Climate change could cripple southwestern U.S. forests: Trees face rising drought stress and mortality as climate warms

ScienceDaily (Sep. 30, 2012) ? Combine the tree-ring growth record with historical information, climate records, and computer-model projections of future climate trends, and you get a grim picture for the future of trees in the southwestern United States. That's the word from a team of scientists from Los Alamos National Laboratory, the U.S. Geological Survey, the University of Arizona, and other partner organizations.

If the Southwest is warmer and drier in the near future, widespread tree death is likely and would cause substantial changes in the distribution of forests and of species, the researchers report this week in the journal Nature Climate Change.

Southwestern forests grow best when total winter precipitation is high combined with a summer and fall that aren't too hot and dry.

The team developed a Forest Drought-Stress Severity Index that combines the amount of winter precipitation, late summer and fall temperatures, and late summer and fall precipitation into one number.

"The new 'Forest Drought-Stress Index' that Williams devised from seasonal precipitation and temperature-related variables matches the records of changing forest conditions in the Southwest remarkably well," said co-author Thomas W. Swetnam, director of the UA Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research.

"Among all climate variables affecting trees and forests that have ever been studied, this new drought index has the strongest correlation with combined tree growth, tree death from drought and insects, and area burned by forest fires that I have ever seen."

A. Park Williams of Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico is the lead author of the paper, "Temperature as a potent driver of regional forest drought stress and tree mortality." Six of the paper's 15 authors are at the UA. A complete list of authors is at the bottom of this release.

To figure out which climate variables affect forests, the researchers aligned some 13,000 tree core samples with known temperature and moisture data. The team also blended in events known from tree-ring, archaeological and other paleorecords, such as the late 1200s megadrought that drove the ancient Pueblo Indians out of longtime settlements such as those at Mesa Verde, Colo.

By comparing the tree-ring record to climate data collected in the Southwest since the late 1800s, the scientists identified two climate variables that estimate annual southwestern tree-growth variability with exceptional accuracy: total winter precipitation and average summer-fall atmospheric evaporative demand, a measure of the overall dryness of the environment.

Williams said, "Atmospheric evaporative demand is primarily driven by temperature. When air is warmer, it can hold more water vapor, thus increasing the pace at which soil and plants dry out. The air literally sucks the moisture out of the soil and plants."

Finding that summer-fall atmospheric evaporative demand is just as important as winter precipitation has critical implications for the future of southwestern forests, he said.

These trends, the researchers noted, are already occurring in the Southwest, where temperatures generally have been increasing for the past century and are expected to continue to do so because of accumulating greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

There still will be wet winters, but increased frequency of warmer summers will put more stress on trees and limit their growth after wet winters, the study reports.

"We can use the past to learn about the future," Williams said. "For example, satellite fire data from the past 30 years show that there has been a strong and exponential relationship between the regional tree-ring drought-stress record and the area of southwestern forests killed by wildfire each year. This suggests that if drought intensifies, we can expect forests not only to grow more slowly, but also to die more quickly."

The study points out that very large and severe wildfires, bark-beetle outbreaks and a doubling of the proportion of dead trees in response to early 21st-century warmth and drought conditions are evidence that a transition of southwestern forest landscapes toward more open and drought-tolerant ecosystems may already be underway.

And while 2000s drought conditions have been severe, the regional tree-ring record indicates there have been substantially stronger megadrought events during the past 1,000 years.

The strongest megadrought occurred during the second half of the 1200s and is believed to have played an important role in the abandonment of ancient Puebloan cultural centers throughout the Southwest. The most recent megadrought occurred in the late 1500s and appears to have been strong enough to kill many trees in the Southwest.

"When we look at our tree-ring record, we see this huge dip in the 1580s when all the tree rings are really tiny," Williams said. "Following the 1500s megadrought, tree rings get wider, and there was a major boom in new trees. Nearly all trees we see in the Southwest today were established after the late-1500s drought, even though the species we evaluated can easily live longer than 400 years. So that event is a benchmark for us today. If forest drought stress exceeds late 1500 levels, we expect that a lot of trees are going to be dying."

Will future forest drought-stress levels reach or exceed those of the megadroughts of the 1200s and 1500s?

Using climate-model projections, the team projected that such megadrought-type forest drought-stress conditions will be exceeded regularly by the 2050s. If climate-model projections are correct, forest drought-stress levels during even the wettest and coolest years of the late 21st century will be more severe than the driest, warmest years of the previous megadroughts.

The study forecasts that during the second half of this century, about 80 percent of years will exceed megadrought levels.

The current drought, which began in 2000, is a natural case study about what to expect from projected climate scenarios. While average winter precipitation totals in the Southwest have not been exceptionally low, average summer-fall evaporative demand is the highest on record.

And trees, Williams says, are paying the price. The team concluded forest drought stress during more than 30 percent of the past 13 years, including 2011 and 2012, matched or exceeded the megadrought-type levels of the 1200s and 1500s. The only other 13-year periods when megadrought-type conditions were reached with such frequencies in the past 1,000 years were during the megadroughts themselves.

UA co-author Daniel Griffin said, "This research is distinctly different from work done in a similar vein in two ways: One, it puts these projections for the future in a concrete historical context, and two, it shows that the impacts on the forests will not be restricted to one species or one site at low elevation, but in fact will take place at forests across the landscape."

