Cape Fear region people serving in the military

Pfc. Chance P. Shaffer, son of Wendy Hanshaw and stepson of Jerry Hanshaw, both of Spring Lake, has graduated from Army basic training at Fort Jackson, Columbia, S.C. He is a 2012 graduate of Pine Forest High School.

Pvt. Sidney Hunt, son of Scot Hunt and Stephanie Locklear, both of Lumberton, has graduated from Army basic training at Fort Jackson, Columbia, S.C. He is a 2011 graduate of Lumberton High School.

National Guard Pvt. Rebecca R. Wahl, daughter of Jena Owen of Angier, has graduated from Army basic training at Fort Jackson, Columbia, S.C. She is a 2012 graduate of Harnett Central High School.

Pvt. Curtis M. Curry, son of Jennie Butler and stepson of John Butler of Fayetteville, has graduated from Army basic training at Fort Jackson, Columbia, S.C. He is a 2006 graduate of Seventy-First High School.

Pvt. Jennie N. Gahagan, daughter of Mary French and George Gahagan, both of Fayetteville, has graduated from Army basic training at Fort Jackson, Columbia, S.C. She is a 2012 graduate of Douglas Byrd High School.

Pfc. Jaclyn D. Codiga, daughter of James and Denise Rieger of Fayetteville, has graduated from Army basic training at Fort Jackson, Columbia, S.C. She is a 2008 graduate of Cornerstone Christian Academy, Fayetteville.

Pfc. Marquetta S. Hemingway, daughter of Vennie Hemingway of Whiteville, has graduated from Army basic training at Fort Jackson, Columbia, S.C. She is a 2012 graduate of Whiteville High School.

Pvt. Eddie Lampkin III has graduated from Army basic training at Fort Jackson, Columbia, S.C. He is a 2012 graduate of Seventy-First High School.

Pvt. Myles J. Keyser, son of Jennifer Flynn of Cameron, has graduated from Army basic infantry training at Fort Benning, Columbus, Ga. He is a 2012 graduate of Western Harnett High School.

Pvt. Jeffery Drew, son of John and Bettie Drew of Hope Mills, has graduated from Army basic training at Fort Jackson, Columbia, S.C. He is a 2000 graduate of South View High School.

Reserve Pvt. Joshua D. Chubbs, son of Clara Chubbs of Sanford, has graduated from Army basic training at Fort Jackson, Columbia, S.C. He is a 2012 graduate of Lee County High School.

Pfc. Jacorica S. Bristow, daughter of Laura McKoy of Lumberton, has graduated from Army basic training at Fort Jackson, Columbia, S.C. She is a 2012 graduate of Lumberton High School.

Pfc. Amber N. Searing, daughter of Lisa McNair of Eastover, has graduated from Army basic training at Fort Jackson, Columbia, S.C.

Items on local soldiers and airmen come from the Army and Air Force Hometown News Service in San Antonio. Items on local members of the Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard come from the Fleet Home Town News Center in Norfolk, Va.

Source: http://fayobserver.com/articles/2013/03/24/1244308

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The Best Advice For Anyone Focused On Self Improvement ...

Remember that you are unique and you have to create a personal development strategy that corresponds to your goals. With that being said, you need to try and learn as much information as possible to help you in your self improvement. This article will address a few ways that you can start your self improvement journey.

For inspiration, read about the things others have done on their paths to success. You can build upon the trails they blazed and avoid mistakes they made by finding out how they reached fulfillment. Use the lessons of successful people to inform and inspire your own path to personal development.

Have specific personal development goals that you can succeed with. The more specific your goals, the easier it will be to chart a course from where you are now to where you want to be in the future. Specific goals give you a way to measure your progress.

Know what your strengths are, and be confident when promoting yourself. Everyone is good at something different, and that is what makes the world we live in such an interesting place. You should not bemoan skills you have yet to acquire and instead focus on the good the skills you already possess can bring.

