Scientists discover molecule that does double duty in stopping asthma attacks

Thursday, February 28, 2013

Scientists from Brigham and Women's Hospital are on the brink of the next treatment advancement that may spell relief for the nearly nineteen million adults and seven million children in the United States suffering from asthma. The scientists discovered two new drug targets in the inflammatory response pathway responsible for asthma attacks.

The study will be published on February 27, 2013 in Science Translational Medicine.

Researchers studied the lungs and blood of 22 people with mild and severe asthma. They saw that immune cells called natural killer cells and type 2 innate lymphoid cells played significant roles in airway inflammation in study participants with severe asthma.

Natural killer cells decreased airway inflammation by encouraging programmed cell death in immune cells called eosinophils, whereas type 2 innate lymphoid cells promoted airway inflammation by secreting cell-signaling molecules called interleukin-13.

Both mechanisms were controlled by a molecule called lipoxin A4 which is responsible for resolving inflammation. To achieve this, lipoxin A4 acted in both pro-resolving and anti-inflammatory ways. The researchers saw that lipoxin A4 encouraged natural killer cells to decrease inflammation by facilitating eosinophil cell death. Lipoxin A4 also discouraged type 2 innate lymphoid cells from promoting inflammation by blocking interleukin-13 secretion.

"Stopping airway inflammation is similar to putting out a forest fire," said Bruce Levy, MD, Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine Division, BWH Department of Internal Medicine, senior study author. "Firefighters tackle forest fires in two ways?dousing the fire with water and clearing away dry brush that could fuel the fire. Lipoxin A4 does just that to resolve inflammation. It is an airway inflammation fighter that performs the double duty of dampening pathways that ignite inflammation while at the same time clearing away cells that fuel inflammation."

In previous studies, Levy and his team discovered that lipoxin A4 production was defective in patients with severe asthma. Together with their new findings, this observation provides researchers and drug manufacturers with a new direction toward boosting lipoxin A4 in severe asthmatics when designing next-generation asthma therapies.

"Most patients with severe asthma have chronic airway inflammation that never fully resolves. This can lead to daily and often disabling symptoms despite available therapies. Our study provides new information on cellular targets that regulate inflammation and will enable the development of lipoxin-based therapeutics to decrease chronic inflammation in asthma and other diseases." said Levy.

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Brigham and Women's Hospital: http://www.brighamandwomens.org

Thanks to Brigham and Women's Hospital for this article.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/127055/Scientists_discover_molecule_that_does_double_duty_in_stopping_asthma_attacks

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Tom Hardy, Solar Pictures developing project about post-traumatic stress disorder

NEW YORK (TheWrap.com) - Tom Hardy wants to play a British soldier suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder in "Samarkand," a project the actor is developing with Solar Pictures and Greg and Olly Williams, an individual with knowledge of the project told TheWrap.

The Williams brothers have written a draft of the screenplay, which revolves around a young Special Air Service soldier returning from duty in the Middle East. He struggles to acclimate to regular society after this service, a condition afflicting innumerable soldiers and an issue that has faced heightened scrutiny over the past few decades.

Photographer Greg Williams, who directed Hardy in his short "Sergeant Slaughter - My Big Brother," will direct "Samarkand." He began his career as a war photographer and has since worked for magazines including GQ and Esquire, shot campaigns for films like "Casino Royale" and "The Bourne Ultimatum" and done portraits of a litany of celebrities.

Solar Pictures is the film financing and production arm of Bobby Paunescu and Jared Underwood's Solar Entertainment Group.

There is no exact timetable on the project, but Hardy recently finished "Mad Max: Fury Road," and will next film "Animal Rescue" for Fox Searchlight. He is also attached to star in Doug Liman's "Everest," Daniel Epinosa's "Child 44" and Steven Knight's "Locke."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/tom-hardy-solar-pictures-developing-project-post-traumatic-214337017.html

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Crews rehearse Launch Abort System stacking with Orion

Feb. 28, 2013 ? Crane operators, technicians and engineers practiced lifting and stacking techniques this week as they moved a 6-ton replica escape rocket called the LAS, for Launch Abort System, from a trailer to the top of a mockup Orion capsule.

Though stacking the real thing for a Space Launch System mission is still a few years off, engineers said performing the task now, using the same procedures and demands that will accompany the actual assembly, helps them anticipate difficulties ahead of time.

The practice also keeps the crane operators proficient in handling spacecraft components that must be moved gingerly and placed precisely. The exercise took place inside the Vehicle Assembly Building, or VAB, at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida using the same equipment and operators that stacked space shuttles for launch.

"The breakover, taking the LAS from horizontal to vertical, is not as easy as it sometimes seems, but the VAB guys are exceptional, they are really good at what they do so they really didn't have a problem," said Douglas Lenhardt, who is overseeing the Orion mock-up and operations planning for the Ground Systems Development and Operations program, or GSDO.

During missions, the LAS will be ready to ignite its solid-fueled engines and lift the Orion and its crew away from disaster in the unlikely event that the booster fails during the first part of launch. Its design is similar to that used during Apollo launches, though the LAS is larger than the escape rocket used before. A test flight in 2010 saw the LAS produce 500,000 pounds of thrust, about the same as the Titan II rockets that launched Gemini spacecraft into orbit.

As powerful as it is for an escape rocket, the LAS's power is a fraction of the overall thrust the Space Launch System is designed to produce to lift Orion into orbit and then propel it to deep space.

The LAS stacking topped off a mockup Orion and service module that has been standing at the north end of the transfer aisle in the VAB for several months. It will remain there so engineers and designers can continue to refine their plans for the spacecraft as it evolves from a concept that exists only on a computer screen to a spacecraft carrying humans into deep space.

"The number one thing people say about real hardware is, the computer-aided design (CAD) model doesn't do it justice," Lenhardt said. "Things seem to almost always work on a CAD mode. Real-life, things don't always work perfectly and that's why it really does help having a physical model."

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Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/Mqo2ksuN8Tc/130228123240.htm

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Algerian in Jihad Jane plot faces US extradition

DUBLIN (AP) ? An Algerian man wanted by American authorities over the abortive "Jihad Jane" plot to assassinate a Swedish artist was arrested while leaving an Irish courthouse Wednesday and could face U.S. extradition demands within hours.

Ali Charaf Damache, 47, had just walked free from a court in Waterford, southeast Ireland, after three years in an Irish prison when detectives acting on an American extradition warrant rearrested and escorted him, handcuffed, to an unmarked police car. Court officials said his extradition proceedings could begin Thursday in Dublin High Court.

The FBI and U.S. Justice Department accuse Damache of being the ringleader behind an unrealized 2009 conspiracy to target artist Lars Vilks in Sweden over his series of drawings depicting the Muslim prophet Muhammad as a dog. Muslim extremists in Iraq had offered a $100,000 reward for anyone who killed Vilks, who was never attacked.

