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Source: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/21134540/vp/49624875#49624875
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Wednesday, October 31, 2012
Smokers miss work more often, cost UK billions - study
(Reuters) - Smokers miss an average of two or three more days of work each year than non-smokers, with this absenteeism costing the UK alone 1.4 billion pounds last year, according to a UK study.
The report, which appeared in the journal Addiction, analysed 29 separate studies conducted between 1960 and 2011 in Europe, Australia and New Zealand, the United States and Japan, with a total of over 71,000 public and private sector workers.
Researchers asked the workers about their current and former smoking habits and used surveys or medical and employee records to track how often they were absent over an average of two years.
Current smokers were 33 percent more likely to miss work than non-smokers, and they were absent an average of 2.7 extra days per year, according to Jo Leonardi-Bee of the University of Nottingham and her colleagues.
The researchers calculated that current smokers were still 19 percent more likely to miss work than ex-smokers, so encouraging smokers to quit could help reverse some of the lost-work trends.
"Quitting smoking appears to reduce absenteeism and result in substantial cost-savings for employers," wrote Leonardi-Bee and her colleagues.
The 1.4 billion pounds lost in the UK due to smoking-related absenteeism is only one cost of smoking in the workplace, according to Leonardi-Bee and her colleagues. Others include productivity lost to smoking breaks and the cost of cigarette, related fire damage.
In the analysis, smoking was tied to workers' short-term absences as well as leaves of four weeks or more.
"Clearly the most important message for any individual's health is, 'Quit smoking,' but I think that message is pretty well out there," said Douglas Levy, a tobacco and public health researcher from the Harvard Medical School in Boston who wasn't a part of the study.
"I think (the study) does point to the fact that this is something that doesn't just affect the individual, it affects the economy as well."
Levy's own research has shown that children living with smokers are more likely to be absent from school. Secondhand smoke has been tied to a range of health ailments, from asthma to heart attacks, so employees who light up may also have to miss work more often to stay at home with sick family members.
Levy said the most important finding was the reduction in absenteeism after workers quit smoking, supporting the idea of companies funding smoking-cessation classes and other workplace health programs. SOURCE: http://bitly.com/W2Djfq
(Reporting from New York by Genevra Pittman, editing by Elaine Lies)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/smokers-miss-more-often-cost-uk-billions-study-022246092--finance.html
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Sandy's death toll climbs; millions without power
NEW YORK (AP) ? Millions of people from Maine to the Carolinas awoke Tuesday without electricity, and an eerily quiet New York City was all but closed off by car, train and air as superstorm Sandy steamed inland, still delivering punishing wind and rain. The U.S. death toll climbed to 34, many of the victims killed by falling trees.
The full extent of the damage in New Jersey, where the storm roared ashore Monday night with hurricane force, was unclear. Police and fire officials, some with their own departments flooded, fanned out to rescue hundreds.
"We are in the midst of urban search and rescue. Our teams are moving as fast as they can," Gov. Chris Christie said. "The devastation on the Jersey Shore is some of the worst we've ever seen. The cost of the storm is incalculable at this point."
More than 8.2 million people across the East were without power. Airlines canceled more than 15,000 flights around the world, and it could be days before the mess is untangled and passengers can get where they're going.
The storm also disrupted the presidential campaign with just a week to go before Election Day.
President Barack Obama canceled a third straight day of campaigning, scratching events scheduled for Wednesday in swing state Ohio, which got clobbered by Sandy's winds as the storm pushed west. Republican Mitt Romney resumed his campaign, but with plans to turn a political rally in Ohio into a "storm relief event."
Lower Manhattan, which includes Wall Street, was among the hardest-hit areas after the storm sent a nearly 14-foot surge of seawater, a record, coursing over its seawalls and highways and into low-lying streets.
Water cascaded into the gaping, unfinished construction pit at the World Trade Center, and the New York Stock Exchange was closed for a second day, the first time that has happened because of weather in more than a century.
A huge fire destroyed as many as 100 houses in a flooded beachfront neighborhood in Queens on Tuesday, forcing firefighters to undertake daring rescues. Three people were injured.
A downtown hospital, New York University's Tisch, evacuated 200 patients after its backup generator failed. About 20 babies from the neonatal intensive care unit were carried down staircases and on battery-powered respirators.
And a construction crane that collapsed in the high winds on Monday still dangled precariously 74 floors above the streets of midtown Manhattan. And on Staten Island, a tanker ship wound up beached on the shore.
With water standing in two major commuter tunnels and seven subway tunnels under the East River, and Mayor Michael Bloomberg said it was unclear when the nation's largest transit system would be rolling again. It shut down Sunday night ahead of the storm.
Joseph Lhota, chairman of the regional Metropolitan Transportation Authority, said the damage was the worst in the 108-year history of the New York subway.
The saltwater surge inundated subway signals, switches and electrified third rails and covered tracks with sludge. Workers began pumping the water out and will ultimately have to walk all of the hundreds of miles of track to inspect it.
Millions of more fortunate New Yorkers surveyed damage as dawn broke, their city brought to an extraordinary standstill.
"Oh, Jesus. Oh, no," Faye Schwartz said she looked over damage in neighborhood in Brooklyn, where cars were scattered like leaves.
Reggie Thomas, a maintenance supervisor at a prison near the overflowing Hudson River, emerged from an overnight shift there, a toothbrush in his front pocket, to find his Honda with its windows down and a foot of water inside. The windows automatically go down when the car is submerged to free drivers.
"It's totaled," Thomas said with a shrug. "You would have needed a boat last night."Besides the subway and the stock exchange, most major tunnels and bridges in New York were closed, as were schools, Broadway theaters and the metropolitan area's three main airports, LaGuardia, Kennedy and Newark.
"This will be one for the record books," said John Miksad, senior vice president for electric operations at Consolidated Edison, which had more than 670,000 customers without power in and around New York City.
The death toll climbed rapidly, and included 17 victims in New York State ? 10 of them in New York City ? along with five dead in Pennsylvania and three in New Jersey. Sandy also killed 69 people in the Caribbean before making its way up the Eastern Seaboard.
