and Christian Beedgen, former employees of security software maker ArcSight, which was acquired by Hewlett-Packard Co in 2010.

"The objective behind Sumo Logic was: 'How do we give customers the ability to do real-time analytics?'," said Loiselle, who has been chief executive since May 2012.

"Instead of having customers figure out what they are looking for, let's give them an engine that can ... detect problems in the data, so that they can quickly understand threat patterns, outages, changes in business behavior without having to know what you are looking for," he said.

Before joining Sumo Logic, Loiselle co-founded data center automation company BladeLogic and later joined BMC Software Inc when BMC bought BladeLogic.

(Editing by Robin Paxton)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/sumo-logic-bets-cloud-big-data-crunching-164904238--sector.html

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Google mail and other services 'disrupted'

NEW YORK (AP) ? Google's mail and application services were unavailable to some users Wednesday morning. The company said it was investigating the problems, but didn't know their cause. It didn't say how many people were affected.

The disruptions started affecting people worldwide around 8 a.m. Eastern time but appeared to be resolved by midday.

Earlier, Google Inc.'s apps status dashboard showed that its Mail, Drive file storage service and office-application services were "disrupted." Its administrator control panel, which lets companies manage their Google applications, was completely down.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/495d344a0d10421e9baa8ee77029cfbd/Article_2013-04-17-Google-Service%20Outage/id-02d247afdcec49baae2f5ef5cc901c15

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American expects flights to return to normal

Passengers gather at the American Airlines check-in for flights at Los Angeles International Airport on Tuesday, April 16, 2013. Computer problems forced American Airlines to ground flights across the country Tuesday after the airline was unable to check passengers in and book passengers. (AP Photo/Nick Ut)

Passengers gather at the American Airlines check-in for flights at Los Angeles International Airport on Tuesday, April 16, 2013. Computer problems forced American Airlines to ground flights across the country Tuesday after the airline was unable to check passengers in and book passengers. (AP Photo/Nick Ut)

Sulien Brezzo, from France, waits in line to rebook her flight to New York at the Miami International Airport, Tuesday, April 16, 2013. She had already stood in line for two hours and still had a long wait until she got to the ticket counter. American Airlines says it has fixed an outage in its main reservations system that is disrupting travel for thousands of passengers whose flights have been delayed or canceled. Roughly 900 flights are directly impacted, according to flight tracking site FlightAware, with another 800 indirectly impacted due to planes and crew being out of place. (AP Photo/J Pat Carter)

In this cell phone image, passengers are lined up at the American Airlines ticket counters at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport Tuesday, April 16, 2013. American Airlines says it has fixed an outage in its main reservations system that is disrupting travel for thousands of passengers whose flights have been delayed or canceled. Roughly 900 flights are directly impacted, according to flight tracking site FlightAware, with another 800 indirectly impacted due to planes and crew being out of place. (AP Photo/Bob Brant)

An unidentified passenger checks the flight information board at the Miami International Airport, Tuesday, April 16, 2013. American Airlines says it has fixed an outage in its main reservations system that is disrupting travel for thousands of passengers whose flights have been delayed or canceled. But the airline expects to see flight delays and cancellations throughout the rest of the day. (AP Photo/J Pat Carter)

Police officers guard an empty check-in area at the American Airlines section of the Miami International Airport, Tuesday, April 16, 2013. American Airlines says it has fixed an outage in its main reservations system that is disrupting travel for thousands of passengers whose flights have been delayed or canceled. But the airline expects to see flight delays and cancellations throughout the rest of the day. (AP Photo/J Pat Carter)

DALLAS (AP) ? American Airlines is promising to run a near-normal operation on Wednesday, and that would be just fine for the tens of thousands of passengers who were stranded by a mammoth technology meltdown at the nation's third-biggest airline.

On Tuesday, American and sister airline American Eagle canceled 970 flights and delayed at least 1,068 more by early evening, according to flight-tracking service FlightAware.com.

