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Thursday, March 21, 2013
Jeff Bezos Has Rescued the Apollo 11 Rockets From the Ocean Floor
Wednesday, March 20, 2013
Dartmouth researchers invent real time secondhand smoke sensor
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Public release date: 19-Mar-2013[ | E-mail |
Share ] Contact: John Cramer
john.d.cramer@dartmouth.edu
603-646-9130
Dartmouth College
Mini prototype to be developed into wearable, affordable, reusable device
Making headway against a major public health threat, Dartmouth College researchers have invented the first ever secondhand tobacco smoke sensor that records data in real time, a new study in the journal Nicotine and Tobacco Research shows.
The researchers expect to soon convert the prototype, which is smaller and lighter than a cellphone, into a wearable, affordable and reusable device that helps to enforce no smoking regulations and sheds light on the pervasiveness of secondhand smoke. The sensor can also detect thirdhand smoke, or nicotine off-gassing from clothing, furniture, car seats and other material.
The device uses polymer films to reliably measure ambient nicotine vapor molecules and a sensor chip to record the real-time data, pinpointing when and where the exposure occurred and even the number of cigarettes smoked. The prototype proved successful in lab tests. Clinical studies will start this summer.
Such a device could help to enforce smoking bans in rental cars, hotel rooms, apartment buildings, restaurants and other places. It also could help convince smokers that smoking in other rooms, out of windows and using air fresheners still exposes children and other nonsmokers to secondhand smoke. The device would be more accurate and less expensive than current secondhand smoke sensors, which provide only an average exposure in a limited area over several days or weeks.
"This is a leap forward in secondhand smoke exposure detection technology," said Chemistry Professor Joseph BelBruno, whose lab conducted the research.
Federal health officials report there is no safe level of exposure to secondhand smoke, which increases the risks of cancer, cardiovascular disease and childhood illness. An estimated 88 million nonsmoking Americans, including 54 percent of children ages 3 years, are exposed to secondhand smoke.
###
The study was supported by the American Academy of Pediatrics Julius B. Richmond Center of Excellence, funded through the Flight Attendants Medical Research Institute, and by the Norris Cotton Cancer Center at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center.
Dartmouth College has a patent pending for this technology.
Authors included Yuan Liu, Sadik Antwi-Boampong, and Joseph J. BelBruno of the department of chemistry at Dartmouth College; Mardi A. Crane of the department of microbiology and immunology at Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth; and Susanne E. Tanski of the department of microbiology and immunology and the Cancer Control Research Program, Norris Cotton Cancer Center, at the Geisel School of Medicine.
For more news, visit Dartmouth Now and follow us on Twitter.
[ | 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.
Public release date: 19-Mar-2013[ | E-mail |
Share ] Contact: John Cramer
john.d.cramer@dartmouth.edu
603-646-9130
Dartmouth College
Mini prototype to be developed into wearable, affordable, reusable device
Making headway against a major public health threat, Dartmouth College researchers have invented the first ever secondhand tobacco smoke sensor that records data in real time, a new study in the journal Nicotine and Tobacco Research shows.
The researchers expect to soon convert the prototype, which is smaller and lighter than a cellphone, into a wearable, affordable and reusable device that helps to enforce no smoking regulations and sheds light on the pervasiveness of secondhand smoke. The sensor can also detect thirdhand smoke, or nicotine off-gassing from clothing, furniture, car seats and other material.
The device uses polymer films to reliably measure ambient nicotine vapor molecules and a sensor chip to record the real-time data, pinpointing when and where the exposure occurred and even the number of cigarettes smoked. The prototype proved successful in lab tests. Clinical studies will start this summer.
Such a device could help to enforce smoking bans in rental cars, hotel rooms, apartment buildings, restaurants and other places. It also could help convince smokers that smoking in other rooms, out of windows and using air fresheners still exposes children and other nonsmokers to secondhand smoke. The device would be more accurate and less expensive than current secondhand smoke sensors, which provide only an average exposure in a limited area over several days or weeks.
"This is a leap forward in secondhand smoke exposure detection technology," said Chemistry Professor Joseph BelBruno, whose lab conducted the research.
Federal health officials report there is no safe level of exposure to secondhand smoke, which increases the risks of cancer, cardiovascular disease and childhood illness. An estimated 88 million nonsmoking Americans, including 54 percent of children ages 3 years, are exposed to secondhand smoke.
###
The study was supported by the American Academy of Pediatrics Julius B. Richmond Center of Excellence, funded through the Flight Attendants Medical Research Institute, and by the Norris Cotton Cancer Center at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center.