U.S. prosecutors say Damache, who has lived in Ireland since 2000, recruited two U.S. women via jihadist web sites to help him target Vilks. One of the women who billed herself as "Jihad Jane," Colleen LaRose, was arrested by the FBI soon after she returned from Ireland in September 2009. Damache married the other woman, Jamie Paulin Ramirez, in a Muslim ceremony on the day she arrived in Ireland from Colorado that same month. Ramirez and Damache were arrested in their Waterford home in March 2010; she voluntarily returned to the United States to face charges there.

Both LaRose, now 49, and Ramirez, now 34, have pleaded guilty ? LaRose to conspiring to kill Vilks, Ramirez to lesser charges of aiding terrorists ? and are imprisoned in the United States pending their sentencing, which has been repeatedly delayed. LaRose faces up to life in prison, Ramirez a maximum 15 years.

Irish detectives investigating Damache's links to both women trawled his telephone records and discovered he had telephoned a Michigan attorney, Majed Moughni, the lead organizer of an Arab-American protest in Detroit called to denounce Islamic extremists. Moughni told police he received a telephoned death threat the day after that January 2010 demonstration ? and taped it.

Damache had pleaded not guilty to Irish charges of making death threats until Tuesday, when prosecutors played the audiotape. A voice identified as Damache's could be heard telling Moughni: "If you were in front of me, I would shoot you. I would put a bullet in your head."

On Wednesday, Damache's lawyers said their client was changing his plea to guilty and wanted to say sorry to Moughni. The presiding judge in Waterford Circuit Court, Donagh McDonagh, described the threat as premeditated and frightening. He gave Damache a four-year sentence but suspended the final year, which meant he was eligible for immediate release given his jail time already served.

He was rearrested within minutes of leaving the courtroom.

Vilks is one of two Scandinavian artists to infuriate Muslims with illustrations denigrating Muhammad, the central figure of Islam, who isn't supposed to be depicted visually at all according to Muslim tradition. The other artist, Danish cartoonist Kurt Westergaard, was threatened in 2010 by an ax-wielding Somali who broke into his home, but police shot and wounded the attacker while the artist hid in a specially barricaded panic room. Westergaard's 2005 newspaper cartoons depicting Muhammad wearing a bomb-shaped turban sparked street protests and violence against Scandinavian embassies in several predominantly Muslim countries.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/algerian-jihad-jane-plot-faces-us-extradition-005941309.html

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SES New York Keynote Speaker Says Internet is TV's Best Friend ...

The Internet didn?t kill TV! According to Mike Proulx, the Internet has become TV?s best friend. Proulx will be the opening keynote speaker at SES New York 2013. The leading event for experienced marketing and advertising professionals will take place March 25-28, 2013, at the New York Marriott Marquis.

Proulx is a Senior Vice President and the Director of Social Media at Hill Holliday, a renowned advertising agency based in Boston, where he leads a team with a focus on cross-channel integration, emerging and social media. He has spent the last 17 years working at various interactive, high-tech, and new media companies on the agency-side, client-side, and as an entrepreneur. He has spoken at dozens of events and has been widely featured in the press including The New York Times, Fast Company, TV Guide, Forbes, BusinessWeek, Mashable, BuzzFeed, and NPR.

Proulx conceived, produced, directed, and co-host the TVnext summit, which took place in early 2011 and 2012. He is the co-author of Social TV, a best-selling book from Wiley publishing that launched in February of 2012. He is also the host of the social TV web series, ?The Pulse on Lost Remote?. He holds a Master?s degree in Computer Information Systems from Bentley University and in 2012 was named the Ad Club?s Media All Star.

His opening keynote is titled, ?Social TV: How Marketers Can Reach and Engage Audiences by Connecting Television to the Web, Social Media, and Mobile.?

Search Engine Watch (SEW) asked Mike Proulx (MP) five questions about his upcoming keynote. Here are his answers:

SEW: How does the convergence of television with the web, social media, and mobile change our behaviors and shake up our long standing beliefs about TV?

MP: There are those who believe that television is a traditional medium with an impending death. The web, social media, and mobile have evolved TV into a multi-screen experience that transcends devices. Not only are we watching more television than ever before, we?re interacting with programming on the ?second screen? in ways that enrich storylines and bring us together to virtually co-view. The modern era of television is a new media that?s more social, more connected, and more portable?and because of this TV is more alive than it?s ever been.

SEW: How has social media created a new and powerful "backchannel" and why does this fuel the renaissance of live broadcasts?

MP: There are a ton of posts happening in social media about any given TV show as it airs. Since Twitter is open and public, it acts as television?s backchannel filled with real-time commentary and conversation ? And it?s not just about TV series but also TV commercials giving producers and marketers instant feedback about their content. Live television events are seeing some of the highest ratings in years and social media brings a level of community and connection to TV watching the likes of which the medium has never before experienced.

SEW: Can you give us some examples of how mobile devices allow us to watch and interact with television whenever and wherever we want?

MP: Tablets, smartphones, and laptops enable television?s portability but it?s apps like HBO Go, ABC Player, Xfinity Remote, and CNN that deliver ?TV? content via those devices. And in the 4G world of mobile, we can watch TV in places once inconceivable. My favorite spot? Laying out on the roof deck on a warm summer night with my iPad in hand streaming HBO?s The Newsroom.

SEW: Why would ?connected TVs? blend web and television content into a unified big screen experience that will bring us back into our living rooms?

MP: Apple TV, Roku, Boxee TV, Google TV, Samsung Smart TVs, etc. stream online video (that was once relegated to our computer screens) onto the ?big screen? of our living rooms. HD YouTube clips suddenly come to life in ways that are far more impactful and dynamic than tiny smartphone screens further blurring the lines of what?s ?TV.? While the notion of TV everywhere lets us watch TV at will regardless of our physical location, the increasingly seamless ability to channel streaming video through the TV set makes the living room that much more compelling.

SEW: With the television landscape changing, why should brands approach the medium once labeled ?traditional? as new media?

MP: TV has become mashed up with the Web, social media, and mobile. Television networks, providers, brands, and agencies must continue to unshackle themselves from dated business and advertising models and rediscover television as a new medium. This means planning television and digital together to tell stories across devices and engage viewers with TV experiences not just TV shows. The speed, scale, and degree of change that has and is happening create enormous opportunity for those brands who have the courage to innovate.

SES New York 2013 offers a variety of conference passes and on-site training. If you register by Thursday, March 7, 2013, you can save up to $600 on Platinum or All Access passes.

For more information, click on Rates and Registration Details. Group discounts for 4 or more pass holders from the same company are also available by contacting [email?protected] and are the best value for the lowest price possible.

