Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/287827062?client_source=feed&format=rss
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Thursday, February 28, 2013
NASA's Van Allen Probes reveal a new radiation belt around Earth
Feb. 28, 2013 ? NASA's Van Allen Probes mission has discovered a previously unknown third radiation belt around Earth, revealing the existence of unexpected structures and processes within these hazardous regions of space.
Previous observations of Earth's Van Allen belts have long documented two distinct regions of trapped radiation surrounding our planet. Particle detection instruments aboard the twin Van Allen Probes, launched Aug. 30, quickly revealed to scientists the existence of this new, transient, third radiation belt.
The belts, named for their discoverer, James Van Allen, are critical regions for modern society, which is dependent on many space-based technologies. The Van Allen belts are affected by solar storms and space weather and can swell dramatically. When this occurs, they can pose dangers to communications and GPS satellites, as well as humans in space.
"The fantastic new capabilities and advances in technology in the Van Allen Probes have allowed scientists to see in unprecedented detail how the radiation belts are populated with charged particles and will provide insight on what causes them to change, and how these processes affect the upper reaches of Earth's atmosphere," said John Grunsfeld, NASA's associate administrator for science in Washington.
This discovery shows the dynamic and variable nature of the radiation belts and improves our understanding of how they respond to solar activity. The findings, published February 28 in the journal Science, are the result of data gathered by the first dual-spacecraft mission to fly through our planet's radiation belts.
The new high-resolution observations by the Relativistic Electron Proton Telescope (REPT) instrument, part of the Energetic Particle, Composition, and Thermal Plasma Suite (ECT) aboard the Van Allen Probes, revealed there can be three distinct, long-lasting belt structures with the emergence of a second empty slot region, or space, in between.
"This is the first time we have had such high-resolution instruments look at time, space and energy together in the outer belt," said Daniel Baker, lead author of the study and REPT instrument lead at the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) at the University of Colorado in Boulder. "Previous observations of the outer radiation belt only resolved it as a single blurry element. When we turned REPT on just two days after launch, a powerful electron acceleration event was already in progress, and we clearly saw the new belt and new slot between it and the outer belt."
Scientists observed the third belt for four weeks before a powerful interplanetary shock wave from the sun annihilated it. Observations were made by scientists from institutions including LASP; NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.; Los Alamos National Laboratory in Los Alamos, N.M.; and the Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans, and Space at the University of New Hampshire in Durham.
Each Van Allen Probe carries an identical set of five instrument suites that allow scientists to gather data on the belts in unprecedented detail. The data are important for the study of the effect of space weather on Earth, as well as fundamental physical processes observed around other objects, such as planets in our solar system and distant nebulae.
"Even 55 years after their discovery, the Earth's radiation belts still are capable of surprising us and still have mysteries to discover and explain," said Nicky Fox, Van Allen Probes deputy project scientist at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md. "We thought we knew the radiation belts, but we don't. The advances in technology and detection made by NASA in this mission already have had an almost immediate impact on basic science."
The Van Allen Probes are the second mission in NASA's Living With a Star Program to explore aspects of the connected sun-Earth system that directly affect life and society. Goddard manages the program. The Applied Physics Laboratory built the spacecraft and manages the mission for NASA.
For more information on the Van Allen Probes, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/vanallenprobes
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by NASA.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Journal Reference:
- D. N. Baker, S. G. Kanekal, V. C. Hoxie, M. G. Henderson, X. Li, H. E. Spence, S. R. Elkington, R. H. W. Friedel, J. Goldstein, M. K. Hudson, G. D. Reeves, R. M. Thorne, C. A. Kletzing, and S. G. Claudepierre. A Long-Lived Relativistic Electron Storage Ring Embedded in Earth's Outer Van Allen Belt. Science, 2013; DOI: 10.1126/science.1233518
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/02/130228155430.htm
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Metal ions regulate terpenoid metabolism in insects
![[ Back to EurekAlert! ]](http://www.eurekalert.org/images/back2e.gif){kind=small}
Public release date: 28-Feb-2013[ | E-mail |
Share ] Contact: Antje Burse
aburse@ice.mpg.de
49-364-157-1265
Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology
Controlled by metal ions, a prenyl synthase in leaf beetle larvae produces the precursors for chemical defenses or juvenile hormones
This press release is available in German.
Max Planck scientists in Jena, Germany, have discovered an unusual regulation of enzymes that catalyze chain elongation in an important secondary metabolism, the terpenoid pathway. In the horseradish leaf beetle Phaedon cochleariae a single enzyme can trigger the production of two completely different substances depending on whether it is regulated by cobalt, manganese or magnesium ions: iridoids, which are defensive substances the larvae use to repel predators, or juvenile hormones, which control insect's development. Insects unlike plants do not have a large arsenal of the proteins called isoprenyl diphosphate synthases. Therefore they may have developed another efficient option to channel metabolites into the different directions of terpenoid metabolism by using metal ions for control. (PNAS, Early Edition, February 25, 2013, DOI:10.1073/pnas.1221489110)
Natural products: 40,000 terpenes
Apart from the primary metabolism which produces substances that ensure the survival of the cells, there are additional biosynthetic pathways in all organisms. Their products may be less important for a single cell, but they can nevertheless be essential for the whole organism. These pathways are summarized as secondary metabolism. One of them is the terpenoid pathway: with more than 40,000 different known structures it generates one of the largest classes of natural products. Terpenoid molecules have diverse functions and can act as components in molecular signaling pathways, as toxins, fragrances or hormones.
The basic unit of all terpenes is a simple molecule containing five carbon atoms that can be joined to chains of different length. There are monoterpenes (C10 units, 2 x C5), sesquiterpenes (C15, 3 x C5), and even polymers, such as natural rubber, which comprises several hundred C5 units. Special enzymes mediate chain elongation. These enzymes have attracted the curiosity of scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology, Jena, and the Leibniz Institute for Plant Biochemistry in Halle. They studied mechanistic alternatives of how chain elongation is regulated.
Metal ions instead of specialized enzymes
Enzymes involved in chain elongation belong to the group of isoprenyl diphosphate synthases. Such an enzyme was isolated from larvae of the horseradish leaf beetle Phaedon cochleariae. It raised the interest of Antje Burse, project group leader in the Department of Bioorganic Chemistry at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology.
