2013年9月30日星期一

ScienceDaily: Latest Science News: Ingredient of household plastic found in space

ScienceDaily: Latest Science News

Breaking science news and articles on global warming, extrasolar planets, stem cells, bird flu, autism, nanotechnology, dinosaurs, evolution -- the latest discoveries in astronomy, anthropology, biology, chemistry, climate and environment, computers, engineering, health and medicine, math, physics, psychology, technology, and more -- from the world's leading universities and research organizations.

Ingredient of household plastic found in space
http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/U7qhAU8CyMs/130930200835.htm
Oct 1st 2013, 00:08

Sep. 30, 2013 — NASA's Cassini spacecraft has detected propylene, a chemical used to make food-storage containers, car bumpers and other consumer products, on Saturn's moon Titan.
This is the first definitive detection of the plastic ingredient on any moon or planet, other than Earth.
A small amount of propylene was identified in Titan's lower atmosphere by Cassini's Composite Infrared Spectrometer (CIRS). This instrument measures the infrared light, or heat radiation, emitted from Saturn and its moons in much the same way our hands feel the warmth of a fire.
Propylene is the first molecule to be discovered on Titan using CIRS. By isolating the same signal at various altitudes within the lower atmosphere, researchers identified the chemical with a high degree of confidence. Details are presented in a paper in the Sept. 30 edition of the Astrophysical Journal Letters.
"This chemical is all around us in everyday life, strung together in long chains to form a plastic called polypropylene," said Conor Nixon, a planetary scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., and lead author of the paper. "That plastic container at the grocery store with the recycling code 5 on the bottom -- that's polypropylene."
CIRS can identify a particular gas glowing in the lower layers of the atmosphere from its unique thermal fingerprint. The challenge is to isolate this one signature from the signals of all other gases around it.
The detection of the chemical fills in a mysterious gap in Titan observations that dates back to NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft and the first-ever close flyby of this moon in 1980.
Voyager identified many of the gases in Titan's hazy brownish atmosphere as hydrocarbons, the chemicals that primarily make up petroleum and other fossil fuels on Earth.
On Titan, hydrocarbons form after sunlight breaks apart methane, the second-most plentiful gas in that atmosphere. The newly freed fragments can link up to form chains with two, three or more carbons. The family of chemicals with two carbons includes the flammable gas ethane. Propane, a common fuel for portable stoves, belongs to the three-carbon family.
Voyager detected all members of the one- and two-carbon families in Titan's atmosphere. From the three-carbon family, the spacecraft found propane, the heaviest member, and propyne, one of the lightest members. But the middle chemicals, one of which is propylene, were missing.
As researchers continued to discover more and more chemicals in Titan's atmosphere using ground- and space-based instruments, propylene was one that remained elusive. It was finally found as a result of more detailed analysis of the CIRS data.
"This measurement was very difficult to make because propylene's weak signature is crowded by related chemicals with much stronger signals," said Michael Flasar, Goddard scientist and principal investigator for CIRS. "This success boosts our confidence that we will find still more chemicals long hidden in Titan's atmosphere."
Cassini's mass spectrometer, a device that looks at the composition of Titan's atmosphere, had hinted earlier that propylene might be present in the upper atmosphere. However, a positive identification had not been made.
"I am always excited when scientists discover a molecule that has never been observed before in an atmosphere," said Scott Edgington, Cassini's deputy project scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif. "This new piece of the puzzle will provide an additional test of how well we understand the chemical zoo that makes up Titan's atmosphere."
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ScienceDaily: Latest Science News: First cloud map of a planet beyond our solar system

ScienceDaily: Latest Science News

Breaking science news and articles on global warming, extrasolar planets, stem cells, bird flu, autism, nanotechnology, dinosaurs, evolution -- the latest discoveries in astronomy, anthropology, biology, chemistry, climate and environment, computers, engineering, health and medicine, math, physics, psychology, technology, and more -- from the world's leading universities and research organizations.

First cloud map of a planet beyond our solar system
http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/OZOMFJaGwcQ/130930210823.htm
Oct 1st 2013, 01:08

Sep. 30, 2013 — Astronomers using data from NASA's Kepler and Spitzer space telescopes have created the first cloud map of a planet beyond our solar system, a sizzling, Jupiter-like world known as Kepler-7b.
The planet is marked by high clouds in the west and clear skies in the east. Previous studies from Spitzer have resulted in temperature maps of planets orbiting other stars, but this is the first look at cloud structures on a distant world.
"By observing this planet with Spitzer and Kepler for more than three years, we were able to produce a very low-resolution 'map' of this giant, gaseous planet," said Brice-Olivier Demory of Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge. Demory is lead author of a paper accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal Letters. "We wouldn't expect to see oceans or continents on this type of world, but we detected a clear, reflective signature that we interpreted as clouds."
Kepler has discovered more than 150 exoplanets, which are planets outside our solar system, and Kepler-7b was one of the first. The telescope's problematic reaction wheels prevent it from hunting planets any more, but astronomers continue to pore over almost four years' worth of collected data.
Kepler's visible-light observations of Kepler-7b's moon-like phases led to a rough map of the planet that showed a bright spot on its western hemisphere. But these data were not enough on their own to decipher whether the bright spot was coming from clouds or heat. The Spitzer Space Telescope played a crucial role in answering this question.
Like Kepler, Spitzer can fix its gaze at a star system as a planet orbits around the star, gathering clues about the planet's atmosphere. Spitzer's ability to detect infrared light means it was able to measure Kepler-7b's temperature, estimating it to be between 1,500 and 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit (1,100 and 1,300 Kelvin). This is relatively cool for a planet that orbits so close to its star -- within 0.06 astronomical units (one astronomical unit is the distance from Earth and the sun) -- and, according to astronomers, too cool to be the source of light Kepler observed. Instead, they determined, light from the planet's star is bouncing off cloud tops located on the west side of the planet.
"Kepler-7b reflects much more light than most giant planets we've found, which we attribute to clouds in the upper atmosphere," said Thomas Barclay, Kepler scientist at NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif. "Unlike those on Earth, the cloud patterns on this planet do not seem to change much over time -- it has a remarkably stable climate."
The findings are an early step toward using similar techniques to study the atmospheres of planets more like Earth in composition and size.
"With Spitzer and Kepler together, we have a multi-wavelength tool for getting a good look at planets that are trillions of miles away," said Paul Hertz, director of NASA's Astrophysics Division in Washington. "We're at a point now in exoplanet science where we are moving beyond just detecting exoplanets, and into the exciting science of understanding them."
Kepler identified planets by watching for dips in starlight that occur as the planets transit, or pass in front of their stars, blocking the light. This technique and other observations of Kepler-7b previously revealed that it is one of the puffiest planets known: if it could somehow be placed in a tub of water, it would float. The planet was also found to whip around its star in just less than five days.
Explore all 900-plus exoplanet discoveries with NASA's "Eyes on Exoplanets," a fully rendered 3D visualization tool, available for download at http://eyes.nasa.gov/exoplanets. The program is updated daily with the latest findings from NASA's Kepler mission and ground-based observatories around the world as they search for planets like our own.
Other authors include: Julien de Wit, Nikole Lewis, Andras Zsom and Sara Seager of Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Jonathan Fortney of the University of California, Santa Cruz; Heather Knutson and Jean-Michel Desert of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena; Kevin Heng of the University of Bern, Switzerland; Nikku Madhusudhan of Yale University, New Haven, Conn.; Michael Gillon of the University of Liège, Belgium; Vivien Parmentier of the French National Center for Scientific Research, France; and Nicolas Cowan of Northwestern University, Evanston, Ill. Lewis is also a NASA Sagan Fellow.
The technical paper is online at http://www.mit.edu/~demory/preprints/kepler-7b_clouds.pdf .
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., manages the Spitzer Space Telescope mission for NASA. Science operations are conducted at the Spitzer Science Center at Caltech. Data are archived at the Infrared Science Archive housed at the Infrared Processing and Analysis Center at Caltech. Caltech manages JPL for NASA. For more information about Spitzer, visit: http://spitzer.caltech.edu and http://www.nasa.gov/spitzer .
Ames is responsible for Kepler's ground system development, mission operations and science data analysis. JPL managed Kepler mission development. Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. in Boulder, Colo., developed the Kepler flight system and supports mission operations with the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics at the University of Colorado in Boulder. The Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore archives, hosts and distributes Kepler science data. Kepler is NASA's 10th Discovery Mission and was funded by the agency's Science Mission Directorate. For more information about the Kepler mission, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/kepler and http://www.kepler.nasa.gov .
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ScienceDaily: Latest Science News: Critical gaps discovered in breast cancer research

ScienceDaily: Latest Science News

Breaking science news and articles on global warming, extrasolar planets, stem cells, bird flu, autism, nanotechnology, dinosaurs, evolution -- the latest discoveries in astronomy, anthropology, biology, chemistry, climate and environment, computers, engineering, health and medicine, math, physics, psychology, technology, and more -- from the world's leading universities and research organizations.

