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রবিবার, ৩১ মার্চ, ২০১৩
Tips, Advice And Ideas For Home Improvement Success | Everything ...
Getting through a home improvement project is a thing that can do a lot for your family. You need to become educated on the process, though. Use the following tips to turn your house into your dream home.
Don?t decide on any major home renovations without taking a look at homes in brand new subdivisions. There, you can see how others have been using the newest colors and styles to decorate their homes. Many model homes even hire a decorator to include window coverings and furniture to complete the effect, so you can copy the ones you like best and skip a lot of trial and error when updating your own home.
To add texture and make your walls look unique, apply both glossy and flat paints of the same color. Use two coats of the flat paint followed by stenciled or freehand glossy paint over it. Glossy paint is going to reflect light, giving it visual interest that?s subtle.
When the grout colors available don?t cut it, customize your own. A great paint for your tiles is acrylic craft paint, which can be found at virtually every hobby and discount store. You can experiment with adding paint to a small sample of grout, then you can test out shades on a paper plate.
It?s interesting to see what some people settle for when it comes to the paint schemes in their homes. Then there are people who do pick out their own color schemes but make idiosyncratic choices that are unappealing to guests and potential home-buyers. Take the time to select the perfect paint schemes, and you?ll see just how much a few coats of paint can do for your house.
You should never put off addressing mold or rust issues, even if they seem minor. These problems generally occur in homes that are older and may end up becoming very large problems quickly. Getting these things taken care of shouldn?t take you a lot of time. When you procrastinate, they?ll only get worse. If your mold problem is minor, you may be able to fix it with a bit of bleach. Sand small areas of rust away.
Those who live in a dry climate are better off with white or red cedar fences. Cedar is very durable and also has a nice smell. It is rated high when it comes to safety concerning wildfires.
If a designer just isn?t in your budget, get to work. Look online to find inspiration. Something you see on a magazine page can inspire your home improvement project. These resources can also provide information for less expensive projects that you can do on your own.
If you?re going to take on a home improvement project by yourself, you should write down the plan you?re hoping to follow, then have a professional look it over for you. If you overlook an important step during the planning phase, it can result in work that is subpar or a renovation that is more expensive than what you budgeted for.
There are both positives and negatives associated with home improvement. Certain home improvement projects backfire, making the house more difficult to sell. Follow these rules to get the most bang for your buck regarding your improvements.
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শনিবার, ৩০ মার্চ, ২০১৩
In Pakistan underworld, a cop is said to be a king
KARACHI, Pakistan (AP) ? A corrupt, low-level cop with a healthy dose of street smarts rises to control hundreds of illegal gambling dens in Pakistan's largest city. By doling out millions of dollars in illicit proceeds, he protects his empire and becomes one of the most powerful people in Karachi.
The allegations against Mohammed Waseem Ahmed ? or Waseem "Beater" as he is more commonly known ? emerged recently from surprise testimony by a top police commander before a crusading anti-crime Supreme Court judge. The story has given a rare and colorful glimpse into the vast underworld in Karachi, a chaotic metropolis of 18 million people on Pakistan's southern coast.
The sprawling city has become notorious for violence, from gangland-style killings and kidnappings to militant bombings and sectarian slayings. Further worrying authorities have been signs that the Pakistani Taliban are using the chaos to gain a greater foothold in the city.
For months, the Supreme Court's Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry has been leading special hearings on Karachi's crime, berating the city's top police officers for failing to act. This past week, he demanded they move in to clean up so-called "no-go" areas ? entire neighborhoods where police fear to tread ? according to local press reports.
Further fueling the problem is rampant police corruption, undermining efforts to combat the city's violent gangs and extremists. Among the public, the police nationwide are seen as the country's most crooked public sector organization, a high bar given claims of pervasive corruption throughout the government.
The allegations surrounding Ahmed further fuel questions about the overlap between Karachi's underworld and its police forces. After the testimony to the Supreme Court earlier this year, police officials in Karachi provided The Associated Press with additional details over his reported rise.
The AP made repeated attempts to contact Ahmed, who has been removed from the force and fled to Dubai, but was not successful.
Ahmed came from a poor family in Karachi's old city and joined the police force in the 1990s. He soon started working as a "beater," a low-level thug who works for more senior cops to collect a cut from illegal activities in their area, such as gambling, prostitution and drug dealing, said half a dozen police officers who knew him personally at the time. They all spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution.
Ahmed, who sports a bushy black mustache and usually dresses in a simple, white shalwar kameez, earned a reputation for carrying out his illicit work efficiently, said two police officers who have known him ever since he joined the force. That reputation helped him forge relationships with more senior figures, and eventually he was collecting money for some of the top police officers and civilian security officials in Karachi, they said.
The heavyset 40-year-old also attracted the attention of a local boss who controlled the largest concentration of illegal gambling dens in Karachi, located in the city's rough and tumble Ghas Mandi area, where Ahmed worked, said the policemen and a local journalist. The two teamed up to expand their gambling empire to other parts of Karachi and surrounding Sindh province.
Gambling was not always illegal in Pakistan, a nation of 180 million people that gained independence from Britain in 1947 as a sanctuary for Muslims who did not believe they could thrive as part of what is now India, a majority Hindu state. Despite the religious undertones of Pakistan's founding, the country's major cities, such as Karachi and Lahore, were relatively liberal places in the first few decades after independence. Alcohol flowed freely in nightclubs filled with dancing girls.
But in 1977, Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto banned gambling and alcohol for Muslims in an attempt to appease Islamic hard-liners. Drinking and gambling, which are forbidden in Islam, didn't stop, but much of it was driven underground.
The gambling dens in Ghas Mandi are hidden behind nondescript facades down dark alleyways with tangled electrical wires hanging overhead in one of the oldest and densest populated parts of Karachi.
In one den, a dozen men dressed in shalwar kameez sat in a semicircle on the floor playing a local card game, mang patta, beneath bare bulbs hanging from the ceiling. The men sipped tea and tossed 100 rupee ($1) poker chips at the dealer.
In an adjacent room, a handful of men played chakka, a game that involved guessing the numbers that would appear when the dealer rolled three dice out of what looked like an old leather Yahtzee cup. Rupee notes were placed on a table as bets and held in place by a large metal washer. Everyone stopped their games when the Muslim call to prayer came over a loudspeaker from a nearby mosque ? and they promptly resumed the dice and cards once the prayer ended.
Ahmed earned tens of thousands of dollars each day from hundreds of such gambling dens, said the policemen and journalist who knew him. He also collected extortion money from drug dealers and brothels and smuggled diesel fuel into Karachi from neighboring Iran, where it is much cheaper, they said.
He distributed cash to senior officials, and the pay-outs made him one of the most powerful people in Karachi's police force, said his acquaintances. He won significant influence over who was posted to senior positions, thus providing him with protection, they said. Known as a man of few words who rarely loses his cool, Ahmed also handed out money to Karachi's powerful criminal gangs and traveled with roughly a dozen armed guards as an insurance policy.
He was sailing smoothly through the underworld until one of the Supreme Court sessions in January.
A petitioner outlined to the court allegations of Ahmed's illicit activities and his power in the police force. Chief Justice Chaudhry then asked senior police officers and civilian officials who were present about the allegations. They all expressed ignorance.
