Video is becoming the preferred method of communication for many customers. Whether you use YouTube or the newest social media Tout.com, you want to keep it short. The best videos are less than three minutes. With Tout, you have only 15 seconds to deliver your message.
You don?t need a fancy production crew for these videos. Studies show ?real? videos are more effective and have a bigger impact on the audience. With Tout.com you can record your video from your computer or your smartphone and upload it directly to your Facebook Profile and Twitter accounts.
If you want your Facebook audience to ?see? a post, videos are more often viewed than other posts on Facebook. In February 2011, nearly 47 million people in the United States watched a video on Facebook.
Using videos opens many new and creative ways to deepen the relationship with customers, increase communication and drive new business.
12 creative ways to use video:
Announcements
Corporate updates
Products tours
Behind the scenes (people love to see what ?really? happens)
Case studies
Tips or tricks for using a product
Answer FAQs
In your emails
On Facebook / Twitter posts
Interviews with staff, customers (testimonials) and executives
Kimberly Deas combines her 10+ years? experience in telecommunications with a background in personal coaching and results-oriented training.
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Is it a good thing that T-Mobile's US operation is in the crosshairs of a MetroPCS merger? We'll see, but meanwhile the operator again shed revenue, customers and profit in Q4 2012. Total revenue dropped during the quarter to $4.9 billion from $5.2 billion last year, while income was down a whopping 25.1 percent to $1.05 billion year-over-year. Meanwhile the company lost 515,000 branded contract customers compared to 492,000 last quarter, representing a 'churn' rate of 2.5 percent in that category, a slight improvement over last year. All that culminated in a rather miserable year for the carrier, which earned $424 million less than in 2011 ($4.9 billion), while showing a total loss of $6.4 billion thanks to depreciation and impairment charges. Meanwhile, parent Deutsche Telecom said recently that MetroPCS would merge with T-Mobile as early as April -- which sounds like it can't come soon enough.
British Airways? owner IAG has slumped to a pre-tax loss of ?997 million in 2012 due to the costs of restructuring Iberia and higher fuel bills.
The loss, which compares to a pre-tax profit of ?503 million for IAG in 2011, includes restructuring and impairment charges of ?545 million for Iberia which is currently undergoing a major restructuring of its business includes job losses, fleet reductions and capacity cuts.
IAG also made an operating loss of ?23 million in 2012 compared to a profit of ?485 million during the previous year, despite revenue rising last year by 10.9 per cent to ?18.1 billion.
But despite the losses, IAG's share price rose by more than 5 per cent to ?2.34 during early trading on the London Stock Exchange on Thursday (February 28). City analysts had been expecting the company's operating losses to be higher at around ?88 million.
Willie Walsh, IAG chief executive, said: ?2012 has been a year of transformation for IAG - we bought Bmi and integrated it into British Airways and initiated our restructuring of Iberia.
?Revenue was up 10.9 per cent in the full year while our fuel bill rose by 20.4 per cent (to ?6.1 billion) with non-fuel costs up 11.6 per cent (to ?12 billion).
"The divergent financial performance of our airlines continued. British Airways made an operating profit of ?347 million (?274 million), including Bmi losses, while Iberia made an operating loss of ?351 million.
"We have embarked on a significant transformation programme in Iberia - and these results emphasise further that the airline must adapt to survive. It must stem its cash losses and adjust its cost base permanently if it is to compete with other airlines in all its strategic markets and lay the foundations for profitable growth in the future.?
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Giant laser creates an artificial star to clear the sky
The Very Large Telescope's new laser looks like something off the Death Star, but its powerful beam is used for the peaceful exploration of the galaxy
Russian meteor traced to Apollo asteroid family
The bounty of footage from dashboard-mounted cameras helped astronomers quickly calculate the orbit of the meteor and trace it to its home turf
Curiosity's spills add thrills to the Mars life hunts
An accidental chemical leak on board NASA's newest Martian rover has added another twist in the decades-long search for life on the Red Planet
Multilingual dictionary keeps humans in the loop
A new online dictionary launched this week uses concepts instead of words to avoid the typical garble of machine translation
Vulcan and Cerberus win popular Pluto moon-naming vote
A public vote to help name Pluto's two newest moons received a boost from William Shatner - but the International Astronomical Union has the final say
China takes steps to clean up 'cancer villages'
Having acknowledged the issue of cancer clusters around polluted water, the Chinese government is taking its first steps to control dangerous chemicals
Happy, snappy tweets gain the most Twitter followers
An analysis of half a million posts on Twitter has come up with some simple rules to boost your popularity on the site
Android smartphone to control satellite in orbit
A bold attempt to show that consumer electronics can cope with space radiation has lifted off - a satellite-controlling Google smartphone is now in orbit
The man who's crashing the techno-hype party
Evgeny Morozov does a good job of dispelling "big data" hype in To Save Everything, Click Here, but fails to explore the way we shape the tech we use
The new network will be the first in Iraq to offer large-scale wireless broadband services, helping in the restoration of the nation's communication infrastructure impacted by the tough times of political unrest.
