Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/192960245?client_source=feed&format=rss
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Monday, January 30, 2012
Saturday, January 28, 2012
Magnitude 4.9 earthquake rattles Crete (AP)
ATHENS, Greece ? Greek authorities say an earthquake with preliminary 4.9-magnitude has shaken the country's southern Aegean islands, including Crete. No injuries or damage were immediately reported in the quake, which was the third in three days in the area.
The Athens Geodynamic Institute says the undersea earthquake occurred at 12:50 p.m. (1050 GMT) Saturday about 243 kilometers from the Greek capital, Athens, between the islands of Santorini and Crete. It says the earthquake occurred at a depth of 31 kilometers.
Earthquakes of magnitude 5.3 and 5.2 occurred in the same area on Thursday and Friday, respectively.
Greece is in one of the world's seismically active areas, with hundreds of quakes occurring each year.
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Overgrazed grasslands tied to locust outbreaks
ScienceDaily (Jan. 26, 2012) ? While residents of the United States and much of Europe think of locust plagues as biblical references, locust swarms still have devastating effects on agriculture today, especially in developing countries in Asia and Africa. In a study to be released in the journal Science on Jan. 27, scientists from Arizona State University and the Chinese Academy of Sciences show that insect nutrition and agricultural land management practices may partially explain modern day locust outbreaks.
During an outbreak year, locusts can populate over 20 percent of Earth's land surface, negatively affecting more than 60 countries and the livelihood of one out of every 10 people. In this study undertaken at the Inner Mongolia Grassland Ecosystem Research Station in China, researchers examined Oedaleus asiaticus, one of the two swarming locusts of Asia. A closely related species, Oedaleus senegalensis, is a major pest in Africa.
Led by Arianne Cease, a doctoral student, in concert with scientists Jon Harrison and James Elser, and undergraduate student Colleen Ford from the School of Life Sciences in ASU's College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, the collaborative team also included Chinese researchers Shuguang Hao and Le Kang. Funding for their work was provided by the National Science Foundation.
The team's initial experiments were designed to test the hypothesis that locusts form swarms partly to escape deteriorating conditions or to seek out better food sources. Most herbivores, including insects, are thought to be limited by obtaining sufficient protein. The researchers began, therefore, by fertilizing grassland plots with nitrogen. Their expectation was that the added nitrogen would raise the plants' protein levels, enhance locusts' survival and growth and stop locusts from swarming.
They couldn't have been more wrong. Locusts fed on nitrogen-fertilized plots either died or grew more slowly. Puzzled, the scientists took a step back, examining which host plants these locusts preferred. The results showed that these locusts ate plants lower in nitrogen; not higher.
It had been known for some time that overgrazing in Inner Mongolia caused soil erosion, leading to nitrogen depletion from the soil, and reductions in the protein levels in plants. The team's surveys had showed that heavily grazed plots were populated by much higher numbers of locusts, so the scientists compared the preferences and performances of locusts for plants from grazed versus ungrazed plots. Remarkably, the locusts preferred to consume the low-nitrogen plants from the heavily grazed plots.
Moving the study into the laboratory and using chemically-defined diets, the scientists next tested the effect of different protein and carbohydrate levels on the locusts' growth rates. These experiments confirmed their field studies: Oedaleus locusts strongly preferred low protein, high carbohydrate diets. This ratio was about one part protein to two parts carbohydrate -- lower than any grasshopper previously studied. "These experiments confirmed that consuming foods with too much protein is deleterious for this locust, explaining why heavy grazing promotes populations of Oedaleus," said Harrison.
"Our results fit with an emerging paradigm that animal species can vary dramatically in their nutritional responses," said Cease. "The particularly low protein: carbohydrate preference of Oedaleus may explain their success in a heavily-grazed world."
Besides revealing new understanding about an age-old plaguing question, the authors' findings offer new possibilities for improving land management strategies. "Our study also showed that nitrogen fertilizer may be an inexpensive, environmentally less-damaging alternative pest control solution for this species," noted Cease, with a sidenote from Elser, who added, "Who knows? With the large global increases in atmospheric nitrogen from air pollution, we might find, at least in this limited way, some 'good news.' That is, that the airborne nitrogen deposited on grasslands may interfere with future locust outbreaks."
The scientist's work on the grasslands was also groundbreaking in one other way. Ford, Cease's undergraduate co-author, who is now a Phoenix Teaching Fellow at Yuma High School, said of her experience: "Being in the field surrounded by nothing but hoppers, grass, and fellow scientists made me realize the amount of patience, dedication, and passion research pulled out of me. At the end of the experiment, when questions became answers that led to further research, the days in the sun and rain were worth it. Not only did I enjoy the field research, but the collaboration between Chinese and U.S. citizens made me more deeply understand the ability of individuals to work together towards one goal that may have the potential to bring about 'real world' impacts throughout the globe."
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Journal Reference:
- A. J. Cease, J. J. Elser, C. F. Ford, S. Hao, L. Kang, J. F. Harrison. Heavy Livestock Grazing Promotes Locust Outbreaks by Lowering Plant Nitrogen Content. Science, 2012; 335 (6067): 467 DOI: 10.1126/science.1214433
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120126152127.htm
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Friday, January 27, 2012
Top 20 Concert Tours from Pollstar (AP)
The Top 20 Concert Tours ranks artists by average box office gross per city and includes the average ticket price for shows in North America. The previous week's ranking is in parentheses. The list is based on data provided to the trade publication Pollstar by concert promoters and venue managers.
TOP 20 CONCERT TOURS
1. (2) Cirque du Soleil ? "Michael Jackson: The Immortal"; $2,168,255; $110.16.
2. (1) Kanye West / Jay-Z; $2,015,303; $118.98.
3. (3) Taylor Swift; $1,184,267; $69.27.
4. (5) Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band; $702,897; $70.41.
5. (6) Trans-Siberian Orchestra; $571,979; $51.82.
6. (7) Zac Brown Band; $514,314; $44.12.
7. (8) Sting; $475,037; $92.43.
8. (10) Guns N' Roses; $415,202; $52.44.
