Zillow calls it ?consumer empowering.? I call it ?Zillow once again floods the market with mis-information.? Incorrect reporting of foreclosures and pre-foreclosures is an epidemic. Zillow is creating a plague. The only way to keep track of trustee sales it to be in touch with the trustee. As the Giants are two wins into the series I will use a baseball analogy: Anyone can hold a baseball, few can shut down the Tigers.
Experienced through three real estate cycles since 1982 as broker, owner, investor, developer. Published real estate author, helps kids develop self esteem through sports, music, and art.
If you're itching to get your hands on a white iPad Mini, you might wind up waiting at least two extra weeks for it to ship?? assuming that you're pre-ordering the tablet through Apple's website, of course.
Pre-orders of the?Wi-Fi-only versions of the iPad Mini are expected to ship on Nov. 2???as the device hits store shelves???but, as usual, those who were slow to place an order are stuck waiting a bit longer.
Currently the Apple website estimates that new pre-orders of any white iPad Mini models will be delayed by about two weeks. New pre-orders of black versions of the tablet are still slated to ship on Nov. 2. (Pre-orders which were placed before the changed shipping timeframe should arrive on time, of course.) If you haven't pre-ordered a white iPad Mini yet and really want one on Nov. 2, your best bet may involve a stroll to a brick-and-mortar store (and perhaps even a wait in a line).
It's worth noting that if you're looking to get an LTE-enabled iPad Mini, in either color, you'll definitely be waiting the extra two weeks as the device isn't scheduled to hit shelves (and shipping centers) until that time.
As a reminder: The iPad Mini starts at $329 for a 16GB Wi-Fi-only model. 32Gb and 64 GB Wi-Fi-only models are available for $429 and $529, respectively, while their LTE-capable counterparts are priced at $459, $559, and $659, for the 16GB, 32GB, and 63GB versions, respectively.
Want more?tech news or interesting?links? You'll get plenty of both if you keep up with Rosa Golijan, the writer of this post, by following her on?Twitter, subscribing to her?Facebook?posts,?or circling her?on?Google+.
ScienceDaily (Oct. 26, 2012) ? Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) are incredibly tiny devices, often built on the scale of millionths of a meter. Conventional MEMS structures tend to be made out of silicon-based materials familiar to the micro-electronics industry, but this ignores a suite of useful materials such as other semiconductors, ceramics, and metals. By using a variety of materials not commonly associated with MEMS technology, a team from Brigham Young University (BYU) in Provo, Utah has created stronger microstructures that can form precise, tall and narrow 3-D shapes -- characteristics that were never before possible in MEMS.
The researchers will present their latest findings at the AVS 59th International Symposium and Exhibition, held Oct. 28 -- Nov. 2, in Tampa, Fla.
To break the MEMS materials barrier, the researchers devised a new production process called carbon nanotube templated microfabrication (CNT-M). It uses patterned, vertically aligned carbon nanotube arrays called forests as a 3-D microfabrication scaffold. With this scaffold, the researchers can create precise, tall and fine-featured microstructures. But the forests are extremely fragile. To make them hardier the team replaced the air spaces between the carbon nanotubes with a filler material by atomistic deposition.
The team has used their new CNT-M framework to fabricate metal components from tungsten, molybdenum and nickel. These metals provide desirable properties for MEMS applications and components, including high electrical and thermal conductivity, high melting temperatures, resistance to corrosion, low thermal expansion and hardness.
The BYU team's advances open the door for manipulating matter in novel ways that optimize efficiency, performance and cost across a range of fields, including medicine, imaging, computing, materials synthesis, chemical synthesis, and printing. Most biological and biomedical processes occur at the nanoscale. Developing models and templates at this scale enables scientists to interact with, control and leverage the unusual physical, chemical, mechanical, and optical properties of materials in naturally tiny systems.
Already, the BYU researchers have successfully used their new technique to make chemical detection devices that can validate chemical reactions during pharmaceutical production. Team member Robert C. Davis, PhD , imagines that one day CNT-M might even play a role in devising new longer-lasting batteries.
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Q. Our company pays overtime to salaried supervisors for hours they work over 40 in a week. I have never heard of this compensation practice. Is it legal?
A. If the supervisors are nonexempt (which they might be even if salaried), then paying overtime is not only legal, it is required.
If they are exempt, however, paying overtime is risky because it suggests that they are not truly exempt. Exempt employees should be paid the same salary every week regardless of how many hours they work. Paying them overtime risks losing their exempt status.
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These days it?s difficult to imagine the business world without its obligatory Facebook and Twitter pages; almost every company has them as they help one-to-one customer support and other business decisions. Decades ago, however, industry moguls weren?t in the same position. Connecting with the public was difficult and often not even attempted; as a consequence some businesses suffered greatly due to a lack of communication. Here we take a look at half a dozen examples of such bad decisions, and what could have happened had social media been around.
The Coca Cola Re-Brand
In April of 1985 one of the biggest brands in the world made an almost catastrophic blunder. The decision was made to tamper with the famous recipe following the continued success of rival Pepsi?s marketing plan ?The Pepsi Challenge?, which showing alarming signs the public preferred the taste to Coca Cola. Paranoid Chief Executive Roberto Goizueta launched New Coke in an attempt to win over old and new customers alike. This didn?t go to plan.
After three months of boycotting, hostility and general vitriol from customers, the company?s head executives re-released the original version as Coke Classic. To their bemusement this went on to outsell every other drink on the market!
