Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/315895974?client_source=feed&format=rss
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Saturday, June 29, 2013
'Twisted light' shown off in fibre
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'Twisted light' shown off in fibreA novel way of packing more data in optical communications by using "twisted light" is shown to work in optical fibres - with terabit-per-second rates.
Source: BBC News
Posted on:
Friday, Jun 28, 2013, 8:32am
Views: 6
Source: http://www.labspaces.net/128843/_Twisted_light__shown_off_in_fibre
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Friday, June 28, 2013
Stabilizing sloping land: 'Blowing' a slope into place
June 27, 2013 ? Research scientists have developed a new method for stabilising areas with difficult soil mechanics. The concept is based on blowing expanded clay (Leca) spheres into enormous "sausage skins" made from geotextiles.
Building and renovation in steep, difficult terrain can be challenging. Urban areas where accessibility with construction vehicles is difficult pose similar problems.
These days, the prevalence of landslides, shifting sediments and unstable substrates is drawing increasing attention to these problems. Closed roads and railways and the evacuation of residential areas which have to be rehabilitated and rebuilt are expensive for society, and this has prompted researchers to think innovatively. "We have developed a solution in which material is simply blown into place, making it possible to get to places where space is limited, there is no access for construction machinery and existing roads or railway lines have collapsed, to mention just some of the problems," says Arnstein Watn, SINTEF's Research Director.
Advanced "geomaterials" make it possible Geotextiles are woven or knitted fabrics or nets based on polymers, which can be used to reinforce sedimentary masses. They are stacked up to create a light wall -- a kind of shuttering. The wall is then bonded firmly to the uncompacted material behind using hooks and an anchoring system which is also made from geotextiles. This solution saves both time and space because it does not require an access road for heavy construction machinery.
The result is a light, stable wall capable of withstanding slopes of up to 90 degrees, and which can also be concealed by various facings, such as turf, climbing plants or various types of fa?ade sheets as required. When the wall is in place, the space behind is filled with light expanded clay aggregate, either using conventional construction machinery or by blowing it in. "What makes the method unique is that it facilitates drainage and the result is light and stable as well as being easy to put in place," says Watn.
Already tested in the field SINTEF has been responsible for developing the technical solution and the construction method used. So far the method has been tested at two localities. At Saint-Gobain Weber's factory property in Fredrikstad, an embankment was first built in the form of a 2.5-metre high pilot wall to test the principle and construction process. Later, an almost five-metre high test wall was built at Weber's factory property in R?lingen, where erosion and surface slips on sloping ground were causing problems for the operation of the plant.
"Our experience with the field trials was very positive as regards both the development of the product itself and the building method. We now also have a demonstration site where interested parties can see the solution and various types of fa?ade coverings," says Arnstein Watn. "The system is primarily intended to enable the building of vertical structures without using large, heavy machinery," adds Oddvar Hyrve at Saint-Gobain Weber.
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U.S. to retire most chimpanzees from medical research
By Matt Haldane
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. National Institutes of Health said on Wednesday it is reducing the number of chimpanzees it uses in biomedical research and will retire most of them to sanctuaries, a decision applauded by animal rights groups.
"Chimpanzees are very special animals ... We believe they deserve special consideration," said NIH Director Dr. Francis Collins, announcing the move.
The decision followed a recommendation by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in January. About 300 newly retired chimps will join more than 150 others in sanctuaries, with only 50 being kept for future research.
Animal rights groups applauded the move.
"This is an historic moment and major turning point for chimpanzees in laboratories ? some who have been languishing in concrete housing for over 50 years," said Wayne Pacelle, CEO of the Humane Society of the United States.
"PETA is popping champagne corks at their Norfolk, Virginia, headquarters today," People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals said in a statement.
The NIH said those chimpanzees kept for research will not be bred and will be selected according to research projects that meet the funding criteria of the Institute of Medicine.
"Americans have benefited greatly from the chimpanzees' service to biomedical research, but new scientific methods and technologies have rendered their use in research largely unnecessary," Collins said in a video announcement.
"The likeness of chimpanzees to humans has made them uniquely valuable for certain types of research, but also demands greater justification for their use."
Some of those justifications were suggested by the Institute of Medicine in 2011. It identified areas in which the use of chimpanzees was critical and could continue, including the development of vaccines for the hepatitis C virus.
"No other suitable animal models exist" to test vaccines for hepatitis C, it said in a report.
The number of chimps kept for research will be reviewed every five years to determine whether that is sufficient, said NIH spokesperson Renate Myles.
The NIH supports 360 of its own chimpanzees and 91 that are privately owned. It is unclear whether any privately owned chimpanzees will go toward the number being kept for research.