Griffin is a doctoral candidate in the UA School of Geography and Development.

Co-author Craig D. Allen, a research ecologist with the U.S. Geological Survey, said, "Consistent with many other recent studies, these findings provide compelling additional evidence of emerging global risks of amplified drought-induced tree mortality and extensive forest die-off as the planet warms."

Los Alamos National Laboratory, the U.S. Department of Energy, and the National Science Foundation funded the research.

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Arizona, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

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Journal Reference:

1. A. Park Williams, Craig D. Allen, Alison K. Macalady, Daniel Griffin, Connie A. Woodhouse, David M. Meko, Thomas W. Swetnam, Sara A. Rauscher, Richard Seager, Henri D. Grissino-Mayer, Jeffrey S. Dean, Edward R. Cook, Chandana Gangodagamage, Michael Cai, Nate G. McDowell. Temperature as a potent driver of regional forest drought stress and tree mortality. Nature Climate Change, 2012; DOI: 10.1038/nclimate1693

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/~3/cTim15xB4Ag/120930142106.htm

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Lord Belmont In Northern Ireland: Gran Canaria: VIII

I revisited Dali's restaurant last night and sat at a little table outside, beside the window. The owner usually stands at the entrance to greet established and prospective patrons.

For the first course I ordered the "Playful" salad, more akin to a smoked salmon salad. They use balsamic vinegar as the salad dressing here.

Unfortunately the playful salad proved to be a meal in itself; I say Unfortunately because the nose-bag is not overly spacious.

It consisted of a dressed salad at the bottom of a kind of deep soup dish, with plentiful smoked salmon laid on top, with a tomato peeled like a rose.

The rim of the dish had orange slices.

I pronounced this to be delicious. During the interval, a party of six arrived and asked for a table. Wolfie looked round his tables and said Regrettably No. They talked for a minute. I immediately realised that I was sitting at a two-seat table, with two two-seat tables beside me.

I was about to suggest that I remove to another table when Wolfie approached and enquired if I'd do that very thing.

Chivalrous as always (!), I said Not At All; Think Nothing Of It, and got up.

The party of six were most appreciative ~ as was Wolfie ~ and thanked me effusively. They told Wolfie to offer me a drink.

Well, my main course subsequently arrived, Roulade of fresh salmon in a Vermouth sauce. It was served with salad and a bowl of fries.

This, too, was very good; though the old nose-bag was about to explode by this stage. Timothy Belmont was full as a ... Grandee of the First Class. Ha!.

Wolfie asked me what I'd like to drink. I was reluctant to have alcohol, though succumbed to a little carafe of red wine.

The bill was about ?25. I left him a ?5 note and departed.

Source: http://lordbelmontinnorthernireland.blogspot.com/2012/09/gran-canaria-viii.html

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Two Americans killed in confused Afghan shootout

KABUL (Reuters) - Two Americans were killed in Afghanistan during an exchange of fire between NATO-led forces and the Afghan army that may have been the result of a misunderstanding, as the death toll of U.S. military and civilian personnel passed 2,000.

A U.S. official, who asked not to be identified, said on Sunday that an American soldier and a civilian contractor had been killed in the incident in eastern Afghanistan, the circumstances of which remain unclear.

The coalition initially said the incident may have been the result of an "insider attack" and another example of a member of the Afghan national security force turning on coalition troops in a war that began in 2001.

But it later said that nearby insurgent gunfire may have led to a misunderstanding.

"The circumstances were somewhat confused ... There was a report of insurgent firing taking place in this incident which we believe may have been a factor," Lt. General Adrian Bradshaw, deputy commander of the NATO-led coalition, said.

It was the latest setback for the coalition after the United States said joint operations with Afghan forces were returning to normal.

Joint operations were halted two weeks ago after a surge of attacks on the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) by its Afghan allies. At least 52 ISAF service members have been killed this year in so-called "green-on-blue" attacks.

The suspension of joint operations was a blow for NATO which wants to train the 350,000 members of the Afghan security forces so that they can try to ensure stability after coalition forces withdraw.

Pentagon data listing the number of U.S. troops and U.S. contractors killed in Afghanistan since combat began 11 years ago showed the two new deaths pushed the total combined number of U.S. personnel killed past the 2,000 mark.

The attack took place in the Sayed Abad district of the Wardak province, according to local police sources, who said a gun battle had broken out between coalition soldiers and Afghans when an Afghan National Army member opened fire on American troops.

Three members of the Afghan National Army were also killed in the firefight, while three other U.S. citizens and one Afghan were wounded, police spokesman Wali Mohammad said on Sunday.

"We appreciate the sacrifice of our fallen heroes, every death is tragic and important - none more than any other," ISAF said in a statement after the incident on Saturday.

Tension between coalition forces and their Afghan allies has been rising due to an escalation of so-called "insider" attacks, but Bradshaw denied the incident was a reflection of growing mistrust between Afghan and coalition forces.

"There is a very strong relationship between ISAF (the International Security Assistance Force) and our Afghan colleagues," Bradshaw told a press conference late on Sunday.

Separately on Saturday, police in eastern Kunar province said they had found the beheaded bodies of three male civilians in a forest.