In New Jersey, Sandy destroyed several blocks of Atlantic City's world-famous boardwalk and wrecked several other boardwalks up and down the coast. A Seaside Heights roller coaster was left partially submerged in the ocean.
A huge swell of water swept over the small New Jersey town of Moonachie, near the Hackensack River, and authorities struggled to rescue about 800 people, some of them living in a trailer park.
And in neighboring Little Ferry, water suddenly started gushing out of storm drains overnight, submerging a road under 4 feet of water and swamping houses.
Police and fire officials used boats and trucks to reach the stranded.
"I looked out and the next thing you know, the water just came up through the grates. It came up so quickly you couldn't do anything about it. If you wanted to move your car to higher ground you didn't have enough time," said Little Ferry resident Leo Quigley, who with his wife was taken to higher ground by boat.
Jersey City was closed to cars because traffic lights were out, and Hoboken, just over the Hudson River from Manhattan, dealt with major flooding.
Remnants of the hurricane were forecast to head across Pennsylvania before taking another sharp turn into western New York by Wednesday morning. Although weakening as it goes, the storm will continue to bring heavy rain and flooding, said Daniel Brown of the National Hurricane Center in Miami.
As Hurricane Sandy closed in on the Northeast, it converged with a cold-weather system that turned it into a monstrous hybrid of rain, high wind ? and even snow in West Virginia and other mountainous areas inland.
In a measure of how big the storm was, high winds spinning off the edge of Sandy clobbered the Cleveland area early Tuesday, uprooting trees, cutting power to hundreds of thousands, closing schools and flooding major roads along Lake Erie.
Hundreds of miles from the storm's center, gusts topping 60 mph prompted officials to close the port of Portland, Maine, and scared away several cruise ships.
Just before it made landfall at 8 p.m. near Atlantic City, N.J., forecasters stripped Sandy of hurricane status, but the distinction was purely technical, based on its shape and internal temperature.
While the hurricane's 80 mph winds registered as only a Category 1 on a scale of five, it packed the lowest barometric pressure on record in the Northeast, giving it terrific energy to push water inland.
Obama declared a major disaster in the city and Long Island.
In New York, the construction crane atop a 1,000-foot, $1.5 billion luxury high-rise in midtown Manhattan dangled for a second day while authorities tried to figure out how to secure it. Thousands were ordered to leave nearby buildings as a precaution, including 900 guests at the ultramodern Le Parker Meridien hotel.
Alice Goldberg, 15, a tourist from Paris, was watching television in the hotel ? whose slogan is "Uptown, Not Uptight" ? when a voice came over the loudspeaker and told everyone to leave.
"They said to take only what we needed, and leave the rest, because we'll come back in two or three days," she said as she and hundreds of others gathered in the luggage-strewn marble lobby. "I hope so."
An explosion Monday night at a substation for Consolidated Edison, the main utility service New York City, knocked out power to about 310,000 customers in Manhattan.
"It sounded like the Fourth of July," Stephen Weisbrot said from his 10th-floor apartment.
In Baltimore, fire officials said four unoccupied rowhouses collapsed in the storm, sending debris into the street but causing no injuries. A blizzard in western Maryland caused a pileup of tractor-trailers that blocked part of Interstate 68 on slippery Big Savage Mountain.
"It's like a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs up here," said Bill Wiltson, a Maryland State Police dispatcher.
___
Hays reported from New York and Breed reported from Raleigh, N.C.; AP Science Writer Seth Borenstein contributed to this report from Washington. Associated Press writers David Dishneau in Delaware City, Del., Katie Zezima in Atlantic City, Emery P. Dalesio in Elizabeth City, N.C., and Erika Niedowski in Cranston, R.I., also contributed.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/sandys-death-toll-climbs-millions-without-power-155442547--finance.html
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Monday, October 29, 2012
Home Improvement for Busy Families | The New Home Ec
We have been planning for over a month now to redo the stairs. I?ve searched for ideas, bought the supplies, and scheduled no less than 3 work days. It seemed like a fairly simple process ? pull up the carpet, paint the stairs, choose a decorating scheme.
Then, life happened.
At first, we had trouble finding a free weekend. There was volleyball, soccer, Girl Scouts, and school activities. Once we made it through the sports? seasons, we had a little more time on our hands. I thought for sure we?d be able to tackle the project in just a few hours. Yeah, I?m hilarious.
On our first planned work weekend, the tween was diagnosed with scarlet fever (no, seriously) so the weekend was spent hauling her to the doctor, then the urgent care center, and then to the pharmacy. We spent the rest of the weekend nursing her back to health and keeping the children separated.
I can?t even remember what happened the next weekend, but I know the work day disappeared before I even knew it. Finally, I just started ripping out the carpet. I thought I could at least see what it would take to make it happen. The next thing I knew, I had ripped all the carpet out and was pretty much locked into the project.
I removed nails, pulled up carpet tack, and scraped old drywall mud. When the hubby arrived home and saw what I was doing, he didn?t even roll his eyes before pitching in and finishing the job. The stairs are clear ? and I already love it so much more than the old, ratty carpet.
That was when I realized the stairs needed a little trim work before they could be finished. There were a few gaps here and there, due to the builders not taking the time to finish them properly. After all, they probably never imagined an insane woman ripping out the carpet one random Saturday night.
By that point, Home Depot was closed so our project was on hold. And Sunday was already booked. The rest of the week was fall break, with family fun activities and kids underfoot all day. Today was supposed to be another work day, but I hadn?t considered the evening?s plans with this idea. The girls are having friends spend the night, which makes dealing with wet paint a little difficult.
Okay, so tomorrow, right? Except by the time all our visitors are home, we still have the problem of finishing the job and getting the paint dried before the girls need to go up stairs for bed. And, this is a problem every weekend ? the girls are around, the pets are in the way. How do we paint stairs in a busy house?
I think we?ll have to get started early one morning, right after the girls are at school. Even if the stairs are not dried before they get home, at least we?ll have a few more hours to bedtime. Now, who wants to keep 2 cats and a dog while we paint?
A big thanks to The Home Depot for sponsoring this campaign. Click here to see more of the discussion.
Follow Heather on Twitter, Pinterest, and her blogs.
