DNA: How to unravel the tangle

Mar. 29, 2013 ? A chromosome is rarely found in the shape we are used to seeing in biology books, that is to say the typical double rod shape (the X pattern, to put it simply). It is usually "diluted" in the nucleus and creates a bundle that under the microscope appears as a messy tangle. In the last few years such chaos, however, has been "measured" and scientists have unveiled their secret: the genes in the tangle are actually arranged in regions that may perform a functional role.

A research coordinated by the scientists at SISSA of Trieste has now developed and studied a numeric model of the chromosome that supports the experimental data and provides a hypothesis on the bundle's function.

A chromosome spends most of its life "diluted" in the nuclear cytoplasm. To the untrained eye it may look like a randomly entangled thread, yet biologists claim the opposite: although a chaotic component does exist in the bundle, experimental measurements have identified regions that tend to contain specific genes. Thanks to such measurements, researchers have obtained maps of the chromosome in its diluted form, the one in which the DNA transcription processes occur.

Cristian Micheletti, a physicist of SISSA, the International School for Advanced Studies of Trieste, has coordinated an international research team -- in which Marco Di Stefano and Angelo Rosa stand out -- that has devised an ingenious method which, on one hand, has allowed to verify the already known experimental measures and, on the other, to find data in support of a theory which explains why the DNA bundle is arranged in regions. "Employing the vast amount of publicly available data on gene expression, we have identified families of genes co-regulated within a chromosome" explains Micheletti. The co-regulated genes codify "in accord," but how such synchronization occurs is a mystery, since often the genes are located very far from one another on the DNA filament. "Two main hypotheses may be considered: either 'messengers' exist that travel back and forth from one gene to the other and coordinate the activity, or the DNA filament folding up inside the tangle brings the genes belonging to the same family physically close."

On the basis of the second assumption Micheletti and his colleagues have used the computer to induce the DNA numeric model to bring the co-regulated genes closer. "The outcome of the simulation has provided a map of chromosome arrangement that is very close to the one obtained through experimentation," explains Micheletti. "Besides, the model has successfully brought closer the genes belonging to the same family, as we had asked for, in 80% of cases, that is without too much effort, which corroborates the validity of the hypothesis and the effectiveness of the simulation."

The article was chosen by PLoS Computational Biology journal as the cover story for the March issue.

Share this story on Facebook, Twitter, and Google:

Other social bookmarking and sharing tools:

---

Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Sissa Medialab, via AlphaGalileo.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

---

Journal Reference:

1. Marco Di Stefano, Angelo Rosa, Vincenzo Belcastro, Diego di Bernardo, Cristian Micheletti. Colocalization of Coregulated Genes: A Steered Molecular Dynamics Study of Human Chromosome 19. PLoS Computational Biology, 2013; 9 (3): e1003019 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1003019

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_science/~3/5bCOx0FC-Ns/130329124420.htm

grammy award winners the band perry grammy awards whitney houston autopsy dobie gray bruce springsteen

Gene discovery may yield lettuce that will sprout in hot weather

Mar. 28, 2013 ? A team of researchers, led by a University of California, Davis, plant scientist, has identified a lettuce gene and related enzyme that put the brakes on germination during hot weather -- a discovery that could lead to lettuces that can sprout year-round, even at high temperatures.

The study also included researchers from Arcadia Biosciences and Acharya N.G. Ranga Agricultural University, India.

The finding is particularly important to the nearly $2 billion lettuce industries of California and Arizona, which together produce more than 90 percent of the nation's lettuce. The study results appear online in the journal The Plant Cell.

"Discovery of the genes will enable plant breeders to develop lettuce varieties that can better germinate and grow to maturity under high temperatures," said the study's lead author Kent Bradford, a professor of plant sciences and director of the UC Davis Seed Biotechnology Center.

"And because this mechanism that inhibits hot-weather germination in lettuce seeds appears to be quite common in many plant species, we suspect that other crops also could be modified to improve their germination," he said. "This could be increasingly important as global temperatures are predicted to rise."

Most lettuce varieties flower in spring or early summer and then drop their seeds -- a trait that is likely linked to their origin in the Mediterranean region, which, like California, characteristically has dry summers. Scientists have observed for years that a built-in dormancy mechanism seems to prevent lettuce seeds from germinating under conditions that would be too hot and dry to sustain growth. While this naturally occurring inhibition works well in the wild, it is an obstacle to commercial lettuce production.

In the California and Arizona lettuce industries, lettuce seeds are planted somewhere every day of the year -- even in September in the Imperial Valley of California and near Yuma, Ariz., where fall temperatures frequently reach 110 degrees.

In order to jump-start seed germination for a winter crop in these hot climates, lettuce growers have turned to cooling the soil with sprinkler irrigation or priming the seeds to germinate by pre-soaking them at cool temperatures and re-drying them before planting -- methods that are expensive and not always successful.

In the new study, researchers turned to lettuce genetics to better understand the temperature-related mechanisms governing seed germination. They identified a region of chromosome six in a wild ancestor of commercial lettuce varieties that enables seeds to germinate in warm temperatures. When that chromosome region was crossed into cultivated lettuce varieties, those varieties gained the ability to germinate in warm temperatures.

Further genetic mapping studies zeroed in on a specific gene that governs production of a plant hormone called abscisic acid -- known to inhibit seed germination. The newly identified gene "turns on" in most lettuce seeds when the seed is exposed to moisture at warm temperatures, increasing production of abscisic acid. In the wild ancestor that the researchers were studying, however, this gene does not turn on at high temperatures. As a result, abscisic acid is not produced and the seeds can still germinate.

The researchers then demonstrated that they could either "silence" or mutate the germination-inhibiting gene in cultivated lettuce varieties, thus enabling those varieties to germinate and grow even in high temperatures.

Other researchers on the study were: Post-doctoral researcher Heqiang Huo and staff researcher Peetambar Dahal, both of the UC Davis Department of Plant Sciences; Keshavulu Kunusoth of Acharya N.G. Ranga Agricultural University, India; and Claire McCallum of Arcadia Biosciences, which provided the lettuce lines with variants of the target gene to help confirm the study's findings.

Funding for the study was provided the U.S. Department of Agriculture -- National Institute of Food and Agriculture and the National Science Foundation.

Share this story on Facebook, Twitter, and Google:

Other social bookmarking and sharing tools:

---

Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of California - Davis.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

---

Journal Reference:

1. H. Huo, P. Dahal, K. Kunusoth, C. M. McCallum, K. J. Bradford. Expression of 9-cis-EPOXYCAROTENOID DIOXYGENASE4 Is Essential for Thermoinhibition of Lettuce Seed Germination but Not for Seed Development or Stress Tolerance. The Plant Cell, 2013; DOI: 10.1105/tpc.112.108902

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/~3/l_5Ao2sF1pE/130329125309.htm

texas tornado fantasy baseball

Greek dog that hounded debt monitors is free again

ATHENS, Greece (AP) ? Ruby the anti-austerity dog is back on the streets of Athens ? just in time for next week's visit by representatives of international creditors monitoring Greece's troubled finances.

