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Source: http://www.gonintendo.com/?mode=viewstory&id=206494
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Sunday, June 30, 2013
U.S. asked Ecuador to deny Snowden asylum, leader says
By Brian Ellsworth
QUITO (Reuters) - Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa said on Saturday the United States had asked him not to grant asylum for former U.S. spy agency contractor Edward Snowden in a "cordial" telephone conversation he held with U.S. Vice President Joe Biden.
Correa said he vowed to respect Washington's opinion in evaluating the request. The Andean nation says it cannot begin processing Snowden's request unless he reaches Ecuador or one of its embassies.
Snowden, who is wanted by the United States for leaking details about U.S. communications surveillance programs, is believed to still be at the Sheremetyevo airport in Moscow after leaving Hong Kong.
Praising Biden's good manners in contrast to "brats" in the U.S. Congress who had threatened to cut Ecuador's trade benefits over the Snowden issue, Correa said during his weekly television broadcast: "He communicated a very courteous request from the United States that we reject the (asylum) request."
Biden initiated the phone call, Correa said.
"When he (Snowden) arrives on Ecuadorean soil, if he arrives ... of course, the first opinions we will seek are those of the United States," Correa said.
A senior White House official traveling with President Barack Obama in Africa on Saturday confirmed the conversation had taken place.
The case has been a major embarrassment for the Obama administration, which is now facing withering criticism around the world for the espionage program known as Prism that Snowden revealed.
A German magazine on Saturday, citing secret documents, reported that the United States bugged European Union offices and gained access to EU internal computer networks, which will likely add to the furor over U.S. spying efforts.
Correa has for years been at loggerheads with Washington on issues ranging from the war on drugs to a long-running environmental dispute with U.S. oil giant Chevron.
A leftist economist who received a doctorate from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, Correa denied he was seeking to perturb relations and said he had "lived the happiest days of my life" in the United States.
But he said the United States has not heeded Ecuador's request to extradite citizens sought by the law, including bankers he said have already been sentenced.
"There's a clear double standard here. If the United States is pursuing someone, other countries have to hand them over," Correa said. "But there are so many fugitives from our justice system (in the United States) ... and they don't return them."
TRAVEL DOCUMENT CONFUSION
Correa said Ecuador's London consulate issued Snowden an unauthorized safe-passage document, potentially as a result of communication with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who is living in the London embassy after receiving asylum last year.
Assange said on Monday that Snowden had received refugee papers from the Ecuador government to secure him safe passage as he fled Hong Kong for Russia. Correa's government had originally denied this.
A "safe-pass" document published by U.S. Spanish-language media network Univision which circulated widely online purported to offer Snowden safe passage for the purpose of political asylum. The United States has revoked his passport.
"The truth is that the consul (overstepped) his role and will face sanction," Correa said during the broadcast.
The decision was "probably in communication with Julian Assange and out of desperation that Mr. Snowden was going to be captured, but this was without the authorization of the Ecuadorean government."
Correa's critics have in recent days accused him of letting Assange take charge of crucial foreign policy matters.
Assange, who is wanted in Sweden for questioning over sexual assault allegations, has not been able to leave the London embassy because Britain will not give him safe passage.
Snowden's lack of a valid travel document appears to be one of the primary obstacles to his leaving the transit area of the Moscow international airport. Without a passport, he cannot board a commercial flight or move through airport immigration, according to diplomacy experts.
Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino declined on Thursday to comment on whether Ecuador would send a government plane to pick Snowden up. But Correa has indicated he does not have plans to provide Snowden with transport to an embassy.
Correa scoffed at reports that he himself had been aware that the document was issued or was involved in the decision.
"They think I'm so dumb that I ordered our consul in London to write a safe passage document for a U.S. citizen traveling from Hong Kong to Russia. That's simply absurd," he said.
(Additional reporting by Mark Felsenthal in Johannesburg; Editing by Daniel Wallis, Vicki Allen and Sandra Maler)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/biden-spoke-ecuadors-correa-snowden-white-house-180538899.html
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China factory workers hold US boss over wage dispute
An American factory boss in China held hostage for five days by workers told AFP Tuesday he won't be released until a labour dispute is resolved and that authorities have declined to intervene.
Chip Starnes, who had come from the US-based Specialty Medical Supplies company to lay off 30 employees, said the remaining 100 then barred him from leaving until they reached a resolution.
Incidents of workers detaining bosses are not frequently reported, but labour disputes are common in China, with many workers fearing bosses will shut operations and disappear without paying wages.
"They adamantly said, I'm here to stay, live in my office and live on the cot until this gets done," Starnes said by phone.
"And they said that my office is very nice so I have nothing to complain about."
Starnes said dozens of employees were guarding the exits of the work site, located in the northern Beijing district of Huairou.
Meanwhile local authorities were providing three meals a day and made sure no violence broke out. But, Starnes said, officials won't intervene.
"The police? They will not get involved in this whatsoever."
The district police could not be reached for comment.
An AFP photographer at the scene said there were eight unmarked police cars and uniformed police officers.
A dozen people were standing inside the grounds, set in an industrial park with several other factories, but no workers were available to be interviewed.
Starnes -- standing near a barred window in a bluish shirt, having worn the same clothes for days -- sounded upbeat despite his constraints.
"Put everybody in a playpen together and that's where you stay until someone wins, I guess, and that's what we're going through right now," he said.
Chu Lixiang, an official from the Huairou labour union involved in the negotiations, declined to say if Starnes had freedom of movement.
"It's his office and his factory, and he's just been staying here negotiating," she told AFP.
Starnes said the Chinese general manager and controller of the factory were also being held.
