Climate change and wildfire

Public release date: 21-May-2013
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Contact: Yongqiang Liu
yliu@fs.fed.us
706-559-4240
USDA Forest Service ? Southern Research Station

Synthesis of recent findings

Concerns continue to grow about the effects of climate change on fire. Wildfires are expected to increase 50 percent across the United States under a changing climate, over 100 percent in areas of the West by 2050 as projected by some studies. Of equal concern to scientists and policymakers alike are the atmospheric effects of wildfire emissions on climate.

A new article published in the journal Forest Ecology and Management by U.S. Forest Service scientists synthesizes recent findings on the interactions between fire and climate and outlines future research needs. Authored by research meteorologists Yongqiang Liu and Scott Goodrick from the Forest Service Southern Research Station (SRS) and Warren Heilman from the Northern Research Station, the article homes in on the effect of emissions from wildfires on long-term atmospheric conditions.

"While research has historically focused on fire-weather interactions, there is increasing attention paid to fire-climate interactions," says Liu, lead author and team leader with the SRS Center for Forest Disturbance Science. "Weather, the day-to-day state of the atmosphere in a region, influences individual fires within a fire season. In contrast, when we talk about fire climate, we're looking at the statistics of weather over a certain period. Fire climate sets atmospheric conditions for fire activity in longer time frames and larger geographic scales."

Wildfires impact atmospheric conditions through emissions of gases, particles, water, and heat. Some of the article focuses on radiative forcing from fire emissions. Radiative forcing refers to the change in net (down minus up) irradiance (solar plus longwave) at the tropopause, the top of the troposphere where most weather takes place.

Smoke particles can generate radiative forcing mainly through scattering and absorbing solar radiation (direct radiative forcing), and modifying the cloud droplet concentrations and lifetime, and hence the cloud radiative properties (indirect radiative forcing). The change in radiation can cause further changes in global temperatures and precipitation.

"Wildfire emissions can have remarkable impacts on radiative forcing," says Liu. "During fire events or burning seasons, smoke particles reduce overall solar radiation absorbed by the atmosphere at local and regional levels. At the global scale, fire emissions of carbon dioxide contribute substantially to the global greenhouse effect."

Other major findings covered in the synthesis include:

• The radiative forcing of smoke particles can generate significant regional climate effects, leading to lower temperatures at the ground surface.
• Smoke particles mostly suppress cloud formation and precipitation. Fire events could lead to more droughts.
• Black carbon, essentially the fine particles of carbon that color smoke, plays different roles in affecting climate. In the middle and lower atmosphere, its presence could lead to a more stable atmosphere. Black carbon plays a special role in the snow-climate feedback loop, accelerating snow melting.

Land surface changes may be triggered that also play into future effects. "Wildfire is a disturbance of ecosystems," says Liu. "Besides the atmospheric impacts, wildfires also modify terrestrial ecosystem services such as carbon sequestration, soil fertility, grazing value, biodiversity, and tourism. The effects can in turn trigger land use changes that in turn affect the atmosphere."

The article concludes by outlining issues that lead to uncertainties in understanding fire-climate interactions and the future research needed to address them.

###

Full text of the article: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S037811271300114X

Headquartered in Asheville, NC, the Southern Research Station comprises more than 120 scientists and several hundred support staff who conduct natural resource research in 20 locations across 13 southern states (Virginia to Texas). The Station's mission is "to create the science and technology needed to sustain and enhance southern forest ecosystems and the benefits they provide." Learn more about the Southern Research Station at: http://www.srs.fs.usda.gov/.

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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: 21-May-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Yongqiang Liu
yliu@fs.fed.us
706-559-4240
USDA Forest Service ? Southern Research Station

Synthesis of recent findings

Concerns continue to grow about the effects of climate change on fire. Wildfires are expected to increase 50 percent across the United States under a changing climate, over 100 percent in areas of the West by 2050 as projected by some studies. Of equal concern to scientists and policymakers alike are the atmospheric effects of wildfire emissions on climate.

A new article published in the journal Forest Ecology and Management by U.S. Forest Service scientists synthesizes recent findings on the interactions between fire and climate and outlines future research needs. Authored by research meteorologists Yongqiang Liu and Scott Goodrick from the Forest Service Southern Research Station (SRS) and Warren Heilman from the Northern Research Station, the article homes in on the effect of emissions from wildfires on long-term atmospheric conditions.

"While research has historically focused on fire-weather interactions, there is increasing attention paid to fire-climate interactions," says Liu, lead author and team leader with the SRS Center for Forest Disturbance Science. "Weather, the day-to-day state of the atmosphere in a region, influences individual fires within a fire season. In contrast, when we talk about fire climate, we're looking at the statistics of weather over a certain period. Fire climate sets atmospheric conditions for fire activity in longer time frames and larger geographic scales."

Wildfires impact atmospheric conditions through emissions of gases, particles, water, and heat. Some of the article focuses on radiative forcing from fire emissions. Radiative forcing refers to the change in net (down minus up) irradiance (solar plus longwave) at the tropopause, the top of the troposphere where most weather takes place.

Smoke particles can generate radiative forcing mainly through scattering and absorbing solar radiation (direct radiative forcing), and modifying the cloud droplet concentrations and lifetime, and hence the cloud radiative properties (indirect radiative forcing). The change in radiation can cause further changes in global temperatures and precipitation.

"Wildfire emissions can have remarkable impacts on radiative forcing," says Liu. "During fire events or burning seasons, smoke particles reduce overall solar radiation absorbed by the atmosphere at local and regional levels. At the global scale, fire emissions of carbon dioxide contribute substantially to the global greenhouse effect."

