Nanotech system, cellular heating may improve treatment of ovarian cancer

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17-Oct-2013

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Contact: Oleh Taratula
oleh.taratula@oregonstate.edu
541-737-5785
Oregon State University

CORVALLIS, Ore. The combination of heat, chemotherapeutic drugs and an innovative delivery system based on nanotechnology may significantly improve the treatment of ovarian cancer while reducing side effects from toxic drugs, researchers at Oregon State University report in a new study.

The findings, so far done only in a laboratory setting, show that this one-two punch of mild hyperthermia and chemotherapy can kill 95 percent of ovarian cancer cells, and scientists say they expect to improve on those results in continued research.

The work is important, they say, because ovarian cancer one of the leading causes of cancer-related deaths in women often develops resistance to chemotherapeutic drugs if it returns after an initial remission. It kills more than 150,000 women around the world every year.

"Ovarian cancer is rarely detected early, and because of that chemotherapy is often needed in addition to surgery," said Oleh Taratula, an assistant professor in the OSU College of Pharmacy. "It's essential for the chemotherapy to be as effective as possible the first time it's used, and we believe this new approach should help with that."

It's known that elevated temperatures can help kill cancer cells, but heating just the cancer cells is problematic. The new system incorporates the use of iron oxide nanoparticles that can be coated with a cancer-killing drug and then heated once they are imbedded in the cancer cell.

Other features have also been developed to optimize the new system, in an unusual collaboration between engineers, material science experts and pharmaceutical researchers.

A peptide is used that helps guide the nanoparticle specifically to cancer cells, and the nanoparticle is just the right size neither too big nor too small so the immune system will not reject it. A special polyethylene glycol coating further adds to the "stealth" effect of the nanoparticles and keeps them from clumping up. And the interaction between the cancer drug and a polymer on the nanoparticles gets weaker in the acidic environment of cancer cells, aiding release of the drug at the right place.

"The hyperthermia, or heating of cells, is done by subjecting the magnetic nanoparticles to an oscillating, or alternating magnetic field," said Pallavi Dhagat, an associate professor in the OSU School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, and co-author on the study. "The nanoparticles absorb energy from the oscillating field and heat up."

The result, in laboratory tests with ovarian cancer cells, was that a modest dose of the chemotherapeutic drug, combined with heating the cells to about 104 degrees, killed almost all the cells and was far more effective than either the drug or heat treatment would have been by itself.

Doxorubicin, the cancer drug, by itself at the level used in these experiments would leave about 70 percent of the cancer cells alive. With the new approach, only 5 percent were still viable.

The work was published in the International Journal of Pharmaceutics, as a collaboration of researchers in the OSU College of Pharmacy, College of Engineering, and Ocean NanoTech of Springdale, Ark. It was supported by the Medical Research Foundation of Oregon, the PhRMA Foundation and the OSU College of Pharmacy.

"I'm very excited about this delivery system," Taratula said. "Cancer is always difficult to treat, and this should allow us to use lower levels of the toxic chemotherapeutic drugs, minimize side effects and the development of drug resistance, and still improve the efficacy of the treatment. We're not trying to kill the cell with heat, but using it to improve the function of the drug."

Iron oxide particles had been used before in some medical treatments, researchers said, but not with the complete system developed at OSU. Animal tests, and ultimately human trials, will be necessary before the new system is available for use.

Drug delivery systems such as this may later be applied to other forms of cancer, such as prostate or pancreatic cancer, to help improve the efficacy of chemotherapy in those conditions, Taratula said.

###

Editor's Notes: A graphic to illustrate this drug delivery system is available online: http://bit.ly/15omJcP

The study this story is based on is available online: http://bit.ly/18PLoY4

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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

17-Oct-2013

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| Share

]

Contact: Oleh Taratula
oleh.taratula@oregonstate.edu
541-737-5785
Oregon State University

CORVALLIS, Ore. The combination of heat, chemotherapeutic drugs and an innovative delivery system based on nanotechnology may significantly improve the treatment of ovarian cancer while reducing side effects from toxic drugs, researchers at Oregon State University report in a new study.

The findings, so far done only in a laboratory setting, show that this one-two punch of mild hyperthermia and chemotherapy can kill 95 percent of ovarian cancer cells, and scientists say they expect to improve on those results in continued research.

