Court: Heart of gay marriage law unconstitutional

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10 Tips to Clean and Detail Your Car Like a Pro

"Think of the surface of your car as you would your face," says Mike Schultz, head of new products at Turtle Wax. "It needs to be properly taken care of in order to have a healthy glow."

Today, it's easier than ever to do that yourself: Techniques developed by professional detailers have trickled down to passionate car enthusiasts. Auto paint has been improved from the days of lacquer covered with carnauba paste wax, and now it's more durable and shines longer than ever. That means it's okay to toss out your old cans of rubbing compound, your leather chamois, and piles of newsprint for buffing and replace them with items like blocks of paint-cleaning clay, microfiber cloths, aloe leather healer, and chemical paint cleaners.

If you're considering some DIY detailing, proceed with caution. The pro detailers who provided us with these tips are practiced with rotating buffers that clean and resurface paint with wool or charcoal-coated foam pads, and they warn that such machines are not for an amateur Saturday-morning project. But the following 10 steps will help your home detailing go smoothly. The order for detailing tasks, the pros tell us, is important, and begins with the unpainted surfaces of your car.

NOTE: When to See a Pro

When your paint has a scratch that goes down to the metal, the only way to fix it is by sanding and filling the scratch with paint using a tiny pinstriping brush. Pros can blend this type of fix with surrounding paint, but that takes experience. To find a pro, check your local car clubs and shows; usually a few names will surface. The detailer should interview you about your expectations, and then suggest how to exceed them.

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Western powers expel Syrian envoys over massacre

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10 voices for change in Saudi Arabia

From a conservative sheikh to a pioneering female pediatrician, these are just a few of Saudis who are vocally advocating for change in their country.?

- Christa Case Bryant,?Staff writer

1. Sheikh Salman al-Ouda

Prominent Salafi cleric, with more than 1 million Twitter followers

"To debate and consult the citizen in decisions and policies ... [and] elections, I think Islam gave us that sort of democracy ? all caliphs were elected by their people.... The problem here is with the philosophical democracy without a limit.... For example, it's impossible one day within an Islamic system to have a debate on homosexuality ... since it is religiously forbidden."

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The New York Times At Twilight (Powerlineblog)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories News, News Feeds and News via Feedzilla.

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Tech Roundup: Windows 8 Boot, Windows 7 Tweaks, And More

This week on Pureinfotech: Learn the three new ways to access Windows 8 boot options menu when you need to troubleshoot your system and in the process get to know what the new set of tools has to offer.

Also give Windows 7 a boost by installing two Microsoft hotfixes that aren?t?available in Windows Update when they should. Learn how to assign a folder path to a drive, and for this week Desktop Fun, we have some great wallpapers of circle pattern designs.

Here is all of what you might have missed:

We need your input to help us bring you more good content

Do you have a tech question, suggestion or some feedback? Send us an email at?tips@pureinfotech.com?or better yet?ask in the forums.

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Lebanese hostages in Syria could ignite tensions

In this Monday, May 28, 2012 photo, Lebanese relatives of 11 Shiite Muslim men kidnapped this week in Syria sit silently inside the office of the religious tour agency Badr al-Kubra in the Bir el-Abed district south of Beirut, Lebanon. The Lebanese men were on their way back from a pilgrimage in Iran on May 22 when armed men intercepted their buses in northern Syria and abducted them. Their kidnapping is raising fears of renewed violence taking over the streets of Beirut as the country gets increasingly sucked into the bloody conflict next door. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

In this Monday, May 28, 2012 photo, Lebanese relatives of 11 Shiite Muslim men kidnapped this week in Syria sit silently inside the office of the religious tour agency Badr al-Kubra in the Bir el-Abed district south of Beirut, Lebanon. The Lebanese men were on their way back from a pilgrimage in Iran on May 22 when armed men intercepted their buses in northern Syria and abducted them. Their kidnapping is raising fears of renewed violence taking over the streets of Beirut as the country gets increasingly sucked into the bloody conflict next door. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

In this Monday, May 28, 2012 photo, Lebanese relatives of 11 Shiite Muslim men kidnapped this week in Syria sit silently inside the office of the religious tour agency Badr al-Kubra in the Bir el-Abed district south of Beirut, Lebanon. The Lebanese men were on their way back from a pilgrimage in Iran on May 22 when armed men intercepted their buses in northern Syria and abducted them. Their kidnapping is raising fears of renewed violence taking over the streets of Beirut as the country gets increasingly sucked into the bloody conflict next door. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

BEIRUT (AP) ? The mysterious case of 11 Lebanese Shiites who were taken hostage in Syria last week is raising fears of renewed street battles in Beirut as Lebanon increasingly gets drawn into the swirling chaos next door.

The Syrian crisis already has spilled across the border into Lebanon over the past three weeks, sparking deadly violence in a country that remains deeply divided over the 15-month-old uprising against Syrian President Bashar Assad.

But the Shiites' abduction is potentially explosive, in part because it enflames Lebanon's fragile Sunni-Shiite fault line. It could also spark retaliatory attacks against the thousands of Syrians in Lebanon.

In recent days, members of Lebanon's powerful Shiite militant group, Hezbollah, have deployed at the entrances of Beirut's southern suburbs, a heavily Shiite area, to prevent any moves by angry protesters.

Hezbollah is a staunch ally of the Syrian regime, where a predominantly Sunni uprising is trying to oust the Assad family dynasty. The families of the kidnapped Shiites blame Syria's Sunni rebels for abducting the men.

"The kidnapping is clearly intended to drag Hezbollah into the Syrian quagmire," said Ziad Baalbaki, a 37-year-old Lebanese insurance broker in Beirut. "The whole thing is fishy, everyone is worried what will happen if they are not released or they turn out to be dead."

