Kepler, the space telescope designed to help us find other Earth-like planets, is on the fritz. Scientists hope they will be able to fix it remotely, but if they can't, its brief, brilliant career could be over. Since it began operations in 2009, peering continuously at the same field of 145,000 stars in the constellations Cygnus and Lyra, it has found more than 2,700 planet-candidates. Here are eight of its most remarkable discoveries.?
- Mark Sappenfield,?Staff writer
This artist's conception illustrates Kepler-22b, a planet known to comfortably circle in the habitable zone of a sun-like star. (JPL-Caltech/Ames/NASA/File)
1. Kepler-22b: Goldilocks planet
Kepler has made an array of stunning discoveries ? from oddball solar systems to sun-scorched planets that orbit their stars in less than an Earth day. But Kepler-22b was the first discovery that truly validated the mission.
The goal for Kepler has always been to find Earth-mass planets orbiting sun-like stars at Earth-like distances. In other words, to find Earth's cosmic twins. Kepler-22b was perhaps a bit more like a big brother ? it's larger than Earth ? but its discovery was proof that Kepler was on the right track.
Scientists announced the discovery of Kepler-22b in December 2011. It was smack dab in the middle of its star's so-called habitable zone ? the "Goldilocks zone" close enough to allow water to be liquid but far enough to ensure that it didn't burn off. Kepler-22b orbits its sun once every 290 days. Moreover, its sun is the same G-type star as our sun, though slightly smaller and cooler.
The planet itself has a radius 2.4 times larger than Earth. Scientists are not sure about the composition of the planet, but some have suggested it could be a mini-Neptune with a global ocean and a rocky core. If it has an atmosphere, the temperature could be 72 degrees F.
"It's so exciting to imagine the possibilities," Natalie Batalha, the Kepler deputy science chief, told the Associated Press in 2011. Floating on that "world completely covered in water" could be like being on an Earth ocean, and "it's not beyond the realm of possibility that life could exist in such an ocean."
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May 20 (Reuters) - The Indonesia Football Association (PSSI) have been fined $15,000 for repeated crowd infringements at international matches, the Asian Football Confederation announced on Monday.
The PSSI were fined $10,000 after fans ignited firecrackers and threw water bottles during Indonesia's March 23 Asian Cup home qualifier against Saudi Arabia, with the additional $5,000 a result of similar incidents during four matches last year.
Indonesia will also have to play a match behind closed doors if the problem reoccurs in the next two years, the AFC said.
Saudi Arabia beat Indonesia 2-1 to lead Group C, which also features Iraq and China, with two wins from two matches. The southeast Asians are bottom after two defeats.
The top two teams from each of the five qualifying groups and the best third-placed team will join defending champions Japan, hosts Australia, South Korea and North Korea at the next edition of the tournament in 2015.
The AFC also handed a $5,000 fine to Brunei, who pulled out of the AFC Challenge Cup at the last moment citing "unavoidable circumstances."
The AFC also reminded Brunei to plan better in future. (Reporting by Sudipto Ganguly in Mumbai; editing by Patrick Johnston)
THE HAGUE (Reuters) - The hunt for Royal Dutch Shell's next chief executive is underway, its chairman said on Tuesday, after CEO Peter Voser made what could be his last appearance at the oil group's annual shareholder meeting.
Voser announced his surprise decision three weeks ago to step down in the first half of 2014, before his 56th birthday, and less than five years into the role.
"The process has started," Shell chairman Jorma Ollila told Reuters after the meeting when asked about the succession plan.
Ollila chairs the three-man nomination and succession committee that will choose Voser's replacement.
Voser has been a pillar of Shell's new-found stability since he re-joined the company as finance director in October 2004 as part of a wholesale clear-out of disgraced former top management following a reserves accounting scandal.
Employees of the 180-year old Anglo-Dutch group, which traditionally grows its own top executives, believe an import is unlikely to get the top job, but Voser is only the second person to hold the CEO role under a simplified corporate structure introduced in 2005.
A small investor in the company told Reuters he expected Shell to appoint someone in Voser's mould and he thought it likely to be an internal candidate.
"I am not expecting any great changes in management style at all. It will be more of the same at Shell," Chris White, a portfolio manager at Premier Fund Managers, said.
Inside Shell, the current finance director, Simon Henry, is regarded as a potential front-runner, along with Marvin Odum, the company's head of upstream operations in the Americas.
Henry has a mathematics and accounting background even though, like Odum, he joined the company as an engineer. Odum would be Shell's first American CEO.
Andrew Brown, who became head of international upstream last year, could be a candidate too, as could director of projects and technology Matthias Bichsel. One company source said Brown's relatively recent appointment may make him an outside bet, while Bichsel, born in 1954, might be considered too old for the job.
Shell, the world number two investor-controlled oil company by production behind Exxon-Mobil , has said it will look outside for Voser's replacement as well as inside.
Voser leaves Shell with a leading global production and technology position in Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) and gas to liquids. Shell is also strong in oil exploration and offshore production in the Gulf of Mexico and West Africa, and has a well-developed relationship with China, where the oil industry has strong growth potential, plus long-term assets in Canadian oil sands.
But the group suffers regular sabotage and theft from its onshore installations in Nigeria, where it is the biggest western producer, and has made little progress with its costly Arctic drilling program in recent years.
Like its big rivals, Shell is being squeezed by rising finding and development costs as prices and demand stagnate.
The other two members of Shell's succession committee, drawn from the ranks of its non-executive directors, are Josef Ackermann, the former Deutsche Bank chief, and Hans Wijers, who ran Dutch chemicals group Akzo Nobel until 2012.
(Additional reporting by Sinead Cruise; Additional writing by Sarah Young; Editing by Jane Merriman and Mark Potter)
New research out of UC Berkeley reveals some interesting tidbits about how the human brain reacts to music.