9. (13) Jeff Dunham; $316,251; $47.63.
10. (14) Paul Simon; $255,730; $77.51.
11. (12) Andre Rieu; $247,074; $81.84.
12. (15) Lady Antebellum; $244,691; $45.25.
13. (16) Judas Priest; $204,372; $53.47.
14. (17) "So You Think You Can Dance"; $201,206; $53.96.
15. (18) John Mellencamp; $169,771; $90.14.
16. (New) Avenged Sevenfold; $160,113; $39.09.
17. (New) The String Cheese Incident; $147,062; $39.19.
18. (19) "Scream Tour" / Mindless Behavior / Diggy Simmons; $133,881; $41.41.
19. (20) Mannheim Steamroller; $125,841; $56.44.
20. (New) Celtic Thunder; $118,704; $55.73.
For free upcoming tour information, go to http://www.pollstar.com
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Bruce Jenner: My teens don't need college
Frazer Harrison / Getty Images
?
By Us Weekly
Who needs a college degree when fame and fortune awaits?
Since their first appearance on "Keeping Up With the Kardashians" in 2007, Kendall and Kylie Jenner have become stars in their own right, thanks to lucrative modeling campaigns and a thriving teen fashion empire.
PHOTOS: Kardashians as kids
When Us Weekly spoke to their father Bruce Jenner at the Performance 3D demonstration in NYC Monday, the 62-year-old Olympian admitted his girls' careers are so busy they may not pursue higher education.
"If they want to go to college, certainly, I think it's a good idea. But I'm not the advocate of, 'You've got to go to college!'" Bruce said. "I think by the time they graduate from high school, they will probably be in a position to go right to working."
EXCLUSIVE VIDEO: Bruce defends Kendall's racy bikini photo shoot
Like their older sisters Kourtney, 32, Kim, 31, and Khloe, 27, Kendall and Kylie are becoming branded businesswomen, Bruce explained. "They've just developing their clothing line for Sears -- it's a little more teen-oriented, the clothing line. And they're working all the time on the show."
With two magazine covers under her belt (American Cheerleader and Teen Prom), Kendall, 16, is poised to become the next big supermodel, Bruce added.
VIDEO: Bruce freaks out when he finds out Kendall is on birth control
"She'll probably have a career by the time she's out of high school," Bruce told Us. "If that's what she wants to do, that's good. I don't know if college is going to be that important for her."
Bruce Jenner's teens have millions. Do they need college?
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Thursday, January 26, 2012
Actor James Farentino dies of heart failure at 73 (omg!)
LOS ANGELES (AP) ? Actor James Farentino, who appeared in dozens of movies and television shows, died Tuesday in a Los Angeles hospital, according to a family spokesman. He was 73.
Farentino died of heart failure at Cedars-Sinai Hospital after a long illness, said the spokesman, Bob Palmer.
Farentino starred alongside Kirk Douglas and Martin Sheen in the 1980 science fiction film "The Final Countdown." The movie featured a modern aircraft carrier that travels back in time to Pearl Harbor hours before the Japanese attack.
Farentino also starred opposite Patty Duke in 1969's "Me, Natalie."
In 1967, he won a "Most Promising Newcomer" Golden Globe for his performance in the comedy "The Pad and How to Use It."
He also had recurring roles on "Dynasty," ''Melrose Place," ''The Bold Ones: The Lawyers" and "ER," playing the estranged father to George Clooney's character.
In 1978, he was nominated for an Emmy for his portrayal of Saint Peter in the television mini-series "Jesus of Nazareth."
A four-time divorcee, Farentino's tumultuous personal life made headlines, too.
In March 1994, he pleaded no contest to stalking his ex-girlfriend Tina Sinatra, daughter of Frank Sinatra.
In 2010, the actor was arrested at his Hollywood home on suspicion of battery when he tried to physically remove a man from his home.
Born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1938, Farentino is survived by two sons, David and Saverio.
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APNewsBreak: Fifth arrest made in Megaupload case
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) ? A New Zealand judge denied bail Wednesday to Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom, while a U.S. official confirmed the arrest of a fifth suspect, in the Netherlands, in the copyright infringement case against the website.
Judge David McNaughton in Auckland denied Dotcom bail pending a hearing Feb. 22 on his possible extradition to face trial in the United States, saying Dotcom poses a flight risk. Dotcom, 38, insists he is innocent and poses no flight risk.
New Zealand police arrested three other Megaupload employees last week on U.S. accusations they facilitated millions of illegal downloads of films, music and other content, costing copyright holders at least $500 million in lost revenue. McNaughton is expected to make bail rulings on the three later this week or early next week.
In Washington, a U.S. Justice Department official said Dutch police have arrested a fifth suspect ? Andrus Nomm, 32, a citizen of Estonia and a resident of both Turkey and Estonia. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the case is still pending.
In all, U.S. authorities have charged seven men in the conspiracy case and are still seeking the arrest of the remaining two men.
Authorities in the U.S. are seeking to extradite the four men arrested in New Zealand and are also expected to seek Nomm's extradition.
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Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Apple's Q1 hardware sales: 37 million iPhones, 15.43 million iPads, 5.2 million Macs, 15.4 million iPods
We touched on the numbers in our report on Apple's Q1 earnings, but the company's throwing out a lot of "record" figures so we thought we'd take a moment to focus on just how its hardware sales stack up. The standout figure is, of course, the 37.04 million iPhones sold during the quarter, which is up 128 percent from the same quarter a year ago (and up from 17 million in the previous quarter, a jump of 117 percent). That also puts it back ahead of Samsung, which sold a total of 35 million total smartphones in its most recent quarter.
iPad sales also set a new record with 15.43 units sold during the quarter, which is a 111 percent jump from the 7.3 million sold a year ago, and a 39 percent increase from the 11.1 million moved in Q4 2011. Once again, however, iPods are the one category that continues to decline in the face of the growth of smartphones. Apple sold a total of 15.4 million iPods -- over half of which were iPod touches -- which represents a 21 percent decline from the 19.4 million sold a year ago. The holiday shopping season did boost sales considerably from the 6.6 million sold in the previous quarter though.
