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Sunday, March 31, 2013
Ride Out North Korea's Preemptive Strike in These 24 Cold War Fallout Shelters
Friday, March 29, 2013
A new way to lose weight?
Thursday, March 28, 2013
Scientists at Harvard may have new hope for anyone who's tried to fight the battle of the bulge.
New research, conducted in collaboration with researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital, has found that the gut microbes of mice undergo drastic changes following gastric bypass surgery. Transfer of these microbes into sterile mice resulted in rapid weight loss. The study is described in a March 27 paper in Science Translational Medicine.
"Simply by colonizing mice with the altered microbial community, the mice were able to maintain a lower body fat, and lose weight ? about 20% as much as they would if they underwent surgery," said Peter Turnbaugh, a Bauer Fellow at Harvard's Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS) Center for Systems Biology, and one of two senior authors of the paper.
But as striking as those results were, they weren't as dramatic as they might have been.
"In some ways we were biasing the results against weight loss," Turnbaugh said, explaining that the mice used in the study hadn't been given a high-fat, high-sugar diet to increase their weight beforehand. "The question is whether we might have seen a stronger effect if they were on a different diet."
"Our study suggests that the specific effects of gastric bypass on the microbiota contribute to its ability to cause weight loss and that finding ways to manipulate microbial populations to mimic those effects could become a valuable new tool to address obesity," said Lee Kaplan, director of the Obesity, Metabolism and Nutrition Institute at MGH and the other senior author of the paper.
"We need to learn a good deal more about the mechanisms by which a microbial population changed by gastric bypass exert its effects, and then we need to learn if we can produce these effects ? either the microbial changes or the associated metabolic changes ? without surgery," Kaplan, an associate professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, added. "The ability to achieve even some of these effects without surgery would give us an entirely new way to treat the critical problem of obesity, one that could help patients unable or unwilling to have surgery."
While the results were exciting, Turnbaugh warned that it may be years before they could be replicated in humans, and that such microbial changes shouldn't be viewed as a way to lose those stubborn last 10 pounds without going to the gym. Rather, the technique may one day offer hope to dangerously obese people who want to lose weight without going through the trauma of surgery.
"It may not be that we will have a magic pill that will work for everyone who's slightly overweight," he said. "But if we can, at a minimum, provide some alternative to gastric bypass surgery that produces similar effects, it would be a major advance."
While there had been hints that the microbes in the gut might change after bypass surgery, the speed and extent of the change came as a surprise to the research team.
In earlier experiments, researchers had shown that the guts of both lean and obese mice are populated by varying amounts of two types of bacteria, Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes. When mice undergo gastric bypass surgery, however, it "resets the whole picture," Turnbaugh said.
"The post-bypass community was dominated by Proteobacteria and Proteobacteria, and had relatively low levels of Firmicutes," he said. What's more, Turnbaugh said, those changes occurred within a week of the surgery, and weren't short-lived ? the altered gut microbial community remained stable for months afterward.
While the results may hold out the hope for weight loss without surgery, both Turnbaugh and Kaplan warned that future studies are needed to understand exactly what is behind the weight loss seen in mice.
"A major gap in our knowledge is the underlying mechanism linking microbes to weight loss," Turnbaugh said. "There were certain microbes that we found at higher abundance after surgery, so we think those are good targets for beginning to understand what's taking place."
In fact, Turnbaugh said, the answer may not be the specific types of microbes, but a by-product they excrete.
In addition to changes in the microbes found in the gut, researchers found changes in the concentration of certain short-chain fatty acids. Other studies, Turnbaugh said, have suggested that those molecules may be critical in signaling to the host to speed up metabolism, or not to store excess calories as fat.
Going forward, Turnbaugh and Kaplan hope to continue to explore those questions.
"We think such studies will allow us to understand how host/microbial interactions in general can influence the outcome of a given diet," Kaplan said. "To some degree, what we're learning is a comfort for people who have an issue with their weight, because more and more we're learning that the story is more complicated than just how much you exercise and how much you eat."
###
Harvard University: http://www.harvard.edu
Thanks to Harvard University for this article.
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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/127484/A_new_way_to_lose_weight_
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Monday, March 25, 2013
Cape Fear region people serving in the military
Pfc. Chance P. Shaffer, son of Wendy Hanshaw and stepson of Jerry Hanshaw, both of Spring Lake, has graduated from Army basic training at Fort Jackson, Columbia, S.C. He is a 2012 graduate of Pine Forest High School.
Pvt. Sidney Hunt, son of Scot Hunt and Stephanie Locklear, both of Lumberton, has graduated from Army basic training at Fort Jackson, Columbia, S.C. He is a 2011 graduate of Lumberton High School.
National Guard Pvt. Rebecca R. Wahl, daughter of Jena Owen of Angier, has graduated from Army basic training at Fort Jackson, Columbia, S.C. She is a 2012 graduate of Harnett Central High School.
Pvt. Curtis M. Curry, son of Jennie Butler and stepson of John Butler of Fayetteville, has graduated from Army basic training at Fort Jackson, Columbia, S.C. He is a 2006 graduate of Seventy-First High School.
Pvt. Jennie N. Gahagan, daughter of Mary French and George Gahagan, both of Fayetteville, has graduated from Army basic training at Fort Jackson, Columbia, S.C. She is a 2012 graduate of Douglas Byrd High School.
Pfc. Jaclyn D. Codiga, daughter of James and Denise Rieger of Fayetteville, has graduated from Army basic training at Fort Jackson, Columbia, S.C. She is a 2008 graduate of Cornerstone Christian Academy, Fayetteville.
Pfc. Marquetta S. Hemingway, daughter of Vennie Hemingway of Whiteville, has graduated from Army basic training at Fort Jackson, Columbia, S.C. She is a 2012 graduate of Whiteville High School.
Pvt. Eddie Lampkin III has graduated from Army basic training at Fort Jackson, Columbia, S.C. He is a 2012 graduate of Seventy-First High School.
Pvt. Myles J. Keyser, son of Jennifer Flynn of Cameron, has graduated from Army basic infantry training at Fort Benning, Columbus, Ga. He is a 2012 graduate of Western Harnett High School.
Pvt. Jeffery Drew, son of John and Bettie Drew of Hope Mills, has graduated from Army basic training at Fort Jackson, Columbia, S.C. He is a 2000 graduate of South View High School.
Reserve Pvt. Joshua D. Chubbs, son of Clara Chubbs of Sanford, has graduated from Army basic training at Fort Jackson, Columbia, S.C. He is a 2012 graduate of Lee County High School.
Pfc. Jacorica S. Bristow, daughter of Laura McKoy of Lumberton, has graduated from Army basic training at Fort Jackson, Columbia, S.C. She is a 2012 graduate of Lumberton High School.
Pfc. Amber N. Searing, daughter of Lisa McNair of Eastover, has graduated from Army basic training at Fort Jackson, Columbia, S.C.
Items on local soldiers and airmen come from the Army and Air Force Hometown News Service in San Antonio. Items on local members of the Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard come from the Fleet Home Town News Center in Norfolk, Va.Source: http://fayobserver.com/articles/2013/03/24/1244308
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Fargo braces for record floods ? again ? but this time it's ready
CHICAGO?? Starting this week, communities along the Red River are returning to something they know too well: preparing for a rising tide.