More from Heather:
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More on Babble.com:
When the Budget Changes Your Plans
Source: http://blogs.babble.com/the-new-home-ec/2012/10/27/best-laid-plans-life-vs-home-improvement/
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Sunday, October 21, 2012
Libya government says former Gadhafi spokesman captured
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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/libya-government-says-former-gaddafi-spokesman-captured-144312721.html
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Meet the Company Hijacking New York Times Ad Revenue
Do publishers have the right to control the ads that appear on their websites? A controversial company doesn?t think so and has been injecting billions of unauthorized ads into websites like AOL, the BBC and The New York Times.
RELATED: The Decline of Google (and the Internet's) Ad Business
The company, Sambreel Holdings, first made news a year ago for hijacking ads on Google and Facebook. Its aggressive tactics drain revenue from the companies and confuse consumers, many of whom are unaware when Sambreel installs itself on their computer. And now the company is spreading quickly and threatening to cause havoc in the online ad market.
How it works
Sambreel, on the surface, offers programs with names like Page Rage or Drop Down Deals that promise to improve consumers? web surfing experience by customizing web pages or providing special deals. The real purpose of these programs, however, is to serve as vehicles for injecting adware that replaces publishers? ads with those served by Sambreel.
The result is that consumers see pages like the ones shown below. In the first example, Sambreel has pushed a premium Louis Vuitton ad further down the New York Times homepage and replaced it with an ad for something called ?Pickle.? In the second, a prime CNN ad has been replaced by an ad served by a Sambreel browser extension called BuzzDock (a New York publishing executive showed us the takeover ads in action and supplied the screenshots):
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CNN ad takeover
The publishing executive, who did not wish to be identified, said that Sambreel?s activities are rattling the online ad industry. In particular, he said, the injected ads deprive publishers of revenue while also distorting prices. For example, a brand may be pleasantly surprised that a YouTube ad that ordinarily costs $10 a click is now available for $3 (without realizing that Sambreel, not Google, gets the revenue).
New York Times spokesperson, Eileen Murphy, provided the following statement:
?Buzzdock?s adware technology alters the display of nytimes.com pages by inserting advertisements sold by Buzzdock directly onto those pages. Buzzdock collects all of the revenue from these ads; The Times does not see a dime. This is a fundamentally unfair business practice that is predicated on manipulating the user experience of nytimes.com, and we are exploring how best to bring it to an end.?
How widespread?
The publishing executive claims that Sambreel?s activities are serious enough to have depressed his company?s most recent earnings result. But such claims are hard to verify since it?s not possible to tell how many computers contain the ad-serving software. Sambreel did not respond to requests for comment.
At first glance, it seems unlikely that Sambreel is pervasive enough to affect the ad industry. After all, how many people are going to download junky browser plug-ins? On the other hand, Sambreel?s reported use of underhanded tactics could mean it is indeed widespread.
In a lawsuit filed in September, for instance, rental car company Hertz claims that Sambreel is bundling its adware with Pokemon video games, meaning customers are often unaware the software is even there. The Hertz lawsuit, which accuses Sambreel of injecting competing offers right when a customer makes a reservation, cites Sambreel?s own figure that claim more than 20 million ?users? and that its ?products generated 158 billion advertising impressions? in the last quarter of 2011.
The allegations that Sambreel uses trickery to invade users? computers is backed by Ben Edelman, a computer expert at Harvard Business School. Edelman says the adware is coming in through various bundles, including ?trinkets? like the programs that promises to let you see ?who has viewed you on Facebook.? The end result is the same ? the user gets a junky product and adware that makes the computer run slower.
How to stop it?
Sambreel may be disturbing but it?s hardly the first time someone has tried to hijack publishers? ad revenue. As Edelman points out, it was a decade ago that publishers sued ad nuisance Gator for taking over banner ads (the cases settled out of court).
This time around, people are pointing fingers at not just Sambreel but also at ad exchanges like Rubicon. In general, these exchanges provide a useful service for publishers by finding real-time buyers for unsold ad inventory. But in the case of Sambreel, both Edelman and the publishing source say ad exchanges are turning a blind eye to the company?s unethical practices. Rubicon did not respond to a request for comment.
If the exchanges are complicit, they appear to breaching an ethical duty but not a legal one. That means that the publishers may have no choice but to sue Sambreel ? which could prove a tall order.
The adware company has already adopted aggressive legal positions, including suing Facebook for antitrust last spring after the social network said it would ban any users who had Sambreel?s Page Rage on their machines. Facebook has moved to dismiss the suit, calling Sambreel a ?parasitic free rider.?
Should publishers decide to join Hertz and sue Sambreel directly, they may have to find a creative way to do so. From a legal perspective, Sambreel is likely to argue that users can do what they like with their own computers ? including stripping out ads. Hertz is trying to overcome this by invoking New Jersey business and computer security laws.
Ken Basin, an intellectual property attorney with Greenberg Glusker in LA, says publishers can invoke copyright or their terms of service to counter Sambreel. He also suggests that publishers should appeal the federal government to begin privacy inquiries into Sambreel.
Photo by Minerva Studio via Shutterstock
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/meet-company-hijacking-york-times-ad-revenue-190821305.html
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Directing change: How do they do it?
Friday, October 19, 2012
In the long run, all organisms must adapt to survive as their surroundings do not remain constant for ever. The major difficulty with understanding adaption relates to the length of time required for experiments: evolution is by its very nature a gradual process. Fortunately, however, recent breakthroughs in experimental evolution using model organisms are providing important insights into the process. The nature of the underlying genetic changes has generally remained elusive but recent work at the Institute of Population Genetics of the University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna is helping to show us how evolution may operate.
To discover what happens when an organism ? in this case the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster ? is confronted with new conditions for a prolonged period of time, terWengel and colleagues Martin Kapun and Viola Nolte subjected flies to an unfamiliar temperature regime, in which 12-hour days at 28oC alternated with 12-hour nights at 18oC. Throughout the experiment, the scientists monitored the changes to the flies' DNA by sequencing pools of female flies taken after certain numbers of generations. The complicated study was made possible by developments in sequencing technology that enable the rapid sequencing of entire genomes and by new and sophisticated software algorithms that permit the frequency of gene variants (alleles or polymorphisms) to be directly compared across different populations.