That means American and Eagle canceled or delayed nearly two-thirds of their scheduled flights after they lost access to a computer system that's used for everything from issuing boarding passes to determining how much fuel to pump into the plane.

It was a public-relations nightmare for American, which is preparing to merge with US Airways and become the world's biggest carrier. Passengers took to social media sites to criticize the airline, which for hours could only apologize and say that it was trying to fix the problem.

The man who will lead American in a few months, US Airways CEO Doug Parker, has said he would prefer to convert his planes and employees to American's computer system rather than the other way around.

US Airways declined to comment on whether Tuesday's breakdown would cause Parker to rethink his plans.

The computer outage began snarling operations around midmorning. Eventually the Federal Aviation Administration issued a so-called ground stop for American Airlines jets around the country.

Flights already in the air were allowed to continue to their destinations, but planes on the ground from coast to coast could not take off. And travelers could do little to get back in the air until the computer system was restored.

By late afternoon, American resumed international flights and those from its major hub airports. It scrambled during the evening to put planes and crews in position to get off to a good start on Wednesday morning.

"Despite the magnitude of today's disruption, we are pleased to report that we expect our operation to run normally with only a small number of flight cancellations" on Wednesday, said Andrea Huguely, a spokeswoman for American. She said American would add flights to accommodate stranded passengers.

American blamed the outage on a loss of access to computer networks that are used for flight reservations and many other functions. Airlines commonly rely on such systems to track passengers and bags, monitor who boards planes, and update flight schedules and gate assignments. The computers are also used to file flight plans and tell employees which seats should be filled to ensure that the plane is properly balanced.

American's system is hosted by Sabre Holdings, a one-time division of American that was spun off into a separate travel-reservations technology company. American said the outage wasn't Sabre's fault, and other airlines that use Sabre didn't experience problems.

At airports, customers whose flights were canceled couldn't rebook on a later flight. Passengers already at the airport were stuck in long lines or killed time in gate areas.

"Tensions are high. A lot of people are getting mad. I've seen several yelling at the American agents," said Julie Burch, a business-meeting speaker who was stuck at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport waiting for a flight to Denver. "Nobody can tell us anything."

Terry Anzur, a TV news consultant from Los Angeles who was also stranded in Dallas, said American Airlines gate employees were doing everything the old-fashioned, manual way because their computers were useless.

"No one at the counter can do anything. They can't check people in," Anzur said. "The airline is at a dead halt."

Theoretically, an airline could do the same work as the reservation system manually for any one flight. But doing it for hundreds of flights isn't practical. American and Eagle operate about 3,300 flights a day.

Now, if the reservations systems go down, "most airlines would be pretty much without the ability to fly more than a very limited number of flights," said Scott Nason, American's former technology chief and now a consultant.

Nason said airlines find and fix the problem, but the next time something else causes an outage. One time, a possum chewed through a cable in Tulsa, Okla., bringing down the whole system. Another time, a worker in the airline's data center used a metal tool instead of an insulated, rubber-coated one ? a short-circuit crashed much of the system, he said.

Brent Bowen, a professor of aviation technology at Purdue University, said massive system failures are inevitable as airlines grow increasingly reliant on technology.

"As those systems get bigger and more complex, at some point you're going to have a systemic failure," Bowen said. He added that financially strapped airlines may have underinvested in technology during the past decade, making the computer systems more vulnerable. AMR has lost more than $10 billion since 2001 and filed for bankruptcy protection in late 2011.

American's problems on Tuesday were reminiscent of what United Airlines passengers endured for several days last year. After merging with Continental, United experienced computer glitches in the combined reservation system. On one day in August, 580 United flights were delayed, and its website was shut down for two hours. Another outage in November delayed 636 flights.

The problems prompted an apology from United Continental Holdings Inc. CEO Jeff Smisek, who acknowledged that his airline had frustrated customers and would need to work to win them back.