The Taliban had kidnapped the men three days ago for allegedly spying for the government and NATO forces, Kunar police chief Shirwah Sameen told Reuters.

(Additional reporting by Mirwais Harooni in Kabul, Mustafa Andalib in Ghazni and Phillip Stewart in Washington; Editing by Andrew Osborn)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/nato-soldier-civilian-killed-afghan-insider-attack-041708339.html

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Meet Our Ranch Animals | TBN Ranch

All the animals that have touched our lives and made our farm so special?

amy elizabeth

amy elizabeth, writer poet, author. Lives in the northeastern reaches of the Sonoran Desert on a small hobby farm.

Source: http://tbnranch.com/2012/09/28/meet-our-ranch-animals/

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U.S. aims to rally Syrian opposition with new aid

NEW YORK (AP) ? The Obama administration moved Friday to rally Syria's opposition with pledges of $45 million in new non-lethal and humanitarian assistance as the administration and other world leaders lamented the failure of diplomatic efforts to push Syrian President Bashar Assad from power.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said the U.S. would contribute an additional $15 million in non-lethal gear ? mostly communications equipment ? to the civilian opposition trying to oust Assad as well as $30 million in new humanitarian assistance to help those affected by the continuing violence.

She also delivered a new, stark warning to Iran that it must stop arming and supporting the Assad regime.

"It is no secret that our attempts to move forward at the U.N. Security Council have been blocked repeatedly, but the United States is not waiting," Clinton said as she announced the new aid at a gathering of the Friends of Syria group that she hosted at a New York hotel on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. She and other foreign ministers from the group met with nine Syrian opposition figures, including several who traveled from Syria to attend Friday's session, to discuss strategy.

With U.N. action blocked by Russia and China, Clinton said the rest of the world must support the Syrian opposition. She also said it was urgent that the fractured foes of the regime unite around plans for a political transition that could put an end to more than three decades of Assad family rule. Activists say the current 18-month long conflict has led to more than 30,000 deaths.

"Conditions in Syria continue to deteriorate as the Assad regime relentlessly wages war on its own people," Clinton said. "We see more bodies filling hospitals and morgues and we see more refugees fleeing their homeland and flooding into neighboring countries. The regime of Bashar al-Assad must come to an end so that the suffering of the Syrian people can stop and a new dawn can begin."

In Washington, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said new intelligence suggested the Syrian government has moved some of its chemical weapons in order to protect them, even though the U.S. believes that the main sites remain secure.

The new U.S. humanitarian assistance ? which brings America's total humanitarian contribution to more than $130 million since the crisis began ? will include food, water, blankets and medical services to victims of the violence. U.S. officials said on Thursday that an earlier shipment of medical goods provided by USAID had just arrived in southern Syria. The officials would not provide details of how the aid made it into Syrian territory.

The additional non-lethal support brings the total U.S. contribution in that area to nearly $40 million since the crisis began and includes 1,100 sets of communications equipment, including satellite-linked computers, telephones and cameras and training for more than 1,000 activists, students and independent journalists.

"We are working to help them strengthen their networks, avoid regime persecution and document human rights abuses," Clinton said. The U.S. is not providing military aid to the rebels although it acknowledges that other countries are.

Clinton's announcement came as fighting intensified in Syria's largest city, Aleppo, with the most widespread battles reported in three months in the city of 3 million people as rebel forces launched a new offensive against Assad.

Despite some battleground success, there have been complaints that the opposition is hopelessly splintered and unable to coalesce around a transition plan that was adopted by members of the U.N. Security Council in Geneva over the summer. Friday's meeting was intended in part to encourage better cooperation among Assad's foes.

"It is encouraging to see some progress toward greater opposition unity, but we all know there is more work to be done," Clinton said. U.S. officials have noted that revolutionary councils in cities including Damascus, Homs, Aleppo, Idlib and Deir al-Zour were becoming increasingly organized.

Members of local groups from across Syria and representatives of the exile group, the Syrian National Council ? including its head, Abdulbaset Sieda ? attended the meeting. But U.S. officials declined to name others taking part or let them be photographed, saying that doing so would risk putting those opponents of Assad in danger of reprisals.

The meeting was co-chaired by the Arab League. League Secretary General Nabil Elaraby lamented the U.N.'s inability to demand that the Geneva plan be implemented by threatening sanctions against those who would not abide by it.

"All of our efforts up to now have led to failures," he said. "We have not managed to change the situation."

Neither Russia nor China, which have vetoed three Western-backed resolutions aimed at pressuring Assad to end the violence and enter negotiations on a political transition, were invited to Friday's meeting.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov ? who was to address the General Assembly on Friday ? has accused the U.S. and other countries of encouraging terrorism in their stance on Syria.

However, Clinton told the meeting that the greatest threat to Syria, other than the Assad regime itself was Iran.

"Let's be very frank here," she said. "The regime's most important lifeline is Iran."

"There is no longer any doubt that Tehran will do whatever it takes to protect its proxy and crony in Damascus. Iran will do everything it can to evade international sanctions," Clinton said. She urged Syria's neighbors to take extra steps to ensure that Iran is not smuggling weapons and materiel into Syria through their airspace or territory.