The nature of the disagreement was itself under dispute.
The Xinhua state news agency cited a statement from Huairou authorities as saying that the 100 workers were seeking two months' overdue wages.
But Starnes said that they were demanding to be laid off so they could receive severance packages like the 30 who were let go had obtained.
For longtime employees at the factory, opened 10 years ago, the compensation could amount to a year's pay, Starnes said.
The company preferred to keep the 100 workers employed, Starnes said.
He said that due to an oversight the 30 laid-off employees had not received their last two months' salary, but added that the error was fixed Monday.
"Everybody is 100 percent up-to-date on payment," he said.
The Florida-based company has 200 employees altogether.
Geoffrey Crothall, spokesman for the Hong Kong-based advocacy group China Labour Bulletin, said it recorded 200 labour disputes in the first four months of 2013, though the actual figure could be much higher.
Workers harboured a particular fear of bosses closing down operations without distributing final paycheques, he said.
"A lot of workers are highly sensitised to this kind of thing because they see it happening across China all the time."
Even if the fear was unfounded, Crothall said, such misunderstandings were "very typical" and "the cause of many, many disputes in China".
Local authorities usually only intervened if violence broke out, and preferred such incidents to be resolved quickly, he said.
"Having the boss in a place where they know where he is, that facilitates that process," he said.
US embassy spokesman Nolan Barkhouse said its officials had visited Starnes on Monday and confirmed that he was safe.
Source: http://www.energy-daily.com/reports/China_factory_workers_hold_US_boss_over_wage_dispute_999.html
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Saturday, June 29, 2013
Pre-caffeine tech: Geek graph, 3-D duck foot
Technology 
13 hours ago
Mike Garey
Our pre-caffeine roundup is a collection of the hottest, strangest, and most amusing stories of the morning.
So the Army is reportedly blocking military access to the Guardian's coverage of NSA leaks.
Here's a really smart thing John Cusack wrote about Edward Snowden.
Oh! And here's the NSA's early years: Exposed!
Set status to "fabulous": Millions of Facebook users "like" gay marriage.
Also, Facebook is fixing to strengthen security with an old-school crypto technique.
(BTW: Even if you don't use Facebook, you may have a shadow profile.)
Alec Baldwin had a homophobic Twitter rant before mysteriously disappearing (again) from the social network.
But all Sean Parker wants is for you to say something nice about his wedding.
Science says there's a difference between geeks and nerds.
Speaking of which, time to rank the 50 hottest guys of "Harry Potter."
And good news everybody! Buttercup the duck got a 3-D-printed replacement for his foul foot.
Compiled by Helen A.S. Popkin, who invites you to join her on Twitter and/or Facebook.
Tags:
- Technology
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Where to Move Your Google Reader Subscriptions, and How
Source: http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2013/06/where-to-take-your-google-reader-subscriptions-and-how/
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Friday, June 28, 2013
The business of diplomacy | news @ Northeastern
Michael Creegan, who graduated from the Bachelor of Science in International Business program in the spring, says his academic experience at Northeastern has prepared him for a career in the U.S. Foreign Service.
Michael Creegan, who grad?u?ated from the Bach?elor of Sci?ence in Inter?na?tional Busi?ness pro?gram in the spring, said his aca?d?emic expe?ri?ence at North?eastern has pre?pared him for a career in the U.S. For?eign?Service.
?I believe my expe?ri?ence in the pri?vate sector can inform my work in the public sector,? said?Creegan.
As part of the BSIB pro?gram, he spent two years in Mexico, where he was among the first Amer?i?cans to study at Uni?ver?sidad de las Amer?icas Puebla, the top busi?ness school in Latin America. He also learned a ver?sion of Spanish spoken by most Spanish immi?grants to America and worked for CEO Busi?ness Con?sulting, a firm that helps com?pa?nies in Latin and Cen?tral America break into the North Amer?ican?market.
Creegan, left, with the US ambas?sador to Mexico, Anthony?Wayne.
Creegan said his deci?sion to study in Mexico makes him well-??suited for a career any?where in North or South America. ?I see Mexico as the biggest player in Latin America,? he explained, noting its ver?sa?tile economy. ?Spain and coun?tries all across Europe are cut?ting down in so many areas while it?s all about growth in Mexico and throughout Latin?America.?
After making a con?nec?tion within the U.S. embassy in Mexico, Creegan was selected to attend a con?fer?ence in which stu?dents met to dis?cuss many of the same issues top diplo?mats address at the global G-??20 con?fer?ence. Creegan led the Amer?ican del?e?ga?tion, which met just ahead of the 2012 G-??20 con?fer?ence in Los Cabos,?Mexico.
That expe?ri?ence, he said, helped him land a sim?ilar oppor?tu?nity this year: in August, Creegan will travel to Dubai for the Har?vard Project for Asian and Inter?na?tional Rela?tions con?fer?ence. There, he?ll attend ses?sions on secu?rity and diplo?macy in a sim?u?la?tion of the six-??nation talks between the United States, Russia, Japan, China, South Korea, and North Korea. He and his peers will send their rec?om?men?da?tions to the real diplo?mats who address issues of Korean dis?ar?ma?ment in six-??party?talks.
The out?come of the conference?s talks will likely draw close atten?tion from the global diplo?matic corps, which is preparing for a new wave of meet?ings after North Korea announced last weekend an interest in returning to high-??level talks with the United?States.
This summer, Creegan will work for Bloomberg, the New York-??based multi?na?tional mass media com?pany. He hopes the expe?ri?ence will pre?pare him to apply to work with the U.S. For?eign Ser?vice, where he?d work toward improving inter?na?tional?trade.
