Gulf of Mexico clean-up makes 2010 spill 52-times more toxic

ScienceDaily (Nov. 30, 2012) ? If the 4.9 million barrels of oil that spilled into the Gulf of Mexico during the 2010 Deep Water Horizon spill was a ecological disaster, the two million gallons of dispersant used to clean it up apparently made it even worse -- 52-times more toxic. That's according to new research from the Georgia Institute of Technology and Universidad Autonoma de Aguascalientes (UAA), Mexico.

The study found that mixing the dispersant with oil increased toxicity of the mixture up to 52-fold over the oil alone. In toxicity tests in the lab, the mixture's effects increased mortality of rotifers, a microscopic grazing animal at the base of the Gulf's food web. The findings are published online by the journal Environmental Pollution and will appear in the February 2013 print edition.

Using oil from the Deep Water Horizon spill and Corexit, the dispersant required by the Environmental Protection Agency for clean up, the researchers tested toxicity of oil, dispersant and mixtures on five strains of rotifers. Rotifers have long been used by ecotoxicologists to assess toxicity in marine waters because of their fast response time, ease of use in tests and sensitivity to toxicants. In addition to causing mortality in adult rotifers, as little as 2.6 percent of the oil-dispersant mixture inhibited rotifer egg hatching by 50 percent. Inhibition of rotifer egg hatching from the sediments is important because these eggs hatch into rotifers each spring, reproduce in the water column, and provide food for baby fish, shrimp and crabs in estuaries.

"Dispersants are preapproved to help clean up oil spills and are widely used during disasters," said UAA's Roberto-Rico Martinez, who led the study. "But we have a poor understanding of their toxicity. Our study indicates the increase in toxicity may have been greatly underestimated following the Macondo well explosion."

Martinez performed the research while he was a Fulbright Fellow at Georgia Tech in the lab of School of Biology Professor Terry Snell. They hope that the study will encourage more scientists to investigate how oil and dispersants impact marine food webs and lead to improved management of future oil spills.

"What remains to be determined is whether the benefits of dispersing the oil by using Corexit are outweighed by the substantial increase in toxicity of the mixture," said Snell, chair of the School of Biology. "Perhaps we should allow the oil to naturally disperse. It might take longer, but it would have less toxic impact on marine ecosystems."

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Georgia Institute of Technology.

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Journal Reference:

1. Roberto Rico-Mart?nez, Terry W. Snell, Tonya L. Shearer. Synergistic toxicity of Macondo crude oil and dispersant Corexit 9500A? to the Brachionus plicatilis species complex (Rotifera). Environmental Pollution, 2013; 173: 5 DOI: 10.1016/j.envpol.2012.09.024

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Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_science/~3/DhR6VeF7Hv0/121130110518.htm

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HTC confirms the Windows Phone 8S will not be coming to the US

The HTC Windows Phone 8S was announced as a lower-end alternative to its bigger brother, the flagship Windows Phone 8X, but the company has remained relatively quiet about it since. While we're still awaiting official details on pricing and availability across the globe, HTC has filled us in on one crucial nugget of information: it won't be coming to the United States. While we've been suspicious that this might be the case, we had been holding out hope that it might have at least some amount of reach in the US market. Essentially, HTC is focusing all of its stateside efforts on the 8X, its signature device. With that said, we'll still likely see the 8S show up as an unlocked and unsubsidized smartphone on various etailers, so Windows Phone enthusiasts with a penchant for bright colors will want to keep their eyes peeled. Now that we know more about the markets that won't be graced by the presence of the 8S, all we need now is a confirmation on when we can expect it elsewhere. Stay tuned past the break for HTC's official statement.

Continue reading HTC confirms the Windows Phone 8S will not be coming to the US

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, HTC

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/11/30/htc-windows-phone-8s-usa/

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Defining career paths in health systems improvement

ScienceDaily (Nov. 29, 2012) ? The sheer number of efforts aimed at improving the quality and efficiency of the U.S. health care system -- ranging from portions of the national Affordable Care Act to local programs at individual hospitals and practices -- reflects the urgency and importance of the task. One aspect that has received inadequate attention, according to three physicians writing in the January 2013 issue of Academic Medicine, is training the next generation of experts needed to help lead these efforts. In their Perspective article, which has been released online, the authors propose a framework for career development in what they call "health systems improvement," a term that encompasses a broad range of activities -- including management, research and public policy -- to improve the quality and efficiency of our systems of care.