Those who want to succeed often look to mentors for help. All champions have awesome coaches or mentors behind them, and this is very important. Everyone should be able to help others find the way. How can they expect to do their best without doing this? All achievers learned from someone else.

Keep your goals as realistic as possible so you can reach them. By working on your weaknesses, you will be able to become the person you have always wanted to be.

Do not push yourself over your physical limitations when trying to achieve a goal. While no one can argue the importance of giving 100 percent, you must nonetheless take care of yourself. If you push too hard to try and meet your goal too quickly, you may run the risk of injury. Your self improvement will suffer greatly if you sacrifice your health.

Figure out your goals in life, and go after them. You can put all the thought into it and devise a perfect plan for life but if you never put it into action, then you will not see results. Identify your goals and take the necessary actions to make it happen.

Reading books on the subject of self improvement or self-improvement is good for you. A good book can provide you with the information that you need to get started on your journey toward a new you. Try to pick a volume that has already been well-received by others because poorly done books in this category are fairly common.

Reading this article will not be helpful if you do not start applying these tips. You can?t succeed if you just sit there doing nothing. Use these tips in your life to start seeing your self improvement goals met.

Source: http://amidernia.unblog.fr/2013/03/23/the-best-advice-for-anyone-focused-on-self-improvement/

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Montenegro stays ahead of England in qualifying

Associated Press Sports

updated 9:16 p.m. ET March 22, 2013

CHISINAU, Moldova (AP) -Mirko Vucinic struck a late winner to give 10-man Montenegro a priceless 1-0 victory over Moldova in World Cup qualifying on Friday, ensuring that his side stays top of Group H ahead of its showdown with England next week.

Montenegro's Milorad Pekovic was dismissed for a second yellow card in the 61st minute but it didn't prevent his side taking the points after Vucinic volleyed home in the 78th at Zimbru Stadium.

With 13 points on the board from five games, the victory maintained Montenegro's two-point lead over second-place England, which romped to an 8-0 victory over San Marino.

The top two sides meet in Podgorica on Tuesday for a game that could go a long way to deciding which team qualifies automatically for next year's tournament in Brazil.

? 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Clint Dempsey's 16th minute goal has gavethe USA a 1-0 win over Costa Rica on a snow-covered pitch in a critical World Cup qualifier.

Source: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/51297084/ns/sports-soccer/

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Late night: Senate Democrats work to pass budget

A Senate aide delivers a stack of documents bound in red tape being used as a prop during debate on the budget in the Senate, at the Capitol in Washington, Friday, March 22, 2013. The paperwork was described as the federal regulations dealing with the Affordable Care Act, often called "Obamacare." (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

A Senate aide delivers a stack of documents bound in red tape being used as a prop during debate on the budget in the Senate, at the Capitol in Washington, Friday, March 22, 2013. The paperwork was described as the federal regulations dealing with the Affordable Care Act, often called "Obamacare." (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., answers questions from reporters as lawmakers go to the Senate floor to vote on amendments to the budget resolution, at the Capitol in Washington, Friday, March 22, 2013. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., right, talks with Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., left, as they ride an escalator on Capitol Hill in Washington, Friday, March 22, 2013, as lawmakers rush to the Senate floor to vote on amendments to the budget resolution. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

FILE - In this March 18, 2013 file photo, House Budget Committee Chairman Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis. is seen on Capitol Hill in Washington. The Senate pressed ahead Wednesday on a huge, bipartisan spending bill aimed at keeping the government running through September and ruling out the chance of a government shutdown later this month. The developments in the Senate come as the House resumed debate on the budget for next year and beyond. Republicans are pushing a plan that promises sharp cuts to federal health care programs and domestic agency operating budgets as the price for balancing the budget in a decade. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La. rushes with other lawmakers to the Senate floor on Capitol Hill in Washington, Friday, March 22, 2013, to vote on amendments to the budget resolution. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Senate Democrats neared approval of their first budget proposal in four years on Friday, calling for almost $1 billion in tax increases over the coming decade while sheltering safety net programs targeted by House Republicans. The Democrats also would reverse automatic spending cuts that are beginning to strike both the Pentagon and domestic programs.