?You?re advo?cating for U.S. busi?ness abroad,? Creegan said of the work he?d like to do as a U.S. diplomat. ?You meet with people in the pri?vate sector and pro?mote peace and pros?perity through fair trade and equal opportunities.?
Source: http://www.northeastern.edu/news/2013/06/creegan/
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Lawmaker Seeks to Regulate Men's Reproductive Health (Taegan Goddard's Political Wire)
Thursday, June 27, 2013
Obama Needs to Lay Out Full Second Term Agenda to Let America Know What's Important Instead of Pseudo-scandals, say Robert Weiner and Shona Paige in Michigan Chronicle
WASHINGTON, June 26, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ --?National issues strategist Robert Weiner, a former White House spokesman and senior staff for three House Committee Chairmen, and policy and research analyst Shona Paige are asserting that "it would be wise if President Obama held a White House news conference in the near future laying out his second term agenda.? The criticism saying he has none would dissipate." Weiner and Paige wrote a piece in today's Michigan Chronicle, six times in the last twelve years named the nation's best African American newspaper by the National Newspaper Association.
Weiner and Paige said, "President Obama has dropped some ten points in recent polls?not surprising given the massive media swirl about supposed scandals.? Even though a strong case can be made that the scandals have little merit and are driven by partisan opponents, the President needs to be clearer about his positive agenda for the American people."
They laid out the issues the President Could raise, and said Jobs is #1. "With the unemployment rate in the United States at 7.6% -- more than 50% over our post-World War Two average?and at 13.5% among African Americans, and the numbers even higher in Michigan, the major topic Americans and Michigan citizens are still concerned about is jobs. Jobs have become a forgotten issue. The President has been pushing creation of infrastructure jobs but Congress has been filibustering and opposing the bills."
Weiner and Paige say, "Implementation of the new national health bill and getting people to use and know the bill are also properly large on Obama's second term agenda. The Affordable Health Care Act offers preventive care and allows children to remain on parents' plans until age 26. It stops pre-existing conditions from blocking coverage and gives lifetime care. Most significantly, it covers 30 million previously uninsured Americans. Getting those who do not have insurance to use the law is imperative."
Weiner and Paige assert that, "A vital concern on the agenda is the Sequester and its affects. The sequester is causing cuts in food stamps, college scholarships, K-12 education, cancer research and veterans' benefits among other critical programs, as well as defense. The sequester should be repealed as the legislation of Cong. John Conyers, Dean of the Congressional Black Caucus, would do."
Weiner and Paige say, "High on the agenda is enforcing the Voting Rights Act. As Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg told us recently, the power of the Voting Rights Act is authorized in the 14th and 15th Amendments to the Constitution.? Yet, the Supreme Court's conservatives have just blocked part of the Act.? We should be doing more to fight voter suppression, not less.? Congress must pass corrective legislation, immediately."
They state, "There is no peace in the Middle East. There is no good answer in Syria, but it must not become a never-ending American war. The Afghanistan and Iraq wars must proceed on course to end, which includes the 200,000 contractors still in the fight. Contractors make up to five times as much money as soldiers, but have almost no oversight, as NSA leaker Edward Snowden and the CIA contractors who tortured in Abu Ghraib have proved."
"We must fight oil price gouging," the authors say. "Have you noticed that gas prices go up and down based on the visibility of the opposition? Don't fall for the claim that it is supply and demand."
Weiner and Paige put Social Security on the agenda as something to emphasize does NOT need radical action:? "Social Security should not be privatized to become a Wall Street benefit, nor cut. It is solvent for over twenty years, and only slightly in deficit after that. "
Also mentioned by Weiner and Paige is "China cheating: The U.S. continues to be victimized by a trillion-dollar debt to China. It is vital we do not allow ourselves to be blackmailed into niceness while our economy gets trampled on."
They also state, "The President supports drones but other liberals oppose them. He must persuade liberals to support them because they keep American soldiers from being killed. They are an important tool against terror."
Weiner and Paige also point out that "nuclear power plants are often built on earthquake fault lines and hurricane centric locations; and in all locations, radioactive cancer-producing waste ultimately oozes out. Safety and waste have not been solved since nuclear power was created. As Joan Konner, Emmy Award winning television documentary producer, has stated, 'We are no further along in what we need to do with nuclear waste than we were in the 1960s.'"
Weiner and Paige declare, "There must be a more realistic approach to Latin America. The U.S. knee-jerk put-down of Chavez's elections in Venezuela, as well as our refusing to do business with Cuba, showed simplistic opposition and did no good to the U.S. image. Now that Chavez is dead and Castro will be soon, we must accept whom those and other countries select. "
They say, "To address a true concern, Obama should improve the IRS approval process of non-profits.? The flaw happened in 1959 when the Eisenhower administration interpreted a law that said tax exemptions were for 'exclusively' social welfare groups and inexplicably made it 'primarily'?a gross error in regulation that opened the door to political abuse. The President should emphasize that 'Exclusive' must be enforced."
Weiner and Paige state, "We must quit making the fiscal cliff a priority instead of helping American citizens. Trickle-down economics theory states that tax cuts to the wealthy and big businesses will translate to increased economic growth. This has continuously been proven wrong. Productivity is higher from direct support to infrastructure jobs and tax breaks to middle class Americans. "
They also say, "The value of public service should be respected. People who give to the country, state and locality by working for government should not be demeaned. However, anyone in government for the money who takes bribes should be thrown out and jailed."
They contend, "Money in politics has a disproportionate influence and mostly helps conservatives who have more of it. The Citizens United Supreme Court decision allowing unlimited anonymous corporate money is a disaster for democracy. New legislation and at some point new Court appointees can change it."