The network will provide significant support to ongoing efforts to revive the Iraqi economy, bringing levels of connectivity needed for business, public sector and consumer applications.
Kawa Junad, Chairman of Regional Telecom, said:
"Broadband services are the lifeblood of the modern digital economy, but Iraq has been without widely available broadband for more than a decade, in effect cutting off the country, our businesses and our citizens from the rest of the world. The introduction of 4G LTE services in Northern Iraq promises to change that, making a significant contribution to the country's efforts to rejoin the global community."
For the project, Alcatel-Lucent is providing its industry-leading end-to-end 4G LTE solution, including base stations, IP mobile backhaul for 4G LTE and existing 3G CDMA traffic, Evolved Packet Core (EPC) and elements of its platforms, which will allow Regional Telecom to introduce a rich portfolio of advanced IP-based services.
Amr K. El-Leithy Head of Middle East Africa, Turkey and Azerbaijan in Alcatel-Lucent said: "As a world leader in the innovation and delivery of 4G LTE networks, Alcatel-Lucent has the experience and expertise to support service providers in addressing the unique demands and expectations in the communities they serve - and this project with Regional Telecom is a perfect example. Our 4G LTE technology is helping meet customers' data needs in some of the world's busiest mobile broadband networks. At the same time we are also bringing broadband services to underserved regions to help promote economic growth and drive new business opportunities."
As global demand for Internet services continues to rise, Alcatel-Lucent is providing operators such as Regional Telecom with a clear, efficient broadband evolution path. Alcatel-Lucent's innovative lightRadio portfolio is designed with this in mind, and provides a framework for wireless networks that offer lightning fast data speeds while reducing operating costs and power consumption.
WASHINGTON (AP) ? Internet users who illegally share music, movies or television shows online could soon receive warning notices from the nation's five major Internet service providers.
The Copyright Alert System, organized by the recording and film industry, is being activated this week to target consumers using peer-to-peer software.
Under the new system, complaints will prompt an Internet service provider ? such as Verizon or AT&T ? to notify a customer whose Internet address has been detected sharing files illegally. A person will be given up to six opportunities to stop before the Internet provider will take more drastic steps, such as temporarily slowing their connection, or redirecting Internet traffic until they acknowledge they received a notice or review educational materials about copyright law.
Consumers who maintain they have been wrongly accused would be forced to pay $35 to appeal the decision. The fee would be reimbursed if they prevail.
Proponents say the focus is on deterring the average consumer rather than chronic violators. The director of the organization behind the system, Jill Lesser of the Center for Copyright Infringement, said in a blog post Monday that the program is "meant to educate rather than punish, and direct (users) to legal alternatives."
Each Internet provider is expected to implement their own system. The program gives each customer five or six "strikes" after a music or film company has detected illegal file-sharing and lodged a complaint. The first alerts are expected to be educational, while the third and fourth would require the customer to acknowledge that they have received the warnings and understand their behavior is illegal. The final warnings are expected to lead to "mitigation measures," such as slowing a person's Internet connection speeds.
Officials involved in the effort acknowledge it's unlikely to stop the biggest violators. There are ways to disguise an IP address or use a neighbor's connection that is unlocked. Public wireless connections, such as those offered at coffee shops, also won't be monitored.
So far, we don't know much about what ASUS will be announcing here at Mobile World Congress, but we do know it has something to do with a spaceship landing on top of Barcelona's La Sagrada Familia. And also, a statue of Columbus talking on the phone in Spanish. Obviously, dockable gadgets are key -- in fact, if you watch that second video, ASUS even uses the tagline "Pad and Phone come together." So we're gonna go out on a limb and say a new PadFone is in order. But what about the specs? And how about some new Transformer tablets? Only one way to find out: stay tuned as we report live from the company's MWC press event, happening right now.
ALMATY, Kazakhstan (AP) ? The venue for talks on Iran's nuclear program between world powers and Tehran carries a symbolism that Western negotiators will hope serves as a positive omen.
In the 1990s, Kazakhstan, a sprawling former Soviet republic, gave up a huge nuclear stockpile and now wants to capitalize on its nonproliferation track record by offering to host a bank of reactor fuel that would remove the need for countries, namely Iran, to enrich uranium for themselves.
That may be one proposal under consideration at this week's talks in Kazakhstan's commercial capital, Almaty, between Iran and six world powers ? five permanent U.N. Security council members and Germany ? on Tehran's controversial nuclear program.
Iran insists it is not working on a nuclear weapons program, but rather is enriching uranium only to make reactor fuel and for scientific and medical purposes, as allowed by international law.
But many nations are suspicious because Iran went underground after failing to get international help for its uranium enrichment program in the 1980s, working secretly until its activities were revealed a decade ago. More recent proposals for international shipments of reactor fuel in exchange for Iranian enrichment concessions have foundered, with each side blaming the other.
