BAGHDAD (AP) ? An Iraqi official says a suicide bomber has blown himself up among mourners at a Shiite funeral in northern Iraq, killing at least 14 people.
Lt. Gen. Abdul-Amir al-Zaidi, a military commander, says the bomber detonated his explosive belt Wednesday inside a mosque in the city of Tuz Khormato, some 120 kilometers (130 miles) north of Baghdad.
The city is disputed by Arabs, Kurds and Turkomen, all of whom have claims to it.
Al-Zaidi said at least 44 people were wounded in the attack, including some provincial officials.
Children's complex thinking skills begin forming before they go to school Public release date: 23-Jan-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: William Harms w-harms@uchicago.edu 773-702-8356 University of Chicago
New research at the University of Chicago and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill shows that children begin to show signs of higher-level thinking skills as young as age 4 . Researchers have previously attributed higher-order thinking development to knowledge acquisition and better schooling, but the new longitudinal study shows that other skills, not always connected with knowledge, play a role in the ability of children to reason analytically.
The findings, reported in January in the journal Psychological Science, show for the first time that children's executive function has a role in the development of complicated analytical thinking. Executive function includes such complex skills as planning, monitoring, task switching, and controlling attention. High, early executive function skills at school entry are related to higher than average reasoning skills in adolescence.
Growing research suggests that executive function may be trainable through pathways, including preschool curriculum, exercise and impulse control training. Parents and teachers may be able to help encourage development of executive function by having youngsters help plan activities, learn to stop, think, and then take action, or engage in pretend play, said lead author of the study, Lindsey Richland, assistant professor in comparative human development at the University of Chicago.
Although important to a child's education, "little is known about the cognitive mechanisms underlying children's development of the capacity to engage in complex forms of reasoning," Richland said.
The new research is reported in the paper "Early Executive Function Predicts Reasoning Development" and follows the development of complex reasoning in children from before the time they go to school until they are 15. Richland's co-author is Margaret Burchinal, senior scientist at the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
The two studied the acquisition of analogical thinking, one form of complex reasoning. "The ability to see relationships and similarities between disparate phenomena is fundamental to analytical and inductive reasoning, and is closely related to measurements of general fluid intelligence," said Richland. Developing complex reasoning ability is particularly fundamental to the innovation and adaptive thinking skills necessary for a modern workforce, she pointed out.
Richland and Burchinal studied a database of 1,364 children who were part of the Early Child Care and Youth Development study from birth through age 15. The group was fairly evenly divided between boys and girls and included families from a diverse cross-section of ethnic and income backgrounds.
The current study examined tests children took when they were 4 , when they were in first grade, third grade, and when they were 15. Because the study was longitudinal, the same children were tested at each interval. Among the tests they took were ones to measure analytical reasoning, executive function, vocabulary knowledge, short-term memory and sustained attention.
Children were tested at 4 on their ability to monitor and control their automatic responses to stimuli. In first grade they worked on a test that judged their ability to move objects in a "Tower of Hanoi" game, in which they had to move disks between pegs in a specific order.
In third grade and at 15 year olds, they were tested on their ability to understand analogies, asked in third grade for instance to complete the question "dog is to puppy as cat is to__?" At 15 year olds, they were asked to complete written tests of analogies.
The study found a strong relationship between high scores among children who, as preschoolers, had strong vocabularies and were good at monitoring and controlling their responses to later ability on tests of understanding analogies.
"Overall, these results show that knowledge is necessary for using thinking skills, as shown by the importance of early vocabulary, but also inhibitory control and executive function skills are important contributors to children's analytical reasoning development," Richland said.
###
The National Academy of Education/Spencer Foundation, the Office of Naval Research and the National Science Foundation supported the research.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Children's complex thinking skills begin forming before they go to school Public release date: 23-Jan-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: William Harms w-harms@uchicago.edu 773-702-8356 University of Chicago
New research at the University of Chicago and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill shows that children begin to show signs of higher-level thinking skills as young as age 4 . Researchers have previously attributed higher-order thinking development to knowledge acquisition and better schooling, but the new longitudinal study shows that other skills, not always connected with knowledge, play a role in the ability of children to reason analytically.
The findings, reported in January in the journal Psychological Science, show for the first time that children's executive function has a role in the development of complicated analytical thinking. Executive function includes such complex skills as planning, monitoring, task switching, and controlling attention. High, early executive function skills at school entry are related to higher than average reasoning skills in adolescence.
Growing research suggests that executive function may be trainable through pathways, including preschool curriculum, exercise and impulse control training. Parents and teachers may be able to help encourage development of executive function by having youngsters help plan activities, learn to stop, think, and then take action, or engage in pretend play, said lead author of the study, Lindsey Richland, assistant professor in comparative human development at the University of Chicago.
Although important to a child's education, "little is known about the cognitive mechanisms underlying children's development of the capacity to engage in complex forms of reasoning," Richland said.
The new research is reported in the paper "Early Executive Function Predicts Reasoning Development" and follows the development of complex reasoning in children from before the time they go to school until they are 15. Richland's co-author is Margaret Burchinal, senior scientist at the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
The two studied the acquisition of analogical thinking, one form of complex reasoning. "The ability to see relationships and similarities between disparate phenomena is fundamental to analytical and inductive reasoning, and is closely related to measurements of general fluid intelligence," said Richland. Developing complex reasoning ability is particularly fundamental to the innovation and adaptive thinking skills necessary for a modern workforce, she pointed out.
Richland and Burchinal studied a database of 1,364 children who were part of the Early Child Care and Youth Development study from birth through age 15. The group was fairly evenly divided between boys and girls and included families from a diverse cross-section of ethnic and income backgrounds.