The male stray gained fame this month after barking menacingly as part of a pack of dogs at European and International Monetary Fund austerity inspectors driving up to the Finance Ministry for talks.

Ruby was later captured by municipal officials and freed Friday after being observed for two weeks and showing no signs of aggressiveness.

A city statement said Ruby's detention followed a complaint that he bit a man, and wasn't linked with the ministry incident. Dogs often follow anti-austerity protesters in Athens.

Recession-crippled Greece is being kept afloat by international bailouts, released following regular assessments of demanded cutbacks and reforms.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/greek-dog-hounded-debt-monitors-free-again-204841633--finance.html

Yunel Escobar

SAfrica: Mandela in hospital with lung infection

JOHANNESBURG (AP) ? Nelson Mandela, the anti-apartheid leader who became South Africa's first black president, has been hit by a lung infection again and is in a hospital, the presidency said Thursday.

Mandela, 94, has become increasingly frail in recent years and has been hospitalized several times in recent months, including earlier this month when he underwent what authorities said was a scheduled medical test. The Nobel laureate is a revered figure in South Africa, which has honored his legacy of reconciliation by naming buildings and other places after him and printing his image on national banknotes.

"I'm so sorry. I'm sad," said Obed Mokwana, a Johannesburg resident. "I just try to pray all the time. He must come very strong again."

The Nobel laureate was admitted to a hospital just before midnight Wednesday "due to the recurrence of his lung infection," the office of President Jacob Zuma said in a statement.

Mandela contracted tuberculosis during his 27-year imprisonment for fighting white racist rule in South Africa. He has repeatedly had lung problems.

"Doctors are attending to him, ensuring that he has the best possible expert medical treatment and comfort," the statement from the presidency said. It appealed "for understanding and privacy in order to allow space to the doctors to do their work."

Presidential spokesman Mac Maharaj, referring to Mandela by his clan name "Madiba," said the trip to a hospital in the South African capital of Pretoria was not for previously scheduled treatment.

"No, this wasn't scheduled, as you will appreciate the doctors do work with a great sense of caution when they are treating Madiba and take into account his age," he said. "And so when they found that this lung infection had reoccurred they decided to have him immediately hospitalized so that he can receive the best treatment."

In December, Mandela spent three weeks in a hospital in Pretoria, where he was treated for a lung infection and had a procedure to remove gallstones.

Maharaj acknowledged there was cause for worry, but said the medical specialists treating Mandela were very competent.

"With Madiba and a person of his age there always has to be concern and therefore the doctors, I think we need to appreciate, will prefer to work on the side of caution rather than taking any risks," he said from the coastal city of Durban.

He said there had been a global outpouring of messages expressing concern for Mandela's health.

Zuma wished Mandela a speedy recovery.

"We appeal to the people of South Africa and the world to pray for our beloved Madiba and his family and to keep them in their thoughts. We have full confidence in the medical team and know that they will do everything possible to ensure recovery," the presidential statement quoted Zuma as saying.

Mandela spent a night in a hospital and was released on March 10 following a medical test. At that time, spokesman Maharaj said Mandela was "well."

In February 2012, Mandela spent a night in a hospital for minor diagnostic surgery to determine the cause of an abdominal complaint. In January 2011, he was admitted to a Johannesburg hospital for what officials initially described as tests but what turned out to be an acute respiratory infection. He was discharged days later.

He also had surgery for an enlarged prostate gland in 1985.

Under South Africa's white-minority apartheid regime, Mandela served 27 years in prison, where he contracted tuberculosis, before being released in 1990. He later became the nation's first democratically elected president in 1994 under the banner of the African National Congress, helping to negotiate a relatively peaceful end to apartheid despite fears of much greater bloodshed. He served one five-year term as president before retiring.

Perceived successes during Mandela's tenure include the introduction of a constitution with robust protections for individual rights and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, a panel that heard testimony about apartheid-era violations of human rights as a kind of national therapy session. South Africa still struggles with crime, economic inequality and other social ills.

Mandela last made a public appearance on a major stage when South Africa hosted the 2010 World Cup soccer tournament.

He had spent more time in the rural village of Qunu in Eastern Cape province, where he grew up. He was visited there in August by Hillary Clinton, who was U.S. secretary of state at the time.

Doctors said in December that he should remain at his home in the Johannesburg neighborhood of Houghton for the time being to be close to medical facilities that can provide the care he needs.

___

APTN Senior Producer Ed Brown contributed to this report from Durban, South Africa.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/safrica-mandela-hospital-lung-infection-073555444.html

maine caucus whitney houston has died whitney houston death the vow the voice season 2 ron paul maine safe house

Italian court orders new trial for Amanda Knox

ROME (AP) ? Italy's highest criminal court ordered a whole new trial for Amanda Knox and her former Italian boyfriend on Tuesday, overturning their acquittals in the gruesome slaying of her British roommate.

The move extended a prolonged legal battle that has become a cause celebre in the United States and raised a host of questions about how the next phase of Italian justice would play out.

Knox, now a 25-year-old University of Washington student in Seattle, called the decision by the Rome-based Court of Cassation "painful" but said she was confident that she would be exonerated.

The American left Italy a free woman after her 2011 acquittal ? but only after serving nearly four years of a 26-year prison sentence from a lower court that convicted her of murdering Meredith Kercher. The 21-year-old British exchange student's body was found in November 2007 in a pool of blood in the bedroom of a rented house the two shared in the Italian university town of Perugia. Her throat had been slit.

Raffaele Sollecito, Knox's Italian boyfriend at the time, was also convicted, sentenced and later acquitted.

It could be months before a date is set for a fresh appeals court trial for Knox and Sollecito in Florence, which was chosen because Perugia has only one appellate court.

Italian law cannot compel Knox to return for the new trial and one of her lawyers, Carlo Dalla Vedova, said she had no plans to do so.

"She thought that the nightmare was over," Dalla Vedova told reporters on the steps of the courthouse. "(But) she's ready to fight."

He spoke minutes after relaying the top court's decision to Knox by phone shortly after 2 a.m. local time in Seattle.

Another Knox defender, Luciano Ghirga, was gearing up psychologically for his client's third trial. Ghirga said he told Knox: "You have always been our strength. We rose up again after the first-level convictions. We'll have the same resoluteness, the same energy" in the new trial.