Weiner and Paige then urge, "Gun safety must return. 5000 have been shot and killed just since Newtown six months ago. Solely because of money's election power, the NRA blocked 91% of the American people's wish for background checks following Newtown, Aurora, and other mass killings."????????
Weiner and Paige insist that "an immigration bill must be passed.? 71% of Hispanics voted Democratic because Romney did not back off his inane 'self deportation' statement and policy.? Both sides now realize that a policy must be adopted ultimately recognizing the 12-20 million illegals already in the United States but securing the border for the future."
They also say, "The unconscionable VA backlog could be solved by hiring temps. If VA administrator Shinseki asked for an 'emergency appropriation' from Congress, to hire all the temps he needed, it would be granted in an eyelash."
Contact: Bob Weiner/Richard Mann 301-283-0821, cell 202-306-1200 weinerpublic@comcast.net
SOURCE Robert Weiner Associates
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/obama-needs-lay-full-second-term-agenda-let-101600928.html
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American Cancer Society journal reaches top ranking among all journals
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Public release date: 26-Jun-2013[ | E-mail |
Share ] Contact: David Sampson
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American Cancer Society
Impact factor for CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians hits unprecedented high
ATLANTA June 26, 2013 The American Cancer Society flagship journal, CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians, has been ranked with the highest impact factor on record for any journal recorded in the ISI Journal Citation Reports. Impact factor is a measure of the average number of citations received by all articles published in a science and social science journal. It reflects the journal's impact on the field of study. Impact factor is calculated each year and published in the ISI Journal Citation Reports by Thomson Reuters Web of Knowledge.
While CA has been at the top of all oncology journals in impact factor for many years, driven primarily by the annual Cancer Statistics and various guideline articles, the just-released report for 2012 reveals a significant and unprecedented rise. In the most recent ranking, CA reached an impact factor of 153.459, a jump from 101.780 from the previous year. The single-year 51 point jump is the largest recorded. For comparison, the number two ranked journal in oncology has an impact factor number of 35. The rise was the result of several other highly cited articles, including Global Cancer Statistics.
"This ranking puts our journal CA into unprecedented territory, giving it the highest ranking not just for oncology journals, but for any journal of any kind," said Otis W. Brawley, M.D., chief medical officer for the American Cancer Society and editor in chief of CA. "This remarkable ranking reflects the quality of the research done by the Society's world leading epidemiologists and cancer control specialists, whose work frequently appears in CA, and is unequivocal evidence of the esteem in which experts in healthcare and public professionals hold the American Cancer Society's research."
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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: 26-Jun-2013[ | E-mail |
Share ] Contact: David Sampson
david.sampson@cancer.org
American Cancer Society
Impact factor for CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians hits unprecedented high
ATLANTA June 26, 2013 The American Cancer Society flagship journal, CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians, has been ranked with the highest impact factor on record for any journal recorded in the ISI Journal Citation Reports. Impact factor is a measure of the average number of citations received by all articles published in a science and social science journal. It reflects the journal's impact on the field of study. Impact factor is calculated each year and published in the ISI Journal Citation Reports by Thomson Reuters Web of Knowledge.
While CA has been at the top of all oncology journals in impact factor for many years, driven primarily by the annual Cancer Statistics and various guideline articles, the just-released report for 2012 reveals a significant and unprecedented rise. In the most recent ranking, CA reached an impact factor of 153.459, a jump from 101.780 from the previous year. The single-year 51 point jump is the largest recorded. For comparison, the number two ranked journal in oncology has an impact factor number of 35. The rise was the result of several other highly cited articles, including Global Cancer Statistics.
"This ranking puts our journal CA into unprecedented territory, giving it the highest ranking not just for oncology journals, but for any journal of any kind," said Otis W. Brawley, M.D., chief medical officer for the American Cancer Society and editor in chief of CA. "This remarkable ranking reflects the quality of the research done by the Society's world leading epidemiologists and cancer control specialists, whose work frequently appears in CA, and is unequivocal evidence of the esteem in which experts in healthcare and public professionals hold the American Cancer Society's research."
###
[ | 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/2013-06/acs-acs062613.php
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'Shields to maximum, Mr. Scott': Simulating orbital debris impacts on spacecraft and fragment impacts on body armor
June 27, 2013 ? We know it's out there, debris from 50 years of space exploration -- aluminum, steel, nylon, even liquid sodium from Russian satellites -- orbiting around Earth and posing a danger to manned and unmanned spacecraft.
According to NASA, there are more than 21,000 pieces of 'space junk' roughly the size of a baseball (larger than 10 centimeters) in orbit, and about 500,000 pieces that are golf ball-sized (between one to 10 centimeters).
Sure, space is big, but when a piece of space junk strikes a spacecraft, the collision occurs at a velocity of 5 to 15 kilometers per second -- roughly ten times faster than a speeding bullet!
"If a spacecraft is hit by orbital debris it may damage the thermal protection system," said Eric Fahrenthold, professor of mechanical engineering at The University of Texas at Austin, who studies impact dynamics both experimentally and through numerical simulations. "Even if the impact is not on the main heat shield, it may still adversely affect the spacecraft. The thermal researchers take the results of impact research and assess the effect of a certain impact crater depth and volume on the survivability of a spacecraft during reentry," Fahrenthold said.
Only some of the collisions that may occur in low earth orbit can be reproduced in the laboratory. To determine the potential impact of fast-moving orbital debris on spacecraft -- and to assist NASA in the design of shielding that can withstand hypervelocity impacts -- Fahrenthold and his team developed a numerical algorithm that simulates the shock physics of orbital debris particles striking the layers of Kevlar, metal, and fiberglass that makes up a space vehicle's outer defenses.