Critical gaps discovered in breast cancer research
http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/VYdfOUwsj9s/130930211653.htm
Oct 1st 2013, 01:16

Sep. 30, 2013 — Critical gaps have been identified in breast cancer research. In an article in BioMed Central's open access journal Breast Cancer Research, leading scientists in the field report on a gap analysis that critically assessed issues and new challenges emerging from recent breast cancer research, and propose strategies for translating solutions into practice.
It is estimated that around 570,000 people are living with, or after, a diagnosis of breast cancer in the UK, and this number is expected to double by 2030. Breast cancer, therefore, remains a significant challenge. Over 100 specialist breast cancer scientists, clinicians and heath care professionals reviewed a wide range of issues and challenges involved in breast cancer research, prevention and treatment. Through facilitated discussions and consultation, including appraisal from experts and patients, they produced an account outlining ten major gaps and five strategic solutions.
The key gaps that were identified in the paper included; an understanding of the genetic and epigenetic changes in normal breast development and during cancer, how to implement sustainable lifestyle changes through diet, exercise and weight management, and an understanding how to optimise treatment for improved personalised therapy.
In order to make significant progress in addressing these gaps the group put forward some strategic solutions. These include improving clinical trial methodologies including patient involvement, and developing a fully cohesive and collaborative infrastructure to support breast cancer research.
A previous review of gaps in research, published in 2008, helped to shape the direction of breast cancer research and the establishment of the UK's first multi-centre, breast-specific tissue bank. It is hoped the outcomes of this review will have a similar effect on filling the current gaps in research and practice.
Corresponding author, Professor Sue Eccles, The Institute of Cancer Research said: "We've known for some time that breast cancer is not just one disease but our understanding has increased enormously in the five years since the first Gap Analysis in 2008. We now know that breast cancer cells can have different characteristics, even within the same tumour, and these can also change over time. This makes it much more complex to research and is why we need greater collaboration between multi-disciplinary teams and an improved infrastructure, to ensure we are getting the data and tissue samples needed to advance our research knowledge."
Corresponding author, Professor Alastair Thompson, University of Dundee said: "The impact of the Gap Analysis could be immediate as it gives us scientific rationale to change clinical practice. For example, currently, metastatic disease is not biopsied in order to tailor treatment, but this could change the way one in six women are treated and provide hope to women with secondary breast cancer, with limited treatment options."
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科技要闻-新浪科技: 大Or迷你由你挑 十一购机的八大选择

科技要闻-新浪科技

科技时代-科技要闻

大Or迷你由你挑 十一购机的八大选择
http://go.rss.sina.com.cn/redirect.php?url=http://tech.sina.com.cn/mobile/n/2013-10-01/07258786219.shtml
Sep 30th 2013, 23:25

  文/刘正伟
  在房地产行业,9月10月是一个销售楼盘的旺季,似乎不管市场现状如何,金九月银十月都会如约而至。在手机行业也是如此,特别是今年9月一大波新品智能手机集中在9月发布,目前已经发布的就有苹果iPhone 5s/5c、三星Note3、小米3、魅族MX3以及索尼XL39h等等品牌年度旗舰,10月各品牌手机将迎来一个比以往更大的旺季。特别是10月份的十一黄金周,是各大手机经销商的降价促销最给力的一周,也是消费者们可用来挑选换购新机时间最充裕的时候,换个大屏手机还是换个配置强劲但是更具性价比的Mini版?这个得看你自己挑,今天笔者就为大家盘点了一下8款十一购机首选的智能手机,大家一起来看看吧!


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  5.7英寸:三星GALAXY Note 3(参数 论坛 软件)
  自月初在柏林发布以来,三星本年度重磅推出的智能旗舰GALAXY Note 3就已经吸引了万众期待的目光。三星GALAXY Note 3配置了更大、更清晰和画质更优秀的5.7英寸全高清炫丽屏,不仅营造出了最佳视觉效果,还能实现更为强大的多任务处理能力。备受好评的S Pen手写笔在Note 3上也得到大幅改进,让日常生活变得更加轻松和快捷。凭借GALAXY Note 3的多项创新功能,三星在继续传承和发扬GALAXY Note系列特色的同时,将为中国用户带来更有效率、性能更为卓越的创意平台。
点击图片查看三星GALAXY Note 3详细资料
  三星Galaxy Note 3的机身设计基本是延续了Note2的风格,但是显得更为方正,它采用了一块5.7英寸1080P超大屏幕,具有出色的画面显示功能。硬件方面,该机配有一颗1.9GHz的三星Exynos 5420八核处理器,而搭配3GB超大运行内存也有非常好的表现,并搭载了最新的Android智能操作系统,整机具有非常强悍的性能。拍照方面,则后置一枚1300万像素摄像头,成像质量相当优异。
点击图片查看三星GALAXY Note 3详细资料
点击图片查看三星GALAXY Note 3详细资料
  编辑点评:
  三星Note系列现在也出到第三代机型了,性能不用说比Note2更强,体验也是有着创新。三星Note 3加入了全新的S Pen功能,比之前的S Pen更加强大,并且触控更灵敏。三星Note 3目前在京东商城开放预订,不过要留意一下时间,5699元的价格虽然达到历史新高,不过对于这样的手机来说,也并不为过吧。该机目前已经结束预约,将在9月25日火热开抢,也等不了几天的,喜欢的朋友可得做好准备。
  电信版三星GALAXY Note 3(行货)
  [参考价格] 5699元
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  6.44英寸:索尼XL39h(参数 报价 论坛 软件)
  大屏手机不只是三星才有,索尼也有6.44英寸的巨屏手机,这款索尼XL39h也是一款近期推出的高人气智能手机,该机采用了一颗性能强劲的骁龙800处理器,在性能方面表现出众的同时,还具备了出色的防尘防水功能,可置于1.50米深的淡水中长达30分钟。配备了6.44英寸巨屏,带来了的高清视野,大尺寸与轻量化合二为一,是目前最大的一款能够防水防尘的智能设备。
点击图片查看索尼XL39h详细资料
  索尼XL39h采用直板触控造型,虽然块头很大,但是入手却十分轻薄,外形设计美观时尚,很有索尼L36h的意思。正面是一块6.44英寸的超大显示屏,分辨率高达1920X1080像素,6英寸起的手机能有这样的分辨率是非常少见的,也使得该机显示效果清晰细腻,可视角度十分出色。内置一颗骁龙800系列处理器,主频达到2.2GHz,配以2GB运行内存,可流畅运行该机所搭载的Android 4.2系统。摄像头方面,后置一枚800万像素摄像头,可支持1080P高清视频摄录。
点击图片查看索尼XL39h详细资料
点击图片查看索尼XL39h详细资料
  编辑点评:
  索尼XL39h在外形设计方面延续了索尼Z系列的设计理念,与索尼L36h和索尼L39h十分相似,都是使用了双玻璃镜面机身设计,纤薄时尚。而在机身内部,该机还搭载有一颗四核高通骁龙800处理器,其主频高达2.2GHz,运行能力十分出色。除了在拍照方面显得中规中矩外,其他方面还是非常出色的,目前该机的最新报价为4300元,感兴趣的朋友可以考虑一下。
  索尼XL39h(行货)
  [参考价格] 4300元
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  5.1英寸:魅族MX3(参数 报价 论坛 软件)
  魅族MX3是魅族公司的年度梦想之作,梦想止于何处?在有思想的人血液中,梦想是永不止步的。既然是承载魅族的梦想之作,那这款手机有何梦幻之处?在魅族MX3的发布会上,魅族官方一直强调:最好用的大屏手机。5.1英寸的屏幕尺寸,也确实是一款大屏手机,而这个尺寸,在设计得当的情况下,单手操作虽然会有些吃力,但还是能够勉强游刃。1800x1080像素的主屏分辨率,在显示效果上,魅族MX3显示效果更加清新养眼,除了强劲的硬件配置之外,其实魅族MX3最大的亮点在于Flyme 3.0智能操作系统,当中加入了很多手势操作,就系统而言,魅族MX3真正算的上是超越前代的梦想之作。
点击图片查看16GB魅族MX3详细资料
  魅族MX3相比前代产品来说,屏幕更大了,更窄了,机身正面是一块5.1英寸的电容触摸屏,分辨率达到了1800x1800像素的非寻常级别,显示效果相当惊艳。硬件方面,该机采用了一颗1.7GHz主频的双四核处理器,内存则为2GB RAM+16GB ROM的强劲组合,搭载了基于Android的Flyme 3.0操作系统,操控性能非常不错。此外,该机还采用了800万+200万像素的摄像头搭配,支持LED补光灯,拍摄能力十分强劲。
点击图片查看16GB魅族MX3详细资料
点击图片查看16GB魅族MX3详细资料
  编辑点评:
  魅族MX3是魅族公司的年度巨献,该机不仅配置全新升级,采用了性能强劲的双四核出来和更大更窄更清晰的屏幕,后置一颗800万像素摄像头在感光面积方面也有所增强,整体配置十分强劲,该机目前在京东商城上首发价为2499元,感兴趣的朋友可以点击下面的链接关注一下。
  16GB魅族MX3(行货)
  [参考价格] 2499元
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  5.5英寸:LG Optimus G Pro(参数 报价 论坛 软件)
  LG在目前智能手机市场中,似乎成了另外一个摩托罗拉,很多人都对LG的显示屏赞不绝口,但是LG智能手机却已经好久没有令人眼前一亮的新品出现了,当然,前不久确实是推出了一款将音量键等设计在机身背部的奇葩按键手机LG G2,为此也是赚回了不少人气。5.5英寸的LG G Pro其实也是一款非常不错的大屏智能手机,该机拥有着1920×1080像素的超高分辨率,采用了性能强劲的高通骁龙四核处理器,整体配置十分强劲,而当你知道了它的售价之后,相信你会更加坐不住。
点击图片查看LG Optimus G Pro详细资料
  LG Optimus G Pro采用了直板触控造型,外形设计简约时尚。在其正面配有一块5.5英寸的超大电容屏,分辨率达到了1920x1080像素,显示效果十分出色。内置配有一颗1.7GHz主频的高通骁龙600四核处理器,搭载Android智能系统,整机运行十分流畅。后置一枚1300万像素的摄像头,并可以支持1080P视频录制功能。
点击图片查看LG Optimus G Pro详细资料
点击图片查看LG Optimus G Pro详细资料
  编辑点评:
  LG Optimus G Pro是之前发布的一款配置非常强悍的手机,可是由于大陆没有行货的原因,该机到了中国市场价格反而非常实惠。1080p屏幕加四核骁龙600处理器在性能和视觉上都有不错的表现,后置摄像头更是高达1300万,达到目前主流。该机今天报价2550元,喜欢的朋友可以关注一下商家的信息。
  LG Optimus G Pro(改版机)
  [参考价格] 2550元
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  Mini:三星Galaxy S4 mini(参数 论坛 软件)
  看完了大屏手机之后,我们再来看一看Mini手机,此Mini非彼迷你,虽然是迷你版,但是配置缩水不大,性能依旧强劲,同时更具性价比。这款三星S4 Mini I9190就是这样一款手机,拥有着与三星高人气机皇一般无二的外形设计,只是在屏幕尺寸上仅为4.3英寸,但是在硬件方面,该机还是有着一颗1.7GHz主频的双核处理器,拥有流畅的运行速度,并且售价也是比三星S4的专卖价便宜了将近一般,性价比之高可见一斑。
点击图片查看三星GALAXY S4 Mini详细资料
  三星GALAXY S4 Mini依然采用经典的直板触屏设计,外观圆润时尚,机身外观与GALAXY S4十分相似,不过整体尺寸相比GALAXY S4更为小巧。正面采用960*540像素的4.3英寸Super AMOLED屏,虽然分辨率降低,但是显示效果依然很清晰,另外,该机配备一颗1.7GHz主频的双核处理器,并配备1.5GB RAM和8GB机身内存,并运行时下最新的Android 4.2操作系统。