The nonbinding but politically symbolic measure caters to party stalwarts on the liberal edge of the spectrum just as the House GOP measure is crafted to appeal to more recent tea party arrivals.

Approval of the Senate version was expected to come long after dark ? after dozens of votes on amendments, many of which were offered in hopes of inflicting political damage on Democratic senators up for re-election in GOP-leaning states like Alaska and Louisiana.

Some $1 trillion in new revenue would flow to the government over the coming decade ? on top of more than $600 billion in taxes on upper-income earners approved in January ? and would be coupled with a net $875 billion in spending cuts. Those reductions would be generated by modest cuts to federal health care programs, domestic agencies and the Pentagon and reduced government borrowing costs. The budget proposes $100 billion in new spending for infrastructure projects and job training programs.

The president will reveal his own overdue tax-and-spending plan in two weeks, a plan that will be judged in part by whether it offers new, more politically risky proposals that could form the foundation for a bipartisan agreement between the two houses.

Senators braced for dozens of votes during a marathon session running late on Friday, with some predicting a final vote on the Democratic plan in the pre-dawn hours of Saturday. In early voting Friday morning, Democrats rejected the latest attempt to repeal Obama's landmark health care law by a strictly party-line vote.

The Senate has already taken several politically freighted votes, including a move by Democrats to force a vote on the Paul Ryan House budget, which was rejected by a 59-40 vote Thursday night, with five Republicans joining every Democratic senator in opposition.

Republicans countered with a move by Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., putting Democrats on record in opposition to balancing the budget by the end of the decade. It failed on a near party-line vote.

Additional votes on Friday could feature forays into off-topics like supersized soft drinks, domestic drone strikes, handguns and abortion ? in addition to the more traditional subjects of taxes, spending and debt.

Such tallies give lawmakers the chance to test support for their ideas in the modern Senate, where there are far fewer opportunities to offer amendments and obtain votes. Such votes are nonbinding. Seventeen Democrats joined Republicans to endorse the Keystone XL pipeline that is to carry oil from Canada to Texas oil refineries. And after a bipartisan 75-24 test vote, the Senate endorsed an amendment by Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and Mike Enzi, R-Wyo. ? backed by the powerful retailer lobby ? that would allow states to collect sales taxes on Internet purchases made out of state.

It all concerned a largely symbolic measure known as a budget resolution, not binding legislation that could be sent to the president to become law. The Senate budget measure and the starkly different version passed by the House on Thursday seek to set parameters for follow-up legislation on taxes and spending.

The dueling House and Senate budget plans are anchored on opposite ends of the ideological spectrum in Washington. No Democrats voted for the House budget, and not a single Republican will vote for the Senate plan, written by new Budget Committee Chairman Patty Murray, D-Wash. The GOP plan caters to tea party forces, while Murray was forced to reach out to liberals, rather than revive proposals such as increasing out-of-pocket Medicare costs for better off beneficiaries that were discussed when she co-chaired a failed 2011 deficit "supercommittee."

While the House GOP plan seeks $4.6 trillion in spending cuts over 10 years on top of the $1.2 trillion in automatic cuts in the same timeframe. Murray's plan promises to replace the $1.2 trillion in automatic cuts, required under a hard-fought 2011 budget pact because of the failure of Washington follow up that deal with another deficit-cutting plan. She notes that they were never intended to take effect and were instead aimed at forcing Republicans and Democrats into a deal. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office warns the $85 billion in cuts set to strike the economy this year could cost 750,000 jobs.

Murray combines $975 billion in unspecified tax increases with net cuts in spending of $875 billion to replace the automatic cuts. The plan promises a $693 billion deficit in 2014, dropping to the $400 billion range for the middle years of the decade. While large, such deficits would hover just above 2 percent of gross domestic product, a level that many analysts see as economically sustainable.