Supercomputers enable researchers to investigate physical phenomenon that cannot be duplicated in the laboratory, either because they are too large, small, dangerous -- or in this case, too fast -- to reproduce with current testing technology. Running hundreds of simulations on the Ranger, Lonestar and Stampede supercomputers at the Texas Advanced Computing Center, Fahrenthold and his students have assisted NASA in the development of ballistic limit curves that predict whether a shield will be perforated when hit by a projectile of a given size and speed. NASA uses ballistic limit curves in the design and risk analysis of current and future spacecraft.
Results from some of his group's impact dynamics research were presented at the April 2013 American Institute for Aeronautics and Astronautics' (AIAA) meeting, and have recently been published in the journals Smart Materials and Structures and International Journal for Numerical Methods in Engineering. In the paper presented at the AIAA conference, they showed in detail how different characteristics of a hypervelocity collision, such as the speed, impact angle, and size of the debris, could affect the depth of the cavity produced in ceramic tile thermal protection systems.
The development of these models is not just a shot in the dark. Fahrenthold's simulations have been tested exhaustively against real-world experiments conducted by NASA, which uses light gas guns to launch 'centimeter' size projectiles at speeds up to 10 kilometers per second. The simulations are evaluated in this speed regime to insure that they accurately capture the dynamics of hypervelocity impacts.
Validated simulation methods can then be used to estimate impact damage at velocities outside the experimental range, and also to investigate detailed physics that may be difficult to capture using flash x-ray images of experiments.
The simulation framework that Fahrenthold and his team developed employs a hybrid modeling approach that captures both the fragmentation of the projectiles -- their tendency to break into small shards that need to be caught -- and the shock response of the target, which is subjected to severe thermal and mechanical loads.
"We validate our method in the velocity regime where experiments can be performed, then we run simulations at higher velocities, to estimate what we think will happen at higher velocities," Fahrenthold explained. "There are certain things you can do in simulation and certain things you can do in experiment. When they work together, that's a big advantage for the design engineer."
Back on land, Fahrenthold and graduate student Moss Shimek extended this hybrid method in order to study the impact of projectiles on body armor materials in research supported by the Office of Naval Research. The numerical technique originally developed to study impacts on spacecraft worked well for a completely different application at lower velocities, in part because some of the same materials used on spacecraft for orbital debris protection, such as Kevlar, are also used in body armor.
According to Fahrenthold, this method offers a fundamentally new way of simulating fabric impacts, which have been modeled with conventional finite element methods for more than 20 years. The model parameters used in the simulation, such as the material's strength, flexibility, and thermal properties, are provided by experimentalists. The supercomputer simulations then replicate the physics of projectile impact and yarn fracture, and capture the complex interaction of the multiple layers of a fabric protection system -- some fragments getting caught in the mesh of yarns, others breaking through the layers and perforating the barrier.
"Using a hybrid technique for fabric modeling works well," Fahrenthold said. "When the fabric barrier is hit at very high velocities, as in spacecraft shielding, it's a shock-type impact and the thermal properties are important as well as the mechanical ones."
Moss Shimek's dissertation research added a new wrinkle to the fabric model by representing the various weaves used in the manufacture of Kevlar and ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (another leading protective material) barriers, including harness-satin, basket, and twill weaves. Each weave type has advantages and disadvantages when used in body armor designed to protect military and police personnel. Layering the different weaves, many believe, can provide improved protection.
Fahrenthold and Shimek (currently a post-doctoral research associate at Los Alamos National Laboratory) explored the performance of various weave types using both experiments and simulations. In the November 2012 issue of the AIAA Journal, Shimek and Fahrenthold showed that in some cases the weave type of the fabric material can greatly influence fabric barrier performance.
"Currently body armor normally uses the plain weave, but research has shown that different weaves that are more flexible might be better, for example in extremity protection," Shimek said.
Shimek and Fahrenthold used the same numerical method employed for the NASA simulations to model a series of experiments on layered Kevlar materials, showing that their simulation results were within 15 percent of the experimental outcomes.
"Future body armor designs may vary the weave type through a Kevlar stack," Shimek said. "Maybe one weave type is better at dealing with small fragments, while others perform better for larger fragments. Our results suggest that you can use simulation to assist the designer in developing a fragment barrier which can capitalize on those differences."
What can researchers learn about the layer-to-layer impact response of a fabric barrier through simulation? Can body armor be improved by varying the weave type of the many layers in a typical fabric barrier? Can simulation assist the design engineer in developing orbital debris shields that better protect spacecraft? The range of engineering design questions is endless, and computer simulations can play an important role in the 'faster, better, cheaper' development of improved impact protection systems.
"We are trying to make fundamental improvements in numerical algorithms, and validate those algorithms against experiment," Fahrenthold concluded. "This can provide improved tools for engineering design, and allow simulation-based research to contribute in areas where experiments are very difficult to do or very expensive."
Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/06/130627131829.htm
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Wednesday, June 26, 2013
A reporter's eyewitness account of Taliban attack
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) ? One moment I was standing in a quiet, secure and heavily guarded area and the next it had turned into a battlefield.
It was 6:30 a.m., and I waiting with about 20 other journalists for an escort into the palace for a speech by President Hamid Karzai. It was a routine assignment for Kabul journalists, and the presidential compound is a scenic and peaceful oasis lined with pine trees in my chaotic hometown.
Suddenly I saw the four armed men jump out of their vehicle. They kneeled down and started shooting. Two of them fired at presidential palace security guards stationed at a checkpoint. The two others aimed their weapons at the Ariana Hotel, where the CIA is known to have an office.