The work is important, they say, because ovarian cancer one of the leading causes of cancer-related deaths in women often develops resistance to chemotherapeutic drugs if it returns after an initial remission. It kills more than 150,000 women around the world every year.

"Ovarian cancer is rarely detected early, and because of that chemotherapy is often needed in addition to surgery," said Oleh Taratula, an assistant professor in the OSU College of Pharmacy. "It's essential for the chemotherapy to be as effective as possible the first time it's used, and we believe this new approach should help with that."

It's known that elevated temperatures can help kill cancer cells, but heating just the cancer cells is problematic. The new system incorporates the use of iron oxide nanoparticles that can be coated with a cancer-killing drug and then heated once they are imbedded in the cancer cell.

Other features have also been developed to optimize the new system, in an unusual collaboration between engineers, material science experts and pharmaceutical researchers.

A peptide is used that helps guide the nanoparticle specifically to cancer cells, and the nanoparticle is just the right size neither too big nor too small so the immune system will not reject it. A special polyethylene glycol coating further adds to the "stealth" effect of the nanoparticles and keeps them from clumping up. And the interaction between the cancer drug and a polymer on the nanoparticles gets weaker in the acidic environment of cancer cells, aiding release of the drug at the right place.

"The hyperthermia, or heating of cells, is done by subjecting the magnetic nanoparticles to an oscillating, or alternating magnetic field," said Pallavi Dhagat, an associate professor in the OSU School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, and co-author on the study. "The nanoparticles absorb energy from the oscillating field and heat up."

The result, in laboratory tests with ovarian cancer cells, was that a modest dose of the chemotherapeutic drug, combined with heating the cells to about 104 degrees, killed almost all the cells and was far more effective than either the drug or heat treatment would have been by itself.

Doxorubicin, the cancer drug, by itself at the level used in these experiments would leave about 70 percent of the cancer cells alive. With the new approach, only 5 percent were still viable.

The work was published in the International Journal of Pharmaceutics, as a collaboration of researchers in the OSU College of Pharmacy, College of Engineering, and Ocean NanoTech of Springdale, Ark. It was supported by the Medical Research Foundation of Oregon, the PhRMA Foundation and the OSU College of Pharmacy.

"I'm very excited about this delivery system," Taratula said. "Cancer is always difficult to treat, and this should allow us to use lower levels of the toxic chemotherapeutic drugs, minimize side effects and the development of drug resistance, and still improve the efficacy of the treatment. We're not trying to kill the cell with heat, but using it to improve the function of the drug."

Iron oxide particles had been used before in some medical treatments, researchers said, but not with the complete system developed at OSU. Animal tests, and ultimately human trials, will be necessary before the new system is available for use.

Drug delivery systems such as this may later be applied to other forms of cancer, such as prostate or pancreatic cancer, to help improve the efficacy of chemotherapy in those conditions, Taratula said.

###

Editor's Notes: A graphic to illustrate this drug delivery system is available online: http://bit.ly/15omJcP

The study this story is based on is available online: http://bit.ly/18PLoY4

---

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| Share

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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-10/osu-nsc101713.php
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Afghan insurgents hit convoy by foreigner compound

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A suicide car bomber attacked a small convoy of vehicles Friday near a heavily fortified private residential compound used by hundreds of foreigners on the outskirts of Kabul, killing two passers-by, Afghan officials said.

Inferior Ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqi said a suicide car bomber attacked two vehicles used "by foreigners" near the Green Village compound. There were no reports that the people in the vehicles were injured.

A police official said two civilians passing by the site of the explosion were killed by the blast. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid claimed responsibility for the car bombing and said Green Village was the intended target.

The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force confirmed that a car bomb attack had occurred in Kabul and that "there was one enemy killed as a result of the attack."

"We have no operational reports of ISAF personnel fatalities," it said in a statement.

Small arms fire could be heard after the initial blast, apparently as guards in the industrial zone where the blast occurred started shooting. An Associated Press reporter there saw fire trucks move to extinguish a blaze started by the blast.

Police initially reported that the residential compound was the target of the attack. The camp houses contractors from various countries, European diplomatic personnel and United Nations employees.

It is located on the main highway connecting Kabul to the eastern city of Jalalabad and is surrounded by layers of blast walls and has dozens of armed guards.

Green Village was last attacked by a suicide car bomber and armed attackers on May 2, 2012, and a number of Afghan guards were killed. None of its residents was injured in that assault.