图为三星 GALAXY S4 Mini详细资料

图为三星 GALAXY S4 Mini详细资料
  编辑点评:
  继年度旗舰GALAXY S4之后,三星继续丰富它的产品线,三星GALAXY S4 mini作为S4的迷你版本,凭借和原作相同的外观设计、更加小巧的机身、出色的机器优化获得了很多朋友的关注。作为三星GALAXY S4的缩小版本,S4 mini的定位一方面是小尺寸手机、一方面是廉价版S4,所以机器在硬件上也会有相应的妥协,但机器整体使用起来仍是非常顺畅的,感觉不到卡顿和粘滞,体验和旗舰GALAXY S4接近,算是一台体验优秀,成绩稳定又全面的小屏手机。
  三星GALAXY S4 Mini I9190(改版机)
  [参考价格] 2233元
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  Mini:三星I8190(参数 报价 论坛 软件)
  给旗舰机皇推出迷你版本的传统从三星S3就已经开始了,似乎已经形成了一个传统,每一款旗舰旁边都一款外形非常相似,但是售价却要便宜很多的迷你版推出。因为相对于售价的3000以上的旗舰来说,并不是每个人都消费的起,推出一款外形相似,配置稍有缩水但是更具性价比的迷你版本,确实是合了很多人的胃口,毕竟还是有不少人对配置不那么看重,在他们看来,好看,轻便,能够满足日常打电话等日常使用就行可。
点击图片查看三星S3 mini详细资料
  三星GALAXY S3 mini在其正面搭配一块4英寸的Super AMOLED魔焕屏,分辨率为WVGA级别的800X480像素,显示效果较为自然。核心方面内置一颗全新主频1024MHz的双核处理器,以及1GB RAM+8GB ROM的内存组合,运行Android 4.1系统丝毫不成问题。另外在机身背部还设有一枚500万像素摄像头,包含LED补光灯,支持720P视频录制等。

图为三星S3 mini详细资料

图为三星S3 mini详细资料
  编辑点评:
  三星S3 mini I8190N是一款比较小巧的手机,也可以算的上是众多mini版中较小的一部,此外该机与I8190的区别在于对NFC功能的支持,近距离通信功能的确非常方便,远比蓝牙方便快捷的多。目前行货三星S3 mini I8190N最新报价仅为1499元,已经不足1K5的它,使得性价比再次提升,感兴趣的朋友可以多加考虑一下。
  三星GALAXY S3 mini(行货带发票)
  [参考价格] 1499元
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  Mini:HTC One mini(参数 论坛 软件)
  HTC也是有迷你版的,这款HTC One 601e一看手机型号就知道这款手机是高人气的HTC One的迷你版本。该机在屏幕尺寸上相对于HTC One的4.7英寸来说,也仅仅是缩小了0.4英寸,外形上与One相差不大,一样的清新时尚。后置摄像头依旧为400万像素,HTC One已经让我们知道400万像素的摄像头也能拍出清晰明亮的好照片,这一点在HTC One迷你版上同样是有很好的体现。
点击图片查看HTC One mini详细资料
  HTC One Mini拥有4.3英寸主屏,较HTC One4.7英寸主屏略小,但即使这样HTC One Mini屏幕仍然比iPhone 5S大,而且价格只有5S的一半,所以是个不错的选择。说到缺点,由于Mini的分辨率较低,所以视觉效果一般。除此之外,HTC One Mini并不具备红外遥控功能。外形上看来,两款机型几乎一模一样。HTC One Mini与HTC One拥有相同的照相机,即使在弱光条件下也能够拍出好的照片。总而言之,HTC One Mini是一款性价比较高的手机,是一个不错的选择。
点击图片查看HTC One mini详细资料
点击图片查看HTC One mini详细资料
  编辑点评:
  HTC One mini也是有着多种时尚配色,目前有曝光这款手机的黄金版,金光闪耀的机身外壳,看起来绝对比金色版的iPhone 5s更加土豪,只是在配置上没有5s那么强大,但是就该机的台湾上市的价格而言,相信进入国内应该也是一款具有不错性价比的手机,目前该机已经在台湾上市,约合人民币3250元,相信该机很快就能和大家见面了。
  HTC One mini
  [参考售价] 约3250元
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  Mini:nubia Z5 mini(参数 报价 论坛 软件)
  努比亚Z5 mini可以说是最不迷你的手机,在很多方面,甚至是超越了其前辈,该机号称"手机中的单反机",这样的称呼绝非空谈,独立测光/对焦、自动曝光锁、水准仪和多重曝光等功能的引入,在加上前置500万像素后置1300万像素的摄像头组合,使得努比亚Z5 mini具备了极强的拍照能力,同时,该机还是一款三网通吃的智能手机,对于多卡用户来说还是非常不错的,谁家信号好就用谁家的卡。
点击图片查看努比亚Z5 mini详细资料
  努比亚Z5 mini正面配备有一块4.7英寸的IPS触控屏,分辨率达到1280X720像素,并且采用Sharp CGS全贴合技术,使得画质更逼真。而在相机组件方面该机采用了1300万像素后置+500万像素前置的策略,并且支持对焦锁定和曝光锁定,非常有特色。核心方面该机采用的是骁龙APQ8064处理器,以及2GB RAM+16GB ROM的内存组合,流畅运行Android 4.2系统。
点击图片查看努比亚Z5 mini详细资料
点击图片查看努比亚Z5 mini详细资料
  编辑点评:
  努比亚Z5 mini继续热卖,而且由于太过抢手,以至于出现货源紧俏的状况,这足以反映该机的人气和关注热度。而说到其配置,该机采用了非常主流且高度的骁龙APQ8064四核处理器,以及2GB运行内存,这会使得本就可玩性很高的Android 4.2系统更加流畅。而说到拍照,该机拥有神似单反相机的独到之处。目前该机最新售价1888元,购机还送存储卡和贴膜,感兴趣的朋友可以考虑一下。
  努比亚Z5 mini(行货)
  [参考价格] 1888元
  总结:
  对于手机,有的人偏爱大屏,玩游戏,看电影就是爽;然而对于不怎么玩弄手机的人来说,屏幕差不多就行了,太大了反而不好放。而在十月一日黄金周来临之际,想要购机换机的朋友很多,买大屏还是买屏幕大小合适的mini版任君选择,mini机麻雀虽小,配置俱全,并且性能不差。大屏手机屏大配置高,但是售价方面对于预算不足的朋友来说要超出预算,但不管怎么样,笔者预计今年的十一一定会是疯狂火爆的一周。
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科技要闻-新浪科技: 什么是4G LTE?移动通信网络知识普及

科技要闻-新浪科技

科技时代-科技要闻

什么是4G LTE?移动通信网络知识普及
http://go.rss.sina.com.cn/redirect.php?url=http://tech.sina.com.cn/mobile/n/2013-10-01/07328786234.shtml
Sep 30th 2013, 23:32

  9月23日,在中国4G牌照发放之际,HTC联合APEC工商咨询理事会主办、中国国际贸易促进委员会共同举办了"中国LTE论坛",这也是本年 度规模最大,且最具影响力的LTE论坛之一。第二天,在北京召开的"中国国际信息通信展览会"中,4G LTE贯穿了整个大会。在此期间,华为也举办了一场4G产品媒体体验会,让媒体朋友亲身感受了一把4G网络带来的高速体验。可见,行业内到处都在高调讨论 4G LTE,4G LTE成为了今年中国通信业的主旋律。而8月底,包括中兴、华为在内的四款产品首批获得工信部颁发的4G入网许可证,也预示着,4G时代正在向我们迈进。
  近期,关于4G LTE的声音不断涌现,而4G LTE到底是什么?对用户来说有什么实际意义,恐怕大部分的普通消费者并不了解,再购买4G产品时也不知道该如何选择。那么到底什么是4G LTE呢?本文就为大家做一个简单的解答。

  什么是4G LTE?
  所谓4G,就是第四代移动通信及其技术的简称。在ITU (国际电联)的定义里,任何达到或超过100Mbps的无线数据网络系统都可以称为4G。
  LTE的全称是"Long term Evolution",直译"长程演进"。LTE分为两种双工模式,分别为FDD LTE和TDD LTE,LTE显著增加了频谱效率和数据传输速率,峰值速率能够达到上行50Mbps,下行100Mbps。相比3G时代,10Mbps的下行峰值,速度 提升了10倍。
  从两者的概念中我们可以了解到,4G和LTE并不是一回事,不过一般而言,LTE网络都能满足4G网络的标准(下行100Mbps),而4G时代又以LTE网络为主,所以通常把二者结合在一起,统称为4G LTE。