Other major findings covered in the synthesis include:

• The radiative forcing of smoke particles can generate significant regional climate effects, leading to lower temperatures at the ground surface.
• Smoke particles mostly suppress cloud formation and precipitation. Fire events could lead to more droughts.
• Black carbon, essentially the fine particles of carbon that color smoke, plays different roles in affecting climate. In the middle and lower atmosphere, its presence could lead to a more stable atmosphere. Black carbon plays a special role in the snow-climate feedback loop, accelerating snow melting.

Land surface changes may be triggered that also play into future effects. "Wildfire is a disturbance of ecosystems," says Liu. "Besides the atmospheric impacts, wildfires also modify terrestrial ecosystem services such as carbon sequestration, soil fertility, grazing value, biodiversity, and tourism. The effects can in turn trigger land use changes that in turn affect the atmosphere."

The article concludes by outlining issues that lead to uncertainties in understanding fire-climate interactions and the future research needed to address them.

###

Full text of the article: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S037811271300114X

Headquartered in Asheville, NC, the Southern Research Station comprises more than 120 scientists and several hundred support staff who conduct natural resource research in 20 locations across 13 southern states (Virginia to Texas). The Station's mission is "to create the science and technology needed to sustain and enhance southern forest ecosystems and the benefits they provide." Learn more about the Southern Research Station at: http://www.srs.fs.usda.gov/.

---

[ | 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/2013-05/ufs-cca052113.php

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Nokia Lumia 521 (T-Mobile)

Everyone's attention might be on the Lumia 925?and the Lumia 928?right now, but it would be a shame to overlook the Lumia 521. This cute, capable smartphone?costs just $29.99 down (or $149.99 in total), and gets you a good mix of performance and features with one of T-Mobile's inexpensive new Simple Choice plans. It's not a phone for power users, and Windows Phone still lacks many of the apps you'll find on iOS and Android. But it's a good place to start for smartphone newbies, or anyone else looking for a decent low-cost smartphone.

Design and Call Quality
The Lumia 521 may not be expensive, but it certainly doesn't feel cheap. Most of the phone is encased in a sturdy, white matte plastic shell. The front of the phone is a glass panel with a 4-inch display, and a little too much bezel, especially on the bottom. It measures 4.88 by 2.52 by 0.39 inches (HWD) and weighs 4.48 ounces, which makes it extremely comfortable to hold and use with just one hand.

The phone's 4-inch IPS LCD is serviceable. It features 800-by-480-pixel resolution, which works out to 235 pixels per inch. It looks bright and vibrant, but that resolution is fast becoming low-end compared with all of the 1080p HD displays we've been seeing. It gets the job done; there's just no wow factor. Typing felt fine on the on-screen keyboard.

There's a headphone jack on top of the phone, a power port on the bottom, and Camera, Power, and Volume buttons on the right. To access the battery, you need to peel off the shell. I found it easiest to place a finger over the camera, then tug at a corner of the phone until it gave way. Underneath you'll find an empty microSD card slot and a removable 1,430mAh battery. It was good for 8 hours and 37 minutes of talk time.

The Lumia 521 can hit up to HSPA+ 21 speeds on T-Mobile's network. It's a little disappointing that it doesn't support the carrier's faster HSPA+ 42 or LTE networks, but it still managed to pull in some good data speeds, with an average of 5.4Mbps down and 1.5Mbps up. It also supports 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi calling.

Voice quality is very good, especially through the phone's earpiece. Voices sound loud, rich, and clear. Calls made with the phone sound a little muffled and digitized, but not distractingly so. A little wind noise made it through but noise cancellation is otherwise pretty strong. The speakerphone is not loud enough to hear outdoors, but calls sounded fine over a Jawbone Era?Bluetooth headset; I had no trouble using the headset to control Microsoft's voice command software.

T-Mobile's new contract-free plans start at $50 per month, and that gets you all the talk and texts you want, along with 500MB of high-speed data per month, after which your speeds are slowed to 2G. $60 gets you 2GB of high-speed data, and $70 gets you unlimited high-speed data. These are excellent rates compared with competitors like AT&T and Verizon, and further enhance the Lumia 521's appeal as a solid budget phone.

Processor, Winodws Phone 8, and Apps
The Lumia 521 is powered by a 1GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor, which is less powerful than the 1.5GHz chip you'll find in nearly every other WP8 handset. The benchmark scores confirm this?the 521 turned in scores about 30% less powerful than competing devices. Luckily, Windows Phone 8 is a light, fast operating system, and using the phone never felt slow. It takes a little longer for apps to open, but I didn't encounter any sluggishness or performance hiccups.

Windows Phone 8 itself is Microsoft's mobile operating system, which is built around a series of live tiles on your home screen. These tiles continuously pull information from social networks, the Internet, messages, and local content stored on your phone, which is both useful and fun. The Contacts menu in particular aggregates information from your email, Facebook, and Twitter feeds, into one great big People Hub. Live tiles now come in different sizes, which shows that Windows Phone is more configurable than Apple's iOS, but still nowhere near as customizable as Google's Android.

Since Microsoft doesn't allow any modification of its operating system, one of the biggest differentiators between Windows phones is the included apps. Nokia includes a number of its own home-grown apps, like Nokia Drive+ Beta, which offers voice-enabled turn-by-turn GPS navigation. Here Maps is a very attractive set of interactive maps, and Here City Lens is an augmented reality app that places nearby points of interest over your camera's view. Nokia Music allows you to buy music or listen to premade playlists for free. These apps are no longer exclusive to Nokia phones, though. Nokia has made them available in the Windows Phone store to all WP8 devices in order to acquire more user-generated data for a better overall experience.

You also get some other apps, like Angry Birds, Slacker Radio, Scout, and T-Mobile TV, which can all be uninstalled if you don't need or want them.