The current study examined tests children took when they were 4 , when they were in first grade, third grade, and when they were 15. Because the study was longitudinal, the same children were tested at each interval. Among the tests they took were ones to measure analytical reasoning, executive function, vocabulary knowledge, short-term memory and sustained attention.
Children were tested at 4 on their ability to monitor and control their automatic responses to stimuli. In first grade they worked on a test that judged their ability to move objects in a "Tower of Hanoi" game, in which they had to move disks between pegs in a specific order.
In third grade and at 15 year olds, they were tested on their ability to understand analogies, asked in third grade for instance to complete the question "dog is to puppy as cat is to__?" At 15 year olds, they were asked to complete written tests of analogies.
The study found a strong relationship between high scores among children who, as preschoolers, had strong vocabularies and were good at monitoring and controlling their responses to later ability on tests of understanding analogies.
"Overall, these results show that knowledge is necessary for using thinking skills, as shown by the importance of early vocabulary, but also inhibitory control and executive function skills are important contributors to children's analytical reasoning development," Richland said.
###
The National Academy of Education/Spencer Foundation, the Office of Naval Research and the National Science Foundation supported the research.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and former president Bill Clinton look on during the ceremonial swearing-in ceremony during the 57th President Inauguration, Monday, Jan. 21, 2013, on the West Front of the Capitol in Washington. (AP Photo/Win McNamee, Pool)
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and former president Bill Clinton look on during the ceremonial swearing-in ceremony during the 57th President Inauguration, Monday, Jan. 21, 2013, on the West Front of the Capitol in Washington. (AP Photo/Win McNamee, Pool)
WASHINGTON (AP) ? Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton faces tough questions in her long-awaited congressional testimony concerning the assault on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans.
Clinton is the sole witness Wednesday at back-to-back hearings before the Senate and House foreign policy panels on the September raid, an independent panel's review that harshly criticized the State Department and the steps the Obama administration is taking to beef up security at U.S. facilities worldwide.
Clinton had been scheduled to testify before Congress last month, but an illness, a concussion and a blood clot near her brain forced her to postpone her appearance.
Her marathon day on Capitol Hill will probably be her last in Congress before she steps down as secretary of state. President Barack Obama has nominated Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., to succeed her, and his swift Senate confirmation is widely expected. Kerry's confirmation hearing is scheduled for Thursday.
Clinton's testimony will focus on the attack after more than three months of Republican charges that the Obama administration ignored signs of a deteriorating security situation in Libya and cast an act of terrorism as mere protests over an anti-Muslim video in the heat of a presidential election. Washington officials suspect that militants linked to al-Qaida carried out the attack.
"It's been a cover-up from the beginning," Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., the newest member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said Tuesday.
Politics play an outsized role in any appearance by Clinton, who sought the Democratic presidential nomination in 2008 and is the subject of constant speculation about a possible bid in 2016. The former first lady and New York senator ? a polarizing figure dogged by controversy ? is about to end her four-year tenure at the State Department with high favorable ratings.
A poll early last month by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press found 65 percent of Americans held a favorable impression of Clinton, compared with 29 percent unfavorable.
Challenging Clinton at the hearing will be two possible 2016 Republican presidential candidates ? Florida's Marco Rubio and Kentucky's Rand Paul, also a new member of the committee.
Clinton did little to quiet the presidential chatter earlier this month when she returned to work at the State Department after her illness. On the subject of retirement, she said, "I don't know if that is a word I would use, but certainly stepping off the very fast track for a little while."
State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said Tuesday that Clinton would focus on the Accountability Review Board's independent assessment of the attack and the State Department's work to implement its findings.
"Systematic failures and leadership and management deficiencies at senior levels within two bureaus of the State Department resulted in a Special Mission security posture that was inadequate for Benghazi and grossly inadequate to deal with the attack that took place," the panel said in its report last month.
The report singled out the Bureau of Diplomatic Security and the Bureau of Near East Affairs, saying there appeared to be a lack of cooperation and confusion over protection at the mission in Benghazi. The report described a security vacuum in Libya after rebel forces toppled the decades-long regime of strongman Moammar Gadhafi.
The report made 29 recommendations to improve diplomatic security, particularly at high-threat posts.
Nuland said Clinton "pledged not only to accept all 29 of the recommendations, but to have the implementation of those recommendations well under way before her successor took over. So I think she'll want to give a status on that."
Asked for the number of State Department employees fired for their handling of Benghazi, Nuland said four people were put on administrative leave. They included Eric Boswell, who resigned from the position of assistant secretary of diplomatic security.
But Nuland declined to say if Boswell and the others still are working for the department in some capacity.
Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., a member of the Senate committee, questioned the status of the FBI investigation and whether any individual has been implicated.
"My last understanding is that there is no one currently still being held for questioning, no one's been prosecuted for this or held accountable even though the president promised that to be the case," he said.
Still, Barrasso insisted that the hearing will be respectful.
Presiding over the Senate session will be Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., the next chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee. It would be unusual for Kerry to oversee the hearing.
"My hope is we look at this as a positive constructive opportunity to build much greater security for our diplomatic missions across the world," Menendez said. "That's how I'm going to the hearing. I hope my colleagues have the same type of view."
___
Associated Press writers Bradley Klapper and Andrew Miga contributed to this report.
BANGKOK (AP) ? A prominent Thai activist and magazine editor was sentenced to a decade in prison Wednesday for defaming Thailand's monarchy, a verdict rights groups condemned as the latest affront to freedom of expression in the Southeast Asian country.
Somyot Pruksakasemsuk was convicted of publishing two articles in an anti-establishment magazine that made negative references to the crown.
The verdict came despite repeated calls by rights groups to free Somyot, who has been jailed since 2011. It also underscored the harsh nature of Thailand's lese majeste laws, which critics say have frequently been used by politicians to silence rivals.