But Deputy Inspector General Bashir Memon spoke up and backed the petitioner's claims.
"I said yes, Waseem 'Beater' is present among the ranks of the Karachi police. He controls the gambling business in Karachi," Memon told The Associated Press. "I also confirmed that he is involved in the transfer and posting of junior and senior police officers."
Another senior police officer in Sindh province, Sanaullah Abbasi, also testified that he knew Ahmed and that he controlled gambling dens in Karachi.
Chaudhry lambasted the senior officials for not going after Ahmed and asked Memon whether he was concerned about contradicting his colleagues.
"I replied, 'I only told you the truth,'" Memon told the AP.
As a sign of Ahmed's power, Memon said he was told the same day he would be transferred out of Karachi, but the Supreme Court canceled the transfer order.
Ahmed was dismissed from the police force after the Supreme Court hearing, according to two senior police officers, and government records indicate he flew to Dubai and has not returned.
Hassan Abbas, an expert on the Pakistani police at the New York-based Asia Society, said Ahmed's case provides a stark illustration of the level of corruption in the Karachi police force, which he described as the worst in any of Pakistan's major cities. Criminal cases are currently pending against 400 police officers serving in Karachi, said Abbas.
Civilian officials, who also benefit from corruption, have shown no willingness to reform the system, making the force relatively ineffective in cracking down on criminal gangs and Islamist militants in the city, said Abbas.
"The chaos in Karachi provides criminal gangs with the cover they need to operate," said Abbas. "Corruption provides an incentive to continue that chaos."
____
Follow Sebastian Abbot on Twitter: https://twitter.com/sebabbot
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/pakistan-underworld-cop-said-king-065254507.html
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Q&A: Europe's freezing Easter and global warming
STOCKHOLM (AP) ? Is it Easter or Christmas? Many Europeans would be forgiven for being confused by winter's icy grip on lands that should be thawing in springtime temperatures by now.
Britain is on track for the coldest March since 1962, according to national weather service the Met Office, which also says daily low temperatures in London are going to remain below freezing through the Easter holiday. The mean temperature in Britain from March 1-26 was 2.5 C (36.5 F) ? three degrees below the long-term average.
In Berlin, Good Friday saw a new round of snowfall and temperatures just above freezing. The city's popular lakeside beach opened for the season as planned, though it wasn't exactly beach weather. Some visitors built a snowman and few ventured into the freezing water.
___
What's going on?
As always when you talk about weather, natural variability is a big factor. But an increasing body of research suggests that cold spells like the one that has lingered in northern and central Europe for much of March could become more common as a result of global warming melting the Arctic ice cap.
Q: Why is it so cold in much of Europe right now?
A: Normally, European winters are kept relatively mild by wet, westerly winds from the Atlantic. But in March, the wind has been blowing mostly from the northeast, bringing freezing Arctic air down over much of Europe.
Q: So why are the winds coming from the northeast?
A: The winds are driven by atmospheric circulation patterns which in turn are affected by differences in air pressure between northern and southern latitudes. For much of March this circulation has been in a negative state, meaning the pressure difference is small. That weakens the westerly Atlantic winds and paves the way for cold air to sweep down over Europe from the Arctic and Siberia.
Q: What does that have to do with Arctic sea ice?
A: Global warming is melting the ice cap over the Arctic Ocean. Last September, it reached its lowest extent on record. Climate models show that the loss of sea ice ? which acts as a lid on the ocean, preventing it from giving off heat ? triggers feedback mechanisms that shake up the climate system further. A series of studies in recent years have shown that one such effect could be changes in atmospheric circulation, resulting in more frequent cold snaps in Europe.
Q: How would melting Arctic ice lead to cold snaps?
A: The theory is the loss of sea ice means more heat is released from the open ocean, warming the layer of polar air over the water. That reduces the temperature and air pressure differentials with more southern latitudes, increasing the likelihood of a negative state in the atmospheric circulation. Experts stress that winter weather is affected by many other factors, but several studies have shown the Arctic melt loads the dice in favor of colder and snowier winters in Europe. One study by scientists at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany showed European cold snaps could become three times more likely because of shrinking sea ice.
Q: What's the impact on the jet stream?
A: Some studies suggest that the shrinking sea ice also shifts the polar jet stream, a high-altitude air current that flows from west to east. Bigger waves in the meandering jet stream allow frigid air to spill southward from the Arctic, they say. Other climate experts are uncertain about this effect, saying more research is needed.
___
Associated Press writer Geir Moulson in Berlin contributed to this story.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/q-europes-freezing-easter-global-warming-145948472.html
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Correction: FDA-Multiple Sclerosis Drug story
WASHINGTON (AP) ? In a story March 27 about a new multiple sclerosis drug, The Associated Press reported erroneously that Novartis' drug Gilenya was launched in March 2011. The drug was launched in October 2010.
A corrected version of the story is below:
FDA approves new multiple sclerosis capsules
FDA approves pill-based Biogen Idec drug for multiple sclerosis symptoms
By MATTHEW PERRONE
AP Health Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) ? The Food and Drug Administration said Wednesday it approved a new drug from Biogen Idec to control multiple sclerosis in adults with hard-to-treat forms of the disease.
The twice-a-day capsules, called Tecfidera, offer a new option for multiple sclerosis, a debilitating disease in which the body attacks its own nervous system. Cambridge, Mass.-based Biogen Idec already sells two other drugs for the disease, but both require injections.
There is no cure for multiple sclerosis and most patients experience relapses of symptoms, including loss of balance, weakness in arms and legs, and blurred vision. Over time patients usually become weaker and less coordinated. More than 2 million people worldwide have the disease, with about 400,000 of them in the U.S., according to Biogen.
The FDA said it approved Tecfidera based on two studies showing patients taking the drug had fewer relapses than patients taking a dummy pill.
The approval gives Biogen a new product in an increasingly crowded field of multiple sclerosis drugs.
The biotech drugmaker already sells the once-a-week multiple sclerosis injection Avonex. It also markets the once-a-month injection Tysabri through a partnership with Elan Corp. PLC of Ireland. However, Tysabri's severe side effects have curtailed its use.
Tecfidera is designed to be taken orally, which could make it a preferred option for patients and doctors.
A Biogen executive said Wednesday that its three drugs would be used to treat different groups of patients.
"Multiple sclerosis is a reasonably complex disease and we think there are a lot of needs out there," said Tony Kingsely, a vice president at Biogen. "By having three drugs out there I think we can address a lot of those needs."
Kinglsey said the company will announce the pricing of the drug when it begins shipping in the next week.
Novartis launched the first pill-based multiple sclerosis drug, Gilenya, in October 2010. Sanofi won FDA approval for a second pill, its drug Aubagio, last September.
The top-selling drug for the disease worldwide is Copaxone, which is made by Teva Pharmaceutical Industries. That injection had sales of nearly $4 billion last year, according to Teva's latest financial report.
Avonex and Tysabri had annual sales of $2.7 billion and $1.5 billion in 2011, the most recent year for which Biogen has reported annual sales.
