Invisibility cloak uses 'metamaterial' to hide three-dimensional objects

It may not be a cape of magical, silvery material, but it's still an invisibility cloak. A tube made of an insulating material striped with long, thin strips of copper makes objects within it invisible to microwaves. Researchers at the University of Texas at Austin reported their cloaking chamber Jan. 25 in the New Journal of Physics.

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Different lab groups have been trying to cloak objects from light waves and microwaves for years. Previous efforts rendered objects invisible?along a plane, in two dimensions, by bending microwaves around the objects. Last year researchers?demonstrated an invisibility cloak?that worked in three dimensions, concealing a bump on a reflective surface.

This newest cloak makes three-dimensional objects invisible without using reflective surfaces or specialized microwave chambers. "We don't need mirrors, we don't need waveguides, we just built a cloak with a cover around an object," said Andrea Al?, an engineer at Texas-Austin who led the research.

The cloak makes objects invisible to microwaves from all angles, Al? and his colleagues found. They aimed microwaves at an 18-centimeter-long cylinder, fitted inside the invisibility chamber, from different angles. They found reduced microwave reflection from the cylinder no matter where they observed it.

Objects reflect light and other electromagnetic waves when they're just sitting around. That's how your eyes can see them and how devices such as radar detectors can sense airplanes and ships. Al?'s cloak works by reflecting electromagnetic waves in a way that cancels out the waves that the object reflects. "It's kind of an interference between the two," he told InnovationNewsDaily. "The combination of the two becomes invisible."

The secret to the cloak's exactly canceling waves is a "metamaterial," a man-made material that doesn't appear in nature and that has,?as one paper put it, "exotic electromagnetic properties." Al? first?published his ideas?for how to make an invisibility cloak using this canceling metamaterial in 2005 and has been working on the idea ever since.

Of course, the cylinder he cloaked in this latest study is still visible to the naked eye, which detects light waves, not microwaves. He said his technique works best with objects of comparable size to the wavelengths they're trying to hide from. Thus cigar-size cylinders are well masked from microwaves, which can be several centimeters long, while microscopic objects are best masked from visible light waves. So Al?'s metamaterials can't be used to cover certain boy wizards or anybody else, he said. "You can't use this to cloak a human body or a large object to visible light." He's working on creating a material that will cloak a microscopic object from visible light, which would be useful for machines that take microscopic photos.

As for the cloak he's already made, Al? thinks it would work well for stealth operations. "But it's superior to stealth, because stealth cancels the reflection but not the shadow of an object," he said.

You can follow?InnovationNewsDaily?staff writer Francie Diep on Twitter @franciediep. Follow InnovationNewsDaily on Twitter @News_Innovation, or on?Facebook.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/science/~3/v3G6AsRL2DI/Invisibility-cloak-uses-metamaterial-to-hide-three-dimensional-objects

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Democrats Take Lead in Congressional Ballot (Taegan Goddard's Political Wire)

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RPG Moments, The Worst of

So we all know that sometimes fails just happen, comments are guttered, and chat just gets a bit...weird.

But it usually winds up being pretty damn funny don't it? So I've decided to build a topic devoted to capturing our less then graceful moments and sharing it for all to see.

So without further ado, I proudly present to you:

RPG Moments: The Best of the Worst

So, let's get things started with one of our more failure prone members, the mind that birthed Adenovirus 423, the one, the only:

Crim:

Up next we have she who could be considered the busiest and most wanted woman when it comes to Ic in the Multiverse:

Moon:

And Finally we conclude this post with something less of fail and more of sketch. One of the longest lasting couples on Gateway:

Skulljester and CelticCat:

So that's the end of our first post, I hope there will be plenty to follow. And remember, even the best of us fail once and a while so when it happens, make sure we all laugh at it.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/RolePlayGateway/~3/MYGU8NBPte4/viewtopic.php

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Connecting.the.Dots: Cancer Cures for the Body Politic

After months of trying to ameliorate a disease ravaging the GOP, Jon Huntsman Jr. has moved into fighting cancers that afflict human beings rather than the body politic by taking over as chairman of a foundation that funds his family?s Institute, a research, education and treatment center with a full-time faculty and staff of 1300.

In his political hiatus, Huntsman worked hard but failed to offer Republicans the radical surgery that might have saved it from the coma in which it now seems to be sunk. Let?s hope he encourages scientists to be more aggressive in the labs.

In the Weekly Address today, the President reminds us again of how far the Tea Party virus has progressed by citing the case of Sen. Mike Lee, who unseated long-time conservative Robert Bennett last year:

?Just two days ago, a senator from Utah promised to obstruct every single American I appoint to a judgeship or public service position-- unless I fire the consumer watchdog I put in place to protect the American people from financial schemes or malpractice.

?For the most part, it?s not that this senator thinks these nominees are unqualified. In fact, all of the judicial nominees being blocked have bipartisan support. And almost 90 percent have unanimous support from the Judiciary Committee.

?Instead, one of his aides told reporters that the senator plans to, and I?m quoting here, ?Delay and slow the process in order to get the President?s attention.?

?One senator gumming up the works for the whole country is certainly not what our founding fathers envisioned.?

This particular pustule will be on the Senate?s backside for five more years but, in November, voters can start surgically removing some of the others.

Good luck to Huntsman in his quest for cancer cures. We are going to have find our own.

Source: http://ajliebling.blogspot.com/2012/01/hunstsman-career-move-and-ours.html

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Expert who foresaw '08 crash warns of tough decade

DAVOS, Switzerland?? Economist Nouriel Roubini, nicknamed "Dr. Doom" for his gloomy predictions in the run-up to the financial meltdown four years ago, says the fallout from that crisis could last the rest of this decade.

Roubini, widely acknowledged to have predicted the crash of 2008, sees tough times ahead for the global economy and is warning that without major policy changes things can still get much worse.

He also warned that a conflict with Iran over its controversial nuclear program could lead to a global recession.

Until Europe radically reforms itself and the U.S. gets serious about its own debt mountain, Roubini said, the world economy will continue to stumble along to the detriment of large chunks of the world's population who will continue to see their living standards under pressure, even if they have a job.

Meanwhile, International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde ? speaking Saturday at the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland ? said Europe was making progress to overcome the euro zone crisis, but need to do more to boost its financial firewall to contain the contagion of the debt crisis and restore trust.

"There is work under way. There is progress as we see it," Lagarde told a panel discussion at the World Economic Forum.

