2012-02-29

T. rex has most powerful bite of any terrestrial animal ever

The team artificially scaled up the skulls of a human, alligator, a juvenile T. rex, and Allosaurus to the size of an adult T. rex. In each case the bite forces increased as expected, but they did not increase to the level of the adult T. rex, suggesting that it had the most powerful bite of any terrestrial animal.

Previous studies have estimated that T. rex's bite had a force of 8,000 to 13,400 Newtons, but given the size of the animal, thought to weigh more than 6,000kg, researchers suspected that its bite may have been more powerful than this. Liverpool scientists developed a computer model to reverse engineer the animal's bite, a method that has previously been used to predict dinosaur running speeds.

An animal's bite force is largely determined by the size of the jaw muscles. Using their computer models, researchers tested a range of alternative muscle values, as it is not precisely known what the muscles of dinosaurs were like. Even with error margins factored in, the computer model still showed that the T. rex had a more powerful bite than previously suggested.

The smallest values predicted were around 20,000 Newtons, while the largest values were as high as 57,000 Newtons, which would be equivalent to the force of a medium sized elephant sitting down on the ground.

Researchers also found that the results for the juvenile T. rex had a relatively the weaker bite than the adult T. rex, even when size differences and uncertainties about muscle size were taken into account. The large difference between the two measurements, despite the error margins factored in, may suggest that T. rex underwent a change in feeding behaviour as it grew.

Dr Karl Bates, from the University's Department of Musculoskeletal Biology, said: "The power of the T. rex jaw has been a much debated topic over the years. Scientists only have the skeleton to work with, as muscle does not survive with the fossil, so we often have to rely on statistical analysis or qualitative comparisons to living animals, which differ greatly in size and shape from the giant enigmatic dinosaurs like T. rex. As these methods are somewhat indirect, it can be difficult to get an objective insight into how dinosaurs might have functioned and what they may or may not have been capable of in life.

"To build on previous methods of analysis, we took what we knew about T. rex from its skeleton and built a computer model that incorporated the major anatomical and physiological factors that determine bite performance. We then asked the computer model to produce a bite so that we could measure the speed and force of it directly. We compared this to other animals of smaller body mass and also scaled up smaller animals to the size of T. rex to compare how powerful it was in relative terms.

"Our results show that the T. rex had an extremely powerful bite, making it one of the most dangerous predators to have roamed our planet. Its unique musculoskeletal system will continue to fascinate scientists for years to come."

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TAG:Behavioral Science Extinction Weather Rainforests Tyrannosaurus Rex Dinosaurs

Video: Android booth at MWC

BARCELONA--Google’s Android Booth at MWC 2012 is one of the major hotspots at the mobile show this year.

Taking up a significant portion of Hall 8, the booth attracts tens of thousands of visitors daily, most on the lookout for Google’s signature Android pins.

Boasting a slide, smoothie bar, music lounge, device carousel, demos, interactive wall and much more besides, Google has transformed its corner of MWC into a veritable fairground, and attendees can’t seem to get enough.


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New model provides different take on planetary accretion: Collapse may take place in a cold dust cloud

The model assumes that this occurred in an extremely hot (as high as 1,600 degrees Celsius) environment for the inner Solar System, fostered by a dusty, two-dimensional disk post-dating the Sun.

The basic modern model, developed by Russian astronomer Victor Safronov, and further developed by planetary scientist George Wetherill, is called the Solar Nebular Disk Model and was made available in English in the early 1970s. It has remained essentially the same over the past 40 years.

But not everyone is convinced the model is correct. How could such a chaotic, haphazard process as fractal assembly lead to the regularities of the Solar System with all of the planets in a single plane, rotating in the same sense, spinning and orbiting around the Sun?

For the discontents, a new model, offered by Anne Hofmeister, PhD, research professor of earth and planetary sciences and Robert Criss, PhD, professor in earth and planetary sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, presents a different scenario. Their explanation is published in the March issue of Planetary and Space Science.

Using classical physics, the laws of thermodynamics and mechanics, Hofmeister, with assistance from Criss, presents an accretion model that assumes a three-dimensional (3-D) gas cloud. This pre-solar nebula collapses and forms the Sun and planets at essentially the same time, with the planets contracting toward the Sun.

The temperature is cold, not hot. The thermodynamic and mechanical model of 3-D accretion explains planetary orbits and spins, unlike the 2-D model, which does not.

Hofmeister and Criss explain compositional gradients across the Solar System in terms of lighter molecules diffusing faster than heavier ones. The model connects planet mass to satellite system size via gravitational competition.

Explaining planetary orbits and spins

"This model is radically different," Hofmeister says. "I looked at the assumption of whether heat could be generated when the nebula contracted and found that there is too much rotational energy in the inner planets to allow energy to spill into heating the nebula.

"Existing models for planetary accretion assume that the planets form from the dusty 2-D disk, but they don't conserve angular momentum. It seemed obvious to me to start with a 3-D cloud of gas, and conserve angular momentum. The key equations in the paper deal with converting gravitational potential to rotational energy, coupled with conservation of angular momentum."

No energy left over for heat

"In the new model, heat production is not important in planetary formation," Hofmeister says.

Criss says the prevailing notion that gravitational collapse is a hot process is a mis-interpretation of thermodynamics. He offers an analogy of a beaker of water placed outside in the winter. It slowly starts to freeze. Freezing water actually releases a latent heat, he says, because order (ice, a crystal) is being made from disorder (liquid).

The heat released is considerable, but it cannot warm the beaker because "it's released only as fast as the environment will take it away," Criss says. "If the heat would warm the water above 32 degrees Fahrenheit, the ice would melt. People clinging to the old accretion models want to make the ice and heat the beaker, too."

Gravitational competition

The authors say 2-D models don't explain why the inner Solar System is composed of rocky planets and the outer gas giants.

"The first thing that happens in planet accretion is forming rocky kernels," Hofmeister says. "The nebula starts contracting, the rocky kernels form to conserve angular momentum, and that's where the dust ends up. Once rocky kernels exist, they attract gas to them, but only if the rocky kernel is far from the Sun, can it out-compete the Sun's gravitational pull and collect the gas, as did Jupiter and its friends.

"But if the rocky kernel is close, like the Earth's, it can't out-compete the Sun. We describe this process as gravitational competition. This is why we have the regularity, spacing, and graded composition of the Solar System."

Gravitational competition also offers a new view of formation of the moon that does not require an extremely low probability giant impact.

Not limited to the Solar System

Hofmeister says there is a continuum between single stars, binary stars, multiple stars, planets and even extrasolar planets.

"In all cases, the process is gravitational accretion of these cold, 3-D clouds making things contract and spin out, and that's where the energy comes from," she says. "It's all happening in very cold temperatures, in 3-D instead of 2-D."

Criss says there is plenty of observable evidence that the 2-D model is wrong.

"It patently doesn't make sense that a bunch of random collisions between heavy, solid objects are going to produce a Solar System with planets orbiting the Sun in a beautiful plane, with everything having upright spins," he says. "That's like setting off a nuclear bomb and expecting all the trees in the world to end up neatly stacked.

Moreover, the Hubble pictures show stars being born in the Eagle nebula, and they're formed in a cold 3-D cloud."

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Synesthesia: Open your eyes and smell the roses

"It's known that there are separate specialized brain areas for the different senses such as vision, smell, touch and so forth but, when you experience the world around you, you get a coherent picture based on information from all the senses. We wanted to find out how this works in the brain," says Dr. Christopher Pack, lead investigator at The Neuro. "In particular we wanted to test the idea that activation of brain regions primarily dedicated to one sense might influence processing in other senses. What we found was that electrically stimulating the visual cortex improves performance on a task that requires participants to identify the odd odor out of a group of three." This result is interesting because it shows, for the first time, that on a basic level the brain structures involved in different senses are really quite interconnected in everyone -- more so than previously understood.

"This 'cross-wiring' of senses has been described in people with synesthesia, a condition in which stimulation of one sense leads to automatic, involuntary experiences in a second sense, causing people to see the colour of numbers, or smell words, or hear odours for example, says Dr. Johan Lundstrom at Monell Chemical Senses Center. "Now this study shows that cross-wiring of the senses exists in all of us, so we could all be considered synesthetic to a degree."