The Solution: It seems, at the time, customers may have preferred the taste of Pepsi, but their loyalty lay with Coca Cola. A simple Twitter campaign could have solved this! ?Remember why you love @CocaCola!? would send the customers hurtling to the shops. Or the soft-drinks giant could simply ask its millions of followers if they would like a new taste range.
Atari?s E.T. Disaster
In 1982 Steven Spielberg?s film E.T proved a huge success; inevitably, spin-offs began in numerous industries. The burgeoning video games industry wanted in on this, so market leader Atari created an adaptation for their Atari 2600.
The game was rushed through production in five weeks. Meantime, anticipating vast Christmas sales, Atari ordered over four million cartridges to be produced. On its release the game performed well on a commercial level, but was critically maligned, and once customers realised just how awful the game was they sent their copies back in disgust.
With millions of E.T. cartridges finding their way back home to Atari?s headquarters, the dismayed company took the extreme measure of burying them all in the Alamogordo, New Mexico landfill! The failure of E.T. is attributed to their eventual downfall in the videogame market.
The Solution: A number of simple activities could have saved this disaster, but when the worst came to the worst Atari could have avoided the need to use a landfill. Tweets, and a vigorous Facebook campaign, would have informed customers to dispose of the cartridges sustainably to save public face.
Donkey Kong VS King Kong
In 1982 the growing success of video game company Nintendo attracted the attention of movie giant Universal City Studios. They contended the Japanese firm?s popular arcade game, Donkey Kong, was a breach of their copyright for King Kong.
A brief court battle later and Nintendo won after their lawyer, John Kirby, highlighted the rights to King Kong were in the public domain. MCM had not helped their cause by proving the point themselves when releasing a King Kong film decades earlier. Nintendo received a hefty sum from Universal Studios, the latter being criticised for their attitude towards litigation. The incident was also voted one of the ?dumbest? moments in video game history.
The Solution: A round of e-mails, Tweets, Google searching and foresight could have avoided this humiliation for MCM. The moral of the story here is to always research. Thoroughly. Something easier to do than ever thanks to the internet age!
Missing The Beatles
Decca Records messed up the biggest opportunity in music history, circa 1961. A Decca executive by the name of Mike Smith had heard a Liverpudlian group, The Beatles, and believed they had displayed significant talent to warrant their signing. They were invited to audition in London, which the band duly did.
Shortly after their New Year?s Day try out, Decca executive Dick Rowe contacted the band?s manager, Brian Epstein, and informed him, ?Not to mince words, Mr. Epstein, but we don?t like your boys? sound. Groups are out; four-piece groups with guitars particularly are finished.?
The Solution: Little would have stopped The Beatles being signed. A campaign of Tweets, Facebook updates, and much more would have raised public awareness for the band. As for Mr. Rowe; a search across the internet could have established just what was really popular!
AOL?s Billion Dollar Blunder
In 2009 AOL parted company with Time Warner after 8 years in a business merger which proved, unequivocally, to be one of the most disastrous in history.
AOL bought the firm for $160 billion in 2001 and immediately began losing money. Business insiders have pointed out the losses were due to a lack of understanding about the future of the internet. One of the more expensive errors of theirs was to buy out social media site Bebo in 2008. For $850 million! At the time the firm had 40 million users; in the two years following AOL?s takeover this figure plummeted to 12 million. Undeterred, AOL continues to fight on to this day!
The Solution: Using Google Analytics, or SEO Moz, would have shown the stunning growth of Facebook and its effect on other social media formats. Again, thorough research of Bebo and its figures could have averted this disaster.
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Alex Morris works for an ink cartridge shop in Manchester where he keeps an eye on Ink and toner cartridges. We haven?t had any strange business decisions? yet.
Isolated stars kicked to the edges of space by violent galaxy mergers may be the cause of mysterious infrared light halos observed across the sky, according to UC Irvine and other astronomers.
"Background glow in our sky has been a huge unanswered question," said UCI physics & astronomy professor Asantha Cooray, lead author of a paper about the discovery in the Oct. 25 issue of the journalNature. "We have new evidence that this light is from stars that linger between galaxies. Individually, they're too dim to be seen, but we think we're seeing their collective blush."
Cooray and colleagues examined 250 hours of data captured by NASA's powerful Spitzer Space Telescope from a large swath of sky called the Bo?tes field, which covers the equivalent of 40 full moons near the constellation of the same name. The large scale allowed the researchers to better analyze the patterns of diffuse light.
"Studying this faint background was one of the core goals of our survey, and we carefully designed the observations in order to directly address this important, challenging question," said co-author Daniel Stern of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena.
The team concluded that the infrared glow, while weak, is too strong to be consistent with earlier theories that it's being emitted by the very first celestial bodies. "The glow is just too bright to be from those ancient, far-off galaxies and stars," said UCI doctoral student and co-author Joseph Smidt.
Instead, the scientists have a new theory, saying it's "intracluster" or "intrahalo" starlight. Early in the history of the universe, as galaxies grew, they collided and bulked up in mass. As the crashing galaxies became gravitationally tangled, strips of stars were shredded and tossed into space as leftovers. Galaxies also grow by "swallowing" dwarf neighbors, a messy process that likewise results in stray stars. Cosmologists believe these orphaned stars produce the diffuse, blotchy smatterings of light that make up galaxy halos extending well beyond the outer reaches of galaxies.
Additional research is needed to confirm the theory. But the researchers say it makes sense. "A lightbulb went off when we were reading earlier papers predicting the existence of diffuse stars," Cooray said. "They explain what we're seeing with Spitzer."
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University of California - Irvine: http://www.uci.edu
Thanks to University of California - Irvine for this article.