Windows Phone's biggest stumbling block is app availability. The Windows Phone store is home to more than 100,000 apps, but it's not guaranteed to have all of the apps you want. The selection is constantly improving, but you still won't find many of the top new apps for iOS and Android available on Windows Phone.

Multimedia, Camera, and Conclusions
You get 4.61GB of free internal storage. Luckily, there's also the aforementioned microSD card slot under the back cover that worked with both my 32 and 64GB SanDisk cards. Windows Phone has fairly robust multimedia file support, and the Lumia 521 had no trouble handling any of our test files. Music sounded good over both wired and Bluetooth headphones and video looked sharp during playback.

The 5-megapixel camera has autofocus, but lacks a flash. As long as you have good lighting, performance isn't bad. The camera can capture photos instantaneously, without waiting for the autofocus, but they tend to come out blurry. If you let the autofocus kick in the camera can snap a photo within 0.8 second. In good lighting the camera does a nice job with colors and captures a fair amount of detail compared with other 5MP shooters. It also supports Nokia's Smart Shoot, which I love. It lets you fire off a burst of shots, then erase objects in the background or even swap faces out with another photo when someone isn't smiling.

The camera also records 720p video at a smooth 30 frames per second. Video looks a little grainy, especially indoors, but it's still usable. There's no front-facing camera, so you can't use the 521 to video chat.

For the price, the Nokia Lumia 521 is the best low-cost smartphone you can get on T-Mobile right now. That said, Windows Phone and its lack of apps isn't for everyone. If you want an inexpensive, capable smartphone, and you don't need unfettered access to all the hottest new apps, the Lumia 521 is a solid choice. But if it's apps you're after, you're better off with the iPhone 5, which has the best app selection there is, though it's significantly more pricey. The same goes for the HTC One?and Samsung Galaxy S 4. Both phones have a much greater app selection, along with better cameras, bigger displays, and faster processors. But both phones are a lot more expensive than the 521.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/GIqE0oqfxXg/0,2817,2419165,00.asp

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Kerry warns Syria's Assad against rejecting political solution

AMMAN (Reuters) - Western governments are ready to increase support to opponents of President Bashar al-Assad if he rejects a political solution to Syria's civil war, Secretary of State John Kerry said on Wednesday.

Kerry said recent military gains by Assad's forces were only temporary and that if he believed the counter-offensives against the rebels would be decisive, "then he is mis-calculating".

Kerry, speaking at a news conference in Amman before a meeting of the Friends of Syria group of nations, said several thousand fighters from the Lebanese group Hezbollah were taking part in the conflict with active Iranian support on the ground.

"Just last week, obviously, Hezbollah intervened very, very significantly. There are several thousands of Hezbollah militia forces on the ground in Syria who are contributing to this violence and we condemn that."

He said U.S. President Barack Obama had made clear he did not intend to despatch U.S. forces to Syria but that Washington would discuss continued and growing support to help rebel fighters if Assad was unwilling to negotiate a political solution to the two-year-old crisis.

Wednesday's meeting in Amman, which gathers ministers from 11 Western and Middle Eastern countries who have led international opposition to Assad, aimed to promote efforts to end the bloodshed in Syria, he added.

(Reporting by Arshad Mohammed; Editing by Angus MacSwan)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/kerry-says-thousands-hezbollah-fighters-syria-144548900.html

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Logitech Wired Keyboard for iPad eschews Bluetooth for old-school connection

Logitech isn?t short on keyboards for the iPad, but for those sick of changing batteries its new wired version may be the answer. Billed as ideal for the classroom ? where, as Logitech points out, more and more schools are deploying Apple?s tablet as a learning aid ? the new ?board would also work in a home desktop setup, with versions for both the new Lightning port on the iPad mini and fourth-gen iPad Retina, and a Dock Connector model for older slates.

Both get their power from the iPad, so there are no batteries to switch out or recharge, and since you?re not relying on Bluetooth there shouldn?t be any lost-connection issues either. Logitech has given the Wired Keyboard for iPad full-sized keys, and while they?re low-profile, that should be at least familiar to those coming over from a laptop ?board.

It?s also spill resistant, capable of shrugging off at most 60ml of liquids (though not of withstanding full immersion). Heavy-handed typists can expect it to handle more than 5m keystrokes.

The layout itself is basically the Mac-usual, with shortcut buttons for brightness, search, media playback, and volume. There?s also a dedicated lock button.

The Logitech Wired Keyboard for iPad will go on sale in the US from August, in Lightning Connector form, while the 30-pin connector version will follow on in October. Both versions will be priced at $59.99, and it?s up for preorder now.

Source: http://feeds.slashgear.com/~r/slashgear/~3/StJ9LC4Qcek/

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Yes, an Old Mac G5 Does Make a Great BBQ

An old Mac G5 case, some scrap aluminum?and you have the perfect geek's grill. OK, so there may strictly be more efficient ways to cook outdoors, but this scores maximum nerd points. [Imgur via Macgasm via Ubergizmo]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/yes-an-old-mac-g5-does-make-a-great-bbq-509020027

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Self Hypnosis for Excess weight Reduction ? Point or Myth? ? Best ...

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Author: Dudley Parsons

If you do not have the correct perspective or go into it with the incorrect psychological focus, you are quite not likely to basically follow via to the finish and meet your goals. Hypnosis is a way to distinct your brain of the doubt and negativity and definitely concentrate on why you want to get to your targets and what you will need to do to genuinely get there.

For men and women who seriously get the method significantly and go into every hypnosis session with an open mind, this is a incredibly useful excess weight reduction tool. It will not get the weight off for you, but it will give a enormous helping hand to finding your head in the appropriate put.

People who find that hypnosis does not do the job are often those who have doubts to start with and do not genuinely commit to the course of action. If you can allow go of those doubts for your initial session and genuinely go deeply into the hypnosis devoid of restraint you will likely have a great practical experience.