The National Weather Service announced Thursday that a late-winter snow is creating a 50 percent chance of river levels rising as high as 38 feet in Fargo, N.D., and Moorhead, Minn., which would make it the fifth-highest crest on record ? just shy of the 41 feet reached during the record flood of 2009. There's a 10 percent chance the river levels break that record, according to the forecast.
Officials in both cities have launched sandbagging and other preparatory measures to keep river waters from impacting homes and businesses. But the efforts highlight how both communities are better prepared than they were four years ago, when sandbagging was so intense that it required around-the-clock help from local high school and college students, who were released from schools to help.
RECOMMENDED: Five of the costliest US river floods
This time, only 1.3 million sandbags are needed, which is less than half the 3 million used in 2009.
The improved outlook comes from both communities' efforts to remove most homes and other structures from low-lying areas and from investing millions to build levees and other protections.
Moorhead has spent more than $88 million, leaving just seven homes vulnerable to a 38-foot crest. In 2009, 160 homes were affected.
The city says it plans to use 400,000 remaining filled sandbags from a 2011 flood. Moorhead City Manager Michael Redlinger said that should be sufficient. In 2009, the city used about 2.5 million sandbags as protection.
?It?s just a really different condition now as we look to the future. It's going to be a real good situation for us. It's good for the rest of the community: lights on for business, lights on for higher education and the K-12 system,? he said.
Fargo, which has spent $100 million since the 2009 flood, is more at risk because more properties remain in low-lying areas. The immediate need is for more than 1 million sandbags. The city reports it has 750,000 bags already filled and is recruiting volunteers to help fill an additional 500,000 bags. The city is also recommending that all residents obtain flood insurance this spring.
?I know it?s getting old. Extremely old for everybody,? Fargo Mayor Dennis Walaker told the Associated Press.
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Mayor Walaker and others are urging Congress to help fund a $1.8 billion diversion channel around the area of both cities, saying such a project presents the greatest protection against what appears to be consistent flooding each spring.
The Fargo-Moorhead area has faced two more floods since 2009: the river crested at 36.99 feet in 2010 and 38.75 feet in 2011.
?The only solution to this process is very simple. A diversion has to go through,? Walaker said.
Downstream residents have protested the diversion, saying it will flood homes and farmland in rural areas.
The National Weather Service is uncertain when the river will rise. Below-normal temperatures will suspend any chance of flooding for weeks, but if temperatures get more moderate and trigger a fast melt, and spring rains are heavy, the river could arrive soon.
The National Weather Service says deep snow is holding about 6 inches of rain in the Red River Valley area, while some areas of northern Minnesota are holding the equivalent of 8 inches of water. If a brief refreeze followed warming temperatures, melting would proceed at a much slower rate, reducing flooding, the agency said, although it is too soon to predict which scenario is likely.
This article, "Fargo braces for record floods, again," first appeared on CSMonitor.com.
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Saturday, March 23, 2013
MLB sues Biogenesis clinic over banned player drugs
MLB lawsuit: The lawsuit filed Friday in Miami-Dade Circuit Court seeks unspecified damages from Coral Gables anti-aging clinic?Biogenesis?of America and its operator, Anthony Bosch.?
This undated booking photo provided by the Miami-Dade Police Department, on Jan 29, shows Anthony Bosch. Major League Baseball says it is 'extremely disappointed' about a new report that says records from an anti-aging clinic in the Miami area link New York Yankees star Alex Rodriguez and other players to the purchase of performance-enhancing drugs.
Miami-Dade Police Department/AP
EnlargeMajor League Baseball is suing a now-shuttered South Florida clinic and its operators, accusing it of providing banned performance-enhancing drugs to players.
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The lawsuit filed Friday in Miami-Dade Circuit Court seeks unspecified damages from Coral Gables anti-aging clinic?Biogenesis?of America and its operator, Anthony Bosch. Several other Bosch associates are named in the lawsuit. A phone message left for a Bosch representative wasn't immediately returned.
MLB?contends the clinic's operators solicited players to use banned substances knowing that violated their contracts. The lawsuit says baseball has suffered costs to investigate the claims, loss of revenue and injury to its reputation among fans.
Several prominent players have been implicated, including injured New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriquez. He and most of the others have denied ties to the clinic.
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The Engadget Podcast is live at 3:45PM ET!
It's hard to believe that last week was, well, only a week ago. A whole lot has happened in Engadgetland for a week that didn't involve a CES or MWC. A few hours after the last podcast, Samsung went ahead and launched a little phone. Our weekend was also fairly busy, spending time in San Francisco, you know, just hanging out and stuff. But don't worry, Tim's back, Brian's back and Peter's here from another jam-packed episode of the Engadget Podcast. We'd like to see you back, as well. Join us after the break, won't you?
March 21, 2013 3:45 PM EST
Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/ByaFxCXCo98/
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Boys shoot infant in stroller in botched robbery: Police
BRUNSWICK, Ga. (AP) ? A young boy opened fire on a woman pushing her baby in a stroller in a Georgia neighborhood, killing the 1-year-old boy and wounding the mother, police said.
The woman, Sherry West, told WAWS-TV that two boys approached her and demanded money Thursday morning. Brunswick Police Chief Tobe Green said the boys are thought to be between 10 and 15 years old.
West said she insisted she didn't have any money and tried to protect her son, Antonio, before shots rang out. She had been walking near her home in this coastal city about 80 miles south of Savannah.
"I put my arms over my baby and he shoves me, and then he shot my baby right in the head," West said.
West was shot in the leg.
"This is obviously a terrible day in Brunswick," Brunswick Mayor Bryan Thompson said. "Please call if you know something. You are complicit in this crime."
The boy's father, Louis Santiago, told the TV station he wishes he could have been there to protect his family.
"He was special," Santiago said. "He had the bluest, bluest eyes."
Officers from a SWAT team checked vacant houses as investigators tried to find possible witnesses. The Georgia Department of Natural Resources provided a helicopter to aid the search.
Police are offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction.
A sketch artist from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation was being sent to Brunswick to assist police with the case. Police in Brunswick are leading the investigation, but the GBI provided assistance by helping with the neighborhood search, GBI Special Agent Mike McDaniel said.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/police-ga-infant-killed-while-pushed-stroller-110435853.html
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Friday, March 22, 2013
Pavlov inverted: Reward linked to image is enough to activate brain's visual cortex
Mar. 21, 2013 ? Once rhesus monkeys learn to associate a picture with a reward, the reward by itself becomes enough to alter the activity in the monkeys' visual cortex. This finding was made by neurophysiologists Wim Vanduffel and John Arsenault (KU Leuven and Harvard Medical School) and American colleagues using functional brain scans and was published recently in the journal Neuron.
Our visual perception is not determined solely by retinal activity. Other factors also influence the processing of visual signals in the brain. "Selective attention is one such factor," says Professor Wim Vanduffel. "The more attention you pay to a stimulus, the better your visual perception is and the more effective your visual cortex is at processing that stimulus. Another factor is the reward value of a stimulus: when a visual signal becomes associated with a reward, it affects our processing of that visual signal. In this study, we wanted to investigate how a reward influences activity in the visual cortex."