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Qype was the European Yelp before Yelp was in Europe. Now Yelp has announced that it is acquiring the company for $50 million in a press release that also shares its ?preliminary? Q3 revenue numbers. Founded in 2006 in Hamburg, Germany, Qype operates throughout Western Europe, with the UK and Germany its strongest properties.
In a blog post Yelp CEO Jeremy Stoppelman says that Qype? has ?more than two million reviews of local businesses? and 15 million monthly uniques. However that number actually appears to be down from 17 million uniques reported in November 2010.
If that?s accurate it indicates that Qype?s momentum stalled as Yelp entered more European markets. But Yelp has also found growth in Europe uneven and slow in some markets, and this helps accelerate momentum for the company. Yelp will get uniques and local content and Qype investors get an exit. Yelp?s current content and user numbers are the following: 30 million reviews and 78 million monthly uniques on a global basis.
Qype also has an API for third party developers. It?s not clear what will happen to that, although I assume it will become part of the Yelp API.
Another pre-Yelp local reviews startup in the UK, Trusted Places, was acquired by UK yellow pages publisher Yell (now hibu) in May 2010. However any hint of that earlier reviews-centric site is long gone and hibu has shifted focus to building an e-commerce platform for local businesses.
Foursquare, Google and online yellow pages sites/apps are now the main ?horizontal? competitors that Yelp faces in Europe. Recently Foursquare shifted its emphasis to take on Yelp directly as a ?local search? site. However Foursquare is currently a relatively small presence in Europe vs Yelp, which is in 19 countries worldwide. For their part, most European yellow pages sites are seeing flat to declining traffic ? though this is certainly not true in all markets.
In its preliminary Q3 revenue data, Yelp said that results exceed prior guidance and will be $36.4 million, with a net loss of $2.0 million.
The Qype deal, as well as Yelp?s relationships with Apple and Bing, help consolidate its position as probably the second most important local search provider globally behind Google.
When Vivienne Westwood's son Joe Corre started Agent Provocateur lingerie a number of years ago -- before the economic crisis and guilt set in about spending $200 on a thong, and three times that on a bra -- it instantly became one of the most beautiful -- and expensive -- brands of lace and embroidered lingerie in the world.
PHOTOS: Haute Ticket: Zahia Dehar Lingerie Show
There was a huge demand for it -- until the prices went out of control, and everyone started cutting back on luxury goods. Now the company is going the way of all retail these days -- creating a diffusion line called L'Agent (not to be confused with L'Agence clothing). It will feature 15 styles of bras, briefs, thongs and corsets, with the average price around $64. That's higher than the most expensive thing in Victoria's Secret, but hopefully, it will have higher quality.
It will also have the design touch of Penelope and Monica Cruz -- both of whom were involved with designing lines for the Spanish brand Mango a few years back. The sisters will be involved with the visual campaigns of the new brand, and are signed up to be involved for the next five years. This will definitely be some underwear worth collecting. Good for holiday gifting, too.
VIDEO: 'Fifty Shades of Grey'-Inspired Lingerie Line Recruits Penelope Cruz's Sister for Ad
This week, Target announced a collaboration upcoming with New York designer Prabal Gurung -- these are two bits of very good news for the cost-counting who love great design. Gurung is the most luxe designer to go with Target yet. Let's see if it reaches the level of desirability of Missoni for Target a few years back, or the recent Marni and H&M launch.
On his show, Comedian Rodney Perry covers arts and entertainment, everything from comedy and politics to music and acting, with his signature comedic slant.
MashUp Radio is a 30-minute podcast that discusses the fusion of technology, life, culture and science. Host Peter Biddle, engineer and executive for Intel?s Atom Software, dishes up a thought-provoking discussion.
Deepak Chopra Radio provides an online forum for compelling and thought provoking conversations on success, love, sexuality and relationships, well-being and spirituality.
The Bottom Line Sports Show is hosted by former NBA stars Penny Hardaway, Charles Oakley, Mateen Cleaves. Tune in to get the inside scoop on what's happening in sports today.
Joy Keys provides her listeners with insight to improve their lives mentally, physically, monetarily and emotionally. Past guests on the show have included Meshell Nedegeocello, Blair Underwood, in addition to an impressive list of CEOs, humanitarians and authors.
Hits Radio covers basketball, sports culture and entertainment with past guests including Jason Kidd, Robin Lundberg and Chris Herren.
Listeners get an earful on The Halli Casser-Jayne Show, Talk Radio for Fine Minds. Whether it?s the current political cocktail or the latest must-read award-winning book, Halli tackles all topics and likes to stir ? and sometimes shakes ? things up.
Award-winning World Footprints is a leading voice in socially responsible travel and lifestyle. Hosts Ian & Tonya celebrate culture and heritage and bring a unique voice to the world of travel.
Football Reporters Online is a group of veteran football experts in the fields of coaching, scouting, talent evaluation, and writing/broadcasting/media placement. Combined, the group brings well over 100 years of expertise in sports.
Host John Martin interviews the nation's leading entrepreneurs and small biz experts to educate small business owners on how to be successful. Past guests have included Emeril Lagasse and Guy Kawasaki.
The Movie Geeks share their passion for the art through interviews with the stars of and creative minds behind your favorite flicks and pay tribute to big-screen legends. From James Cameron and Francis Ford Coppola to Ellen Burstyn and Robert Duvall, The Geeks have got'em all.
Sylvia Global presents global conversations pertaining to women, wealth, business, faith and philanthropy. Sylvia has interviewed an eclectic mix from CEOs and musicians to fashion designers and philanthropists including Randolph Duke and Ne-Yo.
