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DETROIT (AP) ? Ex-U.S. Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick of Detroit and six other former Congress members are presiding over hearings on the existence of extraterrestrials.
The 30 hours of congressional-style hearings kicked off Monday and are scheduled to run through Friday at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.
Those testifying hope to prove that aliens contact Earth ? and that the government is trying to keep it secret.
Kilpatrick tells The Detroit News (http://bit.ly/Y8HUMc ) she's been researching the topic and is "looking forward to the week's activities."
The News says Kilpatrick, who is being paid $20,000 plus expenses, will chair the panel on Tuesday.
Kilpatrick is a Democrat who served in Congress from 1997-2011. Her son, ex-Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, is awaiting sentencing after being convicted on two dozen counts of corruption.
___
Information from: The Detroit News, http://detnews.com/
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ex-mich-congresswoman-presides-over-et-hearings-175652330.html
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Apr. 29, 2013 ? At the end of a long day, it can be more convenient to order your groceries online while sitting on the living room couch instead of making a late-night run to the store. New research shows it's also much more environmentally friendly to leave the car parked and opt for groceries delivered to your doorstep.
University of Washington engineers have found that using a grocery delivery service can cut carbon dioxide emissions by at least half when compared with individual household trips to the store. Trucks filled to capacity that deliver to customers clustered in neighborhoods produced the most savings in carbon dioxide emissions.
"A lot of times people think they have to inconvenience themselves to be greener, and that actually isn't the case here," said Anne Goodchild, UW associate professor of civil and environmental engineering. "From an environmental perspective, grocery delivery services overwhelmingly can provide emissions reductions."
Consumers have increasingly more grocery delivery services to choose from. AmazonFresh operates in the Seattle area, while Safeway's service is offered in many U.S. cities. FreshDirect delivers to residences and offices in the New York City area. Last month, Google unveiled a shopping delivery service experiment in the San Francisco Bay Area, and UW alumni recently launched the grocery service Geniusdelivery in Seattle.
As companies continue to weigh the costs and benefits of offering a delivery service, Goodchild and Erica Wygonik, a UW doctoral candidate in civil and environmental engineering, looked at whether using a grocery delivery service was better for the environment, with Seattle as a test case. In their analysis, they found delivery service trucks produced 20 to 75 percent less carbon dioxide than the corresponding personal vehicles driven to and from a grocery store.
They also discovered significant savings for companies -- 80 to 90 percent less carbon dioxide emitted -- if they delivered based on routes that clustered customers together, instead of catering to individual household requests for specific delivery times.
"What's good for the bottom line of the delivery service provider is generally going to be good for the environment, because fuel is such a big contributor to operating costs and greenhouse gas emissions," Wygonik said. "Saving fuel saves money, which also saves on emissions."
The research was funded by the Oregon Department of Transportation and published in the Journal of the Transportation Research Forum.
The UW researchers compiled Seattle and King County data, assuming that every household was a possible delivery-service customer. Then, they randomly drew a portion of those households from that data to identify customers and assign them to their closest grocery store. This allowed them to reach across the entire city, without bias toward factors such as demographics and income level.
They used an Environmental Protection Agency modeling tool to calculate emissions at a much more detailed level than previous studies have done. Using factors such as vehicle type, speed and roadway type, they calculated the carbon dioxide produced for every mile for every vehicle.
Emissions reductions were seen across both the densest parts and more suburban areas of Seattle. This suggests that grocery delivery in rural areas could lower carbon dioxide production quite dramatically.
"We tend to think of grocery delivery services as benefiting urban areas, but they have really significant potential to offset the environmental impacts of personal shopping in rural areas as well," Wygonik said.
Work commuters are offered a number of incentives to reduce traffic on the roads through discounted transit fares, vanpools and carpooling options. Given the emissions reductions possible through grocery delivery services, the research raises the question of whether government or industry leaders should consider incentives for consumers to order their groceries online and save on trips to the store, Goodchild said.
In the future, Goodchild and Wygonik plan to look at the influence of customers combining their grocery shopping with a work commute trip and the impact of the delivery service's home-base location on emissions.
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Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/kNz_k9R6AKw/130429095147.htm
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SUMMERVILLE, S.C. ? South Carolina?s 1st Congressional District is known for the churning Port of Charleston, growing suburbs to the north, and stately homes with wrap-around porches from Beaufort to Mount Pleasant. The white, well-heeled voters who dominate the district favored Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney by 18 percentage points.
This coastal strip is also home to a more blue-collar, solidly Democratic population; about one out of five of the district?s residents are African-American. Their turnout in the May 7 special congressional election is key to an upset by the Democratic nominee, Elizabeth Colbert Busch.
Inside her campaign office here, having come straight from church in their Sunday best, Dot Brown and Ethel Campbell are planning an afternoon of phone banking and door knocking. Local television stations aren?t carrying the only debate pitting Colbert Busch against her Republican opponent, former Gov. Mark Sanford, on Monday night.
?Most people we come across tend not to understand the importance of a special election, so you have got to get out and let them know,? said Brown, 67 years old, dressed in a marigold suit and bright pink scarf.
Campbell, 62, who immediately kicked off her pumps once she sat down, said she tries to explain to voters that electing another Democrat to Congress will help President Obama. ?I say, ?You had his back in 2012. Do you have his back in 2013?? "
But Colbert Busch has flaunted her independence from a president who is unpopular in most of the district, assailing his budget plan for raising taxes, not cutting enough spending, and meddling with Social Security. ?Not only does President Obama?s plan fail to put our finances back in order, it would cut benefits for our seniors, which is wrong,? she said in a statement. Colbert Busch also declined to say whether she would have supported Obama's economic stimulus plan in his first term. ?She?s trying to be all things to all people,?? said Sanford campaign spokesman Joel Sawyer.
Interviews with black voters on Sunday found few knew much about the businesswoman and political novice -- beyond the fact that she?s the sister of comedian Stephen Colbert. If they vote, disgust with Sanford is more likely to be the driving force. The governor left office in 2011, over a year?after admitting he disappeared from public view for several days to visit his girlfriend in Argentina.
?We don?t need people like him who set a bad example,? said 78-year-old Virginia Rosemond, her wide-brimmed, red hat shielding her from a drizzly rain as left the Baum Temple AME Zion Church. Will she vote for Colbert Busch? ??If I get a ride,? she responded.
Fellow churchgoer Charles Logan, 67, said he ?might? vote for Colbert Busch. ?I?m not messing with him,? he said of Sanford. ?He left his wife. He left his office. What makes you think he won?t go to Washington and do the same thing??
Colbert Busch?s campaign did not respond to e-mails and phone calls about its outreach to African-American voters. Appealing to moderate Republicans and independents is also crucial to her success, so there is a political risk in appearing eager to court black Democrats. When she campaigned at historically black Burke High School in Charleston last week, the event was billed as a rally for women voters.
