Airtel mobile customers will have access to mobile web search and feature-phone-friendly versions of Gmail and Google+ in India for free.
Leading global telecommunications company, ****** Airtel has joined hands with Google to launch free internet service for mobile users in India.
They announced the launch of Free Zone, which will give Airtel mobile customers access to mobile web search and feature-phone-friendly versions of Gmail and Google+ in India for free.
According to a statement released by Airtel, Free Zone aims to make the web accessible and affordable to all mobile users.
The Internet services available via Airtel includes:
Gmail: Users have unlimited access to Gmail from their mobile browser. If users click on a link or attachment within the email they are directed to a page where they can purchase a data package.
Google+: Users can share online photos and messages with circles of family, selected friends or the public; follow updates on the things they are passionate about - from cricket to photography, music to news; and follow people they?re interested in.
Google Search:Users can search the entire Internet and access the first page of websites from the results for free. If they click further into a website after that, they are directed to a page where they can purchase a data package.
While Airtel subscribers will not incur any data charges to access these services on Free Zone powered by Google, access to more advanced services such as attachment download or browse through to web sites from the ones accessed in the Free Zone would be enabled through the subscription to a standard data package. The first page of a website linked from search results is provided at no data cost. They are informed about the data charges and given the option to purchase an appropriate data package.
Rajan Anandan, VP and Managing Director, Google India said, ?The mobile Internet user base is growing really fast in India. Working with Airtel on this exciting trial means that we can offer Internet services at no cost to anyone with a phone. This gives people easier access to information in a way that benefits everyone, whether it?s an individual or a small business that wants to reach more people on the web. We hope this initiative will encourage more Indians to experience the value of the Internet and gain from it. Students can easily look up for facts to work on their assignments, housewives will be able to easily check on recipes and connect with their friends and family from their mobile phones."
Free Zone aims to put the web in the hands of more people and empower first time Internet users with several useful services of the Internet.
Airtel mobile customers can access the service by visiting airtel Free Zone | Gmail, Google+, Google Search on Mobile | No Data Costs and start using the Internet without having to sign in to the service.
?As the country?s leading telecom services provider, we at Airtel are constantly looking for new ways of exciting more and more of our 200 million plus customers in India about the data experience. In this market, where feature phones predominate, our association with Google to bring Free Zone to India will encourage millions of users to discover the power of mobile Internet for the very first time and leverage the amazing world of information search, email and social collaboration - at no incremental cost? said N Rajaram, Chief Marketing Officer ? Consumer Business, ****** Airtel.
Airtel and Google join hands to provide free internet for mobile users in India - Sci/Tech - DNA
GETTYSBURG, Pa. (AP) ? A statue of a Union soldier on the Gettysburg battlefield damaged by high winds is back on its post in time for the commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the pivotal battle of the American Civil War.
About 200,000 people are expected to visit this crossroads town in south-central Pennsylvania over a 10-day period starting Friday to commemorate the Battle of Gettysburg, which took place July 1-3, 1863. The schedule is chock-full of re-enactments and battlefield tours, plus the National Park Service's official commemorative ceremony on Sunday night featuring historian Doris Kearns Goodwin.
"It's been three or four years of planning," Park Service spokesman Mike Litterst said. "In a lot of ways, this is the Olympic moment for Gettysburg."
It is one in which one of the battlefield's most memorable statues has been returned to its pedestal after being felled by high winds Tuesday.
The monument to the 72nd Pennsylvania Infantry portrays a Union soldier swinging his rifle like a club. The musket barrel was bent after landing on the ground, while the shoulder area suffered a little damage, Litterst said.
The monument restoration staff gave it a temporary fix to allow it to be displayed during the anniversary week events.
Monuments typically mark ? or come close to marking ? the locations on the battlefield at which soldiers fought. The 72nd Pennsylvania Infantry defended a key spot on the third day of battle against the famed Confederate advance known as "Pickett's Charge."
It will stay up through anniversary events before being taken down for more extensive repairs.
"All things considered, the damage could have been much, much worse," Litterst said.
The Blue-Gray Alliance, a re-enactment group, opens the schedule Friday with its first of three days of battle re-creations on a private farm. Organizers expected about 10,000 Civil War buffs to take part.
The National Park Service programs include a Pickett's Charge "commemorative march" on the actual battlefield, during which nine park rangers will lead groups representing each of the nine Confederate brigades that took part in the failed assault on the entrenched Union positions on Cemetery Ridge.
Another re-enactment held by the Gettysburg Anniversary Committee is scheduled on a farm north of town July 4-7. Re-enactments are held on private properties.
Gettysburg was the bloodiest battle of the Civil War, with about 51,000 casualties. It was the Confederate Army's northernmost advance in the war.
The Dow and S&P 500 dropped on Friday as investors were reluctant to jump in following a three-day rally, but major averages still capped the volatile quarter with gains.
Stocks finished lower for the month of June, logging their first monthly drop this year. But all three major averages logged their third winning quarter in four. And so far for the year, the Dow has surged more than 14 percent, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq have spiked more than 13 percent each.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 114.89 points to close at 14,909.60, pulling back after logging its third-straight day higher. Still, the Dow posted its strongest first half of the year since 1999.
The S&P 500 fell 6.92 points to finish at 1,606.28. The S&P 500 logged its best first half performance since 1998. The Nasdaq eked out a gain of 1.38 points to end at 3,403.25.
The CBOE Volatility Index (VIX), widely considered the best gauge of fear in the market, finished unchanged below 17.
For the quarter, the Dow rose 2.27 percent, the S&P 500 climbed 2.36 percent, and the Nasdaq soared 4.15 percent. Microsoft was the best performer for the quarter on the Dow, while IBM tumbled.
Financials topped the S&P 500 sector gainers in the second quarter, while utilities lagged.
