Bacterial spare parts filter antibiotic residue from groundwater

May 21, 2013 ? Researchers at University of Cincinnati have developed and tested a solar-powered nano filter that is able to remove harmful carcinogens and antibiotics from water sources -- lakes and rivers -- at a significantly higher rate than the currently used filtering technology made of activated carbon.

They report their results today at the 113th General Meeting of the American Society for Microbiology.

Vikram Kapoor, environmental engineering doctoral student, and David Wendell, assistant professor of environmental engineering, report on their development and testing of the new filter made of two bacterial proteins that was able to absorb 64 percent of antibiotics in surface waters vs. about 40 percent absorbed by the currently used filtering technology made of activated carbon. One of the more exciting aspects of this filter is the ability to reuse the antibiotics that are captured.

"The presence of antibiotics in surface waters is harmful in that it breeds resistant bacteria and kills helpful microorganisms, which can degrade aquatic environments and food chains. In other words, infectious agents like viruses and illness-causing bacteria become more numerous while the health of streams and lakes degrades," says Kapoor.

The newly developed nano filters, each much smaller in diameter than a human hair, could potentially have a big impact on both human health and on the health of the aquatic environment (since the presence of antibiotics in surface waters can also affect the endocrine systems of fish, birds and other wildlife).

The filter employs one of the very elements that enable drug-resistant bacteria to be so harmful, a protein pump called AcrB.

"These pumps are an amazing product of evolution. They are essentially selective garbage disposals for the bacteria. Our innovation was turning the disposal system around. So, instead of pumping out, we pump the compounds into the proteovesicles," says Kapoor

The operation of the new filtering technology is powered by direct sunlight vs. the energy-intensive needs for the operation of the standard activated carbon filter.

The filtering technology also allows for antibiotic recycling.

"After these new nano filters have absorbed antibiotics from surface waters, the filters could be extracted from the water and processed to release the drugs, allowing them to be reused. On the other hand, carbon filters are regenerated by heating to several hundred degrees, which burns off the antibiotics," says Kapoor.

The new protein filters are highly selective. Currently used activated carbon filters serve as "catch alls," filtering a wide variety of contaminants. That means that they become clogged more quickly with natural organic matter found in rivers and lakes.

"So far, our innovation promises to be an environmentally friendly means for extracting antibiotics from the surface waters that we all rely on. It also has potential to provide for cost-effective antibiotic recovery and reuse," says Kapoor.

The researchers have tested the solar-powered nano filter against activated carbon, the present treatment technology standard outside the lab, in water collected from the Little Miami River. Using only sunlight as the power source, they were able to selectively remove the antibiotics ampicillin and vancomycin, commonly used human and veterinary antibiotics, and the nucleic acid stain, ethidium bromide, which is a potent carcinogen to humans and aquatic animals.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_environment/~3/63s9OA1mO5c/130521194001.htm

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Boy Scout leaders convene in Texas to vote on gay ban

GRAPEVINE, Texas (AP) ? The Boy Scouts of America has started its meeting in which members of its national council are to decide whether to change the group's long-standing ban on openly gay boys.

BSA is holding its annual meeting in Grapevine, Texas, near its suburban Dallas headquarters. About 1,400 voting members on the council are expected to vote Thursday on a proposed resolution that would allow gay Scouts, while leaving in place a ban on gay leaders.

Discussion of the policy has split conservatives who denounce the proposal and gay-rights supporters who say they welcome the possible change but want the ban on adult leaders to be lifted as well.

About two dozen people calling on members to vote "no" stood outside the resort, while supporters of the change met across the street.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/boy-scout-leaders-vote-lifting-gay-ban-115130907.html

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Griffin Technology Universal Remote for Android for $30 + free shipping

As one of its daily deals, Best Buy offers the Griffin Technology Beacon Universal Remote for Android Devices, model no. GC30004, for $29.99 with free shipping. That's the lowest total price we could find by $3, although most retailers charge over $40. This Bluetooth remote connects a compatible Android device using OS 2.3.3 or later with your home entertainment system. It requires 4 AA batteries, included. Deal ends today.

Source: http://dealnews.com/Griffin-Technology-Universal-Remote-for-Android-for-30-free-shipping/729726.html?iref=rss-dealnews-editors-choice

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Microsoft touts Xbox One as all-in-1 entertainment

Kareem Choudhry, left, development manager for Microsoft Corp.'s Kinect motion-sensing device for the Xbox, demonstrates the level of detail in the camera of the new Kinect for the next-generation Xbox One entertainment and gaming console system to a visiting journalist, right, during a demonstration, Tuesday, May 21, 2013, in Redmond, Wash. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

Kareem Choudhry, left, development manager for Microsoft Corp.'s Kinect motion-sensing device for the Xbox, demonstrates the level of detail in the camera of the new Kinect for the next-generation Xbox One entertainment and gaming console system to a visiting journalist, right, during a demonstration, Tuesday, May 21, 2013, in Redmond, Wash. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

A group of visiting journalists try out the improved motion-detecting capabilities of the new Kinect controller for Microsoft's next-generation Xbox One entertainment and gaming console system, Tuesday, May 21, 2013, in Redmond, Wash. The new Kinect, which will come standard with the Xbox One can also see users in total darkness and has a wider field of view than the previous Kinect device in use with the Xbox 360. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

Photographers crowd around Microsoft Corp.'s next-generation Xbox One entertainment and gaming console system after it was officially revealed, Tuesday, May 21, 2013, at an event in Redmond, Wash. It's been eight years since the launch of the Xbox 360. The original Xbox debuted in 2001, and its high-definition successor premiered in 2005. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

Don Mattrick, president of interactive entertainment business for Microsoft Corp., speaks after unveiling the next-generation Xbox One entertainment and gaming console system, Tuesday, May 21, 2013, at an event in Redmond, Wash. It's been eight years since the launch of the Xbox 360. The original Xbox debuted in 2001, and its high-definition successor premiered in 2005. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

A controller for Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox One entertainment and gaming console system is on display after its unveiling Tuesday, May 21, 2013, at an event in Redmond, Wash. The Xbox One, a next-generation entertainment console that promises to be the one system households will need for games, television, movies and other entertainment, will go on sale later this year. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

REDMOND, Wash. (AP) ? Microsoft thinks it has the one.

The company unveiled the Xbox One, an entertainment console that wants to be the one system households will need for games, television, movies, sports and other entertainment. It will go on sale later this year, for an undisclosed price.

For the past two years, Microsoft's Xbox 360 has outsold its rivals. But it's been eight years since that machine came out, and Microsoft is the last of the three major console makers to unveil a new system. In those eight years, Apple launched the iPhone and the iPad, "FarmVille" rose and fell and tablets began to threaten desktop computers, changing how people interact with games and beyond.

Now, the stakes are high as Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo are all using their latest machines not only to draw gamers but also to command the living room. The goal is to extend their reach beyond loyal legions of hardcore gamers and to become as important to our lives at home as smartphones have become to our lives on the go.

Don Mattrick, Microsoft's president of interactive entertainment business, said the company has spent the past four years working on an "all-in-one home entertainment system."