At the start of the experiment, the fly genomes contained sufficient polymorphisms to enable natural selection to act on the population. The researchers were able to confirm that the genetic changes over time were not random but presumably driven by a selective force: the X chromosome proved to be more stable than chromosome III, for example, despite its far smaller population size (each pair of flies carries a total of four copies of chromosome III but only a single X chromosome). They also showed that genetic changes were widespread and rapid: within a mere 15 generations, the frequencies of variants at nearly 5000 positions in the genome had altered significantly more than expected.
Surprisingly, however, not all changes took place at the same rate. The scientists found that while the frequencies of variants of some genes continued to rise throughout the entire course of the study (37 generations), the proportions of alleles of other genes rose rapidly at the start of the experiment but reached a plateau after about 15 generations. The reasons for this levelling out are still unclear but may relate to the fluctuating temperatures employed in the work, which could result in different selective advantages being conferred by several different alleles of a particular gene.
As Schl?tterer puts it, "we expected the flies to respond genetically to the changes in their environment. But we did not expect the genetic adaptations to group so neatly into two classes, with so little overlap between them. It will be intriguing to try to find out whether the two categories of gene affect distinct groups of traits."
###
University of Veterinary Medicine -- Vienna: http://www.vetmeduni.ac.at
Thanks to University of Veterinary Medicine -- Vienna 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/124652/Directing_change__How_do_they_do_it_
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of various kinds, grants for nonprofits, and grants for businesses. B? Read >
Business How to Write an Education Business Proposal
16th July 2012 Do you have an idea for a new educational program or service Maybe you want to apply for a government grant for an after-school program for middle school kids, organize a private high school, or develop a network of tutors for hire. How are you going ? Read >
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16th July 2012 The world of fashion is huge and international, and it includes many different types of businesses. There?s the design group: businesses that design patterns, fabrics, notions, accessories, makeup, and lines of clothing. There?s the manufacturing ? Read >
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15th June 2012 Are you working in a business where you need to constantly dash off a short price .Diamond Snapbacks Hats quote or bid for each potential customer This practice is especially prevalent in the building and home maintenance industries, and in some sales fields where bundle deals ? Read >
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14th May 2012 No matter what sort of business you are involved in, you?ll probably need to consider safety issues at some time or other. You might need to assemble a safety report for your management, discussing issues within your company. If you?re in a heavily reg? Read >
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27th April 2012 ?You should write a book.? Have you ever been told that Maybe you?re an expert in your field whom.
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28th March 2012 Are you a student who must complete a student project as part of your course work This generally means envisioning, planning for, and com.
Business How to Write an Insurance Business Proposal
27th March 2012 If you are in the business of selling insurance, then you know that many clients are looking for customized insurance packages. Mass-mailing brochures that list every product and service you have to offer might seem like an efficient way to go about attra? Read >
Business How to Write a Feasibility Study
22nd March 2012 Feasibility studies are a type of report used for decision making. They help an organization decide whether it?s feasible to make a change in the way they do business. For instance, a feasibility study might help the board of a
Business How to Write a Mining Industry Business Proposal
12th March 2012 The price of minerals is up all over the world, and mining is a growth business right now. Everyone wants to jump in. There are all sorts of aspects to the mining industry you may want to take advantage of. Maybe you want approval from a government agency? Read >
Business How to Write a Home Care Services Proposal
21st February 2012 Do you run a lawn care, landscaping, pest control, pool cleaning or other type of home care company In these days of expense cutbacks and job layoffs, you may be experiencing diminished demand as more homeowners and small business owners do their own wor? Read >
Business How to Write a Graphic Design Project Proposal
20th February 2012 If you?re a freelance graphic designer, odds are that many of your projects will be pretty short. So you continually need to establish relationships with new clients and land new contracts. How are you going to get the jobs you want You need to master th? Read >
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15th February 2012 Proposals aren?t limited to selling products and services or landing grants. Many people have great new ideas for the companies they work for and they have to present their ideas to upper management. To get your project approved or to receive the budget a? Read >
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Saturday, October 20, 2012
Banana Boat Sunscreen Might Set You on Fire
Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/fOfpvI4x6Ew/banana-boat-sunscreen-might-set-you-on-fire
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EU leaders call Mali crisis a threat to Europe
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - EU leaders said on Friday the crisis in Mali, where Islamists have seized control of much of the north of the country, was an "immediate threat" to Europe, and threatened to impose sanctions on the armed militia there.
It was the first time EU heads of state and government had pronounced collectively on the crisis, which broke out in March when soldiers toppled the president, leaving a power vacuum that enabled Tuareg rebels to take control of the north. Islamists, some allied with al Qaeda, have since hijacked their revolt.
"This situation poses an immediate threat to the Sahel region as well as to West and North Africa and to Europe," EU leaders said in a statement after a summit in Brussels on Friday.
EU foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton said this week "terrorists and drug traffickers" might have a free hand in Mali unless the government regained control.
Regional leaders and international organisations were meeting on Friday in Mali's capital Bamako to discuss whether the Islamists should be dislodged by military intervention or a more gradual political approach.
The United Nations Security Council last week gave African leaders 45 days to draw up a plan for military intervention to retake control of the north.
France, Mali's former colonial ruler, has six hostages held by the Islamists, and has been pushing hard for military action.
French President Francois Hollande is said to believe there is a risk that al Qaeda's North African arm, AQIM, is cementing its base in the West African state, creating a launch pad for an attack on French soil.
Diplomatic and security sources say there is "credible" evidence of planned attacks following botched bombings by AQIM at French embassies in Mali and Mauritania.
However, diplomats say that foreign military intervention in Mali is months away.
The European Union will step up its humanitarian response to the crisis, and examine support for the envisaged international military force, said Friday's statement by the European Council, which represents EU member states.