Kazakhstan will not be involved in the talks that start Tuesday, and are expected to last for two days.
Kazakhstan's willingness to dispense with its once formidable arsenal in large part was born out of its grim legacy as a nuclear weapon testing site in Soviet times. Some critics say, however, that Kazakhstan's vocal trumpeting of its nonproliferation record is designed to act as a smoke screen for its lack of democratic freedoms.
Amid the Soviet Union's collapse, the Central Asian nation unexpectedly found itself holding more than a thousand strategic nuclear warheads and 370 nuclear-tipped cruise missiles, becoming the world's first predominantly Muslim-populated nuclear power.
Within a day of Kazakhstan declaring independence in 1991, Palestinian Liberation Organization leader Yasser Arafat flew into Almaty in a visit that alarmed Western diplomats. Weeks later, Kazakhstan's President Nursultan Nazarbayev visited Pakistan, but officials ruled out cooperation on nuclear technology.
A former foreign minister of Kazakhstan last year claimed that Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi was yet another hopeful buyer snubbed by Kazakhstan.
Instead of responding to the overtures of Muslim partners in its neighborhood, including Iran, Kazakhstan sought help to divest itself of its powerful inheritance.
Its warheads were transferred to Russia by 1995, and the removal of highly enriched uranium stocks from a secret Soviet-built facility was done with U.S. assistance.
That process was inspired by Kazakhstan's recent history.
From 1949 to 1989, the bare flatlands of northern Kazakhstan were the site for 456 nuclear tests ? 116 of them above ground ? that affected an area the size of Arizona and populated by some 1.5 million people.
"The damage on our environment has been so serious that scientists believe it will take centuries to restore to normality," Nazarbayev said in a 2009 speech marking the 20th anniversary of the final test.
But even as Kazakhstan got rid of its nuclear arsenal, suspicions lingered.
U.S. officials investigated claims that Iran had secured components for nuclear weapons from Kazakhstan but turned up no evidence. Kazakhstan said only that it had been approached by Iran in the early 1990s for the purchase of low-enriched uranium, but not for weapons-grade material.
Since 2009, Kazakhstan has been putting itself forward as the potential host for a nuclear fuel bank to be operated under the auspices of the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Nazarbayev appealed to Tehran in a New York Times op-ed piece in March 2012 to eschew its pursuit for nuclear power status.
"Kazakhstan's experience shows that nations can reap huge benefits from turning their backs on nuclear weapons," Nazarbayev wrote.
Iranian diplomats are on record as supporting the fuel bank initiative, but little concrete progress has been made, prompting many observers to cast doubt on Tehran's insistence that it is not developing nuclear technology for military ends.
The fuel bank "should be a complete answer to Iran's concerns ? the fact that it is not indicates that the Iranian interest is not fuel supply but something else," said John Carlson, an adviser to the Washington D.C.-based Nuclear Threat Initiative.
The oil-rich nation's strategic geographical position abutting Russia and China, while fostering warm ties with Europe and the United States, have necessitated a nuanced diplomatic approach.
Kazakhstan and its neighboring former Soviet Central Asian nations are ambivalent toward the West's pressure on Iran, which make them useful intermediaries for Tehran. Speaking to Russian reporters in 2011, Nazarbayev insisted on pursuing diplomacy to solve questions surrounding Iran's nuclear program.
"If we talk about the Iranian nuclear program, then why don't we talk about the same program in Pakistan, and why not talk about Israel, which does in fact have nuclear weapons?" he said.
In neighboring Kyrgyzstan, the government has said it will not renew the lease on a U.S. air transit facility there used for military operations in Afghanistan when it expires in 2014 because, among other reasons, it fears that it could be subject to retaliation should Iran be attacked.
Countries in the region also have economic interests at stake. Turkmenistan, which shares a 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) land border with Iran, was delivering an average 1 billion cubic feet (30 million cubic meters) of natural gas daily to Iran between July 2011 and June 2012, according to U.S. Energy Information Administration figures.
Cultural ties and growing investment from Iran into Persian-speaking Tajikistan have also served well to secure Tehran another potential ally.
Central Asia expert Sebastien Peyrouse said in a paper published last year that countries in region feel in any event secure that they would not be target of Iranian nuclear attacks.
"They believe that if Iran got this capability, it would not use it against them. Iran as a state and a nation is highly respected in Central Asia, and there is no feeling of distrust towards a long-term partnership with it," Peyrouse wrote.
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Turkey has told Iraq it will reject any extension of oil and gas pipelines from Kurdistan without the approval of the Baghdad government, Iraq's oil minister Abdul Kareem Luaibi was quoted as saying by the state media network on Monday.
Iraq's Arab-led central government and the Kurdistan regional government (KRG), run by ethnic Kurds, are in a long-running dispute over how to exploit the country's crude reserves and divide the revenues.