___

Associated Press writer Lolita C. Baldor contributed to this report from Washington.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/us-aims-rally-syrian-opposition-aid-184703115.html

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Romney talks about Netanyahu, jokes about bomb graphic

ON THE ROMNEY CAMPAIGN PLANE--Flying from Philadelphia to Boston, Mitt Romney gave reporters in the press cabin some quality candidate time. After joking with a reporter who had been accidentally left behind by the press bus and later passing out beef jerky, the GOP candidate was back again?this time to give reporters a read-out about his phone call on Friday afternoon with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

He said he and Netanyahu, a longtime friend who he had first met in the late 1970s when they were both working at the Boston Consulting Group, had talked about Iran and other issues of concern in the Middle East, including the unrest in Syria. All serious issues, Romney acknowledged, but he couldn't resist ribbing the prime minister.

"I complimented him on his address at the United Nations," Romney said. "I suggested that his graphic was not up to the normal Boston Consulting Group standards."

Pausing, he added, "No, I didn't actually do that, but I was thinking that."

Romney was referencing a cartoon-like graphic in the shape of a bomb that Netanyahu employed to explain the threat of a nuclear Iran.

Asked if there is "daylight" between the position he holds toward Iran and the one put forward by Netanyahu, Romney didn't say. But he used the moment to criticize his opponent, President Barack Obama, for not offering tough sanctions against Iran in the first place.

"He's moved over time," said Romney. "From the very beginning, I thought crippling sanctions needed to be put in place?to see action opposed to just words. His words, more recently, are more consistent with the words I've been speaking for some time, and we'll see what actions he pursues."

Offering a more cautious tone than he did in the aftermath of the deadly attacks on U.S. diplomatic missions abroad, Romney added that it was "premature" to say what the Obama administration did "correctly or incorrectly" in how it handled the attack on the consulate in Benghazi, Libya, where Chris Stevens, the U.S. ambassador, and three others were killed.

"There are a wide array of reports about warnings and were they heeded. We'll find out whether that was the case or that was not the case," Romney said. "There was a great deal of confusion about that from the very beginning on the part of the administration and whether that was something that they were trying to paper over or whether it was just confusion given the uncertain intelligence reports. Time will tell."

As Romney addressed reporters, the GOP candidate seemed upbeat. He said he was looking forward to next week's debate, his first with Obama, but said he wasn't sure "how important it will be."

"I don't know what will happen at the debates, but I think it will be a good chance for the president and me to have a conversation with the American people about our respective views, and I think that will give people a chance to understand where we actually stand, as opposed to where our opposition thinks we stand," Romney said. "They'll be able to make a more informed choice."

As Romney spoke, it was hard not to notice the candidate was wearing a blue tie with horseshoes and four-leafed clovers, symbols of good luck?something Romney needs heading into the final 39 days of the campaign.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/romney-talks-longtime-friend-netanyahu-jokes-bomb-graphic-214956317--election.html

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BoE's Fisher sees "very strong" third-quarter GDP - paper

LONDON (Reuters) - Bank of England policymaker Paul Fisher expects a "very strong" gross domestic product number in the third quarter, he was reported as saying in an interview with the Sun newspaper on Thursday.

The Sun also reported, without providing a full direct quote, that Fisher expected British inflation to stay around its current 2.5 percent rate for about "two to three years".

A Bank spokesman later sought to clarify Fisher's comment on the basis of a recording of the interview, noting that Fisher said: "We are very seldom going to be actually at 2 percent, we'll always be a bit away and trying to bring it back. So our forecast has inflation within this sort of range - either a bit above or a bit below - for the next two or three years".

The Bank's August forecasts show inflation averaging around 2.2 percent in the fourth quarter of 2012, before falling below its 2 percent target in the fourth quarter of 2013.

Fisher added that the recently started Funding for Lending Scheme was uncapped and likely to pump 60-100 billion pounds into the British economy.

"The banks now really have an incentive to go out there and lend. We think there are credit-hungry businesses out there. It's difficult to see there are any excuses left," he said.

(Reporting by Olesya Dmitracova and David Milliken)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/boes-fisher-sees-very-strong-q3-gdp-paper-153733141--business.html

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Heavenly health with holistic health coach Claudia Cleary 09/26 by ...

Robby Benson joins Flashback With Carey Fisher. Robby is an accomplished actor, singer, director and author. He will be discussing his book "I'm Not Dead...Yet!" and what he was told by the publishing industry that made him decided to go the independent route!

Part two: The Scarlet Woman; Jet Noir Interview. Jet has a haunting and powerful voice and is an amazing instrumentalist, having studied guitar, violin and piano. Jet Noir's musical style is very eclectic and popular in the Goth scene.

Enjoy this dramatic thirty-minute suspense and mystery series, The Clock, written by Lawrence Klee. The Clock was first broadcast in November 1946. The story always began the same; ?Sunrise and sunset, promise and fulfillment, birth and death.

Toni Gibson joins Kenneth Hieber LIVE from New Zealand tonight. Toni will be talking about her upcoming new album and her passion for the Classical-Crossover genre of music.

Melissa Bel is an up and coming Indie artist with a soulful voice that is rich and deep like that of a seasoned veteran. She has been compared to Janis Joplin and Joss Stone, she has amassed a huge throng of fans from all over the world. Tune to hear about her new album.

