Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/294732933?client_source=feed&format=rss
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Wednesday, March 27, 2013
A marine animal to feed your eco-car
Mar. 25, 2013 ? The marine animal tunicate can be used both as biofuel and fish food, according to research from Norway. On the ocean floor, under the pier, and on ship ropes -- that's where the tunicates live. Tunicates are marine filter feeders that serve as bacteria eaters and as a foodstuff in Korea and Japan. But in the future they may become more prevalent.
Five researchers at the University of Bergen (UiB) and Uni Research have found that a certain type of tunicate -- ascidiacea -- can be used as a renewable source of biofuel and fish food. This is particularly good news for the growing aquaculture industry, which for years has struggled to find enough quality feed for its fish. There also is the prospect of reducing emissions from traffic.
Usable as fuel
It is the cellulose, the protein, and the Omega-3 fatty acids in the ascidiacea that is the cause for its many uses.
"Its mantle consists of cellulose, which is a collection of sugars. When cellulose is cleaved, one can obtain ethanol. And ethanol can be used for biofuel in cars. The animal's body consists of large amounts of protein and Omega-3. This can be used for fish feed," says Professor Eric Thompson at UiB's Department of Biology.
Thompson and his colleagues have spent years looking into the many possible uses of the ascidiacea.
Commercial potential
At the innovation conference GROW in March 2013, arranged by Business Region Bergen, the researchers received a prize for innovative research and were awarded NOK 300,000 for their discoveries. Regional bank Sparebanken Vest and Bergen Teknologioverf?ring (BTO) sponsor the prize. The researchers plan to use the prize money to create commercially viable products based on their research. They have already acquired a patent for biofuel and have a patent application pending for the cultivation of ascidiacea as fish feed.
Why are tunicates particularly suited for use as biofuel?
"The bioethanol used today is unsustainable as it comes from foods already used for human consumption. That is why there has been a move towards using cellulose from the timber industry to produce bioethanol," says Dr. Sc. Christofer Troedsson of Uni Research's Molecular Ecology Group and head of the research at UiB's Marine Development Biology and the tunicate research project.
"However, it is quite complicated to break down the cellulose in trees and convert it into ethanol. This is because the wood contains a substance called lignin, which is hard to separate from the cellulose. Tunicates contain no lignin. Their cellulose is also low in crystals and is more efficiently converted into ethanol," he says.
More environmentally friendly
Troedsson also points out that using ascidiacea rather than trees is more environmentally friendly, because this does not occupy large tracts of land which could otherwise be used for other purposes, such as growing food.
Another important point is that the ascidiacea are not in the food chain, probably because of their protective mantle. So there are no creatures dependent on the ascidiacea to survive. They also grow very quickly. 4-6 months after "birth" they are ready for harvesting. Tunicates are also found in all oceans, with an enormous growth potential that exceeds most land-based feedstock.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Bergen. The original article was written by Solrun Dregelid; Translation by Sverre Ole Dr?nen.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
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/~3/8EPGtEvbTCc/130325101431.htm
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Tuesday, March 26, 2013
NCAA Tournament Capsules
NEW YORK -- Capsules from the NCAA tournament Saturday.
---
BRIDGEPORT REGIONAL
No. 2 KENTUCKY 61, No. 15 NAVY 41
DeNesha Stallworth scored 18 points and Jennifer O'Neill added nine of her 12 points in the second half to lead Kentucky over Navy.
The Wildcats (28-5) trailed by one at the half before O'Neill, who grew up in New York, took over. She hit a quick 3-pointer to start a 12-2 run. The sophomore guard had seven points, a steal and an assist during the burst.
Kentucky had been off for 14 days since losing in the SEC tournament title game and looked rusty early on. Two-time SEC player of the year A'dia Mathies didn't have a field goal for the first time in her career.
Alix Membreno and Jade Geif scored nine each to lead Navy (21-12), which was trying to become the first 15 seed to win a game in NCAA tournament history.
No. 3 NORTH CAROLINA 59, No. 14 ALBANY 54
NEWARK, Del. (AP) - Tierra Ruffin-Pratt scored a career-high 30 points, and North Carolina squeezed past Albany to stagger into the second round of the NCAA tournament.
North Carolina trailed 28-23 at halftime and 48-44 with just under 10 minutes left before rallying behind Ruffin-Pratt, who scored 17 of the Tar Heels' final 21 points - including two clinching free throws with 10.8 seconds left.