At an hour-long unveiling at the company's Redmond, Wash., headquarters on Tuesday, Microsoft executives used voice controls to switch back and forth seamlessly between watching live TV, listening to music, playing a movie and browsing the Internet ? all while running apps for stuff like fantasy football and Skype chats on the side of the screen.

"It really extends the home entertainment experience," Gartner analyst Brian Blau said.

He said the console seems to appeal to "more than just a core gamer in the family" and should be of interest to all types of audiences, from sports players to TV viewers to those who are "social and want to share things."

The Xbox One unveiling follows Nintendo Co.'s launch of the Wii U in November and Sony Corp.'s tease in February of the upcoming PlayStation 4. Each of the new consoles has shifted away from simply serving as gaming machines, as they incorporate streaming media apps and social networking features.

People will be able to connect their cable or satellite set-top box and watch TV through the Xbox One. It will have its own channel guide and allow viewers to change channels by voice command.

Senior Vice President Yusuf Mehdi demonstrated how the console switched quickly between channels after saying show names such as "Mary and Martha" or commands like "watch MTV." His voice command of "What's on HBO?" brought up the channel guide for HBO.

"No more memorizing channels or hunting for the remote control," Mehdi said.

The interface for the TV goes well beyond the functionality in the Wii U, which still requires users to press buttons to change the input source on the TV. Xbox One seamlessly flipped between games, movies and TV shows with voice commands.

In addition to the console, Microsoft unveiled a new version of its camera-based Kinect system with better motion and voice detection, including the ability to recognize faces, tell if you're smiling or talking and gauge your heart rate. In a demonstration, the new sensor detected up to seven people in front of it. Microsoft said the new Kinect will be included with the Xbox One and is deeply integrated into the system, but it won't necessarily always be watching users in their living rooms.

"There's the ability for you to manage the privacy settings so you can turn it off," Marc Whitten, Microsoft's chief product officer of interactive entertainment business, said in an interview in his office after Tuesday's presentation. "Just like the 360, the biggest thing for us is that you are in control of your privacy."

The company also introduced a more ergonomic Xbox controller, with a slightly different layout from the Xbox 360 controller and trigger buttons that vibrate. The new console will also add the ability to play Blu-ray discs, matching what Sony has in its older PlayStation 3.

The Xbox One won't require a constant connection to the Internet, but having it will be useful for many of the gaming and entertainment features. The Xbox has been popular largely because of its Xbox Live service, which lets users play games online with other players with annual plans that cost as much as $60 a year.

"The box wants to connect to the Internet," Whitten said. "That said, we understand the Internet is flakey. It doesn't always work. We want to make sure you can still play your games, watch movies and watch TV if the Internet is down."

Despite talk that Microsoft might restrict the use of games previously owned by others, the company confirmed that the Xbox One will indeed play used games, but it didn't provide details on how that would work. It said games for the Xbox 360 won't work on the new system because the underlying technology is different, though the company said it will continue to make games for the older machine. Whitten said the Xbox 360 "is going to be incredibly vibrant for some time to come."

Among the games previewed for Xbox One were the military shooter "Call of Duty: Ghosts" from Activision Blizzard Inc., soccer extravaganza "FIFA 14" from Electronic Arts Inc. and racing simulator "Forza Motorsport 5" and time bender "Quantum Break," both from Microsoft Game Studios. Microsoft said more games will be shown at next month's E3 video game conference in Los Angeles.

The company said there will be more than 15 games available exclusively on the Xbox One in its first year, eight of them new franchises. In recent years, the Xbox has been the exclusive home to such popular gaming franchises as sci-fi shooter "Halo" and alien shoot-'em-up "Gears of War."

Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter said Tuesday's presentation was more general than what Microsoft will likely give at E3, where games will be central as thousands of game industry insiders, bloggers and journalists gather for the annual industry conference.

"They didn't focus on games," he said. "They focused on everything else."

That everything else includes a multiyear agreement between Microsoft and the National Football League to develop new interactive viewing experiences for pro football games through such products as the Xbox One and Microsoft's Surface tablet computer. Fans will be able to watch games, chat with other fans, view statistics, access highlights in real time and gather fantasy information about players and teams ? all on a single screen. For those who prefer multiple screens, fans can get an even deeper experience on mobile devices such as tablets.

Microsoft is also branching into creating original content beyond games, following the trend of other technology companies such as Amazon.com Inc. and Netflix Inc. Director Steven Spielberg will produce a TV series based on the "Halo" games.

The original Xbox debuted in 2001, and its high-definition successor premiered in 2005. The Xbox represents a small fraction of Microsoft's overall revenue, but it is an important consumer-facing business for Microsoft and offers a way to direct traffic to other Microsoft-owned services, including Skype. Microsoft's stock fell 23 cents, or less than 1 percent, to close Tuesday at $34.85.

Nintendo kicked off the next generation of gaming in November with the launch of the Wii U, the successor to the popular Wii system. The Wii U features an innovative tablet-like controller, though its graphics is on par with the previous-generation Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3. Nintendo said the console sold just 3.45 million units by the end of March, well below expectations.

Sony was next, teasing plans for its upcoming PlayStation 4 ? without showing the actual box ? at a February event in New York. The reaction to that console, which featured richer graphics and more social features, was mixed. The PS4 is expected by the holidays.

Microsoft didn't waste any time showing off the Xbox One console, new Kinect sensor and Xbox controller at the beginning of Tuesday's presentation.

___

Barbara Ortutay reported from New York. AP Business Writer Ryan Nakashima in Los Angeles and AP Pro Football Writer Barry Wilner in Boston contributed to this story.

___

Online:

http://www.xbox.com

___

Follow AP Entertainment Writer Derrik J. Lang on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/derrikjlang

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/495d344a0d10421e9baa8ee77029cfbd/Article_2013-05-21-Games-Xbox/id-18d82affeb74480791898494086c3e0c

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Former Rockstar Producer Considers the Challenges Facing Home ...

Believes that gaming needs to push itself artistically

The games industry is undoubtedly in flux, with Nintendo putting in motion plans to boost the sales performance of the Wii U, while Sony and Microsoft prepare for the challenge of releasing their own systems. When you consider the rise of alternative gaming platforms, such as the phenomenally successful iOS and Android offerings on various devices, games development has arguably never been in such a period of transition.

Jeremy Pope is a man with a rounded perspective, having worked as a producer on major Rockstar titles in the past, while now he heads up a mobile gaming start-up. One area he addressed when speaking to gamesindustry.biz was a perceived lack of forward-progression in games from an artistic perspective. Examples are around of games trying innovative ideas, of course, but Pope feels that on a wider scale there needs to be a rethink of development priorities.

I do agree that we need to be pushing ourselves [as an industry]. With any storytelling medium or any medium at all, you want to have conflict because that's how you can generate interest, and oftentimes the simplest or most base way to do that is through violence that isn't necessarily tied into a deeper, more meaningful story. I think it's often easier to do violence than it is to generate meaningful, interesting conflict through nonviolent ways. I would agree in that sense that we need to push ourselves and get away from sequels and rehashing, and taking what technology affords us and using that as a primary means to justify another rehash; in other words, we're just souping up what's already been done.