  FDD LTE与TDD LTE的区别
  FDD LTE和TDD LTE分别是LTE的两种不同的系统模式。两者大部分的基础技术都是一样的,主要区别在于FDD为频分双工,而TDD为时分双工。两者并不互相兼容。
  FDD"频分双工"指传输数据时需要两个独立的信道,一个信道用来向下传送信息,另一个信道用来向上传送信息。两个信道之间存在一个保护频段, 以防止邻近的发射机和接收机之间产生相互干扰。就相当于一条双向公路,两边的车辆各走各的路,互补干扰。而保护频段就相当于公路中间的隔离带。
  TDD"时分双工"的发射和接收信号是在同一频率信道的不同时隙中进行的,彼此之间采用一定的保证时间予以分离。可以比作一条独木桥,在同一时段,只能有一边的人通过,也就是说,数据的上传和下载是在同一信道交替进行的。

  FDD LTE与TDD LTE谁更先进?
  那么有人就认为,FDD明显优于TDD啊,这种想法也不完全对。FDD必须使用成对的收发频率。相比TDD占用更多的频率资源。在语音通信时 代,信息上传和下载是对称并同时进行的,能够充分利用上下行的频率,效率更高。而在移动互联网时代,用户上传数据量要远远低于下载数据量,这种非对称数据 交换业务导致了频率利用率大幅下降。用一个形象点的比喻,就好比两条同样宽的公路,向左行驶的车辆为每分钟10辆(下行),而向右行驶的车辆每分钟仅有1 辆(上行),那么上行的车道明显利用率更低。
  而TDD不需要分配对称的频率,上下行都在同一频率内进行,并且能对发送和接收时段的长短比例进行灵活控制,在进行不对称的数据传输时,可充分利用有限的无线电频谱资源。在移动互联网时代,TDD的效率更高。
  所以,单从频谱效率上来讲,TDD技术更加先进一些。但是从试用范围上来讲,FDD作为最早提出来的LTE系统模式,其发展当然是最为成熟的, 也是当今世界普遍推广的LTE系统模式,获得了广大的网络基础设备厂商和终端生产商的支持,目前为止,几乎现在所有存在商业化LTE网络的国家,都在使用 FDD LTE模式。
  而TDD作为后来者,虽然技术上较为先进,但是发展缓慢,支持的设备生产商也很少,目前只有中国、日本以及东亚部分国家有少量部署,而且大部分处于试验阶段,其中,中国移动是TDD阵营里最坚定的支持者。

  关于TD LTE
  除了FDD LTE和TDD LTE,我们时常会看到另一种模式——TD LTE,有人误认为TD LTE是中国移动TD-SCDMA的演进版,是中国自主知识产权的LTE技术。而实际上,TD LTE除了沿用TD-SCDMA的时分双工方式之外,与TD-SCDMA没有任何关系。
  实际上,TD LTE只是TDD LTE的一个分支,其绝大部分的数据帧内容定义和划分方式均与LTE-FDD完全相同,而这部分技术产权依然掌握在制定LTE-FDD标准的那些组织手里,所以说,TD LTE并非自主研发,最多只是简单的技术改进或者"微创新"。

全球LTE频段分布
  4G LTE的发展情况
  在西方等发达国家,4G网络已经投入商用多年,主要以FDD LTE为主,TDD LTE方面,目前全球已经开通了十数张TDD LTE商用网络,包括在日本、印度、澳大利亚等国家的网络。在终端方面,相关数据显示,到今年一季度,全球已推出166款终端支持TDD LTE,其中包括18款智能手机。如作为日本第三大运营商,软银在去年2月正式开通TDD LTE商用业务,并在去年10月推出了六款TDD LTE智能手机。
  目前,TDD LTE网络在国内也正在开始试用,预计年底工信部会发放4G牌照。据了解,中国移动去年已在15个城市建设了2万个基站,今年提出"双百"目标,今年年底LTE TDD将覆盖100多个城市,建设20万个基站,LTE终端采购量超过100万部。
  今年8月底,工信部通过了首批获得入网许可的4部TD-LTE手机,分别为三星GT-N7108D、索尼M35T、中兴U9815、华为 D2-6070。两个月内,包括三星、HTC、酷派、金立等手机终端厂商集中推出了4G终端产品。各个手机厂商都已经做好了4G产品的储备,只等4G牌照 发放。
  HTC董事长王雪红在"中国LTE新时代-创新与可持续发展"论坛上表示:"LTE时代对移动通讯产业链各方来说,是一个重大的发展契机。"实 际上,HTC在4G LTE方面也积累了多年的经验。早在2008年,HTC就于俄罗斯发表全球首款GSM/WiMAX整合式双模手机——HTC Max 4G,2010年又与Sprint推出全美首款4G智能手机——HTC EVO 4G。今年四季度,H 9月23日,在中国4G牌照发放之际,HTC联合APEC工商咨询理事会主办、中国国际贸易促进委员会共同举办了"中国LTE论坛",这也是本年 度规模最大,且最具影响力的LTE论坛之一。第二天,在北京召开的"中国国际信息通信展览会"中,4G LTE贯穿了整个大会。在此期间,华为也举办了一场4G产品媒体体验会,让媒体朋友亲身感受了一把4G网络带来的高速体验。可见,行业内到处都在高调讨论 4G LTE,4G LTE成为了今年中国通信业的主旋律。而8月底,包括中兴、华为在内的四款产品首批获得工信部颁发的4G入网许可证,也预示着,4G时代正在向我们迈进。
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科技要闻-新浪科技: 苍井空微博晒土豪金iPhone 5s

科技要闻-新浪科技

科技时代-科技要闻

苍井空微博晒土豪金iPhone 5s
http://go.rss.sina.com.cn/redirect.php?url=http://tech.sina.com.cn/t/2013-10-01/09218786336.shtml
Oct 1st 2013, 01:21

  【TechWeb报道】德艺双馨的苍井空苍老师如今也用上土豪金了!
  今日午时,日本著名AV女优苍井空于新浪微博发布了其与苹果iPhone 5s土豪金手机合影的照片。看来,苍老师也是土豪啊!居然可以排除万难搞到土豪金!我等屌丝何时才能以正常的价位买到苹果土豪金iPhone 5s呢?




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ScienceDaily: Latest Science News: When cells 'eat' their own power plants: Scientists solve mystery of basic cellular process

ScienceDaily: Latest Science News

Breaking science news and articles on global warming, extrasolar planets, stem cells, bird flu, autism, nanotechnology, dinosaurs, evolution -- the latest discoveries in astronomy, anthropology, biology, chemistry, climate and environment, computers, engineering, health and medicine, math, physics, psychology, technology, and more -- from the world's leading universities and research organizations.

When cells 'eat' their own power plants: Scientists solve mystery of basic cellular process
http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/gwtmVu8u3SU/130930140518.htm
Sep 30th 2013, 18:05

Sep. 30, 2013 — A mix of serendipity and dogged laboratory work allowed a diverse team of University of Pittsburgh scientists to report in the Oct. 1 issue of Nature Cell Biology that they had solved the mystery of a basic biological function essential to cellular health.
By discovering a mechanism by which mitochondria -- tiny structures inside cells often described as "power plants" -- signal that they are damaged and need to be eliminated, the Pitt team has opened the door to potential research into cures for disorders such as Parkinson's disease that are believed to be caused by dysfunctional mitochondria in neurons.
"It's a survival process. Cells activate to get rid of bad mitochondria and consolidate good mitochondria. If this process succeeds, then the good ones can proliferate and the cells thrive," said Valerian Kagan, Ph.D., D.Sc., a senior author on the paper and professor and vice chair of the Pitt Graduate School of Public Health's Department of Environmental and Occupational Health. "It's a beautiful, efficient mechanism that we will seek to target and model in developing new drugs and treatments."
Dr. Kagan, who, as a recipient of a Fulbright Scholar grant, currently is serving as visiting research chair in science and the environment at McMaster University in Ontario, Canada, likened the process to cooking a Thanksgiving turkey.
"You put the turkey in the oven and the outside becomes golden, but you can't just look at it to know it's ready. So you put a thermometer in, and when it pops up, you know you can eat it," he said. "Mitochondria give out a similar 'eat me' signal to cells when they are done functioning properly."
Cardiolipins, named because they were first found in heart tissue, are a component on the inner membrane of mitochondria. When a mitochondrion is damaged, the cardiolipins move from its inner membrane to its outer membrane, where they encourage the cell to destroy the entire mitochondrion.
However, that is only part of the process, says Charleen T. Chu, M.D., Ph.D., professor and the A. Julio Martinez Chair in Neuropathology in the Pitt School of Medicine's Department of Pathology, another senior author of the study. "It's not just the turkey timer going off; it's a question of who's holding the hot mitt to bring it to the dining room?" That turns out to be a protein called LC3. One part of LC3 binds to cardiolipin, and LC3 causes a specialized structure to form around the mitochondrion to carry it to the digestive centers of the cell.
The research arose nearly a decade ago when Dr. Kagan had a conversation with Dr. Chu at a research conference. Dr. Chu, who studies autophagy, or "self-eating," in Parkinson's disease, was seeking a change on the mitochondrial surface that could signal to LC3 to bring in the damaged organelle for recycling. It turned out they were working on different sides of the same puzzle.
Together with Hülya Bayır, M.D., research director of pediatric critical care medicine, Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC and professor, Pitt's Department of Critical Care Medicine, and a team of nearly two dozen scientists, the three senior authors worked out how the pieces of the mitochondria signaling problem fit together.
Now that they've worked out the basic mechanism, Dr. Chu indicates that many more research directions will likely follow.
"There are so many follow-up questions," she said. "What is the process that triggers the cardiolipin to move outside the mitochondria? How does this pathway fit in with other pathways that affect onset of diseases like Parkinson's? Interestingly, two familial Parkinson's disease genes also are linked to mitochondrial removal."
Dr. Bayir explained that while this process may happen in all cells with mitochondria, it is particularly important that it functions correctly in neuronal cells because these cells do not divide and regenerate as readily as cells in other parts of the body.
"I think these findings have huge implications for brain injury patients," she said. "The mitochondrial 'eat me' signaling process could be a therapeutic target in the sense that you need a certain level of clearance of damaged mitochondria. But, on the other hand, you don't want the clearing process to go on unchecked. You must have a level of balance, which is something we could seek to achieve with medications or therapy if the body is not able to find that balance itself."
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ScienceDaily: Latest Science News: Cold, salty and promiscuous: Gene-shuffling microbes dominate Antarctica's Deep Lake

