Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Getting 3-D Printing and Next-Generation Manufacturing to the Factory Floor [Video]

"Additive manufacturing" offers manufacturers a powerful set of tools for making any number of products cost-effectively and with little waste, a groundbreaking development that promises to help revitalize the U.S. manufacturing sector. But what will it take to get the process out of the lab and onto the factory floor? A generous cash infusion, perhaps unsurprisingly, will help?and it is now in the offing.

Pres. Barack Obama's State of the Union Address and, more recently, his proposed budget for fiscal 2014 lift U.S. manufacturing?s needs to near the top of the agenda. And unlike the low-tech production and assembly jobs that U.S. companies have been outsourcing for decades, the new age of manufacturing will rely heavily on additive-manufacturing technologies and materials, which are slated to receive millions of dollars in funding to move them out of the lab and onto the factory floor.

3-D printing is the most widely recognized version of additive manufacturing. Inventors and engineers have for years used machines costing anywhere from a few thousand dollars to hundreds of thousands to rapidly prototype new products. All of the additive-manufacturing processes follow the same basic layer-by-layer deposition principle in slightly different ways using powdered or liquid polymers, metals or other materials. Each object begins as computer-aided design (CAD) or some other type of digital file, enabling designers to tweak their work prior to the actual build with little impact on cost.

At the low end of the scale, a MakerBot 3-D printer can build basic items like a hair comb or statue using polymer-based filaments. Industrial-scale, production-quality airplane or automobile parts, however, require additive machines and materials that don't currently exist. That?s where the funding comes in.

The U.S. Department of Commerce?s fiscal 2014 budget request in particular includes $1.5 billion in that year alone to spur the development of new approaches to manufacturing (pdf) on top of the $1 billon investment the Obama administration committed to in fiscal 2013 to launch the National Network of Manufacturing Innovation, a group of up to 15 manufacturing research facilities across the country.

The first is the National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute (NAMII) in Youngstown, Ohio, which will focus on development of additive-manufacturing technology and processes with help from a planned $45 million in federal funding. The Defense and Energy departments have already provided $30 million of that amount, with NASA, Commerce's National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), and the National Science Foundation expected to kick in the remaining $15 million over the next four years. Manufacturing firms, universities, community colleges and nonprofit organizations have promised the institute an additional $40 million in funding.

The institute already has seven projects in the works. These efforts range from basic research about how polymers and other materials will react during the heating and deposition process to more industrial applications, such as developing a lower-cost, high-temperature process for working with thermoplastics used to make air and space vehicle components.

The animation below shows how one type of additive-manufacturing process?electron-beam melting (EBM)?works. EBM begins with powdered metal alloy placed in the machine?s powder hopper. The machine?s rake distributes a fine layer of powder across the build platform. An electron beam enters the vacuum chamber and melts the particles in a pattern as dictated by a CAD file. The build platform is then lowered slightly and the process repeats until the object?in this case, a turbine?has been fully printed.

There are several areas where the process could be improved, provided the government?s money is well spent: In addition to speeding up the procedure, manufacturers need to make sure these printed products are consistent from one assembly to the next. They must also develop ways to make more complex, detailed and multi-material objects. Still, with additive manufacturing on the national radar?and, more importantly, in the budget?it?s only a matter of time before most parts are printed rather than carved out of raw materials. ? ? ?? Animation courtesy of George Retseck (Source: Arcam.com)
? Follow Scientific American on Twitter @SciAm and @SciamBlogs. Visit ScientificAmerican.com for the latest in science, health and technology news.
? 2013 ScientificAmerican.com. All rights reserved.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/getting-3-d-printing-next-generation-manufacturing-factory-110000545.html

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Monday, April 22, 2013

Using black holes to measure the universe's rate of expansion

Apr. 22, 2013 ? Radiation emitted in the vicinity of black holes could be used to measure distances of billions of light years, says TAU researcher

A few years ago, researchers revealed that the universe is expanding at a much faster rate than originally believed -- a discovery that earned a Nobel Prize in 2011. But measuring the rate of this acceleration over large distances is still challenging and problematic, says Prof. Hagai Netzer of Tel Aviv University's School of Physics and Astronomy.