Experiments with larvae in which the enzyme encoding gene was silenced showed that the protein was involved in the formation of the C10 monoterpene chrysomelidial that larvae produce to defend themselves against predators. The larvae accumulate this monoterpene in special glands and release it as a defensive secretion when they are attacked by their enemies, such as ants.
However, surprising results emerged after comprehensive biochemical characterization of the enzyme. "After we had conducted an in vitro analysis of the protein, including measurements of product formation in the presence of different metal ions as co-factors, we were surprised to discover that only geranyl diphosphate (C10), a precursor for the defensive substance chrysomelidial, was produced after addition of cobalt and manganese ions. On the other hand, adding magnesium ions resulted in the formation of farnesyl diphosphate (C15), a potential precursor for juvenile hormones, which is 5 carbon atoms longer," says the scientist. All three metals were found in larval tissue, leading to the assumption that enzyme catalysis is directed by the different metal co-factors in the larvae, whichever is predominant in amount: Towards toxin or hormone ? physiologically a major difference.
Sequence comparisons cannot replace a thorough biochemical analysis
How the different metal ions modify the product range of the enzyme is still unclear. It is very likely that the varying atomic radii of the metal ions involved in the catalysis effect changes in the spatial structure of the enzyme, which prevent or allow the admission of a third C5 unit and hence result in the production of C10 or C15 molecules.
"Our experiments provide two important findings," says Wilhelm Boland, director at the Max Planck Institute. "First, the directing influence of metal ions on the product formation of isoprenyl diphosphate synthases is a novel "control element" in the regulation of the terpene metabolism which should be included in future experimental settings. And secondly: The diversity of terpenoid molecules cannot be attributed solely to the broad substrate specificity of some enzymes in the last steps of the metabolic pathway, but is in fact already inherent in early biosynthetic steps." Nature continues to provide interesting answers to the question how organisms manage to produce tens of thousands of different secondary metabolites. [JWK/AO]
###
Original Publication:
Sindy Frick, Raimund Nagel, Axel Schmidt, Ren R. Bodemann, Peter Rahfeld, Gerhard Pauls, Wolfgang Brandt Jonathan Gershenzon, Wilhelm Boland, Antje Burse: Metal ions control product specificity of isoprenyl diphosphate synthases in the insect terpenoid pathway. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, Early Edition, February 25, 2013, DOI:10.1073/pnas.1221489110 http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1221489110
Further Information:
Dr. Antje Burse
49-3641-57-1265
aburse@ice.mpg.de
Picture Requests:
Angela Overmeyer M.A.
49-3641-57-2110
overmeyer@ice.mpg.de
or Download via www.ice.mpg.de/ext/735.html
[ | E-mail | Share ] ?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Public release date: 28-Feb-2013[ | E-mail |
Share ] Contact: Antje Burse
aburse@ice.mpg.de
49-364-157-1265
Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology
Controlled by metal ions, a prenyl synthase in leaf beetle larvae produces the precursors for chemical defenses or juvenile hormones
This press release is available in German.
Max Planck scientists in Jena, Germany, have discovered an unusual regulation of enzymes that catalyze chain elongation in an important secondary metabolism, the terpenoid pathway. In the horseradish leaf beetle Phaedon cochleariae a single enzyme can trigger the production of two completely different substances depending on whether it is regulated by cobalt, manganese or magnesium ions: iridoids, which are defensive substances the larvae use to repel predators, or juvenile hormones, which control insect's development. Insects unlike plants do not have a large arsenal of the proteins called isoprenyl diphosphate synthases. Therefore they may have developed another efficient option to channel metabolites into the different directions of terpenoid metabolism by using metal ions for control. (PNAS, Early Edition, February 25, 2013, DOI:10.1073/pnas.1221489110)
Natural products: 40,000 terpenes
Apart from the primary metabolism which produces substances that ensure the survival of the cells, there are additional biosynthetic pathways in all organisms. Their products may be less important for a single cell, but they can nevertheless be essential for the whole organism. These pathways are summarized as secondary metabolism. One of them is the terpenoid pathway: with more than 40,000 different known structures it generates one of the largest classes of natural products. Terpenoid molecules have diverse functions and can act as components in molecular signaling pathways, as toxins, fragrances or hormones.
The basic unit of all terpenes is a simple molecule containing five carbon atoms that can be joined to chains of different length. There are monoterpenes (C10 units, 2 x C5), sesquiterpenes (C15, 3 x C5), and even polymers, such as natural rubber, which comprises several hundred C5 units. Special enzymes mediate chain elongation. These enzymes have attracted the curiosity of scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology, Jena, and the Leibniz Institute for Plant Biochemistry in Halle. They studied mechanistic alternatives of how chain elongation is regulated.
Metal ions instead of specialized enzymes
Enzymes involved in chain elongation belong to the group of isoprenyl diphosphate synthases. Such an enzyme was isolated from larvae of the horseradish leaf beetle Phaedon cochleariae. It raised the interest of Antje Burse, project group leader in the Department of Bioorganic Chemistry at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology.
Experiments with larvae in which the enzyme encoding gene was silenced showed that the protein was involved in the formation of the C10 monoterpene chrysomelidial that larvae produce to defend themselves against predators. The larvae accumulate this monoterpene in special glands and release it as a defensive secretion when they are attacked by their enemies, such as ants.
However, surprising results emerged after comprehensive biochemical characterization of the enzyme. "After we had conducted an in vitro analysis of the protein, including measurements of product formation in the presence of different metal ions as co-factors, we were surprised to discover that only geranyl diphosphate (C10), a precursor for the defensive substance chrysomelidial, was produced after addition of cobalt and manganese ions. On the other hand, adding magnesium ions resulted in the formation of farnesyl diphosphate (C15), a potential precursor for juvenile hormones, which is 5 carbon atoms longer," says the scientist. All three metals were found in larval tissue, leading to the assumption that enzyme catalysis is directed by the different metal co-factors in the larvae, whichever is predominant in amount: Towards toxin or hormone ? physiologically a major difference.
Sequence comparisons cannot replace a thorough biochemical analysis
How the different metal ions modify the product range of the enzyme is still unclear. It is very likely that the varying atomic radii of the metal ions involved in the catalysis effect changes in the spatial structure of the enzyme, which prevent or allow the admission of a third C5 unit and hence result in the production of C10 or C15 molecules.