The Lebanese men were on their way back from a pilgrimage in Iran on May 22 when gunmen intercepted their buses in the northern Syrian province of Aleppo, according to the women on the pilgrimage who were allowed to go free and arrived in Lebanon hours later.

Since then, no one has claimed responsibility for the kidnapping. There were reports Friday that the hostages were about to be released, prompting a rush on the airport by family members. But the men never arrived, and it became clear the release plans went awry.

One opposition figure who said he spoke to the kidnappers told The Associated Press that the hostage takers decided not to release the men after Syrian forces began attacking rebel areas in Aleppo. Now, he said, the kidnappers are demanding Syrian authorities release 500 opposition detainees, including Lt. Col. Hussein Harmoush, one of the first officers to defect after the uprising began. Harmoush was later arrested by authorities during a special operation.

The opposition figure spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.

Lebanese officials and Syrian activists have said the men are being held in an area near the Turkish border, but there is little credible information about their fate. Shiite leaders in Lebanon have scrambled to deny various rumors that might aggravate the situation ? including reports that one of the hostages is related to Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah.

"The information indicates that they are alive and in good health. This is what the Syrian opposition and Turkish officials confirm," Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri told An-Nahar daily Monday.

Shortly after news of the abduction broke last Tuesday, dozens of angry protesters blocked major roads with burning tires and threatened to kidnap Syrians in Lebanon as a form of retaliation. The protesters went home only after Nasrallah went on TV, calling for calm and saying no Syrians in Lebanon should be harmed.

"They were kidnapped because they are Shiite, not for any other reason," said Mohammed Mir, a Lebanese Shiite. "Had they been returning from Haj in Saudi Arabia (a Sunni country) would anyone have dared to kidnap them?"

In the Bir el-Abed district south of Beirut on Monday, five female relatives of the kidnapped men sat silently inside the office of the religious tour agency Badr al-Kubra, which organized the pilgrimage.

The room was decorated with large posters of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Nasrallah, and the group's late military commander Imad Mughniyeh, who was assassinated in a car bomb in Damascus in 2008.

The women refused to be interviewed, saying they were worried it would hurt the negotiations taking place for the hostages' release.

The case has the potential to inflame sectarian tensions in Lebanon and trigger retaliatory attacks against tens of thousands of Syrians nationals now in Lebanon. The overwhelming majority of rebels fighting Assad's regime are Sunni Muslims, while Assad and the ruling elite in Syria belong to the tiny Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shiite Islam.

Tensions from Syria have already spilled into Lebanon and clashes between Alawites and anti-Assad Lebanese Sunni groups in Lebanon's second largest city of Tripoli killed eight people earlier this month.

Aleppo-based activist Mohammed Saeed said the kidnappers have "impossible demands" from the regime in return for the release of the hostages, such as setting free all Aleppo province detainees and the withdrawal of the Syrian army from some areas.

"They are dealing with them (hostages) as if they are members of the regime," Saeed said.

Associated Press

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Using Paper Bags | Reference and Education Bioethics

Many supermarkets and shops around the world, you are using a paper bag for packing the goods from the store currently. Despite the fact that they are facing stiff competition from plastic bags, they are non-food shops and clothing, their popularity is still possible anywhere in particular. They are not waterproof, all kinds of companies, but is durable as plastic bags, because they have many advantages over the latter certainly, in the supermarket normal, find a bag of these can not be.

Using Paper Bags

Have been dealing with certain qualities to improve the durability and manufacturers have developed a paper bag, of its elasticity. In some cases, they are more durable than plastic bags. They are able to withstand the pressure and more pain. It offers a lot of things from their box-like design buyers do. They are also safer than using your plastic. If you put a plastic bag on his head accidentally swallowed children, may cause suffocation. However, in a paper bag, you can easily rip them open.

Major brands of clothing department, so they have shopping bags made of paper, paper bag has now become a symbol, such as fashion. Designers of these companies come up with a design of another brand bag looks stylish while it look interesting bag. They are because if look interesting, because people will be brand name always, companies, so spent to make a shopping bag, why spend a lot of time and effort will be in the bag, it has spread, will help to provide good image.

The main advantage is that in addition to these benefits, using a paper bag, that eco-friendly than plastic bags. If they really care about you, they can be reused again and again. They use, but the fact that it was beneficial material recycling, the environment and inexpensive. Since there is no plastic, corruption may be harmful to the environment if left untreated in the open. Instead, in this paper, we simply dangerous gas is not attenuated, and is mixed with the environment and corruption. This can save space. During combustion, toxic gases, such as paper plastic is not running. Paper bag, it can be recycled into new parts of the paper production. Many organizations around the world are now opting for recycled paper to save the environment. Their popularity has more.

You can save the environment from pollution and to use the paper bag, and really useful, is a negative point. If we use the bag, more trees are cut down in the world. This action is harmful to the environment. One of the best solution for this is the use of bags made from recycled paper. The emphasis, many organizations are seeking to make a bag from recycled paper more is to save the environment.

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Pope's butler vows to help Vatican scandal probe

VATICAN CITY (AP) ? The biggest scandal to rock the Vatican in decades widened Monday with the pope's butler, arrested for allegedly having confidential documents in his home, agreeing to cooperate with investigators ? raising the specter that higher-ranking ecclesial heads may soon roll.

Few believe butler Paolo Gabriele worked alone to leak dozens of documents shedding light on power struggles, corruption and intrigue inside the highest levels of the Catholic Church. The leaks have tormented the Vatican for months and painted a picture of a church hierarchy in utter disarray.