Mac sales were also on the upswing, totaling 5.2 million units -- a 26 percent increase year-over-year. Breaking things down further, that translates to 1.48 million desktops (including iMac, Mac Mini and Mac Pro), and 3.7 million laptops (including the basic MacBook, MacBook Air and MacBook Pro). As for the company's "hobby," the Apple TV, it rang up 1.4 million in sales for the quarter, and 2.8 million for the 2011 fiscal year.
Developing...
iPad sales also set a new record with 15.43 units sold during the quarter, which is a 111 percent jump from the 7.3 million sold a year ago, and a 39 percent increase from the 11.1 million moved in Q4 2011. Once again, however, iPods are the one category that continues to decline in the face of the growth of smartphones. Apple sold a total of 15.4 million iPods -- over half of which were iPod touches -- which represents a 21 percent decline from the 19.4 million sold a year ago. The holiday shopping season did boost sales considerably from the 6.6 million sold in the previous quarter though.
Mac sales were also on the upswing, totaling 5.2 million units -- a 26 percent increase year-over-year. Breaking things down further, that translates to 1.48 million desktops (including iMac, Mac Mini and Mac Pro), and 3.7 million laptops (including the basic MacBook, MacBook Air and MacBook Pro). As for the company's "hobby," the Apple TV, it rang up 1.4 million in sales for the quarter, and 2.8 million for the 2011 fiscal year.
Developing...
Apple's Q1 hardware sales: 37 million iPhones, 15.43 million iPads, 5.2 million Macs, 15.4 million iPods originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 24 Jan 2012 17:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Tuesday, January 24, 2012
The Pirate Bay filesharing site offers 3D objects
Jacob Aron, technology reporter
The MakerBot Replicator is the kind of personal 3D printer that could help with the Pirate Bay's plans (Image: MakerBot Industries)
The Pirate Bay, one of the internet's most well-known sites for downloading copyrighted material such as music, films and ebooks, has launched a new category of digital downloads: physical objects.
Writing on the site's blog, a Pirate Bayer calling himself WinstonQ2038 explained the thinking behind the new category: "We believe that the next step in copying will be made from digital form into physical form. It will be physical objects. Or as we decided to call them: Physibles. Data objects that are able (and feasible) to become physical."
You'll need a 3D printer to take advantage of the files on offer, meaning it is not quite as simple as downloading an MP3, but the move opens up the possibility of intellectual property infringement for physical objects.
Other sites for sharing 3D printer files already exist. For example, Shapeways, where last year one user received a cease-and-desist order from movie studio Paramount after creating a 3D replica of a prop from the film Super 8, causing him to take the file down. The Pirate Bay works differently, offering Bittorrent links for users to download files rather than hosting them directly, making it more resilient to legal attempts to shut it down.
Objects currently listed in the Physibles category include a 3D version of the Pirate Bay logo, a toy race car and a model robot. The latter two are potentially infringing versions of existing designs, but WinstonQ2038 claims the site has more egalitarian aims: "The benefit to society is huge. No more shipping huge amount of products around the world. No more shipping the broken products back. No more child labour. We'll be able to print food for hungry people."
We'll have to wait and see - 3D printed food is currently limited to the likes of chocolate - but if this takes off, we could expect the physical equivalent of the digital rights management (DRM) techniques used by media companies to protect MP3s and other media files. Bank notes are already printed with a special design that scanners won't copy - perhaps all objects will have to be similarly marked in the future.
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Masked men kill 8 mourners at Mexico funeral
LESTER HOLT, anchor: Now to a remarkable discovery and a record pot bust along the nation's border with Mexico . Federal agents have found a massive secret passage, an elaborate tunnel equipped with a rail system and an elevator used to smuggle drugs into the US. Tonight NBC 's Mark Potter takes us inside.
MARK POTTER reporting: Federal agents say it's the most elaborate smuggling tunnel they've seen in years, more than 600 yards long with wooden walls and floors.
Unidentified Man #1: The tunnel has lighting, and it does have good air flow, indicating that there's some type of ventilation system forcing air in from Mexico .
POTTER: The tunnel begins on the Mexican side of the border in a warehouse at the Tijuana airport . To lower drugs into the tunnel , there is a hydraulic elevator which leads to a rail system where an electric cart waits to carry marijuana to the US side. On steps leading upward, the tunnel emerges inside another warehouse in Otay Mesa , California .
Unidentified Man #2: Looks like the tunnel goes down about 30 feet here.
POTTER: This enhanced aerial photograph shows the tunnel going beneath a runway, roads, a big parking lot, and the border fence .
Mr. DEREK BENNER (United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement): All considered, a highly efficient mechanism to move narcotics in an underground environment.
POTTER: Police say they seized 32 tons of marijuana, a record for a single tunnel . Much of it was hidden in pumpkin boxes. Federal agents suspect it's the work of Mexico 's powerful Sinaloa drug cartel , currently harvesting its ever-increasing fall marijuana crop. Authorities say especially this time of year, traffickers need tunnels to smuggle huge drug loads to the US.
Ms. LAURA DUFFY (United States Attorney): If they can't cross the border above ground, they attempt to tunnel underneath it.
POTTER: The Sinaloa cartel is headed by Joaquin Guzman , known as " El Chapo " or "Shorty." Since his daring escape from prison 10 years ago, Mexican authorities have been unable to touch him.
Mr. GEORGE GRAYSON (College of William and Mary): He has the police under his thumb. He controls much of the judicial system in his state and neighboring states, and he's virtually an untouchable.
POTTER: In the last four years, American agents have found more than 75 illegal tunnels crossing from Mexico to the US, but say this one is the most sophisticated. Mark Potter , NBC News, Miami.
Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46097012/ns/world_news-americas/
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Monday, January 23, 2012
Is this an image of the LG Optimus 3D 2?