Baghdad says it alone has the authority to control export of the world's fourth largest oil reserves, while the Kurds say their right to do so is enshrined in Iraq's federal constitution, drawn up following the U.S.-led invasion of 2003.
"Turkey has officially informed Iraq it rejects extending oil and gas export pipelines from the Kurdistan region to pass through Turkey without approval from federal government," the network quoted the minister as saying.
The Turkish energy ministry declined to comment on the statement.
Kurdistan's Minister for Natural Resources Ashti Hawrami said earlier this month the autonomous region was pressing ahead with plans to build its own oil export pipeline to Turkey, despite objections from the United States, which fears the project could lead to the break-up of Iraq.
Resource-hungry Turkey has heavily courted Iraqi Kurds, straining ties with the Iraqi central government.
Prime Minister Nuri al Maliki's media advisor Ali al-Moussawi said Turkey's rejection of the pipeline would help enhance bilateral relations between Ankara and Baghdad, which have deteriorated over the past year.
"The government welcomes Turkey's move, which will significantly help to stabilize the region and also strengthen relations between central government and Kurdish region,"" Ali al-Moussawi added.
Ankara has been locked in a war of words with Maliki, a Shi'ite, since December 2011, when he ordered the arrest of his Sunni Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi, who took refuge in Kurdistan before fleeing to Turkey.
GAS LICENSE DELAY
Iraqi Kurdistan halted oil exports through the Baghdad-controlled Iraq-Turkey pipeline in December in a dispute over payments to oil companies operating in the autonomous region.
In early January, Kurdistan began exporting crude oil directly to world markets through Turkey, further angering Baghdad, which threatened action against the region and foreign oil companies working there to stop "illegal" crude exports.
A broad energy partnership between Turkey and Iraqi Kurdistan ranging from exploration to export has been in the works since last year.
Amid uncertainty over the detail and timing of the deal, Turkey's energy watchdog EPDK on Friday again delayed a decision on whether to award a license for Turkish firm Siyah Kalem to import gas from Kurdistan.
Siyah Kalem had sought extra time from Turkey's Energy Market Regulatory Authority (EPDK) for its application due to difficulties in reaching agreement with the northern Iraqi administration. It was given until the end of 2013.
Turkish officials initially indicated that they thought a purchase agreement signed with the KRG was legally sufficient to allow imports into Turkey. But officials later confirmed any such agreement would need to be approved by Baghdad.
(Reporting by Ahmed Rasheed; Additional reporting by Orhan Coskun in Ankara; Editing by William Hardy)
Feb. 22, 2013 ? Washington University engineering researchers have created a new type of air-cleaning technology that could better protect human lungs from allergens, airborne viruses and ultrafine particles in the air.
The device, known as the SXC ESP, was created by a team led by Pratim Biswas, PhD, the Lucy & Stanley Lopata Professor and chair of the Department of Energy, Environmental & Chemical Engineering in the School of Engineering & Applied Science.
A recent study of the device, published in Applied and Environmental Microbiology, found that it could help to prevent respiratory and viral infections and inhalation-induced allergic reactions more efficiently than existing filter-based systems.
Asthma, a chronic respiratory disease that can be triggered by inhaling allergens, pollen, pet dander and other particles, is one of the most costly health-care expenses in the United States at more than $50 billion.
"Because many people in developed countries spend the majority of time indoors, properly maintaining indoor air quality is an absolute necessity to protect public health," Biswas says.
The new device incorporates soft X-ray irradiation as a component of the electrostatic precipitation process currently used to remove large particles from airflows. By incorporating the soft X-ray enhanced electrostatic precipitation technology, the researchers were able to ensure very efficient charging of the particles over a broad range of sizes and their capture in the SXC ESP.
They exposed mice with compromised immune systems to the downstream air stream passing through the unit that contacted infectious viruses, allergens, anthrax, smallpox and other particles in the air. The sensitive mice survived, indicating that the SXC ESP was very effective in removing these biological agents from the air.
"Traditional air cleaners can trap viruses or other toxic particles in the filter, where they linger and grow," Biswas says. "This device finds the virus or toxic particle or bioterror agent and inactivates it in one application."
Ultimately, this technology could be incorporated into stand-alone air cleaners or scaled for use in aircraft cabins, offices and residential HVAC systems. It also could be used to clean up a diesel engine or power plant exhaust.
Michael Gidding, who is expected to graduate in 2013 with an MBA, a bachelor's in chemical engineering and a master's in energy, environmental and chemical engineering, and Daniel Garcia, a May 2012 chemical engineering graduate, have teamed up to scale up this technology for commercial use. Their startup, Aerosol Control Technologies (ACT), is based on the patented process Biswas developed.
There are many applications for the technology in the coal industry, Gidding says, from dust control and safety at the mine to flue-gas treatment at the power plant.