But the campaign?s radio ad linking Sanford to allegations of voter suppression makes her intentions clear. With Isaac Hayes? soundtrack from Shaft, the 1971 movie about a black private detective, as backdrop, the ad assails a new South Carolina law that requires voters to show photo identification. A federal court blocked the law from going into effect until after the 2012 election. ?Somebody doesn?t want African Americans to vote, and it doesn?t take Shaft to figure out who,? a narrator says in the radio spot. ?Tuesday, May 7th,?is your chance to show them they can?t get away with it.?
The spot doesn?t mention that the ID law was signed after Sanford left office by Gov. Nikki Haley. Sawyer released a written statement when the ad first aired earlier this month that called it a ?negative radio ad with some very unfortunate overtones.?
Jaime Harrison, vice chairman of the South Carolina Democratic Party, defended the spot.
?Voter ID has been a very hot-button issue in the African-American community,? said Harrison, who if elected chairman next month would be the first African American to lead the party in South Carolina. ?Many folks who grew up in the civil-rights movement have called it modern-day Jim Crow. The ad will help to pique the awareness of African-Americans in that district.?
Sanford is not opposed to the law, Sawyer said, but he did not recall the ex-governor ever speaking publicly about it. Sawyer also noted that Sanford appointed a record number of African-Americans to his Cabinet and joined the state Supreme Court?s chief justice in 2006 in calling for more diverse appointments to the bench. In 2003, Sanford offered an official apology for the ?Orangeburg Massacre,? the 1968 shootings by South Carolina highway patrol officers that killed three black students protesting a segregated bowling alley.
The uncertainty of black turnout in the special election comes on the heels of an Associated Press analysis that found African Americans nationwide voted at a higher rate than other minority groups in 2012 and largely surpassed white turnout for the first time. If black turnout had matched 2004, Romney would have won in 2012.
In one of Colbert Busch?s only campaign events aimed at African Americans, she spoke at a black history celebration in February at Summerville High school. ?I give her credit for that,? said Ava Graham, a 44-year-old child care worker whose daughter sang with her church choir at the event. Colbert Bush spoke about the impact of Martin Luther King and Robert F. Kennedy on her life. ?I hope the black community comes out,? Graham said, ?because the Republicans want this seat and are going to do what they have to do.??
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story contained incorrect information about the end of Mark Sanford's tenure as governor. Sanford left office after his second term ended in January 2011; he did not resign from office after the scandal hit.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/black-voters-key-colbert-busch-win-south-carolina-072536368.html
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In the few days that have passed since Apple?s latest quarterly results, people can?t seem to stop writing about the so-called stalled growth and ?margin collapse? that hit the company. Ok, the term ?collapse? is excessively stupid (you know who you are, stop it). Apple?s revenue is still growing, but profitability is down year over year. The profit decline is due to undeniably lower gross margin. But what does that mean?
If you look at a the last 5 quarters and put it in graph form, it looks ugly. It looks scary. It makes you wonder why anyone would own the stock. And looking at 5 quarters is a pretty typical thing to do on Wall Street. People think of this as a longer term view of things, as crazy as that sounds. Apple just reported Q2, so looking at 5 quarters means you see Q2 from last year on the left, and Q2 from this year on the right.
Newsflash: Looking at a year over year comparison in isolation doesn?t paint a very clear picture of what?s really happening. And because Wall Street suffers from attention deficit disorder, it needs to form rapid-fire decisions on things.
Most analysts do not publish long term performance charts in their reports. I don?t know why, but it?s true. Sure, they all have the data in their models. They probably all have long term charts built in Excel, but they don?t get published.
Well, I?m publishing the one I keep in my model.
This chart goes back to Q3 2007, which is the first quarter of iPhone shipments. I could have gone back further, but I don?t think it would be as relevant because the business truly has changed ever since iOS was built.
So in blue we have a line graph representing revenue. You can see that it took a while for the iPhone to make a massive impact on the overall revenue, but in 2010 things just started to rocket upwards.
Then in the last two years, you can see that the holiday quarter has stood out as massively important. There have been two such holiday quarters so far, and they define the new peaks for revenue. In other words, Apple revenue has become much more seasonal. This means the quarters in between the seasonal peaks are less important. They are not unimportant. They are just less important.
Think of it this way. When you watch a storm build in the ocean, you can see each wave becoming bigger, crashing harder onto the beach. It doesn?t make a lot of sense to evaluate each wave on it?s way down. It makes a lot more sense to think about how high each wave crest goes. And right now, Wall Street is looking at a falling wave. Revenue could easily rocket higher again. China Mobile deal? Potentially a less expensive iPhone? Continued growth of the iPad, where sales nearly doubled year-over-year?
Now let?s look at gross margin, because this is what really has Wall Street bothered. I showed margin on the green bar chart, because somehow it just seemed easier to look at in bar format.
Apple had gross margin above 40% for 8 quarters since the iPhone launch. And a full 6 of these quarters were consecutive, from the March 2011 through to June 2012 quarter. For rear-view-mirror observers, it?s horrible to see that the gross margin peak happened in March 2012, which is the year ago quarter relative to this week?s earnings report.
But Apple does not have a history of margins above 40%. The mid to high 30% range is much more common, and it seems the company is moving back into that zone. Yes, the iPhone has higher margin than the Mac or even iPad. And that?s great. But I think we all realize that Apple can?t continue to gain global market share with a product that is out of reach for most global consumers.
So Apple has done the smart thing. They?ve taken more aggressive action on the iPhone 4 in places like China. It?s quite obvious that this makes the year-over-year margin comparison look like a case of Apple failure. But if you zoom out and look at the bigger picture, the margin moves really don?t look that shocking. If anything, it?s shocking to see how bloody high they climbed in the first place. This seems more sustainable.
And what if Apple had been more aggressive on pricing in the first place? The margin never would have climbed so high, and last year?s Q2 quarter never would have been as insanely profitable as it was. And we?d be looking at the most recent Q2 result saying, ?Wow, Apple keeps growing. Amazing!?
The stock market is all about comparisons. And unfortunately, the comparisons are fairly short term in nature. But even the ?fast moving? (I use that term loosely) technology sector requires a longer time frame for analysis. Apple did not build its iOS empire in a year, or even two years. Android did not grow to dominate the scene in a couple of years either. BlackBerry did not collapse in a year (and it?s potential comeback will not take one year). Things still move a lot more slowly than we all seem to think.
Apple is growing quite nicely. And if gross margin normalizes here, which seems reasonable, then next year we?ll be looking at a growth stock again. Everyone will forget about the supposed gross margin ?collapse? that we apparently just witnessed.
