That sound you hear is left-wing military historians & analysts scrambling to find excuses for when Iraq goes south next year. Source: http://twitter.com/JonahNRO/statuses/152379707361476608
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Ford Motor Company offered on Thursday a taste of some advanced technology that will be featured in the all-new Fusion, which is scheduled to be introduced at the Detroit auto show in January. The technical tidbit is a tracking system that can help prevent drowsy or inattentive drivers from wandering out of their lane. While similar technology has previously been offered on some automobiles, Octavio Navarro, a Ford spokesman, said in a telephone interview that the Fusion will be the first affordable nonluxury vehicle to offer this type of system.
Fusion?s Lane Keeping System monitors the vehicle?s position with a windshield-mounted digital camera that can track lane markings. If the car drifts close to the edge of the lane without the turn signal on, the driver will be notified by a vibration in the steering wheel that feels much like the pulsing caused by rumble strips in the road. A system that Ford calls Lane Keeping Aid can steer the car back toward the center of the lane if the driver doesn?t respond to the warning.
If the Lane Keeping System calculates that the driving pattern over a period of time suggests that the driver is drowsy, a chime sounds and a coffee cup icon warning appears on the instrument panel. If the driver continues to nap, a second chime is issued.
According to a Ford news release, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that 100,000 reported accidents are caused annually by drowsy drivers, resulting in 1,500 deaths, 71,000 injuries and $12.5 billion in monetary loses.
The system must be turned on by the driver, who can choose to employ just the alert function without the steering assist. The intensity of the warnings is also driver selectable. The switched-on system becomes active at speeds over 40 m.p.h. when lane markings are visible.
?Fusion?s Lane Keeping System combines a digital imaging sensor with our own state-of-the-art control software to process images and determine what level of warning or assistance to provide to the driver,? Michale Kane, Ford development engineer, said in a media release.
The all-new Fusion is a very important car for Ford, because it will determine how big a role the automaker plays in the large and lucrative midsize marketplace. Few will be surprised if more details are disseminated before the big reveal at Detroit?s Cobo Hall.
Source: http://wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/12/29/new-ford-fusion-will-warn-drivers-who-drift/
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DJ/producer extraordinaire Diplo announced Tuesday that he'll be giving away a free EP titled Express Yourself "inna few days." Does this mean we'll have it in time to ring in the New Year? A "few" days doesn't tell us much, but we can't help but suspect (hope) he timed its release to NYE, so stay tuned for updates. Until then, Diplo has been so gracious as to give us a sampler of what's to come, along with some provocative downloadable artwork to go with it. The mix is in the style of "moombahton," a word that gets more confusing when you break it down -- it's the portmanteau of "Moombah" and "reggaeton."
LISTEN:
DIPLO express yourself EP sampler by diplo
'; var coords = [-5, -72]; // display fb-bubble FloatingPrompt.embed(this, html, undefined, 'top', {fp_intersects:1, timeout_remove:2000,ignore_arrow: true, width:236, add_xy:coords, class_name: 'clear-overlay'}); });Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/31/diplo-express-yourself_n_1177538.html
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People with diets high in several vitamins or in omega 3 fatty acids are less likely to have the brain shrinkage associated with Alzheimer's disease than people whose diets are not high in those nutrients, according to a new study published in the December 28, 2011, online issue of Neurology?, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
Those with diets high in omega 3 fatty acids and in vitamins C, D, E and the B vitamins also had higher scores on mental thinking tests than people with diets low in those nutrients. These omega 3 fatty acids and vitamin D are primarily found in fish. The B vitamins and antioxidants C and E are primarily found in fruits and vegetables.
In another finding, the study showed that people with diets high in trans fats were more likely to have brain shrinkage and lower scores on the thinking and memory tests than people with diets low in trans fats. Trans fats are primarily found in packaged, fast, fried and frozen food, baked goods and margarine spreads.
The study involved 104 people with an average age of 87 and very few risk factors for memory and thinking problems. Blood tests were used to determine the levels of various nutrients present in the blood of each participant. All of the participants also took tests of their memory and thinking skills. A total of 42 of the participants had MRI scans to measure their brain volume.
Overall, the participants had good nutritional status, but seven percent were deficient in vitamin B12 and 25 percent were deficient in vitamin D.
Study author Gene Bowman, ND, MPH, of Oregon Health & Science University in Portland and a member of the American Academy of Neurology, said that the nutrient biomarkers in the blood accounted for a significant amount of the variation in both brain volume and thinking and memory scores. For the thinking and memory scores, the nutrient biomarkers accounted for 17 percent of the variation in the scores. Other factors such as age, number of years of education and high blood pressure accounted for 46 percent of the variation. For brain volume, the nutrient biomarkers accounted for 37 percent of the variation.
"These results need to be confirmed, but obviously it is very exciting to think that people could potentially stop their brains from shrinking and keep them sharp by adjusting their diet," Bowman said.
The study was the first to use nutrient biomarkers in the blood to analyze the effect of diet on memory and thinking skills and brain volume. Previous studies have looked at only one or a few nutrients at a time or have used questionnaires to assess people's diet. But questionnaires rely on people's memory of their diet, and they also do not account for how much of the nutrients are absorbed by the body, which can be an issue in the elderly.
###
American Academy of Neurology: http://www.aan.com/go/pressroom
Thanks to American Academy of Neurology 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/116340/Diet_patterns_may_keep_brain_from_shrinking
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ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) ? New registered nurses would have to earn bachelor's degrees within 10 years to keep working in New York under a bill lawmakers are considering as part of a national push to raise educational standards for nurses, even as the health care industry faces staffing shortages.