Funding for this research was provided by the National Institutes of Health (NIH U54 AI05716003) to the Midwest Regional Center of Excellence for Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Disease Research and Saint Louis University startup funds.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Washington University in St. Louis. The original article was written by Beth Miller.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Journal Reference:
E. M. Kettleson, J. M. Schriewer, R. M. L. Buller, P. Biswas. Soft-X-Ray-Enhanced Electrostatic Precipitation for Protection against Inhalable Allergens, Ultrafine Particles, and Microbial Infections. Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 2012; 79 (4): 1333 DOI: 10.1128/AEM.02897-12
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
Fragments of continents hidden under lava in the Indian Ocean Public release date: 24-Feb-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: F. Ossing ossing@gfz-potsdam.de 49-331-288-1040 Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres
The islands Reunion and Mauritius, both well-known tourist destinations, are hiding a micro-continent, which has now been discovered. The continent fragment known as Mauritia detached about 60 million years ago while Madagascar and India drifted apart, and had been hidden under huge masses of lava. Such micro-continents in the oceans seem to occur more frequently than previously thought, says a study in the latest issue of Nature Geoscience ("A Precambrian microcontinent in the Indian Ocean," Nature Geoscience, Vol 6, doi: 10.1038/NGEO1736).
The break-up of continents is often associated with mantle plumes: These giant bubbles of hot rock rise from the deep mantle and soften the tectonic plates from below, until the plates break apart at the hotspots. This is how Eastern Gondwana broke apart about 170 million years ago. At first, one part was separated, which in turn fragmented into Madagascar, India, Australia and Antarctica, which then migrated to their present position.
Plumes currently situated underneath the islands Marion and Reunion appear to have played a role in the emergence of the Indian Ocean. If the zone of the rupture lies at the edge of a land mass (in this case Madagascar / India), fragments of this land mass may be separated off. The Seychelles are a well-known example of such a continental fragment.
A group of geoscientists from Norway, South Africa, Britain and Germany have now published a study that suggests, based on the study of lava sand grains from the beach of Mauritius, the existence of further fragments. The sand grains contain semi-precious zircons aged between 660 and 1970 million years, which is explained by the fact that the zircons were carried by the lava as it pushed through subjacent continental crust of this age.
This dating method was supplemented by a recalculation of plate tectonics, which explains exactly how and where the fragments ended up in the Indian Ocean. Dr. Bernhard Steinberger of the GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences and Dr. Pavel Doubrovine of Oslo University calculated the hotspot trail: "On the one hand, it shows the position of the plates relative to the two hotspots at the time of the rupture, which points towards a causal relation," says
Steinberger. "On the other hand, we were able to show that the continent fragments continued to wander almost exactly over the Reunion plume, which explains how they were covered by volcanic rock." So what was previously interpreted only as the trail of the Reunion hotspot, are continental fragments which were previously not recognized as such because they were covered by the volcanic rocks of the Reunion plume. It therefore appears that such micro-continents in the ocean occur more frequently than previously thought.
###
Torsvik, T.H., Amundsen, H., Hartz, E.H., Corfu, F., Kusznir, N., Gaina, C., Doubrovine, P.V., Steinberger B., Ashwal, L.D. & Jamtveit, B., A Precambrian microcontinent in the Indian Ocean", Nature Geoscience, Vol. 6, doi:10.1038/NGEO1736.
A picture in printable resolution can be found here:
http://www.gfz-potsdam.de/portal/gfz/Public+Relations/M40-Bildarchiv/Bildergalerie+Mauritia/130222_Reunion_Hotspot
[ | 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.
Fragments of continents hidden under lava in the Indian Ocean Public release date: 24-Feb-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: F. Ossing ossing@gfz-potsdam.de 49-331-288-1040 Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres
The islands Reunion and Mauritius, both well-known tourist destinations, are hiding a micro-continent, which has now been discovered. The continent fragment known as Mauritia detached about 60 million years ago while Madagascar and India drifted apart, and had been hidden under huge masses of lava. Such micro-continents in the oceans seem to occur more frequently than previously thought, says a study in the latest issue of Nature Geoscience ("A Precambrian microcontinent in the Indian Ocean," Nature Geoscience, Vol 6, doi: 10.1038/NGEO1736).
The break-up of continents is often associated with mantle plumes: These giant bubbles of hot rock rise from the deep mantle and soften the tectonic plates from below, until the plates break apart at the hotspots. This is how Eastern Gondwana broke apart about 170 million years ago. At first, one part was separated, which in turn fragmented into Madagascar, India, Australia and Antarctica, which then migrated to their present position.
Plumes currently situated underneath the islands Marion and Reunion appear to have played a role in the emergence of the Indian Ocean. If the zone of the rupture lies at the edge of a land mass (in this case Madagascar / India), fragments of this land mass may be separated off. The Seychelles are a well-known example of such a continental fragment.
A group of geoscientists from Norway, South Africa, Britain and Germany have now published a study that suggests, based on the study of lava sand grains from the beach of Mauritius, the existence of further fragments. The sand grains contain semi-precious zircons aged between 660 and 1970 million years, which is explained by the fact that the zircons were carried by the lava as it pushed through subjacent continental crust of this age.