Gabriele, the pope's personal butler since 2006, was arrested Wednesday evening after Holy See documents were found inside his Vatican City apartment, adding an unfathomable Hollywood twist to the already sordid Vatileaks scandal. He remains in custody in a Vatican detention facility, accused of theft, and has met with his wife and lawyers.

Gabriele's lawyer, Carlo Fusco, said Monday his client was "very serene and calm," despite the whirlwind of speculation surrounding his arrest. He said Gabriele himself had told the Vatican judge investigating the case that he would "respond to all the questions and will collaborate with investigators to ascertain the truth."

Italian media reported Monday that a cardinal is suspected of playing a major role in the scandal. However, the Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, denied the reports categorically. He said many Vatican officials were being questioned but insisted "there is no cardinal under suspicion."

But Lombardi acknowledged that the investigation continues.

And on Monday, Italian daily La Repubblica published a rambling interview with what it described as another Vatican "mole," someone who described the various agendas at play behind the leaks.

The unnamed leaker said the aim was to show how weak Pope Benedict XVI is, the fears of his secretary of state, and to make clear that the "fundamental role of the church is to defend the Gospel, not accumulate power and money."

Lombardi dismissed as "pure fantasy" such a rash of unsourced reports about the investigation in the Italian media, which have been on a frenzy ever since reports of Gabriele's detention emerged Friday.

Gabriele, a 46-year-old father of three, was always considered extremely loyal to Benedict and his predecessor, John Paul II, for whom he briefly served. Vatican insiders have said they were baffled by his alleged involvement, and Lombardi said Monday that the entire scandal has caused pain throughout the Vatican.

Benedict, who in March appointed a commission of cardinals to investigate the leaks, was being kept informed of developments and is "aware of the delicate situation that the Roman curia is going through," Lombardi said.

He acknowledged the "negative image" of the Vatican that was emerging from the scandal but said the developments made it ever more important to "reestablish a climate of clarity, truth, transparency and trust as soon as possible."

The Vatileaks scandal broke in January when Italian journalist Gianluigi Nuzzi broadcast letters from the former No. 2 Vatican administrator to the pope in which he begged not to be transferred for having exposed alleged corruption that cost the Holy See millions of euros in higher contract prices. The prelate, Monsignor Carlo Maria Vigano, is now the Vatican's U.S. ambassador.

The scandal widened over the following months with documents leaked to Italian journalists that laid bare power struggles inside the Vatican over its efforts to show greater financial transparency and comply with international norms to fight money laundering. There was even a leak of a memo claiming that Benedict would die this year.

The scandal reached a peak last weekend, when Nuzzi published an entire book based on a trove of new documentation, including personal correspondence to and from the pope and his private secretary, much of which paints Benedict's No. 2, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, in a negative light.

Vito Mancuso, an Italian theologian, told reporters at a press launch of the book "His Holiness" that the documents, many of which point to Bertone's involvement in scandals that have afflicted the papacy, all appeared aimed at providing evidence for why he should resign.

"Looking at the documents in succession, it seems like you're seeing a series of bullets aimed at hitting Bertone," Mancuso said.

Bertone, 77, was Benedict's loyal No. 2 at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith before being named secretary of state. With no diplomatic or broad administrative experience coming into the job, he has earned not a few critics inside the Vatican bureaucracy.

The Vatican probe into the leaks is actually working on several tracks: Vatican magistrates are pursuing the criminal investigation, and Gabriele was arrested as part of that. The Vatican secretariat of state is pursuing an administrative probe. And the three cardinals appointed by Benedict are acting in a sort of supervisory role, looking beyond the narrow criminal scope of the leaks to interview broadly across the Vatican bureaucracy, Lombardi said.

They report directly to the pope and can both share information with Vatican prosecutors and receive information from them, Lombardi said.

The group is headed by Cardinal Julian Herranz, an Opus Dei prelate who headed the Vatican's legal office as well as the disciplinary commission of the Vatican bureaucracy before retiring.

Gabriele's arrest occurred almost simultaneously with another stunning development inside the secretive walls of the Vatican: the ouster of Benedict's hand-picked president of the Vatican bank, Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, himself close to Opus. The bank's board took a vote of no-confidence last week to oust him for failing to do his job.

Bank board member Carl Anderson told The Associated Press that the ouster had no political undertones and that the board wasn't taking cues from Bertone. He said it was purely a business decision since Gotti Tedeschi had become an obstacle to the bank's efforts to be more transparent in its financial dealings. Gotti Tedeschi hasn't responded to the accusations.

The chaos of the scandal came amid new developments in one of the Vatican's most enduring mysteries, the case of Emanuela Orlandi, the 15-year-old daughter of a Vatican employee who disappeared in 1983 while on her way to a music lesson in Rome.

On Sunday, Orlandi's brother led a march to the Vatican in hope that Benedict would offer them a prayer following the unearthing of the tomb of a mobster alleged to have kidnapped her. The crypt, inside an Opus Dei church in Rome, yielded hundreds of old bone fragments that are being examined for a trace of the girl.

___

Follow Nicole Winfield at www.twitter.com/nwinfield

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Need to tackle hindrances to broadband access ? The Punch ...

Minister of Communications Technology, Mrs. Omobola Johnson
| credits: File

There seems to be a consensus that it is important for Nigeria to quickly deploy broadband infrastructure and harness its benefits for economic development. DAYO OKETOLA examines on what the Federal Government is doing in this regard

Universal access to broadband has become a significant indicator of development and competitiveness globally. Statistics have shown that every 10 per cent increase in access to broadband in developing countries results in a commensurate 1.38 per cent increase in Gross Domestic Products. As such, experts say any country seeking growth, job and wealth creation must address how it can increase its access to broadband.