The "BSN in 10" initiative backed by nursing associations and major health policy organizations aims to attack the complex problem of too few nurses trained to care for an aging population that includes hundreds of thousands of nurses expected to retire in the coming years. But some in the health care industry worry that increased education requirements could worsen the problem by discouraging entrants into the field.
Currently, most registered nurses have two-year associate's degrees. No state requires a four-year degree for initial licensing or afterward, though New Jersey and Rhode Island have considered proposals similar to New York's over the past several years. New York's legislation died in committee last session, but it has bipartisan support in both chambers this year and could be debated as early as January.
Demand for more skilled nurses is increasing as the population gets older and has more chronic diseases, and as the new federal health care law promises to help 32 million more Americans gain insurance within a few years.
Federal health officials have recommended upgrading nurse education to BSNs for more than a decade, and the idea got a boost in a 2010 report, "The Future of Nursing," by the National Academy of Sciences nonprofit Institute of Medicine and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. As of 2008, about a third of RNs had bachelor's degrees or higher, according to federal statistics. The institute recommended increasing that to 80 percent by 2020.
Advocates say that in addition to improving patient care, a key reason for requiring more education is to put more nurses in position to move on to jobs in administration and in-demand specialties like oncology, and to teach at nursing schools, where the average faculty age is 53.
"More and more hospitals are looking to hire BSNs, but the catch is that not that many schools offer the RN-to-BSN program or have the faculty to teach it," said Sharon Shockness, an adjunct teacher at Mercy College in Westchester County.
The New York bill's main sponsors, Democratic Assemblyman Joseph Morelle of Rochester and Republican Sen. James Alesi of Monroe County, said the bill is needed to further professionalize nursing. Both serve on their respective higher education committees and represent districts that include University of Rochester Medical Center and St. John Fisher College, which have BSN programs.
In addition to helping provide future teachers, the lawmakers say the added education and critical thinking skills are needed as patient care has become more sophisticated and studies show staff with higher levels of education serve patients better.
In a memo supporting the bill, the New York State Nurses Association cites a 2003 University of Pennsylvania study that found every 10 percent increase in staffing by nurses with bachelor's degrees results in a 5 percent decrease in surgical deaths.
Current registered nurses would be exempt from the education requirement to prevent driving more nurses from the field.
"This bill shouldn't discourage anyone at this point because it doesn't involve anyone even applying for licensure right now ... and 10 years is a long time to get a degree that will give you better pay," Alesi said.
Alesi contends the measure will "improve the landscape of nursing" by increasing the pool of RNs who can go on to obtain master's degrees and teach.
Researchers say almost 900,000 of the nation's roughly 3 million licensed RNs are older than 50, and while there's been an uptick in new, younger nurses, shortages are still expected as the health care industry continues to add nursing jobs. The federal Bureau of Labor Statistics estimated in 2009 that almost 582,000 new RN jobs would be created by 2018.
Federal projections in 2004, the most recent available, forecast a shortfall of 54,000 RN jobs in New York by 2020; the state currently has about 170,000 working nurses. But the state and national shortage estimates have varied greatly as the overall economy and national health policy have changed. A study published this year in the journal Health Affairs reports a surge among younger RNs entering the workforce, pointing to an easing of a national shortage previously forecast to reach 400,000 by 2020.
That shortage concerns New York's health care providers.
William Van Slyke, spokesman for the Healthcare Association of New York State, said the organization representing health care networks and hospitals supports having a better educated nursing workforce, but opposes a four-year degree mandate.
One problem, he said, is the lack of nursing faculty ? the same issue advocates say the bill would address.
"If you start the clock and you don't have the educational system, we may find ourselves having to turn away staff and have shortages," Van Slyke said.
The association has proposed legislation that would provide incentives like loan forgiveness to encourage people to become nurse educators, he said, but lawmakers haven't taken up the idea.
Morelle, the Assembly sponsor, said the state's community colleges also have expressed concerns that the requirement will cut into the number of people seeking the 2-year degrees they offer.
"Their classes are overflowing," Morelle said, and there is a "whole host of programs" that allow students to progress from a 2-year to a 4-year program.
A spokesman for the New York nurses association said New York City metropolitan area hospitals are increasingly requiring new RNs to have a bachelor's degree or earn one within five years, creating a disparity in standards between downstate and upstate, where fewer candidates have four-year degrees.
"Even without the legislation in place, hospitals and other medical facilities are making hiring decisions that favor those with BSN degrees over those without them," said Dr. Peggy Tallier, program director and associate professor in nursing school health at Mercy College.
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NEW YORK (TheWrap.com) ? CBS and Univision tied for first place in the ratings Tuesday, a very slow night in which the "Kennedy Center Honors" was the only new show on the Big 4 networks.
Both Univision and CBS scored a 1.4 overall rating in the 18-49 demographic.
The top-rated show was an "NCIS" rerun on CBS at 8p.m. It scored a 2.1 rating in the demographic and 6 share, and 12.5 million total viewers, which also made it the most-watched show of the night.
CBS aired the sole new show on the Big 4 networks, "The Kennedy Center Honors," which earned a soft 1.1 rating/3 share, as well as 8.4 million total viewers. It was the second-most watched show of the night.
Univision's "Una Familia con Suerte" at 8p.m. earned a 1.7/5 and 3.9 million total viewers. At 10p.m., "Aqu? y Ahora" scored a 1.0/3 and 2.4 million.
It was the second consecutive night of a No. 1 ratings finish for Univision. The network also benefited from rerun-heavy slates on the major networks Monday. It edged out CBS.