Pope also addressed the renewed pressure on violent games from outside of the industry, but defended those such as his former employer, which is so well known for the GTA series. He argued that the games industry lacks a single voice or "great ambassador" to defend itself against such criticism.

In terms of home consoles, meanwhile, Pope outlined a believe that the coming generation will prove a significant challenge for the major players, and that they might not all make it to another system.

I think it's a challenging time to be a console maker, or at least one of the big three. When I think about why they have arrived at the position they have, so much of it has to do with the developer ecosystem. This is why Apple has been successful, because they have an army of developers making apps for them, because they've made it easy to do that. You have so many people who have left console development because it's become so expensive, so time-consuming and only the major players can partake, which means you get projects that aren't as creative and projects where you aren't as involved because you're a smaller cog in the machine. I think that's going to be really hard for them to get those people back.

...I do think there will be a contraction in the mobile industry because there have been so many people jumping into it, but I think a lot of those people are sort of gone for good; they are going to put some of their time and energy into other things like Ouya or Steam Box... It's going to be very challenging for Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo. I wouldn't be surprised if we see by the next generation some consolidation of some sort - it seems hard to fathom that we're going to have these three big players again and again with the way everything is shaking out.

This does seem to be a common refrain for some analysts, that the market won't support all three major players in future years. The sales success ? or otherwise ? of the Wii U and its contemporaries in the next few years will undoubtedly shape company's fates.

What do you think of these comments on the industry's various challenges? Let us know in the comments below.

Source: http://www.nintendolife.com/news/2013/05/former_rockstar_producer_considers_the_challenges_facing_home_consoles

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Practice makes perfect? Not so much, new research finds

May 20, 2013 ? Turns out, that old "practice makes perfect" adage may be overblown. New research led by Michigan State University's Zach Hambrick finds that a copious amount of practice is not enough to explain why people differ in level of skill in two widely studied activities, chess and music.

In other words, it takes more than hard work to become an expert. Hambrick, writing in the research journal Intelligence, said natural talent and other factors likely play a role in mastering a complicated activity.

"Practice is indeed important to reach an elite level of performance, but this paper makes an overwhelming case that it isn't enough," said Hambrick, associate professor of psychology.

The debate over why and how people become experts has existed for more than a century. Many theorists argue that thousands of hours of focused, deliberate practice is sufficient to achieve elite status.

Hambrick disagrees.

"The evidence is quite clear," he writes, "that some people do reach an elite level of performance without copious practice, while other people fail to do so despite copious practice."

Hambrick and colleagues analyzed 14 studies of chess players and musicians, looking specifically at how practice was related to differences in performance. Practice, they found, accounted for only about one-third of the differences in skill in both music and chess.

So what made up the rest of the difference?

Based on existing research, Hambrick said it could be explained by factors such as intelligence or innate ability, and the age at which people start the particular activity. A previous study of Hambrick's suggested that working memory capacity -- which is closely related to general intelligence -- may sometimes be the deciding factor between being good and great.

While the conclusion that practice may not make perfect runs counter to the popular view that just about anyone can achieve greatness if they work hard enough, Hambrick said there is a "silver lining" to the research.

"If people are given an accurate assessment of their abilities and the likelihood of achieving certain goals given those abilities," he said, "they may gravitate toward domains in which they have a realistic chance of becoming an expert through deliberate practice."

Hambrick's co-authors are Erik Altmann from MSU; Frederick Oswald from Rice University; Elizabeth Meinz from Southern Illinois University; Fernand Gobet from Brunel University in the United Kingdom; and Guillermo Campitelli from Edith Cowan University in Australia.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/living_well/~3/F3vIyII2ck4/130520163906.htm

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Vodafone keeps Verizon payout to make up for European slump

By Kate Holton and Paul Sandle

LONDON (Reuters) - Vodafone will reinvest a $3.2 billion dividend from its healthy U.S. arm to counter weakness in southern Europe that contributed to the largest ever quarterly fall in the group's main revenue measure.

The British firm is trying to decide whether to sell Verizon Wireless, its profitable U.S. unit in what could be the world's third largest deal to support its struggling core operations.

Majority owner Verizon Communications wants to buy Vodafone's 45 percent stake but Chief Executive Vittorio Colao once again refused to discuss the possibility, saying that he had nothing new to add.

"Verizon is performing well, it's an excellent investment," Colao told reporters on Tuesday as the company reported its results. "If there were anything to announce we would announce it."

The contribution from Verizon and cost cuts elsewhere helped Vodafone, the world's second largest mobile operator, to offset the increasing economic and regulatory pressures in Europe, to post profits slightly ahead of forecasts.

It was also affected by the timing of a leap year last year.

But Vodafone posted a 4.2 percent quarterly fall in organic service revenue, in line with forecasts, but worse than the 2.6 percent it recorded in the third quarter and the largest quarterly drop since the company started using the measurement in 2003.

The steepest falls came from southern Europe, where operators are cutting prices to win business from struggling consumers. In Italy service revenue fell 12.8 percent, while in Spain it was down 11.5 percent.

The group also took a 1.8 billion pounds impairment charge on its business in Italy, taking the total writedowns for Spain and Italy for the year to 7.7 billion pounds.

Vodafone is the second largest mobile operator in both those markets but it has lost share to cheaper rivals, as cash-strapped customers switched to low-cost operators or ditched their phones altogether.

In response it is trying to broaden its appeal by offering new services such as superfast broadband and pay-TV to better compete with rivals.

"We continue to face stiff headwinds from regulation, competition and the tough economic environment, particularly in Europe," Colao said. "In Italy there is a pretty aggressive price war taking place.

"However, we are well positioned with very broad geographic exposure, which includes attractive growth markets in India, Africa and the U.S."

SALES FALL

Overall the group posted its first fall in full-year sales since 2005, down 4.2 percent to 44.4 billion pounds ($67.6 billion), while core earnings fell 3.1 percent.

Full year margins on core earnings were down 0.5 percentage points on an organic basis to 29.9 percent, from 33.1 percent just three years ago. Margins at the U.S. business were at 50 percent, reflecting the market-leading position in the U.S. where it is adding customers at a rapid rate.

Having completed a three-year dividend program that guaranteed a highly attractive 7 percent growth per year, Vodafone scaled back its ambitions, pledging instead to maintain the ordinary dividend at least at current levels.

The increasing pressures on the core business, which serves 403 million customers from Europe to Asia, Australasia and Africa, meant the group decided to keep hold of its 2.1 billion pound dividend payment that will come from Verizon in June, rather than returning it to shareholders as normal.

"The situation in southern Europe remains one of disappointment, where a service revenue decline was compounded by a writedown in both Spain and Italy," said Richard Hunter, head of Equities at Hargreaves Lansdown Stockbrokers.

"The question of the Verizon stake remains at the top of the agenda for investors, although Vodafone's decision hitherto to stay put continues to reap measurable rewards, quite apart from the value of its stake appreciating by the year."

Shares in the group were flat in early trading on Tuesday, following a 28 percent rise since the beginning of the year to highs not seen since the dot com boom in 2001, on speculation that Vodafone could finally do a deal with Verizon.