Waltiea Rolle had 14 points and 14 rebounds for North Carolina (29-6), which will next face sixth-seeded Delaware (31-3) on Tuesday night. Delaware advanced with a 66-53 win over West Virginia.
No. 6 DELAWARE 66, No. 11 WEST VIRGINIA 53
NEWARK, Del. (AP) - Elena Delle Donne scored 33 points and led a second-half surge that carried Delaware past West Virginia.
Playing on their home floor before a sellout crowd, the Blue Hens trailed 33-26 at halftime before bouncing back to extend their school-record winning streak to 26 games.
Delaware (31-3) had never won an NCAA tournament game before last year. The Blue Hens have yet to reach the round of 16, a milestone they will seek to accomplish Tuesday night against either North Carolina or Albany.
Delle Donne, a 6-foot-5 senior, scored 17 points after halftime. She finished 10 for 24 from the floor, went 12 for 13 at the foul line and had seven rebounds.
Ayana Dunning had 15 points and 10 rebounds for 11th-seeded West Virginia (17-14), which closed the season with a four-game losing streak.
No. 7 DAYTON 96, No. 10 ST. JOHN'S 90, 2 OT
Andrea Hoover scored a career-high 24 points and Dayton outlasted St. John's.
It was the first double overtime game in the tournament since 2000 when Vanderbilt beat Kansas.
Brittany Wilson hit a 3-pointer and Kelley Austria had a three-point play to make it 90-86 with 2:11 left in the second extra period. After St. John's failed to score, Olivia Applewhite added a basket with 47 seconds left to seal the win.
The Red Storm (18-13) trailed by 13 with 5:30 left in regulation before rallying. Nadirah McKenith hit a layup with one-tenth of a second left in regulation to force OT. Dayton's Amber Deane tied it with 15 seconds left in OT to force a second one
McKenith led her team with 22 points, 10 assists and nine rebounds before fouling out.
---
NORFOLK REGIONAL
No. 2 DUKE 67, No. 15 HAMPTON 51
DURHAM, N.C. (AP) - Tricia Liston scored 13 of her 20 points in the second half and Duke pulled away to beat Hampton.
Elizabeth Williams added 18 points and Haley Peters finished with 12 points and 10 rebounds for the Blue Devils (31-2).
Source: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/03/24/3304491/ncaa-tournament-capsules.html
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Monday, March 25, 2013
Aye-ayes: Endangered lemurs' complete genomes are sequenced and analyzed for conservation efforts
Mar. 25, 2013 ? For the first time, the complete genomes of three separate populations of aye-ayes -- a type of lemur -- have been sequenced and analyzed in an effort to help guide conservation efforts. The results of the genome-sequence analyses will be published in an early edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences online during the week of March 25.
The team of scientists is led by George H. Perry, assistant professor of anthropology and biology at Penn State University; Webb Miller, professor of biology and of computer science and engineering at Penn State; and Edward Louis, director of conservation genetics at Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium and director of the Madagascar Biodiversity Partnership, NGO.
The aye-aye -- a lemur that is found only on the island of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean -- recently was re-classified as "endangered" by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. "The aye-aye is one of the world's most unusual and fascinating animals," said Perry. "Aye-ayes use continuously growing incisors to gnaw through the bark of dead trees and then a long, thin, and flexible middle finger to extract insect larvae, filling the ecological niche of a woodpecker. Aye-ayes are nocturnal, solitary and have very low population densities, making them difficult to study and sample in the wild."
Perry added that he and other scientists are concerned about the long-term viability of aye-ayes as a species, given the loss and fragmentation of natural forest habitats in Madagascar. "Aye-aye population densities are very low, and individual aye-ayes have huge home-range requirements," said Perry. "As forest patches become smaller, there is a particular risk that there won't be sufficient numbers of individual aye-ayes in a given area to maintain a population over multiple generations. We were looking to make use of new genomic-sequencing technologies to characterize patterns of genetic diversity among some of the surviving aye-aye populations, with an eye towards the prioritization of conservation efforts."
Louis, with his team at Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium and the Madagascar Biodiversity Partnership, worked to locate aye-ayes and collect DNA samples from three separate regions of Madagascar: the northern, eastern, and western regions. To discover the extent of the genetic diversity in present-day aye-ayes, the researchers generated the complete genome sequences of 12 individual aye-ayes. They then analyzed and compared the genomes of the three populations. They found that, while eastern and western aye-ayes are somewhat genetically distinct, aye-ayes in the northern part of the island and those in the east show a much more significant amount of genetic distance, suggesting an extensive period of time during which interbreeding has not occurred between the populations in these regions.