The Texas Biomedical Research Institute, an independent group, said it was disappointed in the decision to cut the research chimps to 50.
"This arbitrarily chosen number is not sufficient to enable the rapid development of better preventions and cures for hepatitis B and C, which kill a million people every year," it said in a statement.
The sanctuary system, started in 2002, is already close to its $30 million funding limit, Collins said, and more funding will be needed to support the newly retired chimps.
The NIH did not accept all recommendations from the Institute of Medicine, however, saying there was a "lack of scientific consensus" about "ethologically appropriate facilities" granting each chimp 1,000 square feet of space.
PETA and the NIH both acknowledged a proposed rule from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that would categorize captive chimpanzees as endangered, which would keep them from being used in invasive experiments altogether.
The NIH initially put limits on research using chimpanzees in December 2011 when it stopped funding new projects involving the animals.
(Reporting by Matt Haldane, editing by Ros Krasny and Christopher Wilson)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/u-retire-most-chimpanzees-medical-research-005014505.html
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Gonchar Details Cruise Marketplace Shifts, Survey ... - Travel Agent
June 26, 2013 By: Susan Young
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One of every six dollars spent on cruise bookings in 2014 will be spent online. That eye-opening fact was among the research gleanings provided by Tony Gonchar, vice president, American Express Travel Representative Network, at CLIA's cruise3sixty conference in Vancouver last week.
Speaking about cruise trends, consumer demographics and cruise client buying habits, Gonchar also told 1,300 agents attending the General Session about results from a cruise survey American Express recently conducted among its travel agents and consortia affiliates. Here are highlights of his presentation.?
Changing Consumer Behaviors
What?s going on with the consumer today? How have behaviors about planning and purchasing a vacation changed and why is this happening?
?Since the start of the financial crisis five years ago, we?ve seen the boom years of ?conspicuous consumption? transition into an environment of ?considered consumption,?? Gonchar told the 1,300 agents in attendance.
But consumers are still spending, he said, noting that consumer confidence is returning as reflected in both the stock market and housing prices.
?Consumers are moving beyond the material consumption of the boom years and seeking more enriched lives and personal fulfillment through experience and learning,? he said.
They seek the rich life which is less about money and things and all about enriching experiences. Gonchar also said they are going to great lengths to see that they are getting the greatest value of their travel investment.
One fundamental change is businesses are now presenting products to consumers ? expanding beyond core function and into being deeply embedded in consumers? lives. He gave these examples:
Special K: It?s not just a breakfast cereal any more. ?It is now so much more,? he stressed, citing the MySpecialK.com web site, which is custom tailored to advise consumers on diet, exercise and overall wellbeing.
Pampers: ?It?s not just a diaper company any more, Gonchar said, but rather a way for parents to raise happy healthy children. The Pampers Web site, for example, has customized parenting tips
Nike: It?s grown from a sports apparel company to the ultimate measurement system for your athletic life through their Fuelband product.
American Express:?Gonchar said his firm has moved from being a financial company to developing into a lifestyle services company enabling people to fulfill their passion and interests.
?What all brands really want to get to is here,? Gonchar said as he put up a slide of a man who tattooed Harley-Davidson motorcycle symbolism and coloring on his entire head. ?
As the audience chuckled, he continued:? ?Harley customers are this passionate about their motorcycles, and while your customers may not tattoo your name on their body, you need to have customers who are this engaged with you.?
Shift in Buying Habits?
Gonchar also said research shows a fundamental shift in the way customers are purchasing: ??We?ve moved from a ?linear purchase process? to a ?customer decision journey.? Your customers have become digital omnivores, consuming information 24 hours a day across hundreds -- even thousands ? of sources.?
And as technology advances, so do customer expectations. Travelers want timely information and a quality experience during each step of the travel planning process.
Citing an eMarketer report, Gonchar said 76 percent of leisure travelers relied on the Internet when considering a cruise ? far more than any other resource.
Information Overload
Thirty percent of those consumers also admit they are overwhelmed by the online information and resources available for booking travel. ?The other 70 percent are lying,? he quipped.
Many consumers won?t admit they?re confused and overwhelmed. ?They all could use a good travel advisor to competently help them sort through the information overload,? he said.
The numbers are astounding. As a country, the U.S. is close to a trillion minutes of time spent on the Internet monthly. In 2000, there were zero smart phones, and now there are 137 million in the U.S. alone. There were zero tablets in 2010 and now there are 60 million of them.