I should disclose that SES New York is a client of my agency. But, trust me, TV is not dead yet.

---

Become an Expert Digital Marketer at SES New York
March 25-28, 2013: With dozens of sessions on Search, Social, Local and Mobile, you'll leave SES with everything and everyone you need to know. Hurry, early bird rates expire February 21. Register today!

Source: http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2250850/SES-New-York-Keynote-Speaker-Says-Internet-is-TVs-Best-Friend

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LG unveils world's smallest wireless charger, preps it for global availability

LG may have an obsession with hulking smartphones, but it's taken a different tact with its latest wireless charger, which is being hailed as the world's smallest. Christened the WCP-300, the pad juices up Qi-compatible devices such as the Nexus 4 (if you're not in the mood for a sliced sphere, of course) and the outfit's Optimus G Pro, Vu II and LTE II. South Korea will see the hardware arrive this week with a 65,000 won (roughly $60) price tag, but the charger is slated to roll out across the globe gradually, and the US is somewhere on its itinerary.

Filed under: Mobile, LG

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Source: LG Newsroom (translated)

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/yFf_Nj5qr8E/

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PFT: Mathieu runs a fast 40? |? But bench is weak

Getty Images

Last year, the Steelers cut quarterback Ben Roethlisberger?s base salary from $11.6 million down to the minimum of $900,000.? The $10.7 million became a guaranteed payment, with the cap hit spread equally over the four remaining years in Roethlisberger?s deal.

The move added $2.675 million in cap charges to each year of the contract, pushing this year?s cap number to a belt-bending $19.6 million.

As MDS pointed out earlier in the afternoon, the Steelers plan to do it again, without extending the deal.? But with only three years left on the contract, the Steelers can?t take as large a chunk out of Roethlisberger?s cap number this time around.

Once again, Roethlisberger?s base salary is $11.6 million.? The Steelers could drop it to the 10-year minimum of $940,000.? The $10.66 million difference would then be converted to a guarantee, with the amount spread out over the final three seasons of his contract.

This would create $7.1 million in cap space.? But it also would increase Roethlisberger?s cap number by $3.55 million in 2014 and 2015.? With last year?s restructuring, that?s another $6.225 million to be carried in each of the final two seasons of Roethlisberger?s deal.

And with a base salary of $12.1 million due in 2014, it converts to a minimum cap number of $18.325 million next year.

Whatever the Steelers do, they should wait until March 5 to finalize it.? If they reduce the deal before then, Roethslisberger?s cap number would drop out of the top five in 2013 ? and the exclusive franchise tender the Ravens would have to pay to quarterback Joe Flacco would drop again.

Source: http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/02/26/tyrann-mathieu-runs-a-4-43-on-his-first-40/related/

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AP PHOTOS: Highlights from the Oscars

Actors Channing Tatum, left, and Jenna Dewan-Tatum arrive at the 85th Academy Awards at the Dolby Theatre on Sunday Feb. 24, 2013, in Los Angeles. (Photo by John Shearer/Invision/AP)

Actors Channing Tatum, left, and Jenna Dewan-Tatum arrive at the 85th Academy Awards at the Dolby Theatre on Sunday Feb. 24, 2013, in Los Angeles. (Photo by John Shearer/Invision/AP)

Actress Helena Bonham Carter, left, and director Tim Burton arrive at the Oscars at the Dolby Theatre on Sunday Feb. 24, 2013, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Todd Williamson/Invision/AP)

Actors Michael Douglas, left, and Catherine Zeta-Jones arrive at the Oscars at the Dolby Theatre on Sunday Feb. 24, 2013, in Los Angeles. (Photo by John Shearer/Invision/AP)

The cast and producers of "Argo" accept the award for best picture during at the Oscars at the Dolby Theatre on Sunday Feb. 24, 2013, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Matt Sayles/Invision/AP)

Jennifer Lawrence stumbles as she walks on stage to accept the award for best actress in a leading role for "Silver Linings Playbook" during the Oscars at the Dolby Theatre on Sunday Feb. 24, 2013, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP)

Just as Oscar host Seth MacFarlane set his sights on a variety of targets with a mixture of hits and misses, the motion picture academy spread the gold around to a varied slate of films.

From red carpet pageantry to the unexpected stumbles, here's a gallery of images from Sunday night's Oscars.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2013-02-25-Oscars-Photo-Gallery/id-f6e9f7f145ec44d1b86db3c25e9dc5d8

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Return of sectarian threats in Iraq raises alarm

BAGHDAD (AP) ? The fliers began turning up at Sunni households in the Iraqi capital's Jihad neighborhood last week bearing a chilling message: Get out now or face "great agony" soon.

The leaflets were signed by the Mukhtar Army, a new Shiite militant group with ties to Iran's Revolutionary Guard. "The zero hour has come. So leave along with your families. ... You are the enemy," the messages warned.

Such overt threats all but disappeared as the darkest days of outright sectarian fighting waned in 2008 and Iraq stepped back from the brink of civil war. Their re-emergence now ? nearly a decade after the U.S.-led invasion ? is a worrying sign that rising sectarian tensions are again gnawing away at Iraqi society.

Iraqis increasingly fear that militants on both sides of the country's sectarian divide are gearing up for a new round of violence that could undo the fragile gains Iraq has made in recent years.

Members of the country's Sunni minority have been staging mass rallies for two months, with some calling for the toppling of a Shiite-led government they feel discriminates against them and is too closely allied with neighboring Iran. Sunni extremists have been stepping up large-scale attacks on predominantly Shiite targets, and concerns are growing that the brutal and increasingly sectarian fighting in Syria could spill across the border.

Many Sunnis who received the Jihad neighborhood messages are taking the warnings at face value and considering making a move.

"Residents are panicking. All of us are obsessed with these fliers," said Waleed Nadhim, a Sunni mobile phone shop owner who lives in the neighborhood. The 33-year-old father plans to leave the area because he doesn't have faith in the police to keep his family safe. "In a lawless country like Iraq, nobody can ignore threats like this."

Iraqi security forces have beefed up their presence in and around Jihad. The middle-class community, nestled along a road to the airport in southwest Baghdad, was home to Sunni civil servants and security officials under Saddam Hussein's regime, though many Shiites now live there too.

The Shiites, who are emboldened by a government and security forces dominated by their sect, have made their presence felt in Jihad in recent years. A Sunni mosque bears graffiti hailing a revered Shiite saint. A billboard on a major road shows firebrand Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr flanked by a fighter gripping a machine gun.

Jihad was one of the earliest flashpoints in Baghdad's descent into sectarian bloodshed. In July 2006, the neighborhood witnessed a brazen massacre that left as many as 41 residents dead and marked an escalation in Iraq's sectarian bloodletting. In that incident, Shiite militiamen set up checkpoints to stop morning commuters, singled out Sunnis based on their names and systematically executed them in front of their Shiite neighbors.