"Our experiments provide two important findings," says Wilhelm Boland, director at the Max Planck Institute. "First, the directing influence of metal ions on the product formation of isoprenyl diphosphate synthases is a novel "control element" in the regulation of the terpene metabolism which should be included in future experimental settings. And secondly: The diversity of terpenoid molecules cannot be attributed solely to the broad substrate specificity of some enzymes in the last steps of the metabolic pathway, but is in fact already inherent in early biosynthetic steps." Nature continues to provide interesting answers to the question how organisms manage to produce tens of thousands of different secondary metabolites. [JWK/AO]
###
Original Publication:
Sindy Frick, Raimund Nagel, Axel Schmidt, Ren R. Bodemann, Peter Rahfeld, Gerhard Pauls, Wolfgang Brandt Jonathan Gershenzon, Wilhelm Boland, Antje Burse: Metal ions control product specificity of isoprenyl diphosphate synthases in the insect terpenoid pathway. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, Early Edition, February 25, 2013, DOI:10.1073/pnas.1221489110 http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1221489110
Further Information:
Dr. Antje Burse
49-3641-57-1265
aburse@ice.mpg.de
Picture Requests:
Angela Overmeyer M.A.
49-3641-57-2110
overmeyer@ice.mpg.de
or Download via www.ice.mpg.de/ext/735.html
[ | 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.
Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-02/mpif-mir022813.php
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Obesity, physical inactivity linked with risk for certain molecular ...
PHILADELPHIA ? An increasing body mass index was associated with a higher risk for colorectal cancer with a specific molecular characteristic, and inversely, physical activity was linked to a decreased risk for that same cancer, according to data published in Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.
"We know that exercise and avoiding obesity decrease colorectal cancer risk, but little is known about why," said Shuji Ogino, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor of pathology at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and associate professor in the Department of Epidemiology at Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, Mass. "In this study, we used a biomarker named CTNNB1, which is a molecule implicated in cancer and obesity, to divide patients into two groups, CTNNB1-positive and CTNNB1-negative."
Ogino and colleagues used data from more than 100,000 women from the Nurses' Health Study and more than 45,000 men in the Health Professionals Study to examine whether there was an association between body mass index (BMI) or exercise activity and colorectal cancer risk according to CTNNB1 expression status.
Among the study population, 2,263 individuals were diagnosed with colorectal cancer during follow-up. Tumor CTNNB1 expression data were available for 861 of these individuals, and 54 percent of these tumors were negative for CTNNB1 and 46 percent positive for the biomarker.
Increasing BMI by a 5.0 kg/m2 increment was associated with a 34 percent higher risk for CTNNB1-negative cancer, but was not associated with CTNNB1-positive cancer. In contrast, increasing physical activity level was associated with a significantly lower risk for CTNNB1-negative cancer. It was not associated with CTNNB1-positive cancer.
"Our results provide additional evidence for a causal role of obesity and a physically inactive lifestyle in a specific molecular subtype of colorectal cancer," Ogino said. "If physicians are able to identify individuals who are prone to develop CTNNB1-negative cancer, then it would be possible to strongly recommend physical activity."
In addition, the data indicated that CTNNB1 could be a potential target for chemoprevention and treatment, according to Ogino. He called for more population-based, large-scale databases to facilitate molecular pathological epidemiology research.
"Currently, most population-based studies do not take tumor heterogeneity into consideration, and typically colon cancer is treated as a single disease," Ogino said. "We need to integrate molecular pathology and epidemiology in education and research to facilitate integrative science and improve public health."
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World powers wait to hear Iran response to nuclear offer
ALMATY (Reuters) - World powers hope Iran will respond positively on Wednesday to their new offer to lift some sanctions if Tehran scales back nuclear activity the West fears could be used to build bombs.
But any hopes of a significant easing of the deadlock in the decade-old nuclear dispute were dented when Russian media cited a source close to the talks as saying there had been no clear progress in the discussions in Kazakhstan.
"So far there is no particular rapprochement. There is an impression that the atmosphere is not very good," Interfax news agency quoted the source as saying.
The United States, France, Germany, Britain, China and Russia presented the offer when their first meeting with Iran in eight months began in Almaty on Tuesday and the Islamic state was considering it, the powers' spokesman said.
The two sides began a second - and what is expected to be the last in this round of negotiations - day of discussions in the Kazakh city shortly after 11 a.m (0500 GMT) on Wednesday.
Western officials described the first day of the meeting as "useful". Iranian state television described the atmosphere in the discussions as "very serious".
The outcome of the meeting in the Kazakh city will be closely watched in Israel, which has strongly hinted that it could attack Iran's nuclear sites if diplomacy and sanctions fail to stop the uranium enrichment program.
Iran says Israel's assumed nuclear arsenal is the main threat to peace and denies Western allegations it is seeking to develop the capability to make atomic bombs. It says it is only aiming to produce nuclear energy so that it can export more oil.
In their latest attempt to break years of stalemate in the dispute, the powers are offering Iran a relaxation of some of the sanctions that are taking a heavy toll on its economy.
"Hopefully the Iranians will be able to reflect overnight and will come back and view our proposal positively," the spokesman for European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, who represents the powers in the talks, said.
"The ball is in their court," Michael Mann added after the first day of discussions on Tuesday.
He did not give details of the offer, but other Western officials have confirmed it includes some limited sanctions easing if Iran closes a underground site where it carries out its most controversial uranium enrichment work.
Diplomats see scant chances of a conclusive deal with Iran before a June presidential election - with the political elite preoccupied with domestic issues - but they hope to hold follow-up talks to the Almaty meeting soon.
IRANIAN COUNTERPROPOSAL
Iran would put forward its own proposal of "the same weight" as that of the other side, a source close to the Iranian negotiating team said on Tuesday, but Western officials said it had not done so during the first day of negotiations.
Iran has shown no sign of willingness to scale back its nuclear work. Its chief negotiator, Saeed Jalili, is close to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and is a veteran of Iran's 1980s war against Iraq and the Western powers that backed it.
It argues that has a sovereign right to carry out nuclear enrichment for peaceful energy purposes, and in particular refuses to close its underground Fordow enrichment plant, a condition the powers have set for any sanctions relief.
Tightened Western sanctions on Iran are hurting Iran's economy and slashing oil revenue. Its currency has more than halved in value, which in turn has pushed up inflation.