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Cold, salty and promiscuous: Gene-shuffling microbes dominate Antarctica's Deep Lake
http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/E3B9vrht5NA/130930152743.htm
Sep 30th 2013, 19:27

Sep. 30, 2013 — Sequestered in Antarctica's Vestfold Hills, Deep Lake became isolated from the ocean 3,500 years ago by the Antarctic continent rising, resulting in a saltwater ecosystem that remains liquid in extreme cold, and providing researchers a unique niche for studying the evolution of the microbes that now thrive under such conditions. Deep Lake's microscopic inhabitants are dominated by haloarchaea, microbes that require high salt concentrations to grow and are naturally adapted to conditions -- at minus 20°C -- that would prove lethally cold to other organisms. In a detailed analysis published online the week of September 30, 2013 in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), researchers have, for the first time, been able to get a complete ecological picture of the Deep Lake microbial community.
A team led by Rick Cavicchioli of the University of New South Wales, Australia partnered with the U.S. Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute (DOE JGI) to generate sequence data from DNA isolated from individual microbes and compared them with metagenomic (microbial community) information sampled at various depths of Deep Lake.
"Understanding how haloarchaea can thrive in Deep Lake could be used to develop engineering concepts for reducing energy costs in a variety of situations, such as for cleaning up contaminated sites in permanently or seasonally cold regions," Cavicchioli said. Owing to the ability of salt-loving enzymes to function under extremes, he suggests they could also be used as catalysts for peptide synthesis and enhanced oil recovery, and can function in water-organic solvent mixtures. "These enzymes will be especially useful for transforming contaminated sites with particularly high levels of petroleum-based products," he added.
Deep Lake's extremes have rendered the microbial neighborhood rather homogeneous. Four isolates in the study represented about 72 percent of the cells in the community. Though gene exchange across species boundaries is considered infrequent, the researchers observed that haloarchaea living in the Lake's hypersaline environment practice it comparatively often, like neighbors "chewing the fat" in a small-town coffee klatch. "It's intriguing that while gene exchange is rampant, species lineages appear to be maintained by virtue of each species having a high level of specialization, enabling niche partitioning and peaceful coexistence," said Cavicchioli of their findings. "Haloarchaea are known for being 'promiscuous,' that is, prone to exchange DNA between themselves. Our study demonstrated that this exchange occurs at a much higher level than has previously been documented in nature. They communicate, share, specialize, and coexist."
What distinguishes this "conversation" is that the haloarchaea of Deep Lake exchange the information of DNA not just between species but among distinct genera, and moreover in huge tranches, some 35,000 letters of code, with not a letter out of place. While it may be slow, that give-and-take is chock full of essential information and the word gets around the community. "The long stretches of highly identical shared sequence between the different lake organisms spurred a strong suspicion of potential cross-contamination at first," said Tanja Woyke, Microbial Program Lead at the DOE JGI and co-author of the study. "By painstaking validation of the manually finished and curated genomes, however, we were able to exclude any process-introduced artifacts and confirm that this is true inter-genera gene exchange."
Cavicchioli noted that, "as the content being shifted around lack core genes, it speaks to these microbes' ability to be flexible and collaborative. This shuttled gene content could confer such benefits as resistance to viruses or bolster their ability to respond to specific environmental factors. Moreover, the markers that we analyzed indicated that a high level of gene exchange occurs throughout the Deep Lake community."
One particular microbial player, dubbed tADL, represented about 44 percent of the cell content of the lake community, which is one of the least productive environments on the planet with respect to synthesis of organic compounds from carbon dioxide. Most life on earth is dependent on this process, but microbial life in Deep Lake has only six generations of cell division annually, so tADL's comparatively "high energy" metabolism makes it adept at degrading carbohydrates, with a particular taste for glycerol, a natural byproduct of the light-harvesting algae. "A key thing about what they eat is that by choosing different food sources they can coexist and continue to reproduce and eke out a living in relative harmony," said Cavicchioli.
Cavicchioli acknowledged that the PNAS paper represents the synthesis of the more striking findings that arose from merging and analyzing collective data sets that have been assembled over the last eight years. Along the way, a major milestone logged was the genome sequencing and analysis of the first member of the archaeal branch of the tree of life ever isolated from a polar environment.
"Every time we 'poke an omics stick' in there we find things we never expected," Cavicchioli said. "Each lake also has its own unique characteristics, so there is a lot more to be discovered. These Antarctic expeditions represent big logistical investments, with millions in funding from the Australian Antarctic Division and the Australian Antarctic Science Program leveraging the powerful resources of JGI. As a long-term investment strategy, this has proven to be an excellent model of how a flexible group of clever scientists can provide a sure path for enabling strong science to come to fruition."
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ScienceDaily: Latest Science News: Improving lithium-ion batteries with nanoscale research

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Improving lithium-ion batteries with nanoscale research
http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/5uOWv0XtEK8/130930140520.htm
Sep 30th 2013, 18:05

Sep. 30, 2013 — New research led by an electrical engineer at the University of California, San Diego is aimed at improving lithium-ion batteries through possible new electrode architectures with precise nano-scale designs. The researchers created nanowires that block diffusion of lithium (Li) across their silicon surface and promote layer-by-layer axial lithiation of the nanowire's germanium core.
Shadi Dayeh, a professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering, explained that this work could lead to "an effective way to tailor volume expansion of lithium ion battery electrodes which could potentially minimize their cracking, improve their durability, and perhaps influence how one could think about different electrode architectures."
The research was recently published in the journal Nano Letters in the paper "Tailoring Lithiation Behavior by Interface and Bandgap Engineering at the Nanoscale."
By coating germanium nanowires with silicon, the researchers stopped nearly all surface diffusion of lithium ions into the nanowires. Instead, lithium diffusion, known as lithiation, occurred layer by layer along the axis of the nanowire. This is in contrast to lithiation from the surface of nanowires not covered with silicon.
"These results demonstrate for the first time that interface and bandgap engineering of electrochemical reactions can be utilized to control the nanoscale ionic transport / insertion paths and thus may be a new tool to define the electrochemical reactions in Li-ion batteries," the researchers write in their Nano Letters paper.
This work builds on research demonstrating excellent control over germanium / silicon (Ge/Si) heterostructuring, which Dayeh and colleagues recently published as a cover article in Applied Physics Letters and a cover letter in the journal Nano Letters.
Dayeh grew the nanowires during his time as a postdoctoral researcher at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). Lithiation experiments were performed by two postdoctoral researchers from Sandia National Laboratories, Drs. Yang Liu and Xiaohua Liu, and Dayeh's postdocdoral researchers working at LANL. Dayeh formulated the mechanism and performed the analysis and simulations after joining the faculty of the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering.
Funding sources for this research includes Nanostructures for Electrical Energy Storage (NEES), an Energy Frontier Research Center (EFRC) funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Sandia National Laboratories, and UC San Diego.
Video on YouTube that shows the axial lithiation of a silicon-coated nanowire's germanium core, as well as radial diffusion of lithium into an uncoated germanium nanowire. : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WW3E6GMQ_aE&list=UUXjJpwPmI6TVSPQFdYSRBvg
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ScienceDaily: Latest Science News: Traces of immense prehistoric ice sheets discovered

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Traces of immense prehistoric ice sheets discovered
http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/07YCV2Yc7tg/130930121833.htm
Sep 30th 2013, 16:18