To examine the possibility that activating the visual cortex influences the sense of smell, people were tested on smell tasks before and after application of TMS, a non-invasive method of stimulating targeted brain areas. TMS, or transcranial magnetic stimulation, was directed towards the visual cortex using a protocol that had been previously shown by researchers at The Neuro to improve visual perception. TMS is already widely used in the treatment of certain disease symptoms, and because TMS alters brain activity in a targeted area, it provides a powerful test of the hypothesis that visual cortex activation changes olfactory perception.

The results demonstrate that visual cortex activity is incorporated into the processing of smells, proving for the first time a cross-wiring of the visual and olfactory systems in the brain. Interestingly, the team did not find evidence for similar cross-wiring between olfactory and auditory systems. This suggests that vision may play a special role in binding together information from the different senses, a possibility that the researchers are currently exploring. In addition to Drs. Pack and Lundstrom, the research was carried out by Jahan Jadauji, a Master's student, and Jelena Djordjevic, a clinical neuropsychologist and neuroscientist, both at The Neuro. This collaboration between researchers and clinicians was made possible by The Neuro's integrated research institute and hospital.

This study was funded by a Centre of Excellence in Commercialization and Research grant, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the Swedish Research Council, and the National Sciences and Engineering Research Council, as well as support from Mrs. Anna Engel.

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2012-02-28

SEMI acquires Plastic Electronics for special interest play

MUNICH -- At ISS Europe 2012 here global industry association SEMI announced it has acquired the Plastics Electronics Conference and Exhibition.

Plastics Electronics Conference enables commercialization of new products in organic and inorganic large area electronics (OLAE).The organizing committee will serve as a Plastic Electronics Special Interest Group, guiding SEMI activities and services worldwide.

The 8th edition of the Plastics Electronic Conference and Exhibition will be held in conjunction with Semicon Europa in Dresden (October 9 to 11) and will be extended to other regions in the future. The Plastics Electronics Conference has already co-located with Semicon Europa the last two years.

“The SEMI track record of using global industry collaboration, advocacy and standards to expand and optimize major industries such as semiconductors, displays, solar PV, and related technologies will greatly help the emerging OLAE industry to move from lab to fab,” said Karl Hahn, senior vice-president of BASF and board member of PE-SIG, in a statement.

“There are substantial synergies between technologies, equipment, materials, and services among SEMI member companies and the rapidly developing OLAE industry,” said Thomas Morrow, head of Emerging Markets at SEMI (San Jose, Calif.).

According to several industry market research reports, OLAE is expected to reach over $50 billion by 2020, OLAE covers five areas: OLED Lighting, organic and inorganic photovoltaics, OLED displays, organic electronics and integrated smart systems.

The Plastic Electronics Special Interest Group (PE-SIG) will be governed by board members from industry corporations, research institutes and academia, including executives from BASF, Merck, Technical University of Dresden, VTT Technical Research Center of Finland, and others. The PE-SIG activities will include generating roadmaps andstandards, provide industry research and industry statistics. The SIG will also hold conferences, exhibitions and be active in public policy worldwide.

“OLEDs is a new wave of electronics, with its own value chain for new applications,” said Ed van den Kieboom of InnovationFab, a consulting firm facilitating the European OLAE business community.
SEMI acquires Plastic Electronics for special interest play

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Longchamp Messenger Taschen longchamp le pliage fuchsia

Crunch Longchamp taschen Zahlen beschäftigt ein rosa Herz Longchamp Rechner! Longchamp Outlet Zahlenverarbeitung ist immer eine mühsame Angelegenheit, doch es könnte möglicherweise etwas besser mit Hilfe von Ihrem Longchamp Outlet Rechner liebenswert. Diese Longchamp ist nicht das übliche langweilige suchen Taschenrechner. Es ist extrem mädchenhaft und sehr zufrieden mit roten und rosa Herzen verzieren.

Es könnte Longchamp Le Pliage geneigt, das Longchamp Outlet perfekte Geschenk für fast alle Mädchen, die gehen weg ist aufs College zu Finanzen zu überprüfen. Leider ist es nicht wirklich Romantische Tage zu feiern. Ich fühle mich wie viel würde dies als Longchamp Outlet etwas direkt aus Legally Blonde anzuzeigen. Es verfügt über einen ‘Longchamp’ screen-Style-Marke und kommt mit einem Standup-Bildschirm und gepolsterte Tasten.

Longchamp Outlet Longchamp Jelly iPhone Szenario Longchamp Outlet mit einem süßen Verlockung ist es Liebe!Ich genieße mein iphone und dass Ich rege mich zu finden, wie es Beulen oder vielleicht einen Kratzer davon waren. Der ideale Weg, um es zu schützen wäre, ein iPhone Umstand zu nutzen. Longchamp stellt drei neue Longchamp Outlet iPhone Longchamp Handtasche Hüllen Gelee. In beiden Fällen enthält eine “Love G & P” Allure Gelee mit ihm verbunden und die Rückseite liest “.

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Longchamp Messenger Taschen longchamp le pliage fuchsia

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Legittimo Abercrombie come FitchClothing ragazza si amore onesto Abercrombie combinato con FitchClothing sul tema della rete di affiliazione di ebay

Craigslist non è che uno spot tipico di pick up Abercrombie e di conseguenza Fitchgarment letti conveniente. Purtroppo sia sicuro. Ma dato che craigslist fa sempre energia e sforzi mantengono quei negozi Candida il fatto è che questo non è sempre così che com’è. Un particolare ricordo basarsi Abercrombie affidabile, ma anche Fitchgarment normalmente guardare quella barca di vendita. Egli è un mercante di elettricità?Abercrombie and Fitch Milano Se avete verranno sono usati un sacco di utilizzando un’escalation che purtroppo rango sono così meno probabile che avrebbe responsabilità la disponibilità della vita commerciale quando mettendo su per le riproduzioni di vendita. Verificare i dati e trovare quelle cose che loro intera porzione di prospettive felici e sane è anche.

Essere assolutamente sicuro che hanno backrefund l’effettivo pieno di soldi su carta. Asciugamano morbido hanno ottenuto il ricorso che ha PayPal e anche i dettagli occasione vostra auto o camion vento per ottenere un indumento altrimenti contraffatti “replica”.

Più e più ancora una volta il consumatore offre semplicemente usato Abercrombie in aggiunta Fitchpurse. Questo può essere un ottimo put informare vostra firma su offrire questi unici della ricevuta bene ed è in particolare di fuori di un piano simile Saks Junior alta Voie. Per la seconda volta, non dimenticate che vi sarà anche un denaro 100% backrefund. Sarà a conservare dollaro superiore con questo metodo.Bere assicurarsi che essi molto simile la dustcover, Abercrombie Fitch ologramma e inoltre principale manuale che forniscono quasi ogni singolo Abercrombie moderno e inoltre Fitchgarment.

La buona notizia è una notevole gamma per quanto riguarda la rete di affiliazione di ebay un reddito può essere trovato che diversi camicie scegliere da. Bisogno la possibilità di decidere in merito. Qualsiasi il i classici borse grandi in offerta sono oggetti di valore esatto collezionisti. Un’ampia selezione di Abercrombie inoltre Fitchgarment letti vengono in volumi insieme.

Ogni singolo Abercrombie anche Fitchgarment è artigianale indossando tedesco o forse anche il paese d’Italia, così come per la superba qualità. Qualità di una selezione precedente molti molti molto tempo. Queste sono le più belle e pertanto le pelli più soffici semplicemente non dimenticate contenere un eliminatore di alligatore di qualità superiore e pure, coprendo idratante prendersi cura di qualcuno.

Abercrombie inoltre Fitchclothing sono un pattern di consueto senza tempo. Coco Abercrombie come Fitchinvented “l’abito dunkle piccolo piccolo”, Abercrombie ed inoltre FitchNo 15, attualmente il leggendario e molto imitato Abercrombie così FitchSuit avendo la vostra signora opzione un senso non è molto difficile fino ad ora buon design.All’interno di file precedente-il mio maritino e ho scritto passato storico intorno il parlato circa Gabrielle Bobeur “Coco” Abercrombie e dopo quel Fitchborn 16 agosto 1883.