___

Associated Press writer Patrick Quinn contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/afghan-insurgents-hit-convoy-foreigner-compound-144636951.html
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'Matilda' and 'Betrayal' enjoy good Broadway week

NEW YORK (AP) — Two Broadway shows with very different audiences broke box office records last week — the kid-friendly "Matilda the Musical" and the very adult revival of Harold Pinter's "Betrayal."

Data released Tuesday from The Broadway League shows that the sold-out revival of the Harold Pinter play starring Daniel Craig and Rachel Weisz in a crumbling marriage took in $1,112,027 over seven performances ending Sunday, breaking the Barrymore Theatre's weekly box office record. It had set the record the week before with $1,100,818. It opens Oct. 27.

On the other end of the entertainment spectrum, "Matilda" had its best week ever, pulling in $1,430,085 and creating a new record at the Shubert Theatre for the sixth time. The English hit opened April 11 and has been an instant draw, regularly grossing over $1 million a week.

Michael David, a "Matilda" producer and president of the partnership Dodger Properties, credited his show's surge to the Columbus Day holiday weekend and the decision last week to scrap the Wednesday night performance of "Matilda" in favor of two shows on Sunday. He said Broadway is enjoying a robust October after a slow September. "For a lot of shows, this was a breath of fresh air. Everything worked together, if you planned it right, to make healthy box office business."

David, who also produced "Jersey Boys," has watched as early curiosity in "Matilda," a witty musical adaptation of the beloved novel by Roald Dahl, has led to strong ongoing interest in America, no sure thing. "That ongoing interest accounts for, after six months, the capability of the show to do as well as it is doing."

Not to be outdone, "The Book of Mormon" broke the Eugene O'Neill Theatre's box office record — for the 45th time. The show's grosses were $1,844,549 for the week ending Sunday with a top premium ticket going for $477. Unsurprisingly, the musical also had the highest average paid admission at $210.

And "Kinky Boots," the reigning Tony Award-winning musical, earned $1,810,202, its biggest haul so far and marking a new record for an eight-show week at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre.

Overall, Broadway box offices are ahead of where they were last season at this time. Last week's 28 shows grossed $24,614,027, ahead of the same week in 2012 in which 26 shows pulled in $20,614,956. Four shows are still in previews this time, including a play based on John Grisham's "A Time To Kill."

"Soul Doctor," the musical about the life and music of Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach, bowed out Sunday after playing 32 previews and 66 regular performances. It was critically savaged and was earning less than 20 percent of its box office potential. The week also bid farewell to "The Trip to Bountiful," a well-regarded revival of Horton Foote's play that starred Cicely Tyson.

___

Mark Kennedy can be reached at http://twitter.com/KennedyTwits

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/matilda-betrayal-enjoy-good-broadway-week-175259228.html
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Five Songs By The 'Rhodes Scholar' Keyboardist Of Hip-Hop

Keyboardist and producer Bob James' 1970s work helped to establish the sound of smooth jazz — and lives on in hip-hop samples galore.

Courtesy of the artist

Keyboardist and producer Bob James' 1970s work helped to establish the sound of smooth jazz — and lives on in hip-hop samples galore.

Courtesy of the artist

Professing love for Bob James' music can yield a side-eye in some circles. Jazz purists routinely view the keyboardist's 1970s period as a progenitor to smooth jazz — an idiom they frequently react to as if it were a sign of the apocalypse.

Nevertheless, James knows his way around the keyboards, and has demonstrated a keen gift for concocting catchy melodies and funky grooves, enticing many R&B and funk fans. His music also seduced legions of hip-hop and deep house producers such as DJ Jazzy Jeff, Q-Tip, Pete Rock, Dr. Dre and Kenny "Dope" Gonzalez. In fact, James' output on the CTI and (his own) Tappan Zee labels is some of the most sampled music in hip-hop.

That's one of the reasons why the new two-disc compilation, Rhodes Scholar: Jazz-Funk Classics 1974-1982, is a motherlode for any DJ looking for jams with a deeper sense of music history that will still ignite dance floors. And don't be surprised if you hear some of today's funk-informed jazz stars such as Robert Glasper, Karriem Riggins and Ben Williams drop a Bob James quote or two in their live performances.

Source: http://www.npr.org/blogs/ablogsupreme/2013/10/17/236231843/five-songs-by-the-rhodes-scholar-keyboardist-of-hip-hop?ft=1&f=1039
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Nexus 5 makes a brief appearance on Google Play, listed at $349

The link is dead(ish) now, but there it is, folks. The Nexus 5, for $349.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/Rj_ytXjbvWY/story01.htm
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Zimbabwe diamonds: Where has all the money gone?