Seasoned entertainment reporter Robin Milling gets up close and personal with the world's most compelling celebs. From Michael Douglas to Katie Holmes to Kevin Kline to Ashley Judd to America Ferrera, she sits down in person each week with each and every A-lister.
Mr. Media host Bob Andelman goes one-on-one with the hottest, most influential minds from the worlds of film, TV, music, comedy, journalism and literature. That means A-listers like Kirk Douglas, Christian Slater, Kathy Ireland, Rick Fox, Chris Hansen and Jackie Collins.
Paula Begoun, best-selling author of Don't Go to the Cosmetics Counter Without Me, separates fact from fiction on achieving a radiant, youthful complexion at any age. She?s regularly joined by health and beauty experts who offer the latest on keeping your skin in tip-top shape.
The threat of global warming effects such as polar ice caps melting to catastrophic weather conditions as added weight to the call for preserving the environment. This idea has been speared by international media outlets, environmental conservation institution and renowned environmentalist. The use of geochemical software played a big role in the collection of data proving that the earth is in danger if no actions to reverse the trend are taken.
There are multiple computer programs for collecting data for ecological studies. The advancement in computer technology as produced various programs and ArcGIS extensions which aid in ecological data collection. The programs are used to track, classify and plot data which have a direct impact on any living organism. The programs aid in visualizing natural or terrain changes in addition to shift in climatic conditions.
Terrain changes can go unnoticed and seem inconsequential to an ordinary eye. In most instances something such as vanishing of riverbank vegetation or soil erosion has a significant impact on the ecosystem. Such changes can lead to migration or extinction of plant or animal species from an area. This has been continuously happening in many parts of the word especially as human settlements continue to expand.
Soil analysis and classification can be achieved by use of geological software for better allocation of land for farming. This is because certain crops do well in specific soil types and ignorance of this can lead to deficiency in food production. Environmental changes can be monitored to map out flooding patterns in farming districts to strategize on ways of mitigating their effects.
Geological program is important in the global crusade to protect the environment. There are many areas that need protection more than what is commonly visible. Landfills and other forms of waste management need to be monitored for toxin levels which if surpass acceptable levels can cause harm to humans and other organisms.
Mapping and monitoring of subsurface resources is achieved by the use of computer programs. 3D Modelling software are used in the search for oil and water reservoirs and extracting them without harming or contaminating the environment. Ecosystems and livelihoods can be preserved by use of mapping software and accurate analysis of data in preventing accidents such as oil spills which can be costly.
Subsurface mapping can be used to monitor areas prone to volcanic eruptions and earth quakes. They occurrence are catastrophic both in human and material losses. Recovery is always a longer term, costly, traumatizing with permanent visible scares ever present. Lives can be saved by evacuating residents living in danger zones in advance by the use of subsurface mapping.
The application of geochemical software can go a long way in aiding the call for environmental protection and reversing some of the negative trends. The world is going green and individuals and corporations are more than willing to be conscious of their actions on the general state of the environment. Information collected and analyzed by its use can be achieved to preserve species that are in danger of extinction thus maintaining the delicate balance in flora and fauna.
Helping solve earth modelling problems with Mapping software and Geo Chemical software, enabling geoscientists to share their data.
Helping solve earth modelling problems with Mapping software, enabling geoscientists to share their data.
http://www.geosoft.com/
The following post is sponsored by Gnarly Head Wines. Each week, leading up to October 31, we?ll be matching one of their varietals with a classic Halloween candy. After all, you?re going to need a game plan to get rid of the leftovers after the trick-or-treaters have gone home (or for raiding your little darlings? take when they?ve gone to bed!) And Gnarly Head wines are just right for getting you in the Halloween ?spirits? (pun intended).?
Pinot noir is one of those wines that go with a wide variety of foods?if you?re out with a group for dinner, it?s the one you should go for when people are ordering both salmon and lamb chops.
Gnarly Head?s Pinot Noir is chockablock with dry dusty cherry, cranberry, savory herbal goodness?but Thanksgiving is still a month away, dammit. The candy ain?t going to last that long. And if you?re doing it right, neither will the wine.
Pinot noir is generally low in tannins; tannins are a naturally-occurring compound in grape skins that help give wine its age-worthiness. But if you?re impatient like me and don?t want to wait five or more years to drink your happy juice, you?ll know tannins by the way they make your mouth feel like it?s covered in suede or you?ve just eaten velvet?after drinking wine. Very tannic wines tend to be cabernets (both sauvignon and franc) and malbec. Ever eat walnuts and have a dry mouth afterward? Yep, there are tannins in walnuts too, especially the skins.
So you don?t want chocolate with nuts. And plain milk chocolate falls flat against the pinot. But milk chocolate with a crispy crunch? Oh, yes.? Whoppers Malted Milk Balls, all the way. The dry maltiness stands up well to the plush, lush fruit, resulting in a flavor sensation reminiscent of chocolate cherry cheesecake. Without all those pesky inconvenient calories.
(Click here to visit Gnarly Head Wines on Facebook.)
Other nations that rely on America or look up to it didn?t get to ask a question at Tuesday?s presidential debate on foreign policy. But if they had, it would probably have been this:
?So, just how long will it take for the United States to pull out of its economic pit stop??
The question is relevant because both Mitt Romney and Barack Obama turned a debate on foreign affairs toward one on the need for America to rebuild its strength. They differ on how to do it. But they each cited a priority in national rejuvenation.