Still, it was a tough blow for the former exchange student, whose parents have had to mortgage both their homes to raise funds for her lengthy, expensive defense.

"It was painful to receive the news that the Italian Supreme Court decided to send my case back for revision when the prosecution's theory of my involvement in Meredith's murder has been repeatedly revealed to be completely unfounded and unfair," Knox said in a statement.

Knox said the matter must now be examined by "an objective investigation and a capable prosecution."

"No matter what happens, my family and I will face this continuing legal battle as we always have, confident in the truth and with our heads held high in the face of wrongful accusations and unreasonable adversity," Knox said.

FILE - In this Sept. 26, 2008 file photo, American murder suspect Amanda Knox , center, is escorted by Italian penitentiary police officers to Perugia's court at the end of a hearing, central Italy. ... more? FILE - In this Sept. 26, 2008 file photo, American murder suspect Amanda Knox , center, is escorted by Italian penitentiary police officers to Perugia's court at the end of a hearing, central Italy. On Wednesday, Nov. 18, 2009 Rudy Hermann Guede, of the Ivory Coast, appealing his conviction for murdering British student Meredith Kercher in Italy, testified Wednesday that he heard the victim arguing with American defendant, Amanda Knox, in the case minutes before she was slain. Guede's appeals process began Wednesday even as the initial trial implicating American student Amanda Knox, of Seattle, and Knox's ex-boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, continued. (AP Photo/Pier Paolo Cito, files) less? ?

Prosecutors alleged that Kercher was the victim of a drug-fueled sex game gone awry. Knox and Sollecito denied wrongdoing and said they weren't even in the apartment that night, although they acknowledged they had smoked marijuana and their memories were clouded.

An Ivory Coast man, Rudy Guede, was convicted of the Kercher slaying in a separate proceeding and is serving a 16-year sentence.

Sollecito, whose 29th birthday was Tuesday, sounded shaken when a reporter reached him by phone.

"Now, I can't say anything," said the Italian, who has been studying computer science in the northern city of Verona after finishing up an earlier degree while in prison.

A local Italian news report quoted Sollecito's current girlfriend as saying he and Knox spoke by phone after the judicial setback and described him as being psychologically destroyed.

His lawyer, Luca Maori, said neither Sollecito nor Knox ran any danger of being arrested.

"It's not as if the lower-court convictions are revived," he said, noting that the Cassation Court didn't pronounce "whether the two were innocent or guilty. "

For those familiar by the U.S. legal principle of "double jeopardy" ? by which no one who is acquitted of a crime can be tried again for it ? the idea that Italian justice system allows prosecutors to appeal acquittals is hard to absorb.

Knox attorney Dalla Vedova dismissed the "double jeopardy" concern, insisting the high court ruling Tuesday hadn't decided anything about the defendants' guilt or innocence, but merely ordered a fresh appeals trial.

Knox still planned to talk with celebrity interviewer Diane Sawyer in a prime-time special to be broadcast April 30 to promote her new book "Waiting to Be Heard," according to ABC News.

Dalla Vedova said Knox wouldn't come to Italy but would follow the case from home. He said he didn't think the new appeals trial would begin before early 2014 and no date would be set for it until after the top court issues a written explanation of its decision, due in the next 90 days.

Whether Knox ever returns to Italy to serve more prison time depends on a string of ifs and unknowns.

"Questions of extradition are not in the legal landscape at this point," another Knox attorney, Theodore Simon, said on NBC TV.

If she is convicted by the Florence court, Knox could appeal that verdict to the Cassation Court, since Italy's judicial system allows for two levels of appeals ? by prosecutors and the defense alike. Should that appeal fail, Italy could seek her extradition from the United States.

Whether Italy actually requests extradition will be a political decision made by a future Italian government.

In the past, Italian governments on both the left and the right refused Italian prosecutors' request to seek extradition for the trial of 26 Americans accused in the kidnapping of an Egyptian cleric in Milan under the CIA's extraordinary rendition program. All 26 were tried in absentia, convicted and received sentences ranging from seven to nine years. Italy's new government will decide if it wants seek their extradition to serve the sentences.

If Knox is convicted and Italy requests her extradition, it would be up to U.S. authorities to decide whether they will send Knox to Italy. Dalla Vedova noted that U.S. authorities would carefully study all the case's documentation to decide whether she had received fair trials.

U.S. and Italian authorities could also come to a deal that would keep Knox in the U.S.

Years ago, the United States extradited an Italian woman convicted in a domestic U.S. terrorism case after reaching a deal that she would serve the rest of her sentence in her homeland. Italian authorities, however, released her from prison not long after she arrived home, citing medical reasons.

The appeals court that acquitted Knox and Sollecito had criticized virtually the entire case mounted by prosecutors, and especially the forensic evidence which helped clinch their 2009 convictions. The appellate court noted that the murder weapon was never found, said that DNA tests were faulty and that prosecutors provided no murder motive.

In arguing for the acquittals to be overturned, the prosecutor described the Perugia appellate court as being too dismissive about whether DNA tests were reliable on a knife prosecutors allege could have been the one used to slash Kercher's throat and DNA traces on a bra belonging to the victim, as well as tests done on blood stains in the bedroom and bathroom.

Whether that argument swayed the top court was unclear, said Dalla Vedova. Sollecito's attorney, Giulia Bongiorno, said the appeals court might have been "too generous" in ruling that the pair did not commit the crime, but was confident that Sollecito's innocence would be affirmed.

The court on Tuesday also upheld a slander conviction against Knox. During a 14-hour police interrogation, Knox had accused a local Perugia pub owner of carrying out the killing. The man was held for two weeks based on her allegations, but was then released for lack of evidence.

Her defense lawyers say Knox felt pressured by police to name a suspect so her own interrogation could end.

Because of the time she served in prison before the acquittal, Knox didn't have to serve the three-year sentence for the slander conviction. The court on Tuesday also ordered Knox to pay 4,000 euros ($5,500) to the man, as well as the cost of the lost appeal.

It was not known why the top court concluded the appellate court had erred in acquitting Knox and Sollecito and won't be until the Cassation judges issue their written ruling.

But Prosecutor General Luigi Riello, who urged the Cassation judges to overturn the acquittals, said he thought it could be significant that Knox's slander conviction was upheld. If the Cassation judges think "there is a link" between Knox's reason for fingering the pub owner and the murder, it could bolster prosecutors in the new Florence trial, he said.

In her statement, Knox took the Perugia prosecutors to task, saying they "must be made to answer" for the discrepancies in the case. She also said "my heart goes out to" Kercher's family.