Jammin Jukebox Radio welcomes Nathin Butler! Nathin, who plays Dr. Ewen Keenan on General Hospital, will be talking about his band "The Sugar" and discussing their newest self-titled release, tour dates and a little General Hospital too.

Actress and Fashionista LisaRaye McCoy stops by to chat with Olivia Wilder about her hit VH1 show, "Single Ladies," and her role as "Keisha," plus her many entrepreneurial endeavors.

IFBB Pro Bodybuilder and Mr. Olympia competitor Mark Alvisi speaks about his career, his new product line- Pro Sports Nutrition & his journey to date as he reaches for the Olympia title

E GEMZ Radio welcomes X Factor contestants Willie Jones, Panda Ross, Jeff Gutt and Julia Bullock! They will be speaking about their life, music, and their X Factor experiences. Fan calls will be taken during the interview.

Visit with Samsung Global Blogger Armando Pizzutigot his first big job in the 2006 Italian blockbuster movie "Notte Prima DegliEsami (The Night Before The Exams), and its sequel the following year, Notte Prima DegliEsami OGGI (The Night Before The Exams TODAY).

Visit with Mario Martinoli from Mario?s Cooking for Friends,? the fondly remembered Beverly Boulevard Italian restaurant, caf?, deli and gathering spot in Hollywood. Mario is a professional chef with over thirty years of hands-on experience which has taken him some very interesting and unexpected places!

Contemporary author Christine Nolfi stops by Best Ever You to talk about her third book, Second Chance Grill.

Worried about that upcoming meeting or conversation? Collaboration Soup co-author Delia Horwitz explains why effective collaboration is as simple to accomplish as making soup on the Conversation Crossroad radio program.

Current Cleveland Browns Running Back Chris Ogbonnaya will be joining Weigh In Sports for an in depth interview on his career playing for coach Mack Brown and the Texas Longhorns and also his current season with the Cleveland Browns.

Source: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/angel-whisper-psychic-network/2012/09/26/heavenly-health-with-holistic-health-coach-claudia-cleary

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How is a Kindle like a cuttlefish

Thursday, September 27, 2012

Over millions of years, biological organisms ? from the chameleon and cuttlefish to the octopus and squid ? have developed color-changing abilities for adaptive concealment (e.g., camouflage) and communication signaling (e.g., warning or mating cues).

Over the past two decades, humans have begun to develop sophisticated e-Paper technology in electronic devices that reflect and draw upon the ambient light around you to create multiple colors, contrast and diffusion to communicate text and images.

And given the more than 100 million years head start that evolution has provided to these animals and their cellular systems, it's not surprising that e-Paper devices lag behind in optical performance, especially color generation.

In an effort to close that gap, a multidisciplinary team led by University of Cincinnati researchers is out today with a paper that aims to help biologists who work with these color-changing creatures and engineers who work with e-Paper technology. The paper ? "Biological vs. Electronic Adaptive Coloration: How Can One Inform the Other?" ? is in the "The Journal of The Royal Society Interface" (electronic version) and will be featured on the cover of the upcoming print issue.

Authors are Eric Kreit, a recent doctoral graduate in UC's College of Engineering and Applied Science (CEAS); Lydia M. M?thger and Roger T. Hanlon, research scientists at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Mass.; Patrick B. Dennis and Rajesh R. Naik, scientists at the Materials and Manufacturing Directorate, Air Force Research Laboratory, Wright Patterson Air Force Base; Eric Forsythe, scientist at the Army Research Laboratory; and Jason Heikenfeld, associate professor of electronic and computing systems, also in the University of Cincinnati's College of Engineering and Applied Science (CEAS).

According to UC's Kreit, "Our main goals were threefold: To allow display engineers to learn from millions of years of natural selection and evolution. To teach biologists the most advanced mechanisms and performance measurements used in human-made reflective e-Paper and to give all scientists a clearer picture of the long-term prospects for capabilities such as adaptive concealment and what can be learned from now you see me, now you don't mechanisms."

WAYS IN WHICH ANIMALS AND ELECTRONICS ARE ALIKE

One of the researchers' key findings is that there are numerous approaches to change the reflective color of a surface and that the highest-performance approaches developed by both humans and nature share some powerful common features. Both use pigment, and both change or achieve color expression by either spreading or compacting that pigment. Animals use muscle fiber to spread or compact pigment, and electronics make use of an electric field to do so.

However, even if the basic approach for color change is similar, humanity has never developed anything as complex or sophisticated as the biology and physics of cephalopod skin. (Cephalopods are a diverse ocean group and include 700 species of cuttlefish, squid and octopus ? and are the acknowledged masters of color change on the planet).

According to Heikenfeld, "The highest performance human-made approaches have been only recently developed, well after numerous other approaches were tried. Perhaps in the past, if we had more closely trusted nature's ability to find the best solution, we would be further along today in creating better display technology."

ANIMALS ARE EFFICIENT USERS OF AVAILABLE LIGHT

Biological organisms that change color are very efficient at using available light. The animal's skin either reflects light to achieve a bright-color effect or absorbs light to achieve stunning, multi-colored effects.

In their use of available light, the biological organisms are more efficient than electronic devices, which generally require large amounts of electric power to generate an internal/emissive light to generate bright color.