The articles in question were published under a pseudonym in Somyot's now-defunct Voice of Taksin magazine, which he launched in 2009 to compile political news and anti-establishment articles from writers and contributors.
Judges found both pieces contained content that defamed the royal family and argued that Somyot, as a veteran editor, knew that and chose to print them anyway. The court announced two five-year jail terms ? one for each story.
"(Somyot) should have better judgment than ordinary journalists. He must have understood that the articles contained lese majeste content, but chose to publish them anyway," one of judges said in the sentence.
Somyot said he would appeal the verdict but would not seek a royal pardon.
Brad Adams, Asia director of Human Rights Watch, said the ruling "appears to be more about Somyot's strong support for amending the lese majeste law than about any harm incurred by the monarchy."
Although the articles were published in 2010, Somyot was not arrested until the following year ? five days after launching a petition drive to revoke Article 112 of the nation's criminal code, which mandates three to 15 years in jail for "whoever defames, insults or threatens the king, the queen, the heir to the throne or the regent."
Human Rights Watch said the author of the articles, who penned them under pseudonym, has never been charged with any crimes and is living in Cambodia.
The European Union also weighed in on the verdict, saying it "seriously undermines the right to freedom of expression and press freedom" and "affects Thailand's image as a free and democratic society."
More than 100 observers, including Thai and international scholars and journalists, diplomats and Somyot's supporters, were in court to hear the verdict.
Somyot, who was brought in with his legs shackled, joked to a friend that he would no longer need books to read in prison because he thought he would be freed.
In addition to the 10-year punishment, Somyot was sentenced to a one-year term in a separate criminal case in which he was charged for alleging that a Thai general helped fund the country's 2006 army coup.
The coup ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and sparked years of sometimes violent political unrest from which the nation has yet to fully recover. Somyot was also a faction leader of the so-called Red Shirt movement, which supported Thaksin.
"His guilty verdict and sentence should be viewed as a sign that Thailand's deep political schisms are far from healed," said Adams, of Human Rights Watch.
___
Associated Press writer Todd Pitman contributed to this report.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) -- Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback wants to eliminate two popular state income tax deductions for homeowners, and even some of his conservative Republican allies in the Legislature said Wednesday they were surprised to learn he's targeting both.
Legislators in both parties said they weren't previously aware that Brownback seeks to end an income tax deduction claimed by Kansans for the property taxes they pay on their homes. He also proposes ending the deduction for the interest paid on home mortgages. Each tax break is claimed by more than 300,000 taxpayers.
The two proposals are part of Brownback's broader plan to keep the state budget stable after aggressive income tax cuts last year while allowing Kansas to reduce individual income tax rates further. He wants to keep the state's sales tax at its current rate, rather than allowing it to drop in July as scheduled by law, but his plan also includes a second round of reductions in income tax rates and provisions for automatic income tax cuts in future years.
Legislators saw more details Wednesday, when the Senate Assessment and Taxation Committee agreed to sponsor a bill containing Brownback's plan and Budget Director Steve Anderson briefed the budget-writing Senate Ways and Means Committee. The governor's proposal to eliminate the mortgage interest deduction received widespread attention last week, but there's been little notice given by legislators to his plan to eliminate the property tax deduction.
"That was news to me," Senate Ways and Means Committee Chairman Ty Masterson, an Andover Republican, said, echoing comments from other prominent conservative GOP lawmakers.
Brownback's office noted the proposal to eliminate the deduction for property taxes in documents it released last week after the governor's annual State of the State address, but he didn't discuss most of the details of his tax plan in his speech. Anderson told reporters that the measure came from the Department of Revenue and "was put in without me."
Asked about that comment, Department of Revenue spokeswoman Jeannine Koranda said: "It's the governor's tax plan."
Kansas' aggressive income tax cuts last year have drawn notice from Republican legislators and governors in other states, including Louisiana, Missouri, Nebraska and Oklahoma. Kansas reduced individual income tax rates, boosted standard deductions and exempted the owners of 191,000 partnerships, sole proprietorships and other businesses from income taxes as well.
But the reductions also left Kansas with a projected $267 million budget shortfall for the fiscal year beginning in July. Brownback outlined his proposals last week to eliminate the two popular income tax deductions for homeowners and keep the sales tax at 6.3 percent. Lawmakers and Brownback's Democratic predecessor as governor boosted the sales tax in 2010 to close a previous budget shortfall but promised it would drop back to 5.7 percent after three years.
Anderson said the governor is trying to phase out individual income taxes while preserving core government programs and retaining healthy cash reserves. Brownback proposes to decrease rates again over the next three years. Also under his plan, rates would automatically drop further when state revenues grow more than 4 percent in a year and the state has healthy reserves.
The budget director called it "a glide path to zero."
But Masterson said it will be difficult for Brownback's administration to sell eliminating the property tax deduction, just as he and other lawmakers see resistance to eliminating the mortgage interest tax break.
Koranda said about 372,000 of the state's 1.4 million taxpayers use the property tax deduction, with an average tax savings of $125 expected for this year. About 315,000 claim the mortgage interest deduction, with an average tax savings of $300.
The administration projects that eliminating the two deductions will raise an additional $231 million during the fiscal year beginning in July. Keeping the sales tax at its current rate would generate $262 million.
Brownback's administration argues that ongoing decreases in income tax rates and last year's increase in standard deductions for married couples and single heads of households will make the two deductions for homeowners less important.
But Rep. Tom Sawyer of Wichita, the ranking Democrat on the House Taxation Committee, predicted the proposals will hit middle class families hard. He wasn't aware of the measure to eliminate the property tax deduction until a reporter asked him about it Wednesday.