The Kercher family's attorney, Francesco Maresca, called Tuesday's ruling "what we wanted" and relayed a message quoting the late woman's sister, Stephanie.

"To understand the truth about what happened that night is all we can do for her now," the family's message said.

__

AP writer Colleen Barry in Milan contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/italian-court-orders-trial-amanda-knox-104649972.html

roger goodell psychosis dianna agron million hoodie march tebow trade mike the situation jacksonville jaguars

Never Worry About Cushion Crumbs Ever Again With Wireframe Furniture

Like a 3D model awaiting textures and rendering, these Pamela wireframe chairs and footrests created by Dem Bitantes only barely exist. Available from A. Garcia Crafts in a small sampling of colors, the pieces won't collect crumbs, will never hide a TV remote, and if used outside won't collect rain. The only downside is that if change happens to fall out of a visitors pocket, they'll instantly know about it. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/kCIDlnU6MBQ/never-worry-about-cushion-crumbs-ever-again-with-wireframe-furniture

ufc Chris Cline New Pope Jeff Gordon Test Drive Tamar Braxton Veronica Mars Pope John Paul II

US, Afghanistan OK detention center transfer

WASHINGTON (AP) ? The U.S. has reached an agreement with the Afghanistan government to transfer the Parwan Detention Facility to Afghan control, the Pentagon said Saturday, two weeks after negotiations broke down over whether the U.S. would have the power to block the release of some detainees.

According to a senior U.S. official, a key element to the agreement is that the Afghans can invoke a procedure that insures prisoners considered dangerous would not be released. The agreement also includes a provision that allows the two sides to work together to resolve any differences. The official lacked authorization to discuss the details of the agreement publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Transfer of the Parwan detention center is critical to the ongoing effort to gradually shift control of the country's security to the Afghans as the U.S. and allies move toward the full withdrawal of combat troops by the end of 2014.

Afghans demanded control of the center, but U.S. officials have worried that the most threatening detainees would be freed once the U.S. transferred control. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel spoke with Afghan President Hamid Karzai Saturday as officials finalized the agreement after days of intense negotiations.

The senior official said U.S. and Afghan officials who are familiar with the detainees would meet to assess the potential danger of their release to coalition forces. The official said that more senior level officials could be brought in if there are disagreements but that to date the two sides have been able to agree without bringing in those higher authorities.

Disagreements over the detention facility, which also included whether Afghans can be held without trial, had thrown a pall over the ongoing negotiations for a bilateral security agreement that would govern the presence of U.S. forces in Afghanistan after 2014.

Currently, there is an Afghan administrator of the Parwan prison, but the Americans have power to veto the release of detainees. The prisoners held under American authority do not have the right to a trial because the U.S. considers them part of an ongoing conflict.

Pentagon press secretary George Little said Hagel "welcomed President Karzai's commitment that the transfer will be carried out in a way that ensures the safety of the Afghan people and coalition forces by keeping dangerous individuals detained in a secure and humane manner in accordance with Afghan law."

Last weekend Hagel spoke with Karzai, and officials said the two men agreed to resolve the thorny issue within a week.

The top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, Marine Gen. Joseph Dunford, has also been working to resolve the matter ? one of several divisive issues that soured relations between the U.S., its allies and the Afghans in recent weeks.

The U.S. had been scheduled to hold a ceremony marking the transfer of control two weeks ago, during Hagel's first visit to Afghanistan as defense secretary. That ceremony was called off after negotiations broke down.

In addition to disputes over the Parwan facility, the U.S.-led coalition and Afghans have wrangled over several other difficult issues. Last month, Karza insisted that the coalition forces cease all airstrikes, after a NATO assault caused civilian casualties.

More recently, Karzai demanded that U.S. special operations forces leave Wardak province after allegations that U.S. commandos and their Afghan partners abused local citizens. Dunford has denied the charges.

Earlier this week, the two sides reached an agreement on the Warkak issue. Dunford agreed to remove a team of commandos from Wardak's Nirkh district and transition security of that area to the Afghans as soon as possible.

U.S. special operations forces would remain in other parts of the restive province, while the coalition continues to work to transition those areas also to the Afghans.

U.S. officials have made no final decision on how many troops might remain in Afghanistan after 2014, although they have said as many as many as 12,000 U.S. and coalition forces could remain.

There currently are 66,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan, down from a 2010 peak of 100,000.

___

Lolita C. Baldor can be followed on Twitter: https://twitter.com/lbaldor

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/us-afghanistan-ok-detention-center-transfer-183406094--politics.html

clay matthews Ncaa Tournament 2013 2013 NCAA Bracket leprechaun ufc Chris Cline New Pope

Eternity worth the wait for filmmaker Alex Galvin | Stuff.co.nz

Kent Blechynden/Fairfax NZ

Wellington filmmaker Alex Galvin in the parliamentary library, one of his favourite locations in his new film, Eternity.

Eternity director Alex Galvin takes a hands-on role during filming.

Eternity features other locations that will be familiar to Wellingtonians, including Wellesley Hotel's spiral staircase...

...Wellington Town Hall...

And the New Zealand Dominion Museum building on Buckle St.

The familiar silhouette of Kapiti Island can be seen as Detective Richard Manning, played by Eliot Travers, consults Helpdesk, played by Shortland St newcomer Amy Usherwood.

0?of?0 ? Previous? PreviousNext ?Next ?

Alex Galvin obviously likes tricky puzzles. Such as how was a businessman strangled in a study with a single entry point in full view of assembled guests? Or how can you make a credible feature film for around $100,000?

The answer to the first conundrum can be found in his new movie, Eternity, a murder-mystery/sci-fi hybrid set in the near future, filmed in Wellington, Hong Kong and Hawke's Bay, where the movie had its New Zealand premiere last November.

Detective Richard Manning (played by Elliot Travers) is transported into a virtual-reality computer game and tasked with solving a seemingly implausible murder. But the game turns out to be a little too real for comfort. Unless he can solve the crime by the day's end he will be stuck in the infected cyberworld for eternity.

The answer to the second question lies in the credits to Eternity - two listed names are actually pseudonyms for Galvin himself. As well as directing and writing the screenplay, the Wellington film-maker also helped edit the footage and scouted all the locations. Oh, and he also has an acting cameo, because he couldn't afford to pay an extra actor in Hong Kong.

Back home, however, he did manage to secure some recognisable actors, including Geraldine Brophy and Shortland Street newcomer Amy Usherwood.

Eternity is Galvin's second feature, following his 2007 debut When Night Falls, which was shot in an extraordinary 10 days, at a cost of around $50,000. You'd think the stress of that would have given him enough grey hairs, but Galvin couldn't help but come back for more.