Since I happen to have my DSLR camera beside me right now, this metaphor seems appropriate. You don?t need to constantly take pictures with your telephoto lens set to 300mm. Sometimes the wide angle shot is better, and provides more context.
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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/rk0vY0YNftM/story01.htm
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?What is it??
That?s the question Gable Rhoads often fields about one of her tattoos, a black-and-red creature that crawls up her left arm. Is it a skeleton? A bird? A bat?
It?s a dragon. But you might not know it, she says, because not only have the colors and lines of the 27-year-old tattoo faded, but "it was just too large to properly visualize on my upper arm in the first place."
Rhoads, now 49, was no kid when she chose her tattoos. "I got my first tattoo when I was 22 and a recent graduate from Marine Corps boot camp; I thought my tattoo signaled to the world there was a tough woman under my shy, quiet exterior," she says.
But one of her daughters, Jade, was not quite an adult yet when she wanted to get hers. And that, as they say, can be a whole different story.
Rhoads' first-person account for Yahoo News was in response to our question: How do parents, especially those tattooed themselves, advise their children against them? That quandary arose somewhat amusingly on Wednesday when President Barack Obama told NBC?s "Today" show that he had warned his daughters that if they got tattoos, he and first lady Michelle Obama would get the same tattoos in the same place?a ?family tattoo,? if you will?and show them off on YouTube. Embarrassment, he implied, is ample deterrence.
Time speeds forward inexorably, and many who get inked face a problem: The tattoo that screamed undying love for a high-school cheerleader, say, or a boyfriend, or paid passionate allegiance to Def Leppard may have been badass back then, but now, not so much.
So, first family aside, what strategies do everyday parents employ to dissuade their kids from getting inked? Yahoo News asked them to share their tactics.
?I never forbade my daughters from getting a tattoo, but I did tell them to think long and hard before permanently changing their bodies,? Rhoads, who also has ?Semper Fi? and her ex-husband's name on her arm, says. ?The Minnie Mouse tattoo may be cute now, but what will the grandkids think when Minnie is wide and wrinkled??
Her ex-husband, she says, was more direct: He told Jade?now 25 with a tattoo of her own daughter's name and another of a flower?that women with tattoos were trashy. He later gave her the silent treatment. Those ploys didn't work.
"[My] tattoos are a part of me, and I do not regret them,? Rhoads, of Highland, Ind., says. ?Time will tell if she will come to regret [hers].?
Grandma is the first line of defense
The admonishment of ?Just Say No? worked in keeping Daniel A. Willis? teen boys from drugs. But keeping them from tattoos? Not so much.
When Joey, Willis? older son, turned 15, he offered the logic of "I want a tattoo, all my friends have one, I don't fit in without one.?
Enter Grandma.
Willis says his mother-in-law, Charlotte, is a very conservative woman. Raised in post-World War II Germany, she readily offers her perspective and doesn?t hesitate to dole out punishment. So, Willis issued Joey two ground rules: First, no tattoos on the face or below the shirt-sleeve. Second, he had to show the tattoo to his grandmother.
Condition No. 2, says Willis, who lives in Denver, was ?a show-stopper.?
Now 29, Joey didn?t get a tattoo until college. His younger brother, 27-year-old Keith, is ink-free.
Gravity can lead to regret
R.D. Hayes had trouble responding to her 7-year-old daughter?s pleas for a tattoo on her arm. Gracie?s age wasn?t the issue. It was because she was intent on copying her mom?s memorial tattoo of Gaje, Gracie's 6-year-old brother, who had been killed in an automobile accident.
Hayes, who lives in Oklahoma City, decided to simply tell the truth: Tattoos mean pain, gravity and regret.
?I remind [my kids] of all the dangers that can come from tattoos and how they may wake up one day and regret it,? Hayes, 28, says. ?I told them that gravity seems to take over as we age and, besides, tattoos can be some of the [worst] pain that you ever felt.?
Hayes, who had been a rebellious kid, says when she got her first tattoo?a small dot between her thumb and index finger?she waited patiently for her father to notice. She doesn't expect her kids will show any less spirit.
Her stepson, Brie, got his tattoo, a colorful teepee on his foot, right after he turned 18. ?It looked a bit girlish,? Hayes says. ?It was something that I wouldn't have placed on my body. He said it was to show off his Native American pride, but I couldn't help but laugh. [H]e now regrets it."
Which added fuel to her belief that parents should stress regret. Failing that, she recommends taking teens to a professional tattoo artist who can explain why it?s important to wait?or not get tattooed at all.
Read other parents? strategies:
Fake Infections Convinced Our Kids to Abhor Tattoos
How I Kept My Son from Getting a Spider-Man Tattoo
Mom to Kids: If You Really Want the Tattoo, Wait for It
No Tattoos?at Least in Inappropriate Places
In Warning Kids Against Tattoos, Sometimes Logic Actually Works
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By Paul Casciato
LONDON (Reuters) - More than half of British consumers refuse to spend money unless it is "absolutely necessary" in a weak economy, with prosecco now more likely to mark a special occasion than champagne, according a new consumer trend report released on Friday.
Global research firm Mintel's annual "British Lifestyles" report said one day after the country skirted a "triple dip" recession that consumers have made paying their bills and saving for a rainy day their top priorities.
Britain's Office for National Statistics provided some relief for Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron's government on Thursday when it reported that the economy grew faster than expected in the first three months of the year.
But the legacy of a sluggish economy that has flatlined since 2010 appeared clear in a report which showed that the top financial priority for 82 percent of British consumers was just keeping up with their bills.
"British consumers are adjusting to the new economic reality, with financial prudence and savvy shopping already the default for many," Mintel consumer analyst Ina Mitskavets said in a statement with the report.
Beyond paying the bills, Britons put saving up for rainy days and big ticket purchases as their other top priorities.
British consumers were also working longer hours, taking fewer holidays and more than a third said things have become more difficult in the past year.
In other trends highlighted in the report, more people were cooking and baking from scratch at home and beauty product sales remained strong because it was an affordable way for women to lift their mood, the so-called "lipstick effect."
In a sign of cooling interest in the high life for ordinary people, value sales of champagne dropped by 32 percent between 2007 and 2012 as drinkers reached for prosecco, cava and other sparkling wines instead when out in bars and restaurants.
"If you are out with all your friends celebrating your birthday you don't want to lose that celebration moment to pop the cork," Mintel drinks analyst Chris Wisson said.
"If you can save money while doing it, why wouldn't you? ... I think that's the rationalisation people have come to."
Mitskavets said other factors appearing on the horizon included a generation of youngsters who were taking on the parsimony of their parents after formative years spent watching the family struggle with the bills.
"The younger generation are also growing up extremely frugal because they came of age in that age of austerity," Mitskavets said. "The next generation is going to always have that in the back of their minds. We need to save as much money as possible."