Residents now fear the events in southwest Baghdad could be the spark for a new round of tit-for-tat killing. Two weeks ago, a Sunni and a Shiite were each killed in separate attacks in Sadiyah, next to Jihad, said a 30-year-old Sunni government employee living in the area who gave her name only as Umm Abdullah al-Taie, or mother of Abdullah.

"Nobody dares to go out after dark," she said. "People have started to hear sectarian alarm bells ringing again."

The Mukhtar Army whose named appeared on the threatening leaflets was formed by Wathiq al-Batat, a onetime senior official in the Hezbollah Brigades. He announced the creation of the new militant group earlier this month.

Hezbollah in Iraq is believed to be funded and trained by Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard and was among the Shiite militias that targeted U.S. military bases months before their December 2011 withdrawal.

Al-Batat told Iraq's al-Sharqiya channel that he formed the Mukhtar Army to confront Sunnis who might attempt to topple the government in the same way that Syrian rebels are trying to overthrow Bashar Assad's Iranian-backed regime in neighboring Syria. He said the group is advised by Iran's hard-line Quds Force, which oversees external operations of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. He declined to say whether the group received any further support from Tehran.

Little is known about Mukhtar Army's size or capabilities. Abdullah al-Rikabi, a spokesman for the group, boasted it has 1 million members and described al-Batat as loyal to Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's government has issued an arrest warrant against al-Batat, though he still walks free. In a speech Saturday, the Shiite premier vowed to prosecute anyone who seeks to incite sectarian strife.

The Mukhtar Army denies being behind the threats, which some Shiites believe are a ruse to tar their sect and inflame sectarian divisions.

"We have nothing to do with the fliers," said al-Rikabi, the group's spokesman. He accused members of Saddam's now-outlawed Baath party and al-Qaida of making the threats in an effort to ignite civil war.

Even though they are busy hunting down the group's leader, Iraqi authorities have their doubts about the Shiite militia's involvement in the leaflets too.

Two senior security officials said intelligence agents have obtained an al-Qaida hit list containing detailed names and residential information about people ? both Sunnis and Shiites ? living in mixed areas. They believe the group plans to target residents one by one, alternating by sect, in an effort to spread panic and suggest an atmosphere of retaliatory killings.

They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to disclose information about security operations.

Threatening fliers from both Sunni and Shiite militias aimed at members of the opposite sect also have begun turning up in Baqouba, a former al-Qaida stronghold north of Baghdad that has a history of sectarian violence, according to Diyala provincial council member Sadiq al-Hussein.

For those living in areas where the threats turned up, their source matters less than what they portend.

Jafaar al-Fatlawi, a Shiite government employee who lives in the Jihad neighborhood, said he has started carrying a pistol with him just to answer the door and takes his family to spend the night with relatives elsewhere in the city.

"Everybody in the neighborhood expects sectarian fighting to erupt any minute," he said. "Our security forces weren't able to stop the sectarian war before and now they'll fail again."

___

Associated Press writer Sameer N. Yacoub contributed reporting.

___

Follow Adam Schreck on Twitter at http://twitter.com/adamschreck

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/return-sectarian-threats-iraq-raises-alarm-064831443.html

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Inmates go high-tech as startup mania hits San Quentin

SAN QUENTIN, California (Reuters) - One by one, the entrepreneurs, clad in crisp blue jeans and armed with PowerPoint presentations, stood before a roomful of investors and tech bloggers to explain their dreams of changing the world.

For these exuberant times in Silicon Valley, the scene was familiar; the setting, less so.

With the young and ambitious flocking again to northern California to launch Internet companies, there were signs one recent morning that startup mania has taken hold even behind the faded granite walls of California's most notorious prison.

"Live stream has gone mainstream. Mobile video usage went up and is expected to increase by 28 percent over the next five years," said Eddie Griffin, who was pitching a music streaming concept called "At the Club" and happens to be finishing a third stint for drug possession at San Quentin State Prison, near San Francisco, after spending the last 15 years behind bars.

Griffin was one of seven San Quentin inmates who presented startup proposals on "Demo Day" as part of the Last Mile program, an entrepreneurship course modeled on startup incubators that take in batches of young companies and provide them courses, informal advice and the seed investments to grow.

According to business news website Xconomy, incubator programs - which it tracks - have tripled in number for each of the past three years, proliferating from Sao Paulo to Stockholm at a pace that has fueled talk in tech circles of an "incubator bubble".

Last Mile founder Chris Redlitz, a local venture capitalist, says his goal was never to seek out a genuine investment opportunity inside a prison but to educate inmates about tech entrepreneurship and bridge the knowledge gap between Silicon Valley's wired elite and the rest of the region's population.

Inmates, after all, are not allowed to run businesses. They do not have access to cellphones ? much less Apple Inc's latest iPhone developer toolkits ? and they use computers only under close supervision.

A LOT TO LEARN

After his presentation in San Quentin's chapel, which received a rousing reception from an audience that included prison warden Kevin R. Chappell, Griffin told a reporter it was unlikely he would launch his startup idea immediately after being released this summer.

"I still have a lot to learn," said the soft-spoken Detroit native. "I've never used a cellphone. Technology is kind of foreign in this environment."

But to hear the inmates use jargon such as "lean startup" and "minimum viable product" speaks to an unmistakable truth about the Bay Area zeitgeist, where startups, for better or worse, have come to embody upward mobility, ambition, and hustle.

"If they were doing this in the '80s there may have been a different theme or model," said Wade Roush, Xconomy's chief correspondent. "But in this day and age, becoming an entrepreneur or starting a business is a form of self-actuation."

Situated on prime waterfront land, San Quentin is perhaps California's most storied prison and home to the state's only death row. But it has also kept a longstanding progressive reputation, boasting a rare college degree-granting program and vibrant arts courses.

The Last Mile accepted 10 inmates out of 50 applicants for its latest batch. The program, which graduated its first class of inmates last year, meets twice a week to discuss startups and lasts six months, although the most recent class took seven months due to a prison lockdown last year.

Some Last Mile participants, under official supervision, have also joined the online question-and-answer site Quora to respond to questions about prison life or describe what it felt like to commit murder.

The latest batch of startup ideas included a fitness app that would motivate drug addicts to exercise, a cardiovascular health organization, a social network for sufferers of post-traumatic stress disorder, a food waste recycling program, and an e-commerce site for artists in prison.

DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE

Because the likelihood is not great that these companies will become funded and succeed, Redlitz said he was also working to place the inmates in jobs at tech companies after their release.

Rocketspace, a startup co-working space in downtown San Francisco, has agreed to host an internship. Rally.org, a crowd-funding site that counts Redlitz among its investors, said it hoped to begin a program to seek micro-investments from the public for the inmates' ideas.