?It?s very hard for us to project leadership around the world when we?re not doing what we need to do [at home],? said President Obama.
?For us to be able to promote ... principles of peace requires us to be strong. And that begins with a strong economy here at home,? said Mr. Romney.
Left unsaid ? as the rest of the world probably noticed ? was any hint of when this US sabbatical might end and America resume the role of a vibrant world leader. When the jobless rate hits 4 percent? When the national debt is zero?
Or perhaps never ? because this economic retreat signals a long escape for the US from the world and its woes?
OPINION: 5 foreign issues for the next president
The two presidential candidates, of course, did not promise to retreat from standing responsibilities to others, such as treaty allies. Obama calls the US ?the indispensable nation.? Romney calls it ?the exceptional nation.?
But an inward-looking US is hoping for a break. It wants to recover from wars, recession, overspending, and a deep political divide.
Regular rituals of rest are built into any society, whether it?s called the Sabbath, spring break, vacation, a nap, R&R, or, for American presidents, a weekend retreat at Camp David. In the Hebrew Bible, God rested on the seventh day, while, for Christians, Jesus offered rest to all who are weary and burdened.
But there is also another kind of rest, even for a nation. It is a kind of calm action in giving to others without depleting one?s self. It has been seen in historical heroes like Florence Nightingale, Mother Teresa, and Martin Luther King. When people ? or a people ? live up to their ideals and share them, they both do good and are good to themselves.
This sort of resting in action comes more easily for the US when it is promoting the universal values on which it was founded. Sometimes that means doing good, as with the US intervention in Libya to prevent a massacre. Other times it means simply being good, as in running a healthy market-based economy or living up to democratic standards.
In other words, America doesn?t really need to choose between doing good for itself and helping the world. It needs to refine its role so as to rejuvenate itself in the assisting of others. That needs to be done in the choices made on military spending, foreign aid, trade policy, and types of alliances.
OPINION: Romney-Obama debate brings it back home
When ideals are lined up well, they replenish America.
If the ideals aren?t a basis for action, such as the way the war in Iraq was conducted or the White House virtual silence during Iran?s democratic uprising, America can be depleted, both in resources and stature.
This election shouldn?t be about a zero-sum choice between US interests and its leadership in the world. The economic respite that Americans seek may lie in striking a new balance in its ideals.
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According to Israeli website ynet, the Gaza rocket barrage on Israel?s southern communities continues on Wednesday . Ten rockets were fired at the Hof Ashkelon Regional Council, but no injuries were reported.
The paper added that the Iron Dome system intercepted one rocket over Ashkelon after intercepting seven more earlier on Wednesday. In total, more than 60 rockets were fired at Israel since Tuesday night.
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Contact: Paul Preuss paul_preuss@lbl.gov 510-486-6249 DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Berkeley Lab's lead in laser plasma acceleration research continues with new benchmarks for electron beam quality
Focusing in on beam focus
The rapidly evolving technology of laser plasma accelerators (LPAs) called "table-top accelerators" because their length can be measured in centimeters instead of kilometers promises a new breed of machines, far less expensive and with far less impact on the land and the environment than today's conventional accelerators.
Future LPAs offer not only compact high-energy colliders for fundamental physics but diminutive light sources as well. These will probe chemical reactions, from artificial photosynthesis to "green catalysis"; unique biological structures, inaccessible to other forms of microscopy yet essential to understanding life and health; and new materials, including low-temperature superconductors, topological insulators, spintronics devices, and graphene nanostructures, which will revolutionize the electronics industry. With intensely bright beams spanning the spectrum from microwaves to gamma rays, table-top accelerators open new vistas of science.
LOASIS, the Laser and Optical Accelerator Systems Integrated Studies program at the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab), demonstrated the first LPA beams with a narrow spread of energies in 2004, and by 2006 was first to reach energies of a billion electron volts. But because of their unique method of acceleration and their pulses only femtoseconds long (mere quadrillionths of a second), testing the quality of LPA beams isn't easy.
Wim Leemans of Berkeley Lab's Accelerator and Fusion Research Division (AFRD) heads LOASIS, which has continued to extend and improve LPA performance with teams uniting theorists, experts in computer simulation, and gifted experimentalists teams in which students earning their Ph.D's are often important contributors to the work. Leemans assigned Guillaume Plateau, a graduate of the cole Polytechnique near Paris (and now a postdoc at the University of California at Los Angeles) to investigate radiation associated with LPA x ray production as part of his dissertation.
"We had a grant to study laser plasma accelerators as x ray and gamma-ray light sources, and we wanted to know more about background radiation," Leemans says. "In a serendipitous development, we found more than we had expected."
The LPA measurement challenge
The conventional way of accelerating charged particles like electrons is with an oscillating electromagnetic field, controlled by metal vacuum cavities that make up the segments of the accelerator. The oscillations are timed so the field pulls the electrons forward as they enter each cavity; the field strength is the "accelerating gradient," expressed as volts (typically millions of volts) per meter. Conventional accelerators may require many segments and stretch for miles.
A laser plasma accelerator works very differently. When a powerful laser focuses a pulse on a plasma of free electrons and positive ions, its radiation pressure pushes the electrons and ions apart, creating strong accelerating gradients. Some of the electrons "surf" the resulting wave behind the pulse, in a bunch that almost instantaneously reaches near light-speed. Over short distances, LPAs have sustained accelerating gradients of hundreds of billions of volts per meter, immensely stronger than those of conventional accelerators.
An LPA's intense laser pulses and short electron bunches require new measurement techniques to understand performance. One particularly challenging gauge of performance is emittance.