Stocks initially opened in negative territory after Fed Governor Jeremy Stein highlighted the upcoming September policy meeting as a possible time when the central bank may need to consider paring back its QE program, adding that the Fed consider the overall economic improvements since it launched the stimulus instead of giving undue weight to the most recent round of tepid economic data.
(Read More: Buckle Up! Expect More Market Volatility This Year)
Stein's comments contradicted comments from other Fed policymakers who have suggested the central bank will bide its time before scaling back its bond purchases.
Menawhile, Richmond Fed President Jeffrey Lacker said markets should brace for more volatility as they digest news the Fed will scale back bond buying later this year, but the swings will not derail growth. Lacker said he expects U.S. growth to remain around 2 percent for the "foreseeable future."
(Read More:Fed Out in Force as Markets Stabilize)
On the economic front, business activity index in the Midwest fell in June to 51.6 from 58.7 in May, according to the Institute for Supply Management-Chicago. A Reuters survey of economists on average expected a median reading of 56.0 in June versus the May figure of 58.7.
Meanwhile, consumer sentiment improved in late June, with the final reading on the overall index at 84.1, above the preliminary reading of 82.7, according to Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast the final June reading of 82.8.
Japan's benchmark stock index hit a three-week high on the heels of positive economic reports that include much stronger than expected industrial output and retail sales numbers.
"We had better job market numbers, better production numbers, and even consumer prices are picking up. So data-wise, today is a pretty good day for Japan," said Takuji Okubo, principal and chief economist at Japan Macro Advisors.
Traders will closely watch gold prices, as the precious metal dipped below a key level of $1,200 per ounce. Analysts warned that miners could be severely affected if prices remain this low.
June 27, 2013 ? Scientists have discovered a diverse multitude of microbes colonizing and thriving on flecks of plastic that have polluted the oceans -- a vast new human-made flotilla of microbial communities that they have dubbed the "plastisphere."
In a study recently published online in Environmental Science & Technology, the scientists say the plastisphere represents a novel ecological habitat in the ocean and raises a host of questions: How will it change environmental conditions for marine microbes, favoring some that compete with others? How will it change the overall ocean ecosystem and affect larger organisms? How will it change where microbes, including pathogens, will be transported in the ocean?
The collaborative team of scientists -- Erik Zettler from Sea Education Association (SEA), Tracy Mincer from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), and Linda Amaral-Zettler from the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL), all in Woods Hole, Mass. -- analyzed marine plastic debris that was skimmed with fine-scale nets from the sea surface at several locations in the North Atlantic Ocean during SEA research cruises. Most were millimeter-sized fragments.
"We're not just interested in who's there. We're interested in their function, how they're functioning in this ecosystem, how they're altering this ecosystem, and what's the ultimate fate of these particles in the ocean," says Amaral-Zettler. "Are they sinking to the bottom of the ocean? Are they being ingested? If they're being ingested, what impact does that have?"
Using scanning electron microscopy and gene sequencing techniques, they found at least 1000 different types of bacterial cells on the plastic samples, including many individual species yet to be identified. They included plants, algae, and bacteria that manufacture their own food (autotrophs), animals and bacteria that feed on them (heterotrophs), predators that feed on these, and other organisms that establish synergistic relationships (symbionts). These complex communities exist on plastic bits hardly bigger than the head of a pin, and they have arisen with the explosion of plastics in the oceans in the last 60 years.
"The organisms inhabiting the plastisphere were different from those in surrounding seawater, indicating that plastic debris acts as artificial 'microbial reefs," says Mincer. "They supply a place that selects for and supports distinct microbes to settle and succeed."
These communities are likely different from those that settle on naturally occurring floating material such as feathers, wood, and microalgae, because plastics offer different conditions, including the capacity to last much longer without degrading.
On the other hand, the scientists also found evidence that microbes may play a role in degrading plastics. They saw microscopic cracks and pits in the plastic surfaces that they suspect were made by microbes embedded in them, as well as microbes possibly capable of degrading hydrocarbons.
"When we first saw the 'pit formers' we were very excited, especially when they showed up on multiple pieces of plastic of different types of resins," said Zettler, who added that undergraduate students participating in SEA Semester cruises collected and processed the samples. "Now we have to figure out what they are by [genetically] sequencing them and hopefully getting them into culture so we can do experiments."
The plastic debris also represents a new mode of transportation, acting as rafts that can convey harmful microbes, including disease-causing pathogens and harmful algal species. One plastic sampled they analyzed was dominated by members of the genus Vibrio, which includes bacteria that cause cholera and gastrointestinal maladies.
The project was funded by a National Science Foundation Collaborative grant, a NSF TUES grant, and a Woods Hole Center for Oceans and Human Health Pilot award.
Research raises concerns over smoke detectors' effectiveness in waking childrenPublic release date: 27-Jun-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Paul Gallagher corporatecomms@strath.ac.uk 44-014-154-82370 University of Strathclyde
Standard domestic smoke detectors may not always wake children in the event of a fire, according to research at the University of Strathclyde's Centre for Forensic Science and Derbyshire Fire & Rescue Service.
The study of 34 children -20 girls and 14 boys- aged between two and 13, found that 80% slept through smoke detector alarms. Each child was tested six times and only seven of the children woke during any of the tests.
Only two children woke on every occasion and none of the 14 boys in the research woke at all.
While the findings do not call into question the value of smoke alarms in alerting people to fires, nor their capacity to help save lives, the fact that the children failed so often to wake up on the activation of the alarms does raise concerns.
Professor Niamh Nic Daeid, of Strathclyde's Centre for Forensic Science, who led the research, said: 'While the results of this study remain preliminary given the number of children involved, they do highlight concerns that cannot be ignored about the effectiveness of smoke detectors in waking children.
"Further research is required to build on the findings to date and investigate robust solutions to the issues highlighted."