"The EU will maintain the option to adopt targeted restrictive measures against those involved in the armed groups in northern Mali and those hindering the return to constitutional order," the statement said.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/eu-leaders-call-mali-crisis-threat-europe-120210546.html
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CBS reaches settlement with ComStar over 'Happy Days,' 'Family Ties' lawsuit
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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/cbs-reaches-settlement-comstar-over-happy-days-family-004407552.html
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DFW Weather Will Warm Up For The Weekend
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Source: http://dfw.cbslocal.com/video/7859571-garry-seiths-630-am-weather-report/
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Manufacturing complex 3-D metallic structures at nanoscale made possible
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Public release date: 19-Oct-2012[ | E-mail |
Share ] Contact: Khattiya Chalapat
khattiya.chalapat@aalto.fi
Aalto University
The fabrication of many objects, machines, and devices around us rely on the controlled deformation of metals by industrial processes such as bending, shearing, and stamping. Is this technology transferrable to nanoscale? Can we build similarly complex devices and machines with very small dimensions?
Scientists from Aalto University in Finland and the University of Washington in the US have just demonstrated this to be possible. By combining ion processing and nanolithography they have managed to create complex three-dimensional structures at nanoscale.
The discovery follows from a quest for understanding the irregular folding of metallic thin films after being processed by reactive ion etching.
We were puzzled by the strong-width-dependent curvatures in the metallic strips. Usually initially-strained bilayer metals do not curl up this way, explains Khattiya Chalapat from Aalto University.
The puzzle began to unravel when Chalapat noticed, together with Dr. Hua Jiang, that the Ti peak was absent from the EDX spectra of folded Ti/Al bilayers.
Further experiments at the O.V. Lounasmaa Laboratory confirmed that the strips bend upward with strong width-dependent curvatures if the bottom layer of the strips is made more reactive to ions than the top surface.
In nature, similar geometrical effects take place in self-organization directly observable to the human eye. When dandelion flowers bloom, one may try cutting the flower stem into small strips; put them in water, and the strips will fold with observable width-dependent curvatures due to differences in the water absorption between the inside and outside parts of the stem.
Our idea was to find a way to adapt these natural processes to nanofabrication. This led us to an incidental finding that a focused ion beam can locally induce bending with nanoscale resolution.
The technology has various applications in the fabrication of nanoscale devices. The structures are surprisingly resilient: the team found them to be quite sturdy and robust under a variety of adverse conditions, such as electrostatic discharge and heating.
Because the structures are so small, the coupling and the magnitude of typical nanoscale forces acting on them would be commensurately small, reminds Docent Sorin Paraoanu, the leader of the Kvantti research group, Aalto University.
As for applications, we have demonstrated so far that these structures can capture and retain particles with dimensions of the order of a micrometer. However, we believe that we are just scratching the tip of the iceberg: a comprehensive theory of ion-assisted self-assembly processes is yet to be reached, notes Paraoanu.
###
The research has been recently published in the Early View edition of Advanced Materials.
Khattiya Chalapat and Sorin Paraoanu would like to give credit to the Aalto University research facilities for microfabrication and imaging at Micronova Centre for Micro and Nanotechnology and the Nanomicroscopy Center in Finland.
Aalto University, Finland is a new multidisciplinary science and art community in the fields of science, economics, and art and design. The University is founded on Finnish strengths, and its goal is to develop as a unique entity to become one of the world's top universities. Aalto University's cornerstones are its strengths in education and research. At the new University, there are 20,000 basic degree and graduate students as well as a staff of 5,000 of which 350 are professors.
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Public release date: 19-Oct-2012[ | E-mail |
Share ] Contact: Khattiya Chalapat
khattiya.chalapat@aalto.fi
Aalto University
The fabrication of many objects, machines, and devices around us rely on the controlled deformation of metals by industrial processes such as bending, shearing, and stamping. Is this technology transferrable to nanoscale? Can we build similarly complex devices and machines with very small dimensions?
Scientists from Aalto University in Finland and the University of Washington in the US have just demonstrated this to be possible. By combining ion processing and nanolithography they have managed to create complex three-dimensional structures at nanoscale.
The discovery follows from a quest for understanding the irregular folding of metallic thin films after being processed by reactive ion etching.
We were puzzled by the strong-width-dependent curvatures in the metallic strips. Usually initially-strained bilayer metals do not curl up this way, explains Khattiya Chalapat from Aalto University.
The puzzle began to unravel when Chalapat noticed, together with Dr. Hua Jiang, that the Ti peak was absent from the EDX spectra of folded Ti/Al bilayers.
Further experiments at the O.V. Lounasmaa Laboratory confirmed that the strips bend upward with strong width-dependent curvatures if the bottom layer of the strips is made more reactive to ions than the top surface.
In nature, similar geometrical effects take place in self-organization directly observable to the human eye. When dandelion flowers bloom, one may try cutting the flower stem into small strips; put them in water, and the strips will fold with observable width-dependent curvatures due to differences in the water absorption between the inside and outside parts of the stem.
Our idea was to find a way to adapt these natural processes to nanofabrication. This led us to an incidental finding that a focused ion beam can locally induce bending with nanoscale resolution.
The technology has various applications in the fabrication of nanoscale devices. The structures are surprisingly resilient: the team found them to be quite sturdy and robust under a variety of adverse conditions, such as electrostatic discharge and heating.
Because the structures are so small, the coupling and the magnitude of typical nanoscale forces acting on them would be commensurately small, reminds Docent Sorin Paraoanu, the leader of the Kvantti research group, Aalto University.
As for applications, we have demonstrated so far that these structures can capture and retain particles with dimensions of the order of a micrometer. However, we believe that we are just scratching the tip of the iceberg: a comprehensive theory of ion-assisted self-assembly processes is yet to be reached, notes Paraoanu.
###
The research has been recently published in the Early View edition of Advanced Materials.
Khattiya Chalapat and Sorin Paraoanu would like to give credit to the Aalto University research facilities for microfabrication and imaging at Micronova Centre for Micro and Nanotechnology and the Nanomicroscopy Center in Finland.
Aalto University, Finland is a new multidisciplinary science and art community in the fields of science, economics, and art and design. The University is founded on Finnish strengths, and its goal is to develop as a unique entity to become one of the world's top universities. Aalto University's cornerstones are its strengths in education and research. At the new University, there are 20,000 basic degree and graduate students as well as a staff of 5,000 of which 350 are professors.