"This parameter determines how well the beams can be focused," says Cameron Geddes of LOASIS, who worked with Plateau on the experiment. "Low emittance means the velocity of the particles isn't random they travel nearly along streamlines."
When the experiment began, however, emittance wasn't at the center of attention. Says Leemans, "Since we wanted to get images of the x-ray pulses associated with the electron beam, we formed a collaboration with colleagues at GSI" Germany's Center for Heavy Ion Research "who came to Berkeley with an excellent commercial camera. We were impressed by what we could see, so we asked ourselves what more we could do with these images."
Marco Battaglia of the Lab's Engineering Division then supplied a more advanced camera, using rugged, sensitive Berkeley Lab CCDs, which yielded even better information. Says Leemans, "We were not the first to image LPA x rays, but because of the quality of the new cameras, we were able to measure the x-ray spectrum in detail. From that we worked backward to see what we could learn about the electron bunch."
Geddes explains that emittance can be measured as the product of the beam size and its angle of spread (divergence). Traditional methods for measuring emittance use devices like "pepper-pots" or wire scanners, placed right in the accelerator beam which can destroy a low-emittance beam. And with an LPA, the powerful drive laser can destroy the diagnostic devices themselves.
The LOASIS team could measure the energy and dispersion of the LPA electron bunch by deflecting it with magnets, then dumping it. But to determine emittance, they had to measure the size of the beam before it left the accelerator. X-ray spectroscopy gave them the means.
"With x-ray imaging we had a way to measure beam quality right inside the plasma, where the laser wakefield is accelerating the electron bunch," says Geddes. That's because the x-rays are a manifestation of what's called betatron radiation, generated by electrons inside the accelerating "bubble" that trails immediately behind the laser pulse. As the electrons gather in the bubble they swing back and forth. This betatron oscillation emits a forward-directed throb of x-rays tight, bright, and ultrashort.
The laser beam, the electron beam, and the x-rays all travel in the same direction. To measure the x-rays without interference, the experimenters first dumped the electron beam and then deflected the laser beam with a mirrored foil. The x-ray pulse passed through the foil to the CCD camera, which was capable of counting every x-ray photon and measuring its energy. Although the camera was almost five meters from the accelerator, the spectrum of the tight betatron pulse it captured carried the information necessary to determine the beam radius.
"By comparing their x-ray spectra to theoretical predictions, we pegged the electron beams in these experiments at a radius of 0.1 micrometer, a tenth of a millionth of meter," Geddes says. "This is smaller than any previous experiment could resolve, allowing us to estimate the emittance across the beam in terms of how far the momentum of the particles spreads within an angular slice of the beam to be as low as 0.1 millimeter per thousandth of a radian."
Geddes adds, "This transverse emittance is as good as state-of-the-art conventional accelerators for free electron lasers and gamma-ray sources, if not yet high enough for a high-energy collider. Our numerical simulations show us that emittance depends on specific ways in which the electrons are trapped in the wave, which opens the door to further reducing emittance."
There are other measures of LPA beam quality that also depend on special radiation but leave their mark outside the accelerator. A separate report, coming soon, will investigate the phenomenon of slice-energy spread in an electron beam.
###
"Low-emittance electron bunches from a laser-plasma accelerator measured using single-shot x-ray spectroscopy," by G. R. Plateau, C. G. R. Geddes, D. B. Thorn, M. Chen, C. Benedetti, E. Esarey, A. J. Gonsalves, N. H. Matlis, K. Nakamura, C. B. Schroeder, S. Shiraishi, T. Sokollik, J. van Tilborg, Cs. Toth, S. Trotsenko, T. S. Kim, M. Battaglia, Th. Sthlker, and W. P. Leemans, appears in Physical Review Letters and is available online at http://prl.aps.org/abstract/PRL/v109/i6/e064802.
Earlier research on LPA beam quality is described at http://newscenter.lbl.gov/news-releases/2011/08/22/beams-to-order/
For the role of simulation in designing LPAs, see http://newscenter.lbl.gov/news-releases/2011/03/17/simulating-at-lightspeed/
More about 2006's world-record 1-GeV LPA is at http://www.lbl.gov/Science-Articles/Archive/AFRD-GeV-beams.html
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory addresses the world's most urgent scientific challenges by advancing sustainable energy, protecting human health, creating new materials, and revealing the origin and fate of the universe. Founded in 1931, Berkeley Lab's scientific expertise has been recognized with 13 Nobel prizes. The University of California manages Berkeley Lab for the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science. For more, visit www.lbl.gov.
DOE's Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States, and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit the Office of Science website at science.energy.gov/.
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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.
Contact: Paul Preuss paul_preuss@lbl.gov 510-486-6249 DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Berkeley Lab's lead in laser plasma acceleration research continues with new benchmarks for electron beam quality
Focusing in on beam focus
The rapidly evolving technology of laser plasma accelerators (LPAs) called "table-top accelerators" because their length can be measured in centimeters instead of kilometers promises a new breed of machines, far less expensive and with far less impact on the land and the environment than today's conventional accelerators.
Future LPAs offer not only compact high-energy colliders for fundamental physics but diminutive light sources as well. These will probe chemical reactions, from artificial photosynthesis to "green catalysis"; unique biological structures, inaccessible to other forms of microscopy yet essential to understanding life and health; and new materials, including low-temperature superconductors, topological insulators, spintronics devices, and graphene nanostructures, which will revolutionize the electronics industry. With intensely bright beams spanning the spectrum from microwaves to gamma rays, table-top accelerators open new vistas of science.