So for the past five years, the 37-year-old has spent his annual leave, weekends, and evenings writing, shooting and editing Eternity, while holding down a full-time day job as a policy manager for Victoria University.

The idea for Eternity was born out of childhood summers in Christchurch ploughing through his grandmother's Agatha Christie collection, and a fascination with intelligent sci-fi, from 70s classics Soylent Green and Omega Man to more modern interpretations such as The Matrix and Inception.

Galvin wanted to explore perceptions of reality - hence the idea of a distinct world within a computer game. In Eternity, New Zealand provides the empty, green, expansive, clean-aired world that by then no longer exists in reality, while the sensory explosion of the Hong Kong streetscape describes the polluted world of the future.

Why Hong Kong? Galvin made When Night Falls as a calling card: "I thought, I'm going to make this tiny wee film about nurses stuck out in the countryside in the 1930s. Me and three friends will appreciate it and then we'll move on."

It served its purpose. On a trip to a Hong Kong film market Galvin met producer Eric Stark, of Hong Kong's Shaw Brothers Studios, who had seen and liked When Night Falls. And Galvin - who's been known to knock on random people's doors because he's liked the look of their window, or tripped over in the street because he's distracted by potential filming locations - saw the city's energy, the noise, the massive skyscrapers, the pollution and realised he had found his contrasting world, as well as his producer.

Galvin is anxious not to promote Eternity as a low-budget movie because he has spent months trying to prevent it looking like one. And it certainly doesn't look low-fi, with its opulent locations that will instantly trigger recognition for Wellingtonians - the echoingly empty Town Hall, Wellesley Hotel's spiral staircase, Parliament's inner sanctums - interspersed with Hawke's Bay's art deco architectural gems. But it's hard to get past the enormity of the challenge of making a feature-length movie that includes overseas locations for such a tiny sum.

"To make this film normally, with the effects we had and the locations, you'd be looking at several million dollars," Galvin says.

In the absence of any Film Commission funding, actors and crew worked either for free or vastly reduced salaries and cash was scrounged from private investors. Generous organisations opened up locations and closed streets for free.

While Galvin believes Wellington's film industry has a core of talented independent directors, he's frustrated that the city produces either $200 million Middle-earth movies or $1m to $2m movies, with nothing in between.
He admits he doesn't have another squeezed-budget movie in him, but he argues his entire life so far has prepared him for the task.

After graduating from Victoria University with a bachelor of arts in linguistics and music history, Galvin got a job with the Inland Revenue Department, where his mother, Noel, now works, and then at the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. Part of his job was writing mini-biographies for honours recipients, in seven lines, with its "discipline of cutting away the fat and just making sure you got to the clear, concise elements".

His training as an opera singer has also helped. Galvin's twin passions have always been music and writing. He joined the New Zealand Opera chorus in 1998, and that experience fostered his love of visual artistry and made him, he hopes, a better director. "I've been directed a lot myself. I've seen really good directors and really bad directors. I like to think I'm an actors' director.

"I think maybe you've got to have a screw loose to direct. You've got to be very calm. A lot of people can't cope with it because they get 15 people asking a question inside a minute. I've seen people who've held down really stressful jobs who go on set on a tiny short film and they fall to pieces. You need to be very strong in what you want and also have a very good temperament."

Although he's always loved movies, and had plenty of opinions on them, Galvin was a latecomer to movie-making, quitting his job in 2003 to study at the New Zealand Film School.

In the school's 13-year history, only a handful of graduates have shot feature films. "Because it's not easy. There's no such thing as an overnight success. It's been 10 years of incredibly hard work. Every day on a film set is like planning a full-scale war. Imagine doing that for 25 of them."

The key, he says, is minute-by-minute planning. And reverse budgeting - taking the good old Kiwi can-do approach of "here's how much we've got - what can we do with it?".

But there are rewards. At least you know people have seen the movie, unlike his 2007 novel, One Endless Day, Galvin says, his characteristic Cheshire grin splitting his face.

"If they buy the book, you don't know if they've damn well read it. I think more people went to the premiere of this movie than read my novel. I think it sold about 600 copies. I know a lot of my male friends bought the book and probably never read it. At least if you have a premiere you know they've seen it.''?

And Eternity has already met success overseas, being selected for festivals in Boston and St Tropez, winning the Special Jury Prize at the California Film Awards and being nominated for four awards at the Madrid International Film Festival.

Galvin is also heading to France, where Eternity will screen at Cinema des Antipodes at Cannes in May. ''London, via Beirut,'' he told his stunned travel agent. Galvin's father, Badih, was part Lebanese, and Galvin is taking the opportunity to visit the home country for the first time on the way.

The greatest reward for Galvin, though, is seeing the unexpected results of a collaborative process.?''As a writer or director, I can only take the film so far. What is really great is when you get lots of people with different skills and talents in different areas to create something truly unique and special.?''What I love is when something turns out better than I ever envisaged.''

Eternity opens on Thursday

- Your Weekend

Comments

Source: http://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/film/8449784/Film-worth-the-wait-for-Kiwi-director

tom benson

Primary care physicians missing early signs of serious mental illness

Mar. 21, 2013 ? Primary care providers could help people with warning signs of psychosis get critical early treatment and potentially reduce the current burden on emergency departments and inpatient units, finds a study in the journal Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology. However, these providers may need to be trained to recognize the early symptoms of psychosis.

According to the study authors, these symptoms, which include depressed mood, anxiety, sleep disturbance, social withdrawal, odd behavior, suspiciousness, deterioration in functioning, and irritability, may lead people or their family members to seek help before they reach the level of full psychosis. Furthermore, previous research has shown that delays in treatment for a first episode of psychosis are associated with poor outcomes.

The team from McGill University evaluated administrative data from health and social services providers to identify first-time diagnosis of schizophrenia or spectrum psychosis in people age 14 to 25 in Montreal. They then looked to see whether those people had contact with health services for a mental health reason in the four years before their first diagnosis.

They found that 32 percent of patients had had no mental health care before their initial diagnosis, and nearly 50 percent were first diagnosed with psychosis in an emergency room. Those patients who received primary care were less likely to end up in the emergency room or to be hospitalized, but they also had a longer interval before seeing a psychiatrist.

Although the study was done in Canada, the findings are probably applicable to the United States, said Mia W. Biran, Ph.D., professor emerita of Miami University in Ohio, and a clinical psychologist in private practice. ?This is especially true for people without insurance coverage. There is no doubt that people are falling between the cracks and are not getting attention soon enough,? she said.

Many primary care physicians do not understand that depression and anxiety in a young person may be early symptoms of schizophrenia and psychosis, which usually starts between ages 17 and 25, Biran said. Primary care physicians may prescribe antidepressants or anti-anxiety drugs and follow up with the patients a few months later, which leaves the developing schizophrenia unrecognized until a psychotic episode occurs, she said.