But analysts say the sanctions are not close to having the crippling effect envisaged by Washington and - so far at least - they have not prompted a change in Iran's nuclear course.
Western officials said the powers' offer would include an easing of restrictions on trade in gold and other precious metals if Tehran closes Fordow.
The Fordow facility is used for enriching uranium to 20 percent fissile purity, a short technical step from weapons grade.
Western diplomats acknowledge an easing of U.S. and EU sanctions on trade in gold represents a relatively modest step. But gold could be used as part of barter transactions that might allow Iran to circumvent financial sanctions.
Iran's foreign ministry spokesman last week dismissed the reported incentive as insufficient and a senior Iranian lawmaker has ruled out closing Fordow, close to the holy city of Qom.
A senior Israeli official said Iran was pressing ahead with its nuclear program while "everyone is talking".
"As of now, the Iranians are thumbing their noses," Sima Shine, head of the Iran desk at the Strategic Affairs Ministry, told Israel's Army Radio. "They are coming to negotiations, speaking hyperbolically, trying to talk about their right to uranium enrichment ... But in parallel they are advancing."
(Additional reporting by Yeganeh Torbati in Almaty; Zahra Hosseinian in Zurich; Gabriela Baczynska in Moscow; Dan Williams in Jerusalem; Editing by Pravin Char)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/powers-wait-hear-iran-response-nuclear-offer-043022098.html
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Wednesday, February 27, 2013
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Windmills at sea can break like matches
Feb. 26, 2013 ? Medium-sized waves can break wind turbines at sea like matches. These waves occur even in small storms, which are quite common in the Norwegian Sea.
"The problem is, we still do not know exactly when the wind turbines may break," says Professor John Grue from the Department of Mathematics at the University of Oslo, Norway. Grue is one of the world's foremost experts on wave research. In 1989 he discovered an inexplicable wave phenomenon called ringing, which is a special type of vibration that occurs when choppy waves hit marine installations. The discovery was made in a 25-metre long wave laboratory located in the basement of the mathematics building at Blindern Campus.
So far scientists have studied ringing in small and large waves, but as it turns out, ringing is more common in medium-size waves.
For wind turbines at sea with a cylinder diameter of eight metres, the worst waves are those that are more than 13 metres high and have an 11-second interval between them.
Financial ruin
The ringing problem may increase significantly in the years ahead. There are plans to build tens of thousands of wind turbines at sea.
"If we do not take ringing into consideration, offshore wind turbine parks can lead to financial ruin," warns John Grue to the research magazine Apollon at University of Oslo.
Today, the largest windmill parks at sea are outside the coasts of Denmark and Great Britain. They are nevertheless like small miniatures compared to Statkraft and Statoil's enormous plans on the Dogger Bank outside Scotland. This windmill park is to produce as much electricity as 60 to 90 Alta power plants. A windmill park with the capacity of two Alta power plants will be built outside M?re og Romsdal in West-Norway.
"Thus far it has not been possible to measure the force exerted by ringing. Laboratory measurements show that the biggest vibrations in the wind turbines occur just after the wave has passed and not when the wave hits the turbine. Right after the crest of the wave has passed, a second force hits the structure. If the second force resonates with the structural frequency of the wind turbine, the vibration is strong. This means that the wind turbine is first exposed to one force, and is then shaken by another force. When specific types of waves are repeated this causes the wear to be especially pronounced. This increases the danger of fatigue."
It is precisely this secondary force that creates ringing and that the mathematicians until now have not managed to calculate.
Unfortunate vibrations
All structures have their own vibration frequencies, whether they are wind turbines, bridges, oil rigs or vessels.
When the vibration matches the structural frequency, things get tough. This phenomenon is called resonance, and can be compared to the steady march of soldiers on a bridge. If the soldiers march in time with the structural frequency of the bridge, it can collapse.
Unrealistic calculations
The Norwegian University of Science and Technology and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have already made a number of calculations of ringing. Ecole Centrale Marseille and the French Bureau Veritas have also made such calculations. Det Norske Veritas is among those who use versions of these models.
"Current models are the best we have, but the estimates are too rough and erroneous. The theories are applied far outside of their area of validity. This means that we cannot calculate the fatigue adequately."
Ringing is not related to turbulence. Ringing is systematic and is about high underpressure at back of the cylinder.
Difficult mathematics
Internationally, very little has been done on this phenomenon. John Grue now has two Doctoral Research Fellows calculating these movements. He also collaborates with the Danish research community on wind power at Ris? National Laboratory and the Technical University of Denmark.
"Ringing is very difficult to calculate. There is great uncertainty. We want more precise descriptions of the physics of ringing. We are now trying sophisticated surface elevation models and complex calculations to reproduce these measurements accurately. We want to show that the ringing force arises systematically according to a general mathematical formula."
Saga Petroleum has previously conducted an extensive set of measurements of the ringing force in waves.
"These fit our measurements very well," says Grue.
Differences between deep and shallow waters
The scientists must also consider whether the installations are in deep or shallow waters.
"The structural frequency also depends on the conditions on the seabed.
You can compare it to a flagpole in a storm. The flag pole vibrates differently depending on whether the pole is fixed in concrete or on softer ground."
"There has been no research on the connection between vibrations and the conditions on the seabed."
Oil rig damaged
Ringing does not just harm wind turbines. Ringing has already been a great problem for the oil industry. The designers of the YME platform did not tak ringing into account, and lost NOK 12 billion.
"It is possible to build your way out of the ringing problem by strengthening the oil rigs. However, it is not financially profitable to do the same with wind turbines," says John Grue.
Improves the models
Arne Nesteg?rd, Chief Specialist in hydrodynamics at Det Norske Veritas, confirms to Apollon that wind turbines at moderate depths may be exposed to high-frequency resonant oscillations if the waves are extreme, but they safeguard against this. Nesteg?rd says that in the past twenty years, Veritas has developed ringing models and that they now work on improving the models for wind turbines at sea.
Share this story on Facebook, Twitter, and Google:
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Story Source:
The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Oslo. The original article was written by Yngve Vogt.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
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Air balloon in Egypt falls 1,000 feet, killing 18
LUXOR, Egypt (AP) ? A hot air balloon flying over Egypt's ancient city of Luxor caught fire and crashed into a sugar cane field on Tuesday, killing at least 18 foreign tourists, a security official said.