American began making amends by offering to book people who needed to travel Tuesday on other airlines and pay for the fare difference. For those who wanted to delay their trips, American offered refunds or waivers from the usual fee for changing a reservation.

But for several hours, the airline wasn't able to process those changes and refunds ? because the computers were down.

___

Associated Press Airlines Writers Scott Mayerowitz in New York and Joshua Freed in Minneapolis contributed to this report.

___

David Koenig can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/airlinewriter

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2013-04-17-American%20Airlines-Reservations/id-19102f16fd8d489db88b8a0d659e8153

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Kim Zolciak Fires Back at Kandi Burruss: Publicity Whore!

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Research uses mirrors to make solar energy cost competitive

Public release date: 16-Apr-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Lynn Nystrom
tansy@vt.edu
540-231-4371
Virginia Tech

If the current national challenge to make solar energy cost competitive with other forms of energy by the end of this decade is met, Ranga Pitchumani, the John R. Jones III Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Virginia Tech, will have played a significant role in the process.

U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu announced the Department of Energy's SunShot Initiative in February 2011. Its objective was to reduce the installed cost of solar energy systems by about 75 percent in order to allow widespread, large-scale adoption of this renewable clean energy technology.

Following the announcement, Pitchumani was invited to direct the Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) program for the SunShot Initiative towards its ambitious goals.

"The SunShot goal is to get solar energy technologies to achieve cost-parity with other energy generation sources on the grid without subsidy by the year 2020. That's an aggressive mission which calls for several subcomponent innovations and ingenious system designs to drive costs down, while improving efficiencies," said Pitchumani.

"Concentrating solar power technologies use mirrors to reflect and concentrate sunlight to produce heat, which can then be used to produce electricity," Pitchumani explained. These technologies present a distinct advantage over photovoltaic (PV) cells in their ability to store the sun's energy as thermal energy, and represent a subset of the SunShot Initiative.

Pitchumani is a leading expert in the field of concentrating solar power. He and his research group at Virginia Tech have developed novel thermal energy storage technologies for concentrating solar power applications that are widely published. He is the overall conference chair for SolarPACES 2013 this year, the foremost international meeting in the area of concentrating solar power systems, and is an editor for Solar Energy.

"Fossil fueled power plants pose a potential risk to the environment through an increased carbon footprint, and my efforts are in supplanting fossil energy with renewable sources including solar energy. Concentrating solar power plants capture the solar energy and store it as heat, which can, in turn, be used to drive a turbine and produce electricity. In fact, studies have shown that CSP with thermal energy storage also facilitates greater incorporation of other renewables such as wind and photovoltaic on the grid. That's a win-win on all fronts," Pitchumani said.

"Due to the intermittent nature of solar energy availability, it is often desirable to store thermal energy from a concentrating solar power plant for use on demand, including at times when solar energy is unavailable such as during cloud cover or overnight. Energy can be stored either as sensible heat (in solid or molten media), latent heat (using phase change materials), or as products of a thermochemical process, of which latent heat and thermochemical storage offer high volumetric energy density and potentially high power cycle efficiency, provided costs can be tamed," he added.

In his role, Pitchumani oversees a team of several program managers, technical, financial and support personnel, who actively manage the awards in the portfolio. During his leadership, the SunShot Concentrating Solar Power Program has launched over $130 million in new funding initiatives since October 2011. Combined with the awards continuing from prior funding opportunities, the program maintains an appropriately balanced portfolio of projects at industry, national laboratories, and universities dedicated to applied scientific research, development and demonstration to advance cutting edge concentrating solar power technologies for the near-, mid- and long-terms.

Concentrating solar power plants could provide for low-cost energy generation and have the potential to become the leading source of renewable energy for future power generation. In the U.S., several large-scale commercial plants (e.g., Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating Station (SEGS), Crescent Dunes Solar Energy Project, and Abengoa Solana Generating Station) are currently under construction, with some getting ready to be commissioned starting in a few months, that would more than triple the total capacity of Concentrating Solar Power-generated electricity to about 1.8 gigawatt and place the U.S. as one of the global leaders in CSP capacity.