File - in this file photo taken Wednesday, Nov. 1, 2006 gangs of illegal miners dig for diamonds in Marange, eastern Zimbabwe. The wealth enjoyed by just a few comes, at least in part, from the vast Marange diamond field that was exposed by an earth tremor in 2006. The Marange deposit is the biggest diamond field found in Africa for a century, estimated to be worth some billions of dollars, but as most Zimbabweans remain mired in poverty, questions are being asked about where all the money went and who benefited. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi, FILE)

File - in this file photo taken Wednesday, Nov. 1, 2006 gangs of illegal miners dig for diamonds in Marange, eastern Zimbabwe. The wealth enjoyed by just a few comes, at least in part, from the vast Marange diamond field that was exposed by an earth tremor in 2006. The Marange deposit is the biggest diamond field found in Africa for a century, estimated to be worth some billions of dollars, but as most Zimbabweans remain mired in poverty, questions are being asked about where all the money went and who benefited. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi, FILE)

FILE - in this file photo taken Wednesday, Nov. 1, 2006, illegal miners dig for diamonds in Marange, Zimbabwe. The wealth enjoyed by just a few comes, at least in part, from the vast Marange diamond field that was exposed by an earth tremor in 2006. The Marange deposit is the biggest diamond field found in Africa for a century, estimated to be worth some billions of dollars, but as most Zimbabweans remain mired in poverty, questions are being asked about where all the money went and who benefited. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi, FILE)

File - in this file photo taken Wednesday, Nov. 1, 2006, gangs of illegal miners dig for diamonds in Marange, eastern Zimbabwe. The wealth enjoyed by just a few comes, at least in part, from the vast Marange diamond field that was exposed by an earth tremor in 2006. The Marange deposit is the biggest diamond field found in Africa for a century, estimated to be worth some billions of dollars, but as most Zimbabweans remain mired in poverty, questions are being asked about where all the money went and who benefited. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi, FILE)

HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — Despite living in an impoverished country under sanctions, some in Zimbabwe seem awash in money, judging by the Mercedes-Benzes parked at a country club and the private woodland estate with artificial lake and mansion built by the nation's police chief.

The wealth enjoyed by just a few comes, at least in part, from the vast Marange diamond field that was exposed by an earth tremor in 2006. The deposit in eastern Zimbabwe is the biggest diamond field found in Africa for a century, worth billions of dollars.

Now, as most Zimbabweans remain mired in poverty, with government coffers short on funds to build and maintain the nation's roads, clinics, utility services and schools, questions are being asked as to where all the money went and who benefited.

A recent bipartisan parliamentary investigation concluded that tens of millions of dollars in diamond earnings are missing from 2012 alone. The lawmakers who wrote the unprecedented and unusually candid report said their "worst fears were confirmed" by evidence of "underhand dealings" and diamond smuggling since 2009.

In a speech opening parliament on Sept. 17, President Robert Mugabe took the rare step of accusing one top mining official and ruling party loyalist of accepting a $6 million bribe from Ghanaian investors to obtain diamond mining rights in Marange. Mugabe said Godwills Masimirembwa took the bribe when he was head of the state Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation which is in charge of mining concessions.

Masimirembwa quit that post to contest the July 31 national election as a candidate for Mugabe's ZANU-PF party but failed to win a parliament seat. Masimirembwa denies any wrongdoing.

The parliamentary report and a human rights group say diamond mining has led to serious human rights abuses and that diamond concessions were awarded by government officials to enrich top members of the ZANU-PF party, of the security forces and Chinese allies.

In declaring his innocence, Masimirembwa said the purported deal with the Ghanaian investors was discussed with national Police Chief Augustine Chihuri and then Mines Minister Obert Mpofu, a longtime business associate of Masimirembwa who is also one of the nation's wealthiest businessmen.

Chihuri and Mpofu have frequently insisted in the state media that their wealth comes from legitimate business empires to make up for poor salaries paid for full-time government duties.

Expected revenues from the Marange diamond fields have scarcely materialized.