Sitting in the Demo Day audience was John Collison, the 22-year-old co-founder of online payments startup Stripe, who noted some stark differences between the inmates' proposals and the fashionable startups du jour in Silicon Valley.

"What's frustrating is that all these companies in the Valley, they're ideas for the 1 or 10 percent," Collison said. "You have startups like Uber or Taskrabbit, that's like, ?Oh, here's something to help you find a driver or find someone to clean your house.' Are they solving real problems?"

The San Quentin inmates "were talking about urban obesity, or PTSD", Collison said. "It's a completely different perspective. We actually really need that."

(Reporting by Gerry Shih; Editing by Dale Hudson)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/inmates-high-tech-startup-mania-hits-san-quentin-230717354--sector.html

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12-Month CD Rate Deal of the Day: Arrowhead Central Credit Union at 0.30% APY

Sometimes all that?s needed to get a savings plan in the right direction is just a small piece of motivation, like?CD interest rates?that help depositors accrue dividends and compound their finances. For investors looking for that financial boost, choosing the?Arrowhead Central Credit Union?in San Bernardino, CA is the right place ? the credit union?s 12-month, 0.30% APY CD comes with flexible terms and fixed CD interest rates.

12-Month CD Terms and Conditions

With a 12-month CD, funds deposited into an account stay there for one year, building interest that can be used for a variety of life choices, like that next vacation, school tuition, or for an emergency fund. With Arrowhead Central Credit Union, dividends off a 0.30% annual percentage yield are compounded and credited on a regular basis. And, there?s federal protection, too ? all deposits up to $250,000 are backed by the National Credit Union Administration.

About Arrowhead Central Credit Union

Offering an array of financial products, Arrowhead Central Credit Union has branch locations in Chino, Crestline, Fontana, Highland, Rancho Cucamonga, Redlands, Rialto, Riverside, San Bernardino and Yucaipa, CA.

Other Terms and Conditions may apply. Additionally, interest rates are based on the institution?s online published rates and may have changed since this offer was posted. Please contact the financial institution for the most recent rate updates and to review the terms of the offer.

Source: http://www.gobankingrates.com/cd-rates/12-month-cd/arrowhead-central-credit-union-0-30-apy/

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Prisoner's death stokes fears of third uprising

Palestinians take cover during clashes with Israeli troops in the West Bank city of Hebron, following the death of Arafat Jaradat, a Palestinian prisoner held in an Israeli jail, Sunday, Feb. 24, 2013. The death of a 30-year-old Palestinian after interrogation by Israel's Shin Bet security service stokes new West Bank clashes, along with Israeli fears of a third Palestinian uprising. (AP Photo/Nasser Shiyoukhi)

Palestinians take cover during clashes with Israeli troops in the West Bank city of Hebron, following the death of Arafat Jaradat, a Palestinian prisoner held in an Israeli jail, Sunday, Feb. 24, 2013. The death of a 30-year-old Palestinian after interrogation by Israel's Shin Bet security service stokes new West Bank clashes, along with Israeli fears of a third Palestinian uprising. (AP Photo/Nasser Shiyoukhi)

An Israeli soldier takes aim during clashes in the West Bank city of Hebron, following the death of Arafat Jaradat, a Palestinian prisoner held in an Israeli jail, Sunday, Feb. 24, 2013. The death of a 30-year-old Palestinian after interrogation by Israel's Shin Bet security service stokes new West Bank clashes, along with Israeli fears of a third Palestinian uprising. (AP Photo/Nasser Shiyoukhi)

Palestinians take cover during clashes with Israeli troops in the West Bank city of Hebron, following the death of Arafat Jaradat, a Palestinian prisoner held in an Israeli jail, Sunday, Feb. 24, 2013. The death of a 30-year-old Palestinian after interrogation by Israel's Shin Bet security service stokes new West Bank clashes, along with Israeli fears of a third Palestinian uprising. (AP Photo/Nasser Shiyoukhi)

Palestinians throw stones during clashes with Israeli troops in the West Bank city of Hebron, following the death of Arafat Jaradat, a Palestinian prisoner held in an Israeli jail, Sunday, Feb. 24, 2013. The death of a 30-year-old Palestinian after interrogation by Israel's Shin Bet security service stokes new West Bank clashes, along with Israeli fears of a third Palestinian uprising. (AP Photo/Nasser Shiyoukhi)

Palestinians throw stones during clashes with Israeli troops in the West Bank city of Hebron, following the death of Arafat Jaradat, a Palestinian prisoner held in an Israeli jail, Sunday, Feb. 24, 2013. The death of a 30-year-old Palestinian after interrogation by Israel's Shin Bet security service stokes new West Bank clashes, along with Israeli fears of a third Palestinian uprising. (AP Photo/Nasser Shiyoukhi)

RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) ? The mysterious death of a 30-year-old Palestinian gas station attendant in Israeli custody stoked new West Bank clashes Sunday, along with Israeli fears of a third Palestinian uprising.

A senior Palestinian official alleged that Arafat Jaradat was tortured by Israel's Shin Bet security service, citing an autopsy he said revealed bruising and two broken ribs.

Israel's Health Ministry said the autopsy did not conclusively determine the cause of death, but that the bruising and broken ribs were likely the result of attempts to revive the detainee.

Jaradat's death came at a time of rising West Bank tensions, including several days of Palestinian marches in support of four hunger-striking prisoners in Israeli lockups. In all, Israel holds nearly 4,600 Palestinians, including dozens who have never been formally charged or tried.

Frozen Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, the recent re-election of Israeli hard-line Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a Palestinian cash crisis and the Palestinians' sense of being abandoned by the Arab world seem to have created fertile ground for a third Palestinian revolt.

Over the weekend, Israel's army chief convened senior commanders to discuss the growing unrest.

Jaradat's death "is liable to become the opening shot" in a third uprising, Israeli military commentator Alex Fishman wrote in the Yediot Ahronot daily Sunday, arguing that the "Palestinian street has been boiling with anger for a number of weeks now."

However, Israeli officials have previously expressed concern about a new uprising, only to see bursts of Palestinian protests fizzle.

The first uprising, marked by stone-throwing protests and commercial strikes, erupted in the late 1980s and led to Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. The second uprising broke out in 2000, after failed talks on a final peace deal, and was far deadlier, with Israel reoccupying the West Bank in response to bombings and shootings.

In recent years, the West Bank has been relatively calm. Despite recent tensions, the Palestinian self-rule government has not broken off security coordination with Israel in their joint campaign against Islamic militants.

Palestinian activists also say they learned from the mistakes of the armed revolt a decade ago and are turning to more creative protests against Israel's 45-year rule over lands they want for a future state.