"But it is critical that the euro zone members actually develop a clear, simple, firewall that can operate both to limit the contagion and to provide this sort of act of trust in the euro zone so that the financing needs of that zone can actually be met," she said.

She added that there would be need for IMF funds to help the euro zone.

US economy ended 2011 at a healthy pace

Roubini, a professor of economics and international business at New York University, spoke in an interview this week with The Associated Press at a dinner on the sidelines of the meeting, where he is one of the hotly pursued stars.

Looking at economic prospects this year, he agreed with the International Monetary Fund's latest forecast that the global economy is weakening and said he might be "even slightly more bearish" on its prediction of 3.3 percent growth in 2012.

Video: Haass from Davos: We're looking at little growth in half the world (on this page)

He painted a grim picture of the eurozone in recession and key emerging markets in China, India, Brazil and South Africa slowing down, partly related to weakness in the eurozone.

Roubini predicted that the U.S. economy, the world's largest, will grow by just 1.7-1.8 percent this year, with unemployment remaining high. The government, he added, was "kicking the can down the road" and not taking measures to increase productivity and competitiveness.

"We live in a world where there is still a huge amount of economic and financial fragility," he said. "There is a huge amount of uncertainty ? macro, financial, fiscal, sovereign, banking, regulatory, taxation ? and there is also geopolitical and political and policy uncertainty."

Too little, too late? Factory jobs making a comeback

"There are lots of sources of uncertainty from the eurozone, from the Middle East, from the fact that the U.S. is not tackling its own fiscal problem, from the fact that Chinese growth is unbalanced and unsustainable, relying too much on exports and fixed investments and high savings, and not enough on consumption. So it's a very delicate global economy," Roubini said.

He said the biggest uncertainty is the possibility of a conflict with Iran over its nuclear program that involves Israel, the United States, or both. That could lead oil prices now hovering around $100 a barrel to spike to $150 per barrel, he said, and lead to a global recession.

Almost half of young Spaniards unemployed

Unemployment and economic insecurity have become big issues from the Mideast to the Occupy Wall Street movement in the U.S., and protests from Israel and India to Chile and Russia ? and at the same time there is rising inequality between rich and poor.

"All these things lead to political and social instability," he said. "So we have to reduce inequality. We have to give growth to jobs, skills, education, and increase human capital so workers can compete."

Video: Protesters build igloos at 'Occupy Davos'? (on this page)

Roubini called for a major change in policy priorities.

"We have to shift our investment from things that are less productive like the financial sector and housing and real estate to things that are more productive like our people, our human capital, our structure, our technology, our innovation," he said.

Roubini said slow growth in advanced economies will likely lead to "a U-shaped recovery rather than a typical V," and it may last for another three to five years because of high debt.

"Once you have too much debt in the public and private sector, the painful process could last up to a decade, where economic growth remains weak and anemic and sub-par until we have cleaned up the balance sheet and invested in the things that make us more productive for the future," he said.

Iran warns Europe
On Friday, Iran warned that it may halt oil exports to Europe next week in a move calculated to hurt ailing European economies.

The Tehran government ? grappling with its own economic crisis under Western trade and banking embargoes ? will host a rare visit on Sunday by U.N. nuclear inspectors for talks that the ruling clergy may hope can relieve diplomatic pressure as they struggle to bolster public support.

Since the U.N. watchdog lent independent weight in November to the suspicions of Western powers that Iran is using a nuclear energy program to give itself the ability to build atomic bombs, U.S. and EU sanctions and Iranian threats of reprisal against Gulf shipping lanes have disrupted world oil markets and pushed up prices.

Amid forecasts Iran might be able to build a bomb next year, and with President Barack Obama facing re-election campaign questions on how he can make good on promises ? to Americans and to Israel ? not to tolerate a nuclear-armed Islamic Republic, a decade of dispute risks accelerating towards the brink of war.

The U.S. Treasury Department said on Friday it would send its undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, David Cohen, to Britain, Germany and Switzerland next week to talk about how to enforce sanctions against Iran's central bank.

Those sanctions aim to starve Iran of funds for developing nuclear weapons.

Western diplomats see little immediate prospect that renewed talks between Iran and the United Nations' International Atomic Energy Agency, scheduled from Sunday to Tuesday in Tehran, would result much in the way of concessions to Western demands.

EU states have given themselves until July to enforce an oil import embargo on Iran.

The EU accounted for 25 percent of Iranian crude oil sales in the third quarter of 2011. But China, India and others have made clear that they are keen to soak up any spare Iranian oil, even as U.S. Treasury measures to choke Tehran's dollar trade make it harder to pay for supplies.

Moayed Hosseini-Sadr, a member of the energy committee in the legislature, said there would be no delay of the kind the EU allowed to its members.

"If the deputies arrive at the conclusion that the Iranian oil exports to Europe must be halted, parliament will not delay a moment," Hosseini-Sadr said. "The Europeans will surely be taken by surprise and will understand the power of Iran."

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46172944/ns/business-stocks_and_economy/

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Plasmonic cloak makes objects invisble, but only in the microwave region of the spectrum

Okay, so we're not up to USS Pegasus levels yet, but for the first time researchers have been able to cloak a three dimensional object. Don't start planning your first trip to the Hogwarts library restricted section just yet though, the breakthrough is only in the microwave region of the EM spectrum. Using a shell of plasmonic materials, it's possible to create a "photo negative" of the object being cloaked in order to make it disappear. The technique is different to the use of metamaterials, which try to bounce light around the object. Instead, plasmonics try to deceive the light as to what's actually there at the time -- but because it has to be tailored to create a "negative image" of the object you're hiding, it's not as flexible, but it could be an important step on the road to that bank heist we've been planning.

Plasmonic cloak makes objects invisble, but only in the microwave region of the spectrum originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 28 Jan 2012 04:39:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Virtual trees sway in wind just like the real thing

Animators will soon be able to construct startlingly realistic sylvan beauty in movies and video games with a new system for generating 3D virtual trees

ANIMATORS will soon be able to construct startlingly realistic sylvan beauty in movies and video games with a new system for generating 3D virtual trees.

At the moment, computer-generated images (CGI) of trees are either drawn manually on a computer and then animated, or someone has to shoot video of a tree moving in the wind. This is digitally transformed into a CGI copy of the original. Either process takes days - and you can only produce one size and shape of tree, says Chuan Li, a computer animator at the University of Bath in the UK.