What you see before you is either the deranged rantings of a lunatic, or the second generation of LG's Optimus 3D, erm, 3D smartphone. Currently codenamed "CX2," the handset's packing a new NOVA autostereoscopic display for better brightness, an unnamed 1.2GHz dual-core TI CPU and an NFC module. What isn't changing is the dual five-megapixel cameras, the 8GB storage or the display's size or resolution. Our biggest gripe with the device was its heft, but if the rumors are true, it's slimmed down from 12mm to 10mm: making it significantly more pocket-friendly. Our palms are sweating in anticipation as Mobile World Congress inches ever closer to revealing the truth.
Is this an image of the LG Optimus 3D 2? originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 23 Jan 2012 14:55:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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New year, new investment: CIC makes a head start | Global Investing
China?s sovereign wealth fund?s move last week to invest in London water supplier Thames Water puts focus on potential overseas investment in the year of Dragon from China?s central bank PBOC, which plans to create a $300 billion vehicle to invest in Europe and the United States.
After Reuters reported on the plan in December, the PBOC and State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE), which manages reserves, have been mum. A tiny?drop in the country?s reserves, still standing at $3.18 trillion, brings only a small comfort to the world?s largest reserve holder as it struggles with low returns on its sovereign debt portfolios in U.S. Treasuries?(earning almost nothing) and euro zone sovereign debt (under growing risk of further ratings downgrades).
China, which regularly intervenes in the FX market to keep a lid on the yuan exchange rate to keep its exports competitive, is suffering??negative carry? ? the difference between the cost of intervention and its overseas investment.
This is how the negative carry arises: The People?s Bank of China buys U.S. dollars in the FX market. When it intervenes, it pumps yuan into the domestic banking system. This extra liquidity, if left, can cause inflation. The PBOC therefore needs to mop this up by issuing ?sterilisation bonds?.
The sterilisation is not cheap.?As ?foreign reserves keep accumulating, the PBC has to issue more debt for sterilisation purposes, which may drive up the interest rates on the PBOC bills.
So far, Chenying Zhang of the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, argues that?the PBOC?s income from foreign reserves investment has exceeded its sterilization cost consistently from 2003 to 2010.
Zhang, in her paper, estimated the PBOC?s cost of sterilization and compared it with its income from the foreign reserves investment from the period 2003 to2010. She finds that?China?s FX reserves have to drop around 36% (or to put it in another way, the RMB has to appreciate by more than 50% against the US dollar) before it fails to cover the sterilization cost of the PBOC.
But the yield on U.S. and euro zone government bonds are falling further.?Given the yield on one-year U.S. Treasuries stands at a?paltry?0.1025 percent, the cost of carry right now could be as much as 200 basis points. The pressure to find higher-yielding assets must be great.
?If foreign interest rates keep dropping, China will suffer a more drastic decrease in its income from foreign reserves, especially if its investment is of a shorter term than that was estimated,? Zhang writes.
Also worth remembering is the point that Beijing?is using this implicit tournament between the CIC and State Administration of Foreign Exchange as a carrot and stick mechanism with which to discipline sovereign wealth managers. So SAFE must be feeling peer pressure from CIC which seems to have made a head start in 2012.
Source: http://blogs.reuters.com/globalinvesting/2012/01/23/new-year-new-investment-cic-makes-a-head-start/
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Sunday, January 22, 2012
Iowa GOP now says Santorum won caucuses (AP)
DES MOINES, Iowa ? Offering no explanation, the Iowa Republican Party has declared Rick Santorum as winner of the Iowa caucuses, days after saying incomplete vote results precluded it from doing just that.
GOP State Chairman Matt Strawn and the party's State Central Committee issued a statement late Friday naming the former Pennsylvania senator as the winner, "in order to clarify conflicting reports and to affirm the results" that were released Wednesday.
The committee's release Wednesday said Santorum was 34 votes ahead of former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney in the final certified results from 1,766 precincts. But because eight precincts never turned in certified results, Strawn said in the statement Thursday that the party could not declare a winner. He congratulated both Santorum and Romney. Sixteen days earlier, Strawn had announced that Romney had won the caucuses by eight votes.
Saturday's statement offered no explanation of what had changed since Thursday, and Strawn did not return calls seeking comment.
Two central committee members told The Associated Press that the group held a conference call Friday night to discuss the "confusion" about the results of the caucuses and directed Strawn to issue a statement making it clear that the party considered Santorum the winner.
"There had been too much confusion and we needed to clear things up once and for all," said Steve Scheffler of the Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition, a committee member who was on the call.
Another committee member, Drew Ivers of Webster City, said the new statement declaring Santorum the winner was issued "to try to clarify the validity of the Iowa process."
Scheffler said there was no vote by the 17-member committee but it was clear from the call that the consensus was to issue the statement.
The certified results announced by Strawn on Thursday had Santorum with 29,839 votes and Romney with 29,805, a difference of 34. Ron Paul finished third with 26,036. Newt Gingrich finished fourth with 16,163 votes.
Unofficial election night results from the eight missing precincts gave Santorum 81 votes and Romney 46. If those results had been certified to state party officials by Wednesday's deadline, Santorum's lead in the final tally would have been 69 votes.
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Color-coding, rearranging food products improves healthy choices in hospital cafeteria
ScienceDaily (Jan. 19, 2012) ? A simple program involving color-coded food labeling and adjusting the way food items are positioned in display cases was successful in encouraging more healthful food choices in a large hospital cafeteria. The report from Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) researchers will appear in the March American Journal of Public Health and has received early online release.
"We found that labeling all foods and beverages with a simple red, yellow and green color scheme to indicate their relative healthiness led patrons to purchase more of the healthy and fewer of the unhealthy items," says Anne Thorndike, MD, MPH, of the MGH division of General Medicine, who led the study. "We also found that moving items around to make the healthy items more convenient and visible led to further improvement in the nutritional quality of items purchased."
The study authors note that most current point-of-purchase efforts to encourage more healthful food choices focus on labeling the calorie content of food, which will soon be required for many restaurants and food service vendors as part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. However, calorie information is only useful if people read and comprehend it -- which requires understanding their own calorie needs, accurately estimating serving sizes, and having enough time to consider and act on the information provided. Studies by psychologists and behavioral economists also have noted that individuals tend to maintain their typical behavior patterns and are more motivated by actions with immediate, rather than long-term rewards.