(Reporting by Paul Casciato; editing by Mike Collett-White)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/champagne-celebrations-turn-prosecco-frugal-britain-report-164637975.html
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By Jessica Wohl
(Reuters) - Procter & Gamble Co
The news spooked investors who do not want to wait until 2014 for better sales increases. Shares of the world's largest household products maker fell as much as 6 percent after closing at an all-time high of $82.54 (54 pounds) on Tuesday.
"There's a lot of frustration that they've been talking about a lot of actions they've been taking but we haven't really seen an acceleration in the sales growth," said David Blount, co-portfolio manager of the Growth & Income Fund at Eagle Asset Management, which includes P&G shares.
The company, maker of Pampers diapers, Gillette razors and many other products, has been under greater scrutiny to improve after cutting profit expectations in the past and learning that activist investor Bill Ackman invested in the stock.
Cincinnati-based P&G also posted a fiscal third-quarter profit on Wednesday that topped estimates despite sales that were weaker than both the company and analysts had anticipated.
Chief Executive Bob McDonald was roasted by analysts on a conference call a year ago when P&G gave a profit warning. While Wednesday's call was not as tense, analysts wanted to know why the company has not yet posted better sales growth more than a year into its turnaround.
P&G, which announced a $10 billion restructuring in February 2012, said that its push for more innovation means that several products such as new Iams pet foods and Olay skin creams will soon hit stores. After cutting billions of dollars in costs, along with eliminating hundreds of more jobs than anticipated, it will now spend more to promote those new goods and even to build the plants to produce them around the world.
FOURTH-QUARTER FORECAST
For the current fourth quarter ending in June, P&G said profit should fall to 69 cents to 77 cents per share, while analysts expected it to earn 81 cents per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. P&G earned 82 cents per share in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2012.
The company cited factors including weak market growth, higher marketing and other costs and volatility in Venezuela, Argentina, Egypt, Syria and South Korea.
Wednesday's fiscal third-quarter results were a sharp departure from the fiscal second quarter, when P&G raised its annual profit forecast and its shares jumped. On Wednesday, on the heels of the better-than-expected third quarter profit, it raised only the bottom end of its annual forecast range by 2 cents per share.
"They're still making progress, they're still on the right track, it is just going to be a little more slowly than what people expected," said Edward Jones analyst Jack Russo.
P&G insists that its forecast is "realistic, not conservative," especially given the headwinds it faces such as volatility in Venezuela and elsewhere, Chief Financial Officer Jon Moeller told analysts.
Along with spending on marketing to promote its new products, P&G is dealing with what it calls a "choppy" economic recovery, and sees a 1 to 2 percent impact on its sales this year from foreign exchange rates.
Its shares slid as low as $77.48 on Wednesday and were last trading down 4.7 percent at $78.05, wiping out nearly all of this month's gains. Shares of rivals such as Colgate-Palmolive Co
JOB CUTS EXCEED GOAL
While products such as single-dose Tide Pods laundry detergent have boosted U.S. sales, P&G said it still needs to figure out the formula for getting products such as Pantene shampoo and Olay skin creams to stand out among competitors. Net sales decreased in the hair care and skin care business in the latest quarter.
P&G is taking the right steps by cutting costs, bringing out new products and growing in developing markets, but it is important for it to show progress in the beauty unit in the next quarter or two, said Russo.
P&G said it earned 99 cents per share on a core basis in the quarter ended in March, topping analysts' target of 96 cents. Core earnings exclude items such as restructuring charges.
Overall sales rose 2 percent to $20.598 billion while analysts were looking for sales of $20.73 billion. The company had forecast 3 to 4 percent in sales growth.
P&G's organic sales, which strip out the impact of divestitures and foreign exchange changes, grew 3 percent - at the low end of its forecast of 3 to 4 percent.
On a net basis, the company earned $2.57 billion, or 88 cents per share, in the fiscal third quarter. That was up from $2.41 billion, or 82 cents per share, a year earlier.
McDonald declined to comment on any discussions he may have been having with Ackman, who is known to push for change at companies in which he invests. Ackman's Pershing Square had a 1.02 percent stake in P&G, or 27.95 million shares, as of December, making it P&G's eighth-largest shareholder, according to Thomson Reuters data.
P&G said it now plans to repurchase $6 billion of its stock this year, at the high end of its prior forecast for $5 billion to $6 billion in buybacks. Last June, P&G decided to hold off on buybacks, but in August quickly reverted back to its usual plan.
P&G also said it had cut 6,250 jobs as of March 31, ahead of its goal to cut 5,700 jobs by the end of June.
(Reporting by Jessica Wohl; in Chicago; editing by Jeffrey Benkoe and Matthew Lewis)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/p-gs-product-push-weigh-profit-shares-fall-183923286--sector.html
Apr. 24, 2013 ? In a paper to be published in an upcoming issue of Energy & Environmental Science, researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory describe details of a low-cost, stable, effective catalyst that could replace costly platinum in the production of hydrogen. The catalyst, made from renewable soybeans and abundant molybdenum metal, produces hydrogen in an environmentally friendly, cost-effective manner, potentially increasing the use of this clean energy source.
The research has already garnered widespread recognition for Shilpa and Shweta Iyer, twin-sister high school students who contributed to the research as part of an internship under the guidance of Brookhaven chemist Wei-Fu Chen, supported by projects led by James Muckerman, Etsuko Fujita, and Kotaro Sasaki.
"This paper reports the 'hard science' from what started as the Iyer twins' research project and has resulted in the best-performing, non-noble-metal-containing hydrogen evolution catalyst yet known -- even better than bulk platinum metal," Muckerman said.
The project branches off from the Brookhaven group's research into using sunlight to develop alternative fuels. Their ultimate goal is to find ways to use solar energy -- either directly or via electricity generated by solar cells -- to convert the end products of hydrocarbon combustion, water and carbon dioxide, back into a carbon-based fuel. Dubbed "artificial photosynthesis," this process mimics how plants convert those same ingredients to energy in the form of sugars. One key step is splitting water, or water electrolysis.
"By splitting liquid water (H2O) into hydrogen and oxygen, the hydrogen can be regenerated as a gas (H2) and used directly as fuel," Sasaki explained. "We sought to fabricate a commercially viable catalyst from earth-abundant materials for application in water electrolysis, and the outcome is indeed superb."
." ..the best-performing, non-noble-metal-containing hydrogen evolution catalyst yet known..."
This form of hydrogen production could help the scientists achieve their ultimate goal.
"A very promising route to making a carbon-containing fuel is to hydrogenate carbon dioxide (or carbon monoxide) using solar-produced hydrogen," said Fujita, who leads the artificial photosynthesis group in the Brookhaven Chemistry Department.