On a worldwide scale, studies suggest that concentrating solar power technology systems could provide approximately one-quarter of the global electricity needs by 2050, Pitchumani said.

###

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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.

Public release date: 16-Apr-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Lynn Nystrom
tansy@vt.edu
540-231-4371
Virginia Tech

If the current national challenge to make solar energy cost competitive with other forms of energy by the end of this decade is met, Ranga Pitchumani, the John R. Jones III Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Virginia Tech, will have played a significant role in the process.

U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu announced the Department of Energy's SunShot Initiative in February 2011. Its objective was to reduce the installed cost of solar energy systems by about 75 percent in order to allow widespread, large-scale adoption of this renewable clean energy technology.

Following the announcement, Pitchumani was invited to direct the Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) program for the SunShot Initiative towards its ambitious goals.

"The SunShot goal is to get solar energy technologies to achieve cost-parity with other energy generation sources on the grid without subsidy by the year 2020. That's an aggressive mission which calls for several subcomponent innovations and ingenious system designs to drive costs down, while improving efficiencies," said Pitchumani.

"Concentrating solar power technologies use mirrors to reflect and concentrate sunlight to produce heat, which can then be used to produce electricity," Pitchumani explained. These technologies present a distinct advantage over photovoltaic (PV) cells in their ability to store the sun's energy as thermal energy, and represent a subset of the SunShot Initiative.

Pitchumani is a leading expert in the field of concentrating solar power. He and his research group at Virginia Tech have developed novel thermal energy storage technologies for concentrating solar power applications that are widely published. He is the overall conference chair for SolarPACES 2013 this year, the foremost international meeting in the area of concentrating solar power systems, and is an editor for Solar Energy.

"Fossil fueled power plants pose a potential risk to the environment through an increased carbon footprint, and my efforts are in supplanting fossil energy with renewable sources including solar energy. Concentrating solar power plants capture the solar energy and store it as heat, which can, in turn, be used to drive a turbine and produce electricity. In fact, studies have shown that CSP with thermal energy storage also facilitates greater incorporation of other renewables such as wind and photovoltaic on the grid. That's a win-win on all fronts," Pitchumani said.

"Due to the intermittent nature of solar energy availability, it is often desirable to store thermal energy from a concentrating solar power plant for use on demand, including at times when solar energy is unavailable such as during cloud cover or overnight. Energy can be stored either as sensible heat (in solid or molten media), latent heat (using phase change materials), or as products of a thermochemical process, of which latent heat and thermochemical storage offer high volumetric energy density and potentially high power cycle efficiency, provided costs can be tamed," he added.

In his role, Pitchumani oversees a team of several program managers, technical, financial and support personnel, who actively manage the awards in the portfolio. During his leadership, the SunShot Concentrating Solar Power Program has launched over $130 million in new funding initiatives since October 2011. Combined with the awards continuing from prior funding opportunities, the program maintains an appropriately balanced portfolio of projects at industry, national laboratories, and universities dedicated to applied scientific research, development and demonstration to advance cutting edge concentrating solar power technologies for the near-, mid- and long-terms.

Concentrating solar power plants could provide for low-cost energy generation and have the potential to become the leading source of renewable energy for future power generation. In the U.S., several large-scale commercial plants (e.g., Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating Station (SEGS), Crescent Dunes Solar Energy Project, and Abengoa Solana Generating Station) are currently under construction, with some getting ready to be commissioned starting in a few months, that would more than triple the total capacity of Concentrating Solar Power-generated electricity to about 1.8 gigawatt and place the U.S. as one of the global leaders in CSP capacity.