Pounds manage hypnosis is very best carried out by a specialized who is competent at how to immediate you as a result of the practice effectively, but there are approaches to master to do this for yourself.

Self Support Hypnosis can be utilised to pretty proficiently enable you with a range of problems that you are encountering in your every day existence. By applying head control procedures and self hypnosis audio you will be ready to relieve phobias, addictions or any kind of social complications you may well be encountering. The approach of self hypnosis has many sorts of positive aspects.

Its an effective way to plants tips and suggestions into your subconscious brain that will have a great impact through the actions in your day-to-day life. You will be capable to re-train your thoughts to steer away from damaging behaviors. Just feel about all you could accomplish by employing these useful brain manage strategies.

Self hypnosis can support you with:

o Curing phobias these types of as dread of heights, concern of the dentist, social phobias or any other circumstance where you really feel susceptible.

o Easier to prevail over addictions these as smoking, or help you to lose weight or any other things you have to have enable with to avoid undertaking, but where by your head powers are missing.

o Hypnotize yourself and get those hrs of sleep you desperately have to have. Your Insomnia troubles will be a factor of the past.

o Learn how to train your brain to alleviate tension, pressure, be concerned or something that is painful in your life

So as you can see there is lots of positive aspects of using Self Support Hypnosis. These brain control approaches will be bring an great favourable expertise to your daily life. Applying self hypnosis audio you can accomplish the outcomes you find while resting easily in your sofa.

The rapid paced daily life of at this time has resulted in a whole lot of issues for the latest era. Not only are people today moving absent from their relations and drifting into loneliness but just due to the nature and pattern of the doing work hours men and women are gaining devoid of a usual and balanced diet program.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/self-improvement-articles/self-hypnosis-for-excess-weight-reduction-point-or-myth-4828655.html

About the Author

The writer for this write-up wishes to stay anonymous. Must you desire to speak to this author, please leave a message in the feedback section of one of the created content? cheers! Self Hypnosis And Excess weight Manage, Fat Reduction Hypnosis ? Making You Believe that That

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Source: http://besthealthinfo4u.com/health-fitness/addiction/self_hypnosis_for_excess_weight_reduction_-_point_or_myth/

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OJ hoping for new trial in return to Vegas court

LAS VEGAS (AP) ? The last time O.J. Simpson was in a Las Vegas courtroom, he stood next to defense attorney Yale Galanter before being handcuffed and hauled off to prison for up to 33 years.

On Monday, the former football hero returns to Clark County District Court with a different set of lawyers hoping to convince a judge that Galanter shouldn't have been handling his armed robbery-kidnapping case ? that the lawyer who was paid nearly $700,000 for Simpson's defense had a personal interest in preventing himself from being identified as a witness to the crimes and so misled Simpson that the former football star deserves a new trial.

"To me, the claims are solid. I don't know how the court can't grant relief," said Patricia Palm, the Simpson appeals lawyer who produced a 94-page petition dissecting Galanter's promises, payments and performance as Simpson's lawyer in the trial that ended with a jury finding Simpson and a co-defendant guilty of 12 felonies.

Galanter declined to comment ahead of his is scheduled testimony.

Of the 22 allegations of conflict-of-interest and ineffective counsel that Palm raised, Clark County District Court Judge Linda Marie Bell has agreed to hear 19.

The proceedings, technically neither a trial nor appeal, are expected to take all week before Bell decides whether Simpson deserves a new trial. It's not clear whether she'll rule immediately.

Some who've watched the Simpson saga say he might have a chance.

"I think there's a lot to this," said John Momot, a lawyer nearing 40 years of criminal defense in Las Vegas who played himself in the 1995 movie "Casino" and provided expert cable TV commentary during Simpson's monthlong trial in September 2008.

"I don't think O.J. Simpson could ever get a fair trial, period, based on his reputation from California," Momot said. "But based on these allegations, if you took Joe Jones from the street and put him in the same situation, I think it would be possible he'd get a new trial."

Ozzie Fumo, a veteran Las Vegas trial lawyer now representing Simpson, said it took two years of convincing by jailhouse lawyers at Nevada's Lovelock Correctional Center before Simpson broke with Galanter.

Simpson now says that Galanter not only knew ahead of time about his plan to retrieve what he thought were personal mementoes but met with Simpson in Las Vegas to discuss the plan the night before Simpson and five other men confronted two sports memorabilia dealers and a middleman in a cramped casino hotel room in September 2007.

Simpson maintains the plan was to take back what he expected would be family photos and personal belongings stolen from him after his 1995 "trial of the century" acquittal in the slayings of his wife and her friend in Los Angeles.

Galanter blessed the plan as within the law, as long as no one trespassed and no force was used, Simpson said.

During trial, Simpson contends Galanter "vigorously discouraged" him not to testify, and never told him that prosecutors were willing to let him plead guilty to charges that would have gotten him a minimum of two years in prison.

"He consistently told me the state could not prove its case because I acted within my rights in retaking my own property," Simpson said in a sworn statement outlining what he plans to say when he testifies this week.

Simpson's lawyers also say that while continuing to represent Simpson through oral arguments in a failed 2010 appeal to the Nevada Supreme Court, Galanter kept a lid on his own behind-the-scenes involvement. That nearly extinguished any chance Simpson had to claim ineffective representation in state or federal courts.

Simpson still says he had no idea two of the men with him brought guns to the hotel room. Palm and Fumo noted that the possibility of diminished perception wasn't raised at trial.

On Monday, Dr. Norman Roitman, a Las Vegas psychiatrist, is expected to testify that Simpson's perception of what took place in the Palace Station hotel room might have been hampered by football brain injuries and the effects of several vodka and cranberry juice cocktails he consumed before the confrontation.