It was one of the worst accidents involving tourists in Egypt and likely to push the key tourism industry deeper into recession.
The casualties included French, British, Belgian, Hungarian, Japanese nationals and nine tourists from Hong Kong, Luxor Governor Ezzat Saad told reporters.
Three survivors of the crash ? two British tourists and one Egyptian ? were taken to a local hospital.
According to the Egyptian security official, the balloon carrying at least 20 tourists was flying over Luxor when it caught fire, which triggered an explosion in its gas canister, then plunged at least 300 meters (1,000 feet) from the sky.
It crashed into a sugar cane field outside al-Dhabaa village just west of Luxor, 510 kilometers (320 miles) south of Cairo, said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.
Bodies of the dead tourists were scattered across the field around the remnants of the balloon. An Associated Press reporter at the crash site counted eight bodies as they were put into body bags and taken away. The security official said all 18 bodies have been recovered.
The official said foul play has been ruled out. He also said initial reports of 19 dead were revised to 18 as confusion is common in the aftermath of such accidents.
Egypt's civil aviation minister, Wael el-Maadawi, flew to Luxor to lead the investigation into the crash.
The head of Japan Travel Bureau's Egypt branch, Atsushi Imaeda, confirmed that four Japanese died in the crash. He said two were a couple in their 60s from Tokyo. Details on the other two were not immediately available.
In Hong Kong, a travel agency said nine of the tourists that were aboard the balloon were natives of the semiautonomous Chinese city. There was a "very big chance that all nine have perished," said Raymond Ng, a spokesman for the agency. The nine, he said, included five women and four men from three families.
They were traveling with six other Hong Kong residents on a 10-day tour of Egypt.
Ng said an escort of the nine tourists watched the balloon from the ground catching fire around 7 a.m. and plunging to the ground two minutes later.
In Britain, tour operator Thomas Cook confirmed that two British tourists were dead and two were in hospital.
"What happened in Luxor this morning is a terrible tragedy and the thoughts of everyone in Thomas Cook are with our guests, their family and friends," said Peter Fankhauser, CEO of Thomas Cook UK & Continental Europe.
"We have a very experienced team in resort with the two guests in the local hospital, and we're providing our full support to the family and friends of the deceased at this difficult time," he said.
In Paris, a diplomatic official said French tourists were among those involved in the accident, but would give no details on how many, or whether French citizens were among those killed.
Speaking on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to be publicly named according to government policy, the official said French authorities were working with their Egyptian counterparts to clarify what happened. French media reports said two French tourists were among the dead but the official wouldn't confirm that.
Hot air ballooning, usually at sunrise over the famed Karnak and Luxor temples as well as the Valley of the Kings, is a popular pastime for tourists visiting the area.
The site of the accident has seen past crashes. In 2009, 16 tourists were injured when their balloon struck a cellphone transmission tower. A year earlier, seven tourists were injured in a similar crash.
Egypt's tourism industry has been decimated since the 18-day uprising in 2011 against autocrat leader Hosni Mubarak and the political turmoil that followed and continues to this day.
Luxor's hotels are currently about 25 percent full in what is supposed to be the peak of the winter season.
Scared off by the political turmoil and tenuous security that has followed the uprising, the number of tourists coming to Egypt fell to 9.8 million in 2011 from 14.7 million the year before, and revenues plunged 30 percent to $8.8 billion.
Poverty swelled at the country's fastest rate in Luxor, which is highly dependent on visitors to its monumental temples and the tombs of King Tutankhamun and other pharaohs. In 2011, 39 percent of its population lived on less than $1 a day, compared to 18 percent in 2009, according to government figures.
___
Associated Press writers Kelvin Chan in Hong Kong, Jill Lawless in London and Angela Charlton in Paris contributed to this report.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/hot-air-balloon-crash-egypt-kills-18-foreigners-091122549.html
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Tuesday, February 26, 2013
Pitbull Aims At Lil Wayne With 'Welcome To Dade County' Dis
Mr. 305 takes exception to Lil Wayne's slurs against the Miami Heat on the new track, over Baauer's 'Harlem Shake' instrumental.
By Rob Markman
Lil Wayne and Pitbull
Photo: Getty Images
Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1702604/pitbull-lil-wayne-welcome-to-dade-county-dis-track.jhtml
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Video: Sideshow: Put a sleeve on it
>>> back to "hardball." now to the side shoi. friday night on jim afallon's show, first lady michelle obama joined with a partner to demonstrate how mom dancing has progressed over the years.
>> just name another first lady in the history of this country to owe do something like this on television. fabulous skit. she was truly a good stort. miss obama's fun times with jimmy fallon got a nod at yesterday's national governors' aquotion meeting in washington. here is jack mar kel speaking directly to president obama .
>> you're probably jealous of the first lady. she's jimmy fallon 's trainer. while you on the other hand deal with leader reid and speaker boehner.
>> during an appointment at the white house last year the first lady gave fallon sop fitness tips.
>>> the president did some social towel snapping if you will.
>> i want to say thanks to you for being on your best behavior last night. i'm told nothing was broken, no silverware is missing. i didn't get any calls from the neighbors about the noise. although i can't speak for joe's afterparty at the observatory. i hear that was wild.
>> well, next the "sideshow" meets the oscars. it comes as no surprise that the iranian government is not jazzed by the movie "argo." the movie is all about how they were duped into believing that their country was being used for a hollywood movie when the whole thing was really a cia operation to free six american hostages . all the same, the results of the academy awards were reported by the iranian news agency including that "argo" had won best picture . do you notice anything off about the snapshot of michelle obama presenting theward. she added extra fabric and sleeves. it didn't pass muster under the country's strict dress code. they got this as a result. no marm done. wish we could always fight wars like this.