But with platinum as the main ingredient in the most effective water-splitting catalysts, the process is currently too costly to be economically viable.
Comsewogue High School students Shweta and Shilpa Iyer entered the lab as the search for a cost-effective replacement was on.
The Brookhaven team had already identified some promising leads with experiments demonstrating the potential effectiveness of low-cost molybdenum paired with carbon, as well as the use of nitrogen to confer some resistance to the corrosive, acidic environment required in proton exchange membrane water electrolysis cells. But these two approaches had not yet been tried together.
The students set out to identify plentiful and inexpensive sources of carbon and nitrogen, and test ways to combine them with a molybdenum salt.
"The students became excited about using familiar materials from their everyday lives to meet a real-world energy challenge," Chen recounted. The team tested a wide variety of sources of biomass -- leaves, stems, flowers, seeds, and legumes -- with particular interest in those with high protein content because the amino acids that make up proteins are a rich source of nitrogen. High-protein soybeans turned out to be the best.
To make the catalyst the team ground the soybeans into a powder, mixed the powder with ammonium molybdate in water, then dried and heated the samples in the presence of inert argon gas. "A subsequent high temperature treatment (carburization) induced a reaction between molybdenum and the carbon and nitrogen components of the soybeans to produce molybdenum carbides and molybdenum nitrides," Chen explained. "The process is simple, economical, and environmentally friendly."
Electrochemical tests of the separate ingredients showed that molybdenum carbide is effective for converting H2O to H2, but not stable in acidic solution, while molybdenum nitride is corrosion-resistant but not efficient for hydrogen production. A nanostructured hybrid of these two materials, however, remained active and stable even after 500 hours of testing in a highly acidic environment.
"We attribute the high activity of the molybdenum-soy catalyst (MoSoy) to the synergistic effect between the molybdenum-carbide phase and the molybdenum-nitride phase in the composite material," Chen said.
Structural and chemical studies of the new catalyst conducted at Brookhaven's National Synchrotron Light Source (NSLS) and the Center for Functional Nanomaterials (CFN) are also reported in the paper, and provide further details underlying the high performance of this new catalyst.
"The presence of nitrogen and carbon atoms in the vicinity of the catalytic molybdenum center facilitates the production of hydrogen from water," Muckerman said.
The scientists also tested the MoSoy catalyst anchored on sheets of graphene -- an approach that has proven effective for enhancing catalyst performance in electrochemical devices such as batteries, supercapacitors, fuel cells, and water electrolyzers. Using a high-resolution transmission microscope in Brookhven's Condensed Matter Physics and Materials Science Department, the scientists were able to observe the anchored MoSoy nanocrystals on 2D graphene sheets.
The graphene-anchored MoSoy catalyst surpassed the performance of pure platinum metal. Though not quite as active as commercially available platinum catalysts, the high performance of graphene-anchored MoSoy was extremely encouraging to the scientific team.
"The direct growth of anchored MoSoy nanocrystals on graphene sheets may enhance the formation of strongly coupled hybrid materials with intimate, seamless electron transfer pathways, thus accelerating the electron transfer rate for the chemical desorption of hydrogen from the catalyst, further reducing the energy required for the reaction to take place," Sasaki said.
The scientists are conducting additional studies to gain a deeper understanding of the nature of the interaction at the catalyst-graphene interface, and exploring ways to further improve its performance.
In the paper, the authors -- including the two high-school students -- conclude: "This study unambiguously provides evidence that a cheap and earth-abundant transition metal such as molybdenum can be turned into an active catalyst by the controlled solid-state reaction with soybeans?The preparation of the MoSoy catalyst is simple and can be easily scaled up. Its long-term durability and ultra-low capital cost satisfy the prerequisites for its application in the construction of large-scale devices. These findings thus open up new prospects for combining inexpensive biomass and transition metals?to produce catalysts for electro-catalytic reactions."
Additional collaborators in this research were Chiu-Hui Wang and Yimei Zhu of Brookhaven Lab.
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WASHINGTON (AP) ? Democratic Sen. Max Baucus, the powerful Senate Finance chairman who steered President Barack Obama's health care overhaul into law but broke with his party on gun control, said Tuesday he will not run for re-election.
"I don't want to die here with my boots on. There is life beyond Congress," the 71-year-old Baucus said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press.
Baucus, who arrived in Washington as a member of the 1974 Watergate class in the House and has been a fixture in the Senate since 1979, said the decision was hard.
"It was probably the most difficult decision in my life," Baucus said.
He faced a tough re-election bid next year, with opposition to the health care law in his state taking a toll on his approval ratings.
A Democrat with an independent streak, Baucus supported the Bush tax cuts of 2001 and Obama's signature 2010 health care law. He broke with his party this year to oppose both the Senate Democratic budget blueprint and a hotly fought effort to beef up background checks for gun purchases.
Baucus, who helped write Obama's health care law, stunned administration officials last week when he told the president's health care chief that he thought the law was headed for a "train wreck" because of bumbling implementation.
"I just see a huge train wreck coming down," Baucus told Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.
Baucus was the first top Democrat to publicly voice fears about the rollout of the new health care law, designed to bring coverage to some 30 million uninsured people through a mix of government programs and tax credits for private insurance. Polls show that Americans remain confused by the complex law, and even many uninsured people are skeptical they will be helped by benefits that start next year.
In the interview Tuesday, Baucus said that successful rollout of the health care law will be a top priority, along with tax reform and the farm bill, until he leaves office.
"I want to make sure health care is implemented, and implemented very well," he said.
Baucus' retirement opens up an opportunity for Republicans to claim a Senate seat in a state where GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney easily defeated Obama by 12 percentage points last year. But Democrats have proved resilient in Montana, with Sen. Jon Tester winning re-election last year. The election of Steve Bullock last year is the third term in a row in which Democrats have held the governorship.
Former two-term Democratic Gov. Brian Schweitzer indicated an interest in the race in an interview with The Associated Press.
"The opportunity to try and get the country moving again like we did in Montana, that's appealing," Schweitzer said. "I'm a fixer."
Tester, who learned of Baucus' plans on Monday in their weekly meeting, said the state's senior senator told him he wanted to return to Montana, and that if he waited until the end of his next term he would be nearly 80.
Baucus, in the interview with the AP, said: "Been here 40 years. No regrets. It is time to do something different."
Tester, in looking at the list of Senate deaths and retirements, surmised that Baucus probably considered the drastically altered Senate lineup. Sens. Tom Harkin D-Iowa, and Carl Levin, D-Mich., have announced plans to retire; Sens. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., and Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, died within the last five years.
"These guys are warhorses who've been through the battle. They know what it takes to get legislation passed," Tester said.