To solve this problem, Li and colleagues have developed software that generates realistic-looking 3D animated trees of any size and shape based on a rough 2D sketch. The trees even blow in the wind like their woody counterparts, and can be whipped around just by piping in a soundtrack of a blustery day.

The system can start with just a 2D sketch of a tree's leafless branches, and an outline of what the tree's shape will be once it is in full leaf. The 2D sketch is then copied and rotated 90 degrees into 3D space. From there, an algorithm "grows" additional branches for the tree until a 3D skeleton is complete.

The software contains a model of how real tree branches move in both light and strong winds, based on video footage the team shot. The system applies this model to the tree skeleton to work out how the branch structure would move large clusters of leaves as they billow in the breeze. Each virtual branch in the skeleton is then broken into six segments. "By rotating each segment independently we can get the right magnitude of tree movement for the wind speed," says Li. Once they have captured a tree's 3D skeleton, they can scale it up or down for trees of different shapes and sizes, from a short wispy cherry to a dense, tall oak. The team's work was published in December in the journal ACM Transactions on Graphics (DOI: 10.1145/2070781.2024161).

This means that any sketch of a tree skeleton can be used to generate a 3D model that moves like a real tree. Better still, the trees automatically respond to the sound level of the wind in a soundtrack, measured in decibels, without adding physical parameters like wind speed. So as noise increases from a light breeze to a howling gale, tree branches go from swaying peacefully to flailing wildly.

"When I saw this my jaw was on the floor," says Jordi Bares, 3D creative director at London animation studio The Mill, who marvelled at the package's simplicity and speed, and adds he hopes it will be commercialised soon. "It's a game changer that could save us the huge chunk of our time we currently spend creating natural 3D assets like trees."

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Obama courts Latino vote on economic tour (AP)

BUCKLEY AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. ? President Barack Obama is courting Hispanics in politically important states, setting himself up as a champion of the crucial Latino voting bloc and as a foil to Republican candidates fighting for a share of support from the same groups.

With Latino voters voting overwhelmingly Democratic, Obama is not in danger of losing the support of a majority of Hispanics. But he does need their intensity, and a Gallup tracking poll shows that while a majority of Hispanics approve of Obama, that approval is not as high as it is among black voters.

Pitching his economic agenda during a three-day, five-state trip this week, Obama has not ignored the fact that three of the states ? Nevada, Arizona and Colorado ? all have Hispanic populations of 20 percent or more. A majority of them are Democratic, but they also could be a factor in upcoming nominating contests in those states. Nevada and Colorado hold caucuses within two weeks and Arizona has a primary Feb. 28.

In Arizona Wednesday, where he was drawing attention to his efforts to increase manufacturing, Obama playfully interacted with a supporter who shouted out: "Barack es mi hermano! (Barack is my brother!)"

"Mi hermano ? mucho gusto (My brother, a real pleasure)," Obama shouted back.

And it was no accident that he scheduled an interview with Univision, the Spanish language network that reaches a broad swath of the U.S. Latino population, while he was in Arizona and with local Telemundo affiliates Thursday in Las Vegas and in Denver. All that while former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and the rest of the Republican presidential field were battling in Florida, another state with a key Latino voting bloc.

"It's an important community in this country and he will continue to have those interactions," White House spokesman Jay Carney said of Obama's efforts to reach out to Spanish language media.

No issue reverberates more in the appeal to Latinos than immigration.

For Obama, it reared up suddenly for him Wednesday when Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer, a Republican who signed one of the toughest laws to curtail illegal immigration, greeted him at the airport tarmac in Mesa, Ariz., with a handwritten invitation for the president to join her in a visit to the Mexican border.

Obama replied coolly, noting that he did not appreciate the way she had depicted him in a book she published last year, "Scorpions for Breakfast." In the book, Brewer writes that Obama was condescending and lectured her during a meeting at the White House to discuss immigration. "He was a little disturbed about my book," Brewer told two reporters shortly after the encounter.

Obama continued to promote his economic plan Thursday in Nevada and Colorado, focusing on energy policy and his attempts to expand oil and gas exploration while also emphasizing clean energy.

"Doubling down on a clean energy industry will create lots of jobs in the process," the president said at Buckley Air Force Base in Colorado, where the Air Force has installed solar panels and tested jets that run on biofuels.

As such, he was indirectly pitching to Hispanics as well. A new Pew Research Center poll found that 54 percent of Latinos believe that the economic downturn has been harder on them than on other groups in the U.S.

"There is no question that Latinos were hard hit, especially by the bursting of the housing bubble and the resulting steep decline in construction work," Carney said Thursday. "Latinos are overrepresented in the construction industry. It's one of the reasons why, certainly, Latinos would greatly benefit from infrastructure investments that put construction workers back to work."

In 2008, Obama beat Republican John McCain by a 2-1 margin among Hispanics.

To win again, he will need that level of enthusiasm to make up for weaknesses elsewhere in his voter support. In a bright spot for Obama, the Pew poll found that even though Hispanics believe their economic condition is poor, two-thirds of those polled said they expect their financial situation to improve over the next year, whereas 58 percent of the overall population expect the same.

In his interview with Univision, Obama made a point of noting that both Romney and Gingrich have said they would veto legislation, known as the DREAM Act, that would give a pathway to citizenship to children who came to the United States illegally but who attend college or enlist in the military.

"They believe that we should not provide a pathway to citizenship for young people who were brought here when they were very young children and are basically American kids but right now are still in a shadow," Obama said. "They've said that they would veto the DREAM Act. Both of them."

At a debate Monday on NBC, however, both Gingrich and Romney said they would support modified legislation that only applied to young people who joined the military. "I would not support the part that simply says everybody who goes to college is automatically waived for having broken the law," Gingrich said.

Obama, in the interview, explicitly connected the Republican presidential field to congressional Republicans, who suffer from bottom-dwelling approval ratings right now. Asked why he had been unable to deliver on his promise for overhauling the immigration system, Obama replied:

"Well, it's very simple. We couldn't get any Republican votes. Zero. None," he said. "So this is the kind of barrier that we're meeting in Congress. We're just going to keep on pushing and pushing until hopefully we finally get a break."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/economy/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120126/ap_on_bi_ge/us_obama

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Morgan Stanley CEO sees better markets in 2012 (Reuters)

NEW YORK (Reuters) ? Capital markets in 2012 are better than they were in 2011, Morgan Stanley Chief Executive James Gorman said on Wednesday, adding that his bank is in a "very good position for Basel III standards."