According to a study headed by scientist Stephen Palmer, we are hardwired to associate anything from Mozart to Mumford & Sons with a particular hue from the color spectrum. Whether it's a classical composition or an indie pop ballad, we automatically make music-color connections based on how the various melodies make us feel.
Not surprised by the findings? The study -- which prompted 100 participants from the U.S. and Mexico to match classical songs with a list of 37 colors -- goes on to state that subjects tended to link the same classical compositions with the same colors regardless of their native country, insinuating that humans might share a "common emotional palette" that can cross cultural barriers. Examples of popular music-color matchings were Mozart?s Flute Concerto No. 1 in G major with bright yellow and orange and his (less cheery) Requiem in D Minor with dark, bluish gray.
There are many, many variables that could account for the color-music connections (check out the full study for details), but we're excited to see scientists delving into the synesthesia pursuits of artists like Wassily Kandinsky and Paul Klee. Let us know which tunes make you see the rainbow in the comments.
The Fifth Element
This 1997 sci-fi favorite has one of the greatest opera/classical music moments on screen of all time. In the associated clip, the alien diva Plavalaguna (voiced by the Albanian soprano Inva Mula and played in the film by French actress Mainwenn Le Besco) sings an aria from the <a href="http://www.metoperafamily.org/metopera/history/stories/synopsis.aspx?id=55" target="_hplink">opera "Lucia di Lammermoor."</a> It's a beautiful scene and the alien diva's strange but striking appearance heightens the opera even more.
Apocalypse Now
In what is arguably one of the greatest war films of all time, Wagner's "The Ride of the Valkyries" plays as the squadron of attack helicopters (projecting "Ride of Valkyries" from their speakers) begin their assault on a Vietnamese village. "Apocalypse Now" isn't the only film to use the epic opera. In D.W. Giffith's controversial 1915 film, "<a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0004972/" target="_hplink">The Birth of a Nation</a>," the opera is used during a climactic scene in the third act.
Black Swan
"Black Swan" is fairly obvious because of its parallel to the opera and ballet, "Swan Lake." In the clip provided, Portman dances to Tchaikovsky's well-known "Swan Lake" as she begins to transform into the black swan.
Silence Of The Lambs
In this terrifying clip, J.S. Bach's "Goldberg Variations" plays as Hannibal Lector (Anthony Hopkins) breaks out of his jail cell. The music provides the perfect juxtaposition between the horrific and gruesome actions taking place on the screen and the antiquated and calming harpsichord score. Wonder if Bach would have approved of that one.
2001: A Space Odyssey
This epic and tremendously famous opening uses Richard Strauss' "Also Sprach Zarathustra," a tone poem that was inspired by Friedrich Nietzsche's "Thus Spoke Zarathustra."
Minority Report
This clip features the first movement (allegro moderato in B minor) of the Symphony No. 8 "Unfinished" by <a href="http://www.classicalarchives.com/composer/3308.html" target="_hplink">Franz Schubert</a>. The piece was started in 1822 but was never completed.
28 Days Later
Although we couldn't find a clip from Danny Boyle's zombie apocalypse film, the song is "Ave Maria" performed by Dame Janet Baker and Philip Ledger. The piece consists of a melody by the French composer Charles Gounod which is superimposed over Bach's "Prelude No. 1 in C major, BWV 846 from Book I of The Well-Tempered Clavier."
The King's Speech
The clip features Beethoven's "Symphony No. 7 in A major, Op.92" composed in 1811 (the seventh of Beethoven's nine symphonies). In this scene, King George VI, played by Colin Firth, prepares for his first wartime speech.
Antichrist
OK, while not exactly a blockbuster, we couldn't resist including Lars von Trier's 2009 psychological horror film. "Antichrist" opens with verses from Handel's aria, "Lascia ch'io piangia," which translates to "Leave me to cry." If you've seen the film, you'll understand why it's a fitting choice, and if you haven't, take our word for it. Von Trier also features classical music prominently in his latest film, "Melancholia," this time with an assist from <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKlKbrxMcE0" target="_hplink">Wagner's "ring" cycle operas</a>.
<b>Warning: video contains explicit scenes.</b>
X-Men 2
The famous Nightcrawler White House scene that opens "X-Men 2" is also epically set to Mozart's requiem, "Die Irae." We weren't able to find any clips from the film that <i>weren't</i> unfortunately sped up like this one is, but you can check out the song in full in the playlist below.
One out of every six women in the U.S. has been the victim of a sexual assault. Elsewhere in the world, the statistics are even more appalling.
Yet advertisers often make light of sexual violence towards women. They disguise it as innuendo, humor, or artistic expression, and hope the shock factor will work promotional magic for their product.
Back in the "Mad Men" era it was unsurprising to see women treated poorly in ads.
But we've found some modern day promotions that glorify sexual violence. Some of the brands are repeat offenders; some are merely one-time gaffes.
Often, clients and agencies defend them as "edgy" fantasy scenarios.
Fair enough. But there sure are a lot of them. And so few involving violence against men ...
?Pop music sensation Psy is the first Korean solo artist to have a top-selling US single. He swept the US with his hit single ?Gangnam Style? in 2012. He?s taught his signature horsey dance to everyone from the UN?s Ban Ki-moon to Britney Spears. But how much do you know about the artist?
- Jenna Fisher,?Staff writer, Andrew Averill,?Correspondent
Internet marketing is an effective technique to increase your sales without having to spend lots of money. With the right internet marketing campaign, online sales can easily be boosted by creating more traffic to the site. Here are some ways to market your business online that will guarantee an increase in online customers when implemented correctly:
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Social media sites are a free and simple way to market your business. Putting in groups and pages on Twitter and Facebook, allows an online presence for the business that will boost awareness. These pages are really simple to put in place and can be employed to post offers, discounts and to talk with consumers. Blogging is yet another way of reaching your customers and an effective way to demonstrate expertise.