Two people familiar with the matter have told Reuters that Verizon Communications is working on a possible $100 billion bid to take full control of Verizon Wireless, in a 50:50 cash and stock bid.

At $100 billion, a deal would be the third-largest acquisition ever, according to Thomson Reuters data, for a group that boasts 95.9 million retail connections.

Investors and analysts say conditions for a deal have never been better, with Verizon's high valuation, low interest rates and currency movements all in favor. Although a figure of $100 billion would be too low and is more likely an opening gambit. ($1 = 0.6570 British pounds)

(Editing by Anna Willard)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/vodafone-posts-biggest-fall-revenue-063457270.html

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What do we eat? New food map will tell us

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) ? Do your kids love chocolate milk? It may have more calories on average than you thought.

Same goes for soda.

Until now, the only way to find out what people in the United States eat and how many calories they consume has been government data, which can lag behind the rapidly expanding and changing food marketplace.

Researchers from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill are trying to change that by creating a gargantuan map of what foods Americans are buying and eating.

Part of the uniqueness of the database is its ability to sort one product into what it really is ? thousands of brands and variations.

Take the chocolate milk.

The government long has long classified chocolate milk with 2 percent fat as one item. But the UNC researchers, using scanner data from grocery stores and other commercial data, found thousands of different brands and variations of 2 percent chocolate milk and averaged them out. The results show that chocolate milk has about 11 calories per cup more than the government thought.

The researchers led by professor Barry Popkin at the UNC School of Public Health, are figuring out that chocolate milk equation over and over, with every single item in the grocery store. It's a massive project that could be the first evidence of how rapidly the marketplace is changing, and the best data yet on what exact ingredients and nutrients people are consuming.

That kind of information could be used to better target nutritional guidelines, push companies to cut down on certain ingredients and even help with disease research.

Just call it "mapping the food genome."

"The country needs something like this, given all of the questions about our food supply," says Popkin, the head of the UNC Food Research Program. "We're interested in improving the public's health and it really takes this kind of knowledge."

The project first came together in 2010 after a group of 16 major food companies pledged, as part of first lady Michelle Obama's campaign to combat obesity, to reduce the calories they sell to the public by 1.5 trillion. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation agreed to fund a study to hold the companies accountable, eventually turning to UNC with grants totaling $6.7 million.

Aided by supercomputers on campus, Popkin and his team have taken existing commercial databases of food items in stores and people's homes, including the store-based scanner data of 600,000 different foods, and matched that information with the nutrition facts panels on the back of packages and government data on individuals' dietary intake.

The result is an enormous database that has taken almost three years so far to construct and includes more detail than researchers have ever had on grocery store items ? their individual nutritional content, who is buying them and their part in consumers' diets.

The study will fill gaps in current data about the choices available to consumers and whether they are healthy, says Susan Krebs-Smith, who researches diet and other risk factors related to cancer at the National Cancer Institute.

Government data, long the only source of information about American eating habits, can have a lag of several years and neglect entire categories of new types of products ? Greek yogurt or energy drinks, for example.

With those significant gaps, the government information fails to account for the rapid change now seen in the marketplace. Now more than ever, companies are reformulating products on the fly as they try to make them healthier or better tasting.

While consumers may not notice changes in the ingredient panel on the back of the package, the UNC study will pick up small variations in individual items and also begin to be able to tell how much the marketplace as a whole is evolving.

"When we are done we will probably see 20 percent change in the food supply in a year," Popkin says. "The food supply is changing and no one really knows how."

For example, the researchers have found that there has been an increase in using fruit concentrate as a sweetener in foods and beverages because of a propensity toward natural foods, even though it isn't necessarily healthier than other sugars. While the soda and chocolate milk have more calories on average than the government thought, the federal numbers were more accurate on the calories in milk and cereals.

Popkin and his researchers are hoping their project will only be the beginning of a map that consumers, companies, researchers and even the government can use, breaking the data down to find out who is eating what and where they shop. Is there a racial divide in the brand of potato chips purchased, for example, and what could that mean for health? Does diet depend on where you buy your food ? the grocery store or the convenience store? How has the recession affected dietary intake?

"It's only since I've really started digging into this that I have realized how little we know about what we are eating," says Meghan Slining, a UNC nutrition professor and researcher on the project.

Steven Gortmaker, director of the Harvard School of Public Health Prevention Research Center, says the data could help researchers figure out how people are eating in certain communities and then how to address problems in those diets that could lead to obesity or disease.

"The more information we have, the more scientists can be brainstorming about what kinds of interventions or policy changes we could engage in," Gortmaker said.

But the information doesn't include restaurant meals and some prepared foods, about one-third of what Americans eat. If the project receives continued funding, those foods eventually could be added to the study, a prospect that would be made easier by pending menu labeling regulations that will force chain restaurants to post calories for every item.

Popkin and his researchers say that packaged foods have long been the hardest to monitor because of the sheer volume and rapid change in the marketplace.

The Healthy Weight Commitment Foundation, an industry group representing the 16 companies that made the pledge to reduce 1.5 trillion calories, says it will report this summer on how successful they've been, according to Lisa Gable, the group's president. The first results from Popkin's study aren't expected until later this year.

Marion Nestle, a New York University professor of nutrition, food studies and public health, says the data could be useful in pressuring companies to make more changes for the better. Companies often use "the research isn't there" as a defense against making changes recommended by public health groups, she notes, and it can be hard to prove them wrong.

"What people eat is the great mystery of nutrition," Nestle says. "It would be wonderful to have a handle on it."

___

Online:

UNC Food Research Program: http://uncfoodresearchprogram.web.unc.edu

Healthy Weight Commitment Foundation: http://www.healthyweightcommit.org

___

Find Mary Clare Jalonick on Twitter at http://twitter.com/mcjalonick

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/eat-food-map-tell-us-174342840.html

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Kinks and curves at the nanoscale

Monday, May 20, 2013

One of the basic principles of nanotechnology is that when you make things extremely small?one nanometer is about five atoms wide, 100,000 times smaller than the diameter of a human hair?they are going to become more perfect.

"Perfect in the sense that their arrangement of atoms in the real world will become more like an idealized model," says University of Vermont engineer Frederic Sansoz, "with smaller crystals?in for example, gold or copper?it's easier to have fewer defects in them."

And eliminating the defects at the interface separating two crystals, or grains, has been shown by nanotechnology experts to be a powerful strategy for making materials stronger, more easily molded, and less electrically resistant?or a host of other qualities sought by designers and manufacturers.

Since 2004, when a seminal paper came out in Science, materials scientists have been excited about one special of arrangement of atoms in metals and other materials called a "coherent twin boundary" or CTB.

Based on theory and experiment, these coherent twin boundaries are often described as "perfect," appearing like a perfectly flat, one-atom-thick plane in computer models and electron microscope images.

Over the last decade, a body of literature has shown these coherent twin boundaries?found at the nanoscale within the crystalline structure of common metals like gold, silver and copper?are highly effective at making materials much stronger while maintaining their ability to undergo permanent change in shape without breaking and still allowing easy transmission of electrons?an important fact for computer manufacturing and other electronics applications.

But new research now shows that coherent twin boundaries are not so perfect after all.