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>>> back now with the remarkable story of a young man from austin, texas, who lived his life to the fullest while suffering from a dangerous heart condition that few have ever heard of. he shared his hopes and fears with friends and fans online, including a final inspiring message that has touched a lot of people. it was one of the most popular videos online today. the world listening to words from the heart.
>> thanks for watching breedrov tv.
>> reporter: from his austin, texas, home brad breedlove built a loyal following on youtube.
>> i'm here to give you the information back.
>> reporter: offering video advice on everything from school work to dating.
>> the main thing i want to go over for you girls is building up your confidence.
>> reporter: he also told the world about his life threatening heart condition .
>> it's cardio myopathy and i have a pacemaker.
>> reporter: the thickening of the heart muscle can lead to heart failure .
>> i'm not limited on anything, but i may have -- like i have to go in for check-ups and stuff. other than that it's not a big problem.
>> reporter: but it was a big problem. ben died on christmas day after a opening presents. but just before christmas, unbeknownest to anyone, ben sat down and quietly made a video with flash cards , sharing his hopes and fierce about his life long struggle with his failing heart. in his video, ben described how he had cheated death three times, beginning at age 4 and again this month when he collapsed at school. he wrote about a white light he had seen each time and the peace that he felt.
>> it was pretty overwhelming. because not only did we not know he had made it, but we could tell he was really speaking from his heart. we really appreciated the message he wanted to share with people.
>> reporter: on youtube, the world is responding. more than a million people have viewed the video. thousands have written comments and condolences, even creating their own flashcard videos. a phenomenon that didn't go unnoticed at ben 's funeral today, streamed online.
>> it seems like more than mere coincidence, the timing of everything and how ben 's message is now going literally to millions of people.
>> reporter: the unspoken words ben 's sister says, make the message more powerful.
>> i was noticing how perfect it was that he told his story through silence. and these cards instead of speaking a story because he was at peace when he was telling his story.
>> reporter: a teenager who gave advice, saving the best for last. ben breedlove was 18.
Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/nightly-news/45819873/
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AppDesigner: iPhone- en Mac-apps maken, zonder kennis van code - iPhoneclub.nl ow.ly/8c64X 
ThePhoneHouseNL The Phone House
Source: http://twitter.com/ThePhoneHouseNL/statuses/152330526869561344
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Welcome to your Personalized User Bar. Here, you can manage your account, sign up for newsletters, navigate to site sections, and share interesting content on social networks. You also can receive alerts on upcoming events, new products, or subscription/account activities.
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/bizj_national/~3/lnia8LOG1QA/pickens-invests-millions-in-clean.html
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In this June 9, 2011, photo, an evacuee lies down in her makeshift temporary home on the floor of the Big Palette convention center in Koriyama, Japan. Tens of thousands of people fled their homes surrounding the damaged nuclear power plant. (AP Photo/AP Photographer David Guttenfelder on assignment for National Geographic Magazine)
Buy Photo ASSOCIATED PRESS
IWAKI, Japan ? Fukushima was just emerging from the snows of winter when the disaster hit ? a 9.0-magnitude earthquake, the strongest in Japan's recorded history, followed by a tsunami.
The wall of water destroyed much of the northeastern coast on March 11. In the northeast region of Fukushima, a different disaster was brewing: Three reactors at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant were melting down, irreparably damaged by the super tremor.
Now, as the snows are beginning to fall again, the government has announced the plant has attained a level of stability it is calling a "cold shutdown." As many as 3,000 workers ? plumbers, engineers, technicians ? stream into the facility each day.
The tsunami's destruction is still visible. Mangled trucks, flipped over by the wave, sit alongside the roads inside the complex, piles of rubble stand where the walls of the reactor structures crumbled and large pools of water still cover parts of the campus.
In the ghost towns around Fukushima Dai-ichi, vines have overtaken streets, feral cows and owner-less dogs roam the fields. Dead chickens rot in their coops.
The tens of thousands of people who once lived around the plant have fled. They are now huddling in gymnasiums, elementary school classrooms, bunking with friends, sometimes just sleeping in their cars, moving from place to place as they search for alternatives.
For those who lived on the perimeter of the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant, fliers used to come in the mail every so often explaining that someday this might happen. Most recipients saw them as junk mail, and threw them away without a second glance. For those who did read them, the fliers were always worded to be reassuring ? suggesting that although a catastrophic nuclear accident was extremely unlikely, it could require evacuating the area.
Never was it even hinted that the evacuation could last years, or decades.
At most of the shelters, food is doled out military-style, at set times. Personal space is extremely limited, often just big enough to fit a futon and the collective snoring at night makes sleep fitful, at best. Baths are public, cramped, dark.
The total amount of radiation released from the plant is still unknown, and the impact of chronic low-dose radiation exposures in and around Fukushima is a matter of scientific debate.
Recent studies also suggest Japan continues to significantly underestimate the scale of the disaster ? which could have health and safety implications far into the future.
According to a study led by Andreas Stohl the Norwegian Institute for Air Research, twice as much radioactive cesium-137 ? a cancer-causing agent ? was pumped into the atmosphere than Japan had announced, reaching 40 percent of the total from Chernobyl. The French Institute for Radiological Protection and Nuclear Safety found 30 times more cesium-137 was released into the Pacific than the plant's owner has acknowledged.
Under a detailed roadmap, plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. will remove the melted nuclear fuel, most of which is believed to have fallen to the bottom of the core or even down to the bottom of the larger, beaker-shaped containment vessel, a process that is expected to begin in 10 years.
All told, decommissioning the plant will likely take 40 years.
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press.