All told, the slashing House budget projects $4 trillion more in deficit cuts than the Murray plan, but only by assuming cuts to Medicaid, food stamps and farm programs, among others ? and cutting domestic agency spending covering such areas as education, the FBI, NASA and housing subsidies by almost 20 percent next year.

The Democratic plan sticks to agency budget "caps" set in the 2011 deal and leaves safety-net programs for the poor virtually alone. Its cuts to the rapidly spiraling Medicare program are limited to health care providers and are less stringent than those proposed by Obama.

"The Senate budget puts forward serious, responsible deficit reduction that reflects the recommendations of bipartisan experts, and the values and priorities of the American people," Murray said.

Senate Republicans did not draft a budget plan of their own, though 40 of them voted for the House GOP measure. Instead, they focused their fire on the Democratic version, saying it does nothing about the rapidly rising costs of Medicare and other benefit programs, while allowing the national debt to reach $24.4 trillion by 2023.

"In addition to having these huge tax increases ? the biggest in the history of the country ? this budget also has huge spending," said Sen. Rob. Portman, R-Ohio. "The spending is actually an increase when you wipe away all the gimmicks."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-03-22-Budget%20Battle/id-1f320bd2d1874623b85d1025e3b7868a

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Lazaro Arbos Tears Up in Response to Disastrous American Idol Audition

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/03/lazaro-arbos-tears-up-in-response-to-disastrous-american-idol-au/

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Weather Channel Explores Rogue Planet Doomsday Scenario

What if a rogue planet swept through the solar system, altering Earth's orbit? Potentially, the death of all life on the planet, according to a new Weather Channel special.

"Forecasting the End," a new Weather Channel series, premieres March 21, exploring the possible results of a rogue planet fly-by. Rogue planets, or planets not linked to stars, may outnumber actual stars in the Milky Way galaxy. Myths about "Planet X" or "Nibiru" hold that a stealth rogue planet is headed this way (actually, it was supposed to hit on the Mayan apocalypse on Dec. 21, 2012).

In fact, the likelihood of a rogue planet swinging by is slim. Astronomers have yet to find any evidence that any of the planets in our own solar system are captured rogues. And the average space between rogue planets and other bodies in our galaxy is quite expansive, Bad Astronomy blogger Phil Plait has calculated. In other words, a collision isn't likely.

The first episode of "Forecasting the End" focuses on what might happen in this very unlikely scenario. Potentially, scientists say, a planet passing by could alter the orbits of the planets in the solar system, making Earth's orbit more elliptical. ?

A more elliptical orbit would be bad news for life. Earth orbits in a relatively thin habitable zone around the sun, which allows for temperatures where water can be a solid, liquid or gas.

This more elliptical orbit might not push Earth out of this zone, but could bring the planet close enough to the sun to create short, extremely intense summers and then far enough away for very long winters. This would create a shorter growing period and mass food shortages, even human extinction.

"Life on Earth is very much dependent on the orbit we are in around the sun," said David Bennett, a University of Notre Dame astrophysicist.

To make the series, complete with simulations of the world-ending scenario, Weather Channel director Brea Tisdale and crew filmed real people "reacting" to disasters, which they added later using computer graphics. In one shot of a volcanic disaster, the crew sprinkled flour from above to look like ash.

"The actors have to pretend that something terrible is happening in the sky above them, when actually it's a really sunny, nice day," said director of photography Doug Cheney.

Follow Stephanie Pappas on Twitter?and Google+. Follow us @livescience, Facebook?& Google+. Original article on LiveScience.com.

Copyright 2013 LiveScience, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/weather-channel-explores-rogue-planet-doomsday-scenario-160846942.html

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Thin films of nickel and iron oxides yield efficient solar water-splitting catalyst

Thin films of nickel and iron oxides yield efficient solar water-splitting catalyst

Thursday, March 21, 2013

University of Oregon chemists say that ultra-thin films of nickel and iron oxides made through a solution synthesis process are promising catalysts to combine with semiconductors to make devices that capture sunlight and convert water into hydrogen and oxygen gases.