"No one's talked about that," he said. "Wow."
___
Follow John Hanna on Twitter at www.twitter.com/apjdhanna
Glaciers in the tropical Andes have shrunk by 30-50% since the 1970s, according to a study.
The glaciers, which provide fresh water for tens of millions in South America, are retreating at their fastest rate in the past 300 years.
The study included data on about half of all Andean glaciers and blamed the melting on an average temperature rise of 0.7C from 1950-1994.
Details appear in the academic journal Cryosphere.
The authors report that glaciers are retreating everywhere in the tropical Andes, but the melting is more pronounced for small glaciers at low altitudes.
Glaciers at altitudes below 5,400m have lost about 1.35m in ice thickness per year since the late 1970s, twice the rate of the larger, high-altitude glaciers.
"Because the maximum thickness of these small, low-altitude glaciers rarely exceeds 40 metres, with such an annual loss they will probably completely disappear within the coming decades," said lead author Antoine Rabatel, from the Laboratory for Glaciology and Environmental Geophysics in Grenoble, France.
Water shortages
The researchers also say there was little change in the amount of rainfall in the region over the last few decades and so could not account for changes in glacier retreat.
Without changes in rainfall, the region could face water shortages in the future, the scientists say.
The Santa River valley in Peru could be most affected; its hundreds of thousands of inhabitants rely heavily on glacier water for agriculture, domestic consumption, and hydropower.
Large cities, such as La Paz in Bolivia, could also face problems. "Glaciers provide about 15% of the La Paz water supply throughout the year, increasing to about 27% during the dry season," said co-author Alvaro Soruco from the Institute of Geological and Environmental Investigations in Bolivia.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has pointed to the importance of mountain glaciers as sensitive indicators of climate change.
Globally, glaciers have been retreating since the early 20th Century, with a few exceptions. Himalayan glaciers are relatively poorly studied and there are suggestions that some are actually putting on mass.
Some scientists say the Chacaltaya glacier in Bolivia, which used to be the world's highest ski run, has already nearly disappeared.
This is probably the most requested video yet! I hope u like.
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Complete Krav Maga: The Ultimate Guide to Over 230 Self-Defense and Combative TechniquesDeveloped for the Israel military forces and battle tested in real-life combat, Krav Maga has gained an international reputation as an easy-to-learn yet highly effective art of self-defense. Clearly written and extensively illustrated, Complete Krav Maga details every aspect of the system including dozens of hand-to-hand combat moves, over 20 weapons defense techniques and a complete physical conditioning workout program.
All the moves are described in depth from beginning Yellow Belt to advanced Black Belt, yet they are easy to learn because one of Krav Maga's strengths is its simplicity. Based on the principle that it is best to move from defense to attack as quickly as possible, Complete Krav Maga offers fast-escape maneuvers from attacks and holds. It then follows them up with specific counterattacks, including punches, kicks and throws.
The authors show how anyone (big or small, man or woman) can practice self defense by using Krav Maga to protect weak spots, exploit an assailant's vulnerabilities and turn the attacker s force against him. Complete Krav Maga teaches the reader how to get in shape, gain confidence and feel safer and more secure every day.
The election was fought over lots of big issues -- tax reform, immigration, how to wind down our wars -- before the Newtown shooting added gun control to the list. Here's a preview of what President Obama will say about them at his second inauguration.
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Expect Obama to do what he says.
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As?Time's Michael Grunwald?points out,?Obama's first inaugural speech was a disappointment to reporters who expected him to dwell on being the first black president. Instead,?he talked about economic collapse and described the same path he had already laid out in his 2008 campaign that he'd follow to fix it. And the he basically did all of that. Grunwald writes:
So what does Obama do for an encore? Congress already passed most of his 2008 agenda. And let?s face it: He didn?t have much of a 2012 agenda. ?Forward? was a nice slogan, but all it meant was ?Don?t let Romney and the GOP undo everything I did and restore the Bush era.?
The major policy work of Obama's second term will be implementing the big policies of his first, Grunwald says. Obama will likely offer fewer policy details than four years ago, leaving that for the State of the Union.?CNN reports Obama has been working on the speech since mid-December with speechwriter John Favreau,?and a major theme will be the responsibilities of citizenship.
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Expect him not to drone on too long.
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Obama's view of these speeches is "the shorter the better" CNN reports. His last inaugural address was 18 minutes.
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Expect a better performance.?
Obama is better when he's working with a script than when he's speaking off the cuff, and he's better when he's playing off the energy of a crowd. Obama doesn't yet have a signature line,?The Washington Post's Joel Achenbach?explains, like FDR's "We have nothing to fear but fear itself." He might reach for that. Of course, that line and JFK's "Ask not what your country can do for you ? ask what you can do for your country" are often held up as the goal for any inaugural speech-giver or speech-writer.
Expect the stuff about domestic policy to focus on finding "common ground."
Obama adviser David Plouffe said on ABC's?This Week Sunday that Obama would talk about "how our founding principles and values can still guide us in today's modern and changing world" and "our political system does not require us to resolve all of our differences or settle all of our disputes, but it is absolutely imperative that our leaders try and seek common ground when it can and should exist."
Expect a more subtle foreign policy.?
Obama won a Nobel prize based on his ambition to end the war in Iraq, reduce nuclear weapons, and take on climate change,?The New York Times's David E. Sanger reports. He managed an exit from Iraq, but he wasn't able to get much done on the latter two items. Sanger reports Obama "has indicated that he plans to return to his original agenda, though he has hinted it may be in a different, less overtly ambitious way." Obama now has had the "bitter experience" of struggling to get an arms bill through the Senate and having little leverage on the Middle East. So expect less soaring rhetoric about America changing the world.