Biogen Idec Inc. shares rose $5.59, or 3.2 percent, to close Wednesday at $182.68.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/correction-fda-multiple-sclerosis-drug-story-181714541.html
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শুক্রবার, ২৯ মার্চ, ২০১৩
OUYA game console retail availability set for June 4 | Android ...
We know the OUYA game console began shipping out to the Kickstarter backers as of yesterday, however we are now seeing some additional details. These are details in terms of the shipping process as well as the upcoming retail launch date. The folks at OUYA have also given an updated status in terms of the amount of available games and left things with a promise that these shipments are ?only the beginning.?
In fact, the OUYA team has dubbed this an ?exclusive preview period? and promised that in the lead up to the June 4 retail availability ? users would be seeing goodies to include refinements to the user interface as well as new features. One point worth mentioning, these Kickstarter shipments are going out over time. In other words, just because you were a Kickstarter backer, that does not necessarily mean your OUYA console is ready to ship just yet. The shipping process is expected to last ?several weeks.?
Some good news for those with a console on the way as there should be plenty to keep you busy. As of this time there are just over a 100 available games including Final Fantasy III, Beast Boxing Turbo, Stalagflight, Knightmare Tower and Save the Puppies. Alternatively, for those looking to a bit more aside from gaming, we have already seen the OUYA serving as a media center thanks to XBMC.
Otherwise, it looks like those plugging in a console for the first time should expect a software update to be waiting. The OUYA team hasn?t detailed the update, however they did mention that moving forward, they hope these updates will be done in the background. Finally, as for games, you will have to put a credit/debit card on file for purchases, however all games are still free to try.
[via OUYA]
Source: http://androidcommunity.com/ouya-game-console-retail-availability-set-for-june-4-20130329/
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বৃহস্পতিবার, ২৮ মার্চ, ২০১৩
NBC executive: We're not replacing Matt Lauer
This Feb. 8, 2013 photo released by NBC shows co-hosts Savannah Guthrie, left, and Matt Lauer during a broadcast of the "Today" show in New York. A top NBC executive says the network is not considering replacing Matt Lauer as anchor of the "Today" show. NBC News executive Alex Wallace, who oversees the troubled morning show, made the comment Wednesday, March 27, 2013, in response to reports that the network had approached CNN's Anderson Cooper about the "Today" job. (AP Photo/NBC, Peter Kramer)
This Feb. 8, 2013 photo released by NBC shows co-hosts Savannah Guthrie, left, and Matt Lauer during a broadcast of the "Today" show in New York. A top NBC executive says the network is not considering replacing Matt Lauer as anchor of the "Today" show. NBC News executive Alex Wallace, who oversees the troubled morning show, made the comment Wednesday, March 27, 2013, in response to reports that the network had approached CNN's Anderson Cooper about the "Today" job. (AP Photo/NBC, Peter Kramer)
NEW YORK (AP) ? A top NBC News executive said Wednesday the network is not considering replacing Matt Lauer as anchor of the "Today" show despite reports that Anderson Cooper of CNN was approached about the in the job.
"Matt Lauer is the best in the business," said Alex Wallace, NBC News executive who oversees the "Today" show. "We want him in the 'Today' show anchor chair for many years to come."
Wallace spoke after reports of a meeting with Cooper first appeared in Deadline Hollywood. The report was confirmed to The Associated Press by a source who spoke on condition of anonymity because the discussions were private and was not authorized to speak to the media.
The longtime king of morning television, "Today" has fallen behind ABC's "Good Morning America" in the ratings over the past year, particularly since the messy ouster of Ann Curry as Lauer's co-anchor last summer. There has been a flurry of stories recently retracing that decision. Lauer has said he urged the network to move more slowly with its planned changes, but a New York magazine cover story this week suggested he didn't like Curry and did little to help her.
Whatever happened, it's clear that many "Today" viewers who did not like what happened to Curry have taken their anger out on Lauer.
In 2012, Lauer's positive "Q'' score was 23 ? meaning 23 percent of people who knew him considered Lauer one of their favorite broadcasters, according to Marketing Evaluations Inc., a company that measures public sentiment toward well-known personalities. Last summer that score dropped to 14 and this month stands at 9, the company said. For the first time, George Stephanopoulos of "Good Morning America" has surpassed him. Among women, who make up the bulk of morning show audiences, Stephanopoulos is nearly twice as popular as Lauer and his "GMA" partner, Robin Roberts, is nearly three times as popular, the company said.
Where in the world is Matt Lauer? Trapped in a vortex of bad vibes with no escape in sight.
The approach to Cooper could mean that NBC has concluded that the time is right to actively work on replacing Lauer. Or not: his contract expires at the end of 2014 and it is widely assumed that Lauer will be ready then to move on from a job he's held since 1997. Under those circumstances, a forward-looking management team would be expected to be looking at alternatives.
"NBC News has many exploratory talks with talent inside and outside of the network, but to read anything specific into that is presumptuous," said an NBC News executive who spoke on condition of anonymity because the person was not allowed to discuss personnel moves.
Lauer has talked about resetting "Today" to be more serious, with less emphasis on crime stories. NBC was criticized this week by advocates for sexual abuse victims because "Today" aired excerpts of an interview that filmmaker John Ziegler had with convicted Penn State molester Jerry Sandusky; Lauer interviewed Ziegler on the air.
Potential internal replacements for Lauer could include Willie Geist, who co-hosts the third hour of "Today" in addition to work on MSNBC's "Morning Joe," and "Meet the Press" anchor David Gregory. Both have subbed for Lauer when he was absent.
The question for many in the television industry is whether the "Today" show can hope to change its fortunes with Lauer at the helm. "Today" hasn't beaten "Good Morning America" for any week in the ratings since the Olympics last summer and with Roberts' return after an illness in February, the gap between the two shows hit its widest. NBC says preliminary numbers show the two shows last week were as close as they've been since December and that "Today" frequently wins among youthful news viewers.
"This awful, false narrative campaign against Matt has certainly made him vulnerable, but Matt is still, in my opinion, the best anchor who has ever occupied that chair," said Shelley Ross, former executive producer at "Good Morning America" and "The Early Show" at CBS, where she competed against Lauer. She said she believed NBC's competitors were helping to keep negative stories about Lauer alive.
NBC was right to replace Curry but handled it badly, she said.
The cyclical nature of television is also likely hurting Lauer. It's a rare personality that stays beloved forever. Ross and others in the industry believe that Lauer's latest contract, which reportedly pays him $25 million a year, drove a wedge between the anchor and viewers who no longer view him as a regular guy.
Paul Friedman, a former news executive at ABC and CBS, also said Lauer is the best he's seen in his role. But right now, ABC's "Good Morning America" is a broadcast that provides viewers with information from personalities who appear to be enjoying what they're doing.
"I don't think the fuss in the press is what matters to viewers," said Friedman, who teaches journalism at Connecticut's Quinnipiac University. "What matters is what is seen on the air, and right now what's on the air is a cast that doesn't appear to enjoy themselves and what they're doing ? as they do at 'Good Morning America.'"
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Hard questions for South Africa over CAR battle
JOHANNESBURG (AP) ? The South African government faced tough questions Wednesday about its military mission in the Central African Republic after 13 of its soldiers were killed by rebels there last week.