Sep. 30, 2013 — Geologists and geophysicists of the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI), discovered traces of large ice sheets from the Pleistocene on a seamount off the north-eastern coast of Russia. These marks confirm for the first time that within the past 800,000 years in the course of ice ages, ice sheets more than a kilometre thick also formed in the Arctic Ocean.
The climate history for this part of the Arctic now needs to be rewritten, report the AWI scientists jointly with their South Korean colleagues in the title story of the current issue of the scientific journal Nature Geoscience.
AWI geologist Dr. Frank Niessen and colleagues had already discovered the first signs of conspicuous scour marks and sediment deposits on the ocean floor north of Wrangle Island (Russia) on a Polarstern expedition in 2008. However, they were unable to gather extensive proof until last year, during an Arctic expedition on the South Korean research vessel Araon. "After we had analysed the bathymetric and seismic data from our first voyage, we knew exactly where we needed to search and survey the ocean floor with the swath sonar of the Araon on the second expedition," said Frank Niessen, the first author of the study.
The result of this research is a topographic map of the Arlis Plateau, a seamount on which deep, parallel-running furrows can be discerned on the upper plateau and the sides -- and over an area of 2500 square kilometres and to an ocean depth of 1200 metres. "We knew of such scour marks from places like the Antarctic and Greenland. They arise when large ice sheets become grounded on the ocean floor and then scrape over the ground like a plane with dozens of blades as they flow. The remarkable feature of our new map is that it indicates very accurately right off that there were four or more generations of ice masses, which in the past 800,000 years moved from the East Siberian Sea in a north-easterly direction far into the deep Artic Ocean," says Frank Niessen.
These new findings overturn the traditional textbook view of the history of Arctic glaciations. "Previously, many scientists were convinced that mega-glaciations always took place on the continents -- a fact that has also been proven for Greenland, North America, and Scandinavia. However, it was assumed that the continental shelf region of North-eastern Siberia became exposed in these ice ages and turned into a vast polar desert in which there was not enough snow to enable a thick ice shield to form over the years. Our work now shows that the opposite was true. With the exception of the last ice age 21,000 years ago, ice sheets formed repeatedly in the shallow areas of the Arctic Ocean. These sheets were at least 1200 metres thick and presumably covered an area as large as Scandinavia," says Frank Niessen.
The AWI scientists still cannot say for certain, however, under what climate conditions these ice sheets formed and when exactly they left their marks on the bottom of the Arctic Ocean. "We theorize that the East Siberian ice sheets arose during various ice ages when the average global temperature was around five to eight degrees Celsius cooler than what it is today. But evidently this relatively minor temperature difference was often sufficient to allow initially thin ocean ice to grow into an immense ice cap. An example that shows just how sensitively the Arctic reacts to changes in the global climate system," says the geologist.
In a next step, the AWI researchers now want to try collecting soil samples from deeper layers of the ocean floor with a sediment core drill and thus learn more details about the prehistoric ice sheets. "Our long-term goal is to reconstruct the exact chronology of the glaciations so that with the aid of the known temperature and ice data, the ice sheets can be modelled. On the basis of the models, we then hope to learn what climate conditions prevailed in Eastern Siberia during the ice ages and how, for example, the moisture distribution in the region evolved during the ice ages," says Frank Niessen. This knowledge should then help predict possible changes in the Arctic as a consequence of climate change more accurately.
Frank Niessen and his colleagues are anticipating a great number of surprising discoveries in the Arctic Ocean in the future. "As the Arctic Ocean sea-ice cover continues to shrink, more formerly unexplored ocean area becomes accessible. Today less than ten percent of the Arctic Ocean floor has been surveyed as thoroughly as the Arlis Plateau," says the AWI geologist. And this study would not have succeeded were it not for the outstanding cooperation of the AWI scientists with researchers of the South Korean Polar Research Institute KOPRI. "We complemented each other perfectly in this research. Our South Korean colleagues had the expedition and ship time, we knew the coordinates of the area in which we now found the evidence of the mega-glaciations," says Frank Niessen.
Background on Ice ages
About 2.7 million years ago the global climate cooled considerably. We have had a permanent ice cap on Greenland ever since. Then came around 55 changes between ice ages and warm periods until today. About 800,000 years ago the magnitude and duration of the glaciations in the Northern Hemisphere increased considerably. Since then the world climate has regularly alternated between two extremes: each cycle of an ice age followed by a warm period now lasts 100,000 years. Warm periods or interglacials, such as the "Holocene" in which we are living, only lasted about 10,000 to 15,000 years. Afterwards the ice masses on the continents began to grow once again, causing the sea level to drop as much as 130 metres compared to today at the peaks of the glacial cycles. Vast areas of the northern continents were then covered by kilometre-thick ice masses, which, for example, expanded over and over again from Scandinavia even into Northern Germany. The last time that this happened was 21,000 years ago. Thus far there has been little research on the role of the Arctic Ocean in this interplay.
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ScienceDaily: Latest Science News: Optical sensors improve railway safety

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Optical sensors improve railway safety
http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/SEixRhvC9YM/130930121835.htm
Sep 30th 2013, 16:18

Sep. 30, 2013 — A string of fiber-optic sensors running along a 36-km stretch of high-speed commuter railroad lines connecting Hong Kong to mainland China has taken more than 10 million measurements over the past few years in a demonstration that the system can help safeguard commuter trains and freight cars against accidents. Attuned to the contact between trains and tracks, the sensors can detect potential problems like excessive vibrations, mechanical defects or speed and temperature anomalies.
The system is wired to warn train operators immediately of such problems so that they can avoid derailments or other accidents, said Hwa-yaw Tam of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, who will describe the technology and its test run next week at The Optical Society's (OSA) Annual Meeting, Frontiers in Optics (FiO) 2013, being held Oct. 6-10 in Orlando, Fla.
At least 30 times during the seven-year period, the system detected anomalous vibrations, Tam said. In a few cases, the vibrations turned out to be early warnings of dangerous emerging conditions that could have led to train wrecks. In some cases, vibration due to the use of the wrong type of lubrication oil in axle boxes was detected. The fiber-optic sensor system was designed for maintenance purposes and saves the rail company about $250,000 every year in maintenance costs.
"Using just this one type of technology, we are able to measure many things," Tam said. "This technology is perfect for railway systems." He added that it costs less than a third the price of other warning systems, which typically require data to be integrated from a half dozen different types of monitoring systems.
The system is now being installed in all commuter train routes in Hong Kong and will soon be rolled out in railways in parts of Singapore and Australia. With regular speeds for some of the trains in China topping out above 300 km per hour, the need for effective safety measures is profound, Tam said.
Worldwide, the rail industry is undergoing a major development boom, especially in places like China where tens of thousands of kilometers of new high-speed lines are planned for the next decade at an estimated cost of hundreds of billions of dollars.
How the System Works
The basis for the new sensor system is a technology developed in the 70s and 80s known as a Fiber Bragg grating, a type of sensor that reflects narrow spectra of light whose wavelengths shift due to temperature/strain variation. Coupling fiber Bragg gratings with another device known as mechanical transducers allows pressure, acceleration and other parameters to be measured.
The sensors are imbedded in mechanical compartments of a train or along the tracks. If there is a defect, like a sudden break in the rails or excessive vibrations because the weight of the train is off balance, those changes will alter the reflection spectra of FBGs in a detectable way.
The system is advantageous because it is all-optical, allowing the passive fiber Bragg grating sensors to monitor conditions along a train route, Tam said. It also relies exclusively on optical detection and communication, so there are no problems with electromagnetic interference from power lines that run parallel to many modern rail lines.
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ScienceDaily: Latest Science News: Engineers invent programming language to build synthetic DNA

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Engineers invent programming language to build synthetic DNA
http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/C7XGmU25_q8/130930121610.htm
Sep 30th 2013, 16:16

Sep. 30, 2013 — Similar to using Python or Java to write code for a computer, chemists soon could be able to use a structured set of instructions to "program" how DNA molecules interact in a test tube or cell.
A team led by the University of Washington has developed a programming language for chemistry that it hopes will streamline efforts to design a network that can guide the behavior of chemical-reaction mixtures in the same way that embedded electronic controllers guide cars, robots and other devices. In medicine, such networks could serve as "smart" drug deliverers or disease detectors at the cellular level.
The findings were published online this week (Sept. 29) in Nature Nanotechnology.
Chemists and educators teach and use chemical reaction networks, a century-old language of equations that describes how mixtures of chemicals behave. The UW engineers take this language a step further and use it to write programs that direct the movement of tailor-made molecules.
"We start from an abstract, mathematical description of a chemical system, and then use DNA to build the molecules that realize the desired dynamics," said corresponding author Georg Seelig, a UW assistant professor of electrical engineering and of computer science and engineering. "The vision is that eventually, you can use this technology to build general-purpose tools."
Currently, when a biologist or chemist makes a certain type of molecular network, the engineering process is complex, cumbersome and hard to repurpose for building other systems. The UW engineers wanted to create a framework that gives scientists more flexibility. Seelig likens this new approach to programming languages that tell a computer what to do.
"I think this is appealing because it allows you to solve more than one problem," Seelig said. "If you want a computer to do something else, you just reprogram it. This project is very similar in that we can tell chemistry what to do."
Humans and other organisms already have complex networks of nano-sized molecules that help to regulate cells and keep the body in check. Scientists now are finding ways to design synthetic systems that behave like biological ones with the hope that synthetic molecules could support the body's natural functions. To that end, a system is needed to create synthetic DNA molecules that vary according to their specific functions.
The new approach isn't ready to be applied in the medical field, but future uses could include using this framework to make molecules that self-assemble within cells and serve as "smart" sensors. These could be embedded in a cell, then programmed to detect abnormalities and respond as needed, perhaps by delivering drugs directly to those cells.
Seelig and colleague Eric Klavins, a UW associate professor of electrical engineering, recently received $2 million from the National Science Foundation as part of a national initiative to boost research in molecular programming. The new language will be used to support that larger initiative, Seelig said.
Co-authors of the paper are Yuan-Jyue Chen, a UW doctoral student in electrical engineering; David Soloveichik of the University of California, San Francisco; Niranjan Srinivas at the California Institute of Technology; and Neil Dalchau, Andrew Phillips and Luca Cardelli of Microsoft Research.
The research was funded by the National Science Foundation, the Burroughs Wellcome Fund and the National Centers for Systems Biology.
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ScienceDaily: Latest Science News: Quantum computers: Trust is good, proof is better

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Quantum computers: Trust is good, proof is better
http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/vTaxpZJBWVY/130930113951.htm
Sep 30th 2013, 15:39