Jan. 18, 2013 ? Inventors from across the country can enter a national competition to design a new amphibious infantry fighting vehicle for the U.S. Marine Corps and Vanderbilt University's Institute for Software Integrated Systems (ISIS) is playing a key role in the development of the engineering software that makes the challenge possible.
The Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA) commissioned the development of the open source software, released it to the public this week and challenged all comers to enter the first stage of a $4-million dollar competition to design the new military vehicle.
The open-source software and the competition are both part of DARPA's Adaptive Vehicle Make (AVM) program, which has the goal of dramatically reducing the costs and lead times involved in developing new military vehicles by radically transforming the existing design and manufacturing process.
Vanderbilt University's multiple key roles in the AVM program include lead developer of VehicleFORGE, a cloud-based collaboration hub where designers can organize project teams. ISIS is also the lead integrator and developer for the META-X project that provides the open-source tool used in creating, testing and validating those designs. The META-X tool, known as CyPhy, includes software that analyzes interactions between individual design components to determine how well they work together.
The program also includes a model library that holds the digital designs of a number of basic components, like wheels, bearings and transmissions. The library developed by Ricardo, a Detroit-based engineering and technical consulting company, and its components are tested, readied for the competition and provided to competing teams by Vanderbilt through VehicleFORGE.
The Foundry is another part of AVM, which uses the latest tools to turn digital models into actual vehicles, and is located at the Advanced Research Laboratory at Penn State University.
The DARPA challenge is titled FANG, which stands for Fast, Adaptive, Next-Generation Ground Vehicle. The challenge consists of three competitions of increasing complexity. The first challenge -- which began Jan. 14 and runs through April 22 and has a $1 million prize -- is to design a suitable power train, including engine, drive train, suspension and wheels or treads. The second challenge, which carries another $1 million prize, will be to design the chassis, armored hull, personnel space and related subsystems. The final challenge has a $2 million prize for the best design for an entire vehicle. The agency is inviting individuals, small teams and businesses and major defense contractors to compete.
The first challenge already has attracted more than 850 competitors organized in more than 200 teams.
In the past, fighter aircraft, tanks and other complex military systems have been built in a craftsmen-like process by a small number of highly specialized contractors. A new design is broken down into subsystems designed by different teams. These preliminary designs are integrated, prototyped and tested. The integrated systems rarely meet the requirements so the process is repeated until they do.
This is a costly approach and DARPA is attempting to replace it with the more efficient "correct by construction" process similar to that practiced by the semiconductor industry, which has an impressive track record in getting systems right in the first place.
"This is the kind of innovation that allows separation of design from fabrication. Right now, the design can only be done by a shop that has the integrated capability to do a complete production run. The idea is to detangle design from production and make the entire process more open, innovative and competitive," said Sandeep Neema, research associate professor and ISIS senior research scientist and principal investigator for the META-X project.
ISIS computer scientists and engineers also view this effort in a wider context. They are convinced that it represents the next generation of engineering design where computer modeling, simulation, model verification and automated synthesis become the dominant paradigm.
"We're right on the cusp of really big changes and DARPA's investment in open source tooling for AVM can really help democratize these changes for both current and future generations of engineers," said Larry Howard, ISIS senior research scientist and principal investigator for VehicleFORGE.
Since the time of Henry Ford, manufacturing has been dominated by the economies of scale: the unit cost of making an object can be reduced by making more of them. "This new paradigm can provide many of the advantages of mass production when making one-of-a-kind systems," commented Ted Bapty, ISIS senior research scientist and research associate professor of electrical engineering and computer science.
For such a paradigm shift to occur, it must be adopted by the younger generation. One part of the AVM program is an undergraduate design contest called the Model-Based Amphibious Racing Challenge (MBARC), which is being held on the Camp Pendleton Marine Corps Base in southern California on Jan. 19.
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3D System Corp (NYSE: DDD) has continuously shown appreciation for weeks already. I still long DDD yet find it hard to believe its crazy bull myself too. I sold half of my shares back when DDD was trading at $60.00. RSI is currently still at overbought level. And DDD jumped 4.24% on Friday with lower-than-average volume. I expect some kind of profit-taking and correction very soon. ?SPY is closing at its highest level since last Sept after better-than-expected numbers. SPY traded with more volume on green than red days. However, RSI is approaching overbought level. I expect SPY trading in a horizontal?channel?and above $145.00 in the coming month(s). Tellabs, Inc (NASDAQ: TLAB) once again closes above MA(50). Friday's candlestick was an inverted hammer, a reversal pattern. Volume breaks above its downtrend since early last December. MACD is about to cross above its signal line, which triggered huge appreciation when it crossed last 2 times. I have a target of $2.70 if it closes above $2.30. Due to its small cap, remember to use stop order. I suggest somewhere just below $2.15. I have mentioned Delta Air Lines Inc. (NYSE: DAL) in early December on its breaking above weekly ascending triangle. Delta has jumped from $10.00 to as high as $14.11 (41.1% gain) in less than 2 months. DAL has closed lower for 2 days already but very little volume. Many has mentioned its possible pullback due to its persisting high reading in RSI on Twitter. But I think even a correction takes place, DAL won't close below $12.71 (MA20) as down volume is MUCH less than up volume. The chart still look pretty good for entry, even at the current level.
Thank you for reading Gary Investing Blog Please also follow me on Twitter: www.twitter.com/GaryLee_HK?for updates during trading hours
The high levels of beta carotene inside apricots is beneficial for the health of eyes, incredibly, in preventing macular degeneration. Beta carotene is a powerful antioxidant which protects the body from numerous other health issues, like Alzheimer?s condition.
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One was born in St. Louis, the other became a star there.