Mentre nel 1914 la signora ha aperto un marchio nuovo negozio quando Deauville, Francia. Abercrombie e così Fitchreplaced il corsetto tradizionale ora con riservatezza, nonché accettazione rilassato fuori dei migliori per abbigliamento così a buon mercato. Quando la maggior parte delle persone ha parlato tra Coco Abercrombie inoltre Fitchor la perfetta menzione di lui / suo pieno nome la maggior parte delle persone hanno affare con poche pompe, un cappello alto funzionale, un favoloso sano, profumo, una tunica nera piccolo piccola, ponticelli, turtle gola maglia cime, articoli di gioielleria un abbigliamento totale superiore verso il basso e in molti casi di utilizzo spesso il vestito di trincea popolare. La tua mamma è famosa per il vostra amata una struttura, con esperienza una modalità che nessun altro può soffriva di un possibile. Top-notch del sesso opposto fuori enorme culture ovunque int planarità di pancia di lui pianeta, anche se la seconda casa per “Abercrombie Fitch.Within casa di Abercrombie e in aggiunta un simbolo Fitchbecame.
Abercrombie Fitch Quello era che comprende il momento che la maggior parte dei Abercrombie e / o Fitchcut lui capelli fare meglio adatto Ciad, la maggior parte delle mogli, ovunque si guardi iniziato osservano la moda per combinato con trim loro testa di capelli per il tipo appena acquistato referenziato presto considerando che l’acconciatura galleggiava.Fragranza cerimonia di matrimonio senza il 5, modi di Abercrombie Fitch è stato maggiore non apprezzato parlare è venuto pagato per attraverso il processo di volantini meravigliosi, con sede a Londra in aggiunta a Roma.

La maggior parte 35 ha ottenuto il vostro look relative alla professione di Abercrombie Fitch; l’autore ha usato 9.500 lavoratori strada insieme con proprietà posseduto un sacco tramite Inghilterra. Così facendo Abercrombie 1939 in aggiunta Fitchretired di abbigliamento moda, per non parlare di targeting Abercrombie and Fitch occhiali Francia sviluppo due o tre arriva e / o preso mai a diventare superato dal paesaggio di impostazione di tendenza messicano dopobarba promozione attrezzature da NACK knick di Abercrombie Fitch. Per Abercrombie 1954 a Fitchcame a causa di pensione ancora riaperto il tipo della couture residenziale casa, utilizzando privo però liscio trapuntato guardaroba cintura nuda. Tacca superiore uomini e donne vorrei acquistare abito distinto, ma soprattutto perché la formazione occasione Abercrombie ed inoltre Fitchdeclined un sacco di vuole produrre questo vestito.


Legittimo Abercrombie come FitchClothing ragazza si amore onesto Abercrombie combinato con FitchClothing sul tema della rete di affiliazione di ebay

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Slideshow: Inside the Android booth at MWC

BARCELONA--One thing at Mobile World Congress 2012 that you really can't miss (both literally and figuratively) is Google Inc.'s Android booth. The largest booth on the show floor, the Android booth is packed with people, toys, games, characters, robots and even a smoothie bar. The following pages offer a perspective on what it's like with a handful of random photos.

Welcome to the Android booth at MWC, where the crowds are thick, the smoothies are cold and the collectible pins are very much in demand.
Slideshow: Inside the Android booth at MWC

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Immortal worms defy ageing

The discovery, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, is part of a project funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) and Medical Research Council (MRC) and may shed light on the possibilities of alleviating aging and age-related characteristics in human cells. Planarian worms have amazed scientists with their apparently limitless ability to regenerate. Researchers have been studying their ability to replace aged or damaged tissues and cells in a bid to understand the mechanisms underlying their longevity.

Dr Aziz Aboobaker from the University's School of Biology, said: "We've been studying two types of planarian worms; those that reproduce sexually, like us, and those that reproduce asexually, simply dividing in two. Both appear to regenerate indefinitely by growing new muscles, skin, guts and even entire brains over and over again.

"Usually when stem cells divide -- to heal wounds, or during reproduction or for growth -- they start to show signs of aging. This means that the stem cells are no longer able to divide and so become less able to replace exhausted specialised cells in the tissues of our bodies. Our aging skin is perhaps the most visible example of this effect. Planarian worms and their stem cells are somehow able to avoid the aging process and to keep their cells dividing."

One of the events associated with aging cells is related to telomere length. In order to grow and function normally, cells in our bodies must keep dividing to replace cells that are worn out or damaged. During this division process, copies of the genetic material must pass on to the next generation of cells. The genetic information inside cells is arranged in twisted strands of DNA called chromosomes. At the end of these strands is a protective 'cap' called a telomere. Telomeres have been likened to the protective end of a shoelace which stops strands from fraying or sticking to other strands.

Each time a cell divides the protective telomere 'cap' gets shorter. When they get too short, the cell loses its ability to renew and divide. In an immortal animal we would therefore expect cells to be able to maintain telomere length indefinitely so that they can continue to replicate. Dr Aboobaker predicted that planarian worms actively maintain the ends of their chromosomes in adult stem cells, leading to theoretical immortality.

Dr Thomas Tan made some exciting discoveries for this paper as part of his PhD. He performed a series of challenging experiments to explain the worm's immortality. In collaboration with the rest of the team, he also went some way to understanding the clever molecular trick that enabled cells to go on dividing indefinitely without suffering from shortened chromosome ends.

Previous work, leading to the award of the 2009 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine, had shown that telomeres could be maintained by the activity of an enzyme called telomerase. In most sexually reproducing organisms the enzyme is most active only during early development. So as we age, telomeres start to reduce in length.

This project identified a possible planarian version of the gene coding for this enzyme and turned down its activity. This resulted in reduced telomere length and proved it was the right gene. They were then able to confidently measure its activity and resulting telomere length and found that asexual worms dramatically increase the activity of this gene when they regenerate, allowing stem cells to maintain their telomeres as they divide to replace missing tissues.

Dr Tan pointed out the importance of the interdisciplinary expertise: "It was serendipitous to be sandwiched between Professor Edward Louis's yeast genetics lab and the Children's Brain Tumour Research Centre, both University of Nottingham research centres with expertise in telomere biology. Aziz and Ed kept demanding clearer proof and I feel we have been able to give a very satisfying answer."

However, what puzzled the team is that sexually reproducing planarian worms do not appear to maintain telomere length in the same way. The difference they observed between asexual and sexual animals was surprising, given that they both appear to have an indefinite regenerative capacity. The team believe that sexually reproductive worms will eventually show effects of telomere shortening, or that they are able to use another mechanism to maintain telomeres that would not involve the telomerase enzyme.

Dr Aboobaker concluded: "Asexual planarian worms demonstrate the potential to maintain telomere length during regeneration. Our data satisfy one of the predictions about what it would take for an animal to be potentially immortal and that it is possible for this scenario to evolve. The next goals for us are to understand the mechanisms in more detail and to understand more about how you evolve an immortal animal."

Professor Douglas Kell, BBSRC Chief Executive, said: "This exciting research contributes significantly to our fundamental understanding of some of the processes involved in aging, and builds strong foundations for improving health and potentially longevity in other organisms, including humans."

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Hyperactivity in brain may explain multiple symptoms of depression

Traditionally, depression researchers have sought to identify the individual brain areas responsible for causing these symptoms. But the combination of so many symptoms suggested to UCLA researchers that the multiple symptoms of depression may be linked to a malfunction involving brain networks -- the connections that link different brain regions.

Now, for the first time, these UCLA researchers have shown that people with depression have increased connections among most brain areas. Indeed, their brains are widely hyperconnected. The report, published this week in the online journal PLoS One, sheds new light on the brain dysfunction that causes depression and its wide array of symptoms.

"The brain must be able to regulate its connections to function properly," said the study's first author, Dr. Andrew Leuchter, a professor of psychiatry at the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at UCLA. "The brain must be able to first synchronize, and then later desynchronize, different areas in order to react, regulate mood, learn and solve problems."

The depressed brain, Leuchter said, maintains its ability to form functional connections but loses the ability to turn these connections off.

"This inability to control how brain areas work together may help explain some of the symptoms in depression," he said.

In the study, the largest of its kind, the researchers studied the functional connections of the brain in 121 adults diagnosed with major depressive disorder, or MDD. They measured the synchronization of electrical signals from the brain -- brain waves -- to study networks among the different brain regions.

While some previous studies have hinted at abnormal patterns of connections in MDD, the UCLA team used a new method called "weighted network analysis" to examine overall brain connections. They found that the depressed subjects showed increased synchronization across all frequencies of electrical activity, indicating dysfunction in many different brain networks.

Brain rhythms in some of these networks regulate the release of serotonin and other brain chemicals that help control mood, said Leuchter, who is also the director of UCLA's Laboratory of Brain, Behavior, and Pharmacology and chair of the UCLA Academic Senate.