Asked how hard it would be for Democrats to hold the seat, Tester said, "Look, it's Montana. You've got to go out to the voters. You've got to talk to voters. I think voters in Montana are less persuaded by party and more persuaded by substance."
Republican campaign officials, who last week seized upon Baucus' comments on the health care law, sought to tar other Democratic Senate candidates in a statement Tuesday responding to Baucus' decision.
"Just days after calling Obamacare a 'train wreck,' its architect Max Baucus waved the white flag rather than face voters," said Rob Collins, executive director of the National Republican Senatorial Committee. "Obamacare has gone from being an 'abstract' discussion to a real life pain for workers and families, which has Democratic candidates like Bruce Braley, Mark Pryor, Mark Begich and Kay Hagan backpedaling. ... The 2014 electoral map is in free-fall for Democrats, who were already facing a daunting challenge."
Possible Republican candidates for the seat are former Gov. Marc Racicot; Denny Rehberg, the former congressman who lost a bitter race last year to Tester; Rick Hill, another former congressman who lost to Bullock; and Steve Daines, the current Montana congressman.
The only Republicans who have declared their intention to run is state Sen. Champ Edmunds of Missoula and former state Sen. and gubernatorial candidate Corey Stapleton.
Democrats in the Senate will be defending 21 seats next year to Republicans 14, with several Democrats running for re-election in GOP-leaning states that Romney won handily. Among the Democrats facing tough challenges next year are Sens. Mark Begich of Alaska, Mary Landrieu of Louisiana and Mark Pryor of Arkansas.
Democrats also have more retirements than the GOP. Five Democrats in addition to Baucus have announced they will not seek another term: Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia, Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey, Tim Johnson of South Dakota, Harkin and Levin.
Among Republicans, Saxby Chambliss of Georgia and Mike Johanns of Nebraska have decided to retire.
Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., who heads the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, touted last year's re-election of Tester and said, "We will continue to invest all the resources necessary to hold this seat."
Despite his standing as a top Democrat in Capitol Hill, Baucus sometimes bucked the party line in recognition of Montana being a fundamentally conservative state with voters who want someone willing to base votes on more than party lines.
"I don't focus on labels," he has said. "For me, Montana comes first and partisan labels are a distant second."
He was an architect of the President George W. Bush's prescription drug plan in 2003, one of the few Democrats to back a GOP-led effort to provide prescription drug coverage under Medicare. The law is now widely popular with Republicans and Democrats.
Baucus is from a wealthy Helena ranching family. He practiced law in Montana in the early 1970s until he was elected to the state House in 1973. He first won election to the U.S. House as part of the huge 1974 Watergate class and easily moved up to the Senate in 1978. He has had only one close race since, when he defeated then Lt. Gov. Denny Rehberg with less than 50 percent of the vote in 1996.
Baucus became an advocate for the residents of the Montana town of Libby after news reports in 1999 linked asbestos contamination from a vermiculite mine there to deaths and illnesses. He helped deliver money to those who fell sick and became a vocal critic of both the W.R. Grace Co., and the Environmental Protection Agency for not doing enough to clean up the town.
He also worked to protect the land bordering Glacier National Park by advocating energy companies to retire their leases in the North Fork watershed of Montana's Flathead River.
Baucus voted in favor of invading Iraq, but said later that his vote was a mistake based on faulty intelligence delivered to Congress. After his nephew was killed while deployed in Iraq, Baucus said in later years that the troops should come home as soon as possible.
Baucus ran afoul of his constituents during President Bill Clinton's administration when he supported a handgun-control law and a ban on the sale of some assault-style weapons. Gun ownership is widespread in Montana, and Baucus later supported allowing those laws to expire in 2004.
Baucus came under criticism in February 2009 when he recommended Melodee Hanes for Montana's U.S. attorney post when he was dating her. Hanes withdrew her name from consideration in March and was hired in June as a top official in the Justice Department.
She and Baucus married in June 2011 at the historic Montana ranch north of Helena run by his family.
Baucus attended Stanford University, where he earned a bachelor's degree in 1964 and a law degree in 1967. He worked as an attorney with the Civil Aeronautics Board from 1967 to 1968, and with the Securities and Exchange Commission from 1968 to 1971. He practiced law in Montana from 1971 to 1974.
He and his ex-wife, Ann Geracimos, have one son, Zeno.
___
Gouras reported from Helena. Associated Press writers Andrew Taylor and Alan Fram in Washington, and Matthew Brown in Billings, Mont., contributed to this report.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/democratic-sen-baucus-rules-7th-term-155541931--finance.html
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Apr. 23, 2013 ? "When designing next generation solar energy conversion systems, we must first develop ways to more efficiently utilize the solar spectrum," explained Lane Martin, whose research group has done just that.
"This is a fundamentally new way of approaching these matters," said Martin, who is an assistant professor of materials science and engineering (MatSE) at Illinois. "From these materials we can imagine carbon-neutral energy production of clean-burning fuels, waste water purification and remediation, and much more."
Martin's research group brought together aspects of condensed matter physics, semiconductor device engineering, and photochemistry to develop a new form of high-performance solar photocatalyst based on the combination of the TiO2 (titanium dioxide) and other "metallic" oxides that greatly enhance the visible light absorption and promote more efficient utilization of the solar spectrum for energy applications.
Their paper appears in the journal Advanced Energy Materials.
According to Martin, the primary feature limiting the performance of oxide-based photovoltaic and/or photocatalytic systems has traditionally been the poor absorption of visible light in these often wide band gap materials. One candidate oxide material for such applications is anatase TiO2, which is arguably the most widely-studied photocatalyst due to its chemical stability, non-toxicity, low-cost, and excellent band alignment to several oxidation-reduction reactions. As the backbone of dye-sensitized solar cells, however, the presence of a light-absorbing dye accounts for a large band gap which limits efficient usage of all but the UV portion of sunlight.
"We observed that the unusual electronic structure of SrRuO3 is also responsible for unexpected optical properties including high absorption across the visible spectrum and low reflection compared to traditional metals," stated Sungki Lee, the paper's first author. "By coupling this material to TiO2 we demonstrate enhanced visible light absorption and large photocatalytic activities."
"SrRuO3 is a correlated electron oxide which is known to possess metallic-like temperature dependence of its resistivity and itinerant ferromagnetism and for its widespread utility as a conducting electrode in oxide heterostructures," Lee added. Referring to this material as a "metal," however, is likely inappropriate as the electronic structure and properties are derived from a combination of complex electronic density of states, electron correlations, and more.
Using a process called photo-excited hot-carrier injection from the SrRuO3 to the TiO2, the researchers created new heterostructures whose novel optical properties and the resulting high photoelectrochemical performance provide an interesting new approach that could advance the field of photocatalysis and further broaden the potential applications of other metallic oxides.