Dave Coss, East Midlands Regional Fire Investigation Dog Handler and Watch Manager with Derbyshire Fire & Rescue Service, conducted the study as part of his Masters degree taken at the University of Strathclyde.
Derbyshire Fire & Rescue Service reinforces the importance of having a working smoke alarm on every level of the home and that the research finding emphasise the importance of having a pre-planned and practised escape route or plan that everyone in the home, whether a family member or overnight guest, is aware of. This plan must account for waking, alerting and evacuating all children in the home.
The Service also continues to campaign and work towards domestic sprinklers being fitted into all new domestic dwellings and retrofitted into the homes of those most vulnerable to fire, as and where appropriate.
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For more information about keeping safe in the home and planning an escape route please visit http://www.derbys-fire.gov.uk
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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.
Research raises concerns over smoke detectors' effectiveness in waking childrenPublic release date: 27-Jun-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Paul Gallagher corporatecomms@strath.ac.uk 44-014-154-82370 University of Strathclyde
Standard domestic smoke detectors may not always wake children in the event of a fire, according to research at the University of Strathclyde's Centre for Forensic Science and Derbyshire Fire & Rescue Service.
The study of 34 children -20 girls and 14 boys- aged between two and 13, found that 80% slept through smoke detector alarms. Each child was tested six times and only seven of the children woke during any of the tests.
Only two children woke on every occasion and none of the 14 boys in the research woke at all.
While the findings do not call into question the value of smoke alarms in alerting people to fires, nor their capacity to help save lives, the fact that the children failed so often to wake up on the activation of the alarms does raise concerns.
Professor Niamh Nic Daeid, of Strathclyde's Centre for Forensic Science, who led the research, said: 'While the results of this study remain preliminary given the number of children involved, they do highlight concerns that cannot be ignored about the effectiveness of smoke detectors in waking children.
"Further research is required to build on the findings to date and investigate robust solutions to the issues highlighted."
Dave Coss, East Midlands Regional Fire Investigation Dog Handler and Watch Manager with Derbyshire Fire & Rescue Service, conducted the study as part of his Masters degree taken at the University of Strathclyde.
Derbyshire Fire & Rescue Service reinforces the importance of having a working smoke alarm on every level of the home and that the research finding emphasise the importance of having a pre-planned and practised escape route or plan that everyone in the home, whether a family member or overnight guest, is aware of. This plan must account for waking, alerting and evacuating all children in the home.
The Service also continues to campaign and work towards domestic sprinklers being fitted into all new domestic dwellings and retrofitted into the homes of those most vulnerable to fire, as and where appropriate.
###
For more information about keeping safe in the home and planning an escape route please visit http://www.derbys-fire.gov.uk
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Facebook just announced a new review policy for Pages and Groups, a policy aimed at reducing cases where ads run alongside content that the advertiser or their customers might find objectionable. Earlier today, a BBC report stated that Marks and Spencer and BSkyB had pulled "all or part of their spending" on Facebook after a BSkyB ad (which was "promoting an M&S voucher") was shown alongside a Facebook Page that was titled "cute and gay boys" and included photos of teenage boys. The story said Facebook was going to make an announcement to address these types of concerns later today.
LISBON, Portugal (AP) ? Public transport and government offices are expected to be the worst-hit services as Portugal's two trade union confederations stage a national 24-hour strike against austerity measures.
Unions representing about 1 million workers are protesting Thursday against debt-cutting measures Portugal was compelled to adopt by creditors in return for a 78 billion euros ($102 billion) bailout two years ago.
Public sector pay cuts and hikes in taxes on sales and private and corporate income have contributed to the economy's downward spiral, with the jobless rate growing to 17.8 percent and a third straight year of recession forecast in 2013.
The General Confederation of Portuguese Workers and the General Workers' Union want the center-right government to ease off the austerity measures and take more steps to create jobs and growth.
Fourteen-year-old Buda resident Casey Whited will compete in the 2013 National Junior High Finals Rodeo (NJHFR) in Gallup, New Mexico, held June 23-29. Whited, who has been competing in rodeo events since he was eight years old, qualified for the NJHFR through the Texas Junior High National Finals and is the state representative in Tie-Down Calf Roping. The NJHFR, which touts itself as the largest junior-high rodeo in the world, features more than 1,000 contestants from 41 states, five Canadian Provinces and Australia. The contestants will vie for $75,000 in prizes and over $100,000 in college scholarships.
Contact: Lynn Davis davisl@vt.edu 540-231-6157 Virginia Tech
Tigers in central Sumatra live at lower than expected densities, Virginia Tech scientists discover
Sumatran tigers, found exclusively on the Indonesian island of Sumatra, are on the brink of extinction. By optimistic estimates, perhaps 400 individuals survive. But the exact the number and locations of the island's dwindling tiger population has been up for debate.
Virginia Tech and World Wildlife Fund researchers have found that tigers in central Sumatra live at very low densities, lower than previously believed, according to a study in the April 2013 issue of Oryx -- The International Journal of Conservation.
The findings by Sunarto, who earned his doctorate from Virginia Tech in 2011, and co-researchers Marcella Kelly, an associate professor of wildlife in the College of Natural Resources and Environment, and Erin Poor of East Lansing, Mich., a doctoral student studying wildlife science and geospatial environmental analysis in the college, suggest that high levels of human activity limit the tiger population.
Researchers studied areas and habitat types not previously surveyed, which could inform interventions needed to save the tiger.
"Tigers are not only threatened by habitat loss from deforestation and poaching; they are also very sensitive to human disturbance," said Sunarto, a native of Indonesia, where people typically have one name. "They cannot survive in areas without adequate understory, but they are also threatened in seemingly suitable forests when there is too much human activity."