South Africa's political opposition called for a parliamentary inquiry into what the troops were doing in Central African Republic amid allegations that their tasks included the protection of Francois Bozize, the president who fled to Cameroon after his ouster.
South African authorities have denied deploying a presidential bodyguard, saying the original mission was to train the national army and that more forces went to protect South African "assets" as security deteriorated. The force of about 200 soldiers fought a much larger group of well-armed rebels in the capital, Bangui, before a truce was reached.
The South African contingent remained in the Central African Republic on Wednesday, said Brig. Gen. Xolani Mabanga, a military spokesman.
"They are still safe," Mabanga told The Associated Press. "The situation is still calm."
Yet the mandate of the battered South African force, based on a deal with an ousted government, was precarious at best. Allegations that Bozize was corrupt and a power-monger, cited by rebels as the reason for their uprising, have undercut South Africa's assertions that it was contributing to peace and stability.
The uproar comes as South Africa hosts the leaders of Brazil, Russia, India and China at the BRICS summit in Durban, an event that allows it to showcase its ambitions as a leader beyond its borders.
South Africa has a history of contributing to peacekeeping missions on the continent. According to Mabanga, it currently has troops in Congo under United Nations auspices, in Sudan's Darfur region under a mandate approved by the U.N. and African Union, and in a maritime security operation in Mozambique under a bilateral deal.
Jeff Dubazana, spokesman for the South African National Defense Union, said troops involved in the battle had told his organization that they were attacked not just by advancing rebels, but also rebellious forces under Bozize's command.
"We were a stumbling block toward achieving their mission, which was to topple Bozize," Dubazana said. The military union said South African troops had been instructed to protect the presidential palace and other government institutions.
In addition to the troop deaths, 27 South African soldiers were wounded in the battle that South Africa's military chief, Solly Shoke, said lasted 13 hours. Some accounts suggest rebel losses were far higher, running into the hundreds.
Dubazana said the reports of heavy rebel casualties reflected the high caliber of the South African troops, which he described as "highly specialized units" that "mainly deal with sensitive and dangerous missions" and were not likely to have had a training role in the Central African Republic.
The South African military on Tuesday released the names of the slain soldiers, including two corporals, two lance corporals and nine riflemen. It said they belonged to the 1 Parachute Battalion unit, based in Bloemfontein city. The battalion was among units that contributed to a South African peacekeeping mission in Burundi a decade ago.
The Citizen, a South African newspaper, quoted two unidentified South African soldiers wounded in the battle as saying the South African force had been spread around Bangui, protecting Bozize and guarding buildings. They also said they were caught in cross-fire between loyalist troops and rebels.
"We were positioned all over the city," one of the soldiers told the newspaper. "We had no real chance of holding on to every position."
The comments contradicted assertions by the South African military command that the forces were concentrated at a base that came under attack.
A couple of dozen South African troops had been in the Central African Republic for several years, but the government announced in January that it was sending hundreds more to the rebellion-prone nation. Critics have questioned why the deployment stemmed from a bilateral deal with Bozize, rather than under an international mandate common to peacekeeping missions.
Bantu Holomisa, an opposition lawmaker, wrote an open letter urging parliament to hold a hearing on the South African military mission.
Holomisa said the government had given "conflicting reports" about the mission's motive, and that authorities should clarify what national assets needed protection, including possible mineral rights in the resource-rich Central African Republic, also known by its acronymn CAR.
"We cannot accept the current explanations of what is going on," he wrote. "South Africans are in the dark about what circumstances led to the deployment of our service men and women in the CAR."
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/hard-questions-south-africa-over-car-battle-112238481.html
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Malala Yousafzai, shot for defying Taliban, to write book
LONDON (AP) ? Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani teenager shot in the head by the Taliban as she returned home from school, is writing a book about the traumatic event and her long-running campaign to promote children's education.
Publisher Weidenfeld and Nicolson announced that it would release "I am Malala" in Britain and Commonwealth countries this fall. Little, Brown and Co. will publish the 15-year-old's memoir in the United States and much of the rest of the world.
"Malala is already an inspiration to millions around the world. Reading her story of courage and survival will open minds, enlarge hearts, and eventually allow more girls and boys to receive the education they hunger for," said Michael Pietsch, executive vice president and publisher of Little, Brown.
A Taliban gunman shot Malala on Oct. 9 in northwestern Pakistan. The militant group said it targeted her because she promoted "Western thinking" and, through a blog, had been an outspoken critic of the Taliban's opposition to educating girls.
The shooting sparked outrage in Pakistan and many other countries, and her story drew global attention to the struggle for women's rights in Malala's homeland. The teen even made the shortlist for Time magazine's "Person of the Year" in 2012.
Malala was brought to the U.K. for treatment and spent several months in a hospital undergoing skull reconstruction and cochlear implant surgeries. She was released last month and has started attending school in Britain.
Malala said in a statement Wednesday that she hoped telling her story would be "part of the campaign to give every boy and girl the right to go to school.
"I hope the book will reach people around the world, so they realize how difficult it is for some children to get access to education," she said. "I want to tell my story, but it will also be the story of 61 million children who can't get education."
Publishers did not reveal the price tag for the book deal.
FILE - In this undated file photo provided by Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, England, Malala Yousufzai, the 15-year-old girl who was shot at close range in the head by a Taliban gunman in ... more? FILE - In this undated file photo provided by Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, England, Malala Yousufzai, the 15-year-old girl who was shot at close range in the head by a Taliban gunman in Pakistan, reads a book as she continues her recovery at the hospital. Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani teenager shot in the head by the Taliban, is writing a memoir. Publisher Weidenfeld and Nicolson said Thursday March 28, 2013 it will release "I am Malala" in Britain this fall. Little, Brown will publish it in the United States.A Taliban gunman shot Malala on Oct. 9, while she was on her way home from school in northwestern Pakistan. (AP Photo/Queen Elizabeth Hospital, File) less?Source: http://news.yahoo.com/shot-pakistani-teen-malala-yousafzai-writing-book-100913748.html
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বুধবার, ২৭ মার্চ, ২০১৩
Court might sidestep major ruling on gay marriage
This artist rendering shows attorney Charles J. Cooper, right, addressing the Supreme Court in Washington, Tuesday, March 26, 2013, as the court heard arguments on California's ban on same-sex marriage. Justices, from left are, Sonia Sotomayor, Stephen Breyer, Clarence Thomas, Antonin Scalia, Chief Justice John Roberts, and Justices Anthony Kennedy, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Samuel Alito and Elena Kagan. (AP Photo/Dana Verkouteren)
This artist rendering shows attorney Charles J. Cooper, right, addressing the Supreme Court in Washington, Tuesday, March 26, 2013, as the court heard arguments on California's ban on same-sex marriage. Justices, from left are, Sonia Sotomayor, Stephen Breyer, Clarence Thomas, Antonin Scalia, Chief Justice John Roberts, and Justices Anthony Kennedy, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Samuel Alito and Elena Kagan. (AP Photo/Dana Verkouteren)
Plaintiffs Kris Perry, left, and her partner Sandy Stier, right, both from Berkeley, Cailf., meet with the media outside the Supreme Court in Washington, Tuesday, March 26, 2013, after the court heard arguments on California's voter approved ban on same-sex marriage, Proposition 8. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
Demonstrators chant outside the Supreme Court in Washington, Tuesday, March 26, 2013, as the court heard arguments on California's voter approved ban on same-sex marriage, Proposition 8. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
Marcus, left, and Daniel German-Dominguez stand outside the Supreme Court in Washington, Tuesday, March 26, 2013, before the court's hearing on California?s voter approved ban on same-sex marriage. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
From left, plaintiffs Sandy Stier, with her partner Kris Perry, and their twin sons Spencer Perry and Elliott Perry, all from Berkeley, Calif., meet with reporters outside the Supreme Court in Washington, Tuesday, March 26, 2013, after the court heard arguments on California's voter approved ban on same-sex marriage, Proposition 8. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
WASHINGTON (AP) ? The Supreme Court dove into a historic debate on gay rights Tuesday that could soon lead to resumption of same-sex marriage in California, but the justices signaled they may not be ready for a major national ruling on whether America's gays and lesbians have a right to marry.