Former Palestinian security chief Jibril Rajoub, speaking in Hebrew on Israel Radio, tried to reassure Israelis, declaring Sunday "on behalf of the entire Palestinian leadership that there is no plan to lead to bloodshed."

Jaradat, a father of two from the West Bank village of Saeer, died in Megiddo Prison in northern Israel on Saturday, six days after his arrest on suspicion of stone throwing.

Jaradat's attorney, Kamil Sabbagh, said his client told an Israeli military judge Thursday during a hearing that he was being forced to sit for long periods during interrogation. He also complained of back pain and seemed terrified to return to the Shin Bet lockup, although he did not have any apparent signs of physical abuse, Sabbagh said.

After the court hearing, the judge ordered Jaradat to be examined by a prison doctor.

The Shin Bet said that during interrogation, Jaradat was examined several times by a doctor who detected no health problems. On Saturday, he was in his cell and felt unwell after lunch, the agency said.

"Rescue services and a doctor were alerted and treated him," the statement said. But "they didn't succeed in saving his life."

On Sunday, Israel's forensics institute performed an autopsy attended by a physician from the Palestinian Authority.

After being briefed by the Palestinian physician, Issa Karake, the Palestinian minister of prisoner affairs, told a news conference late Sunday that Jaradat had suffered two broken ribs on the right side of his chest. The autopsy also showed bruises on Jaradat's back and chest.

Israeli officials initially said Jaradat apparently died of a heart attack, but Karake said the Palestinian physician told him there was no evidence of that.

Later, Israel's Health Ministry said Jaradat did not suffer from disease and that it was not possible yet to determine his cause of death conclusively.

Jaradat "faced harsh torture, leading to his immediate, direct death. Israel is fully responsible for his killing," Karake said.

Protesting Jaradat's death, Palestinians threw stones at Israeli troops in several locations, including the West Bank city of Hebron and at a checkpoint near the military's Ofer prison on Sunday. In two locations, troops fired tear gas and rubber-coated steel pellets.

In the clash near the checkpoint, troops fired live rounds, shooting the 15-year-old son of the commander of the Palestinian Preventive Security Service in the chest and stomach, said Palestinian health official Dr. Ahmed Bitawi. The teen, Walid Hab al-Reeh, was in stable condition, while another man was wounded in the arm, Bitawi said.

The Preventive Security Service is key to security coordination with Israel. The Israeli military said it was aware of a report that a Palestinian youth was seriously hurt by gunfire, but could not confirm that soldiers used live rounds to disperse the protest.

Kadoura Fares, who heads a Palestinian group advocating for prisoners, urged Palestinians on Sunday to keep demonstrating. He also said that one of the four hunger-striking prisoners, Jafar Izzeldeen, was moved to a hospital Sunday because his condition was deteriorating.

Recent West Bank protests have focused on the fate of prisoners, an emotional Palestinian consensus issue.

Tens of thousands of Palestinians have been imprisoned since Israel captured the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem in 1967, meaning virtually every Palestinian family has had someone locked up.

The detainees are held on a range of charges, from stone-throwing to deadly attacks. Most Palestinians embrace them as heroes resisting occupation, while Israelis tend to view them as terrorists.

___

Associated Press writers Diaa Hadid, Aron Heller and Dalia Nammari in Jerusalem contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-02-24-Israel-Palestinians/id-da5e089770224fbd9b4db8d181c6f38b

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Taiwan media kingpin pushes hard on China ties

In this Sept. 16, 2011 photo, media mogul Tsai Eng-meng smiles during a public event in Taipei, Taiwan. Appearing last year before Taiwanese regulators, billionaire media magnate Tsai appeared perplexed over a decision to fine his flagship newspaper for carrying camouflaged advertising on behalf of China's Communist government. Tsai, whose pro-China views have made him a lightning rod for criticism on this island of 23 million people, is on the verge of expanding his already substantial Taiwanese media empire through the acquisition of a 32 percent share in Next Media, currently owned by Jimmy Lai, an outspoken anti-communist reviled by Beijing. (AP Photo/Jameson Wu)

In this Sept. 16, 2011 photo, media mogul Tsai Eng-meng smiles during a public event in Taipei, Taiwan. Appearing last year before Taiwanese regulators, billionaire media magnate Tsai appeared perplexed over a decision to fine his flagship newspaper for carrying camouflaged advertising on behalf of China's Communist government. Tsai, whose pro-China views have made him a lightning rod for criticism on this island of 23 million people, is on the verge of expanding his already substantial Taiwanese media empire through the acquisition of a 32 percent share in Next Media, currently owned by Jimmy Lai, an outspoken anti-communist reviled by Beijing. (AP Photo/Jameson Wu)

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) ? Appearing last year before Taiwanese regulators, billionaire media magnate Tsai Eng-meng appeared perplexed over a decision to fine his flagship newspaper for carrying camouflaged advertising on behalf of China's Communist government.

"I really don't understand this," said Tsai, who became Taiwan's richest individual by selling treacly rice crackers on the Chinese mainland through his Want Want China Holdings company. "I think they should allow me to make this money."

It was a vintage statement from a man Forbes magazine says is worth $8 billion and whose pro-China views have made him a lightning rod for criticism among many on this democratic island of 23 million people. Since purchasing Taiwan's China Times Group in 2008, the rough-hewn Tsai has burst like a meteor onto Taiwan's political scene, leveraging his China-derived fortune to promote a political union across the 160-kilometer- (100-mile-) wide Taiwan Strait. Despised by Taiwan's Beijing-wary opposition, the crew-cut 55-year old seems to roll effortlessly over his detractors, proudly flaunting his limited formal education and soaring business success.

Now he seems ready to roll over them again. Next month Taiwanese officials will rule on his bid to take a 32 percent share ? through his son ? in the Next Media Group, owned by Hong Kong's Jimmy Lai, an outspoken anti-communist reviled in Beijing. Next properties include Apple Daily, which is Taiwan's biggest selling newspaper, and Next Magazine, its pre-eminent investigative journal.

If the deal goes through, Tsai would add substantially to his existing ownership of another major newspaper, an influential business daily, a top-rated cable TV news station, and a popular terrestrial TV channel. Critics, who believe Tsai uses his media empire's consistently laudatory coverage of China to advance his mainland business interests, say this new level of clout could stifle Taiwan's press competition and even undermine its young democracy.

The controversy over Tsai and his expansive Taiwanese media holdings goes right to the heart of the dominant issue in Taiwanese politics: Whether the island should attempt to maintain the separate political identity from the mainland it has maintained since splitting apart from it amid civil war in 1949, or whether it should bow to China's increasing political and economic might and accept its sovereign sway. Taiwanese media, particularly the island's four national newspapers and its seven major 24-hour cable news stations, play a crucial role in the debate, using their columns and broadcasts to promote the competing pro-China and independence agendas of the two main political parties.