This work provides an exciting new approach to the challenge of designing visible-light photosensitive materials and has resulted in a provisional patent application. The work was primarily supported by the ongoing International Institute for Carbon Neutral Energy Research (I2CNER) program, a partnership between Kyushu University in Japan and the University of Illinois.
"The I2CNER project brings together some of the leading energy researchers from around the globe," explained I2CNER Director Petros Sofronis, who is also a professor in the Department of Mechanical Science and Engineering at Illinois. "Results from Dr. Martin's research group and others demonstrate that I2CNER is not only an experiment on international collaboration. It is a concerted institutionalized effort to pursue green innovation and reduced CO2 emissions, as well as to advance fundamental science and develop science-based technological solutions for the reorganization of sustainable and environmentally friendly society."
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Illinois College of Engineering. The original article was written by Rick Kubetz.
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Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/matter_energy/physics/~3/T_2AUjCLfdU/130423135839.htm
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Search engine optimization companies started showing up during the early 2000s. Since the beginning of SEO in the web, it has drastically changed how the web reacts to searches and how companies are all clamoring to be on the top ranks.
Today, search engine optimization companies are benefitting from this trend. Practically every business on the planet has its own website. Companies like Microsoft, Toyota, Coca-Cola, Victoria?s Secret, Time, Mercedez Benz Dealers, they all use search engine optimization companies to help their sites rank in the different search engines.
Here, we?ve put together a list of the top search engine optimization companies, (this is in no particular order or ranking)
One of those search engine optimization companies offering a wide range of social media services, but what sets Netmark apart from other search engine optimization companies is that it customizes its services to fit the client?s products and services. It was founded by Chad Heath in 2007, and since then it has served more than 300 clients. Launch Smart, SimonSezit, Headsets Direct, Experian, and Superior Threads are just some of its notable clients. Netmark?s reported revenue is in the $5M-$10M range. That?s saying a lot for a company that?s being run by less than a hundred employees.
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Before other search engine optimization companies focused on lead generation, Webimax was already specializing on lead generation campaigns. This company leverages on social media and its tools such as Twitter, Facebook, podcasts, videos, and blogging to help their clients gain online presence. The company was founded by Kenneth Wisnefski in 2008. The company has 100 full time employees serving more than 500 customers. Other search engine optimization companies would certainly wish to have the names of Aeropostale, Carrier, Toshiba, Braun, Allied, Remax, Berlitz, and even JG Wentworth, under their portfolios. According to some reports, its revenue is in the $10M bracket, and there?s even a projection that it could balloon to a billion in 2016.
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What?s unique about this company, which helps it stand out from other search engine optimization companies, is that it provides its clients with a personal account manager who keeps tabs on their social media campaigns. They have successfully combined online projects with social media presence. The company is still young compared to other search engine optimization companies; it just began in 2009, founded by Sam Allock. From its humble beginnings as an SEO agency, they started to gain attention from clients and other search engine optimization companies when business campaigns started to crawl into the realm of social media. They aligned the services of their company to capitalize on the social media traffic and they?ve been a force to reckon with ever since.? Some of their notable clients are Robinsons, Red Bull, Sunglasses UK, The Plumb Store, and Protouch. They have about 25 employees with estimated revenue of $3M.
These search engine optimization companies have different expertise under their belts; if you?re looking to work with one of these top search engine optimization companies then you would have to also look into their reputation, specialization, services, training, and customer support.
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Source: http://www.learnbloggingtips.com/top-search-engine-optimization-companies-leading-the-market/
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Apr. 23, 2013 ? There's big news in the world of tiny things. New research led by University of Cincinnati physics professors Howard Jackson and Leigh Smith could contribute to better ways of harnessing solar energy, more effective air quality sensors or even stronger security measures against biological weapons such as anthrax. And it all starts with something that's 1,000 times thinner than the typical human hair -- a semiconductor nanowire.
UC's Jackson, Smith, recently graduated PhD student Melodie Fickenscher and physics doctoral student Teng Shi, as well as several colleagues from across the US and around the world recently have published the research paper "Optical, Structural and Numerical Investigations of GaAs/AlGaAs Core-Multishell Nanowire Quantum Well Tubes" in Nano Letters, a journal on nanoscience and nanotechnology published by the American Chemical Society. In the paper, the team reports that they've discovered a new structure in a semiconductor nanowire with unique properties.
"This kind of structure in the gallium arsenide/aluminum gallium arsenide system had not been achieved before," Jackson says. "It's new in terms of where you find the electrons and holes, and spatially it's a new structure."
EYES ON SIZE AND CORNERING ELECTRONS
These little structures could have a big effect on a variety of technologies. Semiconductors are at the center of modern electronics. Computers, TVs and cellphones have them. They're made from the crystalline form of elements that have scientifically beneficial electrical conductivity properties. Many semiconductors are made of silicon, but in this case they are made of gallium arsenide. And while widespread use of these thin nanowires in new devices might still be around the corner, the key to making that outcome a reality in the coming years is what's in the corner.
By using a thin shell called a quantum well tube and growing it -- to about 4 nanometers thick -- around the nanowire core, the researchers found electrons within the nanowire were distributed in an unusual way in relation to the facets of the hexagonal tube. A close look at the corners of the tube's facets revealed something unexpected -- a high concentration of ground state electrons and holes.
"Having the faceting really matters. It changes the ballgame," Jackson says. "Adjusting the quantum well tube width allows you to control the energy -- which would have been expected -- but in addition we have found that there's a highly localized ground state at the corners which then can give rise to true quantum nanowires."
The nanowires the team uses for its research are grown at the Australian National University in Canberra, Australia -- one partner in this project that extends to disparate parts of the globe.
AFFECTING THE SCIENCE OF SMALL IN A BIG WAY
The team's discovery opens a new door to further study of the fundamental physics of semiconductor nanowires. As for leading to advances in technology such as photovoltaic cells, Jackson says it's too soon to tell because quantum nanowires are just now being explored. But in a world where hundreds of dollars' worth of technology is packed into a 5-by-2.5 inch iPhone, it's not hard to see how small but powerful science comes at a premium.
The team at UC is one of only about a half dozen in the US conducting competitive research in the field. It's a relatively young discipline, too, Jackson says, and one that's moving fast. For such innovative science, he says it's important to have a collaborative effort. The team includes scientists from research centers in the Midwest, the West Coast and all the way Down Under: UC, Miami University of Ohio and Sandia National Laboratories in California here in the US; and Monash University and the Australian National University in Australia.
The team's efforts are another example of how UC not only stands out as a leader in top-notch science, but also in shaping the future of the discipline by providing its students with high-quality educational and research opportunities.
"We're training students in state-of-the-art techniques on state-of-the-art materials doing state-of-the-art physics," Jackson says. "Upon completing their education here, they're positioned to go out and make contributions of their own."