Now, Prof. Netzer, along with Jian-Min Wang, Pu Du and Chen Hu of the Institute of High Energy Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Dr. David Valls-Gabaud of the Observatoire de Paris, has developed a method with the potential to measure distances of billions of light years with a high degree of accuracy. The method uses certain types of active black holes that lie at the center of many galaxies. The ability to measure very long distances translates into seeing further into the past of the universe -- and being able to estimate its rate of expansion at a very young age.

Published in the journal Physical Review Letters, this system of measurement takes into account the radiation emitted from the material that surrounds black holes before it is absorbed. As material is drawn into a black hole, it heats up and emits a huge amount of radiation, up to a thousand times the energy produced by a large galaxy containing 100 billion stars. For this reason, it can be seen from very far distances, explains Prof. Netzer.

Solving for unknown distances

Using radiation to measure distances is a general method in astronomy, but until now black holes have never been used to help measure these distances. By adding together measurements of the amount of energy being emitted from the vicinity of the black hole to the amount of radiation which reaches Earth, it's possible to infer the distance to the black hole itself and the time in the history of the universe when the energy was emitted.

Getting an accurate estimate of the radiation being emitted depends on the properties of the black hole. For the specific type of black holes targeted in this work, the amount of radiation emitted as the object draws matter into itself is actually proportional to its mass, say the researchers. Therefore, long-established methods to measure this mass can be used to estimate the amount of radiation involved.

The viability of this theory was proved by using the known properties of black holes in our own astronomical vicinity, "only" several hundred million light years away. Prof. Netzer believes that his system will add to the astronomer's tool kit for measuring distances much farther away, complimenting the existing method which uses the exploding stars called supernovae.

Illuminating "Dark Energy"

According to Prof. Netzer, the ability to measure far-off distances has the potential to unravel some of the greatest mysteries of the universe, which is approximately 14 billion years old. "When we are looking into a distance of billions of light years, we are looking that far into the past," he explains. "The light that I see today was first produced when the universe was much younger."

One such mystery is the nature of what astronomers call "dark energy," the most significant source of energy in the present day universe. This energy, which is manifested as some kind of "anti-gravity," is believed to contribute towards the accelerated expansion of the universe by pushing outwards. The ultimate goal is to understand dark energy on physical grounds, answering questions such as whether this energy has been consistent throughout time and if it is likely to change in the future.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by American Friends of Tel Aviv University.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.


Journal Reference:

  1. Jian-Min Wang, Pu Du, David Valls-Gabaud, Chen Hu, Hagai Netzer. Super-Eddington Accreting Massive Black Holes as Long-Lived Cosmological Standards. Physical Review Letters, 2013; 110 (8) DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.110.081301

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/space_time/astronomy/~3/6XRfCgxonw8/130422123040.htm

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China rushes relief after Sichuan quake kills 179

YA'AN, China (AP) ? Rescuers and relief teams struggled to rush supplies into the rural hills of China's Sichuan province Sunday after an earthquake left at least 179 people dead and more than 6,700 injured and caused frightened survivors spent a night in cars, tents and makeshift shelters.

The earthquake Saturday morning triggered landslides that cut off roads and disrupted phone and power connections in mountainous Lushan county, further south on the same fault line where a devastating quake wreaked widespread damage across the region five years ago.

Hardest hit Saturday were villages further up the valleys, where farmers grow rice, vegetables and corn on terraced plots. Rescuers hiked into neighboring Baoxing county after its roads were cut off, reaching it overnight, state media reported. In Longmen village, authorities said nearly all the buildings had been destroyed in a frightening minute-long shaking by the quake.