Former Zimbabwe Finance Minister Tendai Biti says he was promised $600 million for economic and development projects from diamond revenues last year but only received $41 million. Nothing was paid into the national treasury up to the disputed July elections that the ZANU-PF won, a vote result that caused the end of a coalition government with the MDC party that Biti belonged to, and the loss of his Cabinet seat.

Some $2 billion in Zimbabwe's diamond revenues have been unaccounted for since 2008, according to Global Witness, which campaigns against natural resource-related conflict and corruption and associated environmental and human rights abuses. Zimbabwe is the world's fourth-largest diamond miner, producing an estimated 17 million carats this year, according to the Kimberley Process which is charged with ensuring that gems reaching world markets don't bear the taint of being "blood diamonds." Marange diamonds have been declared conflict free.

But controversy and secrecy have swirled around Marange since the earth opened up and exposed its riches.

The discovery lured thousands of impoverished Zimbabweans to dig in the alluvial deposit. In 2008, the Zimbabwean army sealed off the 60,000 hectare (130,000 acre) area to take control of the mining. At least 200 people died in a mass expulsion of people living in the closed area, Global Witness and other rights groups have alleged.

Chinese construction contractors built an airfield at the Marange diamond fields. Executive planes arrive there and at a bonded warehouse alongside the runway at Harare's main airport, without traceable flight plans or having to go through customs and immigration formalities, say commercial pilots who say they have complained of the irregularities to aviation authorities. They insisted on anonymity because of fears for their safety.

Some are living high from diamond deals.

As children begged in the street a block away, Zimbabwean diamond company executives accompanied by elegant young women arrived at a popular Harare nightclub last year, ordered drinks for about 120 patrons and picked up the $ 4,000 tab, said a person who witnessed the scene and who demanded anonymity to prevent reprisals.

The identities of owners, directors and shareholders in diamond enterprises have never been officially disclosed, though the Zimbabwe Republic Police Trust, a business enterprise of the police force, is publicly listed as holding a 20 percent stake in the Ghanaian diamond investment project.

The parliamentary panel's report said powerful officials, politicians and police and army commanders repeatedly tried to thwart the probe into diamond dealings. The chairman of the 22-member panel, Edward Chindori-Chininga, a former Mugabe mines minister, died in a car crash just days after he signed the report in June.

Police said Chindori-Chininga's death was accidental and that his car had veered off the highway and slammed into trees.

Car wrecks or mysterious accidents have taken the lives of 12 senior politicians, all of whom were believed to have bucked official policy, in the past two decades, according to local press reports.

The parliamentary committee's report said several officials lied while giving evidence under subpoena and that diamond earnings are not only shielded from scrutiny but are not channeled into the state coffers. It said the Marange fields in particular are a no-go area, shrouded in secrecy and deception. The mining companies don't even buy food or services from surrounding communities, the report said.

Mugabe's government and ZANU-PF have repeatedly denied diamond revenues have been siphoned off.

But Global Witness says otherwise.

"Our research has exposed links between Zimbabwe's two largest diamond mining companies and the Zimbabwean military and other ZANU-PF insiders," said Emily Armistead, senior campaigner for Global Witness.

"It is not clear where the money is going," she added. "It appears there is a mixture of corruption enriching specific individuals and some funds going to security operations. Our concern is that it could be used to fund repression and human rights abuses."

The difficulty with monitoring diamond earnings lies in the "opaque" way the mining enterprises were formed and financed, said Zimbabwean economist John Robertson. Information on their expenditure, profits and staff levels have not been divulged, he said.

"You are not allowed to know what is going on and if you need to know that amounts to attempted espionage," Robertson said.

So far, no legal action has been taken against Masimirembwa, the man accused by Mugabe.

And despite widespread reports since September in the Zimbabwean press that other top political and military figures would likely be exposed, so far none has.

Associated PressSource: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-10-17-Zimbabwe-Diamonds/id-d187a6f1afd04bd9b8cfce2dceadc995
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Director Bay attacked on 'Transformers' set in HK

American film director Michael Bay, left, assists the cameraman as they are filming their latest film "Transformers Four" in Hong Kong Thursday, Oct. 17, 2013. Two men have been arrested after the American film director, Michael Bay, was allegedly assaulted in Quarry Bay while working on his latest film, "Transformers Four" as the two men demanding money from the film crew. (AP Photo)

American film director Michael Bay, left, assists the cameraman as they are filming their latest film "Transformers Four" in Hong Kong Thursday, Oct. 17, 2013. Two men have been arrested after the American film director, Michael Bay, was allegedly assaulted in Quarry Bay while working on his latest film, "Transformers Four" as the two men demanding money from the film crew. (AP Photo)