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Professional web design sets your business far from its competitors and can give it a superb reputation. The website is like the cover of a book and will be judged before reading any of the information, so it is vital to make a professional and easy to navigate website.
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If you?re a small business owner looking to get a BIG presence online then you?ve found the right place here at Atlanta Internet Marketing or Atlanta Web Marketing. Thank you for coming to our page.
The teaser trailer for "Last Vegas" has it right when it touts that the movie is "going to be legendary." The film brings together esteemed actors Morgan Freeman, Robert De Niro, Michael Douglas and Kevin Kline in a "The Hangover"-style romp set in Las Vegas. Except, with a cast like this, "Last Vegas" could end [...]
New formula invented for microscope viewing, substitutes for federally controlled drugPublic release date: 17-May-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Beth Parada apps@botany.org American Journal of Botany
Visikol more effective for viewing and mounting microscopic specimens than a federally regulated narcotic, chloral hydrate
Researchers at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, and City University of New York have invented a proprietary new formulation called VisikolTM that effectively clears organisms to be viewed under microscopes. Visikol can be used in place of chloral hydrate, which is one of the few high-quality clearing solutions currently available but which is tightly regulated by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) due to its use as a narcotic.
Clearing solutions, or clearing agents, are vital for viewing organisms under a microscope. Without them, microscope images become refracted and scattered, impairing the clarity of vision. Clearing solutions are used to identify specimens and examine their anatomy by "clearing" them, increasing the transparency of the specimen by rendering some components of a specimen invisible in order to better view other components of interest.
One of the most common clearing solutions is chloral hydrate, which is used for everything from studying plant organelles to authenticating herbal plant species for medicinal purposes. Its popularity in the research community, government, and industry stems from its high refractive index, which allows a high magnitude of light to pass through the medium and make specimens crystal clear under the microscope.
However, chloral hydrate is difficult and expensive to obtain, as it is regulated by the DEA as a Schedule IV controlled substance. Chloral hydrate is prescribed medically as a sedative, depressant, pain reliever, and hypnotic, and overdoses can lead to serious health issues, including fatal heart conditions. Chloral hydrate has also found use as an illicit drug, and has been used in sexual assaults. Thus, possession of chloral hydrate requires costly, annual permits and time-consuming paperwork. Despite its advantages for research and industry, chloral hydrate is an impractical, and sometimes impossible, choice for scientists.
To replace chloral hydrate and alleviate the "red tape" associated with clearing solutions, university researchers invented Visikol, a polychlorinated alcohol mixture that is safer, cheaper, and not federally regulated by the DEA. Thomas Villani and Professor James Simon of Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, with Professor Adolfina Koroch of City University of New York, developed and then tested the utility of Visikol alongside chloral hydrate to compare it as an effective replacement.
Villani and colleagues prepared samples of a broad range of fresh and dry plant material with either chloral hydrate or Visikol. They tested plant species that are important in plant biology and genetics research, botanical authentication and herbal pharmacology, and agriculture, including Arabidopsis, ginger, mat, lime basil, and oregano.
Visikol successfully cleared plant materials, creating transparent and detailed specimens of cells, tissues, and rhizomes, for viewing under a microscope light. Visikol also had a higher refractive index than chloral hydrate and served as an agent to mount tissues for microscopic identification. These results are published in the May issue of Applications in Plant Sciences (available for free viewing at http://www.bioone.org/doi/pdf/10.3732/apps.1300016) and are the first report of a replacement solution for chloral hydrate.
Visikol was originally developed as a tool for botanical microscopy; however, it will serve as a useful tool for teaching microscopy to students and professionals. "Since it is not regulated," comments Villani, "it will enable students to experience firsthand what they are taught on the chalkboard." Koroch adds, "It is often difficult for beginners to grasp microscopy, and Visikol's ease of use will help teachers engage and motivate students by allowing them to easily see biology in stunning detail."
In addition, Visikol's use extends far beyond research applications. "We expect Visikol to be especially useful in quality control, aiding in rapid screening for agricultural disease vectors," says Villani, as "small insects like mites are a common disease vector for agricultural crops and can be easily viewed within plant tissues using Visikol." Visikol is likely to be used as a general tool for specimens under the microscope, as it has wide application to all organisms and tissues.
###
Applications in Plant Sciences (APPS) is a monthly, online-only, peer-reviewed, open access journal focusing on new tools, technologies, and protocols in all areas of the plant sciences. It is published by the Botanical Society of America (http://www.botany.org), a non-profit membership society with a mission to promote botany, the field of basic science dealing with the study and inquiry into the form, function, development, diversity, reproduction, evolution, and uses of plants and their interactions within the biosphere. The first issue of APPS published in January 2013; APPS is available as part of BioOne's Open Access collection (http://www.bioone.org/loi/apps).
For further information, please contact the APPS staff at apps@botany.org.
Disclosure statement: VisikolTM was invented by the authors and is patent pending (filed by Rutgers University). Rutgers University has granted an exclusive license to Phytosys LLC to commercially market Visikol. Phytosys LLC is co-owned by the authors.
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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.
New formula invented for microscope viewing, substitutes for federally controlled drugPublic release date: 17-May-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Beth Parada apps@botany.org American Journal of Botany
Visikol more effective for viewing and mounting microscopic specimens than a federally regulated narcotic, chloral hydrate
Researchers at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, and City University of New York have invented a proprietary new formulation called VisikolTM that effectively clears organisms to be viewed under microscopes. Visikol can be used in place of chloral hydrate, which is one of the few high-quality clearing solutions currently available but which is tightly regulated by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) due to its use as a narcotic.