?In my experience, these patients are often referred to a psychologist, therapist, or counselor, but that is not enough,? Biran said. A comprehensive mental health clinic that has professionals on staff who can prescribe and monitor medications along with psychologists and others would provide the best treatment for patients with early psychosis, but such clinics may not be easy to find, especially outside of urban areas, she said. Psychiatrists are also starting to refuse to take health insurance, which can leave even those who have it without treatment, she added.

Share this story on Facebook, Twitter, and Google:

Other social bookmarking and sharing tools:

---

Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Health Behavior News Service, part of the Center for Advancing Health. The original article was written by Valerie DeBenedette.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

---

Journal Reference:

1. Anderson K.K., Fuhrer R., Wynant W., et al. Patterns of health services use prior to a first diagnosis of psychosis: The importance of primary care. Soc. Psychiatr. Epidemiol, 21 Feb 2013

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/mind_brain/mental_health/~3/jKcq-98M8_Q/130321141356.htm

Cnn.com

BlackBerry Z10 Review: A New Hope

The zippy new smartphone won't dethrone Android or put a major dent in Apple's iPhone dominance, but it will make current BlackBerry users happy enough to lay down some cash.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GearFactor/~3/MlgtuJaS8dA/

nfl draft picks 2012 space shuttle enterprise ryan leaf ryan leaf luke kuechly

Cern Explains Why the LHC Has To Go Bye-Bye For the Next Two Years

Science fans around the world were saddened when CERN announced its Large Hadron Collider would be shutting down for almost two years worth of repairs and upgrades. But as this video explains: that's ok. Because when the LHC is powered up again in 2015, it will finally be able to run at full capacity. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/dg5A117-LE4/cern-explains-why-the-lhc-has-to-go-bye+bye-for-the-next-two-years

halle berry

GOP pillories administration's sequester prep

House Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., center, and committee member Rep. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., left, talk with Lynne Halbrooks, Principal Deputy Inspector General, Defense Department, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday March 19, 2013, after Halbrooks testified before the committee's hearing: ?DOD and DHS: Implementing Agency Watchdogs? Recommendations Could Save Taxpayers Billions?. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

House Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., center, and committee member Rep. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., left, talk with Lynne Halbrooks, Principal Deputy Inspector General, Defense Department, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday March 19, 2013, after Halbrooks testified before the committee's hearing: ?DOD and DHS: Implementing Agency Watchdogs? Recommendations Could Save Taxpayers Billions?. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Homeland Security Undersecretary Rafael Borras testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday March 19, 2013, before the House Oversight Committee hearing: ?DOD and DHS: Implementing Agency Watchdogs? Recommendations Could Save Taxpayers Billions?. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? House Republicans are accusing the Obama administration of poorly preparing for the $85 billion in automatic spending cuts while at the same time scaring people about their potential impact.

"Agency after agency acts surprised that a law signed by the president 19 months ago actually meant what it said," Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., the chairman of the House Oversight Committee, said Tuesday.

Issa's committee conducted two hearings that touched on the impact of the budget cuts known as a "sequester" and the administration's preparation for them. Both hearings turned into forums for lawmakers in each party to blame the other side.

"When you cut $85 billion out of a budget over a course of seven months there are consequences ? duhhh," said Rep. Elijah Cummings of Maryland, the committee's senior Democrat. "They want people to think these are the choice of the administration. It isn't true."

Rep. John Mica, R-Fla., former chairman of the House Transportation Committee, ripped the Homeland Security Department and its Transportation Safety Administration as among the worst offenders. While attacking the department's lack of planning for the spending cuts, he singled out Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano's predictions of long waits at airport security lines as "her form of torture."

"We should have the secretary out there screening people," Mica said. "This is one of the most shameful things I've ever seen the administration do."

Rafael Borras, the department's undersecretary in charge of its budget, said there was no effort to scare people.

"There was an expectation that the sequester would not come to pass," Borras said. "We're doing everything we can to limit the impact."

During October's presidential debate between President Barack Obama and GOP nominee Mitt Romney, Obama said sequestration cuts "will not happen," though his aides then tried to back off the remark.

Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, told Michael Young, the budget director for the Agriculture Department, that the USDA should have anticipated potential cuts. He also put up slides showing the department's budget over the last four years, noting it had been relatively flat.

"You've had 20 months to get ready for this," Jordan said. "August 2011. It seems to me you should be able to deal with this."

Jordan asked Young if anyone had directed him to make the cuts more painful. Young said the opposite was true, that Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack had instructed him to implement cuts in an "equitable manner and the least disruptive manner."

In February, Vilsack warned that budget cuts mandated by the sequester would force the USDA to furlough meat inspectors for up to 15 days. Because meatpacking plants require a federal inspector, his warning implied that it could cause an industry-wide slowdown.

Young told Jordan he did not yet know how long meat inspectors might be furloughed.

Democrats expressed frustration that the committee was asking questions about the impact of the sequester before agencies had fully grappled with it.

"Did we expect (the sequester) to kick in within 19 days?" said Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va. "No!"

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2013-03-20-Budget%20Battle-Automatic%20Cuts/id-a4d428c1ce0e4bd38afdd949611d35b9

battlestar galactica blood and chrome

Enjoy Personalized Jet Charter Services For Your Travel Needs ...

The expansion of jet charter services has been instrumental in addressing the challenges facing commercial airlines. As commercial airlines experience financial challenges, they have limited the on-board services they offer to passengers. Traditional airlines are offer rigid flight schedules which may not favor travelers like business persons who have tight schedules.

One aspect which charter flights offer is luxury travel. For travelers who would like to have luxury in their travel experience, they would prefer taking charter flights. The jets offer more than just amenities. Flexibility, services, value, safety and convenience all play a role in choosing jet charter flights.

Private jets not only offer luxury travel experience but also provide customized flight services. Commercial planes offer limited services such as meals, entertainments and other amenities in a bid to keep the flight tickets static. Moreover, these commercial airlines also impose extra costs inform of fees such as seat preference fee, reward redemption fees, curb side check in fee, and airport maintenance charges.

Moreover, because of the inflexibility of the commercial airlines, travelers are forced to spend money on accommodation when they stay overnight to wait for their next flight. Paying for room accommodation is costly and this is something that can be eliminated by using chartered jets. With jet charters, they are flexible and are tailored to offer customized services. Because the commercial flights are operated on rigid flight schedules, you have to fit your travel plan to fit with that of the airline.