In view of this, broadband discourse has permeated the Nigerian Information and Communications Technology industry since the $240m Main One submarine cable and $800m Glo I cable landed in the country.

Experts say this is expected because the country?s over 95 million active mobile users have yet to benefit from the huge broadband capacity provided by Main One, Glo One and other subsea cables due to inadequate last mile infrastructure. The cost of Internet access is still high while the speed remains abysmally slow.

As such, ensuring that Nigeria is able to quickly deploy broadband infrastructure and harness the benefits therein have been the crux of the consistent industry engagement and discussions.

While some countries have gone as far as defining access to broadband (or super fast Internet) as a fundamental human right, Nigeria?s broadband access remains low at six per cent.

The Minister of Communications Technology, Mrs. Omobola Johnson, says, ?Despite the fact that we have Internet penetration of 28 per cent (45 million Internet users), only nine per cent (14.5 million people) of the population are actually Internet subscribers and broadband penetration is at a mere six per cent.

?Though access to broadband using mobile phones (smartphones) is increasing, (thereby increasing the number of subscribers) what this statistic tells us is that most Nigerians still access the Internet through public venues (offices, cyber cafes, computer labs). This is as a result of not only the lack of ubiquity of the broadband network but also the cost of access.?

The minister laments that Nigeria currently has one of the highest costs of access in the world at approximately N8 to N10 for 5Mbs of data.

?In fact, recent statistics that I looked at have us as having one of the lowest speeds in Africa,? Johnson adds.

She reiterates that broadband has become a critical ICT infrastructure, saying the goal of the government is to achieve one national network capable of delivering broadband speeds not less than 50 per cent of the average speeds available worldwide at the consumer end within the next five years.

To achieve this, the minister says the government will encourage and enforce the principle of open access/infrastructure sharing to already build transmission networks in order to facilitate an integrated national backbone.

This, she says, has become imperative to expand the building of an integrated national backbone to achieve point of presence in all local government areas in the country. This will be complemented with the adoption of a progressive fibre build up to connect all state capital, as well as the creation of city rings in all major cities.

Some of the things the ministry will do to achieve ubiquitous broadband access in the country, Johnson says, is to remove the bottlenecks and arbitrary additional costs to infrastructure layout such as the cost of right-of-way and conflicting environmental regulations.

Specifically, she says the ministry will collaborate with the Ministry of Environment to resolve conflicting regulations to remove all known and unknown bottlenecks to base station approval.

Emphasising that broadband is a catalyst to economic development, Johnson says government goal is to increase ICT contribution to GDP by, at least, 1.5 per cent by 2015. To actualise this, she says the ministry will facilitate local content development in mobile applications, media and entertainment and support SME untilisation of ICTs. According to her, it is important to get more Nigerian business online as well as increase domestic value added services in the ICT industry.

The minister also says it is important to deepen broadband access for effective and transparent government and governance. This, according to her, will be done by delivering government services via the Internet and improving government to citizen engagement. This will entail creating a single window portal to facilitate easy access to government information.

She says all government MDAs will have functioning websites of the same/similar standards by the end of 2014.

In view of this, the minister discloses that the Federal Government has deployed 86,089 email addresses for government on.gov.ng domain names.

The move, according to her, is in line with the government?s vision to ensure that all its MDAs are migrated from their existing disparate domain names to Nigeria?s Code Top Level domain name .ng both for their websites and official emails.

Apart from the 86,089 email addresses which have been deployed, she says 250 websites of MDAs have been hosted on .gov.ng platform. She also says that the government currently hosts around 200 servers for more than 94 government agencies; adding that 450 government agencies have been connected to a common government network known as OneGov.net.

This seems as an implementation of the call made by the President, Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria, Mr. Lanre Ajayi, that governments at all levels should migrate its services online to boost broadband access in the country.

Also, the General Manager, Federal Public Sector, Galaxy Backbone, Mr. Frank Ugbodaga, while speaking on ?Broadband as a Catalyst for e-Government in Nigeria?, says there has been a rise in application of Internet and broadband resources by government, including the deployment of shared ICT infrastructure and services centres.

The Executive Vice-Chairman, Nigerian Communications Commission, Dr. Eugene Juwah, says Nigeria is not the only country aspiring to enjoy the broadband revolution.

He says, ?Doubling the broadband speed for the economy increases GDP by 0.3 percentage points. This, according to a report, is jointly conducted by Ericsson, Arthur D. Little and Chalmers University of Technology. The report quantified the isolated impact of broadband speed. The percentage points may appear small but if you apply it to the Nigerian GDP at N40tn, you obtain an incease of more than half a trillion naira in the first instance and N120bn in the second.?

The NCC boss laments that while the regulatory environment in the country has remained stable and attractive to global investment community, there still remain a number of challenges affecting broadband infrastructure roll out.

He says one of the most difficult challenges to widescale broadband infrastructure deployment is the issue of right-of- way.

On the solutions, he says instead of imposing one off charge for right-of-way, state governments may adopt a new regime of periodic revenue stream from their right-of-way assets.

One the way to realise this, according to him, is for the states to contribute to the asset on a participatory basis.

Alternatively, he advises that state governments may choose to barter their right-of-way assets for a specialised service from infrastructure operator. For instance, he says access to righ-of-way can be traded for a security surveillance network provided from the infrastructure.

Juwah identifies the prevalent multiple regulation and taxation by state government as a major hindrance to broadband infrastructure deployment, adding that available infrastructure are characterised by operational issues such as monopoly ownership, exorbitantly high pricing and discriminatory access.

He says, ?The current development has made very little impact with the estimated penetration of broadband in Nigeria varying from less than two per cent to less than five per cent. In fact, it is evident that there is practically no broadband market in Nigeria, the huge broadband capacities on our shores notwithstanding. The challenge of the distribution of this capacity inland is the obvious task the Reflash must confront. ?