>>> up next, republicans in some key blue states are doubling down on their plans to rig or rejigger the lelectoral college so their candidates would win. if you can't win, just change the rules. you're
Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/hardball/50948004/
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Monday, February 25, 2013
Geeksphone Keon hands-on: a small Firefox OS phone that has big dreams (video)
Geeksphone may be an online phone seller based in Spain, but the name of its lower-end Firefox OS reference phone, Keon, appears to be Dutch. Regardless of the title's origin, the part of the phone that's most intriguing is the fact that it's one of the first to bear Mozilla's mobile platform. It isn't much in the way of specs, and that's easy enough to tell from just glancing at it, thanks to a 3.5-inch HVGA display. Still, the Keon's set of specs is actually on par with the Firefox protocol. This means that for roughly around 100 euros, we can expect to see a device with a 3MP camera, 512MB RAM, 4GB internal storage, a 1,580mAh battery and a 1GHz single-core Snapdragon S17225A CPU. Don't expect an earth-shattering experience on this kind of phone, as it's meant to reside strictly on the low end. The Keon will be making its way onto the official company store in the next few weeks, so stay tuned. In the meantime, we've made a lovely video and photo gallery below, so check them out.
Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Mobile
Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/kqpAd9uJqcw/
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Why can't Washington compromise? They're too human
WASHINGTON (AP) ? Turns out politicians are people, too, only worse.
Just ask pros who make their living in the trenches of everyday human drama such as divorce, family feuds or schoolyard scraps. They recognize in Washington's bitter budget standoff a hint of human nature as they know it, but with the crazy pumped up to absurd levels.
"We're seeing middle school behavior here," says Barbara Coloroso, who crusades against childhood bullying. Psychologist Piers Steel, an expert on procrastination, says Congress has the worst case of it he's seen. Divorce attorney Sanford Ain's assessment is blunter: "It's nuts!"
A sampling of conflict-savvy professionals and scholars interviewed by The Associated Press finds dismay that the nation is in political stalemate after two years of showdowns and near-misses for the economy. Not that these they have any easy solutions, either.
Some dream of locking up President Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boehner. R-Ohio, together until the nation's tax and spending issues are settled.
"That's my fantasy: To go into a room and tell them what to do, right or wrong, and make them do it," said Marvin McIntyre, a prominent financial adviser in the District of Columbia who writes political novels on the side.
With lawmakers and the president on the brink of yet another compromise-or-else deadline Friday, the nonpoliticians shared their take on the all-too-human behavior in Washington.
Historian Altina Waller is reminded of the Hatfields and McCoys. Of course, she would be: Waller's an authority on the deadly 19th century feud.
Despite the myth, the Hatfield-McCoy conflict wasn't primarily about clan hatred, Waller said, and she doesn't think today's acrimony between Republicans and Democrats is fully explained by partisanship or ideology.
The Appalachian feud grew out of economic anxiety as farming declined and logging and coal moved in, she said. These days, Democrats and Republicans worry about the economy and the loss of American jobs and influence to foreign competition, and blame each other.
"Like the Hatfields and McCoys," Waller said, "they are personalizing a problem brought about by larger economic forces."
Coloroso, author of "The Bully, the Bullied and the Bystander," sees too many politicians acting like the mean girl who taunts unpopular classmates in the cafeteria.
"Bullying is about contempt for the other person," Coloroso said. "Do you see how that fits with some of the people in Congress? Utter contempt, bullying, wanting to bring somebody down. You cannot resolve a major issue like a budget with name-calling, with disdain for the person you're supposed to be working with."
Ain says the political fight illustrates something he's learned in 40 years of striving to keep family law cases amicable: "If you have extreme views and won't compromise, you can't get anything done. It's going to go to war."
Yet a sudden switch to civility will not guarantee that tough decisions get made.
Human brains are wired to put off the unpleasant, says "The Procrastination Equation" author Steel.
We postpone starting a diet, put off going to the gym, keep meaning to write those thank-you notes. Congress members are masters of this.
"They're pretty much the worst, hands down, of any group we ever investigated," said Steel, who has researched procrastination for more than a decade. "They're worse than college students."
What finally gets people moving? A deadline. The paper must be written to pass the class. The house is tidied because company's coming. The expense report is finished because the boss demands it by 5 p.m.
So it makes sense to set deadlines for solving the nation's pressing fiscal problems. Only it isn't working.
Congress and the White House have lurched from the brink of default or government shutdown or "fiscal cliff" to the next potentially disastrous deadline, this time automatic budget cuts known as the "sequester." They've only achieved temporary fixes without resolving the big disagreements over the deficit, taxes and Medicare and Social Security spending. Obama calls it "drifting from one manufactured crisis to the next."
Why aren't the deadlines working?
Pushing the limits isn't always procrastination; sometimes it's strategy.
Negotiation expert Robert Mnookin points to labor disputes resolved just before the strike deadline and lawsuits settled on the courthouse steps on the eve of trial. Bargainers tend to play "chicken" like two drivers speeding toward each other in hopes the other will swerve first.
"It's often believed that you won't be able to extract the very best concession from the other side unless you are on the brink of something that's very bad," said Mnookin, chairman of Harvard's Program on Negotiation and author of "Bargaining with the Devil."
Both the Republicans and Democrats have die-hards pushing to keep charging ahead.
"It's a hugely dangerous game to play," Mnookin warns, "because people aren't always rational in their behavior."
What happens if Democrats and Republicans collide head-on this time? Some $85 billion in automatic federal budget cuts over the next seven months, with more in following years.
Obama says that would weaken the military, disrupt programs Americans rely on, eliminate jobs and weaken the economy. Boehner calls it "an ugly and dangerous way" to reduce spending. These cuts were designed to be so distasteful that politicians would agree on more rational budget-cutting to stop them.
But there's another way out. Lawmakers and Obama could agree to block the cuts, before or after they kick in, and once again postpone making big fiscal decisions that might cost some of them re-election.
That's a problem with artificial deadlines: They're hard to enforce.
Economist Christopher Kingston, whose research ranges from 19th century dueling to modern game theory, says what lawmakers need is a strong "commitment device." He cites the story of William the Conqueror burning his ships after his invading army landed in England, ensuring his soldiers couldn't retreat.
A less reliable commitment device: A shopaholic cutting up his credit cards. That works unless he gets new ones and start running up debt again.
"It's really hard to create a commitment device artificially, particularly if you don't have an external power that's going to enforce it," said Kingston, an associate professor at Amherst College.
Congress and the president have no judge, no referee, no board of directors. Washington won't hear from the voters again for two years, and even then the message may be unclear.
With human nature against them, how can politicians escape gridlock?
A few tips from the pros:
?Shock them with kindness. "Try to do something unexpectedly nice for the other side," advises Ain, and your surprised opponent may reciprocate.