Moreover, parking expenses are also factored in the trip cost. Private jets fly straight to your destination and eliminate the time wasted in airports as you go through check ins screening. When you travel by commercial airlines, you are required to be at the departure airport at least 2 hours before the flight departs. This is time wasted and which could be used constructively in other activities.

Considering that time is precious especially if you are attending important meetings, you may be late for your event if you use commercial flights. Some of the airlines may not operate as per set time schedule. There will be delays in flight departures and arrivals and this could cost a business traveler or diplomatic travel attending a crucial meeting.

Security is another aspect that is emphasized when flying by privately hired jets. In commercial flights, you do not know the passengers you are flying with and this compromises the level of security. For enhance optimal security, private jets are much more preferable. With these jets, you fly with people you know.

The delays and snarled highway traffic you experience when you get to and from commercial airports is also eliminated with use of private jet planes. In essence, jet charter services have resolved some of the challenges experienced by travelers when they use traditional commercial planes for their travel needs. They eliminate the wastage of time which is associated with use of commercial airline. Similarly, they offer personalized services ranging from group travel, on board amenities, and services like meals and timely travel experience.

You can find the best jet charter services for your small business endeavors by viewing our web pages at www.capjets.com today. To access images of our craft and know more about the available amenities and features, click the links at http://www.capjets.com now.

Source: http://oregonattractions.net/travel-leisure/enjoy-personalized-jet-charter-services-for-your-travel-needs/

les paul

Jury to resume work on Wis. starved girl case

MADISON, Wis. (AP) ? A jury is set to resume deliberations in the case of a Wisconsin man accused of starving and torturing his teenage daughter.

The jury began deliberations Thursday afternoon. They worked for about nine hours into Friday morning when they sent a message to Dane County Circuit Judge Julie Genovese that they couldn't agree on a verdict. The judge ordered them to continue deliberations. A half-hour later jurors asked Genovese to let them go home. The judge ordered them to return to the courthouse at 10 a.m. CDT Friday to resume their work.

Prosecutors have charged the Madison man with a half-dozen child abuse-related charges. The Associated Press isn't naming him to avoid identifying the girl, who has alleged her stepbrother sexually assaulted her.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2013-03-15-US-Teen-Starved-Wisconsin/id-f13194381d1347b4bea7f2cb78645195

october baby sugarland 16 and pregnant ludwig mies van der rohe jamie lynn sigler mega millions jackpot black panther party

Failed Firmware Update Caused The 16-Hour Outlook, Hotmail Outage

A routine sever firmware update resulted in an anything but routine outage for Microsoft's Outlook and Hotmail. On March 12, Outlook.com and Hotmail were unavailable to some users, and as Microsoft details in a blog post, a firmware update caused servers to overheat and go offline for 16 hours. Apparently similar firmware updates had been successfully deployed in the past but something went haywire this time.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/W7fd1WQT4yk/

demi moore hospitalized james farentino somali pirates navy seals

Encyclopedia of American Loons: #467: Richard Bandler

Richard Wayne Bandler is an author and self-help guru, best known for inventing (with John Grinder) ?Neuro-linguistic programming? (NLP), a collection of concepts and techniques ?intended to understand and change human behavior-patterns? (closely related to ?Natural Horsemanship?). He has also developed other trademarked systems such as Design Human Engineering? and Neuro Hypnotic Repatterning?. None of it has any basis in reality ? it is purportedly based on transformational grammar, the basis of which Bandler?s audience doesn?t understand anyway ? and NLP has aptly been termed cargo-cult science (or a mild version of Scientology) by people who know what they are talking about, insofar as it is built on a theory of mind that is demonstrably false. But all of it belongs to the kind of fluffy, popular self-help woo ? a central element in the human potential movement, in fact ? that remains immensely popular and ensures that Bandler stays filthy rich. ?Fraud? might be the first word that comes to mind (he often refers to himself as having a doctorate, which is, uh, a controversial claim) but there is no obvious reason to believe that Bandler doesn?t actually believes he?s onto something. Adherents of NLP attempt to apply it to psychotherapy, healing, communication, self development, teaching English, treating psoriasis, curing cancer, achieving weight loss (the obvious one), and dating (links to these claims on the NLP website can be found here, but I won?t link to them directly). The bullshit is described in perceptive detail here, and this?is a pretty good summary. This might be relevant as well. Diagnosis: Major bullshitter and bullshit promoter. The level of danger is a little hard to assess, but pushing blatant pseudo-science cannot have a good outcome in the long run.

Source: http://americanloons.blogspot.com/2013/03/467-richard-bandler.html

viktor bout ncaa hockey role models ferdinand porsche gregg williams theraflu masters leaderboard

Kenyan gov't: Obama's Gridiron speech no joke

?

By Chuck Todd and Andrew Rafferty, NBC News

President Barack Obama?s remarks at last weekend?s Gridiron Dinner were no laughing matter for at least one country.

A Kenyan government official said Obama made a ?disturbing? comment last Saturday when he thanked foreign journalists who have risked their lives working in dangerous places like Syria and Kenya.

In a somber moment during the largely joked-filled annual event, the president praised reporters who have uncovered corruption around the world.

?They've risked everything to bring us stories from places like Syria and Kenya, stories that need to be told,? he said.

But Kenya's Permanent Secretary for Information and Communications Bitange Ndemo released a statement Thursday calling on the president to correct his statement.?

"President Obama's suggestion that Kenya is an unsafe country for foreign journalists is not only inaccurate, but exceedingly disturbing given the long and warm relations between our two nations,? he said.

Ndemo also took exception to the president citing Kenya alongside Syria ? a country that has been engaged in civil war for more than two years that has cost thousands of civilian lives.

"Kenya calls on President Obama to correct his statement, and recognize Kenya's commitment to ensuring a free and safe environment for both local and foreign journalists and to keeping an unfettered flow of information to the Kenyan public," read the statement.

Late Thursday, a White House official responded: "The President's statement was meant to commend the work of journalists operating around the globe.? Journalists, both international and domestic, played an important role in reporting on Kenya's recent elections.? We recognize and commend the press freedoms enshrined in Kenya's constitution. Obviously, the situations in Syria and Kenya are quite different."

The Kenyan official also cited the country?s recent ?peaceful election? earlier this month as proof that Obama spoke inaccurately. The east African country has thus far remained peaceful following elections, unlike five years earlier where violence in the wake of a disputed presidential race claimed 1,000 Kenyans and left 600,000 displaced. ??

The U.S State Department did, however, issue a travel warning in late February urging U.S. citizens in Kenya to avoid polling places and political demonstrations, highlighting the potential of terrorist activity, kidnappings and violent crimes.