On a worldwide scale, studies suggest that concentrating solar power technology systems could provide approximately one-quarter of the global electricity needs by 2050, Pitchumani said.

###

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Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-04/vt-rum041613.php

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US court hears gene patents case

15 April 2013 Last updated at 16:13 ET

The US Supreme Court has heard arguments questioning whether the human genome can be claimed as intellectual property.

The case relates to a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union in 2009, and centres on whether companies should be able to patent genes.

US authorities have been awarding patents on genes to universities and medical companies for almost 30 years.

The case may have far-reaching repercussions for future gene research.

Currently, researchers and private companies work to isolate genes in order to use them in tests for gene-related illnesses, and in emerging gene therapies.

According to researchers at Weill Cornell Medical College in the US, patents now cover some 40% of the human genome.

The ACLU lawsuit, filed in conjunction with the Public Patent Foundation, relates to seven patents on two human genes held by US firm Myriad Genetics.

'Products of ingenuity'

The genes are linked to breast and ovarian cancer, and Myriad has developed a test to look for mutations in these genes that may increase the risk of developing cancer.

The company argues that the genes patented were "isolated" by them, making them products of human ingenuity and therefore patentable.

Continue reading the main story

Analysis

James Gallagher Health and science reporter, BBC News

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Nearly every cell in your body contains a copy of your genetic code - your blueprint for life. But a long-running battle over who owns that information has repeatedly been played out in the courts.

The ramifications of any decision by the Supreme Court are uncertain. Would removing the right to patent lead to biotech companies fleeing the field and damage research? Or would it lead to more breakthroughs by allowing anyone to study any part of the genome?

One thing is certain: A deeper understanding of how genes affect health is already starting to transform medicine. It is helping to deliver targeted drugs to the right patients as well as tests for cancer risk genes. The status of gene patenting will shape medical research for years to come.

The ACLU rejects this argument, saying that genes are products of nature, and therefore can't be patented under US laws.

Speaking immediately after the hearing, the ACLU's lawyer, Christopher Hansen, said: "Myriad did not invent the human genes at issue in this case, and they should not be allowed to patent them.

"The patent system was designed to encourage innovation, not stifle scientific research and the free exchange of ideas, which is what these patents do."

His co-counsel on the case, Daniel Ravicher, said granting patents on genes was "morally offensive".

"Genes are the foundation of life, they are created by nature, not by man," he said.

In 2010 a New York federal court ruled in favour of the ACLU, but an appeals court has on two separate occasions sided with Myriad.

The Supreme Court rejected the appeal court's conclusions, and is now reconsidering the case.

A ruling from the court is expected in June.

The outcome may have significant repercussions for the multi-billion-dollar US pharmaceuticals industry.

Companies like Myriad argue that without patents, the development of genetic tests and therapies will stall as researchers will not be able to recoup the huge levels of investment needed.

"Countless companies and investors have risked billions of dollars to research and develop scientific advances under the promise of strong patent protection," said Peter Meldrum, the president and chief executive of Myriad.

In statements submitted to the Supreme Court, Myriad said the materials and methods protected by the patents took years to develop.

"This was the product of creative, human ingenuity, resulting in significant new applications for human health that were previously unavailable," it said.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-22157410#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa

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The Supernatural Club of Corohan High!

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What mutant surgery is this Nexus 4 about to undergo?

Well, would you look at that. Someone went and dissected their Nexus 4. 

But that's not just any someone. That's Rod Whitby of webOS Internals fame who's taken apart his Nexus 4, with the intent of swapping out the Qi wireless charging for the tried and true, old-school (and now defunct) Palm Touchstone. (As we showed last year, the Nexus 4 and Touchstone are not compatible.)  "Qi charging (or at least the physical implementation of it on current devices) is inferior to Palm Touchstone charging," Whitby wrote recently on Google+.