A team of scientists, including Sansoz, a professor in UVM's College of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences, and colleagues from the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and elsewhere, write in the May 19 edition of Nature Materials that coherent twin boundaries found in copper "are inherently defective."

With a high-resolution electron microscope, using a more powerful technique than has ever been used to examine these boundaries, they found tiny kink-like steps and curvatures in what had previously been observed as perfect.

Even more surprising, these kinks and other defects appear to be the cause of the coherent twin boundary's strength and other desirable qualities.

"Everything we have learned on these materials in the past 10 years will have to be revisited with this new information," Sansoz says

The experiment, led by Morris Wang at the Lawrence Livermore Lab, applied a newly developed mapping technique to study the crystal orientation of CTBs in so-called nanotwinned copper and "boom?it revealed these defects," says Sansoz.

This real-world discovery conformed to earlier intriguing theoretical findings that Sansoz had been making with "atomistic simulations" on a computer. The lab results sent Sansoz back to his computer models where he introduced the newly discovered "kink" defects into his calculations. Using UVM's Vermont Advanced Computing Center, he theoretically confirmed that the kink defects observed by the Livermore team lead to "rather rich deformation processes at the atomic scale," he says, that do not exist with perfect twin boundaries.

With the computer model, "we found a series of completely new mechanisms," he says, for explaining why coherent twin boundaries simultaneously add strength and yet also allow stretching (what scientists call "tensile ductility")? properties that are usually mutually exclusive in conventional materials.

"We had no idea such defects existed," says Sansoz. "So much for the perfect twin boundary. We now call them defective twin boundaries."

For several decades, scientists have looked for ways to shrink the size of individual crystalline grains within metals and other materials. Like a series of dykes or walls within the larger structure, the boundaries between grains can slow internal slip and help resist failure. Generally, the more of these boundaries?the stronger the material.

Originally, scientists believed that coherent twin boundaries in materials were much more reliable and stable than conventional grain boundaries, which are incoherently full of defects. But the new research shows they could both contain similar types of defects despite very different boundary energies.

"Understanding these defective structures is the first step to take full use of these CTBs for strengthening and maintaining the ductility and electrical conductivity of many materials," Morris Wang said. "To understand the behavior and mechanisms of these defects will help our engineering design of these materials for high-strength applications."

For Sansoz, this discovery underlines a deep principle, "There are all manner of defects in nature," he says, "with nanotech, you are trying to control the way they are formed and dispersed in matter, and to understand their impact on properties. The point of this paper is that some defects make a material stronger."

###

University of Vermont: http://www.uvm.edu

Thanks to University of Vermont for this article.

This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/128310/Kinks_and_curves_at_the_nanoscale

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Former NFL Star Chad Johnson Arrested After Court Appearance (VIDEO)

Former NFL Star Chad Johnson Arrested After Court Appearance (VIDEO)

Former NFL wide receiver Chad Johnson has been arrested for violating his probation this morning after appearing in a Broward County court room. Johnson, 35, turned himself into authorities after a warrant was issued for his arrest, stemming from domestic violence charges after he head-butted his wife Evelyn Lozada last year. Johnson reportedly failed to ...

Former NFL Star Chad Johnson Arrested After Court Appearance (VIDEO) Stupid Celebrities Gossip Stupid Celebrities Gossip News

Source: http://stupidcelebrities.net/2013/05/former-nfl-star-chad-johnson-arrested-after-court-appearance-video/

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Microsoft launches The Music Room, an interactive TV series on Xbox Live

A day ahead of its hotly anticipated Xbox event, Microsoft has announced a new interactive TV series entitled The Music Room, exclusively on Xbox Live. As a part of Microsoft's drive to beef up Xbox's entertainment content, the two-part program will be available to Gold subscribers on May 29th at 8:30 BST (3:30 ET). Host Laura Jackson will be joined by special guest Carl Barât, formerly of the Libertines, and the lineup is set to include Everything Everything, Don Broco and Swim Deep. Viewers will be able to get in on the action by selecting from a list of options to determine what course the show will take, kind of like a musical choose-your-own-adventure. If indie British bands are your thing, you might want to check out the preview for The Music Room after the break.

Filed under: HD, Microsoft

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/05/20/the-music-room-heads-to-xbox/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget

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Expert Home Improvement Advice You Can Put To Good Use! | Total ...

Tip! If your current residence lacks the square footage for a washing machine and dryer, you might consider purchasing a space-saving combo unit. Combo units are stacked and take up half the room.

No matter if you?re boosting your house?s value or just beautifying it, you should understand that you may run into issues. This is just the nature of home improvement. It takes a lot of skill to be a gifted carpenter. A handyman does not have the skill to do home improvements. This is the reason these tips.

Tip! Stained baseboards offer an excellent alternative to traditionally painted ones. In addition to being classic, the warm look of wood is natural in virtually any style of home.

Add elegance to your house by building a unique addition. A wine cellar or library brimming with shelves are wonderful spaces in any home. This will certainly impress guests and have an elegant place to live.

This creates a surface that is waterproof barrier over these cracks.

Tip! Don?t buy expensive supplies. Instead, shop around and look for the best deals on home improvement materials.

An over-the-range microwave is a great space in the kitchen. Most of these units have a recirculating air filter rather than an actual vent, so cooks that need strong ventilation should look elsewhere.

Tip! Doing a home project requires the right tool for the job. This will help make sure the job is done right.

Paint stripes on your old walls before installing panels.Regardless of the care you take when installing paneling, the old walls sometimes remain visible. To minimize the effect, measure and mark where each panel will meet before installing.

Construction adhesives are great for stopping floor squeaks.

Aluminum Foil

Tip! If you are going to be doing work on your home, you should ask neighbors about their drains. Good landscaping work requires thorough drainage plans.

Use aluminum foil to cover your wall outlets before you paint. It?s less time intensive to use aluminum foil to protect outlet covers from spills and splatters. And it makes cleaning up is a snap! Just be sure to let the paint dry before you carefully remove the foil.

Tip! If you plan on using bricks for your project, you should always purchase more bricks than you need. It is not always easy to find the same bricks that you have after your purchase date.

If you decide to wait until the project has already begun, it might be to late for people to commit. You might also have problems completing the project on time, which adds stress.

Tip! Seal grout after laying tile. Grout has a porous consistency.

Safety should always be at the forefront of your number one priority when you?re doing home improvement projects. There is a level of risk in any project that you work on, so read all the power tools instructions carefully and ask store associates for help if necessary. You can find informative tutorials to prepare yourself more thoroughly.

A great way to help make projects affordable is to set aside a budget for repairs.

Tip! Put together a pleasant color pattern for each room. Complementary color schemes work great in formal rooms like the dining room.

If you have a suburban house that is near a wooded area, think about installing a tall fence around your yard. This can help keep animals out of your yard.

Tip! Are there spots without grass in your lawn? Purchase grass seed to make your lawn look fresh. If your lawn looks bad, so does your home.

Chandeliers are a place in your home. You can get a very nice chandelier for less than $500 to compliment any room. If you also want your chandelier to provide bright lighting and really sparkle, try getting one that puts out 200-400 watts.

Tip! Consider a new sink for your dated kitchen. Your home will look better right away with a new sink.