The strength of Tsai's pro-China views were underlined in January 2012 when he told the Washington Post newspaper that he unreservedly backed Taiwan's unification with the mainland. "I really hope that I can see that," he said. In the same article he also attacked the widely held belief that Chinese security forces killed hundreds if not thousands of demonstrators during pro-democracy protests around Beijing's Tiananmen Square in June 1989, citing the refusal of a phalanx of Chinese tanks to run over a famously bold protester as evidence of the forces' restraint.

Want Want's own internal newsletter reported in its December 2008 edition that during a meeting in Beijing, Tsai told Wang Yi, head of the Chinese government's Taiwan Affairs Office, that Tsai had acquired the China Times Group "in order to use the power of the press to advance relations between China and Taiwan." The newsletter quoted Wang as saying that if Tsai's company had any future needs "the Taiwan Affairs Office will do its best to help it, including giving support to its food business."

After a lengthy exchange of emails with a Tsai legal representative, Tsai declined to be interviewed for this article. Contacted by The Associated Press, his public relations department also declined to answer questions on Tsai's China attitudes and his plans for Next Media. "We do not plan on repeating ourselves again," wrote his son, Cai Shao-zhong, explaining that Tsai had outlined his views in other forums in the past.

Interviews with media figures and former employees help fill in the blanks about Tsai. They paint a picture of a hard charging, detail-oriented businessman, loyal to his friends, but implacably hostile to anyone he feels is getting in his way. They also suggest he either lacks an understanding of the role of the media in Taiwan's democracy or does not consider it important.

"My understanding of Tsai is that's he's a businessman, all his thinking is about business, and how to make money," said Ho Jung-shin, who left his job as deputy editor of Tsai's flagship China Times newspaper last year over what he said was Tsai's use of his sprawling media holdings to conduct vendettas against perceived enemies.

Ho said he was particularly upset by repeated China Times Group claims, which the group later backed away from, that a researcher at Taiwan's prestigious Academia Sinica paid university students to mount demonstrations against Tsai's efforts to purchase a major Taiwanese cable TV distribution system. Regulators on Wednesday nixed that deal, at least in its present form.

"He took this public trust and turned it into a personal tool," Ho said. "He's sees the media only as a tool to advance his own campaigns."

Other former China Times employees also lambast him for turning both the China Times newspaper and the CTi cable news station into rubber stamp apologists for China's authoritarian government. They cite a long litany of examples, including the two outlets' harsh criticism of the Dalai Lama during a 2009 Taiwan visit ? Beijing reviles the Tibetan spiritual leader for allegedly promoting Tibetan independence ? and the short shrift the outlets gave imprisoned Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo when he was awarded the Nobel Peace prize in 2010.

Taiwanese newspaper columnist Antonio Chiang, a longtime Tsai acquaintance, said a key to understanding Tsai's larger than life personality is the intense pride he feels at having taken over his father's small food business as a young man in the late 1970s and building it into what is now China's largest snack food company, despite having never finished high school.

"He's always talking about how little education he had and how it didn't hurt him in the least," said Chiang, who strongly opposes Tsai's views on China. "He loves the fact that he has all these PhDs working for him and that they have to listen to what he says."

"This is a man with extremely strong will," Chiang said. "He's not very sophisticated but he's very self-controlled. And he's completely honest. What you see from him is exactly what you get."

The lack of pretense Chiang describes is reflected in Tsai's unpolished persona, which includes a shoot from the hip social style and a preference for his native Taiwanese dialect over the clipped, Mandarin Chinese employed by the better educated doyens of the Taiwanese business elite.

A 2012 Chinese language biography portrayed him as a simple man of the people, most comfortable chewing betel nut and conversing informally with food processing workers amid a hands-on management style that includes familiarity with every aspect of his business, from buying raw materials to managing production lines and kibitzing with customers.

But Chiang said that beneath Tsai's everyman personality is a single-minded approach that threatens Taiwan's free press, including the Apple Daily newspaper, Chiang's current employer, and Next Magazine, the investigative journal.

Apple, while better known for its racy diet of sex, scandal and celebrity gossip, has also been praised for its editorial independence that sets it apart from most other Taiwanese media outlets, which seem most comfortable parroting the views of one or the other of Taiwan's two main political parties.

"He ruined the China Times," Chiang said. "He can ruin Apple as well."

Tsai has also stirred controversy by taking initiatives that appear aimed at bringing Taiwan and China closer together on important foreign policy questions.

Last September, Tsai contributed five million New Taiwan dollars ($166,000) to underwrite the voyage of some 60 Taiwanese fishing vessels to an island group in the East China Sea hotly contested by China and Japan. The voyage ended in a confrontation between Japanese and Taiwanese coast guard cutters, significantly raising tensions in the area, despite the declared intention of Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou to avoid taking provocative actions on the sensitive island issue.

Fishermen involved in the demonstration said they were only interested in asserting their fishing rights around the Diaoyu, or Senkaku islands, and had no interest in politics, or making common cause with China. But 11 days after they returned to Taiwan, the China Times ran a hard-hitting editorial, calling on the Taiwanese government to join Beijing in pushing for Chinese sovereignty there.

Initiatives like this are feeding the belief among Tsai critics that he and other deep-pocketed Taiwanese business people are attempting to subvert the Ma government's relatively cautious China policy, which while consciously moving the island ever closer to Beijing economically, still opposes an early political union.

"These business people are definitely pushing the two sides closer together," said Ketty Chen, a Taiwanese-American academic at Taipei's National Taiwan University. "They're very influential."

Arrayed against the influence of Tsai and his pro-China allies is Taiwan's boisterous democracy and the blossoming among many Taiwanese of a political and cultural identity distinct from the mainland.

"I wouldn't sell Taiwan short," said Taiwan expert Mark Harrison of the University of Tasmania in Australia. . "It won't surrender without a fight. This battle isn't over."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-02-22-Taiwan-Mogul%20On%20The%20March/id-f9e97212ef1d4b7b880f6396262fbdf7

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Storm strands dozens of cars in California

The big storm brewing in the Midwest will bring rain, snow and ice to the east, but unlike the blizzard conditions of the last storm there will be warm air on the East Coast which ought to prevent snowfall. NBC's Janice Huff reports.

A winter storm swept across the Southwest and into the Great Plains on Wednesday, threatening as much as 2 feet of snow in some places and forcing the suspension of play at a pro golf tournament in Arizona.

?A busy clubhouse here in Tucson,? golfer Graeme McDowell posted on Twitter from the WGC/Accenture Match Play Championship at Dove Mountain. ?Hot chocolates and teas and generally trying to warm up again.?

The storm had already left dozens of cars stranded on California roads. Treacherous weather there caused collisions that resulted in minor injuries. Part of busy Interstate 5 south of Bakersfield was closed because of ice.