In the MGH cafeteria, color-coded labels indicate the healthiest sandwich choices (green), along with those designated less (yellow) and least (red) healthy.
To find a simpler way to encourage more healthful food purchases, the research team -- including leaders of the MGH Nutrition and Food Service -- devised a two-phase plan. In the first phase, which began in March 2010, color-coded labels were attached to all items in the main hospital cafeteria -- green signifying the healthiest items, such as fruits, vegetables and lean meats; yellow indicating less healthy items, and red for those with little or no nutritional value. Signage in the cafeteria encouraged customers to consume green items often, yellow items less often, and to consider other choices for red items. All cafeteria cash registers were programmed to record and identify each purchased item as green, red or yellow; and additional nutritional information was made available in the cafeteria throughout the six-month study period.
For the second "choice architecture" phase, which began in June 2010, displayed food items were rearranged according to principles of behavioral economics. This phase focused on cold beverages, pre-made sandwiches and chips -- popular items likely to be purchased by customers who have little time to spend and may be more influenced by location and convenience. Cafeteria beverage refrigerators were arranged to place water, diet beverages and low-fat dairy products at eye level, while beverages with a red or yellow label were placed below eye level. The sandwich refrigerator was also arranged to put green items at eye level while red or yellow items were placed above and below. Racks of chips had yellow items at eye level and red items below, and additional baskets of bottled water were placed near stations where hot food was served.
At the end of the study period, sales of green items had increased significantly, while sales of unhealthy "red" items decreased. More specifically, during phase 1, sales of all red items decreased 9.2 percent -- with red beverage purchases dropping 16.5 percent -- while green item sales increased 4.5 percent, with a 9.6 increase in green beverages. In phase 2, red item sales dropped another 4.9 percent compared with phase 1, with beverages dropping by 11.4 percent; and while sales of green items decreased 0.8 percent in phase 2, sales of green beverages increased another 4 percent. A comparison with two satellite cafeterias where these measures had not been instituted revealed that these changes were much more pronounced in the cafeteria where the study was conducted.
"We believe this intervention was so successful because it was simple and easy to understand quickly. The labeling did not require any special skills and could be easily interpreted when a customer was in a rush," Thorndike explains. "The 'choice architecture' intervention was much more subtle and took greater advantage of the convenience factor. Any of these strategies could be easily translated to other food service environments." An assistant professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, Thorndike adds that all elements of the program remain in place, with the color-coded labeling extended to other MGH food service locations, and future analysis is planned to see whether the observed changes are maintained over time.
Additional co-authors of the report -- which was supported by the National Center for Research Resources and the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute -- are Lillian Sonnenberg, DSC, RD, LDN, and Susan Barraclough, MS, RD, LDN, MGH Nutrition and Food Services; Douglas Levy, PhD, Mongan Institute of Health Policy at MGH; and Jason Riis, PhD, Harvard Business School.
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- Anne N. Thorndike, Lillian Sonnenberg, Jason Riis, Susan Barraclough, Douglas E. Levy. A 2-Phase Labeling and Choice Architecture Intervention to Improve Healthy Food and Beverage Choices. American Journal of Public Health, 2012; : e1 DOI: 10.2105/AJPH.2011.300391
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Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/hASqaHJoQn8/120119163242.htm
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Saturday, January 21, 2012
Around the Web?
Happy Thursday! Check out today’s must-read links: POLL: Were you offended by Modern Family‘s F-bomb? ? PEOPLE Study shows 1 in 8 low-income parents water down formula to stretch it out ? MSNBC.com How to wean kids off of pacifiers ? iVillage.com VIDEO: S— people say?to breastfeeding mothers ? Parenting.com Wikipedia blackout raises credibility concerns [...]
Source: http://feeds.celebritybabies.com/~r/celebrity-babies/~3/8Uwv1ztUfD0/
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Greece: Eurozone won't add cash if bond talks fail (AP)
ATHENS, Greece ? Eurozone countries won't increase financial support for Greece if it fails to secure a bond-swap deal with private creditors, the country's foreign minister warned Thursday.
Foreign Minister Evangelos Venizelos's remarks came hours before he held a second day of talks with banking negotiators to reach a deal, known as the Private Sector Involvement, aimed at slashing the country's debt by euro100 billion ($130 billion).
Greece is facing a renewed threat of defaulting on its debts, with a euro14.5 billion ($18.7 billion) repayment looming March 20 and no funds to cover it.
"If there is a (financing) gap, this would have to be covered by a larger contribution from the official sector ? that means the eurozone countries, directly or indirectly. And at this point, I do not see any willingness or readiness to increase that contribution," Venizelos told parliament. "So there must be no gap, and the Private Sector Involvement is very important."
Talks between the government and representatives of private investors broke down last Friday amid disagreements over the interest rate that Greece would have to pay for the new, lower-valued bonds. They restarted Wednesday, when the Institute of International Finance sent a new proposal to Prime Minister Lucas Papademos with several new elements, including the interest rates, a European Union official said Thursday. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the discussions are confidential.
The IIF, which is representing private bondholders, now suggests an interest rate of below 4 percent that increases gradually until 2020, the official said. He said he didn't know how high the interest rate would go, but added he was hopeful a deal could be reached by the end of the week. That would allow eurozone finance ministers to discuss the deal at their meeting Monday in Brussels.
Venizelos and Papademos continued negotiations late Thursday with Charles Dallara, a top official at the IIF.
The bond-swap negotiations are part of a second bailout deal for Greece worth euro130 billion ($168 billion) tentatively agreed upon between Greece and eurozone countries, on top of the euro110 billion ($142 billion) in rescue loans Athens has been getting from the eurozone and International Monetary Fund since May 2010.
But the eurozone said Athens would only get the new financial aid if private bondholders agree to cancel 50 percent of their Greek debt in exchange for a cash payment and new bonds with longer maturities.
Venizelos warned a default would inevitably lead to Greece's exit from the 17-nation eurozone.
"Bankruptcy would of course mean our exit from the euro, because we would not be able to withstand staying in," he said Thursday.