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University of Florida physicists set new record for graphene solar cell efficiency

Public release date: 24-May-2012
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Arthur Hebard
afh@ufl.edu
352-222-6212
University of Florida

GAINESVILLE, Fla. Doping may be a no-no for athletes, but researchers in the University of Florida's physics department say it was key in getting unprecedented power conversion efficiency from a new graphene solar cell created in their lab.

Graphene solar cells are one of industry's great hopes for cheaper, durable solar power cells in the future. But previous attempts to use graphene, a single-atom-thick honeycomb lattice of carbon atoms, in solar cells have only managed power conversion efficiencies ranging up to 2.9 percent. The UF team was able to achieve a record breaking 8.6 percent efficiency with their device by chemically treating, or doping, the graphene with trifluoromethanesulfonyl-amide, or TFSA. Their results are published in the current online edition of Nano Letters.

"The dopant makes the graphene film more conductive and increases the electric field potential inside the cell," said Xiaochang Miao, a graduate student in the physics department. That makes it more efficient at converting sunlight into electricity. And unlike other dopants that have been tried in the past, TFSA is stable its effects are long lasting.

The solar cell that Miao and her co-workers created in the lab looks like a 5-mm-square window framed in gold. The window, a wafer of silicon coated with a monolayer of graphene, is where the magic happens.

Graphene and silicon, when they come together, form what is called a Schottky junction a one-way street for electrons that when illuminated with light, acts as the power conversion zone for an entire class of solar cells. Schottky junctions are commonly formed by layering a metal on top of a semiconductor. But researchers at the UF Nanoscience Institute for Medical and Engineering Technologies discovered in 2011 that graphene, a semi-metal, made a suitable substitute for metal in creating the junction.

"Graphene, unlike conventional metals, is transparent and flexible, so it has great potential to be an important component in the kind of solar cells we hope to see incorporated into building exteriors and other materials in the future," said Arthur Hebard, distinguished professor of physics at UF and co-author on the paper. "Showing that its power-converting capabilities can be enhanced by such a simple, inexpensive treatment bodes well for its future."

The researchers said that if graphene solar cells reach 10 percent power conversion efficiency they could be a contender in the market place, if production costs are kept low enough.

The prototype solar cell created in the UF lab was built on a rigid base of silicon, which is not considered an economical material for mass production. But Hebard said that he sees real possibilities for combining the use of doped graphene with less expensive, more flexible substrates like the polymer sheets currently under development in research laboratories around the world.

###

Credits

Writer

Donna Hesterman , donna.hesterman@ufl.edu, 352-846-2573

Source

Arthur Hebard, afh@ufl.edu, 352-222-6212

Source

Xiaochang Miao, xxmiaophy@gmail.com, 352-871-4116

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

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

Public release date: 24-May-2012
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Arthur Hebard
afh@ufl.edu
352-222-6212
University of Florida

GAINESVILLE, Fla. Doping may be a no-no for athletes, but researchers in the University of Florida's physics department say it was key in getting unprecedented power conversion efficiency from a new graphene solar cell created in their lab.

Graphene solar cells are one of industry's great hopes for cheaper, durable solar power cells in the future. But previous attempts to use graphene, a single-atom-thick honeycomb lattice of carbon atoms, in solar cells have only managed power conversion efficiencies ranging up to 2.9 percent. The UF team was able to achieve a record breaking 8.6 percent efficiency with their device by chemically treating, or doping, the graphene with trifluoromethanesulfonyl-amide, or TFSA. Their results are published in the current online edition of Nano Letters.

"The dopant makes the graphene film more conductive and increases the electric field potential inside the cell," said Xiaochang Miao, a graduate student in the physics department. That makes it more efficient at converting sunlight into electricity. And unlike other dopants that have been tried in the past, TFSA is stable its effects are long lasting.

The solar cell that Miao and her co-workers created in the lab looks like a 5-mm-square window framed in gold. The window, a wafer of silicon coated with a monolayer of graphene, is where the magic happens.

Graphene and silicon, when they come together, form what is called a Schottky junction a one-way street for electrons that when illuminated with light, acts as the power conversion zone for an entire class of solar cells. Schottky junctions are commonly formed by layering a metal on top of a semiconductor. But researchers at the UF Nanoscience Institute for Medical and Engineering Technologies discovered in 2011 that graphene, a semi-metal, made a suitable substitute for metal in creating the junction.

"Graphene, unlike conventional metals, is transparent and flexible, so it has great potential to be an important component in the kind of solar cells we hope to see incorporated into building exteriors and other materials in the future," said Arthur Hebard, distinguished professor of physics at UF and co-author on the paper. "Showing that its power-converting capabilities can be enhanced by such a simple, inexpensive treatment bodes well for its future."

The researchers said that if graphene solar cells reach 10 percent power conversion efficiency they could be a contender in the market place, if production costs are kept low enough.

The prototype solar cell created in the UF lab was built on a rigid base of silicon, which is not considered an economical material for mass production. But Hebard said that he sees real possibilities for combining the use of doped graphene with less expensive, more flexible substrates like the polymer sheets currently under development in research laboratories around the world.

###

Credits

Writer

Donna Hesterman , donna.hesterman@ufl.edu, 352-846-2573

Source

Arthur Hebard, afh@ufl.edu, 352-222-6212

Source

Xiaochang Miao, xxmiaophy@gmail.com, 352-871-4116

---

[ | 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.

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Japan: Fukushima nuclear pool not unstable

Toshiaki Shimizu / AFP - Getty Images

Goshi Hosono, Japan's environment minister, shows reporters the fuel rod pool at Fukushima's No. 4 reactor on Saturday.