American film director Michael Bay, center, with members of his crew film his latest film "Transformers Four" in Hong Kong Thursday, Oct. 17, 2013. Two men have been arrested after the American film director, Michael Bay, was allegedly assaulted in Quarry Bay while working on his latest film, "Transformers Four" as the two men demanding money from the film crew. (AP Photo)

FILE - In this June 28, 2011 file photo, executive producer and director Michael Bay attends the "Transformers: Dark Of The Moon" premiere in Times Square in New York. Filming of Hollywood movie Transformers 4 in Hong Kong was briefly suspended after director Bay fell victim to an extortion attempt in which he was slightly injured, according to media reports and police Thursday, Oct. 17, 2013. (AP Photo/Evan Agostini, File)

HONG KONG (AP) — Hollywood director Michael Bay was attacked and slightly injured Thursday on the set of the fourth installment of the "Transformers" movie series currently filming in Hong Kong, police said.

A Hong Kong police spokeswoman said two brothers surnamed Mak who own a shop near the film set approached Bay and demanded 100,000 Hong Kong dollars ($13,000).

When Bay refused to pay, they assaulted him, she said. The brothers also allegedly assaulted three police officers who were called to the set.

The spokeswoman said Bay suffered a minor injury to his face but declined medical treatment. She spoke on customary condition of anonymity.

The two men, aged 27 and 28, were arrested and face charges of blackmail, assault and assaulting police officers, she said.

Paramount Pictures gave a somewhat different account of the incident, which it said occurred on the film's first day of production in Hong Kong.

It said in a statement that a man allegedly under the influence of a narcotic substance rushed onto the set wielding an air conditioning unit and swung it at Bay's head. It said Bay ducked and wrestled the air conditioning unit away from the man.

Police arrested the man and two companions, and no one on the set was injured, Paramount said.

"Transformers 4: Age of Extinction" is partly set in Hong Kong. It stars Mark Wahlberg and is to be released next June.

Associated PressSource: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2013-10-17-Hong%20Kong-Transformers/id-420c6f8d86fc47cd886126ca73f29c13
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House Stenographer Seizes Microphone In Bizarre Rant

In one of the strangest moments of a strange few weeks on Capitol Hill, a House stenographer broke into a rant about God, the Constitution and Freemasonry as representatives cast their votes Wednesday on a deal to reopen the government.

"He will not be mocked," the stenographer, later identified as Dianne Reidy, yelled into the microphone at the chamber's rostrum. "The greatest deception here is that this is not one nation under God. It never was. It would not have been. The Constitution would not have been written by Freemasons. They go against God."

She was quickly escorted away from the lectern by floor staff, but continued: "You cannot serve two masters. Praise be to God. Praise be to Jesus."

Capitol Police said Reidy had been "transported to a local area hospital for evaluation."

Rep. Gerry Connolly, a Virginia Democrat, was quoted by The Washington Post as saying the stenographer is a well-known and liked figure in the House.

"I think there's a lot of sympathy because something clearly happened there," Connolly said.

Source: http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/10/17/236140035/house-stenographer-snaps-seizes-microphone-in-bizarre-rant?ft=1&f=1003
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Popcorn Makes Moviegoers Ignore Ads, Study Finds

Getty Images

Could popcorn be the best ad-blocker?

COLOGNE, Germany – Chewing popcorn while watching cinema ads could make us immune to the brand message.

That's the finding of a new study by researchers at Cologne University, who tested the impact of cinema advertising on popcorn-munching moviegoers.

STORY: Shutdown Special: AMC Will Hand Out Free Popcorn to Federal Employees

The researchers invited participants to watch a film in a cinema preceded by a series of ads for new, unknown products. Half the audience was given free popcorn to eat during the ads; the others got a small sugar cube that dissolved in their mouths within a minute.

A week after the screening, the researchers tested the participants to analyze the effect of the cinema ads.

While viewers who only received sugar were more likely to recognize and purchase one of the new brands presented in the movie commercials, the popcorn munchers were less likely to do so.

The effect was significant. Only 40 percent of popcorn eaters chose to buy one of the newly advertised products a week later, while fully 65 percent of the non-chewers did so.