NBC's Shawna Thomas contributed to this report

Source: http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/03/14/17315585-kenyan-government-says-obamas-gridiron-speech-no-joke?lite

ign Xbox 720 HTC One NICOLAUS COPERNICUS kurt cobain

New details of atomic structure of water under extreme conditions found

Public release date: 14-Mar-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Christoph Sahle
christoph.sahle@helsinki.fi
University of Helsinki

Scientist from Dortmund, Helsinki, Potsdam, and the ESRF have revealed details of the microscopic atomic structure of water under extreme conditions. The results have now been published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA.

Liquid water remains a mystery even after decades of dedicated scientific investigations and researchers still struggle to fully describe its unusual structure and dynamics. At high temperatures and high pressures, water is in the so called supercritical state and exhibits a number of peculiar characteristics that are very unlike from water at ambient conditions. In this state water is a very aggressive solvent, enabling chemical reactions impossible otherwise, e.g. the oxidization of hazardous waste or the conversion of aqueous biomass streams into clean water and gases like hydrogen and carbon dioxide.

High temperature and high pressure conditions can also be found inside the Earth, in its lower crust and upper mantle. Here, the unique properties of supercritical water have been believed to play a key role in the transfer of mass and heat as well as in the formation of ore deposits and volcanoes. Supercritical water is even thought to have contributed to the origin of life.

Knowledge of the structural properties of water on an atomic scale under these extreme conditions of high temperature and high pressure may become very helpful in understanding these processes, says Christoph Sahle, from the Department of Physics at the University of Helsinki and a member of the research team behind the new results.

Spectroscopic investigations confirm previous theoretical model

Now, a research team of scientists from the Technische Universitt Dortmund, Germany, the University of Helsinki, Finland, the Deutsches GeoForschungsZentrum in Potsdam, Germany, and the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF), Grenoble, France, have used x-ray spectroscopy to study the structural properties of water in the supercritical state.

Conventional spectroscopic analyses can provide key insights into the atomic structure of a substance, however, these techniques are not well suited to studying water under supercritical conditions because of the complicated sample environments in which supercritical water has to be contained. Using the intense x-ray radiation from the ESRF for inelastic x-ray scattering spectroscopy and a new technique that makes it possible to look at the chemistry of water inside a complex environment together with a quantum mechanical modeling framework known as density functional theory, the group of scientists has made these spectroscopic investigations of water at high temperature and high pressure feasible.

The researchers found that the measured inelastic x-ray scattering spectra evolve systematically from liquid-like at ambient conditions to more gas-like at high temperatures and pressures. To learn more about the local atomic structure of water at the tested conditions, theoretical inelastic x-ray scattering spectra from computer simulations were calculated and compared to the experimental data. All features found in the experimental data and the systematic changes of these features as a function of temperature and pressure could be reproduced by the calculation.

Based on this close resemblance of the calculated and measured data, the authors extracted detailed information about the atomic structure and bonding. They could show that, according to the theoretical model, the microscopic structure of water remains homogeneous throughout the range of examined temperatures and pressures.

The presented findings also implicate means to study unknown disordered structures and samples under extreme conditions on an atomic scale in depth even when other structural probing techniques fail.

###

Read more: Microscopic Structure of Water at Conditions of the Earth's Crust and Mantle, http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2013/03/07/1220301110

Additional information:

Christoph Sahle
tel. 358-9-191-59641

Yours truly,

Minna Merilinen-Tenhu
Press officer
University of Helsinki
minna.merilainen@helsinki.fi

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Public release date: 14-Mar-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Christoph Sahle
christoph.sahle@helsinki.fi
University of Helsinki

Scientist from Dortmund, Helsinki, Potsdam, and the ESRF have revealed details of the microscopic atomic structure of water under extreme conditions. The results have now been published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA.

Liquid water remains a mystery even after decades of dedicated scientific investigations and researchers still struggle to fully describe its unusual structure and dynamics. At high temperatures and high pressures, water is in the so called supercritical state and exhibits a number of peculiar characteristics that are very unlike from water at ambient conditions. In this state water is a very aggressive solvent, enabling chemical reactions impossible otherwise, e.g. the oxidization of hazardous waste or the conversion of aqueous biomass streams into clean water and gases like hydrogen and carbon dioxide.

High temperature and high pressure conditions can also be found inside the Earth, in its lower crust and upper mantle. Here, the unique properties of supercritical water have been believed to play a key role in the transfer of mass and heat as well as in the formation of ore deposits and volcanoes. Supercritical water is even thought to have contributed to the origin of life.

Knowledge of the structural properties of water on an atomic scale under these extreme conditions of high temperature and high pressure may become very helpful in understanding these processes, says Christoph Sahle, from the Department of Physics at the University of Helsinki and a member of the research team behind the new results.

Spectroscopic investigations confirm previous theoretical model

Now, a research team of scientists from the Technische Universitt Dortmund, Germany, the University of Helsinki, Finland, the Deutsches GeoForschungsZentrum in Potsdam, Germany, and the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF), Grenoble, France, have used x-ray spectroscopy to study the structural properties of water in the supercritical state.

Conventional spectroscopic analyses can provide key insights into the atomic structure of a substance, however, these techniques are not well suited to studying water under supercritical conditions because of the complicated sample environments in which supercritical water has to be contained. Using the intense x-ray radiation from the ESRF for inelastic x-ray scattering spectroscopy and a new technique that makes it possible to look at the chemistry of water inside a complex environment together with a quantum mechanical modeling framework known as density functional theory, the group of scientists has made these spectroscopic investigations of water at high temperature and high pressure feasible.

The researchers found that the measured inelastic x-ray scattering spectra evolve systematically from liquid-like at ambient conditions to more gas-like at high temperatures and pressures. To learn more about the local atomic structure of water at the tested conditions, theoretical inelastic x-ray scattering spectra from computer simulations were calculated and compared to the experimental data. All features found in the experimental data and the systematic changes of these features as a function of temperature and pressure could be reproduced by the calculation.

Based on this close resemblance of the calculated and measured data, the authors extracted detailed information about the atomic structure and bonding. They could show that, according to the theoretical model, the microscopic structure of water remains homogeneous throughout the range of examined temperatures and pressures.

The presented findings also implicate means to study unknown disordered structures and samples under extreme conditions on an atomic scale in depth even when other structural probing techniques fail.

###

Read more: Microscopic Structure of Water at Conditions of the Earth's Crust and Mantle, http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2013/03/07/1220301110

Additional information:

Christoph Sahle
tel. 358-9-191-59641

Yours truly,

Minna Merilinen-Tenhu
Press officer
University of Helsinki
minna.merilainen@helsinki.fi

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-03/uoh-ndo031413.php

House of Cards Warm Bodies Colin Kaepernick cbs sports 30 rock Chris Culliver Atlanta school shooting