Senior members of the EU-IMF debt inspection team known as the "troika" are due in Athens on Friday to negotiate additional terms for the second bailout and to monitor Greece's progress on slashing deficits though harsh austerity measures.
Papademos met for nearly three hours with the leaders of political parties backing his two-month-old coalition government to discuss the debt talks and the inspectors' visit.
"The discussions took place in a positive atmosphere, and the political leaders reaffirmed their for full support for the government to complete its work," Papademos said.
Also Thursday, parliament was set to approve a series of new austerity measures demanded by the debt inspectors, including provisions to open up closed professions and easier payment schemes to help businesses settle mounting tax debts.
__
Gabriele Steinhauser in Brussels contributed to this story.
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Sunday, January 15, 2012
UN chief says Syrian president must stop violence (AP)
BEIRUT ? The U.N. chief demanded Sunday that Syria's president stop killing his own people and said the "old order" of one-man rule and family dynasties is over in the Middle East.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, delivering the keynote address at a conference in Beirut on democracy in the Arab world, said the revolutions of the Arab Spring show people will no longer accept tyranny.
"Today, I say again to President (Bashar) Assad of Syria: Stop the violence. Stop killing your people," Ban said.
Thousands of people have been killed in the government's crackdown on a 10-month-old uprising, which has turned increasingly militarized in recent months with a growing risk of civil war.
Syria agreed last month to an Arab League plan that calls for a halt to the crackdown, the withdrawal of heavy weaponry, such as tanks, from cities, the release of all political prisoners, and allowing foreign journalists and human rights workers in. About 200 Arab League observers are working in Syria to verify whether the government is abiding by its agreement to end the military crackdown on dissent.
Observers visited the coastal city of Banias and the restive town of Maaret al-Numan in northern Syria Sunday, where they were met with thousands of anti-Assad protesters chanting for his downfall.
Amateur video posted by activists on the Internet showed the monitors watching and filming from a balcony as a large protest unfolded on the streets below. "Victory for our revolution!" the protesters shouted.
The monitors also visited the Damascus suburb of Zabadani, which activists say has come under an intense crackdown in the past few days.
"The authorities pulled out tanks and stopped firing just before the observers arrived," said one activist in Zabadani, who declined to be named for fear of reprisals. "But they saw with their own eyes the destruction and fear," he said, adding people took to the streets in huge protests while the monitors were there.
But the presence of the observers has not put a stop to bloodshed and the U.S. and many in the Syrian opposition say killings have accelerated. The U.N. says about 400 people have been killed in the last three weeks alone, on top of an earlier estimate of more than 5,000 killed since March.
The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and Syria's state-run news agency SANA reported Sunday that at least five factory workers were killed when a roadside bomb detonated near the bus they were traveling in the town of Khan Sheikhoun in northern Syria.
The Observatory and other activists said seven other people died in the central city of Homs ? including three from indiscriminate gunfire and one in the northern province of Idlib.
"The killings still continue and still there are people arrested," said Arab League chief Nabil Elaraby in Bahrain. He said there will be a meeting of Arab foreign ministers at the end of the week in Cairo to decide on the next steps.
Syria's state news agency reported that Assad granted a general amnesty for "crimes" committed during the uprising and officials said authorities have begun granting local and foreign media outlets approvals to work in Syria. It was not clear how many prisoners would be released.
Information Minister Adnan Mahmoud said the level of "incitement and distortion of facts" has doubled since the media was allowed in along with the Arab League observers who started work late last month.
Ban acknowledged challenges facing Arab states in the wake of the uprisings sweeping the Arab world, in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Syria.
"It is sometimes said that authoritarian regimes, whatever else their faults, at least kept a lid on sectarian conflict. This is a cruel canard," Ban said in Beirut. "Yet it would be equally mistaken to assume that all of the new regimes now emerging will automatically uphold universal human rights," he said.
"Democracy is not easy," he added. "It takes time and effort to build. It does not come into being with one or two elections. Yet there is no going back."
He encouraged Arab countries to usher in real reforms and dialogue, and to respect the role of women and youth.
"The old way, the old order, is crumbling," Ban said. "One-man rule and the perpetuation of family dynasties, monopolies of wealth and power, the silencing of the media, the deprivation of fundamental freedoms that are the birthright of every man, woman and child on this planet ? to all of this, the people say: Enough!"
The U.N. chief also urged an end to Israeli occupation of Arab and Palestinian territories.
"Settlements, new and old, are illegal. They work against the emergence of a viable Palestinian state."
The foreign minister of Tunisia, which became the first Arab country to oust a dictator through a peaceful revolution one year ago, said there is no escape from the process of democratization and freedoms in the Arab world.
"My message (to the Syrian regime) is to hear and to listen to the will of the people," Rafik Abdessalem told APTN in an interview in Beirut Sunday.
On Saturday, the leader of Qatar was quoted as saying that Arab troops should be sent to Syria to stop a deadly crackdown on anti-government protests. Sheik Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani's comments to CBS' "60 Minutes," which will be aired Sunday, are the first statements by an Arab leader calling for the deployment of troops inside Syria.
Asked whether he is in favor of Arab nations intervening in Syria, Sheik Hamad said: "For such a situation to stop, the killing some troops should go to stop the killing."
Excerpts of the interview were sent to The Associated Press by CBS on Saturday.
Qatar, which once had close relations with Damascus, has been a harsh critic of the crackdown by Assad's regime. The wealthy and influential Gulf state withdrew its ambassador to Syria in the summer to protest the killings.
___
Reem Khalifa contributed to this report from Manama, Bahrain.
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Evangelical leaders back Santorum (Reuters)
COLUMBIA, South Carolina (Reuters) ? Influential evangelical Christian leaders endorsed Rick Santorum on Saturday for the Republican presidential nomination, in an attempt to strengthen him as the more conservative alternative to front-runner Mitt Romney.
At a weekend meeting at a ranch outside Houston, the group of 150 conservatives who had joined forces agreed on the third ballot to support the former Pennsylvania senator. Former House of Representatives Speaker Newt Gingrich came in second.