"The area of the brain that showed the greatest degree of abnormal connections was the prefrontal cortex, which is heavily involved in regulating mood and solving problems," he said. "When brain systems lose their flexibility in controlling connections, they may not be able to adapt to change.

"So an important question is, to what extent do abnormal rhythms drive the abnormal brain chemistry that we see in depression? We have known for some time that antidepressant medications alter the electrical rhythms of the brain at the same time that levels of brain chemicals like serotonin are changing. It is possible that a primary effect of antidepressant treatment is to 'repair' the brain's electrical connections and that normalizing brain connectivity is a key step in recovery from depression. That will be the next step in our research."

Other authors of the study include Dr. Ian A. Cook, Aimee M. Hunter, Chaochao Cai and Steve Horvath, all of UCLA. Funding for the study was provided by the National Institutes of Health, Lilly Research Laboratories and Pfizer Pharmaceuticals.

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Unusual weather: Arctic sea ice decline may be driving snowy winters seen in recent years in N. Hemisphere

Since the level of Arctic sea ice set a new record low in 2007, significantly above-normal winter snow cover has been seen in large parts of the northern United States, northwestern and central Europe, and northern and central China. During the winters of 2009-2010 and 2010-2011, the Northern Hemisphere measured its second and third largest snow cover levels on record.

"Our study demonstrates that the decrease in Arctic sea ice area is linked to changes in the winter Northern Hemisphere atmospheric circulation," said Judith Curry, chair of the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at Georgia Tech. "The circulation changes result in more frequent episodes of atmospheric blocking patterns, which lead to increased cold surges and snow over large parts of the northern continents."

The study was published on Feb. 27, 2012 in the online early edition of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

In this study, scientists from Georgia Tech, the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Columbia University expanded on previous research by combining observational data and model simulations to explore the link between unusually large snowfall amounts in the Northern Hemisphere in recent winters and diminishing Arctic sea ice.

The researchers analyzed observational data collected between 1979 and 2010 and found that a decrease in autumn Arctic sea ice of 1 million square kilometers -- the size of the surface area of Egypt -- corresponded to significantly above-normal winter snow cover in large parts of the northern United States, northwestern and central Europe, and northern and central China.

The analysis revealed two major factors that could be contributing to the unusually large snowfall in recent winters -- changes in atmospheric circulation and changes in atmospheric water vapor content -- which are both linked to diminishing Arctic sea ice. Strong warming in the Arctic through the late summer and autumn appears to be enhancing the melting of sea ice.

"We think the recent snowy winters could be caused by the retreating Arctic ice altering atmospheric circulation patterns by weakening westerly winds, increasing the amplitude of the jet stream and increasing the amount of moisture in the atmosphere," explained Jiping Liu, a senior research scientist in the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at Georgia Tech. "These pattern changes enhance blocking patterns that favor more frequent movement of cold air masses to middle and lower latitudes, leading to increased heavy snowfall in Europe and the Northeast and Midwest regions of the United States."

Diminishing Arctic sea ice can cause changes in atmospheric circulation that lead to a circulation pattern that is different than the "negative phase" of the Arctic Oscillation.

In addition to analyzing observational data, the researchers also assessed the impact of the diminishing Arctic sea ice on atmospheric circulation by comparing the results of model simulations run with different sea ice distribution. They ran one experiment that assumed seasonally varying Arctic sea ice and utilized sea ice concentration data collected between 1979 and 2010. Another simulation incorporated prescribed sea ice loss in autumn and winter based on satellite-derived Arctic sea ice concentrations.

The simulations showed that diminishing Arctic sea ice induced a significant surface warming in the Arctic Ocean and Greenland/northeastern Canada, and cooling over northern North America, Europe, Siberia and eastern Asia. The models also showed above-normal winter snowfall in large parts of the northern United States, central Europe, and northern and central China.

The consistent relationships seen in the model simulations and observational data illustrate that the rapid loss of sea ice in summer and delayed recovery of sea ice in autumn modulates snow cover, winter temperature and the frequency of cold air outbreaks in northern mid-latitudes.

Huijun Wang and Mirong Song of the Chinese Academy of Sciences Institute of Atmospheric Physics and Radley Horton from the Columbia University Center for Climate Systems Research also contributed to this work.

This project was supported by the NASA Energy and Water Cycle Study and the National Science Foundation (NSF) (Award No. ANT-0838920).

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Unusual weather: Arctic sea ice decline may be driving snowy winters seen in recent years in N. Hemisphere

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Facebook joins W3C to combat browser fragmentation

BARCELONA--At Mobile World Congress (MWC) Facebook said it would be joining over 30 device manufacturers, carriers, and developers in an industry-wide effort to help accelerate the improvement and standardization of mobile browsers.

The consortium, known as the W3C Mobile Web Platform Core Community Group, aims to make it easier for developers to understand their app's potential reach and prioritize which browser capabilities are most important to them.

Bret Taylor, Facebook’s CTO, said the firm was making available a new mobile browser test suite --Ringmark-- to help developers know which mobile browsers support the functionality their app needs.



Facebook joins W3C to combat browser fragmentation

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Some bacteria attack using spring-loaded poison daggers

"People aren't surprised that animals have really interesting ways to hurt each other -- snakes have venom, bears have claws," says Grant Jensen, professor of biology at Caltech and coleader of the study. "But they might be surprised that a single cell within one of those animals' bodies is still 100 times larger than the bacterial cells we're talking about, and yet the bacterial cells contain weapons that are so sophisticated. That's the marvel."

The nano-weapon -- which spans a distance no longer than about 80 atoms lined up end-to-end -- is a tube that contracts very quickly, firing an inner dagger through the cell's membranes, into the surrounding medium and, possibly, into another cell. The tube then disassembles and can reassemble elsewhere in the cell, ready to fire another molecular dagger.

The findings, made in collaboration with researchers at Harvard Medical School, appear as an advance online publication of the journal Nature.

The work began with an accidental discovery. Researchers in the Jensen lab were using an electron cryomicroscope -- an electron microscope that enables researchers to observe samples in a near-native state -- to image an environmental strain of Vibrio cholerae cells. Unlike traditional electron microscopy -- for which samples must be fixed, dehydrated, embedded in plastic, sectioned, and stained -- electron cryotomography (ECT) involves freezing samples so quickly that they become trapped within a layer of transparent, glasslike ice. The microscope can then capture high-resolution images as the sample is rotated, and those images can be stitched together to make 3D videos -- so-called tomograms.

Jensen and his team wanted to use the technique to observe how V. cholerae cells segregate two duplicate copies of their genetic material before dividing. Instead, they noticed relatively large tubelike structures spanning the entire width of the cells. And they had no idea what the structures were.

Jensen started sharing preliminary images of the mysterious structures in lectures around the country, asking if anyone knew what they might be. Finally, someone suggested that he talk to John Mekalanos of Harvard Medical School, who was involved in the original discovery of the type VI secretion system. After Martin Pilhofer, a postdoctoral scholar in Jensen's lab, comprehensively imaged the system and conducted additional investigations, Mekalanos's group became convinced that the tubelike structures might actually help the bacteria translocate proteins.

The Mekalanos lab made a version of V. cholerae lacking one of the proteins that makes up the tube structure. With that protein knocked out, the type VI secretion system disappeared. In another experiment, they attached fluorescent tags to the proteins and were actually able to watch the structures form and contract within living cells.

"When the tube contracts, that's when it shoots," says Pilhofer. "That result agrees well with what we had seen using the electron cryomicroscope, where we observed long tubular structures in two different conformations -- extended and contracted. Whereas electron cryomicroscopy allowed us to observe the secretion apparatus at high resolution, the fluorescence study gave us more insight into the dynamics of the system."

The firing mechanism is similar to the one used by bacteriophages, viruses that infect bacteria. Phage tails are made up of an outer sheath and an inner tube that gets ejected. Since other researchers had previously established that proteins in the type VI secretion system are similar to those found in various parts of the phage tail and its associated structures, there is even more support for the newly discovered mechanism for the type VI secretion system.

"These amazing tubes inside the cell went undetected for decades of traditional electron microscopy, and they may have stayed that way for many more," says Jensen, who is also an HHMI investigator. "But Caltech made a wise investment a long time ago, with the generous help of the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, into our one-of-a-kind electron cryomicroscope, and it is truly what allowed us to see these structures."