Sep. 30, 2013 — A quantum computer can solve tasks where a classical computer fails. The question how one can, nevertheless, verify the reliability of a quantum computer was recently answered in an experiment at the University of Vienna. The conclusions are published in the scientific journal Nature Physics.
The harnessing of quantum phenomena, such as superposition and entanglement, holds great promise for constructing future supercomputers using quantum technology. One huge advantage of such quantum computers is that they are capable of performing a variety of tasks much quicker than their conventional counterparts. The use of quantum computers for these purposes raises a significant challenge: how can one verify the results provided by a quantum computer?
It is only recently that theoretical developments have provided methods to test a quantum computer without having an additional quantum computer at hand. The international research team around Philip Walther at the University of Vienna has now demonstrated a new protocol, where the quantum computational results can be verified without using additional quantum computer resources.
Laying traps for a quantum computer
In order to test the quantum computer the scientists inserted "traps" into the tasks. The traps are short intermediate calculations to which the user knows the result in advance. In case the quantum computer does not do its job properly the trap delivers a result that differs from the expected one. "In this way, the user can verify how reliable the quantum computer really is," explain Elham Kashefi (Edinburgh) and Joseph Fitzsimons (Singapore), theoreticians and co-authors of the paper. The more traps the user builds into the tasks the better the user can be sure that the quantum computer indeed computes accurately.
"We designed the test in such a way that the quantum computer cannot distinguish the trap from its normal tasks" says Stefanie Barz (Vienna), first author of the study. This is an important requirement to guarantee that the quantum computer is not able to tweak the test result. The researchers have also tested whether the quantum computer really resorts to quantum resources. Thereby, they can sure that even a maliciously constructed quantum computer cannot fool them into accepting incorrect results.
Implementing the idea with photons
For this first demonstration the researchers used an optical quantum computer, where single light particles, so-called photons, carried the information. The demonstrated protocol is generic, but optical quantum computers seem to be ideally suited for this task. The mobility of photons allows for easy interactions with the quantum computer. Philip Walther is optimistic about the prospects raised by this experiment which shows promising control mechanisms for future quantum computers. And, moreover, that it might lead to new tools for probing even complex quantum resources.
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ScienceDaily: Latest Science News: First global study confirms widely held practices on science, math, and reading education

ScienceDaily: Latest Science News

Breaking science news and articles on global warming, extrasolar planets, stem cells, bird flu, autism, nanotechnology, dinosaurs, evolution -- the latest discoveries in astronomy, anthropology, biology, chemistry, climate and environment, computers, engineering, health and medicine, math, physics, psychology, technology, and more -- from the world's leading universities and research organizations.

First global study confirms widely held practices on science, math, and reading education
http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/wmGutoTZXDc/130930114103.htm
Sep 30th 2013, 15:41

Sep. 30, 2013 — It's a long held belief that parental and administrative support helps breed academic success; now there's data to back that up. A new study released today by the IEA and the TIMSS and PIRLS International Study Center at Boston College examines what makes up "cultural educational excellence" while quantifying the strengths of best practices at school, and at home.
"The data supports many long held beliefs about good ways of raising your children and preparing them for school," says Dr. Michael Martin of Boston College, co-executive director of TIMSS and PIRLS and the study's co-author. "The analysis focuses on, 'How does that work, what's behind that?' There's never been data to do this, to show this mechanism, this path."
The study, titled TIMSS and PIRLS 2011: Relationships Among Reading, Mathematics and Science Achievement at the Fourth Grade -- Implications for Early Learning, is the first report looking at the issue of cultural excellence -- what parents, schools, and students are doing to improve success in reading, math, and science. Researchers used data from 180,000 students, 170,000 parents, 14,000 teachers, and 6,000 principals who participated across 34 countries.
"This is the biggest and most comprehensive set of data at this grade level -- fourth grade 10-year olds kids -- by far," says Dr. Martin. "There's never been data from so many countries on such a level of achievement -- really good measures of mathematics, science, reading achievement -- really good background from questionnaires to the parents primarily, which was a good resource, but also from the school principals, teachers, students themselves, data from all of these sources. There's never been a set of data like this.
While researchers found each country has a unique approach towards education, the data also pointed to across the board similarities in school and home that affect achievement.
"The culture of educational excellence starts in the home," says BC's Dr. Ina Mullis, co-executive director of TIMSS and PIRLS and the study's co-author. "It follows with a school that has a focus on educational success by all the parties concerned -- the teachers, the administration, the parents, the students themselves. It continues into the classroom with a teacher that is holding student engagement. We know then we will have students in the end that have a higher achievement, a higher motivation, and actually I think have a higher probability of becoming life-long learners."
"Obviously well educated parents tend to buy lots of books, tend to engage in activities with their kids tend to read to them, do literacy tasks and numeracy tasks," adds Dr. Martin. "Those kids, when they begin school, are able to do these things. They know what a book is, they can do their ABC's, they can read, even when they start. And of course, that's a huge, huge boost to their achievement in school. They never lose that advantage, they start school with an advantage and they never lose it. So we were digging into how that advantage comes about. What the mechanism of this is. It all starts at home and this isn't news, but the amount of data that we have on how it works I think is new."
More than half of the 34 participating countries were able to get 90% or more of fourth grade students to a basic level of proficiency in reading, math, and science (though the U.S. wasn't included in this study, 98% of fourth graders reached basic proficiency in reading in 2011, 96% in math and science) while five countries saw 35% of their students reach a high level of achievement in those subject areas.
"For many years we've known that kids from homes of educated parents, with lots of reading materials will do better in school in the fourth grade," says Dr. Martin. "But we have really good data at TIMSS and PIRLS, reports from parents, about not only on the materials they have in the home but the literacy activities they engage their children with -- numerous activities -- and their estimate of just how competent the kids were in being able to read and write, and do basic things when they began primary school. And then from an assessment result we have what they can do in the fourth grade."
The study also underscored the across the board advantages of being a better reader.
"The effect of concentrating on these literacy activities also enhanced student achievement in mathematics and science," says Dr. Mullis. "We found that as the amount of reading increased, the students who weren't very good readers had more and more difficulty with the math and science items. Reading is crucial to success in school. It's the glue that's holding it together. "
Report: http://timssandpirls.bc.edu/timsspirls2011/international-database.html
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ScienceDaily: Latest Science News: Fique fibers from Andes Mountains part of miracle solution for dye pollution, find scientists

ScienceDaily: Latest Science News

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Fique fibers from Andes Mountains part of miracle solution for dye pollution, find scientists
http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/DMFGp6Sp4JI/130930114111.htm
Sep 30th 2013, 15:41

Sep. 30, 2013 — A cheap and simple process using natural fibers embedded with nanoparticles can almost completely rid water of harmful textile dyes in minutes, report Cornell University and Colombian researchers who worked with native Colombian plant fibers.
Dyes, such as indigo blue used to color blue jeans, threaten waterways near textile plants in South America, India and China. Such dyes are toxic, and they discolor the water, thereby reducing light to the water plants, which limits photosynthesis and lowers the oxygen in the water.
The study, published in the August issue of the journal Green Chemistry, describes a proof of principle, but the researchers are testing how effectively their method treats such endocrine-disrupting water pollutants as phenols, pesticides, antibiotics, hormones and phthalates.
"These molecules are contaminants that are very resilient to traditional water-purification processes, and we believe our biocomposite materials can be an option for their removal from waste water," said study co-author, Marianny Combariza, a researcher at Colombia's Universidad Industrial de Santander.
The research takes advantage of nano-sized cavities found in cellulose that co-author Juan Hinestroza, Cornell associate professor of fiber science, has previously used to produce nanoparticles inside cotton fibers.
The paper describes the method: Colombian fique plant fibers, commonly used to make coffee bags, are immersed in a solution of sodium permanganate and then treated with ultrasound; as a result, manganese oxide molecules grow in the tiny cellulose cavities. Manganese oxides in the fibers react with the dyes and break them down into non-colored forms.
In the study, the treated fibers removed 99 percent of the dye from water within minutes. Furthermore, the same fibers can be used repeatedly -- after eight cycles, the fibers still removed between 97 percent and 99 percent of the dye.
"No expensive or particular starting materials are needed to synthesize the biocomposite," said Combariza. "The synthesis can be performed in a basic chemistry lab."
"This is the first evidence of the effectiveness of this simple technique," said Hinestroza. "It uses water-based chemistry, and it is easily transferable to real-world situations."
The researchers are testing their process on other types of pollutants, other fibers and composite materials. "We are working now on developing a low-cost filtering unit prototype to treat polluted waters," said Combariza. "We are not only focused on manganese oxides, we also work on a variety of materials based on transition metal oxides that show exceptional degradation activity."
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网易科技频道IT业界新闻: IBM因招聘中歧视美国公民被罚款4.44万美元

网易科技频道IT业界新闻

网易科技频道IT业界新闻

IBM因招聘中歧视美国公民被罚款4.44万美元
http://tech.163.com/13/0930/21/9A271140000915BD.html
Sep 30th 2013, 21:59



网易科技讯 9月30日消息,美国司法部近日称,由于在招聘中存在歧视倾向,优先招聘有临时签证的外国人。对此,IBM已同意支付4.44万美元的民事罚款。

司法部上周五在其网站上称,在通过网络招聘应用和软件开发人员等职位时,IBM招聘倾向于招聘持有F-1和H-1B临时签证的外国人,而非美国公民。
据了解,F-1签证通常被发给那些在美国学习的海外留学生,而H-1B签证会被发给外国籍专业技术专家。
美国司法部认为,IBM此举违反了联邦移民法案中的反歧视条例。司法部还称,企业必须要为每一位符合要求的应聘者提供平等的机会竞争上岗。
除了赔偿4.44万美元,作为和解协议的一部分,IBM还同意按照《移民与国籍法》修改招聘程序,并对人力资源部门员工进行培训。
本文来源:网易科技报道
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ScienceDaily: Latest Science News: Climate models show potential 21st century temperature, precipitation changes

ScienceDaily: Latest Science News

Breaking science news and articles on global warming, extrasolar planets, stem cells, bird flu, autism, nanotechnology, dinosaurs, evolution -- the latest discoveries in astronomy, anthropology, biology, chemistry, climate and environment, computers, engineering, health and medicine, math, physics, psychology, technology, and more -- from the world's leading universities and research organizations.