To do this, the researchers used a variant of Pavlov's well-known conditioning experiment: "Think of Pavlov giving a dog a treat after ringing a bell. The bell is the stimulus and the food is the reward. Eventually the dogs learned to associate the bell with the food and salivated at the sound of the bell alone. Essentially, Pavlov removed the reward but kept the stimulus. In this study, we removed the stimulus but kept the reward."
In the study, the rhesus monkeys first encountered images projected on a screen followed by a juice reward (classical conditioning). Later, the monkeys received juice rewards while viewing a blank screen. fMRI brain scans taken during this experiment showed that the visual cortex of the monkeys was activated by being rewarded in the absence of any image.
Importantly, these activations were not spread throughout the whole visual system but were instead confined to the specific brain regions responsible for processing the exact stimulus used earlier during conditioning. This result shows that information about rewards is being sent to the visual cortex to indicate which stimuli have been associated with rewards.
Equally surprising, these reward-only trials were found to strengthen the cue-reward associations. This is more or less the equivalent to giving Pavlov's dog an extra treat after a conditioning session and noticing the next day that he salivates twice as much as before. More generally, this result suggests that rewards can be associated with stimuli over longer time scales than previously thought.
Why does the visual cortex react selectively in the absence of a visual stimulus on the retina? One potential explanation is dopamine. "Dopamine is a signalling chemical (neurotransmitter) in nerve cells and plays an important role in processing rewards, motivation, and motor functions. Dopamine's role in reward signalling is the reason some Parkinson's patients fall into gambling addiction after taking dopamine-increasing drugs. Aware of dopamine's role in reward, we re-ran our experiments after giving the monkeys a small dose of a drug that blocks dopamine signalling. We found that the activations in the visual cortex were reduced by the dopamine blocker. What's likely happening here is that a reward signal is being sent to the visual cortex via dopamine," says Professor Vanduffel.
The study used fMRI (functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging) scans to visualise brain activity. fMRI scans map functional activity in the brain by detecting changes in blood flow. The oxygen content and the amount of blood in a given brain area vary according to the brain activity associated with a given task. In this way, task-specific activity can be tracked.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by KU Leuven.
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Journal Reference:
- John?T. Arsenault, Koen Nelissen, Bechir Jarraya, Wim Vanduffel. Dopaminergic Reward Signals Selectively Decrease fMRI Activity in Primate Visual Cortex. Neuron, 2013; 77 (6): 1174 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2013.01.008
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_health/~3/UQlVFXzhbFk/130321092948.htm
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Wednesday, March 20, 2013
13 Shockingly Creative Ways Drugs Have Crossed the Border
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Monday, March 18, 2013
Hardware Startups Have A Better Shot At Traction Thanks To Their ...
Editor?s note: Nabeel Hyatt?is an entrepreneur and Venture Partner at?Spark Capital. He writes about startups, growth, product development, and design on his?blog. Follow him on Twitter?@nabeel.
It?s no coincidence that the last 12 months have seen an explosion in human-computer interfaces (HCI).?Google Glass,?Oculus Rift,?Myo,?Leap Motion, and several others are still in stealth mode?and are quickly forming the new class of companies aiming to transform our computing environments. And unlike previous generations, this new group is generating the strong public and developer support, in some cases combined with millions in pre-orders, that are necessary to have a chance at breaking through.
We?ve been talking about augmented reality, virtual reality, and wearable computing for quite some time now. When I moved to Boston some 12 years ago, it was largely because of the MIT Media Lab, a hub of innovation that was focused on that crazy mixture of art and technology that they rightly believed would lead to the next stage of computing.
MIT Media Lab wearable computing group, circa 1997. (Photo by Sam Ogden)
While it was a fruitful era for ideas, and wonderfully geeky photo opportunities, it was a failure for a new generation of?global companies. There were advances thanks to eInk, Harmonix, Color Kinetics, Ambient Devices, iRobot, and others, but there have been?no truly iconic companies ? the Apples and IBMs ? that the first generation of computing created. More importantly, our experiences with computers stayed largely the same.
So what has changed that may make things different this time??Two small things, and one big thing.
1. Technology.?Core components, from accelerometers to displays, that used to be expensive and custom, are becoming commodities thanks to cell phones. Leap Motion, for example, hugely benefits from the hundreds of millions of cameras embedded in cell phones every year that have drastically reduced their price points.
2. Pitch and design.?With any startup, getting people to believe is the hardest thing, and it is doubly hard when you are pitching a new category of experiences. Thanks to many factors, from 3D printing to the video demo culture pioneered by Kickstarter, companies are learning how to make a broad market message of beautiful design and ease of use at their earliest stages.
3. Culture. Sometimes the timing is just right culturally.?While?much of the technology involved here is difficult, it is not unique to this time and place. I believe the current wave has as much to do with the last generation of gaming consoles and cellphones?than about cheaper components or a slick video.
That may sound strange, but I believe it was?Nolan Bushnell who said that every great technological advancement starts out seeming like a toy.
The first commercial peripheral to use your body was the Nintendo Power Glove back in 1989. It was a commercial failure, selling?100,000 units, grossing under $100 million, and driving the parent company into bankruptcy. It was geeky fun kids stuff, but the product wasn?t awesome.
Fast forward and the picture of the advances in HCI is much more like this.
The last five years have seen the sale of 120 million Wii?s, the widest-selling game platform in history. It has seen unique interfaces such as Guitar Hero and DDR used to create powerful, even transformative, experiences. It has seen the Xbox Kinect sell 8 million units in its first 60 days, making it the fastest-selling consumer electronics product in history.?And of course it has seen the Apple iOS devices introduce the world to flicking angered birds on touch interfaces.
In that context, the last five years starts to feel like it was softening the ground for a mainstream populace to accept new inputs. All of these advancements haven?t?just taught people to stand in front of their televisions or tap away at their screens. It is teaching people to expect more out of interacting with their computers.
And that?s enough to make one very optimistic about the next five years of computing and the hardware startups that will be building it.
Source: http://techcrunch.com/2013/03/17/hardware-startups/
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Live from Expand: Redesigning Mobile (video)
March 16, 2013 2:30 PM EDT
Yes, ladies and gents, it's time to talk mobile. We'll be sitting down with big wigs from some of the top companies in the space, including HTC's VP design Scott Croyle, Samsung's Design America's head of design studio Miloseski and Sprint's director of product development Ryan Sullivan.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile
Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/p53T4HTLPVg/
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Sunday, March 17, 2013
Saint Patrick's Day Irish stew
High-quality lamb makes all the difference in this stew. Bacon adds a smokey saltiness, and peppery parsnips, sweet carrots, and potatoes compliment the other flavors nicely.?
Enhance the flavors of a simple Irish stew by browning the lamb first and adding crispy bacon.
The Runaway Spoon
EnlargeLike many traditional dishes of the British Isles, my first taste of Irish stew was in the dining hall of my college at Oxford. And it wasn?t a particularly good experience. Tough meat, watery broth, soggy vegetables. But I never gave up on the notion; I just think I liked this dish in theory more than in concept. But a warming, hearty lamb and vegetable stew is just a plain good idea, so I stuck with it.