Clearing solutions, or clearing agents, are vital for viewing organisms under a microscope. Without them, microscope images become refracted and scattered, impairing the clarity of vision. Clearing solutions are used to identify specimens and examine their anatomy by "clearing" them, increasing the transparency of the specimen by rendering some components of a specimen invisible in order to better view other components of interest.
One of the most common clearing solutions is chloral hydrate, which is used for everything from studying plant organelles to authenticating herbal plant species for medicinal purposes. Its popularity in the research community, government, and industry stems from its high refractive index, which allows a high magnitude of light to pass through the medium and make specimens crystal clear under the microscope.
However, chloral hydrate is difficult and expensive to obtain, as it is regulated by the DEA as a Schedule IV controlled substance. Chloral hydrate is prescribed medically as a sedative, depressant, pain reliever, and hypnotic, and overdoses can lead to serious health issues, including fatal heart conditions. Chloral hydrate has also found use as an illicit drug, and has been used in sexual assaults. Thus, possession of chloral hydrate requires costly, annual permits and time-consuming paperwork. Despite its advantages for research and industry, chloral hydrate is an impractical, and sometimes impossible, choice for scientists.
To replace chloral hydrate and alleviate the "red tape" associated with clearing solutions, university researchers invented Visikol, a polychlorinated alcohol mixture that is safer, cheaper, and not federally regulated by the DEA. Thomas Villani and Professor James Simon of Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, with Professor Adolfina Koroch of City University of New York, developed and then tested the utility of Visikol alongside chloral hydrate to compare it as an effective replacement.
Villani and colleagues prepared samples of a broad range of fresh and dry plant material with either chloral hydrate or Visikol. They tested plant species that are important in plant biology and genetics research, botanical authentication and herbal pharmacology, and agriculture, including Arabidopsis, ginger, mat, lime basil, and oregano.
Visikol successfully cleared plant materials, creating transparent and detailed specimens of cells, tissues, and rhizomes, for viewing under a microscope light. Visikol also had a higher refractive index than chloral hydrate and served as an agent to mount tissues for microscopic identification. These results are published in the May issue of Applications in Plant Sciences (available for free viewing at http://www.bioone.org/doi/pdf/10.3732/apps.1300016) and are the first report of a replacement solution for chloral hydrate.
Visikol was originally developed as a tool for botanical microscopy; however, it will serve as a useful tool for teaching microscopy to students and professionals. "Since it is not regulated," comments Villani, "it will enable students to experience firsthand what they are taught on the chalkboard." Koroch adds, "It is often difficult for beginners to grasp microscopy, and Visikol's ease of use will help teachers engage and motivate students by allowing them to easily see biology in stunning detail."
In addition, Visikol's use extends far beyond research applications. "We expect Visikol to be especially useful in quality control, aiding in rapid screening for agricultural disease vectors," says Villani, as "small insects like mites are a common disease vector for agricultural crops and can be easily viewed within plant tissues using Visikol." Visikol is likely to be used as a general tool for specimens under the microscope, as it has wide application to all organisms and tissues.
###
Applications in Plant Sciences (APPS) is a monthly, online-only, peer-reviewed, open access journal focusing on new tools, technologies, and protocols in all areas of the plant sciences. It is published by the Botanical Society of America (http://www.botany.org), a non-profit membership society with a mission to promote botany, the field of basic science dealing with the study and inquiry into the form, function, development, diversity, reproduction, evolution, and uses of plants and their interactions within the biosphere. The first issue of APPS published in January 2013; APPS is available as part of BioOne's Open Access collection (http://www.bioone.org/loi/apps).
For further information, please contact the APPS staff at apps@botany.org.
Disclosure statement: VisikolTM was invented by the authors and is patent pending (filed by Rutgers University). Rutgers University has granted an exclusive license to Phytosys LLC to commercially market Visikol. Phytosys LLC is co-owned by the authors.
[ | 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.
US basketball star Dennis Rodman recently hung out with North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un - now he's tweeted a request?that the American sentenced to 15 years' hard labor be released.
By Ryan Lenora Brown,?Correspondent / May 9, 2013
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un (l.) and former NBA star Dennis Rodman watch North Korean and US players in an exhibition basketball game at an arena in Pyongyang, North Korea, in February. Rodman is tapping his friendship with Kim Jong-un when he tweeted a request 'to do me a solid' and free Kenneth Bae, a Korean-American man detained in the North.
Jason Mojica/VICE Media/AP/File
Enlarge
When Dennis Rodman spent a week touring North Korea in February, he had nothing but glowing words for the country?s leader, Kim Jong-un.
Skip to next paragraph Ryan Lenora Brown
Correspondent
Ryan Brown edits the Africa Monitor blog and contributes to the national and international news desks of the Monitor. She is a former Fulbright fellow to South Africa and holds a degree in history from Duke University.?
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?Guess what? I love him,? he told reporters. ?He?s really awesome.?
But now the basketball diplomat is testing his friendship with the young Kim by asking the leader to release an American sentenced last week to 15 years of hard labor for ?hostile acts? against the North Korean regime.
?I?m calling on the Supreme Leader of North Korea, or as I call him, ?Kim,? to do me a solid and cut Kenneth Bae loose,? Mr. Rodman tweeted Tuesday.?
The missive came in response to a Seattle Times opinion piece last week, in which writer Thanh Tan called on Rodman to put his goodwill with Pyongyang on the line for Mr. Bae, a tour operator arrested in November on murky charges.
Perhaps now is the time for the NBA has-been to practice some real basketball diplomacy and call up his so-called friend for a favor: Grant American detainee Kenneth Bae amnesty and release him to his family?.
Bae is being used as a political pawn by a desperate despot who happened to?gallivant around the country with Rodman?in March. Perhaps now is the retired player?s chance to use his notoriety for something other than to over-inflate his ego.