By msnbc.com staff and news services

FUKUSHIMA, Japan -- Amid concerns of a new disaster should a quake destroy the pool cooling off radioactive nuclear fuel rods at Fukushima's Reactor No. 4, Japan on Saturday arranged a tour for journalists and declared the situation manageable -- but also very long term.

"I don't think the situation is unstable," said Goshi Hosono, Japan's environment minister and the man in charge of the cleanup. He was speaking to reporters after his first tour of the twisted and partly destroyed building that houses the reactor.

Hosono said he expected workers to begin removing fuel from the reactor's storage pool next year.

Work began last month to raise what amounts to a giant tent over the building to keep radioactive dust from scattering during the transport of the fuel rods, which now are under just a tarp at the top of the building.

Senator Ron Wyden was the first U.S. Senator to get a look inside Japan's Fukushima nuclear energy plant. Wyden discusses what he saw inside the plant and whether or not imported food from Japan is safe to eat.

Hosono said his biggest concern was ensuring Japan could secure the labor and talent to finish the decommissioning of the Fukushima reactors over the coming decades.?

"This may take 30 or even 40 years to complete and extremely difficult work is still ahead of us," he said.

Tokyo Electric Power, the utility that operates the Fukushima Daiichi plant, says its analysis shows the No. 4 reactor building would hold up in a strong earthquake even after being badly damaged by a hydrogen explosion when three nearby reactors suffered meltdowns in March 2011.

Japanese safety regulators on Friday ordered Tepco to recheck its findings after measurements showed the west wall of the reactor building was buckling out by about 1.2 inches.

Some experts believe the fuel in the pool is now too weak to generate much radioactivity, but others are still worried.

"The No. 4 reactor is visibly damaged and in a fragile state, down to the floor that holds the spent fuel pool," Hiroaki Koide, an assistant professor at Kyoto University?s Research Reactor Institute, told the New York Times. "Any radioactive release could be huge and go directly into the environment."?

Hosono said the government accepted Tepco's estimate that the No. 4 reactor could withstand an earthquake measuring a "strong 6" on the Japanese scale.

The magnitude 9 quake last March that triggered a tsunami and overran Fukushima's backup power systems was measured at 7 on the Japanese scale.

Some environmental critics charge the No. 4 reactor presents a particular risk of a knock-on disaster if a subsequent earthquake were to topple it or puncture its fuel storage pool and allow the 65 feet of water now covering and cooling 1,535 uranium fuel assemblies to drain away.

Such an accident, they say, could release far more radiation than the leaks of radioactive water Tepco has battled since improvising a system for cooling reactor cores last year.

Hosono climbed a narrow and dark staircase built with scaffolding to take reporters to the top of the No. 4 building where the fuel pool has been covered with a tarp.

Tepco has taken steps to shore up support for the pool, which measures ?30 feet by 60 feet across, by adding a cement column underneath.

Officials from the utility demonstrated how they were using water in the pool as a kind of level to confirm the building was not tipping. They also showed a grid of floats holding up the tarp they said could support a person if a worker fell in.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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Sky Sports News iPad App (2012) Review

Written by John Thompson on January 3, 2012 ? Filed under Review, Software?

With the current football season well under way and an exciting FA Cup weekend fast approaching, BSkyB has launched a brand new Sky Sports app for the iPad, which takes a lot of cues from the existing Sky News app?that was released on the iPad in the Spring of last year.

Curiously, the old Sky Sports News app which is compatible with both the iPhone and iPad has remained on the App Store, with this new version simply being called ?Sky Sports News for iPad? in the App Store. Not to bother, we?ve gotten around that particular confusion and installed the app so that you can see all the good and bad things that it has to offer!

Whereas the original Sky Sports News for iPad release resembled a conventional news app, the new version takes in a few lessons from the Sky News app to make the news that you?re reading a little bit more dynamic and wide-ranging. On the home screen, you will see a number of tiles each linking to a different story. The top story will be on the top left of the screen, with news snippets beside it on the right. Underneath is a large grid of less important, or older, news stories that are also available for you to read or watch.

When you select a news post to read it will appear in the middle of the display, with other related stories cascading out from it in the background. If you?re viewing a football match report, for example, the content around it could be items such as a video interview, or an image showing the match stats, or the league table as it stands after this result. Unfortunately, the videos around the main item aren?t labelled, so you may not always know what you?re selecting or how long it may be.

If you?d rather concentrate your news on a single sport, then you can select the ?Sports Centre? button at the top of the screen, which allows you to narrow down the content that is visible depending on the sport that it?s covering. This ranges from Football to Golf and Boxing, so you?re unlikely to find a sport that isn?t listed here.

Finally, for those times where reading the news just doesn?t quite cut it, you can watch Sky Sports News live right from the app, as you could in both the previous version and in Sky Go. If you?re already a Sky customer with a sports package, then you can watch the channel for free as you can in Sky Go; all you need to do is login with your Sky iD and password and you?re good to go. For non-subscribers, you can also watch the channel through the app, but you?ll have to pay a subscription fee of ?5 per month for the privilege.

Personally, I love the look of the new Sky Sports News app, and the developers have done a brilliant job bringing it in line with the features found in the Sky News app. That being said, having two apps on the App Store at the same time is just confusing, so hopefully BSkyB will sort this out fairly quickly. If you want to try out the new app for yourself, it?s a free download from iTunes.

If you like this page, please share it with your friends! :)

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U.S. urged to follow own human rights reporting

WASHINGTON, May 24 (IPS) - The U.S. State Department on Thursday released the government's annual compendium of country-by-country human rights reports, but ran into criticism from rights groups for holding double standards.