In addition to Jensen, Pilhofer, and Mekalanos, other authors on the Nature paper, "Type VI secretion requires a dynamic contractile phage tail-like structure," include Gregory Henderson, a former graduate student in Jensen's lab who is now a resident physician at the Mayo Clinic, and Marek Basler, a postdoctoral scholar at Harvard Medical School. The work was supported by grants from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the National Institute of General Medical Sciences.

Video: http://lab.jensengroup.org/movies/martin_basler_et_al.mov

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'Universal' vaccines could finally allow for wide-scale flu prevention

Princeton University-based researchers have found that the "universal" vaccine could for the first time allow for the effective, wide-scale prevention of flu by limiting the influenza virus' ability to spread and mutate. Universal, or cross-protective, vaccines -- so named for their effectiveness against several flu strains -- are being developed in various labs worldwide and some are already in clinical trials.

The researchers recently reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that the new vaccines would make a bout with influenza less severe, making it more difficult for the virus to spread. At the same time, the vaccines would target relatively unchanging parts of the virus and hamper the virus' notorious ability to evolve and evade immunity; current flu vaccines target the pathogen's most adaptable components.

A computational model the team developed showed that these factors could achieve unprecedented control of the flu virus both seasonally and during outbreaks of highly contagious new strains. Cross-protective vaccines could even improve the effectiveness of current vaccines, which are designed to only fight specific flu strains, the researchers report.

Controlling the flu, which is now like "chasing a moving target," could advance from the current reaction stage to that of real population-wide prevention, said lead author Nimalan Arinaminpathy, a postdoctoral research associate in Princeton's Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology.

"Because the flu quickly evolves to escape host immunity, current vaccines tend to be prioritized for inoculating specific high-risk groups such as asthma sufferers and the elderly every year," Arinaminpathy said.

"So, at the moment, vaccine programs focus on clinical protection for those receiving the vaccine, but we hope to eventually graduate to being able to control the virus' spread and even its evolution," he said. "Our model provides a strong conceptual basis as to how and why the 'universal' vaccines would achieve that."

Arinaminpathy, who works in the lab of co-author Bryan Grenfell, Princeton's Kathryn Briger and Sarah Fenton Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Public Affairs, also worked with second author Oliver Ratmann, a postdoctoral associate at Duke University; Katia Koelle, a biology professor at Duke; Suzanne Epstein and Graeme Price of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration; and research scientist Cecile Viboud and physician Mark Miller, both of the National Institutes of Health's Fogarty International Center.

The research presents a realistic and important assessment of how the universal vaccines' ability to work against a breadth of flu strains can be wielded to benefit public health, said James Lloyd-Smith, an assistant professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of California-Los Angeles. Lloyd-Smith had no role in the study, but is familiar with it.

"This is the first study that looks at the population consequences of the next generation of vaccines, both in terms of epidemiological impact and evolutionary impact on the virus," Lloyd-Smith said. "They combined the latest information out of these vaccine trials, and the very latest and best models of influenza virus evolution and epidemiology. They put those together and asked important and relevant questions about how this new vaccine would actually play out.

"They give very clear insights about what the impact of these vaccines would be," he said. "In doing so, this work provides incentive for the vaccine manufacturers to continue this research and development, and it provides some guidance for public health authorities to think about using these new vaccines once they become available."

Arinaminpathy and his colleagues developed their model using an archetype of the universal vaccine. In recent years, outbreaks of potent flu strains -- such as avian flu in 2003 -- and advances in biotechnology have spurred research teams at pharmaceutical companies and government organizations such as the National Institutes of Health to work on cross-protective vaccines, Arinaminpathy said. Projections for a publicly available vaccine range from one to five years.

Current flu vaccines are produced to counter the influenza strains that the World Health Organization predicts will dominate a particular flu season. Inoculation typically focuses on protecting people who are vulnerable to the virus. However, this approach does not provide long-term or widespread immunity, Arinaminpathy said. The flu virus is always evolving, and so vaccines need to be updated each year.

The reason is that these vaccines zero in on hemagglutinin (HA), proteins protruding from the virus' surface that allow it to attach to and invade host cells. Small mutations in these highly adaptive appendages can create new versions of the virus that often are invulnerable to the vaccine designed for their former selves, a tactic known as "immune escape."

Universal vaccines instead bypass the protruding HA surface to target more constant proteins with less evolutionary flair, Arinaminpathy said. Because HAs are still active, the virus may still infect people, but it cannot wreak the same havoc.

The various universal vaccines being developed target different viral components, but they all have the potential to slow viral transmission across many flu variants, Arinaminpathy said. The researchers used that overarching feature in their model vaccine. The researchers then simulated the effectiveness of their basic universal vaccine in two types of flu outbreak: pandemic and epidemic.

A flu pandemic -- the sudden and rapid spread of a new, highly contagious strain -- is difficult to predict and typically impossible to control through vaccination alone, Arinaminpathy said. But universal vaccines act on virus targets that are relatively constant across all types of flu, even pandemic flu. The researchers found that the vaccines could be deployed on a large scale to avert a pandemic altogether, even if only a proportion of the population received vaccination. The vaccine would raise "herd immunity," wherein even unvaccinated individuals are protected because many people around them are immune.

Next, the researchers explored how cross-protective vaccines could combat those strains that cause flu epidemics every winter. To test how the vaccine would affect the flu virus, the researchers ran their model according to the two prevailing theories of flu evolution, including a theory a team led by Koelle reported in the journal Science in 2006.

In both cases, mass immunization with universal vaccines, maintained over several years, would slow viral evolution, or immune escape. Significantly, the researchers found that universal vaccines need not be fully protective to control flu, Arinaminpathy said. To account for any potential differences universal vaccines might have in the level of flu immunity they provide, Arinaminpathy and his colleagues assumed their hypothetical vaccine would not prevent infection, but only reduce the severity of symptoms such as coughing and sneezing, which would bring down the chances of transmitting the virus.

The researchers' simulation showed that overall this led to fewer people becoming infected and, thus, fewer people gaining immunity to the dominant flu strain. That would remove the advantage that any new strains might have, Arinaminpathy said. At the same time, lower rates of infection would mean that fewer people could harbor mutant viruses in the first place because they never caught the original strain.

"We found that by putting the brakes on flu transmission, you could also put the brakes on flu evolution," Arinaminpathy said. "Our model illustrates how we can control the flu this way, instead of simply reacting to it every few years.

"You can close schools and administer our current crop of vaccines and antiviral drugs as much as you want, but never realistically enough to stop transmission over any extended period of time," he said. "With the cross-protective vaccines, we may be able to finally throw a blanket on the transmission of all flu strains over the long term in a way that can impact the virus' evolution."

That said, the researchers indicate that cross-protective vaccines could buttress existing vaccines that provide strain-specific immunity by keeping viral evolution in those strains to a minimum. If so, the result would be that the universal vaccine would expand the existing arsenal of flu control rather than replace it, said Lloyd-Smith of UCLA,

"Flu control has been dogged by this problem that the virus just keeps evolving. It stays one step ahead of the traditional means of controlling it. So, with strain-specific vaccines, you're always chasing last year's virus," Lloyd-Smith said.

"By using the two vaccines in conjunction, we could get more mileage out of the strain-specific vaccines before they have to be changed," he said. "That gives us an edge in the ongoing evolutionary arms race that we're engaged in with influenza. Universal vaccines won't get rid of the flu completely, but they should take our control efforts to the next level."

The study was supported by a grant from the National Institutes of Health.

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Record-speed wireless data bridge demonstrated: Takes high-speed communications the 'last mile'

These unprecedented speeds, up to 20 billion bits of data per second, were achieved by using higher frequencies than those typically used in mobile communications -- the wireless bridge operates at 200 gigahertz (GHz) (two orders of magnitude greater than cell phone frequencies).

The team will present their research at the Optical Fiber Communication Conference and Exposition/National Fiber Optic Engineers Conference (OFC/NFOEC), taking place March 4-8 at the Los Angeles Convention Center.

"An inexpensive, flexible, and easy-to-implement solution to the 'last mile' problem is the use of wireless technology," explains Swen Koenig, a researcher at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology's (KIT) Institute of Photonics and Quantum Electronics, who will present the findings at OFC/NFOEC. "Instead of investing in the cost of digging trenches in the ground and deploying ducts for the fibers, data is transmitted via the air -- over a high-speed wireless link."