"My co-authors and I each had experience in nonclinical fields such as government, consulting or law before entering medical school, leading to countless conversations with our classmates and co-residents about atypical career paths," explains Clay Ackerly, MD, MSc, management and policy fellow at Massachusetts General Hospital and the Massachusetts General Physicians Organization, a co-author of the Academic Medicine article. "During these conversations most trainees echoed common themes of wanting to have careers that allow them to improve the quality of our care delivery systems. However, most of them also had difficulty articulating their exact interests, and it became clear that we lacked a common lexicon to discuss their specific interests and potential career opportunities."

The authors -- also including Ami Parekh, MD, JD, medical director of Health Systems and Innovation at the University of California, San Francisco, and Daniel Stein, MD, senior medical resident at Brigham and Woman's Hospital -- write that while a few academic medical centers have developed programs addressing health systems improvement, many medical trainees "may become overwhelmed by the sheer number of, and lack of clarity among, possible career paths." Since many of today's health care leaders reached their current positions through what the authors call "circuitous and often serendipitous career paths," their ability to guide and advise young physicians may be limited.

Based on a series of conversations with medical students, residents and leaders in health systems improvement, the authors put together their framework. It starts with three core focus areas -- research, policy and management -- defines three intersections -- policy advising, policy translation, and implementation science -- and includes examples of potential careers, such as academic administration, health services research and government relations.

"The framework is largely a collection of definitions -- a new taxonomy, if you will -- and while some may disagree with the dividing lines, we wanted to put some structure around the passion so many trainees feel for improving the care of patients," Ackerly explains. "We hope this framework can help anyone with that passion -- from any background, not just MDs -- find productive ways to develop their interest and have an impact."

Ackerly and his co-authors suggest that trainees interested in careers in health systems improvement take a few simple steps to help guide their early career development. Some are as basic as reflecting on their own preferences, including whether they want to practice clinically, and identifying one core area on which to focus, as well as one to deemphasize. Trainees may also consider the possibility of additional formal training -- such as research fellowships or advanced degrees in public health, business, health administration or public policy. Noting that their proposed framework needs validation, the authors plan to monitor how it is used by both trainees and their mentors, refine their recommendations, and expand the examples of career options included in the paper.

"We need to bring as much talent as possible into this field. But until we have better defined career paths for trainees who want to engage in this work, many of them may become, at best, confused and, at worst, demoralized," Ackerly stresses. "We hope that making those career paths more explicit will lead to an energized workforce and will attract the needed institutional investments in time and resources. The struggle to improve the quality of health care should never end -- patients deserve nothing less."

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Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/~3/PdLnaOH6ZOU/121129152031.htm

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Smithsonian Sees Dead People...On Everest

Source: http://www.getoutdoors.com/goblog/index.php?/archives/4582-Smithsonian-Sees-Dead-People...On-Everest.html

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The US Is Building Secret Site 911 In Israel - Business Insider

Leave it to legendary Walter Pincus from the Washington Post?to flesh out a Request for Proposal construction project planned for Israel called Site 911.

The oddly named project will cost up to $100 million, take more than two years to complete, and can only be built by workers from specific countries with proper security clearances. Palestinians need not apply.

When complete the well-guarded compound will have five levels buried underground and six additional outbuildings on the above grounds, within the perimeter. At about 127,000 square feet, the first three floors will house classrooms, an auditorium, and a laboratory ? all wedged behind shock resistant doors ? with radiation protection and massive security.

Only one gate will allow workers entrance and exit during the project and that will be guarded by only Israelis.

The bottom two floors are smaller, according to the full line of schematics uploaded to the Army's Acquisition Business Web Site, and possibly used for equipment and storage.

As impressive as the American design features already are,?Ada Karmi-Melamede Architects will decorate the entire site with rocks it chooses, but are paid for by the contractor, and provide three outdoor picnic tables.

Pincus also found this detailed description of the mezuzahs that will adorn every door in the facility:

These mezuzas, notes the [US Army] Corps, ?shall be written in inerasable ink, on .?.?. uncoated leather parchment? and be handwritten by a scribe ?holding a written authorization according to Jewish law.? The writing may be ?Ashkenazik or Sepharadik? but ?not a mixture? and ?must be uniform.?