Skip to next paragraph Perre Coleman MagnessThe Runaway Spoon
Perre Magness has studied food and cooking around the world, mostly by eating, but also through serious study. Coursework at Le Cordon Bleu London and intensive courses in Morocco, Thailand and France has broadened her own culinary skill and palate. The kitchen of choice is at home, cooking like most people, experimenting with unique but practical ideas.
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I have read many Irish stew recipes over the years and they are all pretty simple and plain, which I think is a hallmark of Irish cuisine. And I?ve made many versions, too, but I always felt they needed a little oomph. So I?ve added some bacon for smoky saltiness and browned the meat for extra richness. Some of the impetus for sticking to the dish is that I now find beautiful pasture-raised, local lamb, and good meat makes all the difference. I love the contrast of peppery parsnips, and sweet carrots, and of course, no Irish Stew would be complete without potatoes.
Irish stew
Serves 8?
If you don?t find ready-to-use stew meat, ask the butcher counter to cube lamb shoulder or leg for you.
3 pounds lamb stew meat, in 2-inch cubes
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon coarsely ground black pepper
1 pound bacon
1 large yellow onion, finely diced
3 cloves garlic, finely minced
4 cups beef broth
3 bay leaves
6 sprigs fresh thyme
2 parsnips
3 carrots
2 yellow potatoes
chopped fresh parsley to garnish
Pat the lamb cubes dry with paper towels. Mix the flour, salt and pepper together in a large zip-top bag, then drop in the lamb and shake it around to coat each cube with flour.
Cut the bacon into small pieces and place in a large (5-quart) Dutch oven. Cook over medium high heat until the bacon is crispy. Remove the bacon to paper towels to drain using a slotted spoon. Let the bacon grease cool a bit, then very carefully pour it into a glass measuring jug. Carefully wipe out the pot, cleaning out any burned bits.
Return the pot to the stove and heat 1/4 cup of the bacon grease. Remove the lamb cubes from the bag, shaking off any excess flour and cook them in the bacon grease until browned on all sides. You will need to do this in batches, removing the browned pieces to a plate. If needed, add a little more bacon grease to the pot and heat it up between batches.
When all the lamb is browned and removed from the pot, add 2 more tablespoons of bacon grease and the chopped onions and cook over medium heat until the onions are soft and translucent. When the onions are soft, add 1/4 cup of water and scrape any browned bits from the bottom of the pot. Cover and cook until the onions are soft and caramelized, about 10 minutes. Add the garlic and cook an additional 2 minutes. Return the lamb and about 3/4 of the cooked bacon to pot. Pour in the beef broth, add the bay leaves and thyme and bring to a boil. Stir the stew well, reduce the heat to low, cover the pot and cook for 1-1/2 hours.
Peel the parsnips and carrots and cut into bite-sized chunks. Add to the simmering stew. Scrub the potatoes, but do not peel, and cut into nice chunks. Add these to the stew as well, give it all a good stir, cover the pot and cook for a further 30-40 minutes or until the potatoes, carrots and parsnips are tender.
At this point, the stew can be made up to a day ahead, cooled, covered and refrigerated. Reheat over medium just until warmed through. Fish out the bay leaves and thyme stems before serving.
Serve in big bowls, topped with the remaining bacon pieces and a sprinkle of fresh chopped parsley.
The Christian Science Monitor has assembled a diverse group of food bloggers. Our guest bloggers are not employed or directed by The Monitor and the views expressed are the bloggers' own and they are responsible for the content of their blogs and their recipes. All readers are free to make ingredient substitutions to satisfy their dietary preferences, including not using wine (or substituting cooking wine) when a recipe calls for it. To contact us about a blogger, click here.
Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/eUiDYt6F4vw/Saint-Patrick-s-Day-Irish-stew
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See Jupiter and moon pair up on St. Patrick's Day
Starry Night Software
On Sunday night, March 17, say farewell to the winter sky in the western twilight.
By Joe Rao, SPACE.com
On Sunday evening, revelers can cap their St. Patrick?s Day by enjoying a view of a rendezvous involving two of the brightest objects in the night sky: the moon and the planet Jupiter.?
About 45 minutes after sunset on Sunday, the eye-catching celestial duo will be visible in the southwest sky, roughly two-thirds up from the horizon to the point directly overhead (called the zenith).??
The moon will be a wide crescent at the time, 34 percent illuminated by the sun, and will sit below Jupiter. At its closest pass ? which will occur at around 10:30 p.m. local daylight time along the U.S. East Coast, and around 7 p.m. local time for the West Coast ? Earth's natural satellite will be just 2 degrees from the giant planet. (For reference, your clenched fist held at arm's length measures about 10 degrees.)
After its closest approach, the moon, moving at its own apparent diameter per hour, will appear to slowly move away from Jupiter to the east (left). [Amazing Night Sky Photos by Stargazers (March 2013)]
Even without the moon, Jupiter readily attracts attention. It?s the brightest "star" of the night, coming into view high in the southwest during the early stages of twilight. The first-magnitude star Aldebaran flickers into view next, about 5 degrees to the lower left of Jupiter, its orange color helping it to stand out from the deepening dark-blue sky.
Last to appear are the famous Pleiades and Hyades star clusters as the sky darkens from purple to black.? The entire array of the moon, planet, bright star and star clusters sits within the constellation of Taurus (The Bull).
Binoculars are perfect for observing the whole Taurus get-together. Even the most ordinary pair will show dozens of Pleiades and Hyades stars, and at least one, two, or three of Jupiter?s four bright Galilean moons (Ganymede, Callisto, Io and Europa).
Be sure to check out Jupiter on the evening of March 24, when any small telescope will show it closely flanked above and below by two seventh-magnitude background stars in Taurus, masquerading as an extra pair of renegade Galilean satellites. ??
In a telescope, Jupiter is best observed during early evening when it?s still high and its image reasonably calm. Viewing at such times shows the king of planets as a great big belted ball with tantalizing glimpses of detail.?
As the evening grows late, the whole assemblage wheels lower in the west and sets soon after midnight.
Editor's note:?If you snap an amazing photo of Jupiter and the moon in the night sky, or any other celestial object, and you'd like to share for a possible story or image gallery, please send images and comments, including location information, to managing editor Tariq Malik at?spacephotos@space.com
Joe Rao serves as an instructor and guest lecturer at New York's Hayden Planetarium. He writes about astronomy for The?New York Times and other publications, and he is also an on-camera meteorologist for News 12 Westchester, New York.?Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook?or?Google+.?Originally published on?SPACE.com.