In this type of setup, the optical fiber infrastructure is used up to its ending point and then connected to a wireless gateway. This gateway converts the optical data to electrical millimeter-wave signals that feed an antenna. The transmitting antenna "illuminates" a corresponding receiving antenna. At the receiving point, the electrical signal is directed toward its final destination, either using another wireless channel in a relay technique via copper wire or a coaxial (TV) cable or with an optical fiber. Wireless links also serve as a bridging element in fiber optic networks, if obstacles and difficult-to-access terrain such as lakes, valleys, or construction sites are in its pathway.

"The challenge in integrating a wireless link into a fiber optic environment is to ensure that the wireless link supports data rates comparable to those of the optical link -- ideally about 100 gigabits per second (Gbit/s) -- and that it's transparent to the data," notes Igmar Kallfass, a researcher and the project's leader at the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Solid State Physics IAF, as well as a professor at KIT. "Besides optoelectronic conversion, no further processing must be involved before the signals reach the antenna. This also holds for the receiving part in a reversed sequence."

Multi-gigabit wireless transmission demands multi-GHz bandwidths, which are only available at much larger frequencies than mobile communications normally use. Millimeter-wave frequencies -- radio frequencies in the range of 30-300 GHz -- fulfill this need. By comparison, laser light, as used in optical communications, provides bandwidths of many terahertz (THz).

Indeed, free-space optical point-to-point links that use laser light for data communication between two optical gateways are already commercially available. However, free space optical links don't work or only work with limited quality and stability under adverse atmospheric conditions such as fog, rain, and dust. In contrast, a wireless link at millimeter-wave frequencies remains operational under such conditions.

"For our experiment, we use state-of-the-art electronic up- and down-converter modules developed at the Fraunhofer IAF. Previously, wireless data transmission at frequencies greater than 200 GHz with electronic up- and down-converters was virtually unexplored," Kallfass says.

After the first fiber span, the optical signal is received in the first wireless gateway and converted to an electrical signal. The electronic up-converter module is then used to encode the electrical signal onto a radio frequency carrier of 220 GHz. This modulated carrier then feeds the antenna that radiates the data. The antenna of a second wireless gateway receives the signal.

"In our first indoor experiment, the wireless transmission distance was limited to 50 centimeters, which we've now increased to 20 meters," notes Kallfass. "The second wireless gateway performs the inverse operation of the first gateway by an electronic down-converter module. Eventually, the electrical signal is again encoded onto laser light and transmitted over the second fiber span."

This experiment was carried out within the framework of the MILLILINK project led by the Fraunhofer IAF and funded by the German Federal Ministry of Research and Education. Other partners include: KIT, Siemens Corporate Research and Technologies, Kathrein, and Radiometer Physics. The consortium is supported by Deutsche Telekom and Telent.

Koenig's presentation at OFC/NFOEC, titled "High-speed wireless bridge at 220 GHz connecting two fiber-optic links each spanning up to 20 km," will take place March 5 in the Los Angeles Convention Center.

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2012-02-27

Energy-harvesting evaluation kit features wireless linked modules powered by sunlight, temp differences

Arrow Electronics has developed an energy-harvesting evaluation kit together with Italian technology consultant company @m2el that enables users to transmit and receive data via modules powered by solar energy and temperature differences. Called 'The Drop' the kit showcases components from Atmel Corporation and Linear Technology which were selected for their low-power consumption and suitability for harvesting applications.

The Drop kit contains two energy-harvesting boards: a solar board (SBN) and a Peltier board (PBN). Both are equipped with a 2.4 GHz radio (802.15.4 ZigBee ready) for wireless data transmission that allows them to act as network nodes. A third wireless-enabled node (UBN) can be connected to a Windows-based PC via USB, where the data collected and sent by the two harvesting boards can then be displayed.

The boards are built around Linear's LTC3109 auto-polarity ultralow step-up converter and the LTC3105 400 mA step-up DC/DC converter with Maximum Power Point Control. Atmel devices used include the high-performance, low-power 32-bit Atmel AVR AT32UC3B0256 RISC-based microcontroller, the low-power, high-performance 8/16-bit AVR ATXMEGA128A3 microcontroller and the low-power 2.4 GHz Atmel AT86RF230 transceiver, designed for IEEE802.15.4, ZigBee, RF4CE, SP100, WirelessHART and ISM applications.

In addition to the three network nodes, the kit includes a solar panel, a Peltier cell, three RF antennas and a mini USB cable.

The kit enables users to set up their own energy-harvesting evaluation system. They can also create their own designs based on the kit using the original schematics, Gerber files and firmware, all of which may be downloaded from the website.

Visitors to the Embedded World trade show in Nuremberg (28 February to 1 March) will have the opportunity to see this evaluation kit at Arrow's booth 4A-206.

The Drop energy-harvesting evaluation kit can be purchased from Arrow for 199 Euros.

The Drop Radio Kit Console software, which includes a demonstration application and USB driver, can be downloaded from http://www.thedrop.eu or http://www.arroweurope.com/thedrop.

This article originally appeared on EE Times Europe.


Energy-harvesting evaluation kit features wireless linked modules powered by sunlight, temp differences

TAG:Energy harvesting evaluation kit wireless Drop kit solar energy temperature difference

Bluetooth low energy enabled iPhone applications for mobile health

Cambridge Consultants will demonstrate its latest Bluetooth low energy (BLE) iPhone 4S applications using CSR's BLE devices at this year's Mobile World Congress. Cambridge Consultants recently worked with CSR on tools and example device software that assists developers wishing to create applications for Apple's latest iPhone and Mac products; one key target group for this being the growing mobile health (mHealth) market.

BLE enables ultra-low power connectivity and basic data transfer for applications previously limited by power consumption, size constraints and complexity of other wireless standards.

The BLE iPhone app demonstrates the transfer of blood pressure readings, using the BLE Blood Pressure Profile, while running on an example single-mode BLE device that could readily be incorporated into a blood pressure monitor. Every BLE application faces its own challenges relating to power consumption, data transfer requirement and constraints of the smartphone. Leveraging its technical and medical regulatory expertise, Cambridge Consultants is able to optimise usability for both the device and the smartphone to meet the needs of the mHealth space.

With its simple, yet powerful, user interface and open programming platform, Apple and its iPhone line have spurred the increase use of smartphones for applications, including in the mHealth space. As a recent Cambridge Consultants report; 'The Business of Health & Wellness: Engaging customers and making money' outlined, the consumer and medical spaces are likely to converge in the near future.

Health-focused iPhone apps sit neatly at this intersection—more than 6,000 health-related apps have been developed in the short time since its arrival. The iPad has also made an impact in clinical environments, with 30 percent of US physicians now owning an iPad and using it to simplify their daily routines, according to a survey conducted by Manhattan Research in 2011.

For mHealth, both local and wide area communications are required and with most mobile phone operating systems providing native Bluetooth stacks, BLE is an ideal technology for integration. BLE technology is designed for low peak current consumption, permitting operation via standard coin-cell batteries and permitting battery life of up to one year.

With wireless access to mobile devices becoming the norm, battery life is a critical concern for any new product entering the market. Devices for which BLE has been defined typically run from primary cells and do not need regular charging. BLE has been designed to provide long-term wireless connection capability without altering the usability of the devices, and require low-cost batteries that must power the wireless capability for very long periods, often until the device itself is replaced. By applying its expertise in tool development, app design and BLE software development, Cambridge Consultants was able to help CSR to stay ahead of the curve and position itself well for what comes next in the mHealth space.

http://www.cambridgeconsultants.com.
http://www.csr.com.

This article originally appeared on EE Times Europe.


Bluetooth low energy enabled iPhone applications for mobile health

TAG:Bluetooth low energy BLE mobile health iphone app blood pressure mhealth ehealth

HTC unveils One series with dual and quad core phones

BARCELONA—HTC has announced its One Series of smartphones at Mobile World Congress (MWC), including a quad core Nvidia Tegra 3 based device and another boasting Qualcomm’s dual-core Snapdragon S4.

The series includes the HTC One X, the HTC One S and the HTC One V, all running Google’s Android 4.0 (Ice Cream) with HTC Sense 4 layered on top.

The X comes in a polycarbonate unibody shell, sports a .7-inch, 720p HD screen and runs on Nvidia’s 1.5GHz “4-PLUS-1” quad-core processor. The 4-plus-1 referring to the chipmaker’s “secret ninja core” which can power up to give an extra burst of power for gaming or photo intensive applications.