Gorman, speaking to CNBC from Davos, Switzerland, said confidence will rise after euro zone stability improves, while stressing that Morgan Stanley (MS.N) is in a very solid position. "If you had all sovereigns, all corporates and all financial institutions blow up in Europe at the same time, Morgan Stanley would still be fine," he said.

Gorman also said Morgan Stanley would not need to raise capital in the near term. Morgan Stanley's capital levels have been a concern for investors because it will need to comply with new, stricter rules set by the Basel Committee and U.S. regulators.

The Basel III accord, agreed to by the Basel Committee, an international group of regulators, will require banks to hold at least 7 percent of core Tier 1 capital in the form of retained earnings or pure equity.

There are also concerns because Morgan Stanley may need a big chunk of cash to purchase the next stake of its Morgan Stanley Smith Barney venture from Citigroup Inc (C.N).

Morgan Stanley currently owns 51 percent of the wealth management business and has the option to buy another 14 percent in May at fair market value. Gorman reiterated his commitment to buy the business on Wednesday, a purchase he said will take a priority over stock buybacks or dividends in the near-term.

(Reporting by Sam Forgione and Lauren LaCapra; Editing by Leslie Adler)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/business/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120125/bs_nm/us_euro_zone_banks

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Gates defends focus on high-tech agriculture (AP)

KIRKLAND, Wash. ? Bill Gates has a terse response to criticism that the high-tech solutions he advocates for world hunger are too expensive or bad for the environment: Countries can embrace modern seed technology and genetic modification or their citizens will starve.

When he was in high school in the 1960s, people worried there wouldn't be enough food to feed the world, Gates recalled in his fourth annual letter, which was published online Tuesday. But the "green revolution," which transformed agriculture with high-yield crop varieties and other innovations, warded off famine.

Gates is among those who believe another, similar revolution is needed now. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has spent about $2 billion in the past five years to fight poverty and hunger in Africa and Asia, and much of that money has gone toward improving agricultural productivity.

Gates doesn't apologize for his endorsement of modern agriculture or sidestep criticism of genetic modification. He told The Associated Press that he finds it ironic that most people who oppose genetic engineering in plant breeding live in rich nations that he believes are responsible for global climate change that will lead to more starvation and malnutrition for the poor.

Resistance to new technology is "again hurting the people who had nothing to do with climate change happening," Gates said.

Groups resistant to genetic modification and other hallmarks of modern agriculture, such as pesticides and petroleum-based fertilizers, generally object on two grounds ? concerns about the environment and the high cost of the seed and chemicals used in modern farming.

Bill Freese, a science policy analyst for the Washington-based Center for Food Safety, said everyone wants to see things get better for hungry people, but genetically modified plants are more likely to make their developers rich than feed the poor. The seed is too expensive and has a high failure rate, he said. Better ways to increase yields would be increasing the fertility of soil by adding organic matter or combining plants growing in the same field to combat pests, he said.

The biggest problem with those alternatives, Freese said, is the same one that Gates cited in high-tech research: A lack of money for development.

In his 24-page letter, the Microsoft Corp. chairman lamented that more money isn't spent on agriculture research and noted that of the $3 billion spent each year on work on the seven most important crops, only 10 percent focuses on problems in poor countries.

"Given the central role that food plays in human welfare and national stability, it is shocking ? not to mention short-sighted and potentially dangerous ? how little money is spent on agricultural research," he wrote in his letter, calling for wealthier nations to step up.

The Gates Foundation is heavily engaged in political advocacy to get governments to spend more money on agriculture and improve policies on issues such as trade and land ownership. Along with advocacy and seed research, it spends its money on buying and distributing fertilizer, educating farmers and improving their access to world markets.

Gates said most of the seed research paid for by his foundation involves conventional plant breeding. In those cases, DNA research allows scientists to pinpoint which genes are responsible for desirable traits. He compares the work to changes in modern libraries.

"We used to have to use the card catalogue and browse through the books to find the information we needed," he wrote in his letter. "Now, in the same way we know ... the precise page that contains the piece of information we need, we can find out precisely which plant contains what gene conferring a specific characteristic. This will make plant breeding happen at a much faster clip."

But in some cases, researchers have inserted foreign genes, such as with cassava, a plant that when processed makes tapioca. It is a stable in Africa, but has been stricken by two diseases, causing more widespread hunger. Scientists injected genes from the disease-causing viruses into the plant's DNA to create a vaccine-like effect.

While Gates is a strong supporter of such work, he said scientists and government need to proceed with caution.

"I think the right way to think about GMOs is the same way we think about drugs," Gates said in an interview. "Whenever someone creates a new drug, you have to have very smart people looking at lots of trial-based data to make sure the benefits far outweigh any of the dangers.

"You can't be against all drugs, but drugs in general are not safe."

Gates' letter also addressed the foundation's work on combating AIDS and eradicating polio. He noted India recently celebrated its first polio-free anniversary and expressed optimism during an interview that other countries will soon have similar celebrations.

He said good progress is being made toward developing an AIDS vaccine and on AIDS treatment, and he hopes the U.S. will fulfill its pledge to provide $4 billion over three years to The Global Fund for AIDS research. It paid only $1 billion of that pledge in the first year.

Gates expressed in his letter and in person concern that the U.S. and other rich nations continue to support foreign aid during the recession.

"If you ask people should we provide AIDS drugs to people who need them, you get an overwhelming yes. When you ask people, do you believe in foreign aid, you get a very skeptical view," he said. "But the fact is that the biggest single program in foreign aid is providing those AIDS drugs. People need to connect those things."

___

Online:

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation: http://www.gatesfoundation.org

Center for Food Safety: http://www.centerforfoodsafety.org/

___

Associated Press writer Donna Blankinship can be reached at http://twitter.com/dgblankinship

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/biotech/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120124/ap_on_re_us/us_food_and_farm_gates

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The Real Housewives of Orange County Season 7 Preview: Double D-licious!

We're less than two weeks away from the return of Bravo's longest-running franchise, The Real Housewives of Orange County.

What scripted drama have writers come up with for cast members Tamra Barney, Gretchen Rossi, Alexis Bellino, Vicki Gunvalson and Heather Dubrow? E! News has spoken to a number of them and provided the following preview:

Barney has downgraded in the chest department, reducing the size of her 34 Double Ds - and she couldn't be happier about it.