Nexus 4 wireless charging became a bit of a thing this week when webOS Nation editor -- and like many of us here a multi-platform tinkerer -- expressed his loathing for the Nexus 4's official wireless charging orb. So Whitby, as any good Android hacker should appreciate, is doing something about it. And he's no stranger to this sort of mod, having performed it on the Galaxy Nexus as well as on the Nexus 7.

Will this one be successful? It's going to be a tight fit, Whitby writes. But if anyone can do it, it's him. 

Source: +Rod Whitby

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/hFfZKeAEbrg/story01.htm

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Cat Zingano gets TKO win, ?TUF? coaching gig and title fight against Ronda Rousey

UFC women's bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey now knows who she will face in her next bout. In a fight with huge implications, Cat Zingano won by TKO over Miesha Tate at 2:55 of the third round at "The Ultimate Fighter" finale on Saturday night in Las Vegas.

Zingano found herself in trouble early in the fight as she was caught in several of Tate's submission attempts in what proved to be a thrilling bout. Both a kneebar and an armbar appeared to be tight, but Zingano worked out of every attempt Tate tried. In the third round, the fight turned for Zingano as she hit Tate with several, well-timed knees from the clinch. Zingano finally finished the bout with an elbow.

Now, Zingano, the first mother to ever fight in the UFC, will coach against Rousey on the next season of "The Ultimate Fighter." Their teams will face off on the reality show that will air on the soon-to-be launched Fox Sports 1, and then Zingano and Rousey will fight for the UFC women's bantamweight belt.

Zingano and Rousey are already looking forward to facing each other.

"It's going to come down to heart, to technique, to speed. It's going to be a battle. You're going to watch," Zingano said after the bout.

Rousey admitted the fight wasn't exactly what she expected, but she already learned something about her future opponent.

"Cat really showed that she was able to perform under pressure. I'm going to be ready for that," Rousey said.

Though Rousey has only been a professional MMA fighter for two years, she zoomed to the top of the women's MMA world since switching to fighting after winning an Olympic bronze medal in judo. She has seven straight fights by first-round, armbar wins, including her defeat of Liz Carmouche in her UFC debut in February.

Zingano is also undefeated as a professional. Like Rousey, she is 7-0, but has finished opponents through knockouts and submissions. With a wrestling and jiu-jitsu background, she is a more well-rounded fighter than many of Rousey's previous opponents. Zingano showed her power against Tate, so it will be interesting to see if she will be able to muster the same kind of power against Rousey.

Women fighting in the UFC is still new, as the Tate-Zingano bout was just the second female bout in UFC history. The women's bantamweight division is quickly growing, though; it has added several fighters since Rousey was originally signed as the first women in the UFC. Adding TUF castmembers to the mix will help it the division develop depth even faster.

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Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mma-cagewriter/cat-zingano-gets-tko-win-fight-ronda-rousey-025322366--mma.html

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Investigators probe Lion Air crash in Bali