"Our next step was to compare aye-aye genetic diversity to present-day human genetic diversity," explained Miller. "This analysis can help us to gauge how long the aye-aye populations have been geographically separated and unable to interbreed." To make the comparison, the team gathered 12 complete human DNA sequences -- the same number as the individual aye-aye sequences generated -- from publicly available databases for three distinct human populations: African agriculturalists, individuals of European descent, and Southeast Asian individuals. Using Galaxy -- an open-source, web-based computer platform designed at Penn State for data-intensive biomedical and genetic research -- the team developed software to compare the two species' genetic distances. They found that present-day African and European human populations have a smaller amount of genetic distance than that found to exist between northern and eastern aye-aye populations, suggesting that the aye-aye populations were separated for an especially lengthy period of time by geographic barriers.
"We believe that northern aye-ayes have not been able to interbreed with other populations for some time. Although they are separated by a distance of only about 160 miles, high and extensive plateaus and major rivers may have made intermingling relatively infrequent," explained Miller. He added that the results of the team's data further suggest that the separation of the two aye-aye populations stretches back much longer than 2,300 years, which is when human settlers first arrived on the island and started burning the aye-ayes' forest habitat and hunting lemurs.
The team members hope that their findings will help to guide future conservation efforts for the species. "This work highlights an important region of aye-aye biodiversity in northern Madagascar, and this unique biodiversity is not preserved anywhere except in the wild," said Louis. "There is tremendous historical loss of habitat in northern Madagascar that is continuing at an unsustainable rate today. This study is an excellent example of how a comprehensive and coordinated effort in the field and laboratory can identify previously unknown patterns of biodiversity for an endangered species, which then can be used by conservation organizations to base their management strategies."
The authors added that, in future research, they would like to sequence the genomes of other lemur species -- more than 70 percent of which are considered endangered or critically endangered -- as well as aye-ayes from the southern reaches of the island of Madagascar.
In addition to Perry, Miller, and Louis, other scientists who contributed to this research include Stephan C. Schuster, Aakrosh Ratan, Oscar C. Bedoya-Reina, and Richard Burhans from Penn State; Runhua Lei from the Center for Conservation and Research at Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium; and Steig E. Johnson from the University of Calgary in Alberta, Canada.
Funding for aye-aye sample collection was provided by Conservation International, the Primate Action Fund, and the Margot Marsh Biodiversity Foundation, along with logistical support from the Ahmanson Foundation and the Theodore F. and Claire M. Hubbard Family Foundation. Additional support comes from the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, the Pennsylvania Department of Health, and the College of the Liberal Arts at Penn State University.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Penn State. The original article was written by Katrina Voss.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Journal Reference:
- George H. Perry, Edward E. Louis, Jr., Aakrosh Ratan, Oscar C. Bedoya-Reina, Richard C. Burhans, Runhua Lei, Steig E. Johnson, Stephan C. Schuster, and Webb Miller. Aye-aye population genomic analyses highlight an important center of endemism in northern Madagascar. PNAS, March 25, 2013 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1211990110
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.
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Woods back on top in golf
Tiger Woods, left, and Arnold Palmer share a laugh during the trophy presentation after Woods won the Arnold Palmer Invitational golf tournament in Orlando, Fla., Monday, March 25, 2013. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack)
Tiger Woods, left, and Arnold Palmer share a laugh during the trophy presentation after Woods won the Arnold Palmer Invitational golf tournament in Orlando, Fla., Monday, March 25, 2013. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack)
Tiger Woods holds the championship trophy after winning the Arnold Palmer Invitational golf tournament in Orlando, Fla., Monday, March 25, 2013. Woods finished 13-under-par. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack)
Tiger Woods waves to fans as he walks off the 18th hole after winning the Arnold Palmer Invitational golf tournament, Monday, March 25, 2013, in Orlando, Fla. (AP Photo/John Raoux)
Tiger Woods hits a shot from the third tee during the final round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational golf tournament, Monday, March 25, 2013, in Orlando, Fla. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack)
Tiger Woods hits a shot from the fourth fairway during the final round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational golf tournament, Monday, March 25, 2013, in Orlando, Fla. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack)
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) ? The moment was vintage Tiger Woods, and so was his reaction.