Said Roger Hanlon, "Cephalopod skin is exquisitely beautiful and radiant, and can be changed in milliseconds, all without generating any intrinsic light from within the skin; there are elegant solutions from biology waiting to be translated to our consumer and industrial world."

In fact, overall, animals "outscore" synthetic devices when it comes to sophistication and integrated systems; required energy use for color change; size scalability (cephalopods' adaptive coloration works over a wide range of sizes in the organisms' class ? from small-size cuttlefish to large-size octopus and squid); and surface texture (cephalopods can selectively adapt or "crinkle" their skins to match a variety of three-dimensional textures, which provides additional light scattering and shadowing).

ELECTRONIC DEVICES ACHIEVE COLORS FASTER AND ACHIEVE MORE COLORS

Human-developed technology is far superior to cephalopods or other color-adapting animals when it comes to speed. In other words, human-made electronics can achieve color and a color change faster than the response time of a biological organism.

In addition, synthetic devices can provide a greater range of colors and more efficient dark or black state. In other words, a device can achieve a black screen, but most biological organisms cannot achieve such darkened coloring. This is, in part, due to the fact that an organism like a marine animal generally has no reason, in terms of survival adaptation or signaling, to go to a dark or black state. Such an adaptation would actually make them more visible, not less, to predators.

###

University of Cincinnati: http://www.uc.edu/news

Thanks to University of Cincinnati for this article.

This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/123882/How_is_a_Kindle_like_a_cuttlefish

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Finally A TV Ad That Encourages Hand Gestures: Brainient Taps Kinect For Interactive TV Ads

European online video startup, Brainient, whose BrainRolls system enables advertisers to incorporate interactive elements into online video adverts to boost brand engagement and recognition -- such as clickable Facebook Like buttons and photo galleries -- is tapping into Microsoft's Xbox Kinect gesture-based controller to push into the connected TV space.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/gw8d-PQIje4/

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New nonprofit puts college students to work | WestChesterBuzz.com

Cliff Peale reports:

What college student wouldn?t want a $15-an-hour job, asks Dave Dougherty.

Dougherty, the former chief executive officer at Convergys Corp., has formed a new nonprofit group to make that happen.

Called Education at Work, the venture will operate call centers for a client roster that already includes Macy?s and Cincinnati Bell.

Dougherty will pay college students starting at $9 per hour, plus tuition benefits up to $6,000 a year. Students must be taking at least one college class to qualify and the amount depends on their grade point average.

In short, he?s putting profits from the business into the tuition payments. He sees the potential for 5,000 students working in multiple call centers around Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky.

?That?s putting a meaningful dent in raising the education level in this community and the job skills level in this community,? said Dougherty, who headed the Cincinnati USA Partnership development group for a year ending in March 2012 after leaving Convergys in 2010.

The new company starts operations as an entire generation of college students is carrying crippling debt, now approaching $1 trillion nationally.

In Ohio, seniors graduating in 2010 carried an average $27,713 in debt, No. 7 in the country, while Kentucky students graduated with average debt of $19,375, ranking No. 43, according to the Project on Student Debt.

The strategy to hire college students to staff call centers has been tried before.

At Northern Kentucky University, both Delta Air Lines and Fidelity Investments opened call centers on the Highland Heights campus in the late 1990s, employing hundreds of students at their peak capacity.

But cutbacks in those industries and the national recession took their toll. The Delta call center closed in 2001 and the Fidelity call center closed in 2008.

Education at Work has opened a call center in Norwood, in a building and work stations donated by Cincinnati Bell. It took its first calls in mid-August and has more than 100 students already employed.

Helped by some funding from the SC Ministry Foundation, the College of Mount St. Joseph has invested $500,000.

The next call center will be somewhere near the Mount?s Delhi Township campus, hopefully in 2013, Dougherty said.

He has pitched the concept to other college presidents around the region, including O?dell Owens of Cincinnati State Technical & Community College.

Mount president Tony Aretz said the investment ?is another way we are trying to help our students afford a Mount education and lessen their student debt.?

Tuition at the Mount this year is $24,200. Very few students pay full tuition, with an average financial aid package of $17,400, according to the College Board.

For companies seeking call-center services, Dougherty called it a great vealue. He?s charging them $18 per hour.

?It?s still early, but we believe the quality of service by these college students will be superior,? said Tim White, another Convergys veteran who is vice president of business develoment. ?We?re basically starting with a smarter population. They know the technology and they?ve been able to get through the training faster.?

Students must go through four weeks of training and must work six months before they become eligible for tuition assistance.

For more information or to apply, students should visit www.education-at-work.org.

Posted in: Business, News |

Tags: Tags: asks Dave Dougherty. Dougherty, has formed a new nonprofit group to make that happen., the former chief executive officer at Convergys Corp., What college student wouldn?t want a $15-an-hour job

Source: http://westchesterbuzz.com/2012/09/26/new-nonprofit-puts-college-students-to-work/

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HBT: Heath Bell has no love for Ozzie?Guillen

Heath Bell made a local radio appearance on ?The Dan Sileo Show? in Miami today and had some not-so-nice things to say about Marlins manager Ozzie Guillen.