As it moved east, the storm was expected to bring as much as 16 inches of snow to Flagstaff, Ariz., and high wind and blowing dust to Albuquerque, N.M., The Weather Channel reported.

In Colorado, transportation officials steeled for one of the most significant snows of the season. The western half of the state was bracing for as much as 10 inches of snow, The Weather Channel said.

The storm was expected to deliver a harder hit to the Plains. Snow was accumulating quickly Wednesday in Oklahoma, and NBC affiliate?KSN reported that roads were packed with snow in southwest Kansas. Schools and churches in both states closed.

The storm picked up strength from moist air streaming up from the Gulf of Mexico and a blast of cold air delivered by an arctic high-pressure system over the Plains.

By Thursday, parts of Kansas could see 2 feet of snow, Nebraska up to a foot and a half and Iowa up to a foot. Sleet and freezing rain could snarl travel in Oklahoma, Arkansas and Missouri,?The Weather Channel reported.

More coverage from weather.com

By Friday, the threat of ice will reach parts of Illinois, Indiana and Kentucky and into the Appalachian Mountains, forecasters said.

Forecasting models say parts of New England, including Boston, could be in for more snow this weekend ? perhaps a foot or more in inland parts of Massachusetts and points north.

New England was?hammered?two weeks ago by a blizzard that dumped more than 3 feet of snow in some places, and last weekend a more moderate storm packing strong wind?complicated flights?there.

KCRA-TV

A woman plays with her dog in heavy snow in Northern California.

This story was originally published on Wed Feb 20, 2013 11:34 AM EST

Source: http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/02/20/17030447-storm-strands-dozens-of-cars-in-calif-kansas-could-get-2-feet-of-snow?lite

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?Nano-shish-kebabs? to store energy -- study

John Roach , NBC News ? ? ? 1 day

Powerful energy storage devices of the future may trace their roots back to a research lab that cooked up ?nano-shish-kebabs? out of germanium sulfide, a semiconductor material.

Unlike the skewered meats and assorted veggies grilled on backyard barbeques, these kebabs are single, three-dimensional structures that consist of sheets of the semiconductor material grown along a nanowire. Each wire is about 100 nanometers long.

The researchers believe these combined ?heterostructures? are particularly promising for energy storage technologies such as lithium-ion batteries and next-generation supercapacitors.

?The nanowires of this heterostructure can provide efficient charge transfer for electrons and ions during the storage process and the nanosheets can provide larger surface areas that can hold more ions,? Linyou Cao, a materials scientist at North Carolina State University, told NBC News via email.

?The combined features of high surface area and efficient charge transfer is exactly what has been highly sought after for the improvement of energy storage performance.?

The use of germanium sulfide was a proof-of-concept, the team notes in a paper on the breakthrough published Sunday in the journal Nano Letters. Next, they aim to replicate the process in molybdenum sulfide, which is being eyed for energy storage applications.

The heterostructures could also be used to develop high-tech chemical sensors. Each sheet, Cao explained, can be designed to sense once specific organic compound. One heterostructure, with multiple nanosheets, could sense multiple compounds at once.

This may prove especially useful to the U.S. Army Research Office, which funded the research. ?High-throughput sensing could be used for detecting explosive species in battle fields,? Cao explained.

John Roach is a contributing writer for NBC News. To learn more about him, check out his website. For more of our Future of Technology series, watch the featured video below.

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/futureoftech/nano-shish-kebabs-are-recipe-better-lithium-ion-batteries-1C8437155

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Signs of a thaw with Serbia as Kosovo turns five

PRISTINA (Reuters) - Kosovo marked five years since it seceded from Serbia on Sunday, with flag-filled streets, a military parade and growing signs of progress in EU-mediated talks to regulate relations between the Balkan neighbors.

Majority-Albanian Kosovo declared independence in 2008 with the backing of the Western powers which waged a NATO air war in 1999 to wrest control of the territory from late Serb strongman Slobodan Milosevic.

Recognized by roughly half the world but not yet a member of the United Nations, Kosovo is one of the poorest countries in Europe, its government still challenged by minority Serbs in the north who reject the secession.

But Western diplomats say a new push by EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton to 'normalize relations' between Belgrade and Pristina, and integrate the north, is bearing fruit.

"We are seriously committed to normalizing relations with Serbia," Hashim Thaci, Kosovo's prime minister and a former guerrilla commander, told reporters. He and his Serbian counterpart, Ivica Dacic, meet again in Brussels on February 19-20.

"We will move swiftly towards membership of NATO and the European Union, but also the United Nations," Thaci said.

The national flags of Kosovo, Albania and the United States flew from lampposts and balconies in the capital, Pristina.

Members of the Kosovo Security Force, an embryo army, marched through the city, where huge yellow letters spelled the word 'Newborn' and were painted with the flags of the 98 countries so far to have Recognized Kosovo.

Serbia says it will never join them, while its ally Russia, a veto-holder in the U.N. Security Council, stands in the way of Kosovo winning a seat at the United Nations.

PULL OF EU

But Serbia is under pressure from the EU to cooperate with its former province and loosen its hold on the northern Serb pocket if the bloc is to move ahead with Belgrade's bid to join.

With fellow ex-Yugoslav republic Croatia set to join the EU on July 1, Dacic's government has signaled greater flexibility on Kosovo, determined to clinch EU accession talks within months and send a signal of stability to much-needed foreign investors.

"Over these five years Serbia has understood the reality of the situation in Kosovo," Nenad Djurdjevic of the Belgrade-based Forum for Ethnic Relations told the Serbian news agency Tanjug.

"The previous government understood that, but didn't say it, while the current government admits that Serbia has no influence in Kosovo and must resolve relations with that Kosovo."

The EU-led talks have yielded agreement on the exchange of liaison officers to improve communication and joint management of their border, including a customs regime. Belgrade has also agreed to recognize Kosovo vehicle license plates, identification papers and university diplomas.

Implementation has sometimes been patchy, and the talks have yet to resolve the thorny issue of the Serb north.

NATO still has a 6,000-strong peacekeeping force in Kosovo, almost 14 years since it went to war to halt the massacre and expulsion of Albanians by forces under Milosevic fighting a two-year counter-insurgency campaign.

Tensions in the north, and a stubborn reputation for graft and organized crime, have hurt Kosovo's efforts to attract foreign investors and create jobs for its young population of 1.7 million people.

"The only thing to be proud of is the young population and hope for the future," said Gazmend Gjonbalaj, 24, a U.S.-educated IT engineer. "But it's shameful that our politicians are driving around 50,000-euro cars while much of the population does not have enough food on the table."

(Writing by Matt Robinson; Editing by Jason Webb)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/signs-thaw-serbia-kosovo-turns-five-143903210.html

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