Seconds after Rickie Fowler made a 40-foot birdie putt on the 12th hole to pull within two shots of the lead, Woods posed over his 25-foot birdie putt until he swept the putter upward in his left hand and marched toward the cup as it dropped for a birdie.
Fowler, standing on the edge of the green, turned with a slight smile as if to say, "What else can I do?"
Woods won the Arnold Palmer Invitational on Monday and returned to No. 1 in the world for the first time since October 2010, the longest spell of his career. After all that time, after so much turmoil with his personal life and his health, Woods looks as good as ever.
Maybe better.
"It's a byproduct of hard work, patience and getting back to winning golf tournaments," Woods said.
He essentially wrapped up his eighth title at Bay Hill with an 8-iron out of a fairway bunker on the par-5 16th that easily cleared the water and landed safely on the green for a two-putt birdie. Woods dangled his tongue out of his mouth as the ball was in the air, another sign of his swagger.
Just like his other two wins this year, Woods never let anyone get closer than two shots in the final round. With a conservative bogey he could afford on the final hole, he closed with a 2-under 70 for a two-shot win over Justin Rose.
Woods walked off the 18th green waving his putter over his head ? truly a magic wand at Bay Hill ? to acknowledge the fans who have seen this act before. His eighth win in the Arnold Palmer Invitational tied a PGA Tour record that had not been touched in 48 years.
This win had extra significance. He's back to No. 1.
"If I get healthy, I know I can play this game at a high level," Woods said. "I know I can be where I'm contending in every event, contending in major championships and being consistent day in and day out ? if I got healthy. That was the first step in the process. Once I got there, then my game turned."
A year ago, he came to Bay Hill without having won in more than 2? years. He left this year having won six times in his last 20 starts on the PGA Tour.
Next up is the Masters, where Woods will try to end his five-year drought in the majors.
"I'm really excited about the rest of this year," Woods said.
Woods fell as low as No. 58 in the world as he coped with the collapse of his marriage, a loss of sponsors and injuries to his left leg. One week after he announced he was dating Olympic ski champion Lindsey Vonn, Woods returned to the top of golf.
"Number 1 !!!!!!!!!!!!!" Vonn tweeted moments after his win.
Asked if there was any correlation to his winning right after going public with his relationship, Woods smiled and said, "You're reading way too much into this."
Like so many other victories, this one was never really close.
Fowler pulled to within two shots with a 25-foot birdie putt on the 14th hole, but after he and Woods made bogey on the 15th, Fowler went at the flag on the par-5 16th and came up a few yards short and into the water. Fowler put another ball into the water and made triple bogey.
"I was swinging it well. I made a few putts, and trying to put a little pressure on them, let them know I was there," Fowler said. "Just would like to have that 7-iron back on 16. Just kind of a touch heavy."
Woods played it safe on the 18th, and nearly holed a 75-foot par putt that even drew a big smile from the tournament host.
Woods tied the tour record of eight wins in a single tournament. Sam Snead won the Greater Greensboro Open eight times from 1938 to 1965 at two golf courses. Woods tied his record for most wins at a single golf course, having also won eight times at Torrey Pines, including a U.S. Open.
"I don't really see anybody touching it for a long time," Palmer said while Woods made his way up the 18th fairway. "I had the opportunity to win a tournament five times, and I knew how difficult that was."
Rose, who played the first two rounds with Woods, closed with a 70 to finish alone in second.
He pulled to within two shots of Woods with a birdie on the 16th. Woods was in the group behind him in the fairway bunker on the par 5, and hit 8-iron over the water and onto the middle of the green for a two-putt birdie to restore his margin.
"He plays every shot like he plays them on Sunday," Rose said. "His intensity is the same on Thursday often as it is on Sunday, and that makes Sunday a lot less different for him. He plays in that kind of atmosphere far more regularly than a lot of guys do, and it's an adjustment for most of us. It's a known for him."
Fowler had to settle for a 73 and a tie for third with Mark Wilson (71), Keegan Bradley (71) and Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano (72).
Rory McIlroy had been No. 1 since he won the PGA Championship last August. He can reclaim the No. 1 ranking by winning the Houston Open this week. Woods heads home to south Florida for two weeks before the Masters.
Asked the last time he felt this good going to Augusta National, Woods replied, "It's been a few years."