The smallest surviving tiger subspecies, Sumatran tigers are extremely elusive and may live at densities as low as one cat per 40 square miles. This is the first study to compare the density of Sumatran tigers across various forest types, including the previously unstudied peat land. The research applied spatial estimation techniques to provide better accuracy of tiger density than previous studies.
Sunarto, a tiger and elephant specialist with World Wildlife FundIndonesia, collaborated on the paper with Kelly, Professor Emeritus Michael Vaughan, and Sybille Klenzendorf, managing director of WWF's Species Conservation Program, who earned her master's and doctoral degrees in wildlife science from Virginia Tech. The WWF field team collected data in partnership with the Indonesian Ministry of Forestry staff.
"Getting evidence of the tigers' presence was difficult," Kelly said. "It took an average of 590 days for camera traps to get an image of each individual tiger recorded."
"We believe the low detection of tigers in the study area of central Sumatra was a result of the high level of human activity farming, hunting, trapping, and gathering of forest products," Sunarto said. "We found a low population of tigers in these areas, even when there was an abundance of prey animals."
Legal protection of an area, followed by intensive management, can reduce the level of human disturbance and facilitate the recovery of the habitat and as well as tiger numbers. The researchers documented a potentially stable tiger population in the study region's Tesso Nilo Park, where legal efforts are in place to discourage destructive human activities.
The study -- "Threatened predator on the equator: Multi-point abundance estimates of the tiger Panthera tigris in central Sumatra" -- indicates that more intensive monitoring and proactive management of tiger populations and their habitats are crucial or this tiger subspecies will soon follow the fate of its extinct Javan and Balinese relatives.
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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: Lynn Davis davisl@vt.edu 540-231-6157 Virginia Tech
Tigers in central Sumatra live at lower than expected densities, Virginia Tech scientists discover
Sumatran tigers, found exclusively on the Indonesian island of Sumatra, are on the brink of extinction. By optimistic estimates, perhaps 400 individuals survive. But the exact the number and locations of the island's dwindling tiger population has been up for debate.
Virginia Tech and World Wildlife Fund researchers have found that tigers in central Sumatra live at very low densities, lower than previously believed, according to a study in the April 2013 issue of Oryx -- The International Journal of Conservation.
The findings by Sunarto, who earned his doctorate from Virginia Tech in 2011, and co-researchers Marcella Kelly, an associate professor of wildlife in the College of Natural Resources and Environment, and Erin Poor of East Lansing, Mich., a doctoral student studying wildlife science and geospatial environmental analysis in the college, suggest that high levels of human activity limit the tiger population.
Researchers studied areas and habitat types not previously surveyed, which could inform interventions needed to save the tiger.
"Tigers are not only threatened by habitat loss from deforestation and poaching; they are also very sensitive to human disturbance," said Sunarto, a native of Indonesia, where people typically have one name. "They cannot survive in areas without adequate understory, but they are also threatened in seemingly suitable forests when there is too much human activity."
The smallest surviving tiger subspecies, Sumatran tigers are extremely elusive and may live at densities as low as one cat per 40 square miles. This is the first study to compare the density of Sumatran tigers across various forest types, including the previously unstudied peat land. The research applied spatial estimation techniques to provide better accuracy of tiger density than previous studies.
Sunarto, a tiger and elephant specialist with World Wildlife FundIndonesia, collaborated on the paper with Kelly, Professor Emeritus Michael Vaughan, and Sybille Klenzendorf, managing director of WWF's Species Conservation Program, who earned her master's and doctoral degrees in wildlife science from Virginia Tech. The WWF field team collected data in partnership with the Indonesian Ministry of Forestry staff.
"Getting evidence of the tigers' presence was difficult," Kelly said. "It took an average of 590 days for camera traps to get an image of each individual tiger recorded."
"We believe the low detection of tigers in the study area of central Sumatra was a result of the high level of human activity farming, hunting, trapping, and gathering of forest products," Sunarto said. "We found a low population of tigers in these areas, even when there was an abundance of prey animals."
Legal protection of an area, followed by intensive management, can reduce the level of human disturbance and facilitate the recovery of the habitat and as well as tiger numbers. The researchers documented a potentially stable tiger population in the study region's Tesso Nilo Park, where legal efforts are in place to discourage destructive human activities.
The study -- "Threatened predator on the equator: Multi-point abundance estimates of the tiger Panthera tigris in central Sumatra" -- indicates that more intensive monitoring and proactive management of tiger populations and their habitats are crucial or this tiger subspecies will soon follow the fate of its extinct Javan and Balinese relatives.
###
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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.
To make food healthier, don't just cut the salt. Instead, try serving it with a knife as well.
The cutlery a person uses can alter the tastes they experience when eating, possibly making blander (and healthier) foods taste like the saltier (less healthy) variety, new research suggests.
For instance, cheese tastes saltier when eaten with a knife, and yogurt tastes denser and more expensive when eaten with a plastic spoon, according to a new study published today (June 25) in the journal Flavour.
"This thing that we've ignored for so long, the cutlery, in fact does have an impact on the food we eat," said study co-author Charles Spence, a psychologist at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom.
The findings could one day help scientists tweak utensils to help people eat healthier, for example, by giving eaters the same salty sensation they get from processed foods, but with reduced salt. [9 Snack Foods: Healthy or Not?]
"The idea would be to use these cues to reduce the actual content of the unhealthy ingredients in a food by giving the psychological impression of saltiness or sweetness without the negative consequences," Spence told LiveScience.
A growing body of research suggests that people's enjoyment of food is related to many factors beyond a meal's actual taste.
A 2011 study found that white plates make food seem tastier, while another study found that hot chocolate tastes better in orange cups. And other research has shown that everything from the price on a bottle of wine to the size of a bowl can affect people's experience of foods.
To see how cutlery affected taste, Spence and his colleague Vanessa Harrar conducted three experiments. In the first, the researchers asked 35 participants to rate the expensiveness, sweetness and density of yogurt eaten with several plastic spoons, some of which were lighter weight than others.