Dartmouth College has a patent pending for this technology.
Authors included Yuan Liu, Sadik Antwi-Boampong, and Joseph J. BelBruno of the department of chemistry at Dartmouth College; Mardi A. Crane of the department of microbiology and immunology at Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth; and Susanne E. Tanski of the department of microbiology and immunology and the Cancer Control Research Program, Norris Cotton Cancer Center, at the Geisel School of Medicine.
For more news, visit Dartmouth Now and follow us on Twitter.
[ | 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/2013-03/dc-dri031913.php
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Analysis: Khamenei mobilizes loyalists to swing Iran's election
By Marcus George
DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran's supreme leader may have helped Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to win two presidential elections, but he is now bent on stopping his turbulent protege from levering his own man into the job.
Time was when even reformist presidents would defer to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as the ultimate authority in the Islamic Republic's clerical system. Ahmadinejad changed all that.
Ahmadinejad's relentless quest for power and recognition has led him into direct confrontation with Khamenei, the man to whom he arguably owes his second term, if not his first.
And as Iran's first non-clerical president since 1981, he has not stopped short of challenging the power of the clergy.
Even though he cannot stand for a third term, Ahmadinejad is widely seen as determined to extend his influence by backing his former chief of staff Esfandiar Rahim Mashaie for president.
Khamenei loyalists accuse Mashaie of inspiring a 'deviant' trend that favors strong nationalism over clerical rule.
"So magical is the political prowess attributed to Mashaie and Ahmadinejad's populist appeal that Mashaie's prospective candidacy causes much concern in the Khamenei camp," said Shaul Bakhash, professor at George Mason University in the United States, weighing prospects for the election in mid-June.
Voters, preoccupied by bread-and-butter issues in an economy battered by Western sanctions imposed over Iran's nuclear program, may only have conservatives to choose from.
Reformists are unlikely to get a look in. Mir-Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karoubi, who ran against Ahmadinejad in a 2009 election they denounced as rigged, languish under house arrest.
The reformist movement "has no organizational capacity and no recognized candidate right now," said Scott Lucas of EA worldview, a news website that monitors Iranian media.
CLOSING RANKS
Iran's rulers, keen to avert any repeat of the mass protests and violence that shook Iran after the 2009 poll, will try to ensure that only obedient candidates pass the vetting process.
And to block Mashaie or any other pro-Ahmadinejad candidate, Khamenei is turning to a three-man alliance of principalists - hardliners loyal to him - to unite behind one candidate to secure a quick and painless election win, say diplomats and analysts.
The driving force behind this appears to be the supreme leader's foreign policy adviser Ali Akbar Velayati, who is one of the three possible contenders, along with Tehran mayor Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf and lawmaker Gholam Ali Haddad Adel.
"If principalists are divided ... and the presidency is not in the hands of principalists in the future, we will have a tragedy," Velayati said last month.
"From these three people one person will be introduced as a candidate, so we can finish the job in the first round."
Analysts agree that Khamenei, deeply concerned about the election outcome, has given the nod to the initiative.
"Ayatollah Khamenei has systematically and effectively concentrated both power and authority in his person. No one in Iran today can become president without his approval," said Ali Ansari, an Iran scholar at St Andrew's University in Scotland.
Velayati appears to be leading a drive to eradicate Ahmadinejad's power and unite all principality's behind a single candidate - despite their own virulent political divisions.
A U.S.-trained doctor who served as foreign minister for 16 years until 1997, Velayati is now regarded as one of Khamenei's most influential advisers, often deployed to carry out high-level initiatives on the leader's orders.
Velayati's partners in the anti-Ahmadinejad alliance are established politicians, but less well known abroad.
Haddad Adel is the father-in-law of Khamenei's third son, Mojtaba, the gate-keeper of access to the leader himself. An MP and former parliament speaker, he commands influence in the assembly and much respect for his academic credentials.
His family ties to Khamenei have strengthened his position within the leader's inner circle, but have opened him to accusations that he is little more than a pawn of the leader.
The third member of the trio, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, is a former commander of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards (IRGC).
He is regarded as a pragmatist who "reaches out to more moderate conservatives", said Scott Lucas of EA World view.
Popular, charismatic and boasting support from the Guards, Qalibaf's inclusion in the alliance may be intended to stifle any threat he might pose by running as an independent candidate.
"He is too popular in his own right and may represent IRGC constituencies that the supreme leader is nervous about," said a European diplomat who focuses on Iran policy.
DEMOCRATIC VENEER
Khamenei can tighten his grip on the poll via the Guardian Council, which can veto candidates - although barring too many would risk destroying public interest in a vote which, however circumscribed, bolsters Iran's claims to democratic legitimacy.