Essential News from The Associated Press

AAA??Apr. 14, 2013?12:34 AM ET Investigators probe Lion Air crash in Bali By FIRDIA LISNAWATIBy FIRDIA LISNAWATI, Associated Press?? In this photo released by Indonesian Police, the wreckage of a crashed Lion Air plane sits on the water near the airport in Bali, Indonesia on Saturday, April 13, 2013. The plane carrying more than 100 passengers and crew overshot a runway on the Indonesian resort island of Bali on Saturday and crashed into the sea, injuring nearly two dozen people, officials said. (AP Photo/Indonesian Police) In this photo released by Indonesian Police, the wreckage of a crashed Lion Air plane sits on the water near the airport in Bali, Indonesia on Saturday, April 13, 2013. The plane carrying more than 100 passengers and crew overshot a runway on the Indonesian resort island of Bali on Saturday and crashed into the sea, injuring nearly two dozen people, officials said. (AP Photo/Indonesian Police) The wreckage a crashed Lion Air plane sits on the water near the airport in Bali, Indonesia on Saturday, April 13, 2013. The plane carrying more than 100 passengers and crew overshot a runway on the Indonesian resort island of Bali on Saturday and crashed into the sea, injuring nearly two dozen people, officials said. (AP Photo) In this photo released by Indonesian Police, a rescue worker stands at the doorway of a crashed Lion Air plane on the water near the airport in Bali, Indonesia on Saturday, April 13, 2013. The plane carrying more than 100 passengers and crew overshot a runway on the Indonesian resort island of Bali on Saturday and crashed into the sea, injuring nearly two dozen people, officials said. (AP Photo/Indonesian Police) Indonesian fishermen hold a part of the wreckage of a Lion Air plane in Bali, Indonesia on Saturday, April 13, 2013. The plane carrying more than 100 passengers and crew overshot a runway on the Indonesian resort island of Bali on Saturday and crashed into the sea, injuring nearly two dozen people, officials said. (AP Photo) The wreckage a crashed Lion Air plane sits on the water near the airport in Bali, Indonesia on Saturday, April 13, 2013. The plane carrying more than 100 passengers and crew overshot a runway on the Indonesian resort island of Bali on Saturday and crashed into the sea, injuring nearly two dozen people, officials said. (AP Photo) BALI, Indonesia (AP) ? Indonesian investigators have started working to determine what caused a new Lion Air passenger jet to miss a runway while landing on the resort island of Bali, crashing into the sea without causing any fatalities. Transportation Ministry spokesman Bambang Ervan said Sunday the National Transportation Safety Committee is examining the wreckage of the Boeing 737-800 that snapped in half before coming to rest in shallow water near Bali's airport Saturday. He said aviation authorities have already removed the plane's flight data recorder and are now planning to tow the aircraft and retrieve its cockpit voice recorder located in the tail. He added that the pilots will also undergo drug testing. All 101 passengers and seven crew members were safely evacuated from the plane, although up to 45 people suffered injuries. Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-04-14-AS-Indonesia-Plane-Crash/id-1ea63901f8f142ffbaba9648adb8df37

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Airplane crashes in water off Bali, no fatalities (+video)

A Lion Air Boeing 737 crash landed short of the runway in Bali, Indonesia. All 101 passengers and seven crew members were rescued alive Saturday within minutes. But dozens were taken to the hospital. Why did a new Boeing 737-800 crash?

By David Clark Scott,?Staff writer / April 13, 2013

The wreckage of a crashed Lion Air 737-800 plane sits on the water near the airport in Bali, Indonesia on Saturday, April 13, 2013.

(AP Photo/Indonesian police

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Everyone on board survived when a new Boeing 737-800 aircraft landed in the water just short of the runway in Bali, Indonesia.?

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All 101 passengers and seven crew members aboard a Lion Air flight were rescued Saturday within minutes of the crash. Some 45 people have been taken to local hospitals with injuries, but none seemed life threatening, according to one Indonesian airport official.

Initial reports said the aircraft had overshot the runway. But a Lion Air spokesman, Edward Sirait, told reporters that the plane did not reach the runway, it hit the water first.

Three of the passengers aboard were foreigners, two Singaporeans and a French national, according to The Associated Press. The rest of those on board were Indonesians on a domestic flight that originated in Bandung, West Java. The flight had stopped at two other cities prior to the crash on Bali.

After the crash, evacuation and rescue efforts proceeded quickly, according to eyewitness accounts. An Australian surfer told The Sydney Morning Herald that the aircraft came down in shallow water about 300 yards from where he was paddling. By the time he joined the rescue effort, about five minutes later, he said that most of the passengers were on the wing or climbing onto rocks. He helped one man to shore on his surfboard.?

The aircraft involved was a new Boeing 737-800, a popular design in use worldwide. A total of 4,293 of the 737 Next Generation aircraft (including the 737-600, -700-, -800, and -900ER models) have been delivered by the end of December 2012, according to Boeing.