In the fog-covered town of Shuangli, corn farmer Zheng Xianlan said Sunday that the quake damaged her house, in a setback for a family that does not have much money. She rushed from the fields back to her home when the quake struck, and cried when she saw that the roof collapsed. She then spent the night outdoors on a worn sofa using a plastic raincoat for a cover to watch over it.

"We don't earn much money. We don't know what we will do now," said 58-year-old Zheng, her eyes welling with tears. "The government only brought one tent for the whole village so far, but that's not enough for us."

Along the main roads, ambulances, fire engines and military trucks piled high with supplies waited in long lines, some turning back to try other routes when roads were impassable.

Rescuers were forced to dynamite boulders that had fallen across roads, and rains Saturday night slowed rescue work, state media reported.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang arrived Saturday afternoon by helicopter in Ya'an to direct rescue efforts, the government's official Xinhua News Agency reported.

"The current priority is to save lives," Li said, after visiting hospitals, tents and climbing on a pile of rubble to view the devastation, according to Xinhua.

Xinhua, citing the China Earthquake Administration, said at least 179 people had died, and more than 6,700 were injured.

The quake ? measured by the earthquake administration at magnitude-7.0 and by the U.S. Geological Survey at 6.6 ? struck shortly after 8 a.m. Saturday, when many people were at home, sleeping or having breakfast.

Tens of thousands of people moved into tents or cars, unable to return home or too afraid to go back as aftershocks continued to jolt the region. In Ya'an, a city that administers Lushan, where aftershocks rattled buildings nearly a day after the quake, residents sat in groups outside convenience stores watching the news on television sets early Sunday. Fourteen-year-old Wang Xing sat with her family on chairs by the roadside in the cool night air, a large blanket on her lap.

Wang and her relatives decided to spend the night in their cars. "We don't feel safe sleeping at home tonight," said Wang, a student. She said the quake left tears on the walls of her family's house. "It was very scary when it happened. I ran out of my bed and out of the house. I didn't even have my shoes on."

As in most natural disasters, the government mobilized thousands of soldiers and others, sending excavators and other heavy machinery as well as tents, blankets and other emergency supplies. Two soldiers died after their vehicle slide off a road and rolled down a cliff, state media reported.

The Chinese Red Cross said it had deployed relief teams with supplies of food, water, medicine and rescue equipment to the disaster areas.

Lushan, where the quake struck, lies where the fertile Sichuan plain meets foothills that eventually rise to the Tibetan plateau and sits atop the Longmenshan fault. It was along the same fault line that a devastating magnitude-7.9 quake struck on May 12, 2008, leaving more than 90,000 people dead or missing and presumed dead in one of the worst natural disasters to strike China in recent decades.

"It was just like May 12," Liu Xi, a writer in Ya'an city, said via a private message on his account on the Twitter-like Weibo service. "All the home decorations fell at once, and the old house cracked."

The official Xinhua News Agency said the well-known Bifengxia panda preserve, which is near Lushan, was not affected by the quake. Dozens of pandas were moved to Bifengxia from another preserve, Wolong, after its habitat was wrecked by the 2008 quake.

__

Associated Press writer Didi Tang contributed from Beijing.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/china-rushes-relief-sichuan-quake-kills-179-021122893.html

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Russia's Islamist rebels say not at war with Washington

By Thomas Grove

MOSCOW (Reuters) - A group leading an Islamist insurgency against Russia said on Sunday it was not at war with the United States, distancing itself from last week's Boston Marathon bombing.

Ethnic Chechen Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, who was killed in a gunfight with police following a manhunt that shut down Boston on Friday, and his younger brother Dzhokhar, 19, are suspected of carrying out the attack last week.

A trip the elder Tsarnaev made last year to Russia's volatile North Caucasus, a mountainous region that stretches nearly between the Caspian and Black Seas, has aroused suspicions he might have made contact with militant groups that wage daily violence to establish an Islamist state there.