"Without these elections and high participation, even the pretence of democracy would fall apart," said Trita Parsi of the Washington-based National Iranian American Council.
But allowing an Ahmadinejad-backed contender - or dark-horse independents - to run has risks for the ruling establishment.
"Ahmadinejad has shown he isn't going quietly," said the European diplomat. "The danger will be if his candidate doesn't get in amid voter fraud speculation - then we've got a 2009 situation, involving regime insiders."
Tensions are already rising.
Last month Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani - also a principalist - was pelted with shoes and stones by Ahmadinejad supporters in the holy city of Qom, where he had come to make a speech on the 34th anniversary of Iran's revolution.
It was the latest skirmish in a personal feud that had exploded into public days earlier when the president accused Larijani's family of using its position for economic gain.
Larijani's brother, Fazel, described Ahmadinejad's behavior as a conspiracy carried out by "Mafia-like individuals".
Such public wrangling among Iran's conservative political elite is an embarrassment to the Supreme Leader.
"Khamenei no longer seems able to impose discipline eve among his own lieutenants when it comes to those fierce political rivalries," said Bakhash.
Among independents to throw their hats in the ring are former Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki and former IRGC commander Mohsen Rezaie, a losing candidate in 2009. Both are conservatives who could disrupt Velayati's campaign to close ranks for Khamenei and shut out any Ahmadinejad proxy.
A president loyal to Khamenei might prove slightly less adversarial than Ahmadinejad in relations with the West, but would still be unlikely to accept a major nuclear compromise.
"Since they are beholden to the supreme leader, I can't see much change other than a reduction in some of the rhetoric," said Ansari of St Andrew's University. "Although this would help, at least on a superficial level."
(Reporting By Marcus George; Editing by Alistair Lyon and Janet McBride)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/analysis-khamenei-mobilizes-loyalists-swing-irans-election-124625076.html
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Tuesday, March 19, 2013
Wildfire burns outside Great Smoky Mountains
PIGEON FORGE, Tenn. (AP) ? A wildfire burning in a resort area outside the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in eastern Tennessee has destroyed more than 30 large rental cabins.
Ben Bryson, a fire resources coordinator with the Tennessee Division of Forestry, says the 145-acre fire was first reported around 5 p.m. EDT Sunday in Sevier County.
Bryson says two National Guard helicopters are being dispatched Monday to help fight the fire, which has been contained and isn't expected to spread.
Bryson says some of the cabins were occupied and about 150 to 200 people were evacuated, but no injuries were reported.
The area is home country star Dolly Parton's Dollywood theme park, which Bryson says is not being threatened by the fire.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/wildfire-burns-outside-great-smoky-mountains-103900390.html
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Monday, March 18, 2013
Seton Hill Grieves: Today's memorial service for ladies' lacrosse coach killed in bus crash to be covered by PennLive
She is being remembered for her warmth and passion. For her leadership. For being a teacher.
Still more heartfelt memories of Seton Hill women's lacrosse head coach Kristina Quigley are expected to pour forth throughout the day today and later this evening across the Greensburg-area college campus.
Seton Hill University will offer a memorial Mass for Kristina Quigley, her late unborn son, and her family, university officials announced late Saturday following the morning bus crash.
Mourners also will pray for the driver of the bus, who also died as a result of the crash, and for all those injured.
The service is set for 7 p.m. today in St. Joseph Chapel on the university?s campus.
Quigley, 30, of Greensburg, died yesterday when the bus carrying her team to a game at Millersville University crashed along the Pennsylvania Turnpike, at mile marker 227, between the exits for state Route 11 near Carlisle and state Route 15.
Their motor coach left the turnpike and struck a tree. The driver of the bus, Anthony Guaetta, also was killed.
At the request of the university, the Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center was not releasing the names or conditions of the two passengers who were still undergoing treatment there late yesterday.
A PennLive reporter and photographer are en route to Seton Hill to report from campus and cover this evening?s memorial service. Follow their Tweets at @JohnLuciew and @PaulChaplin4. And look for their posts and pictures from Seton Hill this afternoon and this evening on PennLive, which will have continuing coverage throughout the day.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Source: http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2013/03/seton_hill_grieves_todays_memo.html
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The bracket lives before the games
Drop the pen. Everyone knows no ink makes contact with a bracket sheet until Monday night at the earliest. Until it's deadline time, pencils are preferred.
It's tempting to make big decisions about your picks while you're still waiting for the fourth region to be unveiled. Don't. In the next 10, 12 hours you will hear so many nuggets of information and reasons to change your mind that you will, over and over.