The yogurt eaters rated food eaten from a lighter spoon as denser, more expensive and more enjoyable than yogurt eaten from heavy spoons.
In a second experiment, 30 participants rated yogurt eaten from different-colored spoons. Blue spoons seemed to make the pink yogurt taste saltier, whereas other colors didn't show a significant effect.
In the third experiment, 30 participants rated the saltiness of cheddar cheese eaten using a fork, a spoon, a toothpick or a knife. The cheese tasted saltiest when served on a knife.
It's not clear exactly why these trends occur.
But the findings could have implications for chefs, food scientists and cutlery makers hoping to subtly enhance the eating experience.
Several of the researchers' previous findings on cutlery and plates are being tested in cooking schools and restaurants, to see if they hold true outside the laboratory setting, Spence said.
Follow Tia Ghose on Twitterand Google+.?Follow?LiveScience @livescience, Facebook?& Google+. Original article on?LiveScience.com.
Copyright 2013 LiveScience, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Getting the carbon out of emissionsPublic release date: 26-Jun-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Sarah McDonnell s_mcd@mit.edu 617-253-8923 Massachusetts Institute of Technology
CAMBRIDGE, MA -- Many researchers around the world are seeking ways to "scrub" carbon dioxide (CO2) from the emissions of fossil-fuel power plants as a way of curbing the gas that is considered most responsible for global climate change. But most such systems rely on complex plumbing to divert the steam used to drive the turbines that generate power in these plants, and such systems are not practical as retrofits to existing plants.
Now, researchers at MIT have come up with a scrubbing system that requires no steam connection, can operate at lower temperatures, and would essentially be a "plug-and-play" solution that could be added relatively easily to any existing power plant.
The new electrochemical system is described in a paper just published online in the journal Energy and Environmental Science, and written by doctoral student Michael Stern, chemical engineering professor T. Alan Hatton and two others.
The system is a variation on a well-studied technology that uses chemical compounds called amines, which bind with CO2 in the plant's emission stream and can then release the gas when heated in a separate chamber. But the conventional process requires that almost half of the power plant's low-pressure steam be diverted to provide the heat needed to force the amines to release the gas. That massive diversion would require such extensive changes to existing power plants that it is not considered economically feasible as a retrofit.
In the new system, an electrochemical process replaces the steam-based separation of amines and CO2. This system only requires electricity, so it can easily be added to an existing plant.
The system uses a solution of amines, injected at the top of an absorption column in which the effluent gases are rising from below. The amines bind with CO2 in the emissions stream and are collected in liquid form at the bottom of the column. Then, they are processed electrochemically, using a metal electrode to force the release of the CO2; the original amine molecules are then regenerated and reused.
As with the conventional thermal-amine scrubber systems, this technology should be capable of removing 90 percent of CO2 from a plant's emissions, the researchers say. But while the conventional CO2-capture process uses about 40 percent of a plant's power output, the new system would consume only about 25 percent of the power, making it more attractive.
In addition, while steam-based systems must operate continuously, the all-electric system can be dialed back during peak demand, providing greater operational flexibility, Stern says. "Our system is something you just plug in, so you can quickly turn it down when you have a high cost or high need for electricity," he says.
Another advantage is that this process produces CO2 under pressure, which is required to inject the gas into underground reservoirs for long-term disposal. Other systems require a separate compressor to pressurize the gas, creating further complexity and inefficiency.
The chemicals themselves mostly small polyamines are widely used and easily available industrial materials, says Hatton, the Ralph Landau Professor of Chemical Engineering Practice. Further research will examine which of several such compounds works best in the proposed system.
So far, the research team, which also includes former MIT research scientist Fritz Simeon and Howard Herzog, a senior research engineer at the MIT Energy Initiative, has done mathematical modeling and a small-scale laboratory test of the system. Next, they hope to move on to larger-scale tests to prove the system's performance. They say it could take five to 10 years for the system to be developed to the point of widespread commercialization.
Because it does not rely on steam from a boiler, this system could also be used for other applications that do not involve steam such as cement factories, which are among the leading producers of CO2 emissions, Stern says. It could also be used to curb emissions from steel or aluminum plants.
It could also be useful in other CO2 removal, Hatton says, such as in submarines or spacecraft, where carbon dioxide can accumulate to levels that could endanger human health, and must be continually removed.
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The work was supported by Siemens AG and by the U.S. Department of Energy through the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Energy.
Written by David Chandler, MIT News Office
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Getting the carbon out of emissionsPublic release date: 26-Jun-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Sarah McDonnell s_mcd@mit.edu 617-253-8923 Massachusetts Institute of Technology
CAMBRIDGE, MA -- Many researchers around the world are seeking ways to "scrub" carbon dioxide (CO2) from the emissions of fossil-fuel power plants as a way of curbing the gas that is considered most responsible for global climate change. But most such systems rely on complex plumbing to divert the steam used to drive the turbines that generate power in these plants, and such systems are not practical as retrofits to existing plants.
Now, researchers at MIT have come up with a scrubbing system that requires no steam connection, can operate at lower temperatures, and would essentially be a "plug-and-play" solution that could be added relatively easily to any existing power plant.
The new electrochemical system is described in a paper just published online in the journal Energy and Environmental Science, and written by doctoral student Michael Stern, chemical engineering professor T. Alan Hatton and two others.
The system is a variation on a well-studied technology that uses chemical compounds called amines, which bind with CO2 in the plant's emission stream and can then release the gas when heated in a separate chamber. But the conventional process requires that almost half of the power plant's low-pressure steam be diverted to provide the heat needed to force the amines to release the gas. That massive diversion would require such extensive changes to existing power plants that it is not considered economically feasible as a retrofit.