A statement from militants operating in Dagestan, where the brothers spent time as children, said the Caucasus Emirate which leads the insurgency and is headed by Russia's most wanted man Doku Umarov was not attacking the United States.

"We are fighting with Russia, which is responsible not only for the occupation of the Caucasus but for monstrous crimes against Muslims," said the statement said, which did not outright deny any links with the attacks or Tamerlan.

Media reports have said U.S. investigators are looking to see if there is a link between Tamerlan Tsarnaev and the Chechen-born Umarov, who was placed on the U.S. State Department's list of terrorists in 2010.

Insurgent violence, rooted in two separatist wars between Russian troops and Chechen separatists following the fall of the Soviet Union, occurs regularly across the North Caucasus near Sochi, where Moscow plans to hold the 2014 Winter Olympics.

The statement also cited a previously-released video in which Umarov, one of the last surviving original leaders of the Chechen rebellion that began in the early 1990s, issued a moratorium on attacks on civilians in Russia.

"Even regarding our enemy, the government of Russia, with which the Caucasus Emirate is fighting, the order from the Emir of the Caucasus Emirate Doku Umarov remains valid prohibiting strikes against civilian targets," the statement read.

The Caucasus Emirate claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing at Moscow's Domodedovo airport in January 2011 that killed 37 people and for suicide bombings on the Moscow subway that killed 40 people in 2010.

Although 124 people have died in the North Caucasus since the beginning of this year, according to website Caucasian Knot, which tracks the violence, the vast majority of deaths have been militants and security officers.

A combination of religious fervor and anger over corruption and strong arm tactics by local Kremlin-backed rulers against suspected militants are mostly responsible for driving youth into the ranks of the insurgency.

(Reporting by Thomas Grove; Editing by Jason Webb)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/russias-islamist-insurgency-says-not-war-washington-143807855.html

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Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Generation X most risky when it comes to travel insurance - Trends ...

?If you can?t afford travel insurance, you can?t afford to travel?.

This phrase has been repeatedly drilled into Australian heads, yet according to a new study 30 percent of all Aussies do not purchase travel insurance when going overseas.

Travel insurance provider SureSave recently conducted research which found that out of 1,000 Australian respondents, travellers aged 60+ were the most likely to invest in travel insurance, with only 13 percent leaving home without it.

Generation Xers were the riskiest of the respondents with 24 percent of 30-39 year olds opting to travel unprotected, followed by 18-29 years old of whom only 13 percent resisted purchasing travel insurance.

Overall, 30 percent of Australian respondents did not always purchase travel insurance, 12 percent either never or rarely bought it and 18 percent made their decision based on their perception of the destination to which they were travelling.

"If you travel without insurance, you're putting yourself at risk and there can be serious financial consequences," SureSave executive general manager Michael Callaghan said.

"Even a short stay in a US hospital can cost a traveller tens of thousands of dollars if they're not protected.

"A travel insurance policy is a very small price to pay for coverage in the event that something goes wrong."

Do you take out travel insurance every time you travel?

Source = e-Travel Blackboard: A.N.

Source: http://www.etravelblackboard.com/article/142013/generation-x-most-risky-when-it-comes-to-travel-insurance

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Sunday, April 7, 2013

Syria activists say 20 killed in army airstrikes

AMMAN, Jordan (AP) ? Syrian government airstrikes killed at least 20 people as the army pressed ahead Sunday with its campaign to crush the rebellion against President Bashar Assad, activists said.

State television said the primary goal of the airstrikes was to "recapture areas taken by the terrorists," a reference to the rebel Free Syrian Army, who took up arms against Assad after security forces launched a bloody crackdown on protesters two years ago.