If your home improvement project is going to inconvenience the neighbors, be courteous and tell your neighbors well ahead of time. Your neighbors will appreciate a little warning before you start the work and inconvenience them this way.

Tip! When considering a bathroom remodel, think small. A budget that is small still can do a lot for you while still letting things look like they cost a bit of money.

Adding in a new sink can really change the appearance of your kitchen. This will create a modernized look of the room. Sinks nowadays are available in a number of colors, styles and shapes.

Tip! New wallpaper trim and also artwork can really make your bathroom look different. Wallpaper trim isn?t pricey and there are many designs to choose from.

You can make your home safer and safer by replacing the knob on your door. This kind of project takes up minimal time. A screwdriver is going to be the biggest tool that you require. You can buy replacement knobs at your home improvement store.

Tip! Landscaping is a very enduring home improvement. Add nice flowers, shrubs, plants, vines, mulches and other nice stones to make your landscape look better.

Home improvement is a money saver; even though, but rather saving it. New appliances will save on electricity. Fixing a roof and improving the insulation of your house will save on heating costs. Learn how to plan in advance and think of your finances.

Tip! If you live in a hurricane zone, look into purchasing hurricane socks. Hurricane socks will suck up about a gallon of liquid.

Inspiration for home improvement project.Be sure to bring home samples of color scheme that you will be happy with. Spend time getting a feel for what you really want, so you are prepared for the project when it is time to start the work.

Taping Knife

Tip! You need to select dry days to paint. This is a very important piece of advice that can?t be ignored.

Get a quality stainless steel taping knife if you plan to do sheetrock taping. This type of knife is a lot easier and it will last longer. If you buy a taping knife made of stainless steel, you probably won?t ever need to buy another.

Tip! When deciding to make home improvement decisions, always stop and consider your location. For instance, Californians may want to install air conditioning instead of a fireplace if only able to do one or the other.

Look for do-it-yourself videos on how to do your remodeling, and be sure to use specific search terms. You may be surprised to find that many do-it-yourselfers have been in your shoes and have found solutions that can help you. These videos make it unnecessary for you to reinvent the perfect way to learn from others and improve your own skills.

Tip! It is wise to invest a little money in a plan for any large home improvements. This will save you from ending up with a botched job that will not pass inspection.

A home improvement project does not have to be hard to do. Some of them may even seem simple. But if you don?t understand how to do it, you will only cause more harm to your home. The article you have read has given you some great tips. Utilize them to make your improvement projects easier.

Source: http://talkonmovie.com/expert-home-improvement-advice-you-can-put-to-good-use/

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Officer shot in Marathon showdown wants to work

BOSTON (AP) ? With a bullet still in his body, the police officer who survived a showdown with the Boston Marathon bombing suspects said Sunday he's determined to return to duty.

Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority Officer Richard Donahue has been recovering alongside victims injured in the April 15 attack by the marathon's finish line since his transfer to Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital in Boston on Friday.

The 33-year-old uses crutches to get around now, and is coping with nerve damage that makes it painful to walk and difficult to sleep. But sitting alongside his wife Kim Donahue, the transit officer said he's getting stronger and healthier every day.

Besides building strength to walk on his own, Donahue also is doing speech therapy and other exercises to prepare his mind and body to head home again. He said he's looking forward to the end of his hospitalization so he can spend more time with his 7-month-old son, who's gotten four new teeth in the meantime, and toss a ball around with his family's beagle.

Donahue doesn't recall anything about the gun battle that left him wounded on a street in suburban Watertown. His last memory from the day he almost bled to death is roll call at the start of his shift.

That was hours before Donahue responded to the call that came after authorities say bombing suspects Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev fatally shot his police academy friend, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Officer Sean Collier.

It was in Watertown that Donahue suffered a severed femoral artery when a bullet pierced his groin during a gun battle with the Tsarnaev brothers.

Tamerlan Tsarnaev died on the same street where Donahue was wounded. Authorities have said Dzhokhar Tsarnaev drove over his brother while fleeing the scene after Tamerlan, 26, ran out of ammunition and was tackled by officers.

Tamerlan Tsarnaev's cause of death was listed as gunshot wounds and blunt trauma to his head and torso.

But Donahue, an MBTA officer of three years, has no memory of the encounter that nearly killed him.

"As of right now, it's all been a blackout," he said.

Exactly how Donahue was wounded isn't clear. He said if his injury turned out to be from a fellow officer's bullet, he was just glad police "got the job done" at a chaotic scene where authorities said the suspects tossed explosives and fired on officers.

"If it was friendly fire, it was friendly fire, he said. "We got the job done and the other suspect got captured shortly thereafter, so I'm just happy with that."

The transit officer said he is in favor of authorities filing additional charges against Dzhokhar Tsarnaev in connection with Collier's death and his own close call. But he wouldn't say if he favored the death penalty in the case of a guilty verdict for the 19-year-old, who remains in a prison hospital after his arrest.

"One of them, I guess, has already been brought to justice," Donahue said of Tamerlan Tsarnaev.

Donahue's wife said she's proud of her husband, and while they won't use the word "hero" a lot at home, their 7-month-old son will have a lot to live up to as he grows up.

"We keep saying he's not going to be able to get away with anything. Like, 'Oh, you don't want to eat your green beans? Well, Daddy's got a bullet in his leg and came back from the dead. So, if you could do us a favor and just eat your food that would be great,'" the 31-year-old mom said with a smile.

MBTA Police Chief Paul MacMillan nodded in approval Sunday as he heard Donahue talking about getting back into the shape he was before the line of duty shooting.

"I think it's absolutely incredible the effort that was put into saving his life that night and the fact that he has come so far," the chief said later. "... We'd love to get him back, but we want him to get well first and foremost."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/officer-shot-marathon-showdown-wants-210720161.html

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Shares grind higher, yen rebounds on minister's remarks

By Herbert Lash

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Global equity markets resumed this year's rally on Monday, driven higher by a flurry of merger and acquisition activity, while a recent tumble in the yen against the dollar halted after Japan's economy minister suggested the currency might have weakened enough.

Despite major American and European stock indices being up double digits - the U.S. benchmark S&P 500 index is almost 17 percent higher so far this year - investors still see better returns ahead in equities than elsewhere.

Deals such as Yahoo's $1.1 billion bid for Tumblr indicate that companies continue to search for growth through acquisitions despite record high share prices, a bullish sign for stocks. Yahoo was up 1.21 percent at $26.84.

In another deal, generic drugmaker Actavis Inc. , itself the subject of takeover speculation, said it would buy specialty pharmaceutical company Warner Chilcott Plc for $5 billion in stock.

Actavis rose 2.7 percent to $128.89, while Warner Chilcott gained 3.33 percent to $19.85.

"We got a lot of merger announcements this morning. It means there's a lot of appetite for equities and that's good for the market," said Giri Cherukuri, head trader at OakBrook Investments LLC in Lisle, Illinois.

"Stocks are not too over-valued and the economy is getting better," he said. "As long as the economy continues to improve, the market should be able to maintain these levels."