Rodman apparently got the message.
?In direct response to your article headline, 'Ok.' Read your story @uscthanhtan, and I decided to help,? he tweeted.
And while Twitter is an admittedly feeble platform for diplomacy, it?s not out of the question that Kim will see the tweet. After all, the North Korean government has an active ? if bizarre ? Twitter presence itself, putting out an erratic blast of messages about American imperialism and the ?victory and glory? of the Kim regime.
But even if Kim gets Rodman?s message, will he understand it? After all, ?do me a solid? isn?t exactly a phrase that translates easily.
Washington Post blogger Max Fisher writes that the closest Korean equivalent of the colloquialism would be the somewhat menacing (at least to American ears) phrase, ?Look at my face and release Kenneth Bae.?
?Look at my face,? he writes, ?is a Korean expression that?s like a special, for-friends-only version of ?do me a favor.??
Whether Kim will look at Rodman?s face ? double nose ring and all ? remains to be seen, but Americans favored by North Korea have helped coax the regime to release American prisoners in the past.
In 2009, for instance, former President Bill Clinton visited Pyongyang and shortly after the visit then-Dear Leader Kim Jong-il pardoned two American journalists who were being held in the country. In total, six Americans ? including Bae ? have been held by the North Korean government since 2009, the Monitor reported. The other five were all released.
Rodman?s February visit to North Korea ? along with the friendship tour of Google Chairman Eric Schmidt in January ? was initially hailed by some Western observers as a sign that the young Kim might be more interested in opening his country to the rest of the world than his father and grandfather had been.
However, analysts say there have been no fundamental changes to the regime?s posture since then. If anything, interaction with Western celebrities puts the regime in a more powerful position because it can claim new geopolitical cache.?
?Ultimately, they [North Korea] come out ahead because they can portray it as the world coming to pay tribute, or at least to be there,? Aidan Foster-Carter, a Korean expert, told the Monitor in March.
Indeed, as the state-run Korean Central News Agency (as well as Western outlets) reported during Rodman?s trip, the basketball player was an enthusiastic tourist, visiting a greatest hits list of Kim-related sites.?
Rodman and his cohort "paid high tribute to Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il before their statues. They entered the halls where Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il lie in state and paid homage to them,? a press release announced. ?They made an entry in the visitor's book.?
Bach to the blues, our emotions match music to colorsPublic release date: 16-May-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Yasmin Anwar yanwar@berkeley.edu 510-643-7944 University of California - Berkeley
Study suggests music-color associations cross cultural boundaries
Whether we're listening to Bach or the blues, our brains are wired to make music-color connections depending on how the melodies make us feel, according to new research from the University of California, Berkeley. For instance, Mozart's jaunty Flute Concerto No. 1 in G major is most often associated with bright yellow and orange, whereas his dour Requiem in D minor is more likely to be linked to dark, bluish gray.
Moreover, people in both the United States and Mexico linked the same pieces of classical orchestral music with the same colors. This suggests that humans share a common emotional palette when it comes to music and color that appears to be intuitive and can cross cultural barriers, UC Berkeley researchers said.
"The results were remarkably strong and consistent across individuals and cultures and clearly pointed to the powerful role that emotions play in how the human brain maps from hearing music to seeing colors," said UC Berkeley vision scientist Stephen Palmer, lead author of a paper published this week in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Using a 37-color palette, the UC Berkeley study found that people tend to pair faster-paced music in a major key with lighter, more vivid, yellow colors, whereas slower-paced music in a minor key is more likely to be teamed up with darker, grayer, bluer colors.
"Surprisingly, we can predict with 95 percent accuracy how happy or sad the colors people pick will be based on how happy or sad the music is that they are listening to," said Palmer, who will present these and related findings at the International Association of Colour conference at the University of Newcastle in the U.K. on July 8. At the conference, a color light show will accompany a performance by the Northern Sinfonia orchestra to demonstrate "the patterns aroused by music and color converging on the neural circuits that register emotion," he said.
The findings may have implications for creative therapies, advertising and even music player gadgetry. For example, they could be used to create more emotionally engaging electronic music visualizers, computer software that generates animated imagery synchronized to the music being played. Right now, the colors and patterns appear to be randomly generated and do not take emotion into account, researchers said.
They may also provide insight into synesthesia, a neurological condition in which the stimulation of one perceptual pathway, such as hearing music, leads to automatic, involuntary experiences in a different perceptual pathway, such as seeing colors. An example of sound-to-color synesthesia was portrayed in the 2009 movie The Soloist when cellist Nathaniel Ayers experiences a mesmerizing interplay of swirling colors while listening to the Los Angeles symphony. Artists such as Wassily Kandinksky and Paul Klee may have used music-to-color synesthesia in their creative endeavors.
Nearly 100 men and women participated in the UC Berkeley music-color study, of which half resided in the San Francisco Bay Area and the other half in Guadalajara, Mexico. In three experiments, they listened to 18 classical music pieces by composers Johann Sebastian Bach, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Johannes Brahms that varied in tempo (slow, medium, fast) and in major versus minor keys.
In the first experiment, participants were asked to pick five of the 37 colors that best matched the music to which they were listening. The palette consisted of vivid, light, medium, and dark shades of red, orange, yellow, green, yellow-green, green, blue-green, blue, and purple.
Participants consistently picked bright, vivid, warm colors to go with upbeat music and dark, dull, cool colors to match the more tearful or somber pieces. Separately, they rated each piece of music on a scale of happy to sad, strong to weak, lively to dreary and angry to calm.
Two subsequent experiments studying music-to-face and face-to-color associations supported the researchers' hypothesis that "common emotions are responsible for music-to-color associations," said Karen Schloss, a postdoctoral researchers at UC Berkeley and co-author of the paper.