I didn't know what to do. Bullets were flying all over. Gunfire was coming from different directions. No one really knew who were the attackers and who were the security forces because both sides were wearing similar uniforms.
I thought at first that this must be an insider attack or an argument between security guards. I just couldn't believe that Taliban fighters could have made it this far into the presidential compound, through two checkpoints. After about a minute, I realized the attackers must be Taliban because they were firing in so many different directions.
___
EDITOR'S NOTE: Rahim Faiez, a correspondent with The Associated Press in Afghanistan since January 2002, was waiting in a security area outside the heavily fortified Afghan presidential compound in Kabul for an escort to the palace to cover a speech by President Hamid Karzai when he got caught up Tuesday in a brazen Taliban attack. This is his account.
___
I hit the ground and kept my head down, asking myself, what I should do? I looked around to try to find a place to use as a shelter and call my office ? report the news as fast as possible.
Mostly, though, my thoughts focused on my small children ? my nearly 6-year-old son, Mohammad Akmal, and my two daughters, Hadia, who is 4, and Muqadasa, just 15 months.
Some other reporters took shelter behind an armored SUV used by an American television network. A few others lay in a ditch.
I saw a white, small, religious shrine nearby, and crawled about 10 to 15 meters (yards), then ran as fast as I could toward the wall of the shrine. I saw blood on my clothes but was sure I had not been hit. Later I noticed scratches on my arms and knees from pulling my body across the ground.
I finally reached the wall and thought it was safe enough to take my mobile phone and call the office.
Breathless and scared, I shouted over the phone to a colleague, "David, attackers are inside and a shooting is going on." He was shocked.
Grenades and rockets were exploding in the background and automatic weapons were firing. My colleague asked, "Are you safe, Rahim? Are you OK? I replied I was fine, even if I wasn't entirely.
Then I managed to take a deep breath and started reporting, the battle still going on in the background.
Most of the reporters moved with me behind the shrine.
Looking out, we saw a small boy, around 6 years old, wearing a school uniform and running close to us. He was so brave, not crying, but of course very worried.
We grabbed him and pulled him behind the wall. He didn't know how to call his parents but one of the reporters had a number for the director of his nearby school. He called and told the director that one of his students was with us and safe.
I wanted to move out from behind the wall and take some photos with my cell phone. But bullets kept coming and never gave me the chance. We all wanted to leave from our precarious position, but security guards from the other gate, about 50 meters (yards) away from us, kept shouting that we must stay there. Otherwise we could be shot from the CIA building because guards there wouldn't know who we were.
We sheltered behind that wall for about an hour until the shooting finally eased. During that time, my father called me twice. I lied to him, telling him I was farther from the battle than I really was.
More guards moved into the area, first securing it and finally motioning to us one by one to leave. By then, we later learned, eight attackers and three guards lay dead.
But at the moment I wasn't sure whether other attackers were hiding nearby. I felt safe only when I finally got away from the area. I called my father and told him I was on my way back to the office and not to worry.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Rahim Faiez, a correspondent with The Associated Press in Afghanistan since January 2002, was waiting in a security area outside the heavily fortified Afghan presidential compound in Kabul for an escort to the palace to cover a speech by President Hamid Karzai when he got caught up Tuesday in a brazen Taliban attack. This is his account.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/reporters-eyewitness-account-taliban-attack-184444286.html
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Tuesday, June 25, 2013
Aly & AJ Form 78Violet With Their 'Feminine Alter Ego'
Michalka sisters explain to MTV News why they changed their name and what you can expect from them next.
By Jocelyn Vena, with reporting by Chris Kim
Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1709497/aly-aj-78violet-name-change.jhtml
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Red panda missing: Rusty the panda is found
Red panda missing:?A red panda that vanished from the National Zoo was found in a D.C. neighborhood.
This undated handout photo provided by the National Zoo shows a red panda that has gone missing from its enclosure at the zoo in Washington.
Abby Wood/Smithsonian?s National Zoo/AP
EnlargeThe red panda that had gone rogue from The Smithsonian National Zoo?has been found in a bush in Washington D.C.'s Adams Morgan neighborhood.
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The once-lost animal, a male named Rusty, is just less than a year old and has been on exhibit at the zoo for just three weeks, after arriving from Nebraska in April. The precocious escapee had last been seen in his zoo pen Sunday evening and was not there Monday morning, at which time the zoo sounded a ?Code Green? alert for a missing zoo animal.
Rusty was believed to be still within the zoo, keeping his summer vacation local and hiding in a tree, zoo staff said. It was considered reasonably unlikely that the red panda had high-tailed it toward the White House to express his thoughts on animal conservationism or skipped the country altogether to China, to holiday with friends there.
?It is most likely that he has not really left the vicinity. He would have to have some very strong motivation to leave the area,? spokeswoman Pamela Baker-Masson told The Washington Post.
Well, that strong motivation might have been there: a determined bachelor?s last hurrah. The zoo has one other red panda, a female named Shama, and told The Washington Post that it had been planning to breed the two. And the enterprising panda could not have chosen a better neighborhood for its prenuptial jaunt: Adams Morgan, a section of D.C. noted for its young and throbbing club scene.
How the partying red panda escaped is somewhat mystifying. The wires on his cage, which deliver a small electronic shock, were on and functional.?
The red panda, which looks something like a mix between a cat, a bear, and a (miniaturized) giant panda, is considered a vulnerable species, with just some 10,000 of them in the world, mostly in China but also in Bhutan and northern Nepal and Myanmar. It is only distantly related to the giant panda and is more closely related to weasels and raccoons.