H. Leon Simon, the chief deputy district attorney representing the state, is scheduled to call another psychiatrist later in the week for another opinion.

_____

Find Ken Ritter on Twitter: http://twitter.com/krttr

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/oj-hoping-trial-return-vegas-court-080715843.html

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I?m a bad, bad man (Unqualified Offerings)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories Stories, RSS Feeds and Widgets via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/305260027?client_source=feed&format=rss

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Gunmen open fire at Mother's Day parade

NEW ORLEANS (AP) ? Gunmen opened fire on people marching in a neighborhood Mother's Day parade in New Orleans on Sunday, wounding at least 19.

The shooting ? described by the FBI as a flare-up of street violence ? shattered the festive mood surrounding the parade that drew hundreds of people to the 7th Ward neighborhood of modest row houses not far from the French Quarter. Cell phone video taken in the aftermath of the shooting shows victims lying on the ground, blood on the pavement and others bending over to comfort them.

At least three of the victims were seriously wounded. Of the rest, many were grazed and authorities said that overall most wounds were not life threatening. No deaths were reported.

The victims included 10 men, seven women, a boy and a girl. The children, both 10 years old, were grazed and in good condition.

Mayor Mitch Landrieu urged witnesses to come forward with information during a news conference Sunday night at a hospital where gunshot victims were taken.

"These kinds of incidents will not go unanswered. Somebody knows something. The way to stop this violence is for you all to help," he said.

Mary Beth Romig, a spokeswoman for the FBI in New Orleans, said federal investigators have no indication that the shooting was an act of terrorism.

"It's strictly an act of street violence in New Orleans," she said.

As many as 400 people came out for the second-line procession ? a boisterous New Orleans tradition ? though only half that many were in the immediate vicinity of the shooting, said Police Superintendent Ronal Serpas. Officers were interspersed with the marchers, which is routine for such events.

Police saw three suspects running from the scene. No arrests had been made as of early evening.

Outside the hospital on Sunday night, Leonard Temple became teary as he talked about a friend who was in surgery after being shot three times during the parade. Temple was told the man was hit while trying to push his own daughter out of the way.

"People were just hanging out. We were just chilling. And this happened. Bad things always happen to good people," said Temple, who was at the parade but didn't see the shootings.

In the late afternoon, the scene was taped off and police had placed bullet casing markers in at least 10 spots.

Second-line parades are loose processions in which people dance down the street, often following behind a brass band. They can be planned events or impromptu offshoots of other celebrations. They trace their origins to the city's famous jazz funerals.

A social club called The Original Big 7 organized Sunday's event. The group was founded in 1996 at the Saint Bernard housing projects, according to its MySpace page.

The neighborhood where the shooting happened is a mix of low-income and middle-class row houses, some boarded up. As of last year, the 7th Ward's population was about 60 percent of its pre-Hurricane Katrina level.

The crime scene was about 1.5 miles from the heart of the French Quarter and near the Treme neighborhood, which has been the centerpiece for the HBO TV series "Treme."

Sunday's violence comes at a time when the city is struggling to pay for tens of millions of dollars required under a federal consent decree to reform the police department and the city jail.

Shootings at parades and neighborhood celebrations have become more common in recent years as the city has struggled with street crime. Earlier this year, four people were shot following an argument in the French Quarter during the last weekend of partying before Mardi Gras. The victims survived, and several suspects were eventually arrested.

Police vowed to make swift arrests. Serpas said it wasn't clear if particular people in the second line were targeted, or if the shots were fired at random.

"We'll get them. We have good resources in this neighborhood," Serpas said.

___

Contributing to this report were Associated Press writers Michael Kunzelman and Kevin McGill in New Orleans and AP Radio reporter Jackie Quinn in Washington.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/19-orleans-shooting-victims-included-2-kids-000104331.html

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Stingray Cellphone Tracking Warrant In Daniel David Rigmaiden Case Was Proper, Judge Rules

NEW YORK -- A federal district judge ruled on Wednesday that the government obtained a warrant to locate a suspected tax fraud properly, despite omitting details about the secret cell phone tracking technology it planed to use.

At issue is a device called a stingray that tricks cell phones around it into transmitting their location by spoofing a cell tower. The government got a court order to use a stingray to track down Daniel David Rigmaiden, who is accused of submitting fraudulent tax returns in order to collect millions of dollars worth of rebates.

The government didn't mention, however, that it would need to pretend its stingray was a Verizon Wireless tower to find Rigmaiden, or that it would collect the location of hundreds of innocent third parties' phones in the process. Nevertheless, U.S. District Judge David Campbell denied Rigmaiden's motion to suppress the crucial evidence collected as a result of that search.

In court filings the government had argued, and the court accepted, that the means are not as important as the ends when it comes to warrants. In a separate case, the FBI is fighting a lawsuit over a public records request into stingrays.

"The Court agrees that the Tracking Warrant is not a model of clarity," Campbell wrote. It "did not describe the precise means by which the mobile tracking device would operate, what signals it would send to the aircard, what signals it would capture, or the fact that it would cause some of Defendant?s electricity to be consumed in the process."

Still, he said, citing Supreme Court precedent, "There is no legal requirement that a search warrant specify the precise manner in which the search is to be executed."

Campbell's ruling takes away one of the most promising legal avenues for Rigmaiden to beat the charges against him. But the stakes in the case go far beyond his alleged tax fraud, said Linda Lye, a staff attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California, which filed a friend of the court brief on behalf of Rigmaiden.

Although the ACLU believes the FBI and other law enforcement agencies employ stingrays regularly, the federal government is secretive about their use. It's only because Rigmaiden, a dogged jailhouse lawyer who represents himself, filed a bevy of court motions that he was able to uncover the use of the device against him.

"They're using them, there are just very few cases where the government has admitted it," Lye said, adding she is "somewhat dismayed" by Campbell's "very, very disappointing decision."