And according to a PhoCusWright report, cruise sales are moving online in a big way. Research shows that in 2014, one in every six cruise dollars will be sold online, representing 18 percent of cruise transactions.
One likely outcome? ?We can pretty much say video will kill the travel brochure within the next couple of years as consumers continue to march online for dynamic resources to plan their travel experiences,? Gonchar said.
According to comScore in December 2012, 75 million unique users in the U.S. watched 39 billion videos, an average of about 20 hours and 213 videos per person per month. ?People please, come up for air,? he said.
Shifting Demographics
U.S. demographics also are changing in a big way. African-American buying power rose from $600 billion in 2000 to $947 billion in 2010.
Hispanic consumer purchasing increased from $488 billion to $1 trillion during the same period. Today the Hispanic market is larger than the entire economies of all but 13 countries in the world. It?s larger than the GDP of Mexico.
Asian-American buying power rose from $272 billion in 2000 to $609 billion in 2010. ?We?re seeing a major shift in the composition of the United States ? 2042 marks the year when the entire U.S. reaches ?minority [is the] majority? status. Several states have already reached this milestone.
Because of shifting population dynamics, businesses and brands must change the way they promote and sell to multi-cultural consumers. ??The old rules no longer apply,? Gonchar said, noting ?there is no one size fits all approach to selling travel to a multi-cultural audience.?
It?s much more than just demographics; it?s about individual lifestyles that are greatly influenced by strong ties to cultural backgrounds.
Survey of American Express Agents
American Express conducted a new proprietary survey designed specifically to present at cruise3sixty; responses were tallied from responses of more than 240 American Express call center agents and travel advisors who are part of the American Express consortium.?
Summarizing the insights based on 12 questions asked, Gonchar said smaller ship experiences and river cruises are the hottest thing out there with 65 percent of American Express agents citing these as the highest demand cruises. And that's despite Europe's bad weather of late with the worst flooding in a century. ?Mega-ship voyages came in at 31 percent. ?
Sixty-three percent of agents indicate that the Mediterranean and European river cruises are the highest demand cruises. Gonchar also stressed that consumers are going to Europe despite airfares of at least $1,200 per person.
Amex agents responding to the survey said cruising the Mekong in Cambodia and Vietnam and the Amazon in South America totaled 50 percent when agents were asked about emerging destinations.
That?s followed by almost 20 percent voting for Italy and the Po River. ?It?s no surprise to see that agents are seeing a huge uptick in demand for river cruising,? he said.
For cruise length, the sweet spot for these agents was four to seven nights. Because of how the question was phrased, he said American Express didn?t see any agents with clients who typically booked more than 12 nights.
Almost three quarters of Amex agents say balcony cabins are the most requested cabin category, with a healthy 21 percent seeing a high demand for penthouses and suites.
?Bless the little hearts of the customers asking for an inside stateroom,? he noted, as the audience chuckled. ?We love you too.?
Almost 70 percent of Amex agents said customers are asking for higher-end room categories. Only 5 percent of clients are asking for more affordable category options.
Fifty percent of agents said that onboard credits are the perk most requested most by clients. That was followed by stateroom upgrades, tours/excursions and smaller ships -- all comprising just 22 percent of requests. ?
In addition, 50 percent of agents see honeymoon and romantic travel as a growing interest group, followed by 40 percent for religious group travel. Gonchar also said ?we will likely see the LGBT market grow in the future as well.?
When looking at the negative media reports about cruise ship incidents, 66 percent said they saw little or no booking impact. That said, 20 percent of agents noticed some impact in the form of hesitant customers, and 15 percent said sales have dried up completely.
Some 66 percent of agents felt price discounts and onboard credits were the most effective offers to close a sale; that was followed by free air promotions and pre-paid gratuities.
Almost 50 percent of agents said the biggest challenge they face on closing a cruise sale is the customer waiting for a price drop. ?Consumers have been clearly trained,? he said, and ?we?ve got to figure out a way to untrain them from focusing exclusively on the waiting game.?
Other agents cited rebating, price undercutting by other agencies, recent negative cruise publicity and customers who want to either spend less or take a land-based vacation.
Insights for Effective Sales
Know the customer: Ask the right questions to learn about the potential client?s demographic, cultural and social needs. Probe to ask about personal interests and passions when selling travel. ?Gonchar said more consumers want to incorporate personal passions into their travel experience such as participating in cultural and culinary activities.
Know what you?re selling BETTER than your customers do: Travelers want to be the foreign ?local? when they arrive in a destination. Tools are available that give instant familiarization such as giving clients the name of the bartender at a hip new Oslo bar, he said. ?Use supplier and consortia tools as these ese businesses have invested heavily in driving more business through their most important distribution channel ? the agent.