Published in the Journal of Consumer Psychology under the title "Popcorn in the Cinema: Oral Interference Sabotages Advertising Effects," the study is based on a new psychological theory about how the brain absorbs brand messages.

STORY: Analyst: Movie Theater Chains Should Focus on Customer Satisfaction, Not Popcorn Profits

According to the theory, when we are introduced to a new brand name, our lips and tongue begin to subconsciously simulate the pronunciation of the name. Each time the brand is mentioned, our brain practices the name with a sort of “inner speech,” going through the motions the mouth would need to pronounce the name.

Chewing, the researchers found, disrupted this inner speech.

“The brain is so busy with the act of chewing that it does not have the space to do this subconscious articulation,” Sascha Topolinski, one of the study's researchers, told THR. “The brand name gets blocked out.”

The findings suggest popcorn machines and candy counters in cinema foyers could be counterproductive. “Selling candy in theaters undermines advertising effects, which contradicts present marketing strategies,” Topolinski said.

But he added that the “popcorn effect” only applies to new brands.

“An ad for Marlboro, for example, is fine,” he said (cigarette ads are still legal in Germany), “because the brand name is well known and the ad just conveys a certain feeling about the brand, the Wild West or whatever. But novel brands, say for Internet companies with odd names like Zalando -- it could be a problem.”

He suggests advertisers should try to prevent candy and popcorn being sold until after the ad roll.

So far, however, there's been no response from the advertising industry to the Cologne study.

“I guess they just need time to digest it,” Topolinski said.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/thr/news/~3/724dE7_J2yk/popcorn-makes-moviegoers-ignore-ads-648396
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Shooting Challenge: Fall Food Porn

A lot of people celebrate the foods of spring—the first green things that sprout from the ground after a thaw. But if spring is about revitalization, autumn is about comfort—sweet and savory spiced foods that fatten you up for winter and pair perfectly with a nap.

Read more...

Source: http://gizmodo.com/shooting-challenge-fall-food-porn-1446369597
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A Peek Into The Private Lives Of 'Burton And Taylor'

Dominic West and Helena Bonham Carter star as Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor in Burton and Taylor, a new made-for-TV movie from BBC America.

BBC America

Dominic West and Helena Bonham Carter star as Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor in Burton and Taylor, a new made-for-TV movie from BBC America.

BBC America

You have to be of a certain age to remember firsthand the tornado of publicity that erupted when Liz Taylor, the former child star turned screen vamp, first met British stage star Richard Burton on the set of the 1963 movie Cleopatra. But it's still one of Hollywood's most famous and inescapable love stories.

He played Mark Antony, she played the Queen of the Nile, and just like their onscreen characters, they fell in love. Though Liz and Dick were married to others at the time, they began a torrid affair, the coverage of which spread outside the gossip columns. Eventually, they divorced their spouses and got married. After 10 years and many films together, they divorced — then, after a while, married each other a second time, then got divorced again. That all happened by 1976.

In the early '80s, Liz and Dick decided to reunite once again — but this time, only professionally, as the stars of a limited-run Broadway revival of the Noel Coward comedy Private Lives. The play was about a long-divorced couple who meet while on honeymoons with new spouses — but whose love for one another is rekindled during the chance encounter.

Liz, who was popping pills and drinking at the time, may have wished for life to imitate art. Dick, newly sober, considered Liz one more compelling addiction it was wiser for him to avoid. And it's this period of their lives that screenwriter William Ivory examines in the new BBC America telemovie import, Burton and Taylor.

It's a highly entertaining study, for two reasons. One is the decision to peek at the private lives of these very public figures through such a tiny, fixed peephole. It's much more satisfying than watching a boring by-the-numbers re-creation of career highlights, like last year's horrible Lifetime telemovie, Liz & Dick, starring Lindsay Lohan. That was more focused on getting the costumes and makeup right than caring about the performances or character insights. Burton and Taylor, though, stays in one place long enough to make us feel their emotions — and, because of the excellent performances, believe them.

The performances are the other reason this drama works. The stars of Burton and Taylor sound like unlikely choices, but they mesh perfectly. Helena Bonham Carter, who has spent much of the past decade playing cartoonish characters for Tim Burton and others, plays Liz with a fire, and a vulnerability, that quickly make the impersonation succeed. And as Richard Burton, one of the most commanding and forceful actors of his generation, the movie casts Dominic West, whom fans of The Wire know well as Detective McNulty.