Guarding the rights of citizens around the world "means the United States cannot selectively champion freedom and human rights when convenient," said Frank Jannuzi, the head of Amnesty International's Washington office.

"Disturbingly, in the era of globalization, the United States has too often pushed aside human rights concerns to focus on economic and national security priorities."

In unveiling the new report, Michael H. Posner, an official with the State Department, reiterated President Barack Obama's theory of "principled engagement", the U.S. attempt to balance human rights with other interests.

"We engage in the world and we recognise that there are a range of interests," Posner said in Washington. "We have security interests, economic interests, political, diplomatic. But human rights is an essential part of what we do across the board."

In part, the report warns that the rights situation in China is deteriorating, pays special attention to issues related to technology and sexuality, and makes particular mention of what has taken place in Myanmar (Burma) over the past year.

It suggests that Myanmar's "example of a government moving towards a model of greater openness, democracy, and liberty" could "inspire ? other closed societies, such as Iran, North Korea, Uzbekistan, Eritrea, or Sudan."

The report also includes a focus on the Arab Spring and subsequent transition period, warning that "change often creates instability before it leads to greater respect for democracy and human rights ? The challenge during these transitions is to keep societies open to political debate."

Adding to a warning voiced last year, the report notes a "sharp escalation of official restrictions on the work of human rights and democracy advocates".

Rights defenders are nearly unanimous in their appreciation of the scope and detail of the mammoth compilation, now 35 years old but having taken notable strides in recent years. Officially known as the Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, this year the report covers the activities for 2011 of 199 countries, though not including the United States itself.

"The report has become an invaluable reference point, and this year's looks particularly fresh," Neil Hicks, international policy adviser for Human Rights First, here in Washington, told IPS.

"The challenge arises in that the more and better that the United States reports on human rights conditions, the more it exposes the limitations and inconsistencies in U.S. human rights policy."

He notes that Saudi Arabia, for instance, is entirely missing from the widely read introductory overview. "That will not go unnoticed in the region," he says. "It will bring forth accusations of double standards."

Hicks also points to the example of Bahrain, the reporting on which is notably robust in the new report. "During that same year, we had a large sale of arms to Bahrain by the U.S., despite several human rights problems there being unresolved," he says.

"There is a consistent trend across the Middle East. Look at the military assistance that went to Egypt even though problems relating to the persecution of NGOs remained outstanding. Such actions send contradictory messages."

Even as the reports have continued to improve, "every year U.S. policymakers ignore these findings," concurs Geoff Thale, programme director with the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA), an advocacy group.

"U.S. policymakers act as if the reports never happened," Thale said in a statement, pointing to inconsistencies between U.S. rights research and foreign policy in Colombia, Mexico and Honduras.

"The United States continues to funnel assistance to militaries with patterns of abuse, to train police forces that have long-standing problems with corruption and criminal infiltration, and to work closely with security forces that frequently ignore the rule of law."

Once again, the new report does not cover the United States itself. For many observers, particularly in governments singled out by Washington for criticism, this notable absence has long translated into a certain lack of legitimacy for the report overall.

The State Department acknowledged such criticism in a handout accompanying the new report, in which it noted that "the United States does examine its own human rights record against its international commitments and obligations in many other fora." It highlighted the U.S. report to the U.N. Human Rights Council in December, as well as its participation in the U.N. Universal Periodic Review process.

More worrying for some observers is not necessarily the lack of information on what takes place within the United States, but rather the quiet absence of reference to U.S. actions in other countries.

"The U.S. this year has been responsible for the deaths of hundreds of innocent people through drone strikes in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia, and is evolving a model of lawless assassination on an industrial scale that would not reflect well in any balanced human rights report," Medea Benjamin, a political campaigner, told IPS.

"To talk about human rights activities in Pakistan and not bring up the massive death toll from U.S. drone strikes is ridiculous. Unfortunately, it shows that the U.S. is not really open to reflecting the reality on the ground."

*More from OneWorld

? Human Rights Guide

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Wisconsin's progressivism faces a recall (reuters)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories Stories, RSS Feeds and Widgets via Feedzilla.

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Avoid letting pets outdoors when the pollen count is high? | Honest ...

If youre a pet owner that suffers from allergies all the time, you may be experiencing allergies due to your pet. To find out for sure, visit an allergy specialist who can test you for pet dander allergy. You do not have to give up your pet, but you might want to make some alterations in your lifestyle.

Avoid letting pets outdoors when the pollen count is high. This is caused by pollen getting in the animals fur and coming into your home, this can trigger a reaction.

Pets can leave large amounts of dander in a home, and it can be difficult to deal with, even with allergy shots. Keep your pets outside and thoroughly clean your home from top to bottom. This way the allergy shots may have a chance to work. Its a big job, but your health is worth it!

Take immune system building supplements such as vitamins C, B and D. Strawberries and various fruit juices are great sources of vitamin C. You can also buy vitamin C supplements cheaply at any pharmacy or health food store.

Try to keep your windows closed during heavy pollen hours. Fresh air is great, but you should avoid keeping your windows open when pollen counts are high. Usually this is between 10 am and 3 pm. After 3pm, open the windows in your home to get the stuffy air out.

Pet dander and pollen are two common allergy triggers that are not very easy to fight, because they can always be in the air! Allergies can take control of your life and ruin your enjoyment of your days; however, it doesnt have to be this way. Keep these ideas in mind and shed your worries.

Learn more what is vimax pills or vimax.

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The most expensive luxury cars to own

Lintao Zhang / Getty Images file

After depreciation, finance interest, insurance, fuel costs and maintenance over five years, the Mercedes SLS AMG's true cost of ownership during those years is nearly a quarter million dollars.