Also, ?The Mezuzahs shall be proof-read by a computer at an authorized institution for Mezuzah inspection, as well as manually proof-read for the form of the letters by a proof-reader authorized by the Chief Rabbinate.? The mezuza shall be supplied with an aluminum housing with holes so it can be connected to the door frame or opening. Finally, ?All Mezuzahs for the facility shall be affixed by the Base?s Rabbi or his appointed representative and not by the contractor staff.?

Along with this request is another called 911 Phase 2.

Also in the $100 million range, Pincus finds the??complex facility with site development challenges? requiring services that include ?electrical, communication, mechanical/?HVAC [heating, ventilation, air conditioning] and plumbing? requirements telling; and along with the fact that the contractor must posses a U.S. or Israeli Secret Security Clearance, he believes this phase to be a secure command center.

Pulitzer Prize winning, Yale grad, born in 1932 whose worked intelligence and media in D.C. since 1955 closes his piece with these shadowy words.

"The purpose of Site 911 is [un] clear."

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/the-us-is-building-secret-site-911-in-israel-2012-11

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Kim Kardashian's Lawyer: Kris Humphries Has No Case

Kim Kardashian can't seem to shake a bad case of the exes. More than a year after she filed for divorce from her husband of only 72 days, Kris Humphries, the 32-year-old reality star still hasn’t been able to officially split herself from her former beau.

Source: http://www.ivillage.com/kim-kardashian-wants-trial-date-divorce-kris-humphries/1-a-505344?dst=iv%3AiVillage%3Akim-kardashian-wants-trial-date-divorce-kris-humphries-505344

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Completely new method of manufacturing the smallest structures in electronics

Thursday, November 29, 2012

A completely new method of manufacturing the smallest structures in electronics could make their manufacture thousands of times quicker, allowing for cheaper semiconductors. The findings have been published in the latest issue of Nature.

Instead of starting from a silicon wafer or other substrate, as is usual today, researchers have made it possible for the structures to grow from freely suspended nanoparticles of gold in a flowing gas.

Behind the discovery is Lars Samuelson, Professor of Semiconductor Physics at Lund University, Sweden, and head of the University's Nanometre Structure Consortium. He believes the technology will be ready for commercialisation in two to four years' time. A prototype for solar cells is expected to be completed in two years.

"When I first suggested the idea of getting rid of the substrate, people around me said 'you're out of your mind, Lars; that would never work'. When we tested the principle in one of our converted ovens at 400?C, the results were better than we could have dreamt of", he says.

"The basic idea was to let nanoparticles of gold serve as a substrate from which the semiconductors grow. This means that the accepted concepts really were turned upside down!"

Since then, the technology has been refined, patents have been obtained and further studies have been conducted. In the article in Nature, the researchers show how the growth can be controlled using temperature, time and the size of the gold nanoparticles.

Recently, they have also built a prototype machine with a specially built oven. Using a series of ovens, the researchers expect to be able to 'bake' the nanowires, as the structures are called, and thereby develop multiple variants, such as p-n diodes.

A further advantage of the technology is avoiding the cost of expensive semiconductor wafers.

"In addition, the process is not only extremely quick, it is also continuous. Traditional manufacture of substrates is batch-based and is therefore much more time-consuming", adds Lars Samuelson.

At the moment, the researchers are working to develop a good method to capture the nanowires and make them self-assemble in an ordered manner on a specific surface. This could be glass, steel or another material suited to the purpose.

The reason why no one has tested this method before, in the view of Professor Samuelson, is that today's method is so basic and obvious. Such things tend to be difficult to question.

However, the Lund researchers have a head start thanks to their parallel research based on an innovative method in the manufacture of nanowires on semiconductor wafers, known as epitaxy ? consequently, the researchers have chosen to call the new method aerotaxy. Instead of sculpting structures out of silicon or another semiconductor material, the structures are instead allowed to develop, atomic layer by atomic layer, through controlled self-organisation.

The structures are referred to as nanowires or nanorods. The breakthrough for these semiconductor structures came in 2002 and research on them is primarily carried out at Lund, Berkeley and Harvard universities. The Lund researchers specialise in developing the physical and electrical properties of the wires, which helps create better and more energy-saving solar cells, LEDs, batteries and other electrical equipment that is now an integrated part of our lives.

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Lund University: http://www.lu.se

Thanks to Lund University for this article.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/125582/Completely_new_method_of_manufacturing_the_smallest_structures_in_electronics

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