[ | E-mail | Share ] ?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-10/au-mc3101812.php
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NWA craft fairs evolved, stayed with the times | Business, Political ...
Local craft fairs have been a mainstay of Northwest Arkansas? fall and spring tourism for decades. People come from all over the country to find delicious food, home d?cor, jewelry, or knick knacks for their homes. Others who own small businesses visit the craft fairs to get wares to resell in their stores.
Whatever the reason, the charm and popularity of the area arts and crafts festivals bring thousands of people to the region every year. Interest in the craft fairs has paved the way for other, smaller events throughout the year, providing more opportunities for vendors who do not produce as many products as those that exhibit at the major shows.
Ironically, part of what has kept the arts and crafts festivals consistently popular is their willingness to change. Vendors, attendees and coordinator agree that over the decades, the most noticeable changes have been the increase in ?buy/sell? items and the influence of the Internet. Some say those changes have helped, others say some of the changes have taken away from the craft fairs. (Link here for a schedule of each area craft fair.)
INTERNET SUPPORT
The War Eagle Craft Mill Craft Fair is the ?granddaddy? of craft fairs and has been coordinated by Barb Lile for 15 years. They still require handmade items despite many craft fairs allowing manufactured items. She said the Internet, including sites like Pinterest and Etsy, have enhanced the process of finding a wide variety of vendors.
?It?s easier to actually locate people,? she said.
The Internet has also made it possible for vendors to not necessarily have to participate in craft fairs because they can connect with potential customers online. That would make it seem that it would decrease interest in the craft fairs, but instead it?s enhanced the experience.
?Most artists love the one-to-one contact,? she said. ?I love hearing the passion in their voice about what they do and that can?t be done online.?
The biggest evolution is how the vendors are constantly working to adapt to modern times. For example, some potters have started making microwave bacon cookers using the same techniques and materials that they have used for years. Other examples include purse makers creating cell phone holders and leather workers making laptop cases.
?It?s new things for the old ways,? Lile said. ?Many make similar crafts each year, but try to think of new designs and new applications.?
There?s also a more modern influence in the details of craftsmanship.
?It?s more than colors. Fabrics have changed to reflect modern design,? she said. ?The really good vendors have kept up with what people need but still keeping them handcrafted.?
Ann Burbage, coordinator of the Frisco Station Mall Fall Craft Festival for many years, said the biggest change she?s seen in the industry is the increase in buy/sell items.
?Years ago, pretty much everything was hand done. Now for all the craft fairs to have all handmade items is nearly impossible,? she said. ?There?s just not enough to go around at every craft fair.?
NEW JOBS
As sites such as Pinterest and Etsy grow in popularity, it?s helped some people find new jobs by becoming vendors.
?They?re learning the crafts to sell them for a job,? Burbage said.
Pinterest can also give existing vendors new ideas. Most vendors make the same basic items every year but add a few new items every year to see what sells.
?They continue to build on their inventory,? she said. ?If one thing doesn?t sell, they don?t make it anymore.?
Brandi Soloranzo of Huntsville has attended craft fairs for years and she said that sites like Etsy and Pinterest have helped the craft fair industry. She has found items that she now makes and sells at smaller craft fairs that are throughout the year in her area. She still enjoys attending the major fairs in Northwest Arkansas, she said.
?It?s helped me as far as growing my business,? she said. ?Etsy supplies me with customers the rest of the year when there?s not a craft fair going on.?
The sites also gives her ideas for what is popular in various parts of the country so she can sell to customers in other areas, Solorzano said.
Another change Burbage noted is that people are not spending money on the high-dollar items that used to be popular.
?They can?t afford to buy the big items,? she said. ?Women would come out with armloads of stuff and it?s not that way as much. ... Craft fairs are making more affordable items now and sales are increasing. (Vendors) are just having to be more creative.?
HANDCRAFTED DECLINE
At the Bella Vista Arts and Crafts Fair, handcrafted items are still required but long-time coordinator Misty Baker said that?s a rare thing these days in the craft fair industry.
?It?s always been handcrafted and now that?s very, very few,? she said. ?People are bring buy/sell to the arts and craft shows and a lot of events are letting them in because it sells booths.
?(Before) the importers would not have attended an arts and crafts show. It?s changed the look, appearance and feel.?
For Donna Schoby of Fayetteville, her changing tastes and the noticeable decrease in handcrafted items is partially why she doesn?t usually go to the craft shows any more after years of enjoying them.
?It was all about the atmosphere and handcrafted things then it turned into stuff you can order out of a catalog,? she said. ?I wanted to be able to get something that was handcrafted.?
The changing trends of what is popular can be easily determined by looking at how much space large craft stores give to a given category. For example, jewelry making is popular now and the beading departments at many stores have grown, she said.
There is also a new wave of consumers at the craft fairs and those people are very technology savvy, she said.
?We need to address that entire market segment,? she said.
Baker plans to increase the fair?s social media presence to reach those audiences, she said.
Sites like Pinterest, Facebook and Twitter provide better marketing and follow-up opportunities for vendors, she said.?
Source: http://www.thecitywire.com/node/24584
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Whenever Fixing Up Your House Don't Forget The Outside | Home ...
A lot of people like to make their home a comfortable place to be, especially with the decorating of the inside. However that does not mean that you need to quit there, and not also express yourself with the outside of your house as well. In the same way your kitchen is the heart of the inside of your house, finding ways to add your personal mark to your garden and porch are also important. Depending on where you reside, the outside decor can be more complicated, because of the weather. Think about the best way you would like to spruce up your courtyard and your outside porch area.
Do you prefer to invite other people over for cookouts and/or pool parties? However, you may enjoy the solitude of relaxing alone while reclining in a lawn chair. A person might not possess a pool but most likely you have an outdoor grill that you can plan everything else around. Backyard furniture has several options these days, and many are weatherproof, so you won?t need to be too concerned with them on bad weather days. Your available choice of exterior furnishings is considerable, so there shouldn?t be a problem finding the right style or comfort level.