The rebels control large swaths of northern Syria, and captured their first provincial capital ? the city of Raqqa ? last month. They have also been making gains in recent weeks in the south, seizing military bases and towns in the strategically important region between Damascus and the border with Jordan, about 160 kilometers (100 miles) from the capital Damascus.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says Sunday's airstrikes targeted the northern cities of Aleppo, Homs, Hama, Idlib, the western Mediterranean city of Latakia, the eastern province of Deir el-Zour and the suburbs of Damascus.

To the south in Daraa, a man was shot dead by an army sniper, the Observatory said. It added that there was little rebel advancement in the province where opposition forces seized large swathes of land over the past two weeks.

?In the outskirts of Damascus, the army pursued rebels in Adra district and raided their base in the neighborhood of Qarra, the state news agency SANA reported.

It also said the army "demolished two dens with all terrorists and ammunition inside them in al-Khalidiya district in the central province of Homs, killing several terrorists." It provided no other details.

In a rare move, the government urged rebels to surrender their arms, warning in cell phone text messages that the army is "coming to get you."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/syria-activists-20-killed-army-airstrikes-121644030.html

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Business Briefing | Agriculture: Midwest Farmers Looking for Best Crop in Decades

[unable to retrieve full-text content]A cool spring in the Midwest has farmers eager for soils to warm up before planting what is expected to be the region?s biggest crop in decades.

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/06/business/energy-environment/midwest-farmers-looking-for-best-crop-in-decades.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

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Friday, April 5, 2013

New Mexico Environment Department: Is Kirtland fuel still spreading?

A science & weather blog by John Fleck

A November presentation by a top New Mexico Environment Department official about the Kirtland Air Force Base jet fuel spill left a lot of people? (myself included) puzzled. After pushing the Air Force hard over the speed with which the fuel might be moving toward Albuquerque?s drinking water wells, and the accompanying risk, the Environment Department (as I reported Dec. 1) seemed to be backing off.

Or not. As I reported in this morning?s paper, the aggressive face of NMED is back. You can see it in a March 27 letter to the Air Force from the NMED (pdf on the NMED web site). And also in the letter below, which NMED sent to Bernalillo County Commissioner Maggie Hart Stebbins:

Reprint story
-- Email the reporter at jfleck@abqjournal.com. Call the reporter at 505-823-3916

Source: http://www.abqjournal.com/main/2013/04/05/blogs/nm-science/new-mexico-environment-department-is-kirtland-fuel-still-spreading.html

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Danielle Fishel & Lance Bass Went to Prom Together?!

Lance Bass took Danielle Fishel to prom! Check out other cute and candid moments from the stars

Source: http://www.ivillage.com/celebrity-twitter-pictures/1-b-229669?dst=iv%3AiVillage%3Acelebrity-twitter-pictures-229669

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Gartner: Microsoft risks becoming irrelevant if Windows Phone, tablet efforts fail

Microsoft Tablets SmartphonesMicrosoft CEO Steve Ballmer

In case you haven?t noticed, tablet and smartphone sales have been surging lately as PC sales have started to tank.?The latest?research from Gartner?shows that this trend won?t change anytime soon and the firm projects that PC shipments will shrink from 315 million in 2013 to 302 million in 2014, and down to just 272 million in 2017. Tablet shipments, on the other hand, are expected to explode from 197 million in 2013 to 468 million in 2017, while smartphone shipments are expected to rise from 1.9 billion in 2012 to 2.1 billion in 2013.

[More from BGR: Anonymous threatens cyberwar on North Korea, steals 15,000 passwords]

All of this has put something of a strain on Microsoft (MSFT), which was late to the game in both the smartphone and tablet spaces and is struggling to make a name for itself in the mobile realm. Gartner analyst?Carolina Milanesi tells The Guardian that ?winning in the tablet and phone space is critical? for Microsoft if it wants to ?remain relevant in this shift? from PCs to mobile devices. Milanesi says that getting beat in the mobile department will have big implications for Microsoft software going forward, and not just for the Windows operating system.