The court's first major examination of gay rights in 10 years continues Wednesday, when the justices will consider the federal law that prevents legally married gay couples from receiving a range of benefits afforded straight married people.
The issue before the court on Tuesday was more fundamental: Does the Constitution require that people be allowed to marry whom they choose, regardless of either partner's gender? The fact that the question was in front of the Supreme Court at all was startling, given that no state recognized same-sex unions before 2003 and 40 states still don't allow them.
There is no questioning the emotions the issue stirs. Demonstrators on both sides crowded the grounds outside the court, waving signs, sometimes chanting their feelings.
Inside, a skeptical Justice Samuel Alito cautioned against a broad ruling in favor of gay marriage precisely because the issue is so new.
"You want us to step in and render a decision based on an assessment of the effects of this institution which is newer than cellphones or the Internet? I mean, we do not have the ability to see the future," Alito said.
Indeed, it was clear from the start of the 80-minute argument in a packed courtroom, that the justices, including some liberals who seemed open to gay marriage, had doubts about whether they should even be hearing the challenge to California's Proposition 8, the state's voter-approved gay marriage ban.
Justice Anthony Kennedy, the potentially decisive vote on a closely divided court, suggested the justices could dismiss the case with no ruling at all.
Such an outcome would almost certainly allow gay marriages to resume in California but would have no impact elsewhere.
There was no majority apparent for any particular outcome, and many doubts were expressed by justices about the arguments advanced by lawyers for the opponents of gay marriage in California, by the supporters and by the Obama administration, which is in favor of same-sex marriage rights. The administration's entry into the case followed President Barack Obama's declaration of support for gay marriage.
On the one hand, Kennedy acknowledged the recentness of same-sex unions, a point stressed repeatedly by Charles Cooper, the lawyer for the defenders of Proposition 8. Cooper said the court should uphold the ban as a valid expression of the people's will and let the vigorous political debate over gay marriage continue.
But Kennedy pressed him also to address the interests of the estimated 40,000 children in California who have same-sex parents.
"They want their parents to have full recognition and full status. The voice of those children is important in this case, don't you think?" Kennedy said.
Yet when Theodore Olson, the lawyer for two same-sex couples, urged the court to support such marriage rights everywhere, Kennedy feared such a ruling would push the court into "uncharted waters." Olson said that the court similarly ventured into the unknown in 1967 when it struck down bans on interracial marriage in 16 states.
Kennedy challenged the accuracy of that comment, noting that other countries had had interracial marriages for hundreds of years.
The justice, whose vote usually decides the closest cases, also made clear he did not like the rationale of the federal appeals court that struck down Proposition 8, even though it cited earlier opinions in favor of gay rights that Kennedy had written.
That appeals court ruling applied only to California, where same-sex couples briefly had the right to marry before the state's voters in November 2008 adopted Proposition 8, a constitutional amendment that defined marriage as the union of a man and a woman.
Several members of the court also were troubled by the Obama administration's main contention that when states offer same-sex couples civil union rights of marriage, as California and eight other states do, they also must allow marriage. The other states are: Colorado, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Nevada, New Jersey, Oregon and Rhode Island.
"So a state that has made considerable progress has to go all the way, but at least the government's position is, if the state has done absolutely nothing at all, then it can do as it will," Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said.
Chief Justice John Roberts questioned whether gay marriage proponents were arguing over a mere label. "Same-sex couples have every other right. It's just about the label," Roberts said.
In the California case, if the court wants to find an exit without making a decision about gay marriage, it has two basic options.
It could rule that the opponents have no right, or legal standing, to defend Proposition 8 in court. Such an outcome also would leave in place the trial court decision in favor of the two same-sex couples who sued for the right to marry. On a practical level, California officials probably would order county clerks across the state to begin issuing marriage licenses to gay and lesbian couples, although some more conservative counties might object.
Alternatively, the justices could determine that they should not have agreed to hear the case in the first place, as happens a couple of times a term on average. In that situation, the court issues a one-sentence order dismissing the case "as improvidently granted." The effect of that would be to leave in place the appeals court ruling, which in the case of Proposition 8, applies only to California. The appeals court also voted to strike down the ban, but on somewhat different grounds than the trial court.
Reflecting the high interest in this week's cases, the court released an audio recording of Tuesday's argument shortly after it concluded and plans to the do same Wednesday. Tuesday's audio can be found at: http://tinyurl.com/dxefy2a. The last time the court provided same-day audio recordings was during its consideration of Obama's health care law.
Both sides of marriage question were well represented outside the courthouse. Supporters of gay marriage came with homemade signs including ones that read "a more perfect union" and "love is love."
Among the opponents was retired metal worker Mike Krzywonos, 57, of Pawtucket, R.I. He wore a button that read "marriage 1 man + 1 woman" and said his group represents the "silent majority."
Same-sex marriage is legal in nine states and the District of Columbia. The states are Connecticut, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Vermont and Washington.
Thirty states ban same-sex marriage in their constitutions, while ten states bar them under state laws. New Mexico law is silent on the issue.
Polls have shown increasing support in the country for gay marriage. According to a Pew Research Center poll conducted in mid-March, 49 percent of Americans now favor allowing gays and lesbians to marry legally, with 44 percent opposed.
A good part of the give-and-take Tuesday concerned Cooper's argument that the state has a legitimate interest in limiting marriage to heterosexuals since they have the unique ability to have children.
He and Justice Elena Kagan engaged in a lengthy, sometimes humorous, exchange on the topic.
If a state can use the ability to have children as a reason to prohibit same-sex marriage, what about couples over the age of 55? Kagan asked.
"Your Honor, even with respect to couples over the age of 55, it is very rare that both parties to the couple are infertile," Cooper said.
Kagan cut in: "I can just assure you, if both the woman and the man are over the age of 55, there are not a lot of children coming out of that marriage."
At another point, Justice Antonin Scalia, who has dissented in the court's previous gay rights cases, invoked the well-being of children to bolster Cooper's case.
"If you redefine marriage to include same-sex couples, you must permit adoption by same-sex couples, and there's considerable disagreement among sociologists as to what the consequences of raising a child in a single-sex family, whether that is harmful to the child or not," Scalia said.