Source: http://www.goupstate.com/article/20111228/wire/111229793
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PALM HARBOR, Fla. ? A Florida animal sanctuary says Cheetah the chimpanzee sidekick in the Tarzan movies of the early 1930s has died at age 80.
The Suncoast Primate Sanctuary in Palm Harbor announced that Cheetah died Dec. 24 of kidney failure.
Sanctuary outreach director Debbie Cobb on Wednesday told The Tampa Tribune ( http://bit.ly/rRuTeJ) that Cheetah was outgoing, loved finger painting and liked to see people laugh. She says he seemed to be tuned into human feelings.
Based on the works of author Edgar Rice Burroughs, the Tarzan stories, which have spawned scores of books and films over the years, chronicle the adventures of a man who was raised by apes in Africa.
Cheetah was the comic relief in the Tarzan films that starred American Olympic gold medal swimmer Johnny Weissmuller. Cobb says Cheetah came to the sanctuary from Weissmuller's estate sometime around 1960.
Cobb says Cheetah wasn't a troublemaker. Still, sanctuary volunteer Ron Priest says that when the chimp didn't like what was going on, he would throw feces.
___
Online:
http://suncoastprimate.homestead.com/
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SEOUL (Reuters) ? North Korea lauded the military might built up by deceased leader Kim Jong-il on Thursday, likely tying his young successor to the same policies that have set Northeast Asia on edge as the impoverished state inches closer to nuclear weapons capability.
A gathering of 100,000, soldiers in uniform and bare-headed civilians, gathered in silence in wintry sunlight in the capital Pyongyang to mourn the passing of the man who had led the country for 17 years until his death on December 17.
Kim Jong-un, a jowly man in his late 20s who will become the third of his line to lead North Korea, took centre stage overlooking the central square named after his grandfather to listen to tributes to the "great revolutionary."
"Great Leader Kim Jong-il ... laid the foundation for our people to live on as autonomous people of a world-class military power and a proud nuclear state," parliament chief Kim Yong-nam said in the eulogy.
The North has conducted two nuclear tests.
Larry Niksch, who has tracked North Korea for the non-partisan U.S. Congressional Research Service for 43 years, believes it could take as little as one to two years to have a working nuclear missile once it produced enough highly-enriched uranium for the warhead's core fuel.
That could threaten regional security and give the North a powerful bargaining tool in extracting aid for its economy.
North Korea's state television footage showed the young Kim flanked to his right by the country's top military general Ri Yong-ho on the balcony of the Granc People's Study House. Also nearby him were Defense Minister Kim Yong-chun, and his uncle and the key power-broker in the transition, Jang Song-thaek.
Jang, 65, is believed to be the regent heading a select group of caretakers, as the brother-in-law of Kim Jong-il who survived purges to become his closest confidant who oversaw the power succession before his death of a heart attack.
He stood behind the younger Kim in Wednesday's mass funeral parade, escorting the hearse carrying the coffin.
Solemn and grimacing, the younger Kim, believed to be born in early 1984, stood motionless throughout the ceremony. He only came to the forefront of the North's dynastic succession last year by taking on key military and ruling party posts.
"Comrade Kim Jong-un is the highest leader of the party and people who takes on Great Leader Kim Jong-il's philosophy and leadership, personality and morals, courage and audacity," Kim Yong-nam said.
CRUEL AND CUNNING ENOUGH TO SUCCEED?
Mourners, their heads bowed as the ceremony concluded, spilled over to both sides of the Taedong River as temperatures stood at about minus 10 Celsius (14 Fahrenheit). Boats moored on the river and trains in their yards blew their whistles for three minutes to mourn Kim Jong-il's passing.
The eulogies were short on boasts about economic achievements from a strongman who used his Songun, or "military first," policy to divert resources to build a conventional and weapons of mass destruction program.
The North's economic output is now smaller than in the 1990s under the rule of his father Kim Il-sung, who founded the state in 1948, and it has been squeezed harder under international sanctions for its missile and nuclear tests.
Gyorgy Toloraya, a Russian expert who is Director of Korean Programs at the Institute of Economy at the Russian Academy of Sciences, who met Kim Jong-il for the first time in 2000 described him as "fast and witty and having "a remarkable memory" on any subject.
"...one exclusion might be modern economics, in which he, it seemed, was not so very interested, regarding it just as a tool for rich Westerners to extract profits from their fellow compatriots and poor countries," Tolaraya wrote on 38North, a website published by the U.S.-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.
Most Korea-watchers do not expect the North to stage a repeat of the attacks it undertook in 2010 when it killed South Korean civilians with an artillery barrage and, according to most observers, sank a South Korean naval vessel. It denied sinking the vessel and says it was provoked into the barrage.
It may take Kim Jong-un some months to assume the full panoply of official titles held by his father.
"The real question is whether the new Kim has the cruelty and cunning, qualities that his father and grandfather Kim Il-sung possessed in plenty, to preserve in the long run the essential engine of the destitute dynasty he inherits," wrote Sung-Yoon Lee of Tufts University, a leading North Korea watcher.
(Editing by Ron Popeski and Ed Lane)
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By Ian Walker
LONDON (MarketWatch) -- The London Stock Exchange Group said Wednesday it saw good growth across all four of its key business divisions in 2011 delivering a 79% uplift in profit before tax for the first half financial year 2012.
MAIN FACTS:
-Total IPO money raised during year was GBP12.6 billion, a 27% increase on 2010 (GBP9.9 billion).
-Order book for Retail Bonds raised over GBP860 million in only its second year of operation.
-Remains focused on diversifying our business, driving organic and inorganic opportunities, working with customers and leveraging on our assets.