Aside from that, Earl Weaver and Stan Musial were about as different as two Hall of Famers could be.
"Talk about your odd couple," said George Vecsey, the longtime sports columnist for The New York Times who wrote a recent biography of Musial.
Weaver was a 5-foot-6 rabble rouser whose penchant for quarreling with umpires belied a cerebral approach to managing that has stood the test of time. Musial was a humble slugger with a funky batting stance who was beloved by Cardinals fans and respected by pretty much everyone else.
Saturday began with news of Weaver's death at age 82, and by the end of the night Musial had died, too, leaving baseball to reflect on two distinguished careers rich in contrasts.
"Earl was well known for being one of the game's most colorful characters with a memorable wit, but he was also amongst its most loyal," Commissioner Bud Selig said.
Selig later released a statement after Musial's death at age 92.
"Stan's life embodies baseball's unparalleled history and why this game is the national pastime. As remarkable as `Stan the Man' was on the field, he was a true gentleman in life," Selig said.
A three-time MVP and seven-time National League batting champion, Musial helped the Cardinals win three World Series championships in the 1940s. His popularity in St. Louis can be measured by the not one, but two statues that stand in his honor outside Busch Stadium. After his death Saturday, Cardinals of more recent vintage began offering condolences almost immediately.
"Sad to hear about Stan the Man, it's an honor to wear the same uniform," said a message posted on the Twitter account of Cardinals outfielder Matt Holliday.
Albert Pujols, who led St. Louis to World Series titles in 2006 and 2011 before leaving as a free agent before last season, offered prayers for Musial's family via Twitter.
"I will cherish my friendship with Stan for as long as I live," said a message posted on Pujols' site. "Rest in Peace."
Weaver was born in St. Louis, but his greatest success came as a manager in Baltimore. He took the Orioles to the World Series four times, winning one title in 1970.
Never a fan of small-ball strategies like bunting and stealing bases, Weaver preferred to wait for a three-run homer, always hoping for a big inning that could break the game open.
"No one managed a ballclub or pitching staff better than Earl," said Davey Johnson, who played under Weaver with the Orioles.
Johnson now manages the Washington Nationals and ran the Orioles from 1996-97.
"He was decades ahead of his time," Johnson said. "Not a game goes by that I don't draw on something Earl did or said. I will miss him every day."
While Musial could let his bat do the talking, Weaver was more than willing to shout to be heard. His salty-tongued arguing with umpires will live on through YouTube, and Orioles programs sold at the old Memorial Stadium frequently featured photos of Weaver squabbling.
Former umpire Don Denkinger remembered a game in which the manager disputed a call with Larry McCoy at the plate.
"Earl tells us, `Now I'm gonna show you how stupid you all are.' Earl goes down to first base and ejects the first base umpire. Then he goes to second base and ejects the second base umpire. I'm working third base and now he comes down and ejects me," Denkinger said.
Musial was a quieter type who spent his career far removed from the bright lights of places like New York and Boston. But his hitting exploits were certainly on par with contemporaries Joe DiMaggio and Ted Williams.
"I knew Stan very well. He used to take care of me at All-Star games, 24 of them," Hall of Famer Willie Mays said. "He was a true gentleman who understood the race thing and did all he could. Again, a true gentleman on and off the field - I never heard anybody say a bad word about him, ever."
Dave Anderson of The New York Times recalled growing up in Brooklyn, rooting for Musial. Those Dodgers crowds helped give Musial his nickname, Stan the Man.
"I thought he was going to knock the fence down in Brooklyn, he'd hit it so often," Anderson said.
Musial did it despite an odd left-handed stance - with his legs and knees close together, he would cock the bat near his ear and twist his body away from the pitcher before uncoiling when the ball came.
If that was a lasting snapshot of Musial, the images of Weaver will stay just as fresh - the feisty manager, perhaps with his hat turned backward, looking up at an umpire and screaming at him before kicking dirt somewhere and finally leaving the field.
None of those histrionics should obscure the fact that in the end, Weaver often had the last laugh - to the tune of a .583 career winning percentage.
"When you discuss our game's motivational masters, Earl is a part of that conversation," Hall of Fame President Jeff Idelson said. "He was a proven leader in the dugout and loved being a Hall of Famer. Though small in stature, he was a giant as a manager."
? 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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Few could match 'Stan the Man'
HBT: Stan Musial?s name doesn?t dot the record books anywhere near as frequently as those of Babe Ruth, Hank Aaron and Barry Bonds. Still, for consistent greatness, perhaps no one matched Stan the Man, who died Saturday at 92.
Musial was 'most beloved' Cardinal
Stan Musial, one of baseball's greatest hitters and a Hall of Famer with the St. Louis Cardinals for more than two decades, has died. He was 92.
AAA??Jan. 19, 2013?12:21 PM ET Clinton urges participation in service projects Associated Press??Associated Press
National Day of Service Honorary Chair, Chelsea Clinton speaks during the opening ceremony for the National Day of Service, part of the 57th Presidential Inaugural festivities, Saturday, Jan. 19, 2013, in Washington. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)
National Day of Service Honorary Chair, Chelsea Clinton speaks during the opening ceremony for the National Day of Service, part of the 57th Presidential Inaugural festivities, Saturday, Jan. 19, 2013, in Washington. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)
National Day of Service Honorary Chair, Chelsea Clinton, participates service project with Addison Rose, 8, of Washington, on the National Mall as part of the Inaugural event Saturday, Jan. 19, 2013, in Washington. The two made cards for the Sunshine Mail Foundation that sends the cards along with care packages to the ill and disadvantaged people. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)
National Day of Service Honorary Chair, Chelsea Clinton, participates service project with Addison Rose, 8, of Washington, on the National Mall as part of the inaugural event Saturday, Jan. 19, 2013, in Washington. The two made cards for the Sunshine Mail Foundation that sends the cards along with care packages to the ill and disadvantaged people. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)
National Day of Service Honorary Chair, Chelsea Clinton, participates service project with Addison Rose, 8, of Washington, on the National Mall as part of the Inaugural event Saturday, Jan. 19, 2013 in Washington,. The two made cards for the Sunshine Mail Foundation that sends the cards along with care packages to the ill and disadvantaged people. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)
The card that National Day of Service Honorary Chair, Chelsea Clinton is making during a service project on the National Mall as part of the Inaugural event Saturday, Jan. 19, 2013, in Washington. The two made cards for the Sunshine Mail Foundation that sends the cards along with care packages to the ill and disadvantaged people. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)
WASHINGTON (AP) ? Former first daughter Chelsea Clinton urged people to participate in service projects, saying there's a chain of service that links generations of Americans from all across the country.