The California case was argued 10 years to the day after the court took up a challenge to Texas' anti-sodomy statute. That case ended with a forceful ruling prohibiting states from criminalizing sexual relations between consenting adults.
Kennedy was the author of the decision in Lawrence v. Texas in 2003, and he is being closely watched for how he might vote on the California ban. He cautioned in the Lawrence case that it had nothing to do with gay marriage, but dissenting Justice Scalia predicted the decision would lead to the invalidation of state laws against same-sex marriage.
Kennedy's decision is widely cited in the briefs in support of same-sex unions.
The California couples, Kris Perry and Sandy Stier of Berkeley and Paul Katami and Jeff Zarrillo of Burbank, filed their federal lawsuit in May 2009 to overturn the same-sex marriage ban that voters approved the previous November. The ballot measure halted same-sex unions in California, which began in June 2008 after a ruling from the California Supreme Court.
Roughly 18,000 couples were wed in the nearly five months that same-sex marriage was legal and those marriages remain valid in California.
The case is Hollingsworth v. Perry, 12-144.
___
Associated Press writer Jessica Gresko contributed to this report.
___
Follow Mark Sherman on Twitter at: www.twitter.com/shermancourt
Follow Jessica Gresko on Twitter at: www.twitter.com/jessicagresko
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মঙ্গলবার, ২৬ মার্চ, ২০১৩
Arguments in the home linked with babies' brain functioning
Mar. 25, 2013 ? Being exposed to arguments between parents is associated with the way babies' brains process emotional tone of voice, according to a new study to be published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.
The study, conducted by graduate student Alice Graham with her advisors Phil Fisher and Jennifer Pfeifer of the University of Oregon, found that infants respond to angry tone of voice, even when they're asleep.
Babies' brains are highly plastic, allowing them to develop in response to the environments and encounters they experience. But this plasticity comes with a certain degree of vulnerability -- research has shown that severe stress, such as maltreatment or institutionalization, can have a significant, negative impact on child development.
Graham and colleagues wondered what the impact of more moderate stressors might be.
"We were interested in whether a common source of early stress in children's lives -- conflict between parents -- is associated with how infants' brains function," says Graham.
Graham and colleagues decided to take advantage of recent developments in fMRI scanning with infants to answer this question.
Twenty infants, ranging in age from 6 to 12 months, came into the lab at their regular bedtime. While they were asleep in the scanner, the infants were presented with nonsense sentences spoken in very angry, mildly angry, happy, and neutral tones of voice by a male adult.
"Even during sleep, infants showed distinct patterns of brain activity depending on the emotional tone of voice we presented," says Graham.
The researchers found that infants from high conflict homes showed greater reactivity to very angry tone of voice in brain areas linked to stress and emotion regulation, such as the anterior cingulate cortex, caudate, thalamus, and hypothalamus.
Previous research with animals has shown that these brain areas play an important role in the impact of early life stress on development -- the results of this new study suggest that the same might be true for human infants.
According to Graham and colleagues, these findings show that babies are not oblivious to their parents' conflicts, and exposure to these conflicts may influence the way babies' brains process emotion and stress.
Support for this work was provided by the Center for Drug Abuse Prevention in the Child Welfare System (1-P30-DA023920); the Early Experience, Stress, and Neurobehavioral Development Center (1-P50-MH078105); a Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (F31-10667639); and the Lewis Center for NeuroImaging at the University of Oregon.
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Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_health/~3/sLArOIeEaa4/130325135359.htm
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NJ professor's quixotic quest to be Iran president
In this photograph taken Wednesday, March 13, 2013, Dr. Hooshang Amirahmadi talks to The Associated Press in New Brunswick, N.J. Amirahmadi, a professor at Rutgers University, is running for president of Iran. The liberal professor is embarking on a Quixotic quest and must still win approval from the supreme leader's Iranian supreme council, which many say won't happen. But Amirahamadi is resolute, running a grassroots campaign and tapping into Iranian expats who want to see the country open up to the west. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
In this photograph taken Wednesday, March 13, 2013, Dr. Hooshang Amirahmadi talks to The Associated Press in New Brunswick, N.J. Amirahmadi, a professor at Rutgers University, is running for president of Iran. The liberal professor is embarking on a Quixotic quest and must still win approval from the supreme leader's Iranian supreme council, which many say won't happen. But Amirahamadi is resolute, running a grassroots campaign and tapping into Iranian expats who want to see the country open up to the west. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
In this photograph taken Wednesday, March 13, 2013, Dr. Hooshang Amirahmadi poses for The Associated Press in New Brunswick, N.J. Amirahmadi, a professor at Rutgers University, is running for president of Iran. The liberal professor is embarking on a Quixotic quest and must still win approval from the supreme leader's Iranian supreme council, which many say won't happen. But Amirahamadi is resolute, running a grassroots campaign and tapping into Iranian expats who want to see the country open up to the west. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
In this photograph taken Wednesday, March 13, 2013, Dr. Hooshang Amirahmadi poses for The Associated Press in New Brunswick, N.J. Amirahmadi, a professor at Rutgers University, is running for president of Iran. The liberal professor is embarking on a Quixotic quest and must still win approval from the supreme leader's Iranian supreme council, which many say won't happen. But Amirahamadi is resolute, running a grassroots campaign and tapping into Iranian expats who want to see the country open up to the west. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
In this photograph taken Wednesday, March 13, 2013, Dr. Hooshang Amirahmadi poses for The Associated Press in New Brunswick, N.J. Amirahmadi, a professor at Rutgers University, is running for president of Iran. The liberal professor is embarking on a Quixotic quest and must still win approval from the supreme leader's Iranian supreme council, which many say won't happen. But Amirahamadi is resolute, running a grassroots campaign and tapping into Iranian expats who want to see the country open up to the west. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. (AP) ? The man who wants to be the next president of Iran sits in a hotel lobby, steps from his office and thousands of miles away from the country he wants to lead, a distance surpassed only by the hurdles he needs to clear even to land on the ballot.
Hooshang Amirahmadi, a bespectacled professor of public policy at Rutgers University, declared his candidacy for the Iranian presidency last year. He's now well into a quixotic quest that has taken him on fundraising jaunts from New York to California to Dubai and, finally, to Iran next month.
Amirahmadi, 65, has lived in the United States for 40 years, calling it "my country." He married his wife here, and his daughter was raised in New Jersey. But he feels compelled to run for office in Iran to reconcile the conflict he and other Iranian-Americans feel within.
"I feel like, you know, it's not easy to be an Iranian originally and be here, and be a citizen of this country, and see the two sides of you fight each other every day," Amirahmadi said.
Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, was elected to his second term in 2009 in an election that sparked pro-democracy protests. He is not eligible to run again.
Under Ahmadinejad, Iran has increasingly become defiant over its nuclear program, refusing to bow to Western pressure and sanctions. Ahamadinejad has also said that Israel must be "wiped off the map" and has hurled bizarre accusations against Western countries, including that they caused a drought in Iran.
Years ago, Amirahmadi's now 21-year-old daughter asked why the two countries couldn't get along. The professor said he was moved by her question. He founded the nonprofit American Iranian Council and started working to smooth diplomatic relations between the countries.