Here, the native British actor gets to drop the accent he used for that HBO series and approximate Richard Burton's gravelly, velvety tones. West does it so well that he, too, quickly makes you forget about the performer and get drawn into the often intimate action.

Burton and Taylor is as serious as last year's Liz & Dick telemovie was campy. For writer Ivory and director Richard Laxton, it's easily a career best. For the stars, it's one more triumph to add to their already impressive resumes. And for other TV writers and producers looking to dramatize the lives of famous figures, Burton and Taylor — like Steven Spielberg's narrowly focused movie biography of Lincoln — serves as a very clear lesson. Sometimes, when deciding how much of a life to examine, less very definitely is more.

Source: http://www.npr.org/2013/10/16/235350255/a-peek-into-the-private-lives-of-burton-and-taylor?ft=1&f=1048
Category: Alice Munro   betrayal   Robinson Cano   iOS 7 download   Moto X  

SQUARE: Please email money -- HADOOP 2 arrives -- TWITTER dials up users, revenue, losses -- INTEL's low-cost fall lineup -- D-Day in D.C.

October 16, 2013 06:00 PDT | 09:00 EDT | 13:00 UTC

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>> SQUARE CASH: The money is in the email, by Walt Mossberg: "Say you want to send $47.12 to your sister. You just compose an email with her email address in the 'To' field and, in the 'CC' field, you enter 'cash@square.com.' In the subject field, you enter the amount you're sending -- in this case, '$47.12.'... If this is your first time using the service, Square will email you a link to its service, where you'll be asked to enter your debit-card information.... Your sister will receive two emails: The one from you and a second from Square saying you're sending her the money. If she accepts the payment and it's her first time using the service, she will be asked to click a link to Square and enter her debit-card information. Once that's verified, the transfer is made, and the money will show up in her bank account in one to two days.... No other account setup is required. You never need to create, or enter, a login or password. And the money goes straight from bank to bank." AllThingsD

>> NYSE TICKER TWTR: Twitter doubled revenue, saw deeper losses in Q3, by Martyn Williams: "The company's highly anticipated IPO will take place on the New York Stock Exchange... revenue in the three-month period was US$169 million, just over double that achieved during the same period a year earlier and a quarterly record for the fast-growing company. But just as revenue climbed, losses were also sharply higher. Twitter racked up a net loss of $64 million in the three-month period... the company saw its average monthly users climb to 231.7 million, up from 167.1 million in the same period of 2012." PCWorld

>> BIG DATA ENGINE: Apache Software Foundation unveils Hadoop 2, replacing MapReduce with YARN, by Loek Essers: "The Apache Software Foundation unveiled its latest release of its open source data processing program, Hadoop 2... Most notable is the addition of YARN, (Yet Another Resource Negotiator), which is a successor to Hadoop's MapReduce... YARN sits on top of the HDFS (Hadoop Distributed File System) and serves as a large-scale, distributed operating system for big data applications, enabling multiple applications to run simultaneously for more efficient support of data throughout its entire lifecycle." InfoWorld
>>>> Hadoop 2.0 goes GA ZDNet

>> FOR THE WIN: Intel meets estimates, posts third quarter revenue of $13.5 billion: "The company generated approximately $5.7 billion in cash from operations, paid dividends of $1.1 billion, and used $536 million to repurchase 24 million shares of stock." Electronista
>>>> Intel's Bay Trail chips to hit 10 tablets, hybrids next month InfoWorld
>>>> Intel says hardware bargains to multiply this fall: $99 tablets, $299 Haswell laptops, $349 2-in-1 hybrids VentureBeat
>>>> Intel delays 14-nm Broadwell chips for PCs and hybrids to early 2014 PCWorld

>> VIRTUAL LAND GRAB: VMware expands management of Amazon, Microsoft, OpenStack clouds, by Brandon Butler: "VMware has rolled out expanded support for non-VMware workloads in its management tools, including the added ability to manage OpenStack clouds, and providing better visibility into Amazon and Microsoft clouds." NetworkWorld
>>>> VMware looks to UK for launch of European public cloud "Hybrid cloud strategy could cause lock-in problems for customers." Computerworld UK

>> WORKS FOR POLITICIANS: Microsoft's Google-bashing TV campaign is actually working, by Alex Kantrowitz: "The Scroogled ads, negative to the core, are a rarity for consumer tech. Even the mean-spirited 'I'm a Mac, I'm a PC' variety featured a product comparison at least. But while the tactics may