The Dow Jones industrial average <.dji> was up 16.48 points, or 0.11 percent, at 15,370.88. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.spx> was up 2.64 points, or 0.16 percent, at 1,670.11. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.ixic> was up 2.01 points, or 0.06 percent, at 3,500.97.

MSCI's all-country world equity index <.miwo00000pus> rose 0.51 percent to its highest since June 2008.

Britain's benchmark FTSE 100 <.ftse> index rose to its best closing level since late 2000, while the FTSEurofirst-300 index of leading European shares <.fteu3> rose 0.31 percent to close at 1,252.09.

European shares hit five-year highs, boosted by strength in German stocks and a travel sector lifted by a surge in Ryanair after it reported better-than-expected earnings for the past year. Ryanair rose 6.87 percent to a record 6.765.

The Japanese economy minister, Akira Amari, said the yen's excessive strength had largely corrected and further weakness could damage Japan's economy.

Analysts, however, said any sharp dip in the dollar against the yen was a buying opportunity as Tokyo was committed to easier monetary policy. While the dollar fell sharply on Amari's comments and remained down on the day, it was off the session low.

The dollar was last 0.44 percent lower at 102.47 yen, having hit a low of 102.19. Last Friday, the dollar reached a high of 103.30 yen.

The euro gained 0.5 percent against the dollar to 128.72.

Gold had been on track for its longest run of losses since March 2009, weighed by speculation that the Federal Reserve might rein in its economic stimulus program.

Investors have been dumping gold, which is down about 20 percent this year, while stocks and the dollar have risen on an improving global economic outlook. Gold-backed exchange-traded funds have had massive outflows in recent months.

Spot gold hit a low of $1,338.95 an ounce on Monday, its weakest since April 16, but later rebounded, rising $25.20 to $1,383.34 an ounce.

The beginning of the end of the Fed's massive bond-buying program might come sooner than many investors think if recent gains in the U.S. labor market do not prove fleeting.

U.S. government debt prices slipped after an early rebound from last week's sell-off as the dollar weakened against the yen. The benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note was unchanged in price to yield 1.9524 percent.

Brent crude traded near break-even, weighed by ample supplies, weaker demand for fuel and a strong dollar.

Brent crude for July was up 40 cents at $105.04 a barrel. U.S. crude rose 79 cents to $96.81.

Latest economic indicators http://link.reuters.com/vaf35t

G4 currencies since 2007 http://link.reuters.com/mem28t

Equity sector returns in 2013 http://link.reuters.com/jyb29s

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(Reporting by Herbert Lash; Editing by Dan Grebler)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/yen-edges-lows-asian-shares-firmer-013643236.html

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Billboard Music Awards 2013: The Complete Winners List

Taylor Swift is the night's big winner, taking home an impressive 11 trophies.
By MTV News staff

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1707641/billboard-music-awards-winners-list.jhtml

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The 2014 Jeep Cherokee and Toyota Prius will offer in-vehicle Qi wireless charging

If you’ve been keeping up with my recent?gadget diary posts, you’ll know that I’ve been interested in wirelessly charging my Samsung Galaxy S3. After a couple different cradles and a custom ROM, I’m happily charging without wires using the Qi wireless charging standard. That’s why my interest was piqued when I heard the news that [...]

Source: http://the-gadgeteer.com/2013/05/16/the-2014-jeep-cherokee-and-toyota-prius-will-offer-in-vehicle-qi-wireless-charging/

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Soldier in sexual assault prevention office accused of abuse

WASHINGTON (AP) ? A soldier assigned to coordinate a sexual assault prevention program in Texas is under investigation for "abusive sexual contact" and other alleged misconduct and has been suspended from his duties, the Army announced Tuesday.

Just last week an Air Force officer who headed a sexual assault prevention office was himself arrested on charges of groping a woman in a parking lot.

The Army said a sergeant first class, whose name was not released, is accused of pandering, abusive sexual contact, assault and maltreatment of subordinates. He is being investigated by the Army Criminal Investigation Command. No charges have been filed.

He had been assigned as an equal opportunity adviser and coordinator of a sexual harassment-assault prevention program at the Army's 3rd Corps headquarters at Fort Hood, Texas, when the allegation arose, the Army said.

"To protect the integrity of the investigative process and the rights of all persons involved, no more information will be released at this time," an Army statement said.

The back-to-back Army and Air Force cases highlight a problem that is drawing increased scrutiny in Congress and expressions of frustration from top Pentagon leaders. Pentagon press secretary George Little said after Tuesday's announcement that Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel is angry and disappointed at "these troubling allegations and the breakdown in discipline and standards they imply."

Little said Hagel met with Army Secretary John McHugh earlier Tuesday and ordered him to "fully investigate this matter rapidly, to discover the extent of these allegations and to ensure that all of those who might be involved are dealt with appropriately."

Hagel also is directing all the services to retrain, recredential, and rescreen all sexual assault prevention and response personnel and military recruiters, Little said.

Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, issued a statement Tuesday evening saying his panel is considering a number of measures to counter the problem, including changes to the Uniform Code of Military Justice, and will act on them next month.

"Tragically, the depth of the sexual assault problem in our military was already overwhelmingly clear before this latest highly disturbing report," Levin said.

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., said she intends to present new comprehensive legislation on Thursday to reform the military justice system by removing chain-of-command influence from prosecution of sex abuse crimes.

"To say this report is disturbing would be a gross understatement," Gillibrand said. "For the second time in a week we are seeing someone who is supposed to be preventing sexual assault being investigated for committing that very act."

House Armed Services Committee Chairman Howard P. "Buck" McKeon, R-Calif., said in a statement he was "outraged and disgusted by the reports out of Fort Hood."

McKeon, noting he has a granddaughter in the Army, said he saw "no meaningful distinction between complacency or complicity in the military's latest failure to uphold their own standards of conduct. Nor do I see a distinction between the service member who orchestrated this offense and the chain of command that was either oblivious to or tolerant of criminal behavior. Both are accountable for this appalling breach of trust with their subordinates."

The Army announcement comes as the Pentagon continues to struggle with what it calls a growing epidemic of sexual assaults across the military. In a report last week, the Defense Department estimated that as many as 26,000 military members may have been sexually assaulted last year, based on survey results.

Of those, fewer than 3,400 reported the incident, and nearly 800 of them simply sought help but declined to file formal complaints against their alleged attackers.

The military is struggling with a variety of sexual assault scandals, including an ongoing investigation into more than 30 Air Force instructors for assaults on trainees at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas, and the recent arrest of the Air Force's head of sexual assault prevention on charges of groping a woman in a Northern Virginia parking lot.

A police report said that Air Force Lt. Col. Jeffrey Krusinski was drunk and grabbed a woman's breast and buttocks. The woman fought him off and called police, the report said. A judge has set a July 18 trial date for Krusinski.

Congressional outrage over these incidents and two recent decisions by officers to overturn juries' guilty verdicts in sexual assault cases has prompted outrage on Capitol Hill.

Air Force Lt. Gen. Craig Franklin reversed the conviction of Lt. Col. James Wilkerson, a former inspector general at Aviano Air Base in Italy, who was found guilty last year of charges of abusive sexual contact, aggravated sexual assault and three instances of conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman.

And Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., is holding up the nomination of Air Force Lt. Gen. Susan Helms, tapped to serve as vice commander of the U.S. Space Command, until McCaskill gets more information about Helms' decision to overturn a jury conviction in a sexual assault case.

Members of Congress also met at the White House with senior administration officials to talk about measures to encourage more victims to come forward and ensure that perpetrators face justice.

___

Associated Press writer Lolita C. Baldor contributed to this report.

___

Follow Robert Burns on Twitter: https://twitter.com/robertburnsAP

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/soldier-sexual-assault-office-accused-abuse-000206696.html

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Conservative group says IRS approved nonprofit status after applying with ?liberal-sounding name?

MediaTrackers.org

In May 2011, Drew Ryun, a conservative activist and former Republican National Committee staffer, began filling out the Internal Revenue Service application to achieve nonprofit status for a new conservative watchdog group.

He submitted the paperwork to the IRS in July 2011 for a research site called Media Trackers, which calls itself a "non-partisan investigative watchdog dedicated to promoting accountability in the media and government." Although the site has investigated Republicans like Ohio Gov. John Kasich and Florida Gov. Rick Scott, the site's organizers are unapologetically conservative.

"One thing we don't hide is: 'Yeah, we're conservative?free-market, free-enterprise, full-spectrum conservative,'" Ryun told Mother Jones magazine last year.

Eight months passed without word from the agency about the group's application, Ryun said. In February 2012, Ryun's attorney contacted the IRS to ask if it needed more information to secure its nonprofit status as a 501(c)3 organization. According to Ryun, the IRS told him that the application was being processed by the agency's office in Cincinnati, Ohio?the same one currently facing scrutiny for targeting conservative groups?and to check back in two months.

As directed, Ryun followed up with the IRS in April 2012, and was told that Media Trackers' application was still under review.

When September 2012 arrived with still no word from the IRS, Ryun determined that Media Trackers would likely never obtain standalone nonprofit status, and he tried a new approach: He applied for permanent nonprofit status for a separate group called Greenhouse Solutions, a pre-existing organization that was reaching the end of its determination period.

The IRS approved Greenhouse Solutions' request for permanent nonprofit status in three weeks.

In December 2012, Ryun simply made Media Trackers a project of Greenhouse Solutions and withdrew the Media Trackers application.

The reason for the difference in timing could have nothing to do with the group's name. Greenhouse Solutions was applying for "permanent" nonprofit status after existing as a nonprofit group for some time. Media Trackers, a new group, was just beginning the first steps in the application process. Having a previous file with the IRS could very well have been the reason Greenhouse's application was approved so quickly.

But when news broke last week that the IRS had applied heavier scrutiny to conservative groups seeking nonprofit status from 2010-2012, Ryun said he became convinced that his second application was approved quickly because he applied under the Greenhouse Solutions title, which he called a "liberal-sounding name."

"Within three weeks, Greenhouse received permanent nonprofit status from the IRS, and the IRS approval was transmitted to us from its Cincinnati office. We then rolled the Media Trackers project into Greenhouse and began work on a number of new projects," Ryun told Yahoo News in an interview. "Do I think we benefited from what many think is a liberal-sounding name? Absolutely."

The IRS website explains why some requests for tax-exempt status take longer than others to process.

"Sometimes, representatives of exempt organizations and practitioners question why certain applications for tax exemption are processed faster than others. Not all applications are the same," the site reads. "While many are complete when received and involve straight-forward scenarios, others may be incomplete or involve complex issues that require further development."

The IRS is currently under fire from both Democrats and Republicans, and Attorney General Eric Holder on Tuesday announced that he had directed the FBI to launch a criminal probe into the IRS. The same day, the Treasury inspector general for tax administration submitted a review of the IRS' practices, which found that the agency had used "inappropriate criteria" to determine which groups were eligible for nonprofit status. Current and former IRS officials are expected to testify about the issue before House committees starting Friday.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/conservative-activist-green-name-gets-irs-stamp-approval-193457897.html

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98% Mud

All Critics (121) | Top Critics (29) | Fresh (119) | Rotten (2)

Nichols has a strong feeling for the tactility of natural elements-water, wood, terrain, weather.

Nichols takes his time with the story, dwelling on how the boy is shaped by the killer's tragic sense of romance, yet the suspense holds.

"Mud" isn't just a movie. It's the firm confirmation of a career.

"Mud" unfolds at its own pace, revealing its story in slivers. The performances are outstanding, especially from Sheridan, who plays tough, sweet, vulnerable and confused with equal conviction.

The film is drenched in the humidity and salty air of a Delta summer, often recalling the musical, aphoristic cadences of Sam Shepard, who happens to appear in a supporting role.

A wonderful, piquant modern-day variation on "Huckleberry Finn.''

'Mud' is a standout film in this 'coming of age' genre mainly because of its central character, one tough, warm-hearted, stubborn little kid who believes in the power of love, above all else.

Other than pacing problems that needlessly stretch the film past the two-hour mark, 'Mud' slings the dirt and sweat with the best of them, as it both mourns and celebrates a way of life that's all but disappeared.

A sublime coming-of-age film, 'Mud' would be the offspring if 'Stand By Me' and 'Cape Fear' reproduced.

Mud is a movie of striking performances and memorable images and of people who seem to belong in rather than being imposed upon their environment.

A brilliant metaphor for how a child deals with divorce.

This might be Mud. But it deserves to stick.

This is a film that gives McConaughey the chance to be an actor rather than a star, and, not for the first time, he grabs the opportunity.

Gone is the rom-com character and emphasis on a toothy smile and six-pack abs. Matthew McConaughey is showing off some acting chops.

Mud is, perhaps, a little longer than it needed to be, but few sensitive viewers will begrudge Nichols his indulgence. This director is the real thing.

Writer-director Nichols continues to get inside the heads of his characters with this involving but overlong dramatic thriller.

McConaughey is terrific but the picture is really made by the fierce and unforgettable performance of Tye Sheridan as Ellis.

a film that demands a certain patience, which it rewards with various emotional payoffs that aren't ever quite what you expect

Somewhere in the dreams of Mud creator Jeff Nichols, Huckleberry Finn met Aguirre, Wrath of God.

Impressively directed and beautifully shot, this is an emotionally engaging and powerfully evocative coming-of-age drama with a superb script and terrific performances from a note-perfect cast.

This richly rewarding work lightly wears influences as disparate as Huckleberry Finn and The Hustler but ultimately emerges as the unmistakeable work of Nichols, one of the rare breed of genuinely exciting directors working in Hollywood today.

The disappointing denouement is far outweighed by the overall strength of the journey to that resolution.

Nichols keeps getting better, but his masterpiece is (excitingly) still to come.

Matthew McConaughey is as compelling as we've come to expect since The Lincoln Lawyer kicked off his 2010s hot streak, as Jeff Nichols ably combines elements of Terence Malick with an all-American rural yarn.

Mud clearly sets out from frame one to run along well-worn tracks - it's like Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn meets Whistle down the Wind.

By setting the action within a quasi-mythic framework Nichols is able to draw us into his big adventure and help us to rediscover the whispers of youth.

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Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/mud_2012/

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