By Michael B. Sauter, 24/7 Wall St.

The cost of a luxury automobile does not end with its purchase price ? it begins there. The true ownership costs are often much?greater than what customers perceive, after repairs, insurance, interest and other expenses are taken into account. For example, an Audi R8 has a price tag of slightly more than $170,000. After five years, the costs of ownership of the R8 are an additional $193,500 on average. 24/7 Wall St. has examined the true cost of ownership, based on?Edmunds.com calculations, for 2012 models sold in the United States, identifying the?10 cars that cost the most to own.

24/7 Wall St.: The cars Americans will not buy

According to the Census Bureau, the median American home costs $221,800, and the median household income is slightly more than $50,000. These should provide some perspective to the cost of buying and maintaining the vehicles on our list. The purchase prices of these cars range from $91,000 to more than $210,000. And the true costs?of owning the cars for five years range from $117,000 to more than $245,000 ? on top of the purchase price.

A large component of these extreme true costs of ownership is the luxury vehicles? steep depreciation in the first five years. These 10 models are projected to lose anywhere between 27 percent and 47 percent of their value in their first half-decade on the road, leading owners to lose between $56,000 and $153,000 in depreciation alone.

While depreciation is a big part of these expenses, it is far from the only major expense. Several direct costs, including repairs, maintenance, insurance and fuel charges, can cost a driver more than $10,000 for each expense category during the first five years.

As gas prices approach $4 per gallon, fuel costs are increasingly becoming an issue ? even for some of the wealthiest drivers. Each of these cars, because of their status as high-end vehicles with high-end engines, has terrible gas mileage. The most fuel-efficient car on our list gets?20 mpg. Six of the 10 get 17 mpg or less. Over a five-year period, the owners of these cars will have each paid at least $15,000 in fuel costs.

24/7 Wall St.: America's most (and least) peaceful states

This list is based on True Cost to Own figures, which were provided by?Edmunds.com. 24/7 Wall St. also included fuel economy data from the U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. registration totals from Edmunds.com, and quality and design ratings from JD Power and Associates.

These are the cars that cost the most to own.

1. SLS AMG

• ?Make: Mercedes-Benz
• ?Style: 2-door coupe (6.2L 8cyl 7AM)
• ?True cost of ownership: $245,469
• ?Purchase price: $210,875
• ?Combined (city and highway) mpg: 16

The Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG, a luxury grand tourer, has been in production since 2010. Since that time, it has been the most expensive vehicle on the market. The automobile?s purchase price is more than $210,000, and is approximately $40,000 more expensive than the R8?s base price. After depreciation, finance interest, insurance, fuel costs and maintenance over five years, the car?s true cost of ownership during those years is nearly a quarter million dollars. This cost has not prevented the SLS AMG from being popular; total registrations of the automobile increased from 470 in 2010 to 707 in 2011.

2. R8

• ?Make: Audi
• ?Style: 5.2 quattro 2-door coupe AWD (5.2L 10cyl 6M)
• ?True cost of ownership: $193,429
• ?Purchase price: $170,175
• ?Combined (city and highway) mpg: 15

The Audi R8?s purchase price of $170,175 is more than the third-most expensive vehicle?s true cost of ownership. The two-door sports car also has the second-most expensive maintenance costs, reaching $7,370 over five years. It also has particularly high fuel costs, thanks to its 13?mpg fuel efficiency in the city. The R8 does relatively poorly by JD Powers? standards, scoring a three out of five for both overall quality and design. Despite this, there were 1,173 registrations for the car in 2011 ? the most of any year.

3. ALPINA B7

• ?Make: BMW
• ?Style: SWB 4-door sedan (4.4L 8cyl Turbo 6A)
• ?True cost of ownership: $153,150
• ?Purchase price: $133,445
• ?Combined (city and highway) mpg: 17

The number of registrations of the Alpina B7 has been significantly lower than that of other cars on this list. This is more the result of a?limited number?of cars being imported to North America than of customers shying away from its high cost. The car?s purchase price alone exceeds $133,000. It also has among the most costly interest rates on financing and insurance. When it comes to overall quality and design, the car received scores of just three out of five in both categories from JD Power.

24/7 Wall St.: The most oil-rich states

4. CL-Class

• ?Make: Mercedes-Benz
• ?Style: CL550 4MATIC 2-door coupe AWD (4.7L 8cyl Turbo 7A)
• ?True cost of ownership: $142,558
• ?Purchase price: $121,671
• ?Combined (city and highway) mpg: 18

Mercedes spun off the CL-Class from its S-Class?in 1998?to?emphasize the line?s exclusivity. This is certainly reflected in the vehicle?s cost. The CL550 has the fourth-highest purchase price and finance interest. It also has the third-highest cost of maintenance. Sales of the car have steadily decreased over the years. There were more than 3,200 total registrations in 2007. In 2011, there were 980.?

5. SL-Class

• ?Make: Mercedes-Benz
• ?Style: SL550 2-door convertible (5.5L 8cyl 7A)
• ?True cost of ownership: $129,588
• ?Purchase price: $106,718
• ?Combined (city and highway) mpg: 17

Mercedes-Benz has been producing its grand tourer SL-Class since 1954. It was not until 2007 that the company debuted the SL550 convertible. Although it is the seventh-most expensive when ranked by purchasing price alone, it ranks the fifth-most expensive model for overall cost of ownership because of its particularly costly financing interest and insurance. Total registrations of the car have dropped dramatically from more than 5,600 in 2007 to?fewer than 1,500 in 2011.

Click here to read the rest of 24/7 Wall St.'s most expensive cars to own

?

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Citadel lost $30 million in Facebook fiasco: source

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