LOASIS, the Laser and Optical Accelerator Systems Integrated Studies program at the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab), demonstrated the first LPA beams with a narrow spread of energies in 2004, and by 2006 was first to reach energies of a billion electron volts. But because of their unique method of acceleration and their pulses only femtoseconds long (mere quadrillionths of a second), testing the quality of LPA beams isn't easy.
Wim Leemans of Berkeley Lab's Accelerator and Fusion Research Division (AFRD) heads LOASIS, which has continued to extend and improve LPA performance with teams uniting theorists, experts in computer simulation, and gifted experimentalists teams in which students earning their Ph.D's are often important contributors to the work. Leemans assigned Guillaume Plateau, a graduate of the cole Polytechnique near Paris (and now a postdoc at the University of California at Los Angeles) to investigate radiation associated with LPA x ray production as part of his dissertation.
"We had a grant to study laser plasma accelerators as x ray and gamma-ray light sources, and we wanted to know more about background radiation," Leemans says. "In a serendipitous development, we found more than we had expected."
The LPA measurement challenge
The conventional way of accelerating charged particles like electrons is with an oscillating electromagnetic field, controlled by metal vacuum cavities that make up the segments of the accelerator. The oscillations are timed so the field pulls the electrons forward as they enter each cavity; the field strength is the "accelerating gradient," expressed as volts (typically millions of volts) per meter. Conventional accelerators may require many segments and stretch for miles.
A laser plasma accelerator works very differently. When a powerful laser focuses a pulse on a plasma of free electrons and positive ions, its radiation pressure pushes the electrons and ions apart, creating strong accelerating gradients. Some of the electrons "surf" the resulting wave behind the pulse, in a bunch that almost instantaneously reaches near light-speed. Over short distances, LPAs have sustained accelerating gradients of hundreds of billions of volts per meter, immensely stronger than those of conventional accelerators.
An LPA's intense laser pulses and short electron bunches require new measurement techniques to understand performance. One particularly challenging gauge of performance is emittance.
"This parameter determines how well the beams can be focused," says Cameron Geddes of LOASIS, who worked with Plateau on the experiment. "Low emittance means the velocity of the particles isn't random they travel nearly along streamlines."
When the experiment began, however, emittance wasn't at the center of attention. Says Leemans, "Since we wanted to get images of the x-ray pulses associated with the electron beam, we formed a collaboration with colleagues at GSI" Germany's Center for Heavy Ion Research "who came to Berkeley with an excellent commercial camera. We were impressed by what we could see, so we asked ourselves what more we could do with these images."
Marco Battaglia of the Lab's Engineering Division then supplied a more advanced camera, using rugged, sensitive Berkeley Lab CCDs, which yielded even better information. Says Leemans, "We were not the first to image LPA x rays, but because of the quality of the new cameras, we were able to measure the x-ray spectrum in detail. From that we worked backward to see what we could learn about the electron bunch."
Geddes explains that emittance can be measured as the product of the beam size and its angle of spread (divergence). Traditional methods for measuring emittance use devices like "pepper-pots" or wire scanners, placed right in the accelerator beam which can destroy a low-emittance beam. And with an LPA, the powerful drive laser can destroy the diagnostic devices themselves.
The LOASIS team could measure the energy and dispersion of the LPA electron bunch by deflecting it with magnets, then dumping it. But to determine emittance, they had to measure the size of the beam before it left the accelerator. X-ray spectroscopy gave them the means.
"With x-ray imaging we had a way to measure beam quality right inside the plasma, where the laser wakefield is accelerating the electron bunch," says Geddes. That's because the x-rays are a manifestation of what's called betatron radiation, generated by electrons inside the accelerating "bubble" that trails immediately behind the laser pulse. As the electrons gather in the bubble they swing back and forth. This betatron oscillation emits a forward-directed throb of x-rays tight, bright, and ultrashort.
The laser beam, the electron beam, and the x-rays all travel in the same direction. To measure the x-rays without interference, the experimenters first dumped the electron beam and then deflected the laser beam with a mirrored foil. The x-ray pulse passed through the foil to the CCD camera, which was capable of counting every x-ray photon and measuring its energy. Although the camera was almost five meters from the accelerator, the spectrum of the tight betatron pulse it captured carried the information necessary to determine the beam radius.
"By comparing their x-ray spectra to theoretical predictions, we pegged the electron beams in these experiments at a radius of 0.1 micrometer, a tenth of a millionth of meter," Geddes says. "This is smaller than any previous experiment could resolve, allowing us to estimate the emittance across the beam in terms of how far the momentum of the particles spreads within an angular slice of the beam to be as low as 0.1 millimeter per thousandth of a radian."
Geddes adds, "This transverse emittance is as good as state-of-the-art conventional accelerators for free electron lasers and gamma-ray sources, if not yet high enough for a high-energy collider. Our numerical simulations show us that emittance depends on specific ways in which the electrons are trapped in the wave, which opens the door to further reducing emittance."
There are other measures of LPA beam quality that also depend on special radiation but leave their mark outside the accelerator. A separate report, coming soon, will investigate the phenomenon of slice-energy spread in an electron beam.
###
"Low-emittance electron bunches from a laser-plasma accelerator measured using single-shot x-ray spectroscopy," by G. R. Plateau, C. G. R. Geddes, D. B. Thorn, M. Chen, C. Benedetti, E. Esarey, A. J. Gonsalves, N. H. Matlis, K. Nakamura, C. B. Schroeder, S. Shiraishi, T. Sokollik, J. van Tilborg, Cs. Toth, S. Trotsenko, T. S. Kim, M. Battaglia, Th. Sthlker, and W. P. Leemans, appears in Physical Review Letters and is available online at http://prl.aps.org/abstract/PRL/v109/i6/e064802.