The zoo?s giant pandas are still in their pens, and are sleeping happily, the zoo said.
Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/science/~3/4mFusJeY3rQ/Red-panda-missing-Rusty-the-panda-is-found
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Disney renames Mouseketeer stage for Funicello
BURBANK, Calif. (AP) ? The stage at Walt Disney Studios where "The Mickey Mouse Club" was filmed is now officially the Annette Funicello Stage.
Disney chief Bob Iger led a ceremony Monday dedicating the soundstage to Funicello, the Mouseketeer-turned-movie star who died in April at age 70.
Iger confessed to having a crush on Funicello when he was growing up, as many who watched the perky brunette on TV did.
Former Mouseketeers, Funicello's family and colleagues and Mickey Mouse himself also participated in Monday's dedication. Frankie Avalon, Richard Sherman and Leonard Maltin were among those honoring the late actress.
Julie Andrews is the only other entertainer to have a namesake stage at Disney studios.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/disney-renames-mouseketeer-stage-funicello-005521197.html
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Monday, June 24, 2013
Surprise species at risk from climate change
June 24, 2013 ? Most species at greatest risk from climate change are not currently conservation priorities, according to an International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) study that has introduced a pioneering method to assess the vulnerability of species to climate change.
The paper, published in the journal PLOS ONE, is one of the biggest studies of its kind, assessing all of the world's birds, amphibians and corals. It draws on the work of more than 100 scientists over a period of five years, including Wits PhD student and leader of the study, Wendy Foden.
Up to 83% of birds, 66% of amphibians and 70% of corals that were identified as highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change are not currently considered threatened with extinction on The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. They are therefore unlikely to be receiving focused conservation attention, according to the study.
"The findings revealed some alarming surprises," says Foden, who conducted the study while formerly working for the IUCN Global Species' Programme's Climate Change Unit, which she founded six years ago. "We hadn't expected that so many species and areas that were not previously considered to be of concern would emerge as highly vulnerable to climate change. Clearly, if we simply carry on with conservation as usual, without taking climate change into account, we'll fail to help many of the species and areas that need it most."
The study's novel approach looks at the unique biological and ecological characteristics that make species more or less sensitive or adaptable to climate change. Conventional methods have focussed largely on measuring the amount of change to which species are likely to be exposed.
The new approach has already been applied to the species-rich Albertine Rift region of Central and East Africa, identifying those plants and animals that are important for human use and are most likely to decline due to climate change. These include 33 plants that are used as fuel, construction materials, food and medicine, 19 species of freshwater fish that are an important source of food and income and 24 mammals used primarily as a source of food.
"The study has shown that people in the region rely heavily on wild species for their livelihoods, and that this will undoubtedly be disrupted by climate change," says Jamie Carr of IUCN Global Species Programme and lead author of the Albertine Rift study. "This is particularly important for the poorest and most marginalised communities who rely most directly on wild species to meet their basic needs."
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Rebecca Jarvis Talks Economy, Donald Trump (ABC News)
Blackhawks, Bruins head into Game 6 without stars
Boston Bruins right wing Jaromir Jagr (68) reacts after a goal by the Chicago Blackhawks in the second period during Game 5 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Finals, Saturday, June 22, 2013, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)
Boston Bruins right wing Jaromir Jagr (68) reacts after a goal by the Chicago Blackhawks in the second period during Game 5 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Finals, Saturday, June 22, 2013, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)
Chicago Blackhawks right wing Patrick Kane (88) celebrates with center Jonathan Toews (19) and defenseman Duncan Keith (2) after scoring a goal against the Boston Bruins in the second period during Game 5 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Finals, Saturday, June 22, 2013, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)
Chicago Blackhawks right wing Patrick Kane (88) scores against Boston Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask (40) in the second period during Game 5 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Finals, Saturday, June 22, 2013, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)
The puck, shot by Boston Bruins defenseman Zdeno Chara (33) gets by Chicago Blackhawks goalie Corey Crawford (50) for a goal in the third period during Game 5 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Finals, Saturday, June 22, 2013, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)
Boston Bruins center Chris Kelly (23) trips over Chicago Blackhawks goalie Corey Crawford (50) who blocked his shot in the first period during Game 5 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Finals, Saturday, June 22, 2013, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Bruce Bennett, Pool)
BOSTON (AP) ? Patrice Bergeron joined his Bruins teammates for a postgame dinner and was with them when they flew back to Boston to prepare for Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Finals.
When they arrived at TD Garden on Sunday afternoon, he got off the bus, walked to a car without crutches or assistance and was driven off.
"He's good. He came back with us and everything so hopefully he can play," Bruins forward Brad Marchand said Sunday, a day before playing a game Boston needs to win to extend the NHL championship series to Game 7.
"He looked really good today. He had a nice suit on, very dashing," Marchand said with a laugh. "Obviously, he's a big part of the team and hopefully he can play."
As the Cup final approaches a sixth and potential clinching game Monday night, the attention shifted from the players on the ice to the ones who might not make it there, including two of the top forwards and biggest stars in the series.
Neither Bergeron nor Chicago's Jonathan Toews finished Game 5 on Saturday night, and while their coaches expressed optimism that they would be able to play in Game 6, it was shrouded in the typical secrecy surrounding NHL injuries.
"He's day-to-day," Bruins coach Claude Julien said, declining to even give the usual upper body or lower body description of the injury. "Day-to-day is really good news to me, anyways. Should be to you, too."
Bergeron was injured in the second period of Saturday night's game, which the Blackhawks won 3-1 to take a 3-2 lead in the series. He made two brief appearances on the ice in the third but something was obviously wrong and he was unable to complete either shift.