Copyright 2013 SPACE.com, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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Cypriots' president defends bailout deal
People queue to use an ATM machine outside of a Laiki Bank branch in Larnaca, Cyprus, Saturday, March 16, 2013. Many rushed to cooperative banks which are open Saturdays in Cyprus after learning that the terms of a bailout deal that the cash-strapped country hammered out with international lenders includes a one-time levy on bank deposits. The move, decided in an extraordinary meeting of the finance ministers of the 17-nation eurozone in the early hours Saturday, is a major departure from established policies. Analysts have warned that making depositors take a hit threatens to undermine investors' confidence in other weaker eurozone economies and might possibly lead to bank runs. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)
People queue to use an ATM machine outside of a Laiki Bank branch in Larnaca, Cyprus, Saturday, March 16, 2013. Many rushed to cooperative banks which are open Saturdays in Cyprus after learning that the terms of a bailout deal that the cash-strapped country hammered out with international lenders includes a one-time levy on bank deposits. The move, decided in an extraordinary meeting of the finance ministers of the 17-nation eurozone in the early hours Saturday, is a major departure from established policies. Analysts have warned that making depositors take a hit threatens to undermine investors' confidence in other weaker eurozone economies and might possibly lead to bank runs. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)
People queue to use an ATM machine outside of a Laiki Bank branch in Larnaca, Cyprus, Saturday, March 16, 2013. Many rushed to cooperative banks which are open Saturdays in Cyprus after learning that the terms of a bailout deal that the cash-strapped country hammered out with international lenders includes a one-time levy on bank deposits. The move, decided in an extraordinary meeting of the finance ministers of the 17-nation eurozone in the early hours Saturday, is a major departure from established policies. Analysts have warned that making depositors take a hit threatens to undermine investors' confidence in other weaker eurozone economies and might possibly lead to bank runs. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)
An elderly man passes by a cooperative bank in Limassol, Cyprus, Saturday, March 16, 2013. Many rushed to the cooperative banks which are open Saturdays in Cyprus, after learning that the terms of a bailout deal that the cash-strapped country hammered out with international lenders, includes a one-time levy on bank deposits. The move, decided in an extraordinary meeting of the finance ministers of the 17-nation euro zone in the early hours Saturday, is a major departure from established policies. (AP Photo/Pavlos Vrionides)
NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) ? Cyprus' president said Saturday that the decision to force bank depositors to share the burden of a ?10 billion ($13 billion) bailout package from its European partners and the International Monetary Fund was done to save his country from financial ruin.
Despite that assurance, nervous depositors rushed to ATM machines in Cyprus on Saturday to drain their accounts.
President Nicos Anastasiades said Cyprus had little option but to accept the bailout deal, which imposes a levy on the country's bank deposits ? an unprecedented step in the eurozone crisis. Without it, he said, Cyprus' banking system would have collapsed on Tuesday.
Anastasiades said that's when the European Central Bank would have stopped providing emergency funding to Cyprus' troubled banks. Such a collapse would have driven the country to bankruptcy and possibly out of the eurozone, he said.
The president said the deposit levy rescues banks, keeps the country's debt load manageable, and avoids the risk of deeper pay cuts and tax hikes.
"We're not aiming to gloss over the situation," he said in his first public statement after the EU-IMF meeting in Brussels agreed on the bailout early Saturday. "The solution taken may be painful, but it was the only one" worth taking.
News of the levy stunned the public because Anastasiades and his top ministers had vehemently rejected any suggestions of going after deposits to save Cyprus' banks that lost billions on bad Greek debt.
Lines formed at many ATMs as people scrambled to pull as much of their money out as they could, a development that Cypriot and European officials feared would happen. Another key concern was that the bailout would buckle investor confidence in Cyprus and other weaker eurozone economies.
Trying to head off a full-blown bank run when banks reopen on Tuesday after the long holiday weekend, Bank of Cyprus Group chief Andreas Artemis called for "calm and a level-headed assessment" of the situation.
"Developments are painful and startling. That's why the public's concern is completely understandable and justified," he said.
The levy is expected to raise ?5.8 billion.
European officials said people with less than ?100,000 in their accounts will have to pay a one-time tax of 6.75 percent, those owning more money will lose 9.9 percent. Cypriot bank officials said that depositors can access all their money, except the amount set by the levy.
Details of how the levy would be implemented remain sketchy. For instance, it's unclear how joint bank accounts would be calculated.
Germany's Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble called the levy part of the "fair" distribution of the bailout's burden. "The Cypriot banking sector will be significantly reduced to a sustainable level and business model," he said.
The Cypriot bailout still needs parliamentary approval by euro area countries, and Schaeuble said it will be brought before the German parliament in the second half of April.
But Cypriots continued to withdraw cash from ATMs until the machines ran out on Saturday, unsure what or how much would be taxed. The country's cooperative banks also shut their doors after depositors scurried in hopes of protecting their savings.
Christos Demetriades, 58, who milled outside a closed Nicosia cooperative bank branch, said: "Politicians and senior bank bosses have covered each other's backs for years. Now it's ordinary people who are paying the price and are being punished."
One disgruntled customer at a branch in the southern coastal town of Limassol briefly parked his tractor in front of its shut doors in a show of frustration.
Spain's economic ministry said Saturday that the Cyprus deal would not set a pattern for other countries. "This is a specific agreement for Cyprus, with its complex situation and an oversized banking sector, a ministry statement said. "Because of this, Cyprus' situation and this agreement are not transferrable to any other country in the eurozone."
Cypriot lawmakers are scheduled to vote on the levy on Sunday in what is likely to be a stormy session in Parliament.
____
Associated Press writers Frank Jordans in Berlin and Sarah Di Lorenzo in in Paris contributed.
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Saturday, March 16, 2013
Sandwalk: Anonymous Nature Editors Respond to ENCODE Criticism
There are now been four papers in the scientific literature criticizing the way ENCODE leaders hyped their data by claiming that most of our genome is functional [see Ford Doolittle's Critique of ENCODE ]. There have been dozens of blog postings on the same topic.The worst of the papers were published by Nature?this includes the abominable summary that should never have made it past peer review (Encode Consortium, 2012).
The lead editor on the ENCODE story was Brendon Maher and he promoted the idea that the ENCODE results showed that most of our genome has a function [ENCODE: The human encyclopaedia]
The consortium has assigned some sort of function to roughly 80% of the genome, including more than 70,000 ?promoter? regions ? the sites, just upstream of genes, where proteins bind to control gene expression ? and nearly 400,000 ?enhancer? regions that regulate expression of distant genes.But the very next day (Sept. 6, 2012) Brendon Maher got wind of the controversy and started to defend Nature's decisions. He quoted several bloggers, including me [Fighting about ENCODE and junk]. His main defense was ...
ENCODE was conceived of and practised as a resource-building exercise. In general, such projects have a huge potential impact on the scientific community, but they don?t get much attention in the media. The journal editors and authors at ENCODE collaborated over many months to make the biggest splash possible and capture the attention of not only the research community but also of the public at large.In other words, the editors of Nature thought about this for several months and then decided that it was okay to attack junk DNA because that would make a big splash in the media.
A few days ago (March 12, 2013) the editors of Nature published another response to criticism [Form and Function]. These editors don't identify themselves.
Let's see how they do by analyzing each part of the editorial. Let's begin with the subtitle ...
Although debate over scientific definitions is important, it risks obscuring the real issues.The real issues are whether most of our genome is functional or not and whether the ENCODE leaders understood the concept of noise and chance associations. I hope that Nature realizes that it really screwed up by allowing stupid definitions of function to obscure those issues, giving rise to the idea that junk DNA was debunked. Let's see if they understand where they went wrong.