This dating method was supplemented by a recalculation of plate tectonics, which explains exactly how and where the fragments ended up in the Indian Ocean. Dr. Bernhard Steinberger of the GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences and Dr. Pavel Doubrovine of Oslo University calculated the hotspot trail: "On the one hand, it shows the position of the plates relative to the two hotspots at the time of the rupture, which points towards a causal relation," says
Steinberger. "On the other hand, we were able to show that the continent fragments continued to wander almost exactly over the Reunion plume, which explains how they were covered by volcanic rock." So what was previously interpreted only as the trail of the Reunion hotspot, are continental fragments which were previously not recognized as such because they were covered by the volcanic rocks of the Reunion plume. It therefore appears that such micro-continents in the ocean occur more frequently than previously thought.
###
Torsvik, T.H., Amundsen, H., Hartz, E.H., Corfu, F., Kusznir, N., Gaina, C., Doubrovine, P.V., Steinberger B., Ashwal, L.D. & Jamtveit, B., A Precambrian microcontinent in the Indian Ocean", Nature Geoscience, Vol. 6, doi:10.1038/NGEO1736.
A picture in printable resolution can be found here:
http://www.gfz-potsdam.de/portal/gfz/Public+Relations/M40-Bildarchiv/Bildergalerie+Mauritia/130222_Reunion_Hotspot
[ | 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.
On a day when former Notre Dame teammate Manti Te'o made headlines off the field, tight end Tyler Eifert made waves on it.
The Irish All-American was consistently among the leaders in his position group in all of the physical testing Saturday at the NFL Scouting Combine at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.
"I think with the tight ends, the day belonged to Tyler Eifert," analyst Mike Mayock said during the NFL Network's telecast of the event on Saturday.
He added that the 6-foot-5 1/2, 250-pound Eifert added to his chances of being a first-round draft choice. The NFL Draft is set for April 25-27 in New York.
Eifert had the fourth-fastest time in the 40-yard dash (4.68 seconds) among the tight end prospects and tied for third in his position group with 22 reps at 225 pounds in the bench press. By comparison, Alabama offensive tackle D.J. Fluker, a projected first-rounder, did 21 reps.
Eifert had the best time among tight ends in the three-cone drill (6.92 seconds); was second in the vertical leap (35.5 inches), standing broad jump (11 feet, 11 inches) and the 60-yard shuttle; and third in the 20-yard shuttle (4.32 seconds). His numbers, in all but one category, topped another high-profiled tight end prospect, Zach Ertz, of Stanford.
Eifert is one of eight Notre Dame players who were invited to this year's combine, the 27th annual. Offensive linemen, tight ends and special teams players went through the physical testing Saturday.
Former Irish running backs Cierre Wood and Theo Riddick move into the spotlight Sunday, when the running backs and wide receivers take their turns.
Te'o, who Saturday addressed the girlfriend hoax with the media, will have his shot on the field on Monday.
Center Braxston Cave, a weightroom warrior, did not participate in the bench press on Saturday but performed in most of the other drills. The Penn High product's time in the 40 was 5.33 seconds. Fluker ran a 5.31.
Players who were not invited to the combine or those who want to improve their combine performances will have that chance at Notre Dame's Pro Day, March 26 at the Loftus Center.
Information on a new Sony smartphone called the Sony Xperia SP has emerged, pointing to an MWC 2013 reveal.
According to the information provided by Android Central, the Sony Xperia SP will be an upper-mid-range Android device that will slot in below the Sony Xperia Z.
The Sony Xperia SP will feature a 4.6-inch 720p display. This might sound like a top-end screen, but new high-end Android devices tend to be announced with 1080p displays.
Still, it'll run on a very capable 1.7GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro processor, though it'll only be the dual-core variant.
The Sony Xperia SP will also sport an 8-megapixel camera with an Exmor RS image sensor. Meanwhile its 8GB of internal storage is another hint at the phone's next gen mid-range status, though there'll also be a microSD slot for expansion purposes.
The device is said to be largely formed from aluminium, but with a plastic back. It'll weigh 155 grams, and it's dimensions will be 130.6 x 67.1 x 9.98mm.
One other interesting aspect is the phone's potential transparent bar, carried over from previous devices in the range, like the Sony Xperia P. However, here you may be able to customise the light bar for certain notifications.
The report claims that the Sony Xperia SP will be announced at the MWC show being held next week.
If this is the shape of the new Android mid-range, are you impressed? Let us know in the comments section below, or via the Trusted Reviews Twitter and Facebook feeds.
There were a lot of annoncements this week, but no pay off quite yet. We learned a lot about the upcoming PS4, got new data on Google Glass, and found out about a new Chromebook you shouldn't buy. And all that on top of ghost ships, a Blackberry 10 review, Flipboard for porn, NYC's mammoth subway project, and much, much more. Check it all out below. More »
Monster goldfish found: A?nearly 18-inch, 4.2-pound goldfish discovered in the depths of Lake Tahoe is not a native species, say scientists.