They had not been expected to reach agreement on one candidate since evangelical support has been splintered among Santorum, Gingrich and Texas Governor Rick Perry.
"There is clearly a united group here that is committed to see ... a true conservative elected to the White House," said Tony Perkins, leader of the Family Research Council and spokesman for the group.
The endorsement came one week before South Carolina votes on January 21 in the Republican presidential primary. The Republicans are selecting a candidate to challenge President Barack Obama in the November election.
"It will have an impact in South Carolina and in shifting support to the consensus candidate which is Rick Santorum," Perkins said.
Santorum may need the help. A Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Saturday showed Romney with a huge lead in the state, with 37 percent of the vote. Santorum and libertarian Ron Paul were tied for second at 16 percent.
Santorum will be looking to follow up with the religious groups to give him a push in the last week of campaigning in the state and into the next primary vote in Florida.
"We've got obviously great strength and support not just now here in South Carolina but lots of money has come in. We've raised over $3 million in a week," he said in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina.
ALTERNATIVE TO ROMNEY
Conservatives are seeking a viable alternative to Romney, who won the first two nomination contests in Iowa and New Hampshire and now leads the polls in South Carolina.
In the 2008 election, about 60 percent of the voters in South Carolina described themselves as evangelical Christians. Santorum is a Roman Catholic and father of seven who strongly opposes abortion and gay rights.
Townes Moore, a student at The Citadel military college in Charleston, South Carolina, campaigned for Santorum in Iowa, where the former Pennsylvania senator picked up much of the conservative vote to finish a surprising eight votes behind Romney in the caucuses.
"He is my role model," Moore said of Santorum, during a break from making calls at a phone bank in Mount Pleasant. "He is a devout Catholic and puts God at the center of his life."
Despite Romney's front-runner status, many conservatives mistrust him because of his record in relatively liberal Massachusetts, where he once supported abortion rights.
"Not a lot of time was spent on Mitt Romney," Perkins said, noting it was not a surprise he was not favored by the evangelicals. "It was more about the positive. How to get America back on the right road. How to get America great again."
The religious leaders debated and prayed over which candidate to pick, Perkins said, and chose the person they believed had the best social conservative and economic policies and was most likely to defeat Democrat Obama in the November 6 election.
Some disputed the notion there was a complete consensus after the Christian leaders' meeting. Rick Tyler, a Gingrich aide and senior adviser to the "super" political action committee that has spent millions of dollars in advertising for him, said several heavy-hitting evangelical leaders still planned to endorse Gingrich.
"Endorsing Rick only serves to help Romney who has a terrible record on the issues evangelicals care about," said Tyler, who was not at the meeting but spoke to people who were.
Gingrich's campaign has begun airing TV ads in South Carolina that call Romney "pro-abortion," and charge that Romney - who says he now opposes the procedure - cannot be trusted to be reliably anti-abortion. In response, Romney began running a radio ad touting his anti-abortion views.
Perkins said all factors were taken into account at the Texas meeting and that Romney's Mormon religion "wasn't even discussed."
(Additional reporting by Samuel P. Jacobs in Mount Pleasant; Editing by Peter Cooney)
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Saturday, January 14, 2012
Nano research could impact flexible electronic devices
ScienceDaily (Jan. 12, 2012) ? A discovery by a research team at North Dakota State University, Fargo, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), shows that the flexibility and durability of carbon nanotube films and coatings are intimately linked to their electronic properties. The research could one day impact flexible electronic devices such as solar cells and wearable sensors. The research also provided a promising young high school student the chance to work in the lab with world-class scientists, jumpstarting her potential scientific career.
The NDSU/NIST research team, led by Erik Hobbie, Ph.D., is working to determine why thin films made from metallic single-wall carbon nanotubes are superior for potential applications that demand both electronic performance and mechanical durability. "One simple reason is that the metallic nanotubes tend to transport charge more easily when they touch each other," said Hobbie. "But another less obvious reason has to do with how much the films can flex without changing their structure at very small scales."
Results from the study are published in ACS Nano.
The team includes NDSU graduate student John M. Harris; postdoctoral researcher Ganjigunte R. Swathi Iyer; Anna K. Bernhardt, North Dakota Governor's School attendee; and NIST researchers Ji Yeon Huh, Steven D. Hudson and Jeffrey A. Fagan.
There is great interest in using carbon nanotube films and coatings as flexible transparent electrodes in electronic devices such as solar cells. "Our research demonstrates that the flexibility and durability of these films are intimately linked to their electronic properties," said Hobbie. "This is a very new idea, so hopefully, it will generate a new series of studies and questions focused on the exact origins and consequences of this effect."
Such research could potentially result in material that reduces solar cell costs, and leads to the ability to use them in clothing or foldable electronics. Electronic devices currently on the market that require transparent electrodes, like touch screens and solar cells, typically use indium tin oxide, an increasingly expensive material. "It is also very brittle," said Hobbie, "implying that it cannot be used in devices that require mechanical flexibility like wearable or foldable electronics."
Single-wall carbon nanotubes show significant promise as transparent conductive coatings with outstanding electronic, mechanical and optical properties. "A particularly attractive feature of these films is that the physical properties can be tuned through the addition or subtraction of a relatively small number of nanotubes," said Hobbie. "Thin films made from such materials hold tremendous potential for flexible electronics applications, including the replacement of indium tin oxide in liquid crystal displays and photovoltaic devices."
Thin films made from metallic single-wall carbon nanotubes show better durability as flexible transparent conductive coatings, which the researchers attribute to a combination of superior mechanical performance and higher interfacial conductivity. The research team found significant differences in the electronic manifestations of thin-film wrinkling, depending on the electronic type of the nanotubes, and examined the underlying mechanisms.
The results of this study suggest that the metallic films make better flexible transparent conductive coatings; they have higher conductivity and are more durable. "Our results are relevant to a number of ongoing efforts in transparent conducting films and flexible electronic devices," said Hobbie.
The research was supported by the National Science Foundation through CMMI-0969155 and the U.S. Department of Energy through DE-FB36-08GO88160.