?Avoid the "zero-sum" trap. Just because something is good for one side doesn't mean it's bad for the other. "There are all kinds of deals that the president and the Congress could make that would be better for the economy and the nation as a whole and in that sense would benefit them all," Mnookin says.
?Get a mediator. Maybe the special 2011 deficit committee could have reached agreement with the help of a trusted outsider. It's worth a try, Ain says, because "that works in major litigation and all sorts of situations."
?Shame the bullies. If politicians denounced their fellow party members who display contempt for the other side, Coloroso says, it would squelch the mocking tone.
America's citizens also are mostly silent bystanders right now, the author said.
"What are we going to do about it?" she asked. "Do we just stand by and shrug our shoulders?"
___
Follow Connie Cass on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/ConnieCass
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/why-cant-washington-compromise-theyre-too-human-131324676.html
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Sunday, February 24, 2013
Mark Emmert gets NCAA executive committee's 'unanimous' support
NCAA president Mark Emmert?s leadership has been heavily scrutinized over the past year, and the criticism heightened in the wake of the NCAA?s mishandling of the investigation into Miami.
But while many have suggested Emmert step down or be removed, the NCAA executive committee on Saturday released a statement unanimously supporting Emmert. The committee is headed by Lou Anna K. Simon, executive committee chair and president of Michigan State.
The statement reads:
Mark Emmert was hired to lead a major transformation of the NCAA. Much has been accomplished without fanfare, such as academic reforms, enhanced fiscal accountability and organizational transparency. The Executive Committee and President Emmert recognize there is much yet to do and that the road to transformational change is often bumpy and occasionally controversial.
Therefore, on Friday the Executive Committee unanimously affirmed its confidence in Mark?s leadership as president and its support for his ongoing efforts to implement these essential and historic reforms.?
In short, Emmert isn?t going anywhere anytime soon.
The statement goes on to acknowledge that a close examination of current ?processes, policies, procedures and investigative tools is necessary.?
The organization came under fire when Emmert revealed NCAA investigators paid the attorney of former Miami booster and now convicted felon Nevin Shapiro for deposition information obtained in a federal bankruptcy case. The NCAA, which gave attorney Maria Elena Perez nearly $20,000, does not have subpoena power.
Emmert said he was never made aware of the arrangement and Julie Roe Lach, the NCAA?s vie president of enforcement, was fired.
The NCAA launched an external review of the investigation and as a result, said it removed about 20 percent of the evidence collected in the Miami investigation. This week, Miami was delivered its Notice of Allegations.
University president Donna Shalala lashed out at the NCAA and said she believes the university?s football program has suffered enough with two postseason bans and scholarship sanctions. Miami has 90 days to respond to the allegations before the NCAA makes it final ruling. If it goes beyond the self-induced sanctions, Shalala suggested Miami might fight back.
?We believe strongly in the principles and values of fairness and due process,? she said in a statement earlier this week. ?However, we have been wronged in this investigation, and we believe this process must come to a swift resolution, which includes no additional punitive measures beyond those already self-imposed.?
The Miami case is just the latest for which Emmert and the NCAA that he leads has been railed. Penn State was levied unprecedented sanctions for the missteps the NCAA said athletic department leaders, including the late coach Joe Paterno, took in handling the allegations against convicted serial child molester, Jerry Sandusky.
The state of Pennsylvania is currently suing the NCAA, and the NCAA is suing the state for attempting to funnel the fines the university must pay into the state.
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NRA vice president urges gun owners to stand up for rights
SALT LAKE CITY ? The National Rifle Association vice president spoke to more than a thousand people Saturday night, urging them to contact their representatives to protect their Second Amendment rights.
Wayne LaPierre, the Executive Vice President of the NRA, gave the keynote speech at the Western Hunting and Conservation Expo at the Salt Palace Convention Center. Recent mass shootings have renewed fierce debate on gun control, but LaPierre said the president's plan "demoniz(es) law-abiding gun owners." The crowd of 1,200 cheered for the leader, who pressed them to fight for their Second Amendment rights.
"As we sit here tonight, we are now facing the single most devastating attack on the Second Amendment that this country has ever seen," LaPierre said.
LaPierre has been criticized for his solution to tragedies like the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting on Dec. 14 that left 20 children and six adults dead. The NRA has proposed placing armed police and security officers in every school.
Saturday, he repeated the proposal.
"There's not a mom or dad that wouldn't feel better when they dropped their kid off at school and saw a police car in the parking lot," LaPierre said. "There's not a mom or dad all over our country in America that doesn't want their children protected."
He also said the plan for universal background checks isn't reasonable, suggesting instead that the government more strictly enforce current gun control laws.
"Don't you be fooled. There is nothing universal" nor "reasonable' about (background checks)," LaPierre said. "This so-called "background check" is aimed at one thing registering your guns. When another tragic opportunity' presents itself, that registry will be used to confiscate your guns."
Isaac Holyoak with the Alliance For Better Utah says, the issues isn't about the Second Amendment, but about increasing public safety.
"Buying a gun should be at least as hard as getting a driver's license," Holyoak said.
Currently, federal law doesn't require background checks for private sales, like sales at gun shows. A handful of states have taken action to close the so-called "Gun Show Loophole," and Holyoak said those states see significantly lower rates of suicide and violence against women with handguns.
"Utah has a high suicide rate. If we want to prevent suicides in Utah, perform background checks," Holyoak said.
Source: http://www.ksl.com/?sid=24186643&nid=148&s_cid=rss-extlink
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Alcatel Idol X hands-on (video)
Alcatel converted its One Touch Idol line from a duo to a trio with today's launch of yet another set at Mobile World Congress: the Idol X. While not quite as thin as its 6.45mm-thin Idol Ultra sibling, at 7mm thick with a tiny 2.4mm bezel it is definitely is about as small as a 5" set can get. The Idol X's giant 1080p IPS display is fantastic to look at and Jelly Bean is snappy driven by a quad core MediaTek MT6589 1.2GHz CPU. Like many of Alcatel's other sets the range of config option varies by market and the same is true here as we'll see both 13 and 8-megapixel variants -- both with 1080p front facing cameras -- and dual or single-SIM, with the single variety getting a bonus microSD slot. While the Idol X is not equipped with LTE it does have 42Mbps HSPA+ connectivity, quad-band GSM and offers dual-band UMTS in both 900MHz / 2100MHz or 850MHz / 2100MHz frequencies.