In the new system, an electrochemical process replaces the steam-based separation of amines and CO2. This system only requires electricity, so it can easily be added to an existing plant.
The system uses a solution of amines, injected at the top of an absorption column in which the effluent gases are rising from below. The amines bind with CO2 in the emissions stream and are collected in liquid form at the bottom of the column. Then, they are processed electrochemically, using a metal electrode to force the release of the CO2; the original amine molecules are then regenerated and reused.
As with the conventional thermal-amine scrubber systems, this technology should be capable of removing 90 percent of CO2 from a plant's emissions, the researchers say. But while the conventional CO2-capture process uses about 40 percent of a plant's power output, the new system would consume only about 25 percent of the power, making it more attractive.
In addition, while steam-based systems must operate continuously, the all-electric system can be dialed back during peak demand, providing greater operational flexibility, Stern says. "Our system is something you just plug in, so you can quickly turn it down when you have a high cost or high need for electricity," he says.
Another advantage is that this process produces CO2 under pressure, which is required to inject the gas into underground reservoirs for long-term disposal. Other systems require a separate compressor to pressurize the gas, creating further complexity and inefficiency.
The chemicals themselves mostly small polyamines are widely used and easily available industrial materials, says Hatton, the Ralph Landau Professor of Chemical Engineering Practice. Further research will examine which of several such compounds works best in the proposed system.
So far, the research team, which also includes former MIT research scientist Fritz Simeon and Howard Herzog, a senior research engineer at the MIT Energy Initiative, has done mathematical modeling and a small-scale laboratory test of the system. Next, they hope to move on to larger-scale tests to prove the system's performance. They say it could take five to 10 years for the system to be developed to the point of widespread commercialization.
Because it does not rely on steam from a boiler, this system could also be used for other applications that do not involve steam such as cement factories, which are among the leading producers of CO2 emissions, Stern says. It could also be used to curb emissions from steel or aluminum plants.
It could also be useful in other CO2 removal, Hatton says, such as in submarines or spacecraft, where carbon dioxide can accumulate to levels that could endanger human health, and must be continually removed.
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The work was supported by Siemens AG and by the U.S. Department of Energy through the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Energy.
Written by David Chandler, MIT News Office
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WASHINGTON (AP) ? For President Barack Obama, National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden's globe-trotting evasion of U.S. authorities has dealt a startling setback to efforts to strengthen ties with China and raised the prospect of worsening tensions with Russia.
Relations with both China and Russia have been at the forefront of Obama's foreign policy agenda this month, underscoring the intertwined interests among these uneasy partners. Obama met just last week with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the Group of Eight summit in Northern Ireland and held an unusual two-day summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping in California earlier this month.
Obama has made no known phone calls to Xi since Snowden surfaced in Hong Kong earlier this month, nor has he talked to Putin since Snowden arrived in Russia.
Former Rep. Jane Harman, D-Calif., said it wasn't clear that Obama's "charm offensive" with Xi and Putin would matter much on this issue. The U.S. has "very little leverage," she said, given the broad array of issues on which the Obama administration needs Chinese and Russian cooperation.
"This isn't happening in a vacuum, and obviously China and Russia know that," said Harman, who now runs the Woodrow Wilson International Center.
Both the U.S. and China had hailed the Obama-Xi summit as a fresh start to a complex relationship, with the leaders building personal bonds during an hour-long walk through the grounds of the Sunnylands estate. But any easing of tensions appeared to vanish Monday following China's apparent flouting of U.S. demands that Snowden be returned from semi-autonomous Hong Kong to face espionage charges.
White House spokesman Jay Carney, in unusually harsh language, said China had "unquestionably" damaged its relationship with Washington.
"The Chinese have emphasized the importance of building mutual trust," Carney said. "We think that they have dealt that effort a serious setback. If we cannot count on them to honor their legal extradition obligations, then there is a problem."
A similar problem may be looming with Russia, where Snowden arrived Sunday. He had been expected to leave Moscow for a third country, but the White House said Monday it believed the former government contractor was still in Russia.
While the U.S. does not have an extradition treaty with Russia, the White House publicly prodded the Kremlin to send Snowden back to the U.S., while officials privately negotiated with their Russian counterparts.
"We are expecting the Russians to examine the options available to them to expel Mr. Snowden for his return to the United States," Carney said.
The U.S. has deep economic ties with China and needs the Asian power's help in persuading North Korea to end its nuclear provocations. The Obama administration also needs Russia's cooperation in ending the bloodshed in Syria and reducing nuclear stockpiles held by the former Cold War foes.
Members of Congress so far have focused their anger on China and Russia, not on Obama's inability to get either country to abide by U.S. demands. However, Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., said in an interview with CNN on Monday that he was starting to wonder why the president hasn't been "more forceful in dealing with foreign leaders."
Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton echoed the White House's frustration with China. "That kind of action is not only detrimental to the U.S.-China relationship but it sets a bad precedent that could unravel the intricate international agreements about how countries respect the laws ? and particularly the extradition treaties," the possible 2016 presidential contender told an audience in Los Angeles.
Snowden fled to Hong Kong after seizing highly classified documents disclosing U.S. surveillance programs that collect vast amounts of U.S. phone and Internet records. He shared the information with The Guardian and Washington Post newspapers. He also told the South China Morning Post that "the NSA does all kinds of things like hack Chinese cellphone companies to steal all of your SMS data." SMS, or short messaging service, generally means text messaging.
Snowden still has perhaps more than 200 sensitive documents, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said over the weekend.
Hong Kong, a former British colony with a degree of autonomy from mainland China, has an extradition treaty with the U.S. Officials in Hong Kong said a formal U.S. extradition request did not fully comply with its laws, a claim the Justice Department disputes.
The White House made clear it believes the final decision to let Snowden leave for Russia was made by Chinese officials in Beijing.