By Tanya Lewis,?LiveScience / February 21, 2013
Gigantic goldfish, like this one held by University of Nevada, Reno, researcher Christine Ngai, have been found in the waters of Lake Tahoe.
Heather Segale
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A new kind of lake monster has been found, in the depths of Lake Tahoe: gigantic goldfish. Researchers trawling the lake for invasive fish species scooped up a goldfish that was nearly 1.5 feet long and 4.2 pounds.
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"During these surveys, we've found a nice corner where there's about 15 other goldfish," environmental scientist Sudeep Chandra of the University of Nevada, Reno, told LiveScience. "It's an indication that they were schooling and spawning." The arrival of the fish, which were probably dumped there by aquarium owners, has Chandra worried ? goldfish are aninvasive species?that could interfere with Lake Tahoe's ecosystem.
It's unclear whether the giant fish were introduced as fully grown adults, or while they were still small, Chandra said. But even a small creature can have a big impact, if there are enough of them.
The goldfish are just one of several species of invasive warm-water fishes in?Lake Tahoe. "The invasion is resulting in the consumption of native species," Chandra said. What's more, the invasive fish excrete nutrients that cause algal blooms, which threaten to muddy Tahoe's clear waters. [Photos: Giant Goldfish & Other Freaky Fish]
Fish out of water
Aquarium dumping has become a common practice in the United States and elsewhere, and it's taking a toll on native wildlife. A recent reporton?California's aquarium trade?found that fish owners and importers are introducing hardy, nonnative aquatic species to California waters. "Globally, the aquarium trade has contributed a third of the?world's worst aquatic and invasive species," Williams, who was lead author of the report, told OurAmazingPlanet, a sister site of LiveScience, in January.
While the exact number of aquarium owners dumping fish is unknown, scientists know the practice is occurring because these species could not have ended up in these waters naturally. Between 20 percent and 69 percent of fish keepers surveyed in Texas admitted to dumping, according to Williams.
Other ways that invasive species find their way into natural ecosystems include aquaculture, live seafood, live bait, and fishing and recreation vessels. More than 11 million nonnative marine organisms representing at least 102 species arrive at ports in San Francisco and Los Angeles alone, Williams has found.
The invaders include tropical fish, seaweed and snails. One of the nastiest is a deadly type of seaweed known asCaulerpa. A type of?algae that produces toxic compounds?that kill off fish,?Caulerpa?was eradicated in 2000 (at great expense) from lagoons in Southern California.
Aquarium owners should be more careful when disposing of unwanted fish and other animals, Williams cautioned. "It's pretty simple: Don't dump your fish," she said. Instead, she suggests calling the pet shop that sold the fish or your state department of fish and wildlife. (Euthanasia is another option, but simply flushing fish down the toilet can be problematic ? for the fish and for your plumbing.)
So why do people dump fish? Studies of dumping have shown that size and aggressiveness of the fish are two main factors, Williams said.
The?largest pet goldfish, according to the BBC, was a fish named Goldie that was 15 inches (38 cm) long and weighed more than 2 pounds (0.9 kg).
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Ramallah Ballet Center owner Shyrine Ziadeh decided not to leave the West Bank to study dance, but instead opened a space to cultivate talent and hope among local youth.
By Chelsea Sheasley,?Contributor / February 4, 2013
Shyrine Ziadeh leads one of her three classes at the Ramallah Ballet Center, which she opened in December 2011 with the help of her family.
Christa Case Bryant/The Christian Science Monitor
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The Ramallah Ballet Center, where girls in white tights and pink tutus twirl in front of a long mirror, seems a world away from the street below, where butchered lambs hang for sale, resentment lingers from the last intifada, and horns blare as cars snake dangerously close to each other in the narrow streets.?
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?Doesn?t the music make you feel so peaceful?? asks studio owner Shyrine Ziadeh, as she surveys her students. ?That?s one of my favorite things about dancing.??
Ms. Ziadeh?s dance studio is the first to open in Ramallah and the only one she knows of in the West Bank, following years of foreign instructors teaching lessons out of their homes or in local schools. (Read more about female entrepreneurs in the West Bank here.)
Ziadeh, who grew up in Ramallah, planned to leave the West Bank to study dance abroad after graduating from Birzeit University four years ago. But she changed her mind after she opened the studio last year and saw how popular her classes are. If she leaves, she fears no one will be there for the students.
?The kids here, they have many talents but no one to support them,? she says. ?So when I find a talented girl, I support her with all my heart.? Ziadeh says part of her motivation was the fact that when people around the world think of the Palestinian territories, they don?t see hope or talent, but violence.
Ziadeh sees her studio as place where local kids ? she teaches between 30 and 40 students a month ? can come to have fun in a safe place.
?I want to show the world that as Palestinians, we have talent and can defend our land not only in violence, but in the arts.?