The opportunity to work on such research was new to Anna Bernhardt, a high school junior from a town of 1,000 people in western North Dakota. She was among 66 of the most academically driven high school sophomores and juniors who attended a six-week intensive summer residential program on the NDSU campus for scholastically motivated students in the state.
Students receive concentrated instruction from 40 NDSU faculty through discussion groups, labs, field trips and other activities. The state of North Dakota funds the cost of participation for North Dakota students who are accepted into the program. It's available free to public school students, while private and homeschool students selected for the program can make arrangements to attend for free through their local public school district.
While it is unusual for a young student to be involved in nanotechnology research at this level, it presented an opportunity for everyone involved. Bernhardt prepared single-wall carbon nanotube samples and participated in testing of the samples. "The experience of working in a research setting has helped me to decide that I would love to do more research in the future," said the young scientist. "The biggest benefit of working in the lab was getting a taste of the true research experience. Without North Dakota's Governor's School, I would never have been able to have this experience and surely wouldn't be so certain that I would like to do more research in the future."
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Journal Reference:
- John M. Harris, Ganjigunte R. Swathi Iyer, Anna K. Bernhardt, Ji Yeon Huh, Steven D. Hudson, Jeffrey A. Fagan, Erik K. Hobbie. Electronic Durability of Flexible Transparent Films from Type-Specific Single-Wall Carbon Nanotubes. ACS Nano, 2011; 111220100417004 DOI: 10.1021/nn204383t
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Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120112111940.htm
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Why it's hard to predict where failed Russian craft will fall
Phobos-Grunt launched toward Mars on Nov. 8, but it failed to leave low-Earth orbit. Reentry into Earth's atmosphere could happen anywhere from Sunday morning to Monday night, according to current estimates.
Where will the remains of Russia's derelict Phobos-Grunt tumble back to Earth?
Skip to next paragraphThat's this weekend's 5-billion-ruble question as space agencies and other satellite trackers around the world try to gauge when and where the spacecraft is likely to begin its fiery descent into Earth's atmosphere.
Estimates on when reentry starts range from about 11:20 a.m., Eastern time, on Sunday to 8 p.m. Monday. But they can change several times a day, lending forecasting efforts an air of confusion.
The uncertainty highlights the challenge in forecasting a track for an object no one can control, specialists say. And it underscores a need for a freer flow of more accurate information on satellite positions and tracks to avoid collisions that would add to the space junk already on orbit, others add.
For its part, Phobos-Grunt appears highly unlikely to add to the space-junk problem. Nor is it deemed much of a threat to people on the ground.
Phobos-Grunt launched Nov. 8. The mission aimed to return soil samples from Mars' moon Phobos. The spacecraft also carries a small Chinese probe designed to orbit Mars and gather data on its atmosphere. And it is acting as cosmic sherpa for a small experiment sponsored by the Planetary Society in Pasadena, Calif. The experiment is designed to test whether microbes could survive a prolonged trip from one planet to another housed, in this case, in an artificial meteoroid. The meteoroid was to have returned to Earth along with soil samples from Phobos.
Phobos-Grunt failed to leave low-Earth orbit as planned, however. Efforts to communicate with the 13.5-metric ton craft failed, leaving ground controllers with no way to guide it on a predictable path to a controlled reentry.
Initially, concerns centered mainly on whether the craft's tanks bearing 11 tons of toxic fuel could survive the plunge and then present a hazard to people on the ground.
But engineers with Russia's space agency Roscosmos and with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration have calculated that the aluminum fuel tanks will burst before the craft falls below about 60 miles in altitude, allowing the fuel to dissipate harmlessly.
"This, combined with a relatively low dry mass of just 2.5 tons, means Phobos-Grunt is not considered to be a high-risk entry object," said Heiner Klinkrad, who heads the European Space Agency's Space Debris Office, in a statement released Jan. 12.
Still, tracking the craft is important, notes Joshua Horwood, a research scientist with Numerica Corp., a company based in Loveland, Colo., that develops orbital tracking and forecasting software for the US military, in addition to other forms of specialized computer-based tools for civilian aerospace and biomedical clients.
In addition to the need to know where and when a spacecraft will end up after reentry, information on where an uncontrolled craft may be headed next is vital to other satellite operators, who may need to move their craft out of the way. But forecasting the track of an uncontrollable craft ? especially one in low-Earth orbit, or between 100 and 800 miles up ? is fiendishly difficult, Dr. Horwood says.
Even in low-Earth orbit, he notes, the significantly thinned atmosphere can exert drag on a spacecraft, slowing it and allowing Earth's gravity to tug it out of an intended orbit. The sun's activity can change the atmosphere's density with altitude, increasing or decreasing drag.
In this case, the drag is acting on a very irregularly shaped craft, which makes its effect very hard to calculate, Horwood says.
Working backward from the most recent observation of a derelict's position to reconstruct an orbit from past observations is no problem, he adds. But drag and other issues can throw curves into projections of where in the sky one can next expect to spot the object.
"We're not dealing with cannonballs here," he quips.
Still, one potential benefit from Russia's woes is that the information gained from tracking Phobos-Grunt could help improve track-forecasting models, Horwood says.
Indeed, the international community is doing that now.
The Inter-Agency Space Debris Coordination Committee, made up of representatives from 12 national space agencies, is using Phobos-Grunt's problems as an opportunity to figure out more-accurate ways of estimating the reentry time and place for incoming spacecraft.
Then again, the estimates are only as good as the data that feed them. The best data come from the United States, Russia, and Europe. But while the US cooperates with space agencies in alerting them to possible hazards to their craft, it keeps the most accurate of its tracking information under wraps.
Some data need to be held close to the vest for national-security reasons, acknowledges Brian Weeden, a former Air Force officer who was deeply involved in the US military's efforts to track objects in space.
"But we think there is a batter balance" that can be struck in making more accurate information publicly available, says Mr. Weeden, currently the technical advisor to the Secure World Foundation, which advocates the sustainable use of near-Earth space.
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Friday, January 13, 2012
LG Spectrum hands-on (video)
Continue reading LG Spectrum hands-on (video)
LG Spectrum hands-on (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 10 Jan 2012 18:10:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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