Science is at the mercy of its language. It can be difficult for researchers to communicate what most excites them about the beauty, intricacy and complexity of the natural world. And when words fail, debates and arguments often arise.They got that part right. The immediate reaction to the Nature papers is that the journal made a big mistake by using a silly definition of "function"?one that was bound to be misinterpreted by everyone. Many of us thought (and still think) that the authors actually believed that most of the genome is functional in the classic sense. In other words, it's not at all clear that there's a difference between the ENCODE definition of function and the definition used by everyone else, at least in the minds of the ENCODE leaders.One enduring debate has been resurrected by ENCODE, the Encyclopedia of DNA Elements ? an ongoing multimillion-dollar project to catalogue the functional elements of the human genome. A headline-grabbing claim, first made in this publication last September, was that roughly 80% of human DNA had been ascribed some ?biochemical function? thanks to the efforts of more than 440 scientists (The ENCODE Project Consortium Nature 489, 57?74; 2012).
That percentage is remarkably high, in part because of a broad definition of ?function?. The ENCODE team used the term to include binding by a regulatory protein, or transcription into RNA ? activities identified as widespread. But almost immediately, other scientists began to take this definition to task, calling it essentially meaningless.
Some background is useful. Genomes vary dramatically in size ? sometimes irrespective of the complexity of the organism. Take, for example, the genome of the marbled lungfish (Protopterus aethiopicus), which clocks in at an excessive 133 billion base pairs. That of the puffer?fish (Takifugu rubripes), by contrast, sports only 365 million.This is Ford Doolittle's critique but there are many others. Clearly, it's important to bring up this issue (variations in C-value) when discussing the possibility of junk DNA. I don't recall that this discussion took place in the original Nature papers or editorial comments. In fact. I don't recall any substantive discussion of junk or the possibility of "non-function" in any of the paper I read. Can anyone else find a reference?For the ENCODE paper to suggest that humans have little genomic redundancy implies that the 3.2-billion-base-pair human genome hits a sweet spot in efficiency. Critics suggested, sometimes sharply, that this was both anthropocentric and ignorant of how evolution shapes the genome. Much of human DNA is non-functional, they insisted. It is a relic of history, garbled by mutation and essentially junk.
The most recent formal critique, published this week, suggests that similar analyses on organisms with very large and very small genomes would probably find the same density of functional elements (W. F. Doolittle Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA http://doi.org/kr3; 2013). This investigation has yet to be done.
The debate over ENCODE?s definition of function retreads some old battles, dating back perhaps to geneticist Susumu Ohno?s coinage of the term junk DNA in the 1970s. The phrase has had a polarizing effect on the life-sciences community ever since, despite several revisions of its meaning. Indeed, many news reports and press releases describing ENCODE?s work claimed that by showing that most of the genome was ?functional?, the project had killed the concept of junk DNA. This claim annoyed both those who thought it a premature obituary and those who considered it old news.There is a valuable and genuine debate here. To define what, if anything, the billions of non-protein-coding base pairs in the human genome do, and how they affect cellular and system-level processes, remains an important, open and debatable question. Ironically, it is a question that the language of the current debate may detract from. As Ewan Birney, co-director of the ENCODE project, noted on his blog: ?Hindsight is a cruel and wonderful thing, and probably we could have achieved the same thing without generating this unneeded, confusing discussion on what we meant and how we said it? (see go.nature.com/8xorge).
Excellent! I'm glad to see that the editors are admitting some responsibility even though they are shifting most of the blame to "big talker" Ewan Birney and not to their reviewers (or themselves). On the other hand, to claim that junk DNA is still an "open and debatable question" seems like a bit of a cop-out. Yes, it's "debatable" but the proponents of junk DNA will probably win any debates. Rumors of the death of junk DNA are not "premature" and they are not "old news." Most of our genome is junk whether the ENCODE leaders believe it or not. It's a fact even if the editors of Nature are skeptical. Any knowledgeable reviewer would have said the same thing. They would have pointed out that the discussions of function have to include all of the data suggesting that most of these sites are nothing nonfunctional noise. After all, we went through this same debate in 2007 when the preliminary ENCODE data was published. Ignoring this possibility is not good science. Good scientists think of ways their data could be falsified and they give appropriate credit to other interpretations that disagree with their own. It looks like the ENCODE scientists learned nothing in 2007 [see The ENCODE Data Dump and the Responsibility of Science Journalists for a discussion of what happened in 2007.]
We didn't see very much of that kind of good science in Nature last September and I'm still not seeing much of it here.
The ferocity of the criticism has no doubt been fuelled by dissatisfaction over ENCODE?s top-down, big-science approach and the large share of research funds that it has attracted. Many biologists have called the 80% figure more a publicity stunt than a statement of scientific fact. Nevertheless, ENCODE leaders say, the data resources that they have provided have been immensely popular. So far, papers that use the data have outnumbered those that take aim at the definition of function.If you read Dan Graur's critique you'll see that the data resources are difficult to use and that they are contaminated by an emphasis on function. I think most biologists would be happy if the huge amount of money spent on the project really did yield useful databases. That's by no means certain.
And just because a lot of people might be using the data is no excuse for the publicity hype that misled thousands of scientists and all of the general public. It will take a long tome to undo the damage caused by Nature (and Science) and the ENCODE leaders. Most people now believe that our genome is packed with important regulatory features and that junk DNA no longer exists. I would be more impressed with this editorial if they made it clear that such conclusions were not supported by the ENCODE data.
The debate sounds like a matter of definitional differences. But to dismiss it as semantics minimizes the importance of words and definitions, and of how they are used to engage in research and to communicate findings. ENCODE continues to collect data and to characterize what the 3.2 billion base pairs might be doing in our genome and whether that activity is important. If a better word than ?function? is needed to describe those activities, so be it. Suggestions on a postcard please.The editors are correct. This isn't just about semantics. Do they really need help in defining the abundant binding sites and transcripts that ENCODE found? If so, then clearly they haven't learned their lesson.
As Martin Hafner says in the second comment on the Nature website ...
'The English word to describe those activities you mention in your last paragraph is noise.'Funny that the editors never discuss this possibility, isn't it?
The ENCODE Project Consortium 2012. An integrated encyclopedia of DNA elements
in the human genome. Nature 489: 57-74. (E. Birney, corresponding author)
Source: http://sandwalk.blogspot.com/2013/03/anonymous-nature-editors-respond-to.html
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Thursday, March 14, 2013
Internet Marketing | The official AdsBehind blog!
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Source: http://www.adsbehind.com/blog/industry-news/internet-marketing-7/
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Wednesday, March 13, 2013
Remote clouds responsible for climate models' glitch in tropical rainfall
Mar. 11, 2013 ? It seems counterintuitive that clouds over the Southern Ocean, which circles Antarctica, would cause rain in Zambia or the tropical island of Java. But new research finds that one of the most persistent biases in global climate models -- a phantom band of rainfall just south of the equator that does not occur in reality -- is caused by poor simulation of the cloud cover thousands of miles farther to the south.