She believes the government violated Rigmaiden's Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable search and seizure, and also the rights of his neighbors who were caught up by the stingray. The judge accepted the government's argument that those collateral searches weren't important because the FBI deleted the information collected from them.

But Lye objected, "The Fourth amendment does not have a 'no harm, no foul' rule."

Although the district court's ruling will not be binding on other judges around the country, because the use of stingrays is so rarely litigated, Rigmaiden's case could serve as an important legal reference. The judge, Lye argued, should have treated the government's lack of forthrightness as more than a detail.

"Whenever it gets to the Fourth Amendment and new technology it's a little bit of a game of Whac-A-Mole," she said. "The larger principle here is when the government is using new technology ... it definitely needs to err on the side of providing more, not less information to the courts."

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/09/stingray-cellphone-tracking_n_3247309.html

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Activities of Pentecostal churches a problem in India: WikiLeaks

New Delhi:?

A new revelation by the WikiLeaks has stated that Congress president Sonia Gandhi wanted a ban on pro-Hindu Bajrang Dal but was denied, saying that religious activities of Pentecostal churches are also a problem.

WikiLeaks said that Congress leader KV Thomas told US embassy that Sonia Gandhi wants to ban Bajrang Dal but former national security advisor M K Narayanan opposed it.

Thomas also refused to blame BJP Government in Karnataka for the recent violence in Karnataka.

?Forced? conversions and distribution of inflammatory literature by the new Pentecostal churches in India has harmed the Christian community?s previously harmonious relations with the Hindu majority,? Thomas said.

Source: Niticentral

Source: http://www.ucanindia.in/news/activities-of-pentecostal-churches-a-problem-in-india%3A-wikileaks/20945/daily

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Golf Notes - Adams' NCAA aim; Open qualifier Friday

UNCW's Lori Beth Adams shaved three strokes off her scoring average from last season, down to 74.3.

Buy Photo Photo by Laura Greene

Published: Wednesday, May 8, 2013 at 12:09 p.m.

Last Modified: Wednesday, May 8, 2013 at 12:09 p.m.

Lori Beth Adams tries this week to become only the second UNCW golfer in school history to advance to the NCAA Championship finals.

The Seahawks' career stroke average leader begins competition Thursday in the Central Regional at Jimmie Nolan Golf Club in Norman, Okla.

It's been a terrific year for Adams, a junior, who shaved three strokes off her scoring average from last season, down to 74.3. She recorded five top-three finishes and landed in the top 20 in 10 of 11 starts, and Tuesday was named CAA Player of the Year.

The top two individuals in the 54-hole tournament who are not on one of the eight qualifying teams advance to the NCAA finals. The only other UNCW golfer to reach that goal is Paula Brzostowski in 1990. Carmen Perez-Narbon (2008) and Laverry Kumar (2011) came within one shot.

For live scoring, visit golfstat.com

Local U.S. Open Qualifying

There will be 120 professionals and amateurs at River Landing's River Course on Friday trying to take the first step toward the U.S. Open at Merion Golf Club in Pennsylvania.

The golfers are vying to finish in the top seven and advance through the 18-hole local qualifier into 36-hole sectional qualifying at various sites around the nation.

Notable names in the field: Wilmington pro Josh Brock tees off at 8:30 a.m.; Larry George, River Landing (8:10); Neal Lancaster, Smithfield (12:30 p.m.); Chesson Hadley, Raleigh (12:50); Ross Robison, Wilmington (1); Trey Howell, Wilmington (1:30); Harold Varner, former ECU player (1:50).

Other local qualifiers around the state are set for May 13 at Pinewild CC in Pinehurst and May 16 at Forest Oaks in Greensboro.

Picking up wins

Bryce Chaffee, an assistant at the Country Club of Landfall, won the recent Magnolia Gold Pro-Am at Magnolia Greens CC. He shot 1-under 71 to earn $241 and nip a trio of professionals, including co-worker Trey Howell, who competed in last year's Rex Hospital Open.

River Landing pro Larry George had the winning team, pairing with amateurs Don Hancock, Don Pearce and Dave Davis for a one-shot edge over a team led by Magnolia Greens pro Rick Ferrell.

David Thore claimed the Pine Valley Pro-Am with an even-par 72 in cold, windy conditions at Pine Valley CC. Only seven pros in the 20-team field shot 77 or better.

First Tee fundraiser tourney

The First Tee of the Cape Fear Region seeks sponsors and teams for its first Future Generations Tournament on Nov. 1 at Porters Neck CC.

The format is 4-man Captain's Choice. Cost per team is $500, which includes a post-round cocktail party, access to the silent auction and raffle tickets. Among the prizes is four tickets to a 2014 Masters practice round, including limo ride to Augusta.

For information on the tournament and upcoming summer programming for kids, visit TheFirst TeeCapeFearRegion.org.

Brian Mull: 343-2034

Source: http://www.starnewsonline.com/article/20130508/articles/130509685

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Video: Computer simulations reveal the energy landscape of ion channels

Monday, May 6, 2013

Every cell of our body is separated from its environment by a lipid bilayer. In order to maintain their biological function and to transduce signals, special proteins, so called ion channels, are embedded in the membrane. Anna Stary-Weinzinger and Tobias Linder from the University of Vienna and Bert de Groot from the Max Planck Institute of Biophysical Chemistry in G?ttingen identified a key amino acid (phenylalanine 114), which plays an essential role for opening and closing of these ion channels. A conformational change of phenylalanine triggers opening of the channels.