?It?s hard to respect a guy that doesn?t tell you the truth or doesn?t tell you face to face,? Bell said on 560-WQAM. ?There?s probably reasons why.?

Bell is upset with how his demotion from the closer role was handled and with his lack of an opportunity to reclaim the job despite pitching fairly well of late:

I stunk in April, plain and simple. I said I stunk, I worked hard, I busted my butt. I think I?ve had a tremendous second half. I?m not closing?I know that. But I just kept my mouth shut because I want to regain what I had, and I feel like I can?t do that. ?

It?s just one of those things that?what you see is what you get. I?m not going to be two-faced. I?m not going to sneak around your back and say this and that.

Ripping someone on the radio doesn?t count as ?around your back? does it? Just double-checking.

Bell?s beef with Guillen is no surprise, as the Showtime cameras captured the two of them having a relatively heated discussion in the manager?s office before ?The Franchise? reality series was canceled earlier this season.

Bell has a 5.19 ERA overall this season, but since being stripped of closing duties in June he?s thrown 26 innings with a 3.12 ERA and 25/7 K/BB ratio. He?s owed $9 million next season and $9 million in 2014, so odds are whether Guillen is still the Marlins? manager or not Bell will get another crack at ninth-inning duties.

I hope Hanley Ramirez and Fredi Gonzalez are getting a good chuckle out of all this, at least.

Source: http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/09/24/heath-bell-on-ozzie-guillen-its-hard-to-respect-a-guy-that-doesnt-tell-you-the-truth/related/

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Iran detains centrist ex-president's daughter

A Syrian rebel aims his weapon during a multi-unit action to rout government forces from their positions in the Amariya neighbourhood of Aleppo. (AFP)

Most of Syria outside regime control: rebel colonel ATMA, Syria (AFP) - Syria's vast territory is increasingly outside the control of the regular military, whose aerial superiority is the last strength keeping the Damascus regime afloat, a rebel chief told AFP. "With or without outside help, the fall of the regime is a question of months, not years," said Colonel Ahmed Abdel Wahab, who claims ...?more

Source: http://www.asharq-e.com/news.asp?section=1&id=31180

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The Federal Communications Commission

Patricia Moloney Figliola
Specialist in Internet and Telecommunications Policy

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent federal agency with its five?members appointed by the President, subject to confirmation by the Senate. It was established by?the Communications Act of 1934 (1934 Act) and is charged with regulating interstate and?international communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable. The mission of the?FCC is to ensure that the American people have available?at reasonable cost and without?discrimination?rapid, efficient, nation- and world-wide communication services, whether by?radio, television, wire, satellite, or cable.

Although the FCC has restructured over the past few years to better reflect the industry, it is still?required to adhere to the statutory requirements of its governing legislation, the Communications?Act of 1934. The 1934 Act requires the FCC to regulate the various industry sectors differently.?Some policymakers have been critical of the FCC and the manner in which it regulates various?sectors of the telecommunications industry?telephone, cable television, radio and television?broadcasting, and some aspects of the Internet. These policymakers, including some in Congress,?have long called for varying degrees and types of reform to the FCC. Most proposals fall into two?categories: (1) procedural changes made within the FCC or through congressional action that?would affect the agency?s operations or (2) substantive policy changes requiring congressional?action that would affect how the agency regulates different services and industry sectors. Nine?bills have been introduced during the 112th Congress that would change the operation of the FCC.

For FY2013, the FCC requested a budget of $346,782,000. The FY2012 enacted appropriation?was $339,844,000. FY2013 appropriations bills from the Senate and the House have not yet been?passed. H.J.Res. 117, which was passed by the House on September 13, 2012, would provide a?framework for a six-month Continuing Resolution beginning on October 1, 2013.

The FCC?s budget is derived from regulatory fees collected by the agency rather than through a?direct appropriation. The fees, often referred to as ?Section (9) fees,? are collected from license?holders and certain other entities (e.g., cable television systems) and deposited into an FCC?account. The law gives the FCC authority to review the regulatory fees and to adjust the fees to?reflect changes in its appropriation from year to year. It may also add, delete, or reclassify?services under certain circumstances.

There are currently nine bills under consideration in the House and Senate that would affect the?operations of the FCC: H.R. 1009, H.R. 2102, H.R. 2289, H.R. 3309, H.R. 3310, S. 611, S. 1780,?S. 1784, and S. 1817. These are discussed in more detail in the body of the report.

Date of Report: September 14, 2012
Number of Pages: 16
Order Number: RL32589
Price: $29.95

To Order:

RL32589.pdf? to use the SECURE SHOPPING CART e-mail congress@pennyhill.com Phone 301-253-0881

For email and phone orders, provide a Visa, MasterCard, American Express, or Discover card number, expiration date, and name on the card. Indicate whether you want e-mail or postal delivery. Phone orders are preferred and receive priority processing.

Source: http://science-technology-telecommunications.blogspot.com/2012/09/the-federal-communications-commission.html

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RMalayeri: I liked a @YouTube video http://t.co/OdPHLlnT Apple iPhone 5 Review - Should You Upgrade?

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Source: http://twitter.com/RMalayeri/statuses/249723896176185345

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Brother PT-1090 P-Touch Home & Family ?Simply Stylish? Labeler ...