To achieve the correct outdoor lighting would once require the services of an electrical contractor, but now there are easy ways to light up your yard. A particularly very cost efficient method is to utilize solar lights that you can place in different locations so that they are going to be exposed to sunlight which charges them. These items work very well in many situations although during certain seasons of the year when there is less sunlight they may not provide light all night long. Picking out things to plant in your yard could be the hardest part of planning your outdoor decor. A nice green yard always looks good, but to express your own style, you will want to pick out some of the the appropriate plants. You?ll be able to locate these plants in planters or even in the soil. Decorative planters can be used by growing flowers, and the containers can be a component of the decor by themselves.
It is great to have plenty of places to sit down in your yard, so think about putting a stone bench. It?s going to be long lasting, and fit in with the natural parts of your yard. You might even want to put in statuary, as an additional touch. A fountain is an additional tranquil but preferred option. A solar-powered fountain is often an low-cost useful option. This is often something as elementary as water flowing from a container creating a simulated waterfall. There?s nothing quite so calming as to sit in your yard experiencing the sounds of water which block out other neighborhood sounds.
?
ast agreement ?When you decorate your home?s interior, be certain that you also take into account the outside appearance. Whenever people come around your home, the first thing they notice is what your property looks like on the outside. Whatever they see externally can give them a preview of what they?ll see once they cross the threshold.
Source: http://www.niutranslations.com/whenever-fixing-up-your-house-dont-forget-the-outside.html
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Bucks County Woman Accused Of Insurance Fraud Inside An ...
By Tony Romeo
HARRISBURG, Pa. (CBS) ? The Pennsylvania attorney general?s office says a Philadelphia woman tried to commit insurance fraud ? from an ambulance ? after her vehicle was involved in an accident.
Lauren Bozart, a spokeswoman for the state attorney general, says 23-year-old Regina Whitehead was involved in a four-vehicle accident in October of last year.
?What we allege happened is that, in an ambulance on the way to the hospital, Miss Whitehead called her insurance company in order to add comprehensive collision and rental coverage to her auto policy, for her vehicle that had just been involved in that accident,? Bozart explained.
At some point later, Bozart says, Whitehead allegedly reported a claim to her insurance company and lied about the time of the accident.
Whitehead has been charged with one count of insurance fraud and one count of criminal attempt to commit theft by deception. She has been released on $10,000 unsecured bail.
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PFT: Suggs might return for Ravens on Sunday
APFor all the attention Ndamukong Suh has earned for himself, he?s now being forced to explain for his sister.
Last Saturday, the day after Suh and his sister were sued and two days after he was involved in a fourth traffic accident in under three years as a Lion, Suh?s sister Ngum tweeted: ?Thank u Jesus! Only 2.5 more years! #Freedom?.
Perhaps coincidentally, Suh has two and a half years left on his rookie contract, thanks to a voidable final year.
That led the Lions defensive tackle to go on the offensive with his love for Detroit.
?What my sister tweets is what she tweets,? he said, via Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press. ?It has nothing to do with me. That?s her personal account. That?s why her name?s on it. I have my personal account that says verified, it says my name on it.?
So when asked about his future with the Lions, he said: ?I would love to be here. This city is great to me, it continues to be great to me. The people are great people and I love playing here, that?s why I wear the jersey.?
For all his talent on the field, his traffic problems have drawn as much notice since his rookie season, something he said he?s used to.
?There?s been a microscope on me since what was it, I graduated high school in ?05, so being an Army All-American in high school, being an All-American in college, being a first-[round], second overall pick in the NFL, there?s always going to be a microscope on you,? Suh said. ?That comes with the territory.?
Asked how he keeps the off-field issues from being a distraction, he replied: ?Next question. It?s as simple as that. Next question.?
All this story really needs now, is for Wes Welker to swing by and tell everyone Ngum was just joking, and it?ll be tied up in a neat little bow.
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Early look at Windows 8 baffles consumers
FILE - In this Monday, June 18, 2012, file photo, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer comments on the Windows 8 operating system. The PC industry is in a slump, as consumers show more interest in tablet computers and smartphones. Officially, PC makers say they expect Windows 8, which launches Oct. 26, 2012, to get buyers to open their wallets, but industry watchers and analysts are skeptical. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes, File)
FILE - In this Monday, June 18, 2012, file photo, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer comments on the Windows 8 operating system. The PC industry is in a slump, as consumers show more interest in tablet computers and smartphones. Officially, PC makers say they expect Windows 8, which launches Oct. 26, 2012, to get buyers to open their wallets, but industry watchers and analysts are skeptical. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes, File)
FILE - In this Thursday, Aug. 23, 2012, file photo, a new Microsoft Corp. logo, left, is seen on an exterior wall of a new Microsoft store inside the Prudential Center mall, in Boston. Microsoft is making a radical break with the past to stay relevant in a world where smartphones and tablets have eroded the three-decade dominance of the personal computer. Windows 8, set to be released Oct. 26, 2012, is supposed to tie together Microsoft's PC, tablet and phone software with one look. But judging by the reactions of some people who have tried the PC version, it's a move that risks confusing and alienating customers. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
FILE - In this Wednesday, Feb. 29, 2012, file photo, Steven Sinofsky, president of Windows and Windows Live attends the Windows 8 Consumer Preview presentation during a press conference at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain. Microsoft is making a radical break with the past to stay relevant in a world where smartphones and tablets have eroded the three-decade dominance of the personal computer. Windows 8, set to be released Oct. 26, 2012, is supposed to tie together Microsoft's PC, tablet and phone software with one look. But judging by the reactions of some people who have tried the PC version, it's a move that risks confusing and alienating customers. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti, File)
FILE - In this Thursday, Aug. 23, 2012, file photo, the new Microsoft logo is seen above the entrance to a company store in Seattle. Microsoft Corp.'s net income fell 22 percent in the latest quarter as it deferred revenue from the sale of its upcoming Windows 8 operating system to PC makers, and as PC sales in general took a dive. The software company's net income was $4.47 billion, or 53 cents per share. That was down from $5.7 billion, or 68 cents per share, a year ago, and exceeded analyst estimates, which had been in the 50-52 cent range. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson, File)
NEW YORK (AP) ? The release of Microsoft's Windows 8 operating system is a week away, and consumers are in for a shock. Windows, used in one form or another for a generation, is getting a completely different look that will force users to learn new ways to get things done.