-2012 promises to be another exciting year.
-Shares at 1045 GMT up 1 pence, or 0.1%, at 787 pence valuing the company at GBP2.13 billion.
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But according to Houma Today in Terrebonne Parish, La., there were nearly 100 reports of tiger prawns this fall in Louisiana alone, with one dock counting 100 individuals. Texas' first confirmed specimen was also caught this June, the Houston Chronicle reports, followed soon after by four more. And the U.S. Geological Survey reported eight tiger prawns this year in Mississippi, 11 in Florida and 18 in Alabama ? compared with zero, two and zero respectively for those states in 2010. The USGS listed 42 such reports nationwide in 2009, and just 18 in 2008.?
While no one is sure what kind of ecological impact tiger prawns could have in the Gulf, their appetite isn't the only concern. The species is also a known carrier of at least 16 different viruses, including white spot, yellowhead and others that can be deadly to crustaceans. Taken together, these dangers could threaten not only the Gulf's native brown and white shrimp, but also various species of crabs and oysters.
?
"It has the potential to be real ugly," Leslie Hartman, a biologist with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, tells the Houston Chronicle. "But we just do not know." Fellow biologist Marty Bourgeois of Louisiana's Department of Wildlife and Fisheries echoes that sentiment. "There's a certain unknown about what ecological impacts that something non-indigenous like this can have on the local environment," he tells Houma Today. "But it is somewhat alarming that these reports have suddenly ramped up."
?
In addition to its vast native habitat, the tiger prawn is also one of the most widely cultivated species of shrimp or prawn on Earth, according to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (see chart below). The top producers are mainly in Asia, but it's farmed around the world. Scientists aren't sure where the Gulf invaders came from, although a leading theory suggests they escaped from aquaculture facilities.?
Global aquaculture production of Penaeus monodon, 1950-2010
?
A South Carolina farm accidentially released a cluster of tiger prawns in 1988, the Associated Press notes, and they may have found a way to spread without detection until now. That's not uncommon with invasive species, which often lie low for generations before exploding across their new habitat. Asian carp likely escaped from Arkansas fish farms in the 1970s, for example, but didn't become a regional menace until years afterward (and scientists now fear a similar pattern in the Great Lakes).?
A migration from South Carolina would still be challenging, though, and there are other possibilities. Tiger prawns could have fled U.S. aquaculture farms during hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005, for instance, or from operations in the Caribbean Sea and Central America during more recent storms. Scientists plan to conduct genetic tests on the newly caught prawns to determine their origin, the Chronicle reports, but at least 60 specimens will be needed to ensure an accurate analysis.
?
The case of loose tiger prawns also casts a broader spotlight on Gulf Coast aquaculture, which the Obama administration authorized in 2009 despite criticism from environmental and fishing groups. Diseases like white spot naturally exist at low levels in the wild, but ? much like at industrial cattle, poultry or hog farms ? they can grow more virulent when their hosts are densely packed together.
?
And while U.S. regulations are generally stricter for farming non-native species, it's hard to completely prevent escapes from happening ? especially during hurricanes or heavy floods. Even if tiger prawns don't devastate native shrimp with disease, they still eat many of the same food sources, putting them in direct competition. They're also known to eat some smaller crustaceans.
?
It's too soon to know the scope of the problem, but a reproducing population of tiger prawn in the Gulf could easily be disastrous. The region is already home to a menagerie of invasive species ? from tilapia and lionfish to zebra mussels and nutria ? and parts of it remain devastated by the 2010 BP oil spill. An alien predator as big and prolific as the tiger prawn is the last thing such a fragile ecosystem needs.?
Still, there may be a silver lining ? for humans, at least. Campaigns promoting invasive species as cuisine have gained steam in recent years, whether it's lionfish in Miami or Asian carp in Memphis, and there's a reason tiger prawn are so widely cultivated. The big, meaty crustaceans command an even higher market price than native brown shrimp, the Chronicle points out, raising the possibility that they too could become a profitable Gulf Coast commodity.?
"It could be another crop," Hartman explains, "but at the expense of our native crop."
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Source: http://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/animals/blogs/giant-tiger-prawn-invades-gulf-of-mexico
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With tablets?finding their way into more and more households, there is a sensible need for a child-friendly solution. For most, giving your child free rein over an expensive device like the iPad 2?($499-$829, 4.5 stars) may not be the best idea. Not only are parents afraid of damage to their precious pads, but they should also be concerned about exposure to inappropriate content. That's where Fuhu's Nabi Kids Tablet ($199.99, sold exclusively at Toys R Us) steps in. The 7-inch? tablet features two distinct Android environments; one sheltered interface catering to kids and one nearly full featured, traditional Android interface. The Nabi is not a toy, but it is also not quite a tablet either. It packs a collection of pre-loaded apps and content, and a customizable child-safe interface, in a tablet that comes with a thick rubber bumper. But some problems with functionality and responsiveness hold the Nabi tablet back.??
Design and Display
The first thing you will notice about the Nabi is its striking red, oversized rubber bumper. This thing is really solid and looks like it could withstand most anything a child might throw at it (or throw it at). But the bumper isn't integrated into the tablet; it's just a peel-off gel case. It's too easily removable and doesn't make the tablet waterproof. It does offer solid drop protection, but it also makes the Power and Volume buttons difficult to press.