"It's been one of the best things I have ever done in my life," she says. "I feel a lot more confident without my implants."

Rossi, meanwhile, worried that newbie Dubrow might "have a stick up her ass," but Heather says she was "pleasantly surprised [by] how well we all got along" on the show. Boring!

Gretchen and Vicki will have it out over Slade Smiley, the former's shady boyfriend. Won't Tamra also have a lot to say about him, too, considering past comments? No, actually:

"I knew that the only way to move forward was just to forgive and ask for forgiveness," Rossi says of her and Tamra's relationship. "It has become a very true and authentic friendship."

Vicki's divorce from Don will also take center stage. And, of course, THG will be there every step of the way with weekly reviews and commentary!

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2012/01/the-real-housewives-of-orange-county-season-7-preview-double-d-l/

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Dropped heart successfully transplanted in Mexico (AP)

MEXICO CITY ? A heart that was dropped on the ground while being transported to a hospital has been successfully transplanted into a 28-year-old hair stylist.

Dr. Jaime Saldivar says Erika Hernandez doesn't yet know that her new heart made national news when a medic stumbled and the plastic-wrapped heart tumbled out of a cooler onto the street two weeks ago.

Saldivar says it will be up to the family to tell her.

A rosy-cheeked Hernandez spoke briefly with reporters on Tuesday and thanked the donor's family, saying "I have no words to express how happy I am."

Hernandez was born with a congenital heart defect. She received the heart of a man who died in a car accident.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/latam/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120125/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/lt_mexico_heart_dropped

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'Blind' Quantum Computing Proposed For the Cloud

Actually the number of possible states of a single qubit is uncountably infinite (according to quantum mechanics). Of course the number of results of any given complete measurement of that qubit is exactly two, but then, the number of measurements you can do on it is uncountably infinite. In theory, at least. In practice the number may be very high, but certainly finite, because you cannot make your measurement apparatus settings infinitely precise.

Thank you, my mistake seems to be the variation in ways the question can be prepared has no bearing on the count of possible output states.

Is this a better analogy?

I want to add 1 + 1 without revealing to the cloud I don't know what 1 + 1 is fearing I will be rained on if it found out.

My question is prepared with two parameters (1 + x) and (1 + y) where x and y are random numbers I want added.

The random numbers are known only to me and can be as large as ones own imagination almost uncountably infinite.

The

Source: http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotScience/~3/VgYpypLii6o/blind-quantum-computing-proposed-for-the-cloud

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Video: Gregory to Christie: Is character an issue for Gingrich?

A Second Take on Meeting the Press: From an up-close look at Rachel Maddow's sneakers to an in-depth look at Jon Krakauer's latest book ? it's all fair game in our "Meet the Press: Take Two" web extra. Log on Sundays to see David Gregory's post-show conversations with leading newsmakers, authors and roundtable guests. Videos are available on-demand by 12 p.m. ET on Sundays.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032608/vp/46090612#46090612

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Obama's health overhaul lags in many states

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Here's a reality check for President Barack Obama's health overhaul: Three out of four uninsured Americans live in states that have yet to figure out how to deliver on its promise of affordable medical care.

This is the year that will make or break the health care law. States were supposed to be partners in carrying out the biggest safety net expansion since Medicare and Medicaid, and the White House claims they're making steady progress.

But an analysis by The Associated Press shows that states are moving in fits and starts. Combined with new insurance coverage estimates from the nonpartisan Urban Institute, it reveals a patchwork nation.

Such uneven progress could have real consequences.

If it continues, it will mean disparities and delays from state to state in carrying out an immense expansion of health insurance scheduled in the law for 2014. That could happen even if the Supreme Court upholds Obama's law, called the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

"There will be something there, but if it doesn't mesh with the state's culture and if the state is not really supporting it, that certainly won't help it succeed," said Urban Institute senior researcher Matthew Buettgens.

The 13 states that have adopted a plan are home to only 1 in 4 of the uninsured. An additional 17 states are making headway, but it's not clear all will succeed. The 20 states lagging behind account for the biggest share of the uninsured, 42 percent.

Among the lagging states are four with arguably the most to gain. Texas, Florida, Georgia and Ohio together would add more than 7 million people to the insurance rolls, according to Urban Institute estimates, reducing the annual burden of charity care by $10.7 billion.

"It's not that we want something for free, but we want something we can afford," said Vicki McCuistion of Driftwood, Texas, who works two part-time jobs and is uninsured. With the nation's highest uninsured rate, her state has made little progress.

The Obama administration says McCuistion and others in the same predicament have nothing to fear. "The fact of states moving at different rates does not create disparities for a particular state's uninsured population," said Steve Larsen, director of the Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight at the federal Department of Health and Human Services.

That's because the law says that if a state isn't ready, the federal government will step in. Larsen insists the government will be ready, but it's not as easy as handing out insurance cards.

Someone has to set up health insurance exchanges, new one-stop supermarkets with online and landline capabilities for those who buy coverage individually.

A secure infrastructure must be created to verify income, legal residency and other personal information, and smooth enrollment in private insurance plans or Medicaid. Many middle-class households will be eligible for tax credits to help pay premiums for private coverage. Separate exchanges must be created for small businesses.

"It's a very heavy lift," said California's health secretary, Diana Dooley, whose state was one of the first to approve a plan. "Coverage is certainly important, but it's not the only part. It is very complex."

California has nearly 7.5 million residents without coverage, more than half of the 12.7 million uninsured in the states with a plan. An estimated 2.9 million Californians would gain coverage, according to the Urban Institute's research, funded by the nonpartisan Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Democrats who wrote the overhaul law had hoped that most states would be willing partners, putting aside partisan differences to build the exchanges and help cover more than 30 million uninsured nationally. It's not turning out that way.

Some states, mainly those led by Democrats, are far along. Others, usually led by Republicans, have done little. Separately, about half the states are suing to overturn the law.

Time is running out for states, which must have their plans ready for a federal approval deadline of Jan. 1, 2013. Those not ready risk triggering the default requirement that Washington run their exchange.

Yet in states where Republican repudiation of the health care law has blocked exchanges, there's little incentive to advance before the Supreme Court rules. A decision is expected this summer, and many state legislatures aren't scheduled to meet past late spring.

The result if the law is upheld could be greater federal sway over health care in the states, the very outcome conservatives say they want to prevent.