For example, the same pattern occurred when participants chose the facial expressions that "went best" with the music selections, Schloss said. Upbeat music in major keys was consistently paired with happy-looking faces while subdued music in minor keys was paired with sad-looking faces. Similarly, happy faces were paired with yellow and other bright colors and angry faces with dark red hues.
Next, Palmer and his research team plan to study participants in Turkey where traditional music employs a wider range of scales than just major and minor. "We know that in Mexico and the U.S. the responses are very similar," he said. "But we don't yet know about China or Turkey."
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Other co-authors of the study are Zoe Xu of UC Berkeley and Lilia Prado-Leon of the University of Guadalajara, Mexico.
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Bach to the blues, our emotions match music to colorsPublic release date: 16-May-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Yasmin Anwar yanwar@berkeley.edu 510-643-7944 University of California - Berkeley
Study suggests music-color associations cross cultural boundaries
Whether we're listening to Bach or the blues, our brains are wired to make music-color connections depending on how the melodies make us feel, according to new research from the University of California, Berkeley. For instance, Mozart's jaunty Flute Concerto No. 1 in G major is most often associated with bright yellow and orange, whereas his dour Requiem in D minor is more likely to be linked to dark, bluish gray.
Moreover, people in both the United States and Mexico linked the same pieces of classical orchestral music with the same colors. This suggests that humans share a common emotional palette when it comes to music and color that appears to be intuitive and can cross cultural barriers, UC Berkeley researchers said.
"The results were remarkably strong and consistent across individuals and cultures and clearly pointed to the powerful role that emotions play in how the human brain maps from hearing music to seeing colors," said UC Berkeley vision scientist Stephen Palmer, lead author of a paper published this week in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Using a 37-color palette, the UC Berkeley study found that people tend to pair faster-paced music in a major key with lighter, more vivid, yellow colors, whereas slower-paced music in a minor key is more likely to be teamed up with darker, grayer, bluer colors.
"Surprisingly, we can predict with 95 percent accuracy how happy or sad the colors people pick will be based on how happy or sad the music is that they are listening to," said Palmer, who will present these and related findings at the International Association of Colour conference at the University of Newcastle in the U.K. on July 8. At the conference, a color light show will accompany a performance by the Northern Sinfonia orchestra to demonstrate "the patterns aroused by music and color converging on the neural circuits that register emotion," he said.
The findings may have implications for creative therapies, advertising and even music player gadgetry. For example, they could be used to create more emotionally engaging electronic music visualizers, computer software that generates animated imagery synchronized to the music being played. Right now, the colors and patterns appear to be randomly generated and do not take emotion into account, researchers said.
They may also provide insight into synesthesia, a neurological condition in which the stimulation of one perceptual pathway, such as hearing music, leads to automatic, involuntary experiences in a different perceptual pathway, such as seeing colors. An example of sound-to-color synesthesia was portrayed in the 2009 movie The Soloist when cellist Nathaniel Ayers experiences a mesmerizing interplay of swirling colors while listening to the Los Angeles symphony. Artists such as Wassily Kandinksky and Paul Klee may have used music-to-color synesthesia in their creative endeavors.
Nearly 100 men and women participated in the UC Berkeley music-color study, of which half resided in the San Francisco Bay Area and the other half in Guadalajara, Mexico. In three experiments, they listened to 18 classical music pieces by composers Johann Sebastian Bach, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Johannes Brahms that varied in tempo (slow, medium, fast) and in major versus minor keys.
In the first experiment, participants were asked to pick five of the 37 colors that best matched the music to which they were listening. The palette consisted of vivid, light, medium, and dark shades of red, orange, yellow, green, yellow-green, green, blue-green, blue, and purple.
Participants consistently picked bright, vivid, warm colors to go with upbeat music and dark, dull, cool colors to match the more tearful or somber pieces. Separately, they rated each piece of music on a scale of happy to sad, strong to weak, lively to dreary and angry to calm.
Two subsequent experiments studying music-to-face and face-to-color associations supported the researchers' hypothesis that "common emotions are responsible for music-to-color associations," said Karen Schloss, a postdoctoral researchers at UC Berkeley and co-author of the paper.
For example, the same pattern occurred when participants chose the facial expressions that "went best" with the music selections, Schloss said. Upbeat music in major keys was consistently paired with happy-looking faces while subdued music in minor keys was paired with sad-looking faces. Similarly, happy faces were paired with yellow and other bright colors and angry faces with dark red hues.
Next, Palmer and his research team plan to study participants in Turkey where traditional music employs a wider range of scales than just major and minor. "We know that in Mexico and the U.S. the responses are very similar," he said. "But we don't yet know about China or Turkey."
###
Other co-authors of the study are Zoe Xu of UC Berkeley and Lilia Prado-Leon of the University of Guadalajara, Mexico.
[ | 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.
Although the real estate market in Vietnam is in a freeze and thousands of apartments cannot be sold, demand for low cost and social houses in Hanoi is very large. This paradox has been the case for a long time, but measures have yet to be taken to solve it. Mechanisms and policies are seen as barriers to the illiquidity of the market.
Low interest rate as well as binding conditions is the reasons why for so long investors have paid little attention to social housing segment. Social housing projects or resettlement housing projects in recent time are assigned to a specific unit, organization or business to construct and distribute to eligible people of land clearance, in a way of imposing on planned individual zones. However, quality of such projects is often low and infrastructure is not complete, which causes people living in these areas several difficulties.
This invisibly forms a bad concept to people on resettlement and social housing. People always think that resettlement and social housing is low grade and having poor quality. Talking about this issue, Mr Nguyen The Diep, Vice President of Vietnam- Germany SMEs Association, also Chairman of Reenco Red River Investment Corporation, shared that is the state wants resettlement and social housing to develop, to be able to attract investment and people, it should standardise price and quality of social housing. Specifically, there should be accurate markers of quality and price, which means price should be determined on using value, furniture, utility or apartment quality.