Russia's ultimate response to U.S. pressure remains unclear. Putin could still agree to return Snowden to the U.S. But he may also let him stay in Russia or head elsewhere, perhaps to Ecuador or Venezuela ? both options certain to earn the ire of the White House.
Fiona Hill, a Russia expert at the Washington-based Brookings Institution, said she expected Putin to take advantage of a "golden opportunity" to publicly defy the White House.
"This is one of those opportunities to score points against the United States that I would be surprised if Russia passed up," Hill said.
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Follow Julie Pace on Twitter at http://twitter.com/jpaceDC
WASHINGTON (AP) ? The U.S. grasped for help Monday from both adversaries and uneasy allies in an effort to catch fugitive National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden. The White House demanded that he be denied asylum, blasted China for letting him go and urged Russia to "do the right thing" and send him back to America to face espionage charges.
Snowden was believed to be in Russia, where he fled Sunday after weeks of hiding out in Hong Kong following his disclosure of the broad scope of two highly classified counterterror surveillance programs to two newspapers. The programs collect vast amounts of Americans' phone records and worldwide online data in the name of national security.
Snowden had flown from Hong Kong to Russia, and was expected to fly early Monday to Havana, from where he would continue on to Ecuador, where he has applied for asylum. But he didn't get on that plane and his exact whereabouts were unclear.
The founder of WikiLeaks, the secret-spilling organization that has embraced Snowden, said the American was only passing through Russia on his way to an unnamed destination to avoid the reach of U.S. authorities. Julian Assange said Snowden had applied for asylum in Ecuador, Iceland and possibly other countries.
Despite its diplomatic tough talk, the U.S. faces considerable difficulty in securing cooperation on Snowden from nations with whom it has chilly relations.
The White House said Hong Kong's refusal to detain Snowden had "unquestionably" hurt relations between the United States and China. While Hong Kong has a high degree of autonomy from the rest of China, experts said Beijing probably orchestrated Snowden's exit in an effort to remove an irritant in Sino-U.S. relations. President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping met earlier this month in California to smooth over rough patches in the countries' relationship, including allegations of hacking into each other's computer systems.
Secretary of State John Kerry urged Moscow to "do the right thing" amid high-level pressure on Russia to turn over Snowden.
"We're following all the appropriate legal channels and working with various other countries to make sure that the rule of law is observed," Obama told reporters when asked if he was confident that Russia would expel Snowden.
Obama's spokesman, Jay Carney, said the U.S. was expecting the Russians "to look at the options available to them to expel Mr. Snowden back to the United States to face justice for the crimes with which he is charged."
Carney was less measured about China.
"The Chinese have emphasized the importance of building mutual trust," he said. "And we think that they have dealt that effort a serious setback. ...This was a deliberate choice by the government to release a fugitive despite a valid arrest warrant, and that decision unquestionably has a negative impact on the U.S.-China relationship."
Snowden has acknowledged revealing details of top-secret surveillance programs that sweep up millions of phone and Internet records daily. He is a former CIA employee who later was hired as a contractor through Booz Allen to be a computer systems analyst. In that job, he gained access to documents ? many of which he has given to The Guardian and The Washington Post to expose what he contends are privacy violations by an authoritarian government.
Snowden also told the South China Morning Post that "the NSA does all kinds of things like hack Chinese cellphone companies to steal all of your SMS data," and is believed to have more than 200 additional sensitive documents.
Assange and attorneys for WikiLeaks assailed the U.S. as "bullying" foreign nations into refusing asylum to Snowden. WikiLeaks counsel Michael Ratner said Snowden is protected as a whistleblower by the same international treaties that the U.S. has in the past used to criticize policies in China and African nations.
The U.S. government's dual lines of diplomacy ? harsh with China, hopeful with the Russians ? came just days after Obama met separately with leaders of both countries in an effort to close gaps on some of the major disputes facing them. Additionally, State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell said the U.S. has made demands to "a series of governments," including Ecuador, that Snowden be barred from any international travel other than to be returned to the U.S.
Ventrell said he did not know if that included Iceland. Icelandic officials have confirmed receiving an informal request for asylum conveyed by WikiLeaks, which has strong links to the tiny North Atlantic nation. But authorities there have insisted that Snowden must be on Icelandic soil before making a formal request.
Ecuador's president and foreign minister declared that national sovereignty and universal principles of human rights ? not U.S. prodding ? would govern any decision they might make on granting asylum to Snowden.
Ecuador has rejected some previous U.S. efforts at cooperation and has been helping Assange avoid prosecution by allowing him to stay at its embassy in London.
Formally, Snowden's application for Ecuadoran asylum remains only under consideration. But Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino made little effort to disguise his government's position. He told reporters in Hanoi that the choice Ecuador faced in hosting Snowden was "betraying the citizens of the world or betraying certain powerful elites in a specific country."
President Rafael Correa said on Twitter that "we will take the decision that we feel most suitable, with absolute sovereignty." Correa, who took office in 2007, is a frequent critic of U.S. foreign policy in Latin America and is an ally of leftist president Evo Morales of Bolivia. Correa also had aligned himself with Venezuela's late leader, Hugo Chavez, a chief U.S. antagonist in the region for years.
In April 2011 the Obama administration expelled the Ecuadorean ambassador to Washington after the U.S. envoy to Ecuador, Heather Hodges, was expelled for making corruption allegations about senior Ecuadorean police authorities in confidential documents disclosed by WikiLeaks.
American experts said the U.S. will have limited, if any, influence to persuade governments to turn over Snowden if he heads to Cuba or nations in South America that are seen as hostile to Washington.
"There's little chance Ecuador would give him back" if that country agrees to take him, said James F. Jeffrey, a former ambassador and career diplomat.
Steve Saltzburg, a former senior Justice Department prosecutor, said it's little surprise that China refused to hand over Snowden, and he predicted Russia won't either.