Additional contributors to the paper are Jan Yarrison-Rice of Miami University, Oxford, Ohio; Bryan Wong of Sandia National Laboratories, Livermore, Calif.; Changlin Zheng, Peter Miller and Joanne Etheridge of Monash University, Victoria, Australia; and Qiang Gao, Shriniwas Deshpande, Hark Hoe Tan and Chennupati Jagadish of the Australian National University, Canberra, Australia.
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Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/~3/Rw930UopHIw/130423135720.htm
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Last week, we told you about an open source alternative to music services such as Rdio and Spotify, called Napster.fm. The name alone got our attention, and after using it, there were a few features that were reminiscent of its predecessor, which made it even cooler. Today, the service is changing its name to Peer.fm to steer clear of legal issues, since Best Buy acquired the service and brand and shipped it over to Rhapsody in 2011, or whatever is left of it. Other than that, its been business as usual for its creator, Ryan Lester. Lester tell us that he’s had nearly 100k visitors to the site, with over 59,000 users actually trying out its features. Right now, nearly 1,500 users are registered and getting all of the benefits that come with that, including its social functionality that allows you to share tracks and playlists with friends. Most of the traffic is coming from outside of the United States, 64%, with areas of the world that don’t have access to Spotify bringing the heaviest users. We chatted with Lester about his project, which is noteworthy for its open source nature, alone. He told us that he’d love to make the service available to mobile users, but is focusing on translating the service for as many languages as possible: TC: What has been the most used feature on the service thus far? Ryan Lester: Well, not surprisingly, just playing music. It’s looking like the more social-oriented features are starting to pick up some steam, but just the core music-playing functionality easily tops the rest in usage. TC: There are a lot of music services out there, why did people gravitate to yours? Ryan Lester: I think there are a few important reasons for this: 1. It’s definitely something cool and new that people into music will want to try at least once, and being open source earns a certain level of cachet and goodwill. 2. Despite still being in Beta, the quality of the software is definitely in the same league as that of its major competitors (e.g. Spotify, Google Music); on top of that, it adds a few unique features of its own like syncing music between users in real-time. 3. Napster had a cool social element which hadn’t really been precisely replicated by newer services until Peer.fm showed up. On a related note, I’m sure quite a fewSource: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/Quy1_3UsyXs/
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The White House?s budget promises millions of dollars to build a solid foundation for additive manufacturing
GAUNTLET THROWN: Oak Ridge National Laboratory researchers made this robotic prosthesis (and the ball it's holding) using an additive manufacturing process known as electron-beam melting (EBM). Image: Image courtesy of Oak Ridge National Laboratory
"Additive manufacturing" offers manufacturers a powerful set of tools for making any number of products cost-effectively and with little waste, a groundbreaking development that promises to help revitalize the U.S. manufacturing sector. But what will it take to get the process out of the lab and onto the factory floor? A generous cash infusion, perhaps unsurprisingly, will help?and it is now in the offing.
Pres. Barack Obama's State of the Union Address and, more recently, his proposed budget for fiscal 2014 lift U.S. manufacturing?s needs to near the top of the agenda. And unlike the low-tech production and assembly jobs that U.S. companies have been outsourcing for decades, the new age of manufacturing will rely heavily on additive-manufacturing technologies and materials, which are slated to receive millions of dollars in funding to move them out of the lab and onto the factory floor.
3-D printing is the most widely recognized version of additive manufacturing. Inventors and engineers have for years used machines costing anywhere from a few thousand dollars to hundreds of thousands to rapidly prototype new products. All of the additive-manufacturing processes follow the same basic layer-by-layer deposition principle in slightly different ways using powdered or liquid polymers, metals or other materials. Each object begins as computer-aided design (CAD) or some other type of digital file, enabling designers to tweak their work prior to the actual build with little impact on cost.
At the low end of the scale, a MakerBot 3-D printer can build basic items like a hair comb or statue using polymer-based filaments. Industrial-scale, production-quality airplane or automobile parts, however, require additive machines and materials that don't currently exist. That?s where the funding comes in.
The U.S. Department of Commerce?s fiscal 2014 budget request in particular includes $1.5 billion in that year alone to spur the development of new approaches to manufacturing (pdf) on top of the $1 billon investment the Obama administration committed to in fiscal 2013 to launch the National Network of Manufacturing Innovation, a group of up to 15 manufacturing research facilities across the country.
The first is the National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute (NAMII) in Youngstown, Ohio, which will focus on development of additive-manufacturing technology and processes with help from a planned $45 million in federal funding. The Defense and Energy departments have already provided $30 million of that amount, with NASA, Commerce's National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), and the National Science Foundation expected to kick in the remaining $15 million over the next four years. Manufacturing firms, universities, community colleges and nonprofit organizations have promised the institute an additional $40 million in funding.
The institute already has seven projects in the works. These efforts range from basic research about how polymers and other materials will react during the heating and deposition process to more industrial applications, such as developing a lower-cost, high-temperature process for working with thermoplastics used to make air and space vehicle components.
The animation below shows how one type of additive-manufacturing process?electron-beam melting (EBM)?works. EBM begins with powdered metal alloy placed in the machine?s powder hopper. The machine?s rake distributes a fine layer of powder across the build platform. An electron beam enters the vacuum chamber and melts the particles in a pattern as dictated by a CAD file. The build platform is then lowered slightly and the process repeats until the object?in this case, a turbine?has been fully printed.
There are several areas where the process could be improved, provided the government?s money is well spent: In addition to speeding up the procedure, manufacturers need to make sure these printed products are consistent from one assembly to the next. They must also develop ways to make more complex, detailed and multi-material objects. Still, with additive manufacturing on the national radar?and, more importantly, in the budget?it?s only a matter of time before most parts are printed rather than carved out of raw materials.
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Animation courtesy of George Retseck (Source: Arcam.com)
Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=4bb13054c4ea19c29c79acbbb11c8712
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Facebook has already set up shop in North Carolina and Oregon, but it's heading to Iowa for its next -- and biggest -- data center. According to the Des Moines Register, the town of Altoona will be home to a 1.4-million-square-foot facility (code-named Catapult), and it will reportedly be the "most technologically advanced center in the world." Why Altoona, you ask? The city is already home to several data hubs, as its fiber-optic cable system, access to power and water utilities and affordable land are big draws for companies. Facebook will complete project Catapult in two $500 million phases, though the entire cost will reportedly ring in at $1.5 billion. The social network is also seeking wind energy production tax credits, which is no doubt connected to its Open Compute Project for promoting energy efficiency. That's all we know so far; suffice to say a center this big won't be built overnight.
Filed under: Internet, Facebook
Via: TechCrunch
Source: Des Moines Register
Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/VG1_YHU0IbU/
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