That, folks, is real March Madness.
To add to your confusion, here a few thoughts and tips about the 2013 bracket.
___
There weren't any really fervent arguments when the bracket was revealed.
Gonzaga being the fourth No. 1 seed caused a ripple of controversy because it revived and an old argument: BCS conference vs. the mid-majors. If the Bulldogs weren't a No. 1, Miami probably would have gotten it.
The last of the at-large selections again weren't full of emotion or indignation. Again, it was BCS vs. mid-majors with La Salle and Middle Tennessee State being the last two in the field instead of the likes of Virginia, Maryland and Iowa, all big-time programs with small-time nonconference schedules.
Don't read anything into this about Gonzaga not being a deserving No. 1 who is capable of winning the four games that get you to the Final Four. The Bulldogs, who go 10 deep in the rotation, have a big front line led by 7-footer Kelly Olynyk and a solid backcourt featuring Kevin Pangos.
___
For those still wearing black after the last Big East tournament as we know it, at least eight Big East teams were selected for the field of 68, the most of any conference. It is the fourth straight year the Big East has had at least that many teams selected, including an NCAA-record 11 in 2011. The Big East has had at least eight teams chosen six times since 2006.
No other conference has ever had eight teams chosen for one field.
And if you want to look ahead and hope for a farewell party for the ages for the Big East next month, history says you'll be happy.
The conference has had five schools make a Final Four appearance in the last four years, including Connecticut's remarkable title run led by Kemba Walker in 2011
___
Even though Thursday begins the two-day national basketball holiday when the tournament gets under way in earnest, don't forget Tuesday and Wednesday. The games officially known as the "First Four" will be incorrectly called the play-in round but they could be the springboard to the "Final Four" ? as they were for VCU in 2011.
On Tuesday at Dayton, it will be North Carolina A&T against Liberty, the lone team in the field with a losing record, in a matchup of 16 seeds and Middle Tennessee facing Saint Mary's, Calif. in a matchup of 11s. On Wednesday, it's LIU-Brooklyn meeting James Madison in a 16 matchup and Boise State facing La Salle in a game between 13 seeds.
When VCU made its run to the Final Four, the Rams beat Southern California in a game of 11 seeds, No. 6 Georgetown, No. 3 Purdue and No. 10 Florida State. They lost to top-seeded Kansas in the national semifinals.
___
There were a slew of big upsets this season, or at least games considered upsets at the time. With teams ranked No. 1 losing seven times this season and a run with a different No. 1 for five straight weeks, it became apparent that there would be a pretty sizable pool of teams worthy of advancing to the Final Four.
But don't get carried away with trying to find the low-seeded team that will make you memorable around the office.
A team seeded fourth or better has won the championship the last 24 years, since sixth-seeded Kansas, led by Danny Manning, won it all.
___
A wise old TV announcer named Bill Raftery once told me the smartest thing to do when radio hosts would ask you for your Final Four was to keep changing it so at least people in one city will think you're smart.
Here's a grasp at a Final Four (check someplace else to see if I'm smart):
MIDWEST: It's hard to pick against top-seeded Louisville after the way the Cardinals have played during their 10-game winning streak that included the Big East tournament. This, however, is by far the toughest of the regions. No. 2 Duke, with Ryan Kelly back in the lineup, is in it, along with third-seeded Michigan State which gets to play its first two games in nearby Auburn Hills, Mich. Then there's Saint Louis, the team filling the bill of everyone's "chic" pick.
Even with the depth of the bracket (Memphis, Oklahoma State, Creighton, Cincinnati), it's still too hard to pick against Rick Pitino leading the Cardinals to a second straight Final Four.
WEST: The talk was all about Gonzaga getting its first No. 1 seed and keeping aloft the banner for the non-BCS schools. The other seeded teams are Ohio State, off a win at the Big Ten tournament, New Mexico, a team a lot of people are still waiting to make up their minds about, and Kansas State, a team that would have had a great season if not for Kansas, which beat the Wildcats three times.
Wisconsin is here and that's about as scary a name you can get in your bracket, especially when a team would have only one day to prepare for its second meeting of a weekend. Arizona is coming off a tough loss that sure looked like a bad call. Notre Dame is dangerous when the 3s are falling but so is every other team.
Ohio State played a brutal schedule through February and into March. Gonzaga didn't. Why not have another Final Four repeater in the Buckeyes?