Under the rubber bumper is an unassuming white plastic slab. Together with the bumper, the Nabi measures 10.6 by 7.7 by 3.5 inches (HWD) and weighs 1.2 pounds; bigger and heavier than the Kindle Fire?($199, 4 stars) at 7.5 by 4.7 by .45 inches (HWD) and 14.6 ounces, but far better equipped for the rigors of playtime. The Nabi sports a 7-inch, 800-by-480-pixel TFT display, a low resolution you're more likely to find on a phone than a tablet. It's an upgrade over child-oriented tablets like the LeapFrog LeapPad Explorer's ($99, 4.5 stars) 480-by-272-pixel display, but not as nice as the 1,024-by-600 screens on high-quality 7-inch tablets like the the Kindle Fire or Nook Tablet?($249, 4 stars). The screen is bright, and viewing angles are pretty narrow. The biggest problem with the Nabi's display is unresponsiveness. In my tests, it often took multiple touches to get the desired response. This was while navigating through the tablet's interface, and playing games like Cut the Rope.
The tablet is equipped with a mini HDMI port, so you can connect it to an HDTV for playback, and a front-facing camera. For connectivity, there's 802.11b/g Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.
OS, Apps, Performance
The real draw of the Nabi Kids Tablet is the kids-only interface it lays on top of the now-obsolete Android 2.2. Kidz Mode is a child-safe, stripped-down environment that basically consists of oversized app icons, as well as shortcuts to Nabi's child-friendly Web and multimedia content. Any parent worried about what kind of trouble their kids can get into will appreciate the walled-off nature of Kidz Mode.
Parents can customize what apps appear in Kidz Mode, deciding for themselves what is or is not appropriate for their child. The tablet comes preloaded with games, educational apps, and childrens' books and videos. You get Angry Birds and Cut the Rope, 30 preloaded childrens' books with audio tracks for reading along, and Fooz Kids University, which is math training software for elementary schoolers. Kidz Mode also features a section of kid-safe Web shortcuts to third-party sites like Cartoon Network.
Though the browser supports Flash, which is used heavily in the third-party websites, the games and content didn't work very well on the Nabi in my tests. The sites were clearly meant to be enjoyed on a real computer, with little mobile, let alone tablet, optimization. For instance, one Cartoon Network link leads to a Flash-based game, which loads properly, but requires keyboard and mouse controls to work, which the Nabi lacks.
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/x3r4SDvt9vo/0,2817,2397906,00.asp
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BEIJING (Reuters) ? China's cabinet criticized the powerful Railways Ministry on Wednesday for lax safety standards and poor handling of a crash in July which killed 40 people, and said there may be prosecutions though it remained committed to high-speed rail.
The government has struggled to address public fury over the accident near the booming coastal city of Wenzhou, when a high-speed train rammed into another one stranded on the track after being hit by lightning.
Premier Wen Jiabao vowed that the investigation would be thorough and transparent -- though the cabinet's report was pushed back from mid-September for technical reasons and to give the team more time to pour over documents.
An account of the conclusions of the investigation presented to Wen at a cabinet meeting said the accident was due to serious design flaws in control equipment and improper handling of the lightning strike, broadly in line with initial findings.
The Railways Ministry "did not properly handle rescue efforts, did not issue information in a timely manner and did not correctly address public concerns, which created a bad influence in society," the central government said in a statement on its website (www.gov.cn).
The accident prompted a huge public outcry on microblogging services, with users expressing anger at the perceived poor official response and pulling apart accounts of the crash and the rescue efforts.
Seeking to assuage public anger, the government fired three mid-level railway officials a day after the crash.
The report detailed 54 officials who would receive administrative punishments, and said more serious penalties could follow for them.
"Legal authorities are currently conducting an independent investigation in accordance with the law into whether or not these relevant responsible officials committed crimes," it said.
It laid particular blame at the door of former railways minister Liu Zhijun, though he was dismissed months before the crash, in February, over corruption charges that have not yet been tried in court.
Liu "has the main leadership responsibility for the accident," it said.
"INTERNATIONAL JOKE"
Current minister Sheng Guangzu would have to present a "thorough self-criticism" to the cabinet, it added, demanding the ministry and companies which made the faulty control systems drastically improve the way they operate.
"Completely upgrade the safety management level of the railways, especially when it comes to building and operating high-speed railways," it added.
Microbloggers were quick to denounce the findings, suggesting the government still has a long way to go to restore public trust.
"This probe will become an international joke," wrote "hjerryzhu" on the Twitter-like Sina Weibo.
"The Communist Party has become a byword for hypocrisy, lies and violence," said "kaherd."
The government has said it would suspend railway project approvals and launch safety checks on equipment to address anger after the Wenzhou crash on what was a new high-speed rail line.
The ministry plans to cut its annual railway investment by 15 percent in 2012 to 400 billion yuan, state media said last week.
The ministry also faces soaring debt. In August, it said its total liabilities at the end of June were 2.1 trillion yuan ($330 million), up by nearly half from the end of 2009 and bringing its liability-to-asset ratio up to 59 percent.
However, the government said it remained committed to building high-speed railways, which China plans eventually to run into Russia and down to Southeast Asia.
"High speed railways improve people's ability to travel and promote economic development. Building and developing high speed railways is the correct course," it said in a separate statement.
($1 = 6.3226 yuan)
(Additional reporting Zhou Xin and Sally Huang; Editing by Robert Birsel)
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MADALLA, Nigeria ? Women returned to clean the blood from St. Theresa Catholic Church on Monday and one man wept uncontrollably amid its debris as a Nigerian Christian association demanded protection for its churches.
At least 35 people died at St. Theresa and dozens more were wounded as radical Muslim militants launched coordinated attacks across Africa's most populous nation within hours of one another. Four more people were killed in other violence blamed on the group known as Boko Haram.