"We've been talking the talk about how both these countries abuse people who try to express their First Amendment rights, so I think that neither country is going to be very inclined to help us very much," said Saltzburg, now a law professor at George Washington University in Washington. "That would be true with Cuba if he ends up there."
The United States formally sought Snowden's extradition but was rebuffed by Hong Kong officials who said the U.S. request did not fully comply with their laws. The Justice Department rejected that claim, saying its request met all of the requirements of the extradition treaty between the U.S. and Hong Kong.
Snowden had been believed to have been in a transit area in Moscow's airport where he would not be considered as entering Russian territory. Assange declined to discuss where Snowden was but said he was safe. The U.S. has revoked his passport.
___
Associated Press writers Julie Pace, Eileen Sullivan, Kimberly Dozier and Robert Burns in Washington, Lynn Berry, Vladimir Isachenkov and Max Seddon in Moscow, Kevin Chan in Hong Kong and Sylvia Hui in London contributed to this report.
Contact: Anna Mikulak amikulak@psychologicalscience.org 202-293-9300 Association for Psychological Science
Students who consistently receive individualized reading instruction from first through third grade become better readers than those who don't, according to new research published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.
These findings come after a three-year study that followed several hundred Floridian students, who received varying amounts of individualized instruction, from first to third grade.
"Our results show that children need sustained, effective instruction from first through third grade if they are going to become proficient readers," said psychological scientist Carol McDonald Connor of Arizona State University, who led the research team.
Teachers involved in the longitudinal, randomized study used Assessment-to-instruction (A2i) software to make informed decisions about how to tailor reading instruction to meet their students' needs. Using algorithms, the A2i software recommended specific amounts and types of reading instruction based on the skills of each student.
Data from study showed that students who received individualized student instruction (ISI) in all three grades showed the strongest reading skills by the end of third grade, compared to those who received fewer years of individualized instruction.
"Another way to think about this is that 94 percent of the students in ISI classrooms from first through third grade were reading proficiently, compared to only 78 percent of the children who didn't participate all three years," said Connor.
In fact, students who were in ISI classrooms for all three years often achieved reading skills that were well above grade level expectations by the end of third grade, when measured by nationally-normed reading achievement tests.
The data are particularly promising given that they demonstrate improvement in reading scores for children from an economically and ethnically diverse school district that included urban, suburban, and rural communities.
The findings suggest that, with a little help from software programs such as A2i, teachers may be able to track student reading success and intervene more effectively.
"The individualized instruction was provided by regular classroom teachers," added Connor. "So, I think the findings demonstrate that we can help teachers become more effective through professional development, supported by technology."
###
Co-authors on this research include Frederick Morrison and Barry Fishman of the University of Michigan, Elizabeth Crowe and Christopher Schatschneider of Florida State University, and Stephanie Al Otaiba of the Southern Methodist University
This research was supported by the U.S. Department of Education Institute of Educational Sciences and the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.
For more information about this study, please contact:
Carol McDonald Connor carol.connor@asu.edu
The APS journal Psychological Science is the highest ranked empirical journal in psychology. For a copy of the article "A Longitudinal Cluster-Randomized Controlled Study on the Accumulating Effects of Individualized Literacy Instruction on Students' Reading From First Through Third Grade" and access to other Psychological Science research findings, please contact Anna Mikulak at 202-293-9300 or amikulak@psychologicalscience.org.
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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: Anna Mikulak amikulak@psychologicalscience.org 202-293-9300 Association for Psychological Science
Students who consistently receive individualized reading instruction from first through third grade become better readers than those who don't, according to new research published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.
These findings come after a three-year study that followed several hundred Floridian students, who received varying amounts of individualized instruction, from first to third grade.
"Our results show that children need sustained, effective instruction from first through third grade if they are going to become proficient readers," said psychological scientist Carol McDonald Connor of Arizona State University, who led the research team.
Teachers involved in the longitudinal, randomized study used Assessment-to-instruction (A2i) software to make informed decisions about how to tailor reading instruction to meet their students' needs. Using algorithms, the A2i software recommended specific amounts and types of reading instruction based on the skills of each student.
Data from study showed that students who received individualized student instruction (ISI) in all three grades showed the strongest reading skills by the end of third grade, compared to those who received fewer years of individualized instruction.
"Another way to think about this is that 94 percent of the students in ISI classrooms from first through third grade were reading proficiently, compared to only 78 percent of the children who didn't participate all three years," said Connor.
In fact, students who were in ISI classrooms for all three years often achieved reading skills that were well above grade level expectations by the end of third grade, when measured by nationally-normed reading achievement tests.
The data are particularly promising given that they demonstrate improvement in reading scores for children from an economically and ethnically diverse school district that included urban, suburban, and rural communities.
The findings suggest that, with a little help from software programs such as A2i, teachers may be able to track student reading success and intervene more effectively.
"The individualized instruction was provided by regular classroom teachers," added Connor. "So, I think the findings demonstrate that we can help teachers become more effective through professional development, supported by technology."
###
Co-authors on this research include Frederick Morrison and Barry Fishman of the University of Michigan, Elizabeth Crowe and Christopher Schatschneider of Florida State University, and Stephanie Al Otaiba of the Southern Methodist University
This research was supported by the U.S. Department of Education Institute of Educational Sciences and the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.
For more information about this study, please contact:
Carol McDonald Connor carol.connor@asu.edu
The APS journal Psychological Science is the highest ranked empirical journal in psychology. For a copy of the article "A Longitudinal Cluster-Randomized Controlled Study on the Accumulating Effects of Individualized Literacy Instruction on Students' Reading From First Through Third Grade" and access to other Psychological Science research findings, please contact Anna Mikulak at 202-293-9300 or amikulak@psychologicalscience.org.
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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.
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Public release date: 27-Jun-2013
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