Even though he is already a behind-the-scenes player, Amirahmadi's candidacy is a long shot. He and all Iranian presidential candidates must be approved by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei's Guardian Council ahead of the June election. His American citizenship, along with his beliefs, including freedom of the press and a government based on "rationalism" rather than religion, may immediately disqualify him.
"This is not a serious candidacy at all," said Mehrzad Boroujerdi, a professor of political science at Syracuse University. "He has no chance whatsoever getting an OK from the Guardian Council. Indeed, his American citizenship will disqualify him easily."
Amirahmadi said he has dual American and Iranian citizenship.
The head of the Guardian Council, Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, said this month that Iranian elections are the "freest in the world" and that candidates will be chosen in accordance with the law.
A U.N. investigator said this month that there are widespread human rights abuses in Iran and expressed concern that torture and increased crackdowns on activists, journalists and lawyers could undermine the fairness of the election.
Waving off the skeptics, Amirahmadi is confident he will be approved. He has spoken with members of the council about his presidency, but not the supreme leader. He thinks that his years working in both the U.S. and Iran ? he goes back about once a year and has worked on various projects in the country ? put him in a rare position to broker deals.
"The Islamic Republic could not go to the God tomorrow and say, 'Create a human being for me with these particular characteristics, who's a bridge builder, a peacemaker and an economic developer all in one,'" Amirahmadi said of himself, stressing that he is not aligned with any of the country's political factions.
"I have probably the best chance to bring them together," he said of the U.S. and Iran.
He thinks most issues between Iran and the United States can be solved through diplomacy and restoration of trust. Diplomatic relations between the U.S. and Iran ended with the country's 1979 Islamic Revolution, when the American Embassy was overtaken by protesters opposed to the Iranian monarchy that was installed by a CIA-led coup. American diplomatic workers were held hostage for 444 days.
Iran, he said, has a right to have nuclear enrichment facilities. The solution is getting the West to trust the country.
"I don't believe the problem is nuclear enrichment," he said. "The problem is lack of trust."
Amirahmadi has spent his candidacy courting people like himself ? Iranian expatriates. He has crisscrossed the globe, looking to raise money and secure votes among a group that can cast ballots in the Iranian election. He spent five hours answering questions from a receptive group on a Reddit Ask-Me-Anything forum last month.
But creating a single voting bloc from a large, multifaceted worldwide community is difficult.
For some, any kind of engagement with the government, including voting, would be tantamount to accepting the regime, said Naghmeh Sorhabi, an assistant professor of Middle East History at Brandeis University.
"There's quite a huge number of people outside Iran who think that any kind of engagement with the government is a way of giving the government legitimacy," Sorhabi said.
If anything, Amirahmadi's campaign could spark a conversation in Iranian communities worldwide about how they want to engage with the homeland ? and potentially bring about a new type of politics.
"How does one engage a diaspora community with a regime that many people outside of Iran think is illegitimate?" Sorhabi asked.
Iranian elections are extremely competitive, but there is little transparency when it comes to campaign finance.
Amirahmadi concedes his campaign is small. He has raised between $55,000 and $60,000 in the United States and about $80,000 in Dubai. A few friends ? especially in Dubai ? have given donations of $10,000 or more, but most are $10 contributions that trickle in.
Amirahmadi said he has appeared on satellite television in Iran, which is beamed in from outside the country to avoid censors. He plans to travel to the country early next month to lay the groundwork for the grassroots campaign, and wants to appoint a female campaign manager. He was last there in 2012.
"My hope is to go back to Iran and make a splash," he said.
___
Associated Press writer Shaya Tayefe Mohajer in Los Angeles contributed to this report. Follow Katie Zezima at http://twitter.com/katiezez
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Simulations uncover obstacle to harnessing laser-driven fusion
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Public release date: 26-Mar-2013[ | E-mail |
Share ] Contact: Mr. Jamie Abel
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Ohio Supercomputer Center
Under realistic conditions, hollow cones fail to guide energetic electrons to fuel
A once-promising approach for using next-generation, ultra-intense lasers to help deliver commercially viable fusion energy has been brought into serious question by new experimental results and first-of-a-kind simulations of laser-plasma interaction.
Researchers at The Ohio State University are evaluating a two-stage process in which a pellet of fusion fuel is first crushed by lasers on all sides, shrinking the pellet to dozens of times its original size, followed by an ultra-intense burst of laser light to ignite a chain reaction. This two-stage approach is called Fast Ignition, and there are a few variants on the theme. In a recent paper, the Ohio State research group considered the long-discussed possibility of using a hollow cone to maintain a channel for the ultra-intense "ignitor pulse" to focus laser energy on the compressed pellet core. Drawing on both experimental results from studies at the Titan Laser at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, and massively-parallel computer simulations of the laser-target interaction performed at the Ohio Supercomputer Center (OSC) in Columbus, Ohio, the research team found compelling evidence that the cone-guided approach to Fast Ignition has a serious flaw.
"In the history of fusion research, two-steps-forward and one-step-back stories are a common theme," said Chris Orban, Ph.D., a researcher of the High Energy Density Physics research group at Ohio State and the lead theorist on the project. "But sometimes progress is about seeing what's not going to work, just as much as it is looking forward to the next big idea."
Since the ultra-intense pulse delivers energy to the fuel through relativistic electrons accelerated by the laser interaction, the Ohio State study focused on the coupling of the laser light to electrons and the propagation of those electrons through the cone target. Rather than investigating how the interaction would work on a high-demand, high-cost facility like the National Ignition Facility (NIF), which is also based at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and one of the largest scientific operations in the world, the researchers considered experiments just across from NIF at the Titan laser, which is much smaller and easily accessible.
Despite its size and despite having lower total energy, for a brief moment the Titan laser is many thousands of times more intense than NIF, which makes it a decent stand-in as a second-stage ignitor pulse. The OSU-led experimental team focused the Titan pulse on hollow cone targets attached at the tip to copper wires and observed the burst of X-ray photons coming from the copper as a measure of the laser energy to relativistic electron conversion efficiency.
The X-ray signal was much lower from the hollow cones with thicker cone walls. "This was strong evidence to the experimental team that the typical approach to cone-guided Fast Ignition wouldn't work, since thicker cones should be more realistic than thin cones," said Orban. "This is because electrons are free to move around in a dense plasma, much like they do in a normal metal, so the thicker cone target is like a thin cone embedded in a dense plasma."
These intuitions were tested in simulations performed at OSC. Whereas earlier efforts to simulate the laser-target interaction were forced to simplify or shrink the target size in order to make the calculations more feasible, Orban used the LSP code to perform the first-ever, full-scale 2D Particle-In-Cell simulations of the entire laser-target interaction using fully realistic laser fields.
These simulations also included a sophisticated model for the pre-heating of the target from stray laser light ahead of the ultra-intense pulse developed by collaborators at the Flash Center for Computational Science at the University of Chicago.
"We were delighted to help Chris use the FLASH code to provide realistic initial conditions for his Particle-In-Cell simulations," said Don Lamb, director of the Flash Center. "This is an outstanding example of how two groups can collaborate to achieve a scientific result that neither could have achieved alone."