"If you give states the opportunity to decide their own destiny, and some choose to ignore it for partisan reasons, they almost make the case against themselves for more federal intervention," said Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb.

A conservative, Nelson was on the winning side of a heated argument among Democrats over who should run exchanges, the feds or the states. Liberals lost their demand for a federal exchange, insulated from state politics.

"It's pretty hard to take care of the states when they don't take care of themselves," said Nelson, who regrets that the concession he fought for has been dismissed by so many states.

The AP's analysis divided states into four broad groups: those that have adopted a plan for exchanges, those that made substantial progress, those where the outlook is unclear, and those with no significant progress. AP statehouse reporters were consulted in cases of conflicting information.

Thirteen states, plus the District of Columbia, have adopted a plan.

By contrast, in 20 states either the outlook is unclear or there has been no significant progress. Those states include more than 21 million of the 50 million uninsured Americans.

Four have made no significant progress. They are Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana and New Hampshire. The last three returned planning money to the federal government. In Arkansas, Democratic Gov. Mike Beebe ran into immovable GOP opposition in the Legislature. Beebe acknowledges that the federal government will have to run the exchange, but is exploring a fallback option.

In the other 16 states, the outlook is unclear because of failure to advance legislation or paralyzing political disputes that often pit Republicans fervently trying to stop what they deride as "Obamacare" against fellow Republicans who are more pragmatic.

In Kansas, for example, Insurance Commissioner Sandy Praeger is pushing hard for a state exchange, but Gov. Sam Brownback returned a $31 million federal grant, saying the state would not act before the Supreme Court rules. Both officials are Republicans.

"It's just presidential politics," said Praeger, discussing the situation nationally. "It's less about whether exchanges make sense and more about trying to repeal the whole law." As a result, outlook is unclear for a state with 361,000 uninsured residents.

There is a bright spot for Obama and backers of the law.

An additional 17 states have made substantial progress, although that's no guarantee of success. Last week in Wisconsin, GOP Gov. Scott Walker abruptly halted planning and announced he will return $38 million in federal money.

The AP defined states making substantial progress as ones where governors or legislatures have made a significant commitment to set up exchanges. Another important factor was state acceptance of a federal exchange establishment grant.

That group accounts for just under one-third of the uninsured, about 16 million people.

It includes populous states such as New York, Illinois, North Carolina and New Jersey, which combined would add more than 3 million people to the insurance rolls.

Several are led by Republican governors, including Virginia and Indiana, which have declared their intent to establish insurance exchanges under certain conditions. Other states that have advanced under Republican governors include Arizona and New Mexico.

For uninsured people living in states that have done little, the situation is demoralizing.

Gov. Rick Perry's opposition to the law scuttled plans to advance an exchange bill in the Texas Legislature last year, when Perry was contemplating his presidential run. The Legislature doesn't meet this year, so the situation is unclear.

McCuistion and her husband, Dan, are among the nearly 6.7 million Texans who lack coverage. Dan is self-employed as the owner of a specialty tree service. Vicki works part time for two nonprofit organizations. The McCuistions have been uninsured throughout their 17-year marriage, although their three daughters now have coverage through the Children's Health Insurance Program. Dan McCuistion has been nursing a bad back for years, and it only seems to get worse.

"For me it almost feels like a ticking time bomb," his wife said.

Dan McCuistion says he doesn't believe Americans have a constitutional right to health care, but he would take advantage of affordable coverage if it was offered to him. He's exasperated with Perry and other Texas politicians. "They give a lot of rhetoric toward families, but their actions don't meet up with what they are saying," he said.

Perry's office says it's principle, not lack of compassion.

"Gov. Perry believes 'Obamacare' is unconstitutional, misguided and unsustainable, and Texas, along with other states, is taking legal action to end this massive government overreach," said spokeswoman Lucy Nashed. "There are no plans to implement an exchange."

___

Online:

AP interactive: http://hosted.ap.org/interactives/2011/healthcare

Urban Institute estimates: http://tinyurl.com/86py8nd

Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight: http://cciio.cms.gov

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2012-01-23-Health%20Overhaul-States/id-d2b90cc98829477d869329f722fa68d3

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Heidi Klum Filing For Divorce From Seal

Heidi Klum Filing For Divorce From Seal

Supermodel Heidi Klum is reportedly filing for divorce from singer Seal. But why would one of Hollywood’s most lovey-dovey couples be calling it quits? Heidi, [...]

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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/stupidcelebrities/~3/wuk01UHlxig/

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President Obama Sings "Let's Stay Together" For Al Green

President Barack Obama is probably not going to quit his day job (at least not for another year), but he did make a brief foray into R&B at a fundraiser last night.

The Commander-in-Chief burst into song while thanking Al Green, who had performed earlier at the same event, crooning a bar from "Let's Stay Together"

Obama then joked he hadn't been ushered off-stage. Watch:

Obama Sings Al Green

It all happened at Manhattan's Apollo Theater late Thursday, when Obama stepped to the podium and veered from prepared remarks to thank Green.

Apparently not content to simply praise Green, Obama launched into "Let's Stay Together," warbling "I, so in love with you" ... complete with vibrato.

He stopped to laughter and applause, remarked that his staff didn't believe he'd do it, and that the Sandman hadn't come out to yank him outta there.

That would be Sandman Sims, a famous tap dancer who chased unpopular acts off-stage at the Apollo for decades. Sort of a Keyboard Cat predecessor.

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2012/01/president-obama-sings-lets-stay-together-for-al-green/

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SF sheriff pleads not guilty to domestic violence (AP)

SAN FRANCISCO ? San Francisco's new sheriff has pleaded not guilty to domestic violence and other charges stemming from allegations that he mistreated his wife in front of their toddler son and told her not to tell anybody about it.

Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi's (meer-kah-REEM'-ee) lawyer, Robert Waggener, entered the not guilty pleas at Mirkarimi's arraignment Thursday in San Francisco Superior Court.

Besides the domestic violence charge, prosecutors have also charged the 50-year-old sheriff with child endangerment and dissuading a witness. The three misdemeanor charges come after a New Year's Eve incident with his wife, Eliana Lopez, at their home.

Mirkarimi is free on $35,000 bail. He says he has no intention of stepping down as sheriff.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

San Francisco's new sheriff will appear in court Thursday to answer allegations he mistreated his wife in front of their toddler son and told her not to tell anybody about it.

Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi is expected to plead not guilty at his arraignment in San Francisco Superior Court, his lawyer, Robert Waggener, said Wednesday.

The hearing comes nearly one week after prosecutors charged Mirkarimi, 50, with domestic violence battery, child endangerment and dissuading a witness, all misdemeanors, in connection with a volatile New Year's Eve incident with his wife, Eliana Lopez, at their home.

"This isn't a physically abusive relationship. It was an argument," Waggener said. "I think there's a fair chance that we're going to ask for a speedy trial within 45 days."

Waggener also said the lawyer for Mirkarimi's wife may ask the judge to lift a protective order barring him from having contact with his family. Lopez's attorney, Cheryl Wallace, did not return calls seeking comment.

According to an arrest warrant affidavit released Tuesday, Mirkarimi is alleged to have mistreated his wife on two separate occasions last year and to have told her he was a "very powerful" man who could take away their son.

Lopez appeared on a Jan. 1 videotape candidly discussing the Dec. 31 confrontation and another incident earlier last year, according to the affidavit.

The footage was shot by a neighbor, Ivory Madison, whose call to police prompted an investigation. Lopez is crying and visibly upset about the couple's run-in the day before, the affidavit said, and she points to a bruise on her right bicep where she said Mirkarimi grabbed her.

"This happened yesterday," Lopez tells the camera. "Two times in 2011, and this is the second time this is happening."

Madison eventually told police investigators what Lopez had relayed to her but would not surrender the videotape. Police obtained it and other evidence through a search warrant.

Investigators from the district attorney's office later found another neighbor who gave an account similar to Madison's and said Lopez described Mirkarimi as "going ballistic." The neighbor also said the couple's son told his mother, "Daddy made boo-boo on Mommy's arm."

Lopez, a former Venezuelan telenovela star, married Mirkarimi after having their first child in 2009. On Wednesday, Lopez told a Venezuelan radio station that Mirkarimi did not abuse her and he is a victim of "very dirty politics."

Meanwhile, several domestic violence groups have called for Mirkarimi to either step aside temporarily until the case is closed or resign.

Mirkarimi, who was sworn in as sheriff nearly two weeks ago after serving two terms as a San Francisco supervisor, said he has no intention of leaving his new post.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/crime/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120119/ap_on_re_us/us_sf_sheriff_domestic_violence

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North Korea credits new leader with nuke testing (AP)

PYONGYANG, North Korea ? North Korea on Friday credited new leader Kim Jong Un with spearheading past nuclear testing, as it adds to a growing personality cult that portrays the young son of late leader Kim Jong Il as a confident military commander.

Kim Jong Un's youth ? he's believed to be in his late 20s ? and quick rise have spurred questions in foreign capitals about his readiness for leadership. But North Korea has dismissed such worries in recent days, saying Kim Jong Un worked closely with his father on military and economic matters.

The North's official Uriminzokkiri website said Friday that Kim "frightened" the country's enemies by commanding nuclear testing in the past. North Korea tested nuclear devices in 2006 and 2009, but the website didn't specify which tests Kim oversaw.

Uriminzokkiri described Kim Jong Un as "fully equipped" with the qualities of an extraordinary general, even during his years at Kim Il Sung Military University. The website also repeated the North's claim that he was involved in satellite launching but didn't elaborate.

North Korea's linking of Kim Jong Un to past nuclear testing comes as it pushes for the resumption of long-stalled six-nation aid-for-nuclear disarmament talks that also include China, Japan, Russia, South Korea and the United States. Washington and its allies want the North to first show it is serious about previous disarmament commitments.

North Korea last week questioned Washington's generosity and sincerity, but suggested it remains open to suspending its uranium enrichment program if it can get the food aid it wants.

Kim Jong Un took over after his father and longtime ruler Kim Jong Il died in mid-December and has quickly been given many of the country's most important titles.

He was introduced as heir only in September 2010. Before that he had been kept out of the public eye for most of his life. He was quickly promoted to four-star general and named a vice chairman of the Central Military Commission of the Workers' Party of Korea.

Some of North Korea's neighbors and Washington have expressed worry about whether he can lead a nation of 24 million with a nuclear program as well as chronic trouble feeding all its people.

Kim Jong Il had 20 years of training under his own father, Kim Il Sung, before taking over. Even after his father's 1994 death, Kim Jong Il observed a three-year mourning period before formally assuming leadership.

A senior official told The Associated Press recently that Kim Jong Un spent years working closely with his late father and helped him make key policy decisions on economic and military affairs.

North Korea has also made it clear that Kim Jong Un will continue Kim Jong Il's "songun," or military-first, policy, and a steady stream of reports and images from state media has sought to show him as a fearless military commander who is comfortable with leadership.

North Korea also reported Friday that Kim Jong Un inspected two more military units.

Earlier this month, North Korea's state-run broadcaster aired a documentary that showed Kim Jong Un observing an April 2009 launch of a long-range rocket. It was the first indication of his involvement in the launch.

The documentary quoted Kim as threatening to wage war against any nation attempting to intercept the rocket, which North Korea claimed was carrying a communications satellite but the United States, South Korea and Japan said was really a test of its long-range missile technology.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/nkorea/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120120/ap_on_re_as/as_nkorea_kim_jong_un

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"Abduction" hits Facebook, DVD, Blu-ray simultaneously (Reuters)

LOS ANGELES, Jan 17 (TheWrap.com) ? Taylor Lautner is helping Facebook make history.

His action movie "Abduction" has been released simultaneously through the social-networking site, DVD, Blu-Ray and digital download -- an industry first, Lionsgate announced Tuesday.

For $3.99, Facebook users in the U.S. can watch "Abduction" on demand via the movie's page on the social-networking site. At the same time, they can interact with friends, tag clips, interact with poll questions and answer a trivia question that unlocks an exclusive interview with Lautner, via technology from the Milyoni company.

"We are excited to offer our highly social, tech-savvy movie fans a whole new experience with the release of 'Abduction' on Facebook," Anne Parducci -- who is executive vice president of Lionsgate Home Entertainment, Marketing -- said in a statement.

"By leveraging the built-in social backdrop of Facebook and the tremendous reach of the platform, plus the opportunity to see special content featuring, we hope to offer fans a truly exhilarating viewing experience," the statement continued.

"Milyoni's immersive technology allows innovative movie studios like Lionsgate to integrate fun social features into all aspects of the digital viewing experience," Milyoni CEO John Corpus said. "The movie industry is on the verge of a new golden age - one that allows fans and their powerful social networks to spread the word and extend a movie's viral effect across regions."