Microsoft is making a radical break with the past to stay relevant in a world where smartphones and tablets have eroded the three-decade dominance of the personal computer. Windows 8 is supposed to tie together Microsoft's PC, tablet and phone software with one look. But judging by the reactions of some people who have tried the PC version, it's a move that risks confusing and alienating customers.
Tony Roos, an American missionary in Paris, installed a free preview version of Windows 8 on his aging laptop to see if Microsoft's new operating system would make the PC faster and more responsive. It didn't, he said, and he quickly learned that working with the new software requires tossing out a lot of what he knows about Windows.
"It was very difficult to get used to," he said. "I have an 8-year-old and a 10-year-old, and they never got used to it. They were like, 'We're just going to use Mom's computer.'"
Windows 8 is the biggest revision of Microsoft Corp.'s operating system since it introduced Windows 95 amid great fanfare 17 years ago. Ultimately, Windows grew into a $14 billion a year business and helped make former Chief Executive Bill Gates the richest man in the world for a time. Now, due to smartphones and tablets, the personal computer industry is slumping. Computer companies are desperate for something that will get sales growing again. PC sales are expected to shrink this year for the first time since 2001, according to IHS iSuppli, a market research firm.
The question is whether the new version, which can be run on tablets and smartphones, along with the traditional PC, can satisfy the needs of both types of users.
"I am very worried that Microsoft may be about to shoot itself in the foot spectacularly," said. Michael Mace, the CEO of Silicon Valley software startup Cera Technology and a former Apple employee. Windows 8 is so different, he said, that many Windows users who aren't technophiles will feel lost, he said.
Microsoft is releasing Windows 8 on Oct. 26, and it doesn't plan to cushion the impact. Computer companies will make Windows 8 standard on practically all PCs that are sold to consumers.
Speaking to Wall Street analysts on Thursday, Microsoft's chief financial officer Peter Klein said he isn't very concerned that user confusion could slow the adoption of Windows 8. When Microsoft introduces new features, he said, people eventually realize that "those innovations have delivered way more value, way more productivity and way better usability." That's going to be true of Windows 8 too, he said.
Instead of the familiar Start menu and icons, Windows 8 displays applications as a colorful array of tiles, which can feature updated information from the applications. For instance, the "Photos" tile shows an image from the user's collection, and the "People" tile shows images from the user's social-media contacts. (Microsoft is licensed to use AP content in the Windows 8 news applications.)
The tiles are big and easy to hit with a finger ? convenient for a touch screen. Applications fill the whole screen by default ? convenient for a tablet screen, which is usually smaller than a PC's. The little buttons that surround Windows 7 applications, for functions like controlling the speaker volume, are hidden, giving a clean, uncluttered view. When you need those little buttons, you can bring them out, but users have to figure out on their own how to do it.
"In the quest for simplicity, they sacrificed obviousness," said Sebastiaan de With, an interface designer and the chief creative officer at app developer DoubleTwist in San Francisco.
Technology blogger Chris Pirillo posted a YouTube video of his father using a preview version of Windows 8 for the first time. As the elder Pirillo tours the operating system with no help from his son, he blunders into the old "Desktop" environment and can't figure out how to get back to the Start tiles. (Hint: Move the mouse cursor into the top right corner of the screen, then swipe down to the "Start" button that appears, and click it. On a touch screen, swipe a finger in from the right edge of the screen to reveal the Start button.) The four-minute video has been viewed more than 1.1 million times since it was posted in March.
"There are many things that are hidden," said Raluca Budiu, a user experience specialist with Nielsen Norman Group. "Once users discover them, they have to remember where they are. People will have to work hard and use this system on a regular basis."
Mace, the software CEO, has used every version of Windows since version 2.0, which came out in 1987. Each one, he said, built upon the previous one. Users didn't need to toss out their old ways of doing things when new software came along. Windows 8 ditches that tradition of continuity, he said.
"Most Windows users don't view their PCs as being broken to begin with. If you tell them 'Oh, here's a new version of Windows, and you have to relearn everything to use it,' how many normal users are going to want to do that?" he asked.
The familiar Windows Desktop is still available through one of the tiles, and most programs will open up in that environment. But since the Start button is gone, users will have to flip back and forth between the desktop and the tile screen.
There's additional potential for confusion because there's one version of Windows 8, called "Windows RT," that looks like the PC version but doesn't run regular Windows programs. It's intended for tablets and lightweight tablet-laptop hybrids.
Budiu believes the transition to Windows 8 will be most difficult for PC users, because Microsoft's design choices favor touch screens rather than mice and keyboards. Alex Wukovich, a Londoner who tried Windows 8 on a friend's laptop, agrees.
"On a desktop, it just felt really weird," he said. "It feels like it's a tablet operating system that Microsoft managed to twist and shoehorn onto a desktop."
Not everyone who has tried Windows 8 agrees with the critics.
Sheldon Skaggs, a Web developer in Charlotte, N.C., thought he was going to hate Windows 8, but he needed to do something to speed up his 5-year-old laptop. So he installed the new software.
"After a bit of a learning curve and playing around with it a bit more, you get used to it, surprisingly," he said.
The computer now boots up faster than it did with Windows Vista, he said.
Vista was Microsoft's most recent operating-system flop. It was seen as so clunky and buggy when released in 2007 that many PC users sat out the upgrade cycle and waited for Windows 7, which arrived two and a half years later. Companies and other institutions wait much longer than consumers to upgrade their software, and many will keep paying for Windows 7. Many companies are still using Windows XP, released in 2001.
Colin Gillis, an analyst at BGC Financial, is optimistic about Windows 8, pointing out that it's snappy and runs well on PCs with limited processing power, making it suited for compact, tablet-style machines. But he also notes that through Microsoft's history, roughly every other operating-system release has been a letdown.
Intel Corp. makes the processors that go into 80 percent of PCs, and has a strong interest in the success of Windows. CEO Paul Otellini said Tuesday that when the company has let consumers try Windows 8 on expensive "ultrabook" laptops with touch screens, "the feedback is universally positive." But he told analysts that he doesn't really know if people will embrace Windows 8 for mainstream PCs.
"We'll know a lot more about this 90 days from now," he said.
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