University of Washington atmospheric scientists hope their results help explain why global climate models mistakenly duplicate the inter-tropical convergence zone, a band of heavy rainfall in the northern tropics, on the other side of the equator. The study appears this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
"There have been tons of efforts to get the tropical precipitation right, but they have looked in the tropics only," said lead author Yen-Ting Hwang, a UW doctoral student in atmospheric sciences. She found the culprit in one of the most remote areas of the planet.
"What we found, and that was surprising to us, is the models tend to be not cloudy enough in the Southern Ocean so too much sunlight reaches the ocean surface and it gets too hot there," Hwang said. "People think of clouds locally, but we found that these changes spread into the lower latitudes."
Previous studies looking at the problem investigated tropical sea-surface temperatures, or ways to better represent tropical winds and clouds. But none managed to correctly simulate rainfall in the tropics -- an important region for global climate predictions, since small shifts in rainfall patterns can have huge effects on climate and agriculture.
"The rain bands are very sharp in this area," commented co-author Dargan Frierson, a UW associate professor of atmospheric sciences. "You go from some of the rainiest places on Earth to some of the driest in just a few hundred kilometers."
Recent theories suggest tropical rainfall might be linked to global processes. Hwang's research, funded by the National Science Foundation, looked for possible connections to ocean temperatures, air temperatures, winds and cloud cover.
"For the longest time we were expecting that it would be a combination of different factors," Frierson said, "but this one just stood out."
The paper shows that cloud biases over the Southern Ocean are the primary contributor to the double-rain band problem that exists in most modern climate models.
"It almost correlates perfectly," Hwang said. "The models that are doing better in tropical rainfall are the ones that have more cloud cover in the Southern Ocean."
Hwang will speak on her results in April to scientists at the World Climate Research Programme. The results have also been submitted for inclusion in the fifth report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which is expected to appear next year.
Most models don't generate enough low-level clouds over the perpetually stormy Southern Ocean, the authors found, so heat accumulates in the Southern Hemisphere.
"Basically hot air rises, and it rains where air rises. So it's kind of obvious that the rain is going to be over warmer ocean temperatures," Frierson said. "Our new thinking is that the heat spreads -- it's the warmth of the entire hemisphere that affects tropical rainfall."
In the short term, climate scientists can look for ways to improve the models to increase cloud cover over the Southern Ocean. Eventually, more powerful computers may permit models that are able to accurately simulate clouds over the entire planet.
"We have confidence in climate predictions outside the tropics, but tropical rainfall forecasts are much less certain," Frierson said. "We hope this work will lead to better rainfall forecasts in regions like equatorial Africa, where it's so important to have accurate predictions of future patterns."
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Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/most_popular/~3/4NGiIOsYVBk/130311151310.htm
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Source: http://www.dropoutside.com/replacement-windows-improve-home-energy-efficiency-and-value
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Tuesday, March 12, 2013
Local family loses cherished home - The Daily News of Newburyport
PLUM ISLAND ? Sharon Bresnahan stood on her neighbor?s deck, struggling to come to grips with the sight of her family?s house lying in ruins on the beach.
?It?s very upsetting,? Bresnahan said. ?It?s a family home that we?ve had for 44 years, and never in my wildest thoughts did I think it would be tipped over into the sea.?
The Bresnahan house at 31 Annapolis Way, where Sharon and her husband Steve lived, tumbled over the edge of the dune early Saturday morning after rolling waves and debris from other houses washed away the sand from underneath it and compromised its foundation.
Crews using heavy cranes and excavators demolished what remained shortly after the Saturday morning high tide receded, leaving behind only the memories of childhood summers spent at the family home.
Sharon?s mother Cecilia Azzarito bought the house in 1968, back when it was little more than a summer cottage. The family extensively renovated it over time, and it had an assessed value of $692,300 before it was demolished, according to Newbury tax records.
?We put a lot of money into it, and it?s more sentimental,? Bresnahan said. ?It?s where my roots are.?
The fate of the Bresnahan house, along with several others farther down the beach, would have been hard to predict a couple of years ago, when the homes were all protected by a dune tall enough that it obscured the view of the ocean for some residents. Over time, however, the erosion problem on Plum Island migrated southward, and the dune was steadily chewed back.
?It?s not a complete shock. For several years we?ve had this problem, but you still don?t expect it to happen,? Bresnahan said. ?You expect, ?OK, we got a blow but we?ll rebuild, we?ll fix it, we?ll make that foundation stronger,? but now it?s going to be demolished.?
The problem escalated into a full-on crisis over the past few months after a succession of storms washed away huge swaths of the beach and left the homes teetering closer and closer to the edge.
Plum Island homeowners have pleaded for help from state and federal agencies, but so far their calls have fallen on deaf ears.
?They?ve done nothing to help us, nothing,? Bresnahan said. ?Everything we?ve done to try to protect our homes has been out of our own pockets, no help from anyone.?
Prior to February?s blizzard, residents paid to have coir bags installed along the dune to protect their homes. The 40-foot-long sandbags formed a protective wall against the surf, but have taken a beating and weren?t able to save some of the vulnerable homes.
Bob Connors, who lives at 39 Annapolis Way, said Newbury officials and vulnerable homeowners have tried to prompt action from higher authorities but have often met resistance from environmental agencies and gotten bogged down in red tape.
For instance, earlier this week, each of the threatened homes down the beach received a letter from the state Department of Fisheries and Wildlife notifying them that their request to install coir bags at the base of the dune was being reviewed to ensure that the federally protected piping plover wouldn?t be affected by doing so.
?Issuance of an Order of Conditions approving the project is inconsistent with the interests of the [Wetlands Protection Act] and no work or other activities related to the subject filing should be conducted anywhere on this project site until the [Natural Heritage and Endangered Species Program] has completed its review,? the letter read.
For Plum Island residents who have already seen two houses plunge over the dune, a third demolished due to erosion damage and dozens of others left in imminent danger, this response was panned as tone deaf at best and insulting at worst.
?We?ve been asking for help, there?s been a major erosion problem for a long, long time, and the only thing they?re concerned about is their piping plovers,? Bresnahan said.
Bresnahan added that she hopes the latest turn of events may finally spur the government into action, but isn?t holding her breath.
?I would certainly hope so ? but I have no faith in the government right now, I have no faith whatsoever,? Bresnahan said. ?That they would let it come to this is unbelievable.?
Source: http://www.newburyportnews.com/local/x2109939468/Local-family-loses-cherished-home
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Research on the use of robots in the pediatric ward of an oncological hospital
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Public release date: 11-Mar-2013[ | E-mail |
Share ] Contact: Ana Herrera
oic@uc3m.es
Carlos III University of Madrid
This press release is available in Spanish.
The MOnarCH project (Multi-Robot Cognitive Systems Operating in Hospitals), which involves researchers from approximately ten European companies and research centers, intends to introduce a set of robots that collaborate with medical personnel, relating with the children who are patients in the pediatric ward of the hospital of the Instituto Portugus de Oncologa de Lisboa (Portuguese Oncological Institute of Lisbon).
There are several cases that have shown that interacting with robots can be beneficial for certain patients. In the United Kingdom, for example, studies have explored the possibility of using social robots with autistic children. And in Japan, the robot known as Paro (which is shaped like a baby seal, with white fur and black eyes) has been successfully used to improve the state of mind of elderly people and to reduce stress among patients and their caregivers. In fact, it was used in some cases to treat the depression suffered by survivors of the earthquake and subsequent tsunami that devastated the northeast coast of Japan in March of 2011.