Earlier research on LPA beam quality is described at http://newscenter.lbl.gov/news-releases/2011/08/22/beams-to-order/
For the role of simulation in designing LPAs, see http://newscenter.lbl.gov/news-releases/2011/03/17/simulating-at-lightspeed/
More about 2006's world-record 1-GeV LPA is at http://www.lbl.gov/Science-Articles/Archive/AFRD-GeV-beams.html
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory addresses the world's most urgent scientific challenges by advancing sustainable energy, protecting human health, creating new materials, and revealing the origin and fate of the universe. Founded in 1931, Berkeley Lab's scientific expertise has been recognized with 13 Nobel prizes. The University of California manages Berkeley Lab for the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science. For more, visit www.lbl.gov.
DOE's Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States, and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit the Office of Science website at science.energy.gov/.
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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.
ScienceDaily (Oct. 22, 2012) ? Like job-seekers searching for a new position, living things sometimes have to pick up a new skill if they are going to succeed. Researchers from the University of California, Davis, and Uppsala University, Sweden, have shown for the first time how living organisms do this.
The observation, published Oct. 19 in the journal Science, closes an important gap in the theory of natural selection.
Scientists have long wondered how living things evolve new functions from a limited set of genes. One popular explanation is that genes duplicate by accident; the duplicate undergoes mutations and picks up a new function; and, if that new function is useful, the gene spreads.
"It's an old idea and it's clear that this happens," said John Roth, a distinguished professor of microbiology at UC Davis and co-author of the paper.
The problem, Roth said, is that it has been hard to imagine how it occurs. Natural selection is relentlessly efficient in removing mutated genes: Genes that are not positively selected are quickly lost.
How then does a newly duplicated gene stick around long enough to pick up a useful new function that would be a target for positive selection?
Experiments in Roth's laboratory and elsewhere led to a model for the origin of a novel gene by a process of "innovation, amplification and divergence." This model has now been tested by Joakim Nasvall, Lei Sun and Dan Andersson at Uppsala.
In the new model, the original gene first gains a second, weak function alongside its main activity -- just as an auto mechanic, for example, might develop a side interest in computers. If conditions change such that the side activity becomes important, then selection of this side activity favors increasing the expression of the old gene. In the case of the mechanic, a slump in the auto industry or boom in the IT sector might lead her to hone her computer skills and look for an IT position.
The most common way to increase gene expression is by duplicating the gene, perhaps multiple times. Natural selection then works on all copies of the gene. Under selection, the copies accumulate mutations and recombine. Some copies develop an enhanced side function. Other copies retain their original function.
Ultimately, the cell winds up with two distinct genes, one providing each activity -- and a new genetic function is born.
Nasvall, Lei and Andersson tested this model using the bacterium Salmonella. The bacteria carried a gene involved in making the amino acid histidine that had a secondary, weak ability to contribute to the synthesis of another amino acid, tryptophan. In their study, they removed the main tryptophan-synthesis gene from the bacteria and watched what happened.
After growing the bacteria for 3,000 generations on a culture medium without tryptophan, they forced the bacteria to evolve a new mechanism for producing the amino acid. What emerged was a tryptophan-synthesizing activity provided by a duplicated copy of the original gene.
"The important improvement offered by our model is that the whole process occurs under constant selection -- there's no time off from selection during which the extra copy could be lost," Roth said.
The work was supported by the Swedish Research Council and the National Institutes of Health.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of California - Davis.
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Journal Reference:
J. Nasvall, L. Sun, J. R. Roth, D. I. Andersson. Real-Time Evolution of New Genes by Innovation, Amplification, and Divergence. Science, 2012; 338 (6105): 384 DOI: 10.1126/science.1226521
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Making vinegar starts with a culture just like yogurt or sourdough bread. Add to this wine and a year and you'll have wonderful vinegar that will impress ay foodie and only get better with time.
San Francisco culinary weblog The Eater's Digest shares that you can purchase starter cultures from winemaking shops but you can also just buy any bottle of unpasteurized vinegar from a local natural grocer or farmers market. Save the leftover bits of wine that are not consumed until you have at least a gallon or so. When you're ready to begin fill an oak barrel or ceramic crock with your unfinished wine, an equal amount of water, and the vinegar starter culture. It'll take a year for the batch to become fully ready to use but if you're bitten by the vinegar bug you can start new batches every few months so you'll frequently have new batches of vinegar maturing.
From Alice's Green Kitchen: Making Your Own Vinegar | The Eater's Digest via Punk Domestics
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is important in the global crusade to protect the environment. There are many areas that need protection more than what is commonly visible. Landfills and other forms of waste management need to be monitored for toxin levels which if surpass acceptable levels can cause harm to humans and other organisms.
Pinot noir is one of those wines that go with a wide variety of foods?if you?re out with a group for dinner, it?s the one you should go for when people are ordering both salmon and lamb chops.
According to Israeli website ynet, the Gaza rocket barrage on Israel?s southern communities continues on Wednesday . Ten rockets were fired at the Hof Ashkelon Regional Council, but no injuries were reported.![[ Back to EurekAlert! ]](http://www.eurekalert.org/images/back2e.gif){kind=small}
Public release date: 22-Oct-2012
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Making vinegar starts with a culture just like yogurt or sourdough bread. Add to this wine and a year and you'll have wonderful vinegar that will impress ay foodie and only get better with time.