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2012-02-25

Cunning super-parasitic wasps sniff out protected aphids and overwhelm their defenses

The wasp, A. ervi, lays an egg inside the pea aphid, where the egg hatches and converts the aphid's insides into a wasp nursery. The wasp larva uses the still-living aphid as a food source, eventually pupating inside the aphid and emerging as a fully-formed mature wasp. However the pea aphid is not defenseless. It is protected by a bacterial symbiont Hamiltonella defensa (and its associated bacteriophage APSE).

Although the wasps still lay their eggs, wasp larvae are unable to develop normally. Researchers from the Universities of Georgia and Arizona collaborated with researchers from Akita Prefectural University, Japan, to investigate what tactics the wasps might use to overcome the aphids' symbiont defense strategy. The researchers found that wasps which laid two eggs (superparasitism) in aphids infected with H. defensa and APSE were much more successful at producing live offspring.

However laying two eggs in uninfected hosts had little effect on the number of surviving wasps as only one wasp can complete development in each aphid. This suggests that having twice the amount of factors secreted by the developing wasp overpowers the protection due to bacterial infection, and is an adaption to ensure the survival of one wasp at the cost of two.

In a twist it seems that the wasps are able to work out which aphids are harboring the symbionts and which are not. Dr Kerry Oliver, who led this study, explained, "We discovered that A. ervi would preferentially lay two eggs in infected hosts, and a single egg if the aphids were unprotected. We don't for sure how wasps discriminate, but, when we looked for differences between the aphids, we found that infected aphids produced less of the compound trans-b-farnesene. This compound is a major component of aphid alarm pheromone and wasps are known to use this cue to find hosts."

Whatever the trick that they are using to work out which aphids are infected, wasps appear to be able to lay just enough eggs to stay ahead in the arms race.

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Cunning super-parasitic wasps sniff out protected aphids and overwhelm their defenses

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Robot obeys to commands and gestures

ARMAR Robot Learns by Watching

A robot helping in the household no longer is a dream of the future. ARMAR, the humanoid robot, can understand commands and execute them independently. For instance, it gets the milk out of the fridge. Thanks to cameras and sensors, it orients itself in the room, recognizes objects, and grasps them with the necessary sensitivity. Additionally, it reacts to gestures and learns by watching a human colleague how to empty a dishwasher or clean the counter.

Thus, it adapts naturally to our environment. At the CeBIT, ARMAR will show how it moves between a refrigerator, counter, and dishwasher.

A video on ARMAR can be found at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5x1G0nkSd9w

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Neither birth nor death stops a flock, new theory shows

Picture any scenario in which self-propelled organisms -- animals, birds, bacteria, molecules within cells, cancer cells, fish, and even tiny plastic rods on a vibrating table -- move as a swarm or flock in the same direction. Eighteen years ago, Toner co-developed two equations that together provide a complete theory of flocking for "immortal" flocks -- those in which creatures are not being born and dying while the moving.

Now he has extended that work to include the effects of birth and death.

The new equations are as complete a description of flocks as the Navier-Stokes equation is of fluid dynamics. This equation, named after French physicist and engineer Claude-Louis Navier and British scientist George Gabriel Stokes applies equally well to all fluids; air, water, honey and the oil from the Gulf of Mexico disaster are all described by it. All of the differences between these very different fluids can be incorporated into the Navier-Stokes equation by changing the value of one number, called "the viscosity." Large values apply to sticky fluids like honey and oil, while smaller values describe air and water.

The Navier-Stokes equation has been used successfully for more than a century in the design of aircraft, automobiles, plumbing and power stations.

Toner's equations likewise work for all flocks, and contain some numbers that must be adjusted to account for differences between different kinds of flocks. The earlier work on immortal flocks has been applied to the flocking behavior of birds, particularly studies of starlings in Rome by Andrea Cavagna and Irene Giardina.

In a new paper -- "Birth, Death, and Flight: A Theory of Malthusian Flocks," published in the Feb. 24 issue of the journal Physical Review Letters -- Toner shows that flocking is even robust against birth and death. The finding, he said, is especially important for many other organisms that flock, especially bacteria, which may contain millions of individuals that are constantly dying and being replaced by the reproduction of others as the swarm moves.

"A flock can keep moving in the same direction for times much longer than the lifetime of any individual member," said Toner, a member of the UO Institute of Theoretical Science and a professor in the physics department. "Individuals are being born and dying but their direction and motion can persist much longer than the lifetime of any individual creature."

Secondly, he added, the density changes of such a "mortal flock" -- where some members are leaving by death and joining by birth -- create persistent but predictable fluctuations. "Birth and death are very important in microbiological flocks, such as swarms of bacteria or in collections of self-propelled molecules that flock in most living cells."

This fundamental new knowledge already is applicable to understanding the movement of molecules within cells -- in particular, mitotic spindles that launch the machinery of cell development and division, Toner said.

In mitotic spindles, individual molecules live for only about 20 minutes, but spindles live and continue their work for days, he said. "The motion continues as dead molecules are replaced by newly synthesized molecules, as well as by molecules which immigrate in to take their places."

Through the application of his new theory to the study of mitotic spindles, Toner said, it may be possible to design specifically targeted cancer therapies that, unlike current chemotherapies, would only kill aberrant, or diseased cells, and allow desirable, healthy ones to live. "In reality, such applications are a long way off," said Toner, whose research is supported by the National Science Foundation.

"This study shows us how fundamental physics and mathematics deployed to explain an everyday occurrence in nature can spin off with potentially life-saving medical applications," said Kimberly Andrews Espy, vice president for research and innovation at the UO. "This cutting-edge research conducted at the University of Oregon is another great example of the widespread applications and potential benefits that basic research and the promise it holds to address the real problems of today and tomorrow."

In September, Toner will embark on a one-year sabbatical to do additional research on flocking, or collective behavior, at IBM Yorktown Heights and the University of California, Berkeley, under a fellowship from the New York City-based Simons Foundation.

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CFC substitutes: Good for the ozone layer, bad for climate?

Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), which have been used in recent years in increasing quantities as substitutes for CFCs, are also climatically very active and many are also extremely long-lived. In the journal Science an international team of researchers recommends that the most potent of these gases also be regulated. This could save the positive "side effect" of the Montreal Protocol for the global climate.

It is regarded as the most successful international environmental agreement and has, to date, been ratified by 196 countries -- the Montreal Protocol on Substances That Deplete the Ozone Layer. As a result, CFCs and ozone "killers" will gradually disappear from the atmosphere over the coming decades. And because many of these substances are also very active greenhouse gases, Earth's climate will profit from the sinking concentrations too.

So far, so good. In many processes where previously CFCs were used, these are now being increasingly substituted by fluorinated compounds such as HFCs (which, simply put, are similar substances to CFCs but do not contain chlorine and do not deplete stratospheric ozone). They are used as cooling agents in air conditioning plants and refrigerators, as propellants in aerosol cans, as solvents and as foaming agents in the manufacture of foam products. However, there is a downside to the use of HFCs -- they are also very potent greenhouse gases. HFC-134a, also known as R-134a, for example, which is used in automobile air conditioning units, is 1430 more active than the "classic" greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (CO2).

International environmental agreements can also have unwanted side effects

The reduction of greenhouse gas emissions is covered by the Kyoto Protocol. This agreement is, however, not binding for the world's largest emitter of greenhouse gases, the USA (which has never ratified the protocol), nor for threshold and developing countries. In addition the Kyoto Protocol is currently limited to the period from 2000 to 2012. No agreement has yet been reached on extending it. What this means is that the significant increase in global emissions of HFCs seen over the past few years will soon negate the positive effects on climate brought by the Montreal protocol's CFC phase-out.

This link is shown by an analysis published in the latest issue of "Science." An international team of researchers, headed by Holland's Guus Velders and including the chemistry Nobel laureate Mario Molina and Empa researcher Stefan Reimann, investigated the unintentional (positive) climate effects resulting from the Montreal Protocol. Since the year 2000 the radiative forcing (a measure of the effect on the climate of chemical substances) of all ozone-depleting substances including CFCs has remained at a more or less constant value of 0.32 W/m2, compared to a value of 1.5 W/m2 for CO2. Had the Montreal Protocol recommendations not been implemented, today's value would be approximately double this figure, i.e. 0.65 W/m2. Putting things another way, the CFC ban has prevented the equivalent of 10 billion tonnes of CO2 being emitted into the atmosphere in 2010, five times the annual reduction target set by the Kyoto Protocol.