Crowds gathered among the burned-out cars in the church's dirt parking lot Monday, angry over the attack and fearful that the group will target more of their places of worship.
It was the second year in a row that the extremists seeking to install Islamic Shariah law across the country of 160 million staged such attacks. Last year, a series of bombings on Christmas Eve killed 32 people in Nigeria.
Rev. Father Christopher Jataudarde told The Associated Press that Sunday's blast happened as church officials gave parishioners white powder as part of a tradition celebrating the birth of Christ. Some already had left the church at the time of the bombing, causing the massive casualties.
In the ensuing chaos, a mortally wounded man had cradled his wounded stomach and begged a priest for religious atonement. "Father, pray for me. I will not survive," he said.
At least 52 people were wounded in the blast, said Slaku Luguard, a coordinator with Nigeria's National Emergency Management Agency. Victims filled the cement floors of a nearby government hospital, some crying in pools of their own blood.
Pope Benedict XVI denounced the bombing at his post-Christmas blessing Monday, urging people to pray for the victims and Nigeria's Christian community.
"In this moment, I want to repeat once again with force: Violence is a path that leads only to pain, destruction and death. Respect, reconciliation and love are the only path to peace," he said.
The U.N. Security Council condemned the attacks "in the strongest terms" and called for the perpetrators, organizers, financiers and sponsors "of these reprehensible acts" to be brought to justice.
The African Union also condemned the attacks and pledged to support Nigeria in its fight against terrorism.
"Boko Haram's continued acts of terror and cruelty and absolute disregard for human life cannot be justified by any religion or faith," said a statement attributed to AU commission chairman Jean Ping.
On Sunday, a bomb also exploded amid gunfire in the central Nigeria city of Jos and a suicide car bomber attacked the military in the nation's northeast. Three people died in those assaults.
After the bombings, a Boko Haram spokesman using the nom de guerre Abul-Qaqa claimed responsibility for the attacks in an interview with The Daily Trust, the newspaper of record across Nigeria's Muslim north. The sect has used the newspaper in the past to communicate with public.
"There will never be peace until our demands are met," the newspaper quoted the spokesman as saying. "We want all our brothers who have been incarcerated to be released; we want full implementation of the Sharia system and we want democracy and the constitution to be suspended."
Boko Haram has carried out increasingly sophisticated and bloody attacks in its campaign to implement strict Shariah law across Nigeria. The group, whose name means "Western education is sacrilege" in the local Hausa language, is responsible for at least 504 killings this year alone, according to an Associated Press count.
Last year, a series of Christmas Eve bombings in Jos claimed by the militants left at least 32 dead and 74 wounded. The group also claimed responsibility for the Aug. 26 bombing of the United Nations headquarters in Nigeria's capital Abuja that killed 24 people and wounded 116 others.
While initially targeting enemies via hit-and-run assassinations from the back of motorbikes after the 2009 riot, violence by Boko Haram now has a new sophistication and apparent planning that includes high-profile attacks with greater casualties.
That has fueled speculation about the group's ties as it has splintered into at least three different factions, diplomats and security sources say. They say the more extreme wing of the sect maintains contact with terror groups in North Africa and Somalia.
Targeting Boko Haram has remained difficult, as sect members are scattered throughout northern Nigeria and the nearby countries of Cameroon, Chad and Niger.
Analysts say political considerations also likely play a part in the country's thus-far muted response: President Goodluck Jonathan, a Christian from the south, may be hesitant to use force in the nation's predominantly Muslim north.
Speaking late Sunday at a prayer service, Jonathan described the bombing as an "ugly incident."
"There is no reason for these kind of dastardly acts," the president said in a ceremony aired by the state-run Nigerian Television Authority. "It's one of the burdens as a nation we have to carry. We believe it will not last forever."
However, others don't remain as sure as the president. The northern state section of the powerful Christian Association of Nigeria issued a statement late Monday night demanding government protection for its churches, warning that "the situation may degenerate to a religious war."
"We shall henceforth in the midst of these provocations and wanton destruction of innocent lives and property be compelled to make our own efforts and arrangements to protect the lives of innocent Christians and peace loving citizens of this country," the statement read.
"We are therefore calling on all Christians to be law abiding but defend themselves whenever the need arises."
___
Jon Gambrell reported from Lagos, Nigeria and can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/jongambrellAP.
___
Associated Press writers Ibrahim Garba in Kano, Nigeria and Bashir Adigun in Abuja, Nigeria contributed to this report.
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Grumpy? Giddy? According to some measures, bees appear to experience moods.
Image: Charles Krebs/Corbis
If you have never watched bees carefully, you are missing out. Look closely as they gently curl and uncoil their mouthparts around food, and you will sense that they are not just eating but enjoying their meal. Watch a bit more, and the hesitant flicks and sags of their antennae seem to convey some kind of emotion. Do those twitches signal annoyance? Or something like enthusiasm?
Whether bees really experience any of these emotions is an open scientific question. It is also an important one, with implications for how we should treat not just bees but the great majority of animals. Recently studies by Melissa Bateson and her colleagues at Newcastle University in England have rekindled the debate over these issues by showing that honeybees may experience something akin to moods.
Using simple behavioral tests, Bate?son?s team showed that honeybees under stress tend to be pessimistic. Other tests have demonstrated that monkeys, dogs and starlings all tend to react similarly under duress and likewise see the proverbial glass as half empty. Although this finding does not?and cannot?prove that bees experience humanlike emotions, it does give pause. We should take seriously the possibility that insects, too, have emotions.