Ziadeh sees the studio as a success, though it?s not yet profitable. She charges 200 shekels (about $55) a month for two classes a week, but some parents can?t afford to pay. The Orthodox Church that owns the studio space has so far allowed her to pay rent late when needed and she?s still repaying a loan her parents gave her.?
Some Israelis who heard about her business offered to give funding, something she?s so far declined in the hopes that Palestinians will be the ones to provide support.
In a region where the political conflict is reflected in so much of society Ziadeh says Israeli-Palestinian politics have complicated her business. She can?t get the costumes she needs because West Bank stores don?t sell them and she doesn?t have a permit to travel 15 miles to Jerusalem to buy them. Instead, she goes to Amman, Jordan to buy the outfits necessary for performances, or has them made by hand.
Hoping for more boys
Another challenge Ziadeh hopes to overcome is gender. Her classes have been predominately female, but she thinks it?s important to involve boys as well because of the impact dance can have on them. She hopes that boys will start to enroll if she offers hip-hop classes.
?The problem is not with the Arab culture,? she says, citing a friend who teaches more boys than girls in the Egyptian royal ballet. ?I think it?s here, the boys want to be more tough.?
Being ready for an intifada is a prominent part of how boys are raised, she says. ?[They say] ?how can I dance when I have to defend my country?? But they can defend the country by dancing,? Ziadeh says.
Fadia Othman, the mother of one of Ziadeh?s students, says the classes help her 6-year-old daughter to be calmer in school.
Hadeel Kamil, a German-Palestinian gum surgeon who also has a daughter in the class, praises the decision of people like Ziadeh who stay in the Palestinian territories, sharing their talents locally instead of moving to a potentially easier and more lucrative life abroad.
"Palestine deserves people who know how to think," Ms. Kamil says.
Never mind about Waldo ? where?s Bernard Vincent Brady? This 1963 photo of a large Irish family has three of them. The youngest Bernard Vincent Brady in the photo is familiar to the University of St. Thomas community; now chair of the university?s Theology Department, he is the boy wearing a bowtie in the second row and fifth from the left. The woman who is holding a baby behind him is his mother, Nora (Leneghan) Brady from County Mayo, Ireland. The priest directly behind him is his uncle, the second Bernard Vincent Brady. To the right of the priest are the bowtie boy?s grandparents, Emmet and Ethel (Kalaher) Brady, who were celebrating their golden wedding anniversary. The priest seated to the right of Emmet and Ethel is Leo Patrick Brady, C.P., and the priest to the right of Leo is the third Bernard Vincent Brady, C.P. This clan of Bradys originally came from County Clare in Ireland. The family photo was taken at a parish hall in Akron, Ohio.
A symposium on ?The Irish Family at Home and Abroad? will be held from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, March 9, on the St. Paul campus of the University of St. Thomas.
The program features presentations and panel discussions by scholars, creative writers, graduate and undergraduate student researchers, and those in the helping professions. All sessions will be held in the auditorium, Room 126, of the John R. Roach Center for the Liberal Arts.
The program is sponsored by the university?s Center for Irish Studies, College of Arts and Sciences, Sociology Department, and Family Studies Program. The Irish Genealogical Society International also is a sponsoring organization. The program can be viewed here.
Dr. Brigittine French
Dr. Brigittine French of Grinnell College will open the symposium with a keynote address titled ?Anthropologists Look at the Irish Family: Solidarity and Strife, Conflict and Cooperation.? French, who has just returned from a Fulbright Fellowship at Dublin City University, is the social science representative of the American Conference for Irish Studies. She has presented numerous lectures and conference papers on Irish identity formation and on conflict resolution in the early Irish Free State.
Later panels will include sessions on ?Therapists? Perspectives on the Irish Family,? ?Literary Images of Vocation in Irish Life,? and ?Mothers and Fathers in Irish Life Writing.? There also will be two sessions involving creative writers. In one, memoirists Nick Hayes, Brian Nerney, Marge Barrett and Fred Nairn will discuss ?Shame and Respectability in the Irish Family.?
The program will conclude with a session called ?The Last Word Belongs to Poets,? in which local writers (including Pat Barone, William Cavanaugh, Ethna McKiernan and Mike Finley) will read original poems about their families.
The luncheon speaker is Dr. Patrick O?Donnell of Normandale Community College; he will speak on ?Tyrone Guthrie?s Remarkable Family.?
Registration is $12 for the general public, or free with a St. Thomas ID. (A buffet lunch is available for an additional $12, and must be ordered at the time of registration.) Registrations are handled through the Tommie Central website.
For more information contact Jim Rogers, director of the Center for Irish Studies, (612) 962-5662 or jrogers@stthomas.edu.
Video is becoming the preferred method of communication for many customers. Whether you use YouTube or the newest social media Tout.com, you want to keep it short. The best videos are less than three minutes. With Tout, you have only 15 seconds to deliver your message.
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Public release date: 24-Feb-2013
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