SOUTH: Another really interesting group of seeds. No. 1 Kansas has made its three-game losing streak seem like months ago. Georgetown had been on a very solid 12-game run until the Hoyas ran into Syracuse in the Big East semis. Third-seeded Florida was everybody's pick a couple of weeks ago and the Gators even got players back from injuries, but they have struggled in close games. Michigan rounds out the group and the Wolverines have to find a way to follow the lead of star guard Trey Burke.
The Jayhawks will keep riding freshman Ben McLemore on the wing and veteran Jeff Withey inside for yet another Final Four repeat.
EAST: Indiana spent the most weeks this season as the No. 1 team in the poll so the Hoosiers are right at home as the top seed. Miami, the veteran team with the sophomore point guard in Shane Larkin, can't let not being the No. 1 seed affect them. The No. 3 seed is Marquette, a Big East tri-champion which came up flat in the Big East tournament. Syracuse, which comes in off the devastating loss to Louisville in the Big East title game when the Cardinals went from 16 down to 18 up in 13 minutes of the second half.
There's no reason to think any less of Indiana because it will be playing a second weekend in Washington instead of Indianapolis. The Hoosiers end the streak of Final Four repeaters because the other team in last year's national semifinals ? Kentucky ? is playing in the NIT after winning it all last year.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/bracket-lives-games-075247624--spt.html
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Saturday, March 16, 2013
Auction house: We found Titanic violin
In this undated photo provided by Henry Aldridge on Friday, March 15, 2013 shows the violin that was played by the bandmaster of the Titanic as the oceanliner sank, Devizes, England. Survivors of the Titanic have said they remember the band, led by Wallace Hartley, playing on deck even as passengers boarded lifeboats after the ship hit an iceberg. Hartley?s violin was believed lost in the 1912 disaster, but auctioneers Henry Aldridge & Son say an instrument unearthed in 2006 has undergone rigorous testing and proven to be Hartley?s. The auction house said has spent the past seven years and thousands of pounds determining the water-stained violin?s origins, consulting numerous experts including government forensic scientists and Oxford University. (AP Photo/Henry Aldridge)
In this undated photo provided by Henry Aldridge on Friday, March 15, 2013 shows the violin that was played by the bandmaster of the Titanic as the oceanliner sank, Devizes, England. Survivors of the Titanic have said they remember the band, led by Wallace Hartley, playing on deck even as passengers boarded lifeboats after the ship hit an iceberg. Hartley?s violin was believed lost in the 1912 disaster, but auctioneers Henry Aldridge & Son say an instrument unearthed in 2006 has undergone rigorous testing and proven to be Hartley?s. The auction house said has spent the past seven years and thousands of pounds determining the water-stained violin?s origins, consulting numerous experts including government forensic scientists and Oxford University. (AP Photo/Henry Aldridge)
LONDON (AP) ? The violin played by the bandmaster of the Titanic as the oceanliner sank has been unearthed, a British auction house said Friday.
Survivors of the Titanic have said they remember the band, led by Wallace Hartley, playing on deck even as passengers boarded lifeboats after the ship hit an iceberg.
Hartley's violin was believed lost in the 1912 disaster, but auctioneers Henry Aldridge & Son say an instrument unearthed in 2006 and has undergone rigorous testing and proven to be Hartley's.
"It's been a long haul," said auctioneer Andrew Aldridge, explaining the find had initially seemed "too good to be true."
The auction house spent the past seven years and thousands of pounds determining the water-stained violin's origins, consulting numerous experts including government forensic scientists and Oxford University.
The auction house said the rose wood instrument has two long cracks on its body, but is "incredibly well-preserved" despite its age and exposure to the sea. It estimated the violin is worth six figures.
Hartley was one of the 1,517 people who perished when the Titanic struck an iceberg 350 miles (565 kilometers) south of Newfoundland on April 15, 1912.
Some reports at the time suggested Hartley's corpse was found fully dressed with his instrument strapped to his body, though there was also speculation the violin floated off and was lost at sea.
Henry Aldridge and Son said it researched the violin's story with a Hartley biographer as the instrument underwent forensic testing, uncovering documents that showed Hartley was found with a large leather valise strapped to him and the violin inside.
The violin apparently was returned to Hartley's grieving fianc?e, the auction house said, and later ended up in the hands of the Salvation Army before being given to a violin teacher and ultimately Henry Aldridge & Son.
Testing by the U.K. Forensic Science Service showed corrosion deposits were considered "compatible with immersion in sea water," while a silver expert studied a plate on the violin's neck to determine if it fit the time profile.
Henry Aldridge & Son said the violin will go on public display at the end of the month at Belfast City Hall, less than a mile from where Titanic was built.
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