Clinton is the daughter of former President Bill Clinton and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. On Saturday she spoke at a summit on the National Mall for the National Day of Service.
Clinton said she was inspired by the volunteer work of her grandmother, Dorothy Rodham, who began as a child volunteer teaching migrant workers English and kept up her volunteer efforts for her entire life.
President Barack Obama, first lady Michelle Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and his wife, Jill, are participating in service projects throughout the Washington area.
Volunteers also are organizing service events in all 50 states.
Peas are a cool season early crop that has a big seed that is easy to plant. Most kids love peas and they will also get to help shelling the peas for a meal. Peas can be planted next to the tomatoes. The peas are harvested early so the tomatoes will not start to grow fast until the peas are harvested. This is an example of companion planting. My variety pick is Little Marvel Garden Peas, 62 days till maturity, 8 plants per square foot.
Lettuce is a cool season early crop with a mild flavor that most kids like. The color is a light green so it is easy to tell apart from the weeds that might come up. You will want to plant several small plantings about a week a part (succession planting). Even the healthiest family can only eat so much lettuce at one harvest. My variety pick is Black-Seeded Simpson Lettuce, 48 days till maturity, 4 plants per square foot.
Swiss Chard is a leafy vegetable that is planted early and produces all season long. Kids love the colored variety that grows in shades of orange, pink, red, white, and yellow. Who knows your kids might even like eating green after growing this colorful vegetable? My variety pick is Bright Lights Chard, 55 days till maturity, 4 plants per Square foot.
Kohlrabi is an interesting vegetable that is a swollen stem the size of a tennis ball. It is a round ball with leaves growing up. It looks like a vegetable from outer space. This interesting vegetable is a hit with kids if served in a cream sauce. My variety pick is Early White Vienna Kohlrabi, 55 days till maturity, 16 plants per square foot.
Beets are an interesting to kids because of the red color. The seeds are easy to plant in early spring and the tops are edible as a salad green. Your family will need to decide on how many to prepare as "Pickled Beets" or "Harvard Beets". My variety pick is Perfected Detroit Dark Red Beets, 58 days till maturity, 16 plants per square foot.
Carrots are planted early and come in a rainbow blend of colors that I recommend for kids. Carrots need a deep soil with lots of organic material in the soil. I recommend that your first year you purchase bagged soil from the garden store to insure success. The colored carrots are not as productive but much more interesting for kids to eat. My variety pick is Rainbow Hybrid, 75 days till maturity, 16 plants per square foot.
Yellow Wax Bush Bean seeds are large and easy to plant. Again the kids love the yellow variety that is easy to see when you harvest. As a child I was surprised that they did not taste like wax. These yellow beans need to be planted after the danger of frost is gone. If they get harvested early you could possibly get a second succession crop if you have a long season. My variety pick is Improved Golden Wax Bush Beans, 56 days till maturity, 9 plants per square foot.
Tomatoes are a must in every garden. I recommend that you go to your local garden store and purchase you plant(s). A commercially grown tomato will never taste as good as the first ripe tomato you eat off the plant in the garden. I have raised tomatoes in four states and every year I am guaranteed an attack by the tomato hornworm. It is a large green worm with a horn sticking out of its tail. What a great opportunity for kids to learn outside the class room - an up close bug sighting. For kids I recommend a patio type variety. The tomatoes are smaller but they are earlier and produce before the onset of diseases common with the larger tomatoes. My variety pick is Tiny Tim, 50 days till maturity, 1 plant per square foot.
When choosing the vegetables to grow in your family garden, remember to: 1. involve your family in the vegetable selection with some for younger children who prefer the milder flavors, 2. choose some large seeds that are easy to plant by younger gardeners, 3. include vegetables of all different colors, size, and shapes, 4. select plants that are planted and harvested in different months, and 5. pick plants that work well with square foot method, companion planting, and successive planting. If you have vegetables that have worked well with your kids please send me an email on my website http://homegardeningforbeginners.org/.
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Jan. 17, 2013 ? As part of the first demonstration of laser communication with a satellite at the moon, scientists with NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) beamed an image of the Mona Lisa to the spacecraft from Earth.
The iconic image traveled nearly 240,000 miles in digital form from the Next Generation Satellite Laser Ranging (NGSLR) station at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., to the Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter (LOLA) instrument on the spacecraft. By transmitting the image piggyback on laser pulses that are routinely sent to track LOLA's position, the team achieved simultaneous laser communication and tracking.
"This is the first time anyone has achieved one-way laser communication at planetary distances," says LOLA's principal investigator, David Smith of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. "In the near future, this type of simple laser communication might serve as a backup for the radio communication that satellites use. In the more distant future, it may allow communication at higher data rates than present radio links can provide."