[More from BGR: Apple said to be giving iOS 7 a major UI overhaul]

?We?re talking about hardware displacement here, but this shift also has wider implications for operating systems and apps,? she tells The Guardian. ?What happens, for instance, when Office isn?t the best way to be productive in your work??

This article was originally published on BGR.com

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/gartner-microsoft-risks-becoming-irrelevant-windows-phone-tablet-124510017.html

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Thursday, April 4, 2013

Washington state to clamp down on marijuana smoking in bars

SEATTLE (Reuters) - Washington state will clamp down on bars that have been skirting a ban on public pot use by converting their watering holes into private clubs, as the state navigates how it will regulate marijuana after voters legalized the drug for recreational use last year.

Washington and Colorado became the first U.S. states to legalize marijuana for recreational use in twin popular votes in November. The Washington law will ultimately permit cannabis to be sold and taxed at state-licensed stores.

The state's Liquor Control Board, charged with overseeing the move to legal adult recreational pot use, said on Wednesday that it will crack down on bars that convert into private clubs where individuals can consume marijuana.

"These licensed locations are allowing patrons to either smoke, vaporize or otherwise ingest marijuana on the premises," the board said in a statement.

Brian Smith, a board spokesman, said the law prevents public display of pot use, including in restaurants and bars, a civil infraction that equates to a $103 fine.

"You can't open it up, you can't show somebody, and you certainly can't smoke it or ingest it in some way in a public place," Smith said. "Bars and restaurants are public places that we license."

Smith said there were at least two bars in the Pacific Northwest state where patrons were toking up.

The Washington state liquor control board "will take steps to prevent that kind of activity from proliferating," he said.

The Liquor Control Board has until December to set up a system to oversee adult recreational pot use, which would regulate pot in a way similar to how alcohol is regulated.

Marijuana use remains illegal under federal law.

A law decriminalizing possession of small amounts of marijuana went into effect in Rhode Island on Monday after the state last year became the 15th in the United States to enact such legislation.

(Reporting By Eric M. Johnson; Editing by Cynthia Johnston and Leslie Adler)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/washington-state-clamp-down-marijuana-smoking-bars-220752842.html

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Which Celeb Got Naked with Chelsea Handler This Time?

Chelsea Handler is making celebrity shower fights a thing. Back in October, the late-night host went at it with Sandra Bullock in the Chelsea Lately studio showers. On Wednesday, Handler let the camera into the showers again, where she had a naked mano a mano with Conan O'Brien. The fight involves slapping (with multiple body parts), an argument over a parking space, and a pointed jab at Joan Rivers. Watch the (NSFW) video below!

Source: http://www.ivillage.com/conan-obrien-got-naked-chelsea-handler-who-should-be-next/1-a-532254?dst=iv%3AiVillage%3Aconan-obrien-got-naked-chelsea-handler-who-should-be-next-532254

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Nigeria's Sterling Bank 2012 pretax profit up 33 pct

LAGOS (Reuters) - Nigeria's Sterling Bank said on Wednesday its full year pretax profit rose by a third to 7.49 billion naira, compared with 5.64 billion naira the previous year.

Shares in the mid-tier lender had risen 9.82 percent on Wednesday to 3.02 naira just before it announced results, as investors were taking positions ahead of the earnings release.

They cooled off slightly as the results were announced but were still up 8.73 percent on the day at 1139 GMT.

The bank said it would pay a dividend of 0.20 naira per share from its profit for 2012.

Gross earnings rose 51 percent to 68.9 billion naira during the period, as against 45.7 billion for full-year 2011.

The bank said its interest income grew 66 percent during the period, boosting profits, and that it had benefited from synergies from its merger with Equitorial Trust Bank (ETB).

Its shares have risen 59 percent so far this year.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/nigerias-sterling-bank-2012-pretax-profit-33-pct-120030909--finance.html

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