To conduct the simulations, the Ohio State researchers accessed OSC's flagship Oakley Cluster supercomputer system. The HP-built system features 8,300+ Intel Xeon cores and 128 NVIDIA Tesla GPUs. Oakley can achieve 88 teraflops, tech-speak for performing 88 trillion calculations per second, or, with acceleration from the NVIDIA GPUs, a total peak performance of 154 teraflops.
"The simulations pointed to the electric fields building up on the edge of the cone as the key to everything," said Orban. "The thicker the cone is, the further away the cone edge is from the laser, and as a result fewer energetic electrons are deflected forward, which is the crucial issue in making cone-guided Fast Ignition a viable approach."
With both the experiment and the simulations telling the same story, the evidence is compelling that the cone-guided route to Fast Ignition is an unlikely one. While other studies have come to similar conclusions, the group was the first to identify the plasma surrounding the cone as a severe hindrance. Thankfully, there are still many other ideas for successfully igniting the fusion pellet with current or soon-to-be-constructed laser facilities. Any future efforts to spark fusion reactions with these lasers using a two-stage fast-ignition approach must be mindful to consider the neutralizing effect of the free electrons in the dense plasma.
"We could not have completed this project without the Oakley Cluster," Orban noted. "It was the perfect combination of speed and RAM and availability for us. And thanks to the profiling I was able to do, the compute time for our production runs went from two weeks in November 2011 to three or four days as of February 2012."
"Energy and the environment is one of the primary focus areas of the center, and this research fits perfectly into that domain," said Brian Guilfoos, the client and technology support manager for OSC. "Many of our systems were designed and software packages selected to best support the type of computing required by investigators working in fields related to our focus areas."
###
The paper describing the study, "Coupling of high-intensity laser light to fast electrons in cone-guided fast ignition," was recently published in Physical Review E, a journal of the American Physical Society.
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Public release date: 26-Mar-2013[ | E-mail |
Share ] Contact: Mr. Jamie Abel
jabel@oh-tech.org
614-292-6495
Ohio Supercomputer Center
Under realistic conditions, hollow cones fail to guide energetic electrons to fuel
A once-promising approach for using next-generation, ultra-intense lasers to help deliver commercially viable fusion energy has been brought into serious question by new experimental results and first-of-a-kind simulations of laser-plasma interaction.
Researchers at The Ohio State University are evaluating a two-stage process in which a pellet of fusion fuel is first crushed by lasers on all sides, shrinking the pellet to dozens of times its original size, followed by an ultra-intense burst of laser light to ignite a chain reaction. This two-stage approach is called Fast Ignition, and there are a few variants on the theme. In a recent paper, the Ohio State research group considered the long-discussed possibility of using a hollow cone to maintain a channel for the ultra-intense "ignitor pulse" to focus laser energy on the compressed pellet core. Drawing on both experimental results from studies at the Titan Laser at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, and massively-parallel computer simulations of the laser-target interaction performed at the Ohio Supercomputer Center (OSC) in Columbus, Ohio, the research team found compelling evidence that the cone-guided approach to Fast Ignition has a serious flaw.
"In the history of fusion research, two-steps-forward and one-step-back stories are a common theme," said Chris Orban, Ph.D., a researcher of the High Energy Density Physics research group at Ohio State and the lead theorist on the project. "But sometimes progress is about seeing what's not going to work, just as much as it is looking forward to the next big idea."
Since the ultra-intense pulse delivers energy to the fuel through relativistic electrons accelerated by the laser interaction, the Ohio State study focused on the coupling of the laser light to electrons and the propagation of those electrons through the cone target. Rather than investigating how the interaction would work on a high-demand, high-cost facility like the National Ignition Facility (NIF), which is also based at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and one of the largest scientific operations in the world, the researchers considered experiments just across from NIF at the Titan laser, which is much smaller and easily accessible.
Despite its size and despite having lower total energy, for a brief moment the Titan laser is many thousands of times more intense than NIF, which makes it a decent stand-in as a second-stage ignitor pulse. The OSU-led experimental team focused the Titan pulse on hollow cone targets attached at the tip to copper wires and observed the burst of X-ray photons coming from the copper as a measure of the laser energy to relativistic electron conversion efficiency.
The X-ray signal was much lower from the hollow cones with thicker cone walls. "This was strong evidence to the experimental team that the typical approach to cone-guided Fast Ignition wouldn't work, since thicker cones should be more realistic than thin cones," said Orban. "This is because electrons are free to move around in a dense plasma, much like they do in a normal metal, so the thicker cone target is like a thin cone embedded in a dense plasma."
These intuitions were tested in simulations performed at OSC. Whereas earlier efforts to simulate the laser-target interaction were forced to simplify or shrink the target size in order to make the calculations more feasible, Orban used the LSP code to perform the first-ever, full-scale 2D Particle-In-Cell simulations of the entire laser-target interaction using fully realistic laser fields.
These simulations also included a sophisticated model for the pre-heating of the target from stray laser light ahead of the ultra-intense pulse developed by collaborators at the Flash Center for Computational Science at the University of Chicago.
"We were delighted to help Chris use the FLASH code to provide realistic initial conditions for his Particle-In-Cell simulations," said Don Lamb, director of the Flash Center. "This is an outstanding example of how two groups can collaborate to achieve a scientific result that neither could have achieved alone."
To conduct the simulations, the Ohio State researchers accessed OSC's flagship Oakley Cluster supercomputer system. The HP-built system features 8,300+ Intel Xeon cores and 128 NVIDIA Tesla GPUs. Oakley can achieve 88 teraflops, tech-speak for performing 88 trillion calculations per second, or, with acceleration from the NVIDIA GPUs, a total peak performance of 154 teraflops.
"The simulations pointed to the electric fields building up on the edge of the cone as the key to everything," said Orban. "The thicker the cone is, the further away the cone edge is from the laser, and as a result fewer energetic electrons are deflected forward, which is the crucial issue in making cone-guided Fast Ignition a viable approach."
With both the experiment and the simulations telling the same story, the evidence is compelling that the cone-guided route to Fast Ignition is an unlikely one. While other studies have come to similar conclusions, the group was the first to identify the plasma surrounding the cone as a severe hindrance. Thankfully, there are still many other ideas for successfully igniting the fusion pellet with current or soon-to-be-constructed laser facilities. Any future efforts to spark fusion reactions with these lasers using a two-stage fast-ignition approach must be mindful to consider the neutralizing effect of the free electrons in the dense plasma.
"We could not have completed this project without the Oakley Cluster," Orban noted. "It was the perfect combination of speed and RAM and availability for us. And thanks to the profiling I was able to do, the compute time for our production runs went from two weeks in November 2011 to three or four days as of February 2012."
"Energy and the environment is one of the primary focus areas of the center, and this research fits perfectly into that domain," said Brian Guilfoos, the client and technology support manager for OSC. "Many of our systems were designed and software packages selected to best support the type of computing required by investigators working in fields related to our focus areas."
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The paper describing the study, "Coupling of high-intensity laser light to fast electrons in cone-guided fast ignition," was recently published in Physical Review E, a journal of the American Physical Society.
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Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-03/osc-suo032613.php
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