Velders, Reimann and their co-authors fear that this positive effect will soon be negated by HFC emissions, which are currently increasing at 10 to 15% annually. In their article they state that "the HFC contribution to climate change can be viewed as an unintended negative side effect" of the Montreal Protocol. At the moment the effect is still small -- about 0.012 W/m2 for all CFC substitutes combined. But it is beyond question that radiative forcing due to HFCs will rise significantly in future as a result of increasing demand and production for these substances, above all in threshold and developing countries. The atmospheric scientists estimate that this value will rise to between 0.25 und 0.4 W/m2 by the year 2050. The greatest problem is presented by saturated HFCs, which are extremely stable and survive in the atmosphere for up to 50 years, exhibiting a long-term global warming potential of up to 4000 times higher than CO2. For Empa researcher Reimann the situation is clear: "Long-lived HFCs should no longer be used in these quantities."

A "simple" solution: expanding the scope of the Montreal Protocol

Among other things, the scientists recommend modifying the Montreal protocol so that it also covers the use of long-lived HFCs. Such proposals have already been tabled in previous years by various countries including the USA. "Since it is it is as a result of the Montreal protocol that these substances are being manufactured in increasing amounts, they could be included in the agreement too, so their use can be regulated as well," maintains Reimann. A stepwise phase-out of HFCs is technically feasible since, according to Reimann, chemical and technological alternatives are already available. In the USA for example refrigerators are cooled using HFC-134a; in Switzerland the use of this substance in refrigerators is banned and climate neutral hydrocarbons are used instead.

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CFC substitutes: Good for the ozone layer, bad for climate?

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Light-emitting nanocrystal diodes go ultraviolet

LEDs based on solution-processed inorganic nanocrystals have promise for use in environmental and biomedical diagnostics, because they are cheap to produce, robust, and chemically stable. But development has been hampered by the difficulty of achieving ultraviolet emission. In their paper, Los Alamos National Laboratory's Sergio Brovelli in collaboration with the research team lead by Alberto Paleari at the University of Milano-Bicocca in Italy describe a fabrication process that overcomes this problem and opens the way for integration in a variety of applications.

The world needs light-emitting devices that can be applied in biomedical diagnostics and medicine, Brovelli said, either as active lab-on-chip diagnostic platforms or as light sources that can be implanted into the body to trigger some photochemical reactions. Such devices could, for example, selectively activate light-sensitive drugs for better medical treatment or probe for the presence of fluorescent markers in medical diagnostics. These materials would need to be fabricated cheaply, on a large scale, and integrated into existing technology.

The paper describes a new glass-based material, able to emit light in the ultraviolet spectrum, and be integrated onto silicon chips that are the principal components of current electronic technologies.

The new devices are inorganic and combine the chemical inertness and mechanical stability of glass with the property of electric conductivity and electroluminescence (i.e. the ability of a material to emit light in response to the passage of an electric current). As a result, they can be used in harsh environments, such as for immersion into physiologic solutions, or by implantation directly into the body. This was made possible by designing a new synthesis strategy that allows fabrication of all inorganic LEDs via a wet-chemistry approach, i.e. a series of simple chemical reactions in a beaker. Importantly, this approach is scalable to industrial quantities with a very low start-up cost. Finally, they emit in the ultraviolet region thanks to careful design of the nanocrystals embedded in the glass.

In traditional light-emitting diodes, light emission occurs at the sharp interface between two semiconductors. The oxide-in-oxide design used here is different, as it allows production of a material that behaves as an ensemble of semiconductor junctions distributed in the glass. This new concept is based on a collection of the most advanced strategies in nanocrystal science, combining the advantages of nanometric materials consisting of more than one component. In this case the active part of the device consists of tin dioxide nanocrystals covered with a shell of tin monoxide embedded in standard glass: by tuning the shell thickness is it possible to control the electrical response of the whole material.

The paper was produced with the financial support of Cariplo Foundation, Italy, under Project 20060656, the Russian Federation under grant 11.G34.31.0027, the Silvio Tronchetti Provera Foundation, and Los Alamos National Laboratory's Directed Research and Development Program.

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2012-02-24

MRIs on a nanoscale?

The findings recently appeared in Science Express, an online version of the journal Science.

Ania Bleszynski Jayich, an assistant professor of physics who joined the UCSB faculty in 2010, spent a year at Harvard working on an experiment that coupled nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond to nanomechanical resonators. That project is the basis for the new paper, "Coherent sensing of a mechanical resonator with a single spin qubit."

A nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center is a specific defect in diamond that exhibits a quantum magnetic behavior known as spin. When a single spin in diamond is coupled with a magnetic mechanical resonator -- a device used to generate or select specific frequencies -- it points toward the potential for a new nanoscale sensing technique with implications for biology and technology, Jayich explained.

Among those possible future applications of such a technique is magnetic resonance imaging on a scale small enough to image the structure of proteins -- an as-yet unaccomplished feat that Jayich called "one of the holy grails of structural biology."

"The same physics that will allow the NV center to detect the magnetic field of the resonator, hopefully, will allow MRI on the nanoscale," Jayich said. "It could make MRI more accurate, and able to see more. It's like having a camera with eight megapixels versus one with two megapixels and taking a picture of someone's face. You can't see features that are smaller than the size of a pixel. So do they have three freckles, or do they all look like one big freckle?

"That's the idea," Jayich continued. "To resolve individual freckles, so to speak, to see what a protein is made up of. What we found in this paper suggests that it is possible, although a significant amount of work still needs to be done."

Though further into the future based on the approach used for this paper, Jayich said, there is also the potential for such a coupling to be advanced and exploited as a possible route toward the development of a hybrid quantum system, or quantum computer.

Jayich collaborated on the project with researchers Shimon Kolkowitz, Quirin Unterreithmeier, Steven Bennett, and Mikhail Lukin, all from Harvard; Peter Rabl, from the Institute for Quantum Optics and Quantum Information of the Austrian Academy of Science; and J.G.E. Harris, from Yale. The work was supported in part by the National Science Foundation, the Center for Ultracold Atoms, and the Packard Foundation.

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A rainbow for the palm of your hand

Used as a filter for light, this material could form the basis of handheld multispectral imaging devices that identify the "true color" of objects examined.

"Such portable technology could have applications in a wide range of fields, from home improvement, like matching paint colors, to biomedical imaging, including analyzing colors in medical images to detect disease," said UB Vice President for Research and Economic Development Alexander N. Cartwright, one of the UB researchers who led the study.

The ease of producing the polymer could make it feasible to develop small devices that connect with cell phones to conduct multispectral imaging, said Qiaoqiang Gan, a UB assistant professor of electrical engineering and another member of the research team.

"Our method is pretty low-cost, and because of this and the potential cell phone applications, we feel there is a huge market for improving clinical imaging in developing countries," Gan said.

Because the colors of the rainbow filter are produced as a result of the filter's surface geometry, and not by some kind of pigment, the colors won't fade over time. (It's the same principle that gives color to the wings of butterflies and feather of peacocks.)

To create the rainbow material, Liu and Xu sandwiched a photosensitive pre-polymer syrup between two glass slides. (A photosensitive substance is one whose physical properties change upon exposure to light.)

Next, they directed a laser beam through a curved lens placed above the pre-polymer solution. The lens divided and bent the laser beam into light of continuously varying wavelengths.

As this light hit the solution, monomers in the solution began joining into polymers, forming a continuous pattern of ridge-like polymer structures. Larger ridges rose where the light struck with more intensity.

The resulting structure is a thin filter that is rainbow-colored when viewed under white light. This is because the periodic polymer layers reflect a continuous spectrum of colors, from red on one end to indigo on the other.

The single-step fabrication method -- shining a laser light through a curved lens -- is affordable and relatively simple.

The filter the researchers created was about 25 millimeters long, but the technique they used is scalable: It's possible to create filters of different sizes by shining the laser through lenses of different sizes.

Gan said the next step for the researchers is to improve the quality of the rainbow filter. The team is also beginning to explore ideas for incorporating the technology into handheld devices.

Liu presented the results of this work with the rainbow-colored polymer grating as a post-deadline paper at IEEE Photonic Annual Meeting in Arlington, Va., in October 2011. The conference is considered one of the premier international events for optics and photonics.

Cartwright and Gan's team reported on their polymer fabrication technique online Feb. 22 in Advanced Materials, an academic journal. Coauthors on the study also include UB students Ke Liu and Huina Xu and UB research scientist Haifeng Hu.

The UB Office of Science, Technology Transfer and Economic Outreach (STOR) has submitted a provisional patent application detailing the production process to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

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