This is the second unconventional release for "Abduction." In an attempt to capitalize on holiday sales, the movie was released at a slightly premium VOD price for 10 days in late December -- well before hitting shelves in other formats.

(Editing By Zorianna Kit)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/movies/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120118/film_nm/us_abduction

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Sleep solidifies bad feelings

Night of slumber keeps negative emotions fresh

Web edition : Thursday, January 19th, 2012

A night of shut-eye sears bad feelings into the brain, while waking hours take the emotional edge off, a new study finds. Though preliminary and somewhat inconsistent with earlier research, the results suggest that staying awake after something awful happens might be a way to blunt the emotional fallout of traumatic experiences, researchers report in the Jan. 18 Journal of Neuroscience.

Sleep is known to lock in memories, particularly emotional ones, but scientists didn?t know whether accompanying feelings are locked in, too ? a question that?s particularly relevant to people who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder.

?If we really want to know if this is relevant to trauma survivors, then we need to know if sleep not just changes the memory, but if it changes how you feel about it if you experience it again,? says study coauthor Rebecca Spencer of the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

In the study, Spencer and her colleagues showed pictures of neutral scenes, such as a street, or negative scenes, such as an upsetting car crash, to 106 young adults. Participants then rated the emotion inspired by the image on a one-to-nine scale ranging from sad to happy. Afterward, participants were either sent to bed for a full night?s sleep or asked to stay awake for 12 hours. Then the researchers retested the participants by showing some of the same pictures mixed in with new images.

As expected, the people who slept were better at remembering which images they had seen the day before. But the memory wasn?t the only thing that stuck around: Sleepers held on tighter to their feelings, while the sadness scores given by people who stayed awake tended to be weaker in the second session.

Cognitive neuroscientist Jessica Payne of the University of Notre Dame in Indiana finds the results ?tremendously tantalizing,? but cautions that they are too preliminary to be the basis of any recommendations about how much or little to sleep after experiencing trauma. ?It is way too soon, way too premature, to talk about treatments for PTSD. We need to have an extensive body of work before we get out there and start saying things like that.?

Payne points out that sleep deprivation leads to increased stress, which can profoundly influence emotions. ?In most cases, it?s better to sleep than to not sleep,? she says.

These new results contrast with a study published in December that found that a night of sleep takes the emotional edge off unpleasant experiences ? what some scientists call overnight therapy. That study, led by Matthew Walker of the University of California, Berkeley, used different methods and measurements, which may be responsible for the seemingly opposite findings, says neuroscientist Penny Lewis of the University of Manchester in England.

?It seems like the system is more complicated than we had thought,? she says, ?and we need to run more experiments to figure out what is going on.?

Found in: Body & Brain

Source: http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/337749/title/Sleep_solidifies_bad_feelings

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GE Energy Launches New Power Conversion Business to Build Bigger Presence in $30B Industrial Automation Sector

PARIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- GE Energy (NYSE: GE - News), a world-leading supplier of power generation and energy delivery technologies, today announced the next step in the integration of its acquisition of Converteam by renaming the business Power Conversion. Power Conversion?s technologies in process controls, automation systems and high-efficiency power electronics, motors and generators will enable the company to better meet the needs of customers looking to improve operational efficiency and productivity.

The Power Conversion business will help GE maximize its deep domain expertise and expand its presence in the fast-growing energy efficiency, electrification and automation sector, which was valued at $30 billion and is growing above global GDP.

?Today?s announcement is a significant milestone on our journey to deliver our customers more value. We are combining our technology and consultative offerings in systems integration to help the world?s fastest growing energy and industrial sectors improve the efficiency and profitability of their operations,? said Power Conversion CEO Joe Mastrangelo. ?Our strengths in these sectors will allow GE to lead by managing the entire energy lifecycle, where our customers want us to play a bigger role.?

Large industrial companies are replacing mechanical processes with high-efficiency, customized electric alternatives that deliver better reliability, require less maintenance and create lower emissions in industrial processes. This mega-trend is called electrification, which is expected to double over the next 20 years. One of the trend?s leading drivers is the oil and gas industry, which is using electrical systems to extract and transport natural gas more efficiently.

Approximately 25 percent of electricity produced globally is used to power electric motors in a wide range of industrial applications. Power Conversion?s solutions could help improve their energy efficiency by 30 percent, helping to reduce electricity consumption, energy intensity and greenhouse gas emissions. Power Conversion, with GE?s Industrial Solutions business also will address all steps in the energy conversion chain with a robust portfolio built around rotating machines, power electronics, wind converters, solar inverters and process control technologies.

?Power Conversion?s engineering expertise, systems focus and market customization make it a differentiator in today?s market because GE can scale its businesses and deliver new solutions to market faster than current competitors,? added Mastrangelo.

The fastest growth in the industrial automation sector is expected to be in Brazil, Russia, India and China and the Middle East. The expansion will be driven by a demand in energy efficiency and integrated electrical and mechanical solutions critical to customers who are competing in highly competitive industries.

Power Conversion and GE?s M&A Strategy

GE Energy acquired Power Conversion, then known as Converteam, in September 2011. The $3.2 billion deal is the latest in approximately $11 billion of acquisitions that have expanded GE Energy?s portfolio beyond the power generation sector into critical industries that rely on cleaner, smarter, more efficient energy.

To learn more, please visit: http://www.ge-energy.com/.

About GE

GE (NYSE: GE - News) works on things that matter. The best people and the best technologies taking on the toughest challenges. Finding solutions in energy, health and home, transportation and finance. Building, powering, moving and curing the world. Not just imagining. Doing. GE works. For more information, visit the company's website at www.ge.com.

GE also serves the energy sector by providing technology and service solutions that are based on a commitment to quality and innovation. The company continues to invest in new technology solutions and grow through strategic acquisitions to strengthen its local presence and better serve customers around the world. The businesses that comprise GE Energy?GE Power & Water, GE Energy Management and GE Oil & Gas?work together with more than 100,000 global employees and 2010 revenues of $38 billion, to provide integrated product and service solutions in all areas of the energy industry including coal, oil, natural gas and nuclear energy; renewable resources such as water, wind, solar and biogas; as well as other alternative fuels and new grid modernization technologies to meet 21st century energy needs.

Source: http://c.moreover.com/click/here.pl?r5769956450

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