Building the benchmark of house types will be the basis for evaluating their quality, thus helps remove the bad concept of low grade and poor quality social and resettlement housing. People will not be indifferent with social and resettlement houses but have a more positive attitude towards those kinds of houses like that of commercial houses. This is also the basis for the assessment of investor?s responsibility for the products they make.
He also made recommendation: ?The state should take the quality and price of social housing as benchmark to create basis for evaluating the capacity of investors and comparing with other segments. Thereby, the state can stabilise people?s psychology, provide adequate knowledge for people so that they are able to distinguish and assess quality of apartments whose prices are very different. Commercial house?s prices are ranging from VND20-30 million or even VND10 million per square meter, while social and resettlement house?s price is averagely VND13-15 million per square meter?.
Holding the same point of view, Mr Tran Ngoc Thanh, Deputy Chairman of the Vietnam Real Estate Association said that in fact, currently the state has some regulations stipulating that social house?s area must be less than 70 square meters, price must be consistent with scale, and social house must better serve the needs of the community. However, there remains a limitation of social houses. They can only ensure the most basic utility for people such as social security system including schools or parks. People have yet to enjoy facilities such as commercial areas, not to mention the cost of social and resettlement housing which is still too high compared to the income of low-income people. Mr Thanh propose that the state regulate and have more specific and drastic policies such as reducing VAT and exempting corporate income taxes to encourage investors to participate boldly in social housing construction.
Decree 71 gave a very positive direction enabling low-income people to enjoy the facilities, infrastructure of commercial houses by regulating that projects with area of 10 hectares or more have to hand over 20 percent of the land for the construction of social housing. But in reality, how to make this come into practice is still a hard question. Mr Thanh analyses: ?Currently, there are many businesses circumventing the law by applying for small projects with area of less than 10 hectares, or building commercial houses only, and 20 percent bound for social housing construction will be left empty for several reasons such as lack of capital to invest in the construction.?
He suggests that the State prescribe standards in terms of price and quality of social housing, as well as policy on corporation income tax exemption to assure people and give investors confidence to choose social and resettlement housing segment to invest in.
Luong Tuan
Vietnam Real Estate: Still Attractive to Singaporean Investors
Although economic slowdown has brought on stagnation in the Vietnamese property market in all segments, many property projects, especially those invested by Singaporean companies, are operating very effectively. This business sector is still very attractive to Singaporean businesses in particular and foreign-invested businesses in general. Vietnam Business Forum has an interview... [Read more]
Overseas remittances pour into real estate
Despite higher overseas remittances, less capital has been pumped into the domestic real estate market recently but more has been spent on buying foreign houses.
Increasing numbers of Vietnamese are interested in overseas property investment Less investment in domestic real estate
In previous years, overseas remittances to Vietnam sharply... [Read more]
Reviving the Vietnamese Real Estate Market in 2013
Resolution 02/NQ-CP and other urgent immediate and long-term recommendations aim to stop the worsening situation of the real estate business in 2013, as well as over the next 3 - 5 years.
On the occasion of the new year 2013, the Vietnam Business Forum had a talk with Mr Phan Thanh... [Read more]
Lacklustre Market Flooded with Toxic Debt
There has not been a sign of recovery for the Vietnam's real estate market, not until end of next year. The market is still lacklustre and flooded with bad debt. Minister of the Construction revealed at the Parliamentary Forum that the market currently has an unsold inventory of 16,469 apartments, 4,116... [Read more]
New solutions to slump real estate market
More foreigners should be allowed to buy apartments and more small apartments should be built in order to save the real estate market from its current slump, experts said. More foreigners allowed to buy apartments could save the slump market Phan Thanh Mai, General Secretary of Vietnam Real... [Read more]
Investors seek chances in condo-for-rent market
Dinh Dung and Thoa Nguyen Apartment leasing offers low-income earners affordable accommodations and helps project owners diversify their products to meet the market demand. Le Thanh Commercial Construction Co. Ltd., for example, plans to lease out some 40 condos of the Twin Towers project in Binh Tan District... [Read more]
50 projects to be introduced at Hanoi's first real estate fair
(VOVworld)- The capital city's first real estate fair will be held from October 19-21 and aims to create a bridge between traders and customers. The event is co-organized by the Viet Nam Real Estate Association, the Alliance of Real Estate Transaction Floors G5 and the Hanoi Real Estate... [Read more]
Mammoth amusement park projects just make-believe cake drawn on paper
VietNamNet Bridge ? A lot of foreign investors arrived in Vietnam and contrived mammoth amusement park projects. Later, only when the investors left, did local authorities realize that the investors just promised the earth. One stone can kill two birds "Real estate and entertainment industry ? two sectors, one destination" was... [Read more]
A sense of sharing needed
Hanh Thu Final touches are being put on a condo project on Nguyen Huu Tho Street in HCMC?s Nha Be District - Photo: Dinh Dung Nguyen Van Duc, deputy director of Dat Lanh Real Estate Company, told a recent seminar on how to make access to bank loans easier for... [Read more]
Staggering housing inventory draws ministry into inspections
The Ministry of Construction will launch an overall inspection at real estate firms in 10 provinces and cities nationwide next month due to staggering statistics on unsold housing stock in Vietnam?s two biggest cities.
For illustration purpose only Photo: Tuoi Tre
The inspection aims at classifying and gathering data on... [Read more]
The Asus VivoBook S56CA-DH31-CA ($599.99 CAD list) is a Windows 8-equipped ultrabook that stands apart from the increasingly saturated field by virtue of its integrated DVD burner, reasonable price tag, and generous two-year warranty. Unfortunately, its subpar keyboard and average performance hold it back from achieving pure ultrabook nirvana, effectively relegating an otherwise great system to a mere good choice.