Climate models show potential 21st century temperature, precipitation changes
http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/XpiTLie8HHo/130930095423.htm
Sep 30th 2013, 13:54

Sep. 30, 2013 — New data visualizations from the NASA Center for Climate Simulation and NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio at Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md., show how climate models used in the new report from the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) estimate possible temperature and precipitation pattern changes throughout the 21st century.

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For the IPCC's Physical Science Basis and Summary for Policymakers reports, scientists referenced an international climate modeling effort to study how Earth might respond to four different scenarios of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions throughout the 21st century. The Summary for Policymakers, the first official piece of the group's Fifth Assessment Report, was released Fri., Sept. 27.
This modeling effort, called the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5), includes dozens of climate models from institutions around the world, including from NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies.
To produce visualizations that show temperature and precipitation changes similar to those included in the IPCC report, the NASA Center for Climate Simulation calculated average temperature and precipitation changes from models that ran the four different emissions scenarios. The final products are visual representations of how much temperature and precipitation patterns would change through 2100 compared to the historical average from the end of the 20th century.
The changes shown in these maps compare an average of the model projections to the average temperature and precipitation benchmarks observed from 1971-2000. This baseline is slightly different from the baseline used in the IPCC report, which was 1986-2005. Because the reference period from 1986-2005 was slightly warmer than 1971-2000, the visualizations are slightly different than those in the report, even though the same model data is used.

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The above story is based on materials provided by NASA.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.





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ScienceDaily: Latest Science News: A cosmic weather balloon at the center of the Milky Way

ScienceDaily: Latest Science News

Breaking science news and articles on global warming, extrasolar planets, stem cells, bird flu, autism, nanotechnology, dinosaurs, evolution -- the latest discoveries in astronomy, anthropology, biology, chemistry, climate and environment, computers, engineering, health and medicine, math, physics, psychology, technology, and more -- from the world's leading universities and research organizations.

A cosmic weather balloon at the center of the Milky Way
http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/q1KEvfDJSCI/130930101737.htm
Sep 30th 2013, 14:17

Sep. 30, 2013 — The radiation field at the centre of the Milky Way must be 1,000 times stronger than in the area surrounding our sun. Astrophysicists of the "Milky Way Galaxy" Collaborative Research Centre of Heidelberg University used computer simulations to reach this conclusion. The calculations of the researchers from the Centre for Astronomy of Heidelberg University and the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy are based on the data from a type of "cosmic weather balloon" -- the temperature data of an especially dense gas cloud near the centre of the Galaxy. Their research provides a new insight into the process of star formation, which is believed to take a different form at the centre of the Milky Way than it does at the Galaxy's edges.

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The researchers characterise the centre of our home galaxy as an "inhospitable place." The "weather conditions" there are reminiscent of those at stormy Cape Horn. While our more distal sun enjoys the conditions of the Galaxy's virtual Italian Riviera, a black hole and extremely hot or exploding stars create an intense "radiation wind" at the Galactic Centre. "In keeping with the metaphor, no one would ever build a 'vacation home' somewhere with such harsh conditions. Construction appears to be taking place nonetheless: there are gas clouds near the Galactic Centre where young stars appear to be forming," says Dr. Paul Clark, a member of Prof. Dr. Ralf Klessen's team at the Centre for Astronomy of Heidelberg University (ZAH).
Dr. Clark and his colleagues studied an especially dense gas cloud called G0.253+0.016 more closely, and in spite of its proximity to the Galactic Centre, a large number of new stars have been observed to be forming there. Star formation is a tug of war between two forces, with gravity pulling interstellar gas inward and the internal pressure of the gas pushing outward. "Near the Galactic Centre, this gas is much hotter than at the edges of the Galaxy due to the strength of the radiation field, leading us to believe that star formation at the centre of the Milky Way differs from how we understand the process at its edges," explains Dr. Clark.
To better understand the processes at the Galactic Centre, the "weather conditions" there -- in this case the strength of the radiation field -- need to be determined more precisely. So the researchers used G0.253+0.016 as a type of "cosmic weather balloon." Astronomical observations were used to determine the temperature of the gas cloud. The data served as a basis for determining the temperature of G0.253+0.016 in relation to the radiation field. The Heidelberg astrophysicists varied the possible strength of this field until the result of the calculations matched the actual temperature measurements. The simulations took advantage of the Jülich-based "Milky Way" supercomputer that is used for projects of the Collaborative Research Centre.
The computer simulations indicated that the radiation field at the centre of the Milky Way must be 1,000 times stronger than in the area around our sun, which is located approx. 25,000 light years away at the Galaxy's edge. The Heidelberg astrophysicists believe that considerably less carbon monoxide (CO) is formed in the extreme conditions in the gas cloud. "Carbon monoxide plays a key role in most star-forming regions, as it helps to regulate the cloud temperatures. The lower CO content in the Galactic Centre clouds will have strong implications for their evolution," continues Dr. Clark. Further studies of the "cosmic weather balloon" should provide a complete picture of the star formation process at the centre of the Milky Way.

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Journal Reference:
Paul C. Clark, Simon C. O. Glover, Sarah E. Ragan, Rahul Shetty, Ralf S. Klessen. ON THE TEMPERATURE STRUCTURE OF THE GALACTIC CENTER CLOUD G0.253 0.016. The Astrophysical Journal, 2013; 768 (2): L34 DOI: 10.1088/2041-8205/768/2/L34



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科技要闻-新浪科技: 摩托罗拉对欧盟滥用专利指控进行辩解

科技要闻-新浪科技

科技时代-科技要闻

摩托罗拉对欧盟滥用专利指控进行辩解
http://go.rss.sina.com.cn/redirect.php?url=http://tech.sina.com.cn/t/2013-09-30/21318785601.shtml
Sep 30th 2013, 13:31

  新浪科技讯 北京时间9月30日晚间消息,谷歌旗下摩托罗拉移动部门发言人凯蒂·德福(Katie Dove)周一表示,针对欧盟滥用专利的指控,摩托罗拉移动将在听证会上进行辩解。
  德福称,欧盟委员会周一已经在布鲁塞尔举行了一场口头听证会。至于听证会的具体情况,由于属于机密,欧盟发言人拒绝透露任何信息。
  在接到微软和苹果公司的投诉后,欧盟于2012年4月正式对摩托罗拉移动展开调查。今年5月,欧盟正式指控摩托罗拉移动,称摩托罗拉移动可能滥用其市场主导地位,以阻止苹果公司使用基本的手机技术。原因是在此之前,摩托罗拉移动曾利用其专利向法庭申请禁止苹果公司在德国市场销售iPhone。
  欧盟调查后认为,摩托罗拉移动所应用的专利是"标准核心专利"(SEP),这种技术的拥有者不应寻求禁售,否则会扭曲专利授权谈判,存在滥用专利权之嫌。因此,欧盟今年5月驳回了摩托罗拉移动的请求。
  接到异议声明后,在欧盟下达罚单前,被调查企业可以在听证会上进行辩解。(李明)
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科技要闻-新浪科技: 里昂证券维持Facebook买入评级 目标价60美元

科技要闻-新浪科技

科技时代-科技要闻

里昂证券维持Facebook买入评级 目标价60美元
http://go.rss.sina.com.cn/redirect.php?url=http://tech.sina.com.cn/i/2013-09-30/20038785503.shtml
Sep 30th 2013, 12:03

  新浪科技讯 北京时间9月30日晚间消息,里昂证券(CLSA)今日发布投资报告,维持Facebook股票(Nasdaq:FB)"买入"评级,将目标股价定为60美元。
  以下为报告内容摘要:
  在上周开幕的纽约广告周期间,我们出席了多场研讨会。经过对所获取的大量数据的分析,我们认为今年有一件事情确定无疑:Facebook的前景十分光明。更重要的是,我们发现,一些主要广告主的投资回报相当可观,且他们有意计划加大在Facebook的投资。我们认为,这同时为其他广告主提供了清晰的路线图。
  去年Facebook广告还只是个概念:
  我们去年参加广告周期时,Facebook广告还仅停留在概念阶段。许多大型品牌广告主认为,Facebook的转换率和衡量投资回报是一个新鲜想法,但还是持观望态度。而且,Facebook在当时也没有展示出光明的前景。
  今年Facebook前景变得光明:
  对于互联网公司而言,一年的时间可能不算短。今年,Facebook在广告周上举行了三场发布会。最后一场十分强大,提供了广告效果方面的强劲数据,展示了三家广告主的可观投资回报率。这也证明了我们之前的观点,业界已经开始意识到Facebook的价值主张。
  广告主1:美国酿酒商Anheuser-Busch
  Anheuser-Busch美国市场数字营销副总裁称,在Facebook投放的广告将其啤酒品牌Bud Light推广至20%的美国家庭,销售额提高3.3%。广告的投资回报率为6倍。我们认为,该投资回报率高于搜索广告。因此Anheuser-Busch表示,将加大在Facebook上的投资力度。
  广告主2:美国餐厅运营商Wendy's
  Wendy's在Facebook上对最新的烤培根奶酪汉堡进行了推广,公司表示,该广告宣传吸引了8300万独立用户,相当于一般广告的10倍。而且,Wendy's对用户精准度也十分满意,63%为其核心用户群。与Facebook合作后,Wendy's无需再与其他许多媒体合作伙伴合作,同时又确保可客源。出于竞争因素,Wendy's并未透露具体的投资回报率,但已经超出了预期。
  广告主3:T-Mobile
  T-Mobile同时在多个平台进行了广告宣传,但Facebook的广告效果最明显。不但吸引了79万新用户和1300万次的网站访问量,更重要的是获得了20倍的投资回报率。T-Mobile表示,接下来将考虑如何与Facebook扩大合作。
  估值:我们继续维持Facebook股票(Nasdaq:FB)"买入"评级,将目标股价定为60美元。(李明)
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