Typically, satellites that go beyond Earth orbit use radio waves for tracking and communication. LRO is the only satellite in orbit around a body other than Earth to be tracked by laser as well.
"Because LRO is already set up to receive laser signals through the LOLA instrument, we had a unique opportunity to demonstrate one-way laser communication with a distant satellite," says Xiaoli Sun, a LOLA scientist at NASA Goddard and lead author of the Optics Express paper, posted online January 17, that describes the work.
Precise timing was the key to transmitting the image. Sun and colleagues divided the Mona Lisa image into an array of 152 pixels by 200 pixels. Every pixel was converted into a shade of gray, represented by a number between zero and 4,095. Each pixel was transmitted by a laser pulse, with the pulse being fired in one of 4,096 possible time slots during a brief time window allotted for laser tracking. The complete image was transmitted at a data rate of about 300 bits per second.
The laser pulses were received by LRO's LOLA instrument, which reconstructed the image based on the arrival times of the laser pulses from Earth. This was accomplished without interfering with LOLA's primary task of mapping the moon's elevation and terrain and NGSLR's primary task of tracking LRO.
The success of the laser transmission was verified by returning the image to Earth using the spacecraft's radio telemetry system.
Turbulence in Earth's atmosphere introduced transmission errors even when the sky was clear. To overcome these effects, Sun and colleagues employed Reed-Solomon coding, which is the same type of error-correction code commonly used in CDs and DVDs. The experiments also provided statistics on the signal fluctuations due to Earth's atmosphere.
"This pathfinding achievement sets the stage for the Lunar Laser Communications Demonstration (LLCD), a high data rate laser-communication demonstrations that will be a central feature of NASA's next moon mission, the Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE)," says Goddard's Richard Vondrak, the LRO deputy project scientist.
The next step after LLCD is the Laser Communications Relay Demonstration (LCRD), NASA's first long-duration optical communications mission. LCRD will help develop concepts and deliver technologies applicable to near-Earth and deep-space communication.
NASA Goddard developed and manages the LRO mission and the LOLA instrument. The LRO mission is funded by NASA's Planetary Science Division in the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. NGSLR is funded by the Earth Science Division at NASA Headquarters. LLCD is funded through a partnership with NASA's Space Communications and Navigation (SCaN) Program, and Science Mission Directorate. LCRD is funded through a partnership with SCaN and NASA's Office of the Chief Technologist.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Journal Reference:
Xiaoli Sun, David R. Skillman, Evan D. Hoffman, Dandan Mao, Jan F. McGarry, Leva McIntire, Ronald S. Zellar, Frederic M. Davidson, Wai H. Fong, Michael A. Krainak, Gregory A. Neumann, Maria T. Zuber, David E. Smith. Free space laser communication experiments from Earth to the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter in lunar orbit. Optics Express, 2013; 21 (2): 1865 DOI: 10.1364/OE.21.001865
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.
The striking and rare Haleakal? silversword, found only on the high volcanic slopes of Maui, is on the decline, scientists report today (Jan. 15) in the journal Global Change Biology.?
First, the plant was nearly killed off by cows and collectors starting in the 1880s, then conservationists made it a success story after the 1930s. Now climate change is bringing about a new collapse.
The culprit is shifting weather patterns, which have made the plant's environment too dry and warm for new seedlings to survive. Older plants are dying, too, said study co-author Paul Krushelnycky, a biologist at the University of Hawaii at Manoa.
Plummeting numbers
The numbers tell the tale: From a low of 4,000 in the 1920s to a high of 61,000 in 1991, the plant population is now dropping. A sample census counted 28,492 in 2010 ? but not all of them were alive. "It wasn't obvious at first, because when they die they remain in place for many years," Krushelnycky told OurAmazingPlanet.
The 2010 survey atop Haleakal? volcano on the island of Maui revealed less than half of plants (47 percent) at lower elevations around 7,100 feet (2,185 meters) were alive, indicating a substantial decline since the 1990s.
Baby plants are also struggling to grow in the drier conditions. Even with population booms during wet years, the seedlings die within two to three years, the study found.
"If these climate trends continue, it doesn't look good for this subspecies," Krushelnycky said.
Lack of rain
The Haleakal? silversword is iconic in Hawaii, which has more endangered species than any other state. With a ball-shaped base and hairy, silvery leaves, the plants are one of 30 species in the silversword alliance. The alliance evolved from a small, daisy-like plant called the tarweed that arrived in Hawaii from California about 5 million years ago, Krushelnycky said. "The silversword is one of the more extreme forms, but it can grow next to one of its relatives, like a green-leafed shrub, and actually hybridize," he said.
Living for 40 to 50 years on thin, poorly developed volcanic soil in high winds and temperatures that regularly drop below freezing, the silversword is literally a textbook example of biological adaptation.
The Haleakal? silversword flowers only once, usually in summer, sending a spike up to 6 feet (2 meters) tall into the sky with as many as 600 blooms. Then the plant dies.
A combination of climate changes is stressing the silverswords, the researchers said. Local temperatures are warming, but the biggest factor affecting the plant's growth rate is a dropoff in annual rainfall, Krushelnycky said.
Rainfall in Hawaii is driven by trade wind patterns, and there are fewer days with moisture-laden winds than 40 years ago. Silverswords also get moisture from breaks in the island's inversion layer, which traps moist air below its cooler, drier air. "We're getting fewer interruptions of that inversion layer, and fewer moisture events are getting into their habitat," Krushelnycky said.
Reach Becky Oskin at boskin@techmedianetwork.com. Follow her on Twitter @beckyoskin. Follow OurAmazingPlanet on Twitter?@OAPlanet. We're also on?Facebook?and Google+.
Copyright 2013 OurAmazingPlanet, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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Public release date: 23-Jan-2013
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