Researchers in the Solar Materials and Electrochemistry Laboratory of Shannon Boettcher, professor of chemistry, studied the catalyst material and also developed a computer model for applying catalyst thin films in solar water-splitting devices as a tool to predict the effectiveness of a wide range of catalyst materials for solar-hydrogen production.

The project has resulted in two recent papers.

The first, detailed last September in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, showed that films of a nickel-iron mixed oxide with an atomic structure similar to naturally occurring minerals show the highest catalytic activity for forming oxygen from water, based on a side-by-side comparison of eight oxide-based materials targeted in various research efforts. The second paper, just published in the Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters, details the performance of the catalyst thin films when combined with semiconductor light absorbers, showing that the nickel-iron oxide catalyst was most effective with a film just 0.4 nanometers thick.

Boettcher's lab, located in the UO's Materials Science Institute, studies fundamental materials chemistry and physical concepts related to the conversion of solar photons (sunlight) into electrons and holes in semiconductors that can then be used to drive chemical processes such as splitting protons off water to make hydrogen and oxygen gases. Multiple labs across the country are seeking effective and economical ways of taking sunlight and directly producing hydrogen gas as an alternative sustainable fuel to replace fossil fuels.

"When you want to pull the protons off a water molecule to make hydrogen gas for fuel, you also have to take the leftover oxygen atoms and make oxygen gas out of them," Boettcher said. "It turns out that the slowest, hardest, most-energy-consuming step in the water-splitting process is actually the oxygen-making step. We've been studying catalysts for making oxygen. Specifically, we're seeking catalysts that reduce the amount of energy it takes in this step and that don't use expensive precious metals."

The iron-nickel oxides, he said, have higher catalytic activity than the precious-metal-based catalytic materials that have been thought to be the best for the job.

"What we found is that when we take nickel oxide films that start out as a crystalline material with the rock-salt structure like table salt, they absorb iron impurities and spontaneously convert into materials with a layered structure during the catalysis process," Boettcher said.

Lena Trotochaud, a doctoral student and lead author on both papers, studied this process and how the films can be combined with semiconductors. "The semiconductors absorb the light, generating electron-hole pairs which move onto the catalyst material and proceed to drive the water-splitting reaction, creating fuel," Boettcher said.

The computer modeling was used to understand how the amount of sunlight that the catalyst blocks from reaching the semiconductor can be minimized while simultaneously speeding up the reaction with water to form oxygen gas. This basic discovery remains a lab accomplishment for now, but it could advance to testing in a prototype device, Boettcher added.

"We're now looking at the fundamental reasons why these materials are good," Trotochaud said. "We are trying to understand how the catalyst works by focusing on the chemistry that is happening, and then also recognizing how that fits into a real system. Our research is fundamentally guiding how you would take these catalysts and incorporate them into something that is useful for everyone in society."

One such place the material could land in a prototype for testing is at the U.S. Department of Energy's Joint Center for Artificial Photosynthesis, an Energy Innovation Hub. The DOE supported Boettcher's research done in the second study through a Basic Sciences Energy grant (DE-FG02-12ER16323).

"This research holds great potential for the development of more efficient, more sustainable solar-fuel generation systems and other kinds of transformative energy technology," said Kimberly Andrews Espy, vice president for research and innovation and dean of the graduate school. "By seeking to advance carbon-neutral energy technology, Dr. Boettcher and his team are helping to establish Oregon as an intellectual and economic leader in fostering a sustainable future for our planet and its people."

###

University of Oregon: http://uonews.uoregon.edu

Thanks to University of Oregon for this article.

This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/127387/Thin_films_of_nickel_and_iron_oxides_yield_efficient_solar_water_splitting_catalyst

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