Alcatel's all about mass market, it isn't chasing the likes of Apple or Samsung but rather is quite happy to simply make "devices for people." So while 2012 marked its first foray into smartphones, judging by what we've seen so far in 2013 from them it seems they've nailed affordability while maintaining a surprising amount of quality, a great combination. Join Myriam just after the break for a quick video tour.
Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/OuNHRSoje2c/
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Saturday, February 23, 2013
US leaves 12,000 troops in Afghanistan after 2014
By Ghanizada - 22 Feb 2013, 7:05 pm
The United States of America will leave between 8,000 and 12,000 troops in Afghanistan after 2014 after all NATO combat troops leave the country, a Germany official has said.
German defense minister Thomas de Maiziere told reporters that US defense secretary Leon Panetta has told NATO allies and informed him of the numbers.
However the report has not been confirmed by US officials yet.
This comes as Panetta on Friday said that US officials were planning to leave troops in all sectors of the country ? north, south, east and west ? as well as in Kabul, The Guardian reported.
Pentagon officials have said the military has mapped out plans to carry on its mission of training and advising the Afghan forces and also leave a small counterterrorism force to battle insurgents.
In the meantime Nato secretary-general, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, told reporters that no decision had been made on the size of the post-2014 international force.
Speaking to reporters at the close of the meeting of Nato defence ministers, Panetta noted that the US president, Barack Obama, was strongly considering a plan to maintain 352,000 Afghan troops for the next five years, the option which is considered by majority of the NATO officials.
Senior NATO officials on Thursday said that would be part of an effort to promote security and stability and help persuade Afghanistan that America and its allies would not abandon it once combat troops leave in 2014, senior alliance officials said on Thursday.
US and its allies will burden an increased costs by more than $2 billion a year if such a change is endorsed.
Nato agreed to underwrite an Afghan force of about 230,000, at a cost of about $4.1bn a year after 2014. It costs about $6.5bn this year to fund the current Afghan force of 352,000, and the US is providing about $5.7bn of that.
Follow Khaama Press (KP) | Afghan Online Newspaper on Twitter, become a fan on Facebook. Stay updated via RSS
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Georgian president's top ally faces charges
TBILISI, Georgia -- Georgian investigators on Saturday filed criminal charges against a top ally of the president, whose supporters condemned the move as politically motivated.
Pro-Western President Mikhail Saakashvili's United National Movement lost October's elections to the Georgian Dream coalition led by billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili, who became prime minister. Since then, the two men have been locked in a tug-of-war, with authorities launching criminal investigations against Saakashvili's closest lieutenants.
Tbilisi Mayor Gigi Ugulava became the latest target of an official probe Saturday, when the Finance Ministry's investigative arm charged him with theft and money laundering. Ugulava and other leading members of Saakashvili's party have rejected the charges as politically driven.
Several hundred supporters gathered outside to express support for Ugulava. Speaking at the rally, Vano Merabishvili, the secretary general of Saakashvili's party, accused Ivanishvili of initiating the case against Ugulava in order to tighten control over the country.
Interior Minister Irakly Garibashvili denied that the probe was politically motivated.
Ugulava refused to testify on charges focusing on the takeover of the independent Imedi television and the payment of city wages to activists of Saakashvili's party on false employment contracts. He may face punishment of more than 10 years in prison on each of those counts if convicted.
"We must do everything to preserve the independence of our motherland, and force the new government to act accordingly," Ugulava told supporters after meeting with investigators. "The United National Movement is a strong opposition force, which will continue to tell the government the truth in the interests of the nation."
Saakashvili has accused Ivanishvili, who made his fortune in Russia, of trying to take Georgia back into Moscow's fold. Ivanishvili has pledged to improve relations with Moscow, which were ruptured in a 2008 Russian-Georgian war, but he has rejected Saakashvili's claims that he intends to bring the country into the Russian orbit and reaffirmed the nation's course to integrate more closely into the West.
Ivanishvili's party won the election on a pledge to investigate official abuses under Saakashvili, and is under pressure from the public to follow through. Saakashvili's term ends in October.
Source: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/02/23/3249439/georgian-presidents-top-ally-faces.html
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Why Won't Obama Let You Unlock Your Phone? 100,000 People Want to Know
Suppose you're upset with your cell phone carrier, and you'd like to switch. Under current law, you can take your phone number with you when you leave. But if you want to take your phone? Forget it. Ever since an obscure rule protecting the process of "unlocking" expired from copyright law last month, it's been illegal to port your device to another carrier. In fact, any American who's ever unlocked their phone is now at risk for steep fines, court battles with carriers, and even jailtime.
But a team of copyright activists has been lobbying the government to keep unlocking legal. And early this morning, they won a small victory: their petition to the White House finally accumulated 100,000 signatures, meaning it must now be met with an official government response.
"A hundred thousand people should be taken seriously," said Derek Khanna, one of those leading the charge. "There hasn't been a real concise explanation about why ? individuals who unlock their own phones [should] be legally liable for up to five years in prison."
In particular, the petition asks President Obama to ask the Library of Congress to reconsider its stance on unlocking -- and if that doesn't work, to press Congress for legislative action. An ideal bill would protect four activities, Khanna told me: adaptive technology for the blind, such as the kind that scans books and handwriting into text computers can display; backing up DVDs to your computer;?jailbreaking your phone so that you can modify it beyond the manufacturer's preferred limits; and unlocking.
Hold on a second. How did the Library of Congress gain the power to control what you do with your devices? It comes down to a provision in the Digital Millenium Copyright Act that lets the Librarian of Congress set exemptions for things that "circumvent" anti-piracy systems. Unlocking and gaining top-level privileges to modify your phone have so far been protected by these exemptions -- and in fact, jailbreaking your phone will still be legal into 2015. But these exemptions have to be renewed every three years. This time, when the unlocking exemption came up, the Library of Congress demurred. (A call to the LOC wasn't returned.)
This means wireless companies that don't like the idea of customers leaving their service with their phones can theoretically sue.
President Obama could still rebuff the petitioners, but he would be taking an unpopular position, according to Khanna.
"If the White House wants to defend that position, that's up to them," said Khanna. "I don't think they will defend that, but they could."
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/why-wont-obama-let-unlock-phone-100-000-134535369--politics.html
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