Design and Features
The VivoBook S56CA's trim chassis measures 0.82 by 13.7 by 9.6 inches (HWD) and, at 4.86 pounds, it's a smidge heavier than comparable ultrabooks like the Acer Aspire V5-571P-6627 (4.63 pounds). While its underside is fashioned from a rather utilitarian black plastic, a stylish brushed aluminum finish on the system's lid and palmrest adds a touch of panache to its overall aesthetic. The VivoBook S56CA's thin body and dashes of aluminum make for an attractively designed system that can easily be stashed into most laptop bags or backpacks.
With a maximum resolution of 1,366 by 768, the VivoBook S56C's 15.6-inch display can play video at 720p, a useful feature since the system ships an integrated DVD burner. Whether in video or the Windows 8 Start screen, the VivoBook S56CA's display dishes out bright colors and crisp text. Equally impressive are the VivoBook S56C's speakers, which pump out clear, tinny-free audio at surprisingly loud levels?at least for an ultrabook.
The VivoBook S56C's chiclet-styled keyboard exhibits the dreaded shallow key travel syndrome that commonly comes with ultrabooks. The absence of backlighting further compromises this already uncomfortable typing experience in dimly-lit settings. The VivoBook S56C's smooth and responsive touchpad partially acquits its subpar keyboard by providing a good amount of tactile feedback and offering fluid support of Windows 8-specific gesture controls.
True to its ultrabook status, port selection on the VivoBook S56C is modest. You'll find a cardreader on the front of the system while the right side houses the DVD burner, a combined headphone and microphone jack, and a pair of USB 2.0 ports. The left side, meanwhile, sports VGA and HDMI ports, an Ethernet port, and the system's sole USB 3.0 port. Peripheral-happy users may be better served by the HP Pavilion M6-1148CA, which features three USB 3.0 ports.
The VivoBook S56C's combined 500GB 5,400 hard drive and 24GB SSD hits the sweet spot between capaciousness and brisk load times. There is, however, a decent amount of preloaded software that must first be contended with. While unnecessary bloatware (desktop links to Skype) is mercifully kept to a minimum, there's also some trialware (Office Starter 2010, McAfee Internet Security), as well as a hefty chunk of proprietary software of varying usefulness (ranging from ASUS WebStorage Sync Agent to ASUS Vibe 2.0). The VivoBook S56C's generous two-year warranty on parts and labor is twice as long the standard one-year deal offered by the competition, like the HP Pavilion G6-2368CA.
Performance
The VivoBook S56C's 1.8GHz Intel Core i3-3217U processor and 6GB RAM yielded mostly average performance on our benchmark tests. Its PCMark7 score of 2,762 points trumped the rest of its class, save for the front-running Samsung Series 3 NP300E5E-A05CA (2,828 points). Its Cinebench R11.5 score of 1.64 points, on the other hand, bested the HP G6-2368CA (1.13 points) but nevertheless struggled to keep up with the competition, including the Lenovo IdeaPad N581 (2.49 points) and, to a more pronounced extent, the class-leading Series 3 NP300E5E-A05CA (3 points).
The VivoBook S56C did, however, demonstrate an ability to handle moderately intense media creation tasks. It completed our Handbrake video-encoding test in 1 minute 58 seconds, landing a mere second behind the Acer V5-571P-6627 (1:57) while breezily outpacing the HP G6-2368CA (3:08) by a wide margin. The 8 minutes 3 seconds it took to run through our Photoshop CS6 test was slower than the rest of its class, though, including the Lenovo N581 (5:34) and the Samsung Series 3 (4:35). All said, the VivoBook S56C is adequate for casual users looking to dabble in occasional photo- or video- editing projects.
When it came to 3D rendering, the VivoBook S56C trailed closely behind its peers. Its 3DMark11 scores (1,169 points in Entry-level settings; 218 points in Extreme settings) landed within striking distance of the Ideapad N581 (1,234 points and 224 points, respectively) and the top-performing HP G6-2368CA (1,263 and 257 points, respectively). High-end gaming, on the other hand, is a no-go. The VivoBook S56C's integrated Intel HD Graphics 4000 didn't have the firepower to break the 30 frames per second (fps) playability barrier on our gaming benchmark tests.
The VivoBook S56C's average performance extended to its removable 2,950 mAh battery, which lasted 3 hours 55 minutes on our battery rundown test. While this handily outlasted the HP M6-1148CA (2:23), it nonetheless came up short of both the Lenovo N581 (4:43) and the Samsung Series 3 (5:11). For most deskbound users, this is perfectly sufficient. Users planning on spending the entire day away from their desks should be sure not to stray too far from a power outlet, though.
Although the market is presently brimming with ultrabooks, the Asus VivoBook S56CA-DH31-CA stands apart from the pack thanks to its integrated DVD burner, reasonable price tag, and generous two-year warranty. That said, its subpar keyboard and average performance hold it back from achieving pure ultrabook nirvana. It's worth checking out, but be sure to fully explore other options before doing so.
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Public release date: 17-May-2013
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The VivoBook S56C's 1.8GHz Intel Core i3-3217U processor and 6GB RAM yielded mostly average performance on our benchmark tests. Its PCMark7 score of 2,762 points trumped the rest of its class, save for the front-running Samsung Series 3 NP300E5E-A05CA (2,828 points). Its Cinebench R11.5 score of 1.64 points, on the other hand, bested the HP G6-2368CA (1.13 points) but nevertheless struggled to keep up with the competition, including the Lenovo IdeaPad N581 (2.49 points) and, to a more pronounced extent, the class-leading Series 3 NP300E5E-A05CA (3 points).