Boeing boasts that the 737-800 is the best-selling aircraft in the Next Generation series (with more than 2,800 in operation and more than 4,000 ordered). Boeing says that the aircraft is "known for its reliability, fuel efficiency and economical performance, the 737-800 is selected by leading carriers throughout the world because it provides operators the flexibility to serve a wide range of markets. The single-aisle jet, which can seat between 162 to 189 passengers, can fly 260 nautical miles farther and consume 7 percent less fuel while carrying 12 more passengers than the competing model."

This was a new aircraft, only in operation since March, which should mean that aircraft mechanical reliability or age, shouldn't be an issue. But Lion Air spokesman Edward Sirait, hinted that the aircraft was the problem? ?When it tried to land at the airport, the aircraft was not able to reach the runway due to the incident," he said according to The Jakarta Post.? The spokesman did not describe the nature of the incident. The pilot, said Sirait, had more than 10,000 hours of flying experience, but he didn't say in which types of aircraft.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/-cDdq8MHQIY/Airplane-crashes-in-water-off-Bali-no-fatalities-video

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Microsoft security update may break Windows 7

Marshall Honorof , TechNewsDaily ? ? ? 33 min.

A security update that Microsoft pushed out earlier this week crashes some Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista machines, forcing them into an endless cycle of reboots that can only be stopped by repairing the operating systems.

Microsoft recommends that all Windows 7 users uninstall the security update.

The update came as a part of Patch Tuesday, Microsoft's longstanding tradition of releasing security patches on the second Tuesday of each month. The main vulnerability that this month's update addressed required a would-be hacker to possess valid login credentials and physically interact with a computer. Although this issue was not critical by itself, some of the other problems that Patch Tuesday addressed were.

The results of the patch created even more trouble. Upon restarting their machines, many users found that Windows would not start, defaulting instead to the infamous blue screen of death. Error messages varied, but users typically saw "The file system structure on the disk is corrupt and unusable," "The Session Manager Initialization system process terminated unexpectedly," or "Windows failed to start."

Microsoft has found a link between the flawed update and antivirus programs from Kaspersky Labs, which specializes in computer security products. Neither company has explained the relationship between Kaspersky's program and the security update, but Kaspersky has issued a statement to its users.

"Kaspersky Lab apologizes for any inconvenience this has caused our customers," the company statement said. "The company will work harder to strengthen its technical collaboration with its partners in order to prevent any repeat of this incident in the future."

PC owners who have already installed the software and have not yet restarted their machines are in luck, as Microsoft has provided a method for uninstalling the update. Two of the options involve messing around with the sometimes-complicated command prompt, but less tech-savvy users can simply uninstall the update by clicking on Control Panel, Programs and View Installed Updates.

Users who have already tried unsuccessfully to restart their machines may have significantly more trouble. The Windows 7 installation DVD or a bootable USB stick will give users the option of a System Restore, which should do the trick. If that doesn?t work, they will have to dive into the command prompt and remove the offending software update manually. [See also: 7 Ways to Protect Your Computer's Data]

The botched security update has not affected everyone. If you've installed the update and haven't experienced crippling shutdowns, you're probably in the clear, but you can still uninstall it to be on the safe side.

Microsoft has ceased distribution of the patch and will provide a fix as soon as possible. The company has also confirmed that the issue, though potentially very irritating, cannot delete or compromise existing data in any way.

Just about everyone has, at one point or another, tried to fix a minor problem and ended up creating a much worse one in the process. Microsoft's faux pas is just more visible than most.

Follow Marshall Honorof @marshallhonorof. Follow us @TechNewsDaily, on Facebook or Google+.

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Source: http://feeds.nbcnews.com/c/35002/f/653377/s/2aa7b3e8/l/0L0Snbcnews0N0Ctechnology0Ctechnolog0Cmicrosoft0Esecurity0Eupdate0Emay0Ebreak0Ewindows0E70E1C9328259/story01.htm

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