"These proteins are highly selective, they can distinguish between different ions such as sodium, potassium or chloride and allow ion flux rates of up to 100 million ions per seconds", explains Stary-Weinzinger, leader of the research project and postdoc at the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology of the University of Vienna. "These molecular switches regulate numerous essential body functions such as transduction of nerve signals, regulations of the heart rhythm or release of neurotransmitters. Slight changes in function, caused by replacement of single amino acids, can lead to severe diseases, such as arrhythmias, migraine, diabetes or cancer."

Knowledge of ion channel function provides the basis for better drugs

Ion channels are important drug targets. 10 percent of current pharmaceuticals target ion channels. A detailed understanding of these proteins is therefore essential to develop drugs with improved risk-benefit profiles. An important basis for drug development is a detailed knowledge of the functional mechanisms of these channels. However, there are still many open questions; especially the energy profile and pathway of opening and closure are far from being understood.

Computer simulations visualize ion channel movements

This video shows opening and closing mechanisms. Credit: Anna Stary-Weinzinger and Tobias Linder

To watch these fascinating proteins at work, molecular dynamics simulations are necessary. Computational extensive calculations were performed with the help of the Vienna Scientific Cluster (VSC), the fastest high performance computer in Austria, a computer cluster operated by the University of Vienna, the Vienna University of Technology and the University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences Vienna. With the help of VSC, the free energy landscape of ion channel gating could be investigated for the first time. The young researchers discovered that the open and closed channel states are separated by two energy barriers of different height.

Phenylalanine triggers conformational changes

Surprisingly, the dynamics of a specific amino acid, phenylalanine 114, are coupled to a first smaller energy barrier. "This side chain acts as molecular switch to release the channel from the closed state", explains Tobias Linder, PhD student from the University of Vienna. After these local changes, the channel undergoes large global rearrangements, leading to a fully open state. This second transition from an intermediate to a fully open pore is accompanied by a large second energy barrier.

###

T. Linder, B.L. de Groot, A. Stary-Weinzinger: probing the energy landscape of activation gating of the bacterial potassium channel KcsA. PLOS Computational Biology, May 2013. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1003058

University of Vienna: http://www.univie.ac.at/en/

Thanks to University of 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/128126/Video__Computer_simulations_reveal_the_energy_landscape_of_ion_channels

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May Day protests: From Bangladesh to Europe, angry workers rally in the tens of thousands (+video)

But this year's May Day demonstrations come on the heels of the tragic Bangladesh factory collapse, a potent symbol for many of the importance of workers' rights.

By Ryan Lenora Brown,?Correspondent / May 1, 2013

Workers and protesters hold a huge banner march to the government office during a May Day rally in Hong Kong, Wednesday. Hundreds of workers, local labor right groups, and striking dockworkers join the annual rally to demand better wages and working conditions.

Vincent Yu/AP

Enlarge

In Dhaka, Bangladesh, a raucous crowd descended on the city center with signs and drums, chanting and waving banners demanding the death penalty for the owner of a factory where more than 400 people died in a building collapse last week.

Skip to next paragraph Ryan Lenora Brown

Correspondent

Ryan Brown edits the Africa Monitor blog and contributes to the national and international news desks of the Monitor. She is a former Fulbright fellow to South Africa and holds a degree in history from Duke University.?

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As marches take place around the world to mark Labour Day, in the Spanish capital hundreds gathered to protest against the economic crisis that has driven the country?s unemployment rate above 27 percent.

In Jakarta, Indonesia, some of the tens of thousands of demonstrators marching through the city came dressed as ants ? complete with bright red outfits and antennae ? to depict the exploitation of workers.?

And in Greece, trains, buses, and ferries sat vacant and hospitals nearly empty as thousands of public sector employees walked off the job in a one-day strike.

Each year, May 1, better known as May Day, is marked with labor rallies and strikes around the world. And this year's holiday came at a particularly prescient moment in many parts of the world.?

From Europe, where the bite of austerity has left many facing down unemployment and reduced benefits, to South and Southeast Asia, a region cluttered with precariously-built factories similar to the one that collapsed last week in Bangladesh, demonstrators gathered to vent outrage and demand reform.

?My brother has died. My sister has died. Their blood will not be valueless,? yelled one Bangladeshi protestor through a crackling loudspeaker, according to the Associated Press.

As the march wove through downtown Dhaka, rescue workers in the industrial suburb of Savar continued their search for bodies and survivors in the rubble of Rana Plaza, which collapsed suddenly on April 24 with thousands of garment workers inside.

The disaster at the factory, which manufactured clothing for several low-end Western retailers, touched off global outrage about the working conditions of garment workers across the developing world. In Phnom Pehn, Cambodia, workers rallied for higher wages and safer working conditions. In Manila, Philipines, where labor unions are banned, workers marched to demand the right to organize. And in Hong Kong, thousands turned out in support of striking dock workers, calling for wages that would help close the income gap between the country?s rich and its poor.

And that was all before Europe woke up.

There has "never been a May 1 with more reason to take to the streets,? one Spanish union leader told Reuters during a march in Madrid this morning, where protestors carried signs reading "austerity ruins and kills" and "reforms are robbery.? (Read the Monitor's feature about how Spaniards are increasingly flocking to the countryside to cut costs and find new jobs.)

In Greece, where the government recently announced that it would lay off 180,000 civil servants over the next two years ? the first such cuts in 100 years ? a strike shut down public transit across Athens. ?

And in France, which saw unemployment rose again last month, marchers carried banners reading, ?It?s too much! Alternatives exist? and ?Where are the real socialists in our government??

An exception to the doom and gloom of this year?s May Day was Russia, where a festive celebration of the holiday harks back to Soviet times. Indeed, many of those who gathered in the streets of Moscow were buoyant, Euronews reported.

?The atmosphere is excellent. It?s a holiday for us, the beginning of something new, bright, and joyful,? one demonstrator told reporters.