Beeline to the Brain
First, a little bit about bees. They are members of the diverse group of animals lacking backbones?indeed, more than 95 percent of all animal species are invertebrates. Despite the varied and often nuanced behaviors they can exhibit, invertebrates are sometimes regarded as life?s second string, a mindless and unfeeling band of alien critters. If that seems somewhat melodramatic, just consider our willingness to boil some of them alive.
Those judgments tend to arise from arguments about invertebrates? failure to demonstrate the behaviors we usually associate with a pain response. Whereas the yelps and grimaces of other mammals are familiar to us as announcements of hurt, invertebrates can appear to take their injuries in stride. Insects are commonly observed using their crushed limbs with undiminished force when walking, for example, and a locust will reportedly carry on with a meal while it is being eaten by a mantis.
Other attempts to draw a dividing line between creatures that feel and those that do not are rooted in comparative brain anatomy. Invertebrates lack a cortex, an amygdala and many of the other major brain structures routinely implicated in human emotion. Their nervous systems are quite minimalist compared with ours: we have roughly 100,000 bee brains? worth of neurons in our head. Some invertebrates, however, including insects, do possess a rudimentary version of our stress response system. So the question remains: Do they experience emotion in a way that we would recognize, or do they simply react to the world with an elaborate set of reflexes?
To gain some traction on this fascinating question, Bateson?s team followed the lead of recent investigations on ?pessimistic biases? in animals. In humans, the pessimistic bias refers to our well-known tendency to perceive threats or anticipate negative outcomes more frequently when we are feeling anxious or depressed. For example, in tests where people are shown ambiguous statements such as ?the doctor examined little Emily?s growth,? anxious individuals are less likely than others to conclude that Emily is fine and only her height was being checked.
Although the link between bad moods and negative judgments may not be terribly surprising, this correlation is still useful. We rely on it in our daily lives to make informed guesses about how people are feeling by observing their actions and choices. Scientifically, we can use it to study the emotions of creatures unable to tell us directly how they feel. The key here is to set up a controlled situation where animals encounter an ambiguous stimulus?think of it as a nonverbal version of the Emily statement.
Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=a6f6b37e1b8b7408c7853aeb27b41cd8
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It's been a while since there was any sense of anticipation surrounding the U.K. Christmas number one, nabbed, as it has been by Simon Cowell's enterprises. But for only the second time in seven years, a non-Cowell act has topped the U.K singles charts at Christmas.
And while X Factor wins often benefit from a tale of woe, ersatz or otherwise, the latest number one is about as genuinely poignant as it gets.
Military Wives, Italian Donkey Song, Nirvana: The Always Entertaining & Bizarre Race For UK's No. 1 Christmas Single
The Military Wives Choir was formed by TV choirmaster Gareth Malone for a BBC2 documentary earlier this year. The choir, made up of spouses of the U.K's military, captured the hearts of the nation with its performance of a specially commissioned piece, "Wherever You Are" at the Festival Of Remembrance at London's Albert Hall in November (and broadcast on BBC1).
As luck would have it, Decca's president Dickon Stainer was in the audience and persuaded them to record the single, "for posterity as much as anything else," then their story took off thanks in part to Radio 2 DJ Chris Evans and the single was released on Universal/Decca. Pre-release it became the most ordered track in Amazon's history and in its first week sold 556,000 copies, outselling the rest of the top 10 combined and the X Factor single by a six-to-one margin.
With 40 pence (about 63 cents) in every physical and 50p? (78 cents) in every digital release going to the Royal British Legion and Sailors, Airmen and Families Association (SSAFA) charities, it's got the feel-good factor pretty much sewn-up. Moreover, the words to the song were written by composer Paul Mealor who used the wives' real-life letters to and from their partners during their six-month tours of Afghanistan.
As well as being a blow for Cowell, the track is a major coup for its Mealor, whose career looks set to go stratospheric, or as stratospheric as a modern classical composer's career can go. Mealor's work, "Ubi Caritas," was performed at the Royal Wedding in April but this new exposure has seen his album, "A Tender Light" (Decca Classics) top the classical charts for the last five weeks. Says Stainer, "It's amazing to have a living classical composer as number one in the classical charts alone but this will see a move to upscale his album to supermarkets."
For Mealor's part, being performed at Westminster Abbey and being the "gimmick" single of the year, aren't mutually exclusive. "Music has to be useful and shouldn't exist in an ivory tower," he says, "Mozart's music was sung in the street. We have lost that. It's important that composers are engaged with pop culture. There is this snobbish view that because I have had a Christmas number one, I can't write a symphony."
And he'd better get used to his new status. "The other day I was in a taxi and the driver was humming along," he laughs, "which was strange." And there has been interest in further recordings of the single, though he won't be drawn out by whom, saying only, tantalizingly, "some pretty big names?"
Both Mealor and Stainer agree that the track's appeal lies in its simplicity and honesty. Says Mealor, "It was never intended as a Christmas tune. It was not a manufactured thing at all."
But we were ready for it, Says Stainer, "The nation was ready for a feel-good story."
Despite U.K. newspaper reports to the contrary, we won't be seeing a Military Wives album any time soon. Says Stainer, "We'll go away for Christmas and think about it. We might have a conversation in the New Year about it but they are working wives with responsibilities. We'll see?"
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Weigh in Wednesday: How much market share will Windows Phone gain in 2012? ow.ly/8bsIf #wpdev #microsoft #att #verizon #sprint 
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Source: http://twitter.com/wpdevpodcast/statuses/151935430093307904
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Wisconsin punches far above its weight in pop music - Eau Claire & Madison best NY, LA, London on per capita basis - Source: http://twitter.com/Richard_Florida/statuses/151655113654673408
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