36 of 38 people found the following review helpful

This review is from: Brother PT-1090 P-Touch Home & Family ?Simply Stylish? Labeler (Office Product)

I got this electronic labeler on sale for only $15 at Office Depot. It came with a roll of 16-ft black on white laminated labeling tape but it didn?t come with batteries.

Pros:

The main features I like about the label printer is that is has the Deco Mode feature to print special designs for scrapbooking and birthday cards. Its display is very easy to read and the displayed icons are nice. It even has over 170 different symbols (a musical note symbol for my music downloads and a camera symbol for my photos) to pick from. I also like how there?s 8 different frames to pick from too, so I can embellish my labels with stars, flowers, bubbles, etc. The date/time stamp thing with one keystroke comes in very handy, which is really convenient for installing batteries on smoke detectors for fire safety, and that?s also good for indicating when was the last time I inflated the tires of my car to get a good gas mileage. I also don?t even have to press a fn key to type numbers. It even prints very clearly (180 dots per inch). And finally, I can even preview to see how many inches of tape is used when the label?s printed, but my Dymo doesn?t have this feature.

Cons:

- However, the main thing is that although I set the margins to the narrowest setting (1/6 in on both sides), the printer still uses an additional inch on one end of the tape, so I do need a pair of scissors to trim off the one-inch leftover along the two black dots. This is the only reason I give the labeler 4 stars but having to trim off the leftover doesn?t bother me. By the way, I?ll give it 5 stars if the labeler doesn?t use another inch of tape when I print a label.
- Also, the keyboard isn?t in QWERTY (other people have complained about this), but I can still type efficiently using the alphabetical keyboard, so the non-QWERTY doesn?t bother me either.
- Besides the leftover tape and the keyboard, when I want to insert a Pictograph symbol, such as a musical note or a telephone icon, the screen will just show something like A1, A2, A3, A4, A5, etc. instead of just the actual symbols printed on the reference card, so it?s kind of awkward to me and that?s another reason I give the labeler 4 stars. It?ll be much better if Brother designs the screen with more vertical pixels to fit the actual symbols on the screen, so it?ll make it a lot less awkward to me.
- The labeling tapes are also pretty expensive ($22 at Office Depot for a roll of 26.2 ft = 7.0 cents an inch), so I keep the margins and the widths of the letters and set to the narrowest, and I also verify and correct the spelling before I print. I won?t regret the cost if I use the tape wisely and I use the narrow settings on my labeler. If I wanna label more things cheaply, I can label my things with pens and paper, so this is a good opportunity to practice my handwriting, especially in cursive because cursive is more natural and it?s also a good and valuable skill for me to have.
- Finally, it will be better if Brother has the tapes available in more colors (up to 1/2 in wide), such as blue on white (curretly available in 3/4 in wide but not 1/2 in wide or narrower), green on white, lime green on black, magenta on white, purple on white, etc.

Tapes:

This labeler uses the TZ laminated labeling tapes, which they?re more heat, cold, water, and abrasion resistant than the standard M tapes (not laminated). There?s different colored tapes to pick from, but the labeler can accept tapes up to 1/2 inch wide.

Uses And Purposes:

I use it to backup my music I downloaded from iTunes and my photos of my vacations, family, and friends on my CD-Rs. I also label my file folders to organize my homework for my college classes. I also keep my things personalized, especially my water bottle because I expose it to water a lot and I don?t want the water to ruin my name printed on the label. I even personalize my little sisters? school supplies to get them prepared for school. Finally, I even label the light switches around my parents? house.

Conclusion:

Overall, this item is very good for keeping my things well-organized, and I?m happy w/ it. So I recommend this device to my friends and family who wanna make their lives easier. But not really recommended for kids who need to practice their cursive handwriting, which is important in elementary and middle schools.

Help other customers find the most helpful reviews?

Source: http://grapebizs.com/brother-pt-1090-p-touch-home-family-simply-stylish-labeler

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Striving to Serve ? Deliberate Leadership and Self Improvement ...

I just finished Thou Shall Prosper for probably the third time.? I typically read it at least once a year.? The content, especially when it pertains to business, is superb.? Rabbi Lapin does an excellent job of helping the reader to understand the idea that all people are in a position of service.? It really doesn?t matter if you work for a private or public business, the government, or if you are unemployed.? If you at all interact with anyone, at any time, then you are in the business of service.? I love the concept put forth in the book that business is just the reimbursement for your services, plain and simple.? If you approach business in this manner, then you are never going to be on the side that compensation occurs for deeds not performed.? Many very successful business people are excoriated by those who do not understand this simple concept.?? Those individuals who make up the ?99%? do not understand this concept.? Your level of service, especially service that comes from the heart and soul, is your ticket to your livelihood.? Don?t squander it, and for goodness sake, don?t try to bring down those who discovered this concept long ago.

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This entry was posted in Business, Leadership.

Source: http://steelegoing.wordpress.com/2012/09/21/striving-to-serve/

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Source: http://morsechas550.typepad.com/blog/2012/09/striving-to-serve-deliberate-leadership-and-self-improvement.html

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Source: http://gomez61.typepad.com/blog/2012/09/striving-to-serve-deliberate-leadership-and-self-improvement.html

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'Lone Ranger' crew member drowns on LA-area set

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