May 1 is a national holiday in some 80 countries around the world, and its ties to labor advocacy date back to 1886, when American police killed 10 protestors at a rally for an eight-hour workday in Chicago?s Haymarket Square. International socialist organization and labor unions declared it a day of commemoration and action soon after.

Ironically, however, May Day is not celebrated in the United States. In the early 1890s, fearing the ?socialist? overtones of the holiday, President Grover Cleveland quickly declared an alternate holiday, beginning the American tradition of celebrating Labor Day on the first Monday of September.?

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/csmonitor/globalnews/~3/WmYU4gZ7dUc/May-Day-protests-From-Bangladesh-to-Europe-angry-workers-rally-in-the-tens-of-thousands-video

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This Bat Knows How To Drink

Imagine it's a hot day, and you're craving some cold lemonade. Someone offers you a glass, but with one condition: You can drink it only using your tongue, with no lips touching the glass. No straw.

You might have a problem.

But many animals ? bees, butterflies, hummingbirds, and bats ? have tongues specifically designed to do this. All drink nectar from flowers using only their tongues.

In the latest issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a team describes one species of bat's particularly elaborate nectar-scooping tongue.

A high-speed photograph of a Pallas's long-tongued bat feeding from the nectar deep within a flower.

Dr. Merlin D. Tuttle/Bat Conservation International/Science Source

A high-speed photograph of a Pallas's long-tongued bat feeding from the nectar deep within a flower.

Dr. Merlin D. Tuttle/Bat Conservation International/Science Source

Pallas's long-tongued bats live in Central and South America. They're roughly two inches long and they spend their nights going from flower to flower. And each bat has a tongue about twice as long as its head.

"They hover for just a few seconds over the flower corolla and then they probe their tongue deep into the base of the flower tube and soak up nectar," says Cally Harper, the graduate student in ecology and evolutionary biology at Brown University, who led the study.

The challenge for all nectar feeders, Harper says, is to slurp up as much nectar as possible in the shortest possible time. That's because hovering over each flower takes a lot of energy, and to get enough food, the nectar slurpers have to visit many flowers in a single night.

Nature has come up with a variety of tongue designs, Harper says. "Hummingbirds have these bifurcated tongues that almost act like tweezers to tweeze up small droplets of liquid. And for butterflies their tongues function almost like straws, where they have little pores at the tip of their tongue, where the nectar flows through those pores through the tube of that tongue."

Harper wanted to know how the Pallas's long tongued bats scooped up sweet liquid. So she and her boss, Beth Brainerd, a specialist in biomechanics and evolutionary morphology, decided to film them in the laboratory, using a high speed video camera.

The researchers knew the bat tongues were covered with little hairs, so they watched what happened to those hairs as the bats reached out for food.

When the tongue is inside the bat's mouth, they found, the hairs lie flat on the tongue's surface.

"And then very close to when the tongue is maximally extended, these hairs become erect," Harper says. "And when that happens, a space is created between each of the rows of hairs on the tongue tip. And nectar is loaded onto each one of those spaces"

It's like the bat's tongue is working like a mop, Brainerd says. "Not a sponge mop, but a stringy mop."

Brainerd says it turns out that each hair has blood vessels supplying them. When the bat sticks its tongue out to feed, the muscles of the tongue contract, pushing blood into the hair and making them stand on end. "The mechanism is like an active mop that's opening up to make more space for this liquid nectar to be collected," she says.

This scanning electron microscope image of the tongue of the Pallas's long-tongued bat shows how the hairs on the surface stand up to catch water, turning it into a "nectar mop."

Courtesy of Cally Harper

This scanning electron microscope image of the tongue of the Pallas's long-tongued bat shows how the hairs on the surface stand up to catch water, turning it into a "nectar mop."

Courtesy of Cally Harper

Other creatures, including bees and cats, have hairs on their tongues, too.

But no other animal uses the tongue hairs in quite this way, says Kurt Schwenk, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Connecticut.

"What made it so cool and exciting is this dynamic attribute they have of popping out when the blood pressure gets high enough," says Schwenk.

He says that the study shows how under-appreciated tongues are.

"When you start looking at tongues in different animal groups, you see this amazing diversity of form and function that I think would shock most people."

And for that matter, Schwenk says even the human tongue is more remarkable than we give it credit for.

"I'd suggest that in the privacy of your own home," Schwenk says, "go into the bathroom and look in the mirror, stick your tongue out and start examining the incredible movements you can make with your tongue."

The human tongue may not be great for slurping up liquids, but it is perfect for the foods we eat and all the languages we speak.

Watch The Tongue In Action

This high-speed video shows a Pallas's long-tongued bat lapping up artificial nectar from a glass jar. At 52 seconds in, you can see a close-up view of the hairs on the tongue standing up to help draw the nectar into the bat's mouth.

Source: http://www.npr.org/2013/05/07/181634051/this-bat-knows-how-to-drink?ft=1&f=1007

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HTC dropping HTC Watch support for 6 countries in Europe come May 31

Users in Spain, Italy, Sweden, Norway, Denmark and the Netherlands will no longer be able to use the service after May 31

HTC Watch, the Taiwanese companies streaming movie service introduced last year with the HTC Sensation, is getting a bit of restructuring. According to an official response from HTC, the service will be discontinued in Italy, Spain, Sweden, Denmark, Norway and the Netherlands after May 31.

As we continue to deliver new content for HTC Watch, we've made the decision to focus our efforts on markets with the highest engagement. After May 31, we'll discontinue support for HTC Watch in countries with less application traffic.

While users is Spain can fall back on Google Play Movies for their movie streaming and purchasing, Google's service isn't available in the other five affected countries so users will have to use a service offered by their local operator or one of the other web based services available. If you're in one of the affected countries and have a favorite alternative, sing out in the comments.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/V3qGFqDTJHk/story01.htm

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