This was the fourth time in his career that he already had three PGA Tour wins before the Masters ? he didn't win a green jacket in any of the previous years (2000, 2003 and 2008). More telling, perhaps, is that Woods has won back-to-back starts for the first time since the Buick Open and Bridgestone Invitational in August 2009.
"I think it shows that my game is consistent," he said. "It's at a high level."
Woods finished at 13-under 275 and won for the 77th time on the PGA Tour, moving to within five of Snead's record.
Fowler, his first time playing with Woods in the final group, opened with eight pars when he needed to be making up ground. And when he finally had a few openings on the back nine, Woods refused to let him through.
Woods salvaged a two-putt par with a 7-footer on the 11th hole to keep a three-shot lead. On the next hole, Fowler looked to gain some momentum when he made a 40-foot birdie putt only for Woods to match him with that 25-foot birdie.
Woods produced some absurd statistics with the putter this week, making 19 of 28 putts from between 7 feet and 20 feet.
He walked off the green to share a handshake with Palmer, along with a big smile and some words that Woods said were best kept private. He left the course in that familiar blue blazer that goes to the winner.
And he left as the No. 1 player in the world.
It's the 11th time that Woods has gone back to No. 1, tied with Greg Norman since the ranking began in 1986. Still to be determined is how long Woods stays there this time.
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U.S. spends $3.7 million on ex-presidents in 2012
WASHINGTON (AP) ? Being the leader of the free world is an expensive proposition. And the costs don't stop once you leave the White House.
The government spent nearly $3.7 million on former presidents in 2012, according to an analysis just released by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service. That covers a pension, compensation and benefits for office staff, and other costs like travel, office space and postage.
The costliest former president? George W. Bush, who clocked in last year at just over $1.3 million.
The $3.7 million taxpayers shelled out in 2012 is about $200,000 less than in 2011, and the sum in 2010 was even higher. It's a drop in the bucket compared with the trillions the federal government spends each year.
Still, with ex-presidents able to command eye-popping sums for books, speaking engagements and the like in their post-White House years, the report raises questions about whether the U.S. should provide such generous subsidies at a time when spending cuts and the deficit are forcing lawmakers and federal agencies to seek ways to cut back.
Under the Former Presidents Act, previous inhabitants of the Oval Office are given a $200,000 annual pension ? the equivalent to a Cabinet secretary's salary ? plus $96,000 a year for a small office staff. The government also picks up the tab for other costs like travel, office space and postage.
Departing presidents also get extra help in the first years after they leave office, one reason that Bush's costs were higher than other living ex-presidents. The most recent ex-president to leave the White House, Bush was granted almost $400,000 for 8,000 square feet of office space in Dallas, plus $85,000 in telephone costs. Another $60,000 went to travel costs.
President Bill Clinton came in second at just under $1 million, followed by George H.W. Bush at nearly $850,000. Clinton spent the most government money on office space: $442,000 for his 8,300 square foot digs in New York's Harlem neighborhood.
Clinton's predecessor, President George H.W. Bush, received about $840,000 in federal funds last year. Costs for Jimmy Carter, the only other living former president, came in at about $500,000.
Widows of former presidents are entitled to a pension of $20,000, but Nancy Reagan, the wife of former President Ronald Reagan, waived her pension last year. The former first lady did accept $14,000 in postage.
The cost totals for ex-president don't include what the Secret Service spends protecting them, their spouses and children. Those costs are part of a separate budget that isn't made public.
Funding for ex-presidents under the Former Presidents Act dates back to 1958, when Congress created the program largely in response to President Harry Truman's post-White House financial woes, the Congressional Research Service said. The goal was to maintain the dignity of the presidency and help with ongoing costs associated with being a former president, such as responding to correspondence and scheduling requests.
These days, a former president's income can be substantial from speaking and writing, and ex-presidents also have robust presidential centers and foundations that accept donations and facilitate many of their post-presidential activities.
Noting that none of the living ex-presidents are poor, Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, introduced a bill last year that would limit costs to a $200,000 pension, plus another $200,000 that ex-presidents could use at their discretion. And for every dollar that an ex-president earns in excess of $400,000, their annual allowance would be reduced by the same amount. The bill died in committee.
___
Follow Josh Lederman at http://twitter.com/joshledermanAP
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/govt-spent-nearly-3-7m-ex-presidents-2012-190704449--politics.html
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