Be accountable to your customers: ?Shoppers will continue to be concerned about trust and transparency, he said. They also will continue to seek simplified lives and great value from their travel advisor relationship. Know how to address any concerns, talk with first-time cruisers, and be an expert about the Passenger Bill of Rights developed by CLIA.
Be confident: Have a good answer when a customer asks you to re-sell a cruise to them again, because they found it for $5 cheaper online.
Be a consultant not an order taker: Be the travel advisor who provides consultative services based on deep travel experiences, not an order taker that gives the customer what they ask for but not what they really want. Build long-term relationships; give them something they can?t Google.
Never ever be afraid to ask: As the survey showed, 68 percent of customers are asking for higher end staterooms so why not ask them first. "Ask for the upsell and ask for referrals to new clients," said Gonchar. "You might be amazed at what happens."?
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Thursday, June 27, 2013
Astronaut view of Colorado fires
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Public release date: 26-Jun-2013[ | E-mail |
Share ] Contact: Michael Carlowicz
michael.j.carlowicz@nasa.gov
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center
Thick smoke billows across the landscape in these digital photographs of the western United States. Both photographs were taken by astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) on June 19, 2013.
The images show a plume wafting from the West Fork Complex fire, which was burning explosively in southwestern Colorado near Pagosa Springs. To the northwest, a smaller plume from the Wild Rose fire is also visible (upper image).
While the Wild Rose blaze was fully contained by June 25, 2013, the West Fork Complex was still raging through the San Juan and Rio Grande National Forests. The West Fork Complex is a combination of three fires: the West Fork fire, the Windy Pass fire, and the Papoose fire. Lightning ignited the first of the blazes on June 5, 2013, and together they had charred approximately 75,000 acres (30,000 hectares) by June 25. The fires were burning in rugged terrain with large amounts of beetle-killed spruce forests.
The West Fork Complex fire was so hot that it spawned numerous pyrocumulus cloudstall, cauliflower-shaped clouds that billowed high above the surface. Pyrocumulus clouds are similar to cumulus clouds, but the heat that forces the air to rise comes from fire instead of sun-warmed ground.
Scientists monitor pyrocumulus clouds closely because they can inject smoke and pollutants high into the atmosphere. As those pollutants are dispersed by wind, they can affect air quality over broad areas. As noted by the University Maryland at Baltimore County (UMBC) Smog Blog, smoke from western fires contributed to elevated concentrations of particulate matter over large sections of the eastern United States.
Preliminary observations by the Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations (CALIPSO) satellite indicate the West Fork Complex fire lofted smoke plumes as high as 13.5 kilometers (8.4 miles) into the atmosphere. Satellite observations also show that smoke reached European airspace by June 24.
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Public release date: 26-Jun-2013[ | E-mail |
Share ] Contact: Michael Carlowicz
michael.j.carlowicz@nasa.gov
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center
Thick smoke billows across the landscape in these digital photographs of the western United States. Both photographs were taken by astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) on June 19, 2013.
The images show a plume wafting from the West Fork Complex fire, which was burning explosively in southwestern Colorado near Pagosa Springs. To the northwest, a smaller plume from the Wild Rose fire is also visible (upper image).
While the Wild Rose blaze was fully contained by June 25, 2013, the West Fork Complex was still raging through the San Juan and Rio Grande National Forests. The West Fork Complex is a combination of three fires: the West Fork fire, the Windy Pass fire, and the Papoose fire. Lightning ignited the first of the blazes on June 5, 2013, and together they had charred approximately 75,000 acres (30,000 hectares) by June 25. The fires were burning in rugged terrain with large amounts of beetle-killed spruce forests.
The West Fork Complex fire was so hot that it spawned numerous pyrocumulus cloudstall, cauliflower-shaped clouds that billowed high above the surface. Pyrocumulus clouds are similar to cumulus clouds, but the heat that forces the air to rise comes from fire instead of sun-warmed ground.
Scientists monitor pyrocumulus clouds closely because they can inject smoke and pollutants high into the atmosphere. As those pollutants are dispersed by wind, they can affect air quality over broad areas. As noted by the University Maryland at Baltimore County (UMBC) Smog Blog, smoke from western fires contributed to elevated concentrations of particulate matter over large sections of the eastern United States.
Preliminary observations by the Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations (CALIPSO) satellite indicate the West Fork Complex fire lofted smoke plumes as high as 13.5 kilometers (8.4 miles) into the atmosphere. Satellite observations also show that smoke reached European airspace by June 24.
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-06/nsfc-avo062613.php
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