Toews, who won the Selke Award as the NHL's top defensive forward ? Bergeron was a finalist ? missed the entire third period after a shot to the head from Bruins defenseman Johnny Boychuk.
"They're both great players," Chicago winger Patrick Sharp said. "I think any coach in the league, any player in the league would like to have those guys on their team. ... I can't speak for what Boston is dealing with, with Bergeron. I know I don't need to say much about Jonathan. I think everyone knows what we think of him in our locker room. Hopefully we can have him back for (Monday)."
Bergeron was taken from the United Center to a Chicago hospital in an ambulance for observation. He was released later Saturday night and rejoined his teammates for a team meal.
"He was crushing some food," Marchand said.
He did not speak to reporters on Sunday. Asked to elaborate on the injury, Julien said, "Body injury."
The Blackhawks lost Toews after Boychuk knocked him down in the slot, making contact with his head. Boychuk wasn't penalized, and NHL spokesman John Dellapina said Sunday that the league reviewed the hit and there will be no supplemental discipline.
"I think they said it was clean, wasn't it? Then I agree with them," Julien said. "I'm not going to hide from that. If it wasn't a clean hit ? I've been a guy that supported those kind of things that we need to get out of the game. But it was a clean hit."
Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville alluded to the contact with the head but then said, "I'm not going to go there."
Toews was tied with Patrick Kane for the Blackhawks' team lead with 23 goals during the regular season. Since being reunited with Kane on Chicago's top line in Game 4, Chicago has rallied to take the lead in the best-of-seven series. Before he was knocked out of Game 5, Toews assisted on both of Kane's goals.
"He's our leader," Chicago defenseman Johnny Oduya said. "You know, he's one of those guys, and when he's full-speed he gives everything he's got every game. That's something that is tough to replace."
Quenneville said Toews was doing much better and the team is optimistic he will be able to play in Game 6.
"We'll see how he is. I think the progress today, he's doing real good," Quenneville said. "We'll visit in the morning, and he seemed fine. So nothing has changed. Nothing is different. We'll keep an eye on him, and we'll go from there."
With or without Toews and Bergeron, the Blackhawks have a chance to clinch their second Stanley Cup title in four seasons on Monday night in Boston. If they lose, the series returns to Chicago for a decisive seventh game Wednesday.
"It's not the best situation for either team," Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask said. "But it's a tough sport, and injuries happen. When you leave it all out there to help your team win, that's all part of the game."
___
Follow Jimmy Golen on Twitter at: http://www.twitter.com/jgolen .
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Sunday, June 23, 2013
Andrei Cherny: Paul Soros' Visible Legacy
At this moment when Washington is convulsed with debates over the most significant overhaul of immigration laws in a generation, the life and work of a man named Paul Soros, who passed last week at the age of 87, is not only instructive, but inspiring.
Born to a Jewish family in Hungary, Paul Soros fled the Nazis and escaped Russian imprisonment before coming to the United States with $17 in his pocket in 1948. The engineering firm he established a few years later came to dominate the port-building industry and help make the global economy possible.
All this would, in and of itself, make the passing of this gentle, courtly man noteworthy. But in the last chapter of his long life, Paul Soros undertook another effort that, even with him gone, leaves an important voice in the current debates.
Fifteen years ago, along with his wife Daisy, Paul Soros established a "Fellowship for New Americans" to support the graduate studies of immigrants and children of immigrants. In the New York Times obituary last week, the Fellowship was an afterthought; a single sentence in the second to last paragraph. However, in the context of the current fight over citizenship and immigration, it serves as a vital reminder.
Over the past fifteen years, 475 Americans have been awarded the Soros Fellowship. They and their families come from every corner of the globe, often escaping persecution and poverty only to find further hardship and struggle after arriving in this new land. Yet to read through the collected biographies of these men and women is to see stories not just of new Americans but of the oldest ideals of America reborn again.
These are the men and women who grew up sharing a single bedroom with their entire families and who now are brilliant physicists and physicians, United States Ambassadors and government officials, great poets and writers, pianists and violinists, CEOs of corporations and of major city public school systems, Ivy League professors and Emmy Award-winning producers, public interest lawyers and non-profit leaders.
In short, these men and women represent so much of the best of America - our ability to serve as not only a magnet for people from all over the world, but to provide for opportunity for them and their sons and daughters.
However, their stories have sometimes become lost in the current immigration fight in Washington. Often that debate gets boiled down to nativist voices concerned with building a bigger fence with Mexico on one side and calls for greater openness to highly-skilled scientists from around the world on the other. There are few calls for further pushing open America's doors to families of tired, poor, uneducated refugees from Haiti or Cambodia or Yemen.
But Paul Soros understood that what matters most is not just degrees from institutions of higher learning, but the degree of an individual's determination and effort. That is what immigrants, even without highly valued skills in technology and prestigious diplomas, have historically brought with them to America - whether they landed at Ellis Island or LAX. That - much more than the $17 in his pocket - is what Paul Soros brought with him to America 65 years ago. And an infusion of this hard-charging, spunky outlook - even more than engineers and certainly more than fences - is what America needs right now.
The New York Times called Soros "the invisible Soros." And it is true he was not a world figure in the manner of his younger brother, George. Yet, in his unassuming way, his work and generosity in founding and funding this fellowship for immigrants and their children makes visible the stories that have always been at the heart of the American experience. That is a powerful legacy that will live on for generations to come.
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Follow Andrei Cherny on Twitter: www.twitter.com/andreicherny
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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/andrei-cherny/paul-soros-visible-legacy_b_3484994.html
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