The objective of the MonarCH project is to further advance in this direction, making a significant qualitative leap forward. Rather than using a single robot, they will use several formats simultaneously. And instead of attending to a single patient, the fleet of robots will relate with all of the patients on the floor. "In addition, we intend to move forward in the development of robots that can carry on autonomously for long periods of time without the aid of their operators, which is something that at this point has not been achieved in such complex situations," comments the head of the project at UC3M, Miguel ngel Salichs, a full professor in the University's Systems Engineering and Automation Department.
The scientists in UC3M's Robotics Lab will be responsible for developing and programming all of the robots' behaviors that are related to interaction between robots and humans, whether it is with hospital personnel or with the children. "Some of these behaviors consist in establishing a conversation with users, providing information to the staff or even playing with the children, so the behaviors must be varied and they must allow the robots to adapt to the needs of each individual they are going to deal with," explains another Robotics Lab researcher, Vctor Gonzlez Pacheco.
Technological and social challenges
This project will entail both technological and social challenges, according to the researchers involved. From a sociological point of view, there are very few studies looking into relationships between humans and robots over the long term, which means that this project is the first that will help to understand the dynamics of the social interactions in situations where groups of robots cooperate with humans in work and hospital environments. Moreover, the project will serve to establish the first framework that will enable the establishment of a series of ethical considerations that must be taken into account in these situations.
Technologically speaking, MOnarCH presents a major challenge, because it takes these types of robots out of the laboratory and moves them into a real environment. Up until now, most of the research on social robotics has taken place in very controlled environments. "In this case," points out Professor Salichs, "the introduction of a group of autonomous social robots into surroundings with these characteristics is something new, and we hope that the project will help us to advance in the development of robots that are able to relate to people in complex situations and scenarios."
In order to achieve all of this, the researchers will have to work in various fields. In the first place, they will have to improve on the current perception techniques that are relevant to human-robot interaction. In addition, they will explore new interfaces for interacting with these machines and they will advance in the further development of those that are already in existence. They will also design, construct and program a series of robots that are capable of exhibiting social behaviors. Finally, they will develop a framework for the study and modeling of mixed human and robot societies, which will include a map of the different principles that must govern those societies, thus helping to establish the robots' rules of behavior.
The MOnarch project is part of the Seventh EU Framework Programme, which began just a few weeks ago, and which is projected to last for three years. This project will cost approximately 4.5 million euros, of which the EU will fund just over 3.3 million euros. A total of nine partners representing five different European countries are participating: Spain, with researchers from Universidad Carlos III of Madrid; Portugal, with scientists from the Instituto Superior Tcnico (Technical College), which heads the project, the hospital of the Instituto Portugus de Oncologa de Lisboa (Portuguese Oncological Institute of Lisbon), and the following companies: IDMind, Selftech and YDreams; Holland, with researchers from the University of Amsterdam; Sweden, with scientists from the University of Orebro; and Switzerland, with researchers from the Federal Engineering College of Lausanne.
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Public release date: 11-Mar-2013[ | E-mail |
Share ] Contact: Ana Herrera
oic@uc3m.es
Carlos III University of Madrid
This press release is available in Spanish.
The MOnarCH project (Multi-Robot Cognitive Systems Operating in Hospitals), which involves researchers from approximately ten European companies and research centers, intends to introduce a set of robots that collaborate with medical personnel, relating with the children who are patients in the pediatric ward of the hospital of the Instituto Portugus de Oncologa de Lisboa (Portuguese Oncological Institute of Lisbon).
There are several cases that have shown that interacting with robots can be beneficial for certain patients. In the United Kingdom, for example, studies have explored the possibility of using social robots with autistic children. And in Japan, the robot known as Paro (which is shaped like a baby seal, with white fur and black eyes) has been successfully used to improve the state of mind of elderly people and to reduce stress among patients and their caregivers. In fact, it was used in some cases to treat the depression suffered by survivors of the earthquake and subsequent tsunami that devastated the northeast coast of Japan in March of 2011.
The objective of the MonarCH project is to further advance in this direction, making a significant qualitative leap forward. Rather than using a single robot, they will use several formats simultaneously. And instead of attending to a single patient, the fleet of robots will relate with all of the patients on the floor. "In addition, we intend to move forward in the development of robots that can carry on autonomously for long periods of time without the aid of their operators, which is something that at this point has not been achieved in such complex situations," comments the head of the project at UC3M, Miguel ngel Salichs, a full professor in the University's Systems Engineering and Automation Department.
The scientists in UC3M's Robotics Lab will be responsible for developing and programming all of the robots' behaviors that are related to interaction between robots and humans, whether it is with hospital personnel or with the children. "Some of these behaviors consist in establishing a conversation with users, providing information to the staff or even playing with the children, so the behaviors must be varied and they must allow the robots to adapt to the needs of each individual they are going to deal with," explains another Robotics Lab researcher, Vctor Gonzlez Pacheco.
Technological and social challenges
This project will entail both technological and social challenges, according to the researchers involved. From a sociological point of view, there are very few studies looking into relationships between humans and robots over the long term, which means that this project is the first that will help to understand the dynamics of the social interactions in situations where groups of robots cooperate with humans in work and hospital environments. Moreover, the project will serve to establish the first framework that will enable the establishment of a series of ethical considerations that must be taken into account in these situations.
Technologically speaking, MOnarCH presents a major challenge, because it takes these types of robots out of the laboratory and moves them into a real environment. Up until now, most of the research on social robotics has taken place in very controlled environments. "In this case," points out Professor Salichs, "the introduction of a group of autonomous social robots into surroundings with these characteristics is something new, and we hope that the project will help us to advance in the development of robots that are able to relate to people in complex situations and scenarios."
In order to achieve all of this, the researchers will have to work in various fields. In the first place, they will have to improve on the current perception techniques that are relevant to human-robot interaction. In addition, they will explore new interfaces for interacting with these machines and they will advance in the further development of those that are already in existence. They will also design, construct and program a series of robots that are capable of exhibiting social behaviors. Finally, they will develop a framework for the study and modeling of mixed human and robot societies, which will include a map of the different principles that must govern those societies, thus helping to establish the robots' rules of behavior.
The MOnarch project is part of the Seventh EU Framework Programme, which began just a few weeks ago, and which is projected to last for three years. This project will cost approximately 4.5 million euros, of which the EU will fund just over 3.3 million euros. A total of nine partners representing five different European countries are participating: Spain, with researchers from Universidad Carlos III of Madrid; Portugal, with scientists from the Instituto Superior Tcnico (Technical College), which heads the project, the hospital of the Instituto Portugus de Oncologa de Lisboa (Portuguese Oncological Institute of Lisbon), and the following companies: IDMind, Selftech and YDreams; Holland, with researchers from the University of Amsterdam; Sweden, with scientists from the University of Orebro; and Switzerland, with researchers from the Federal Engineering College of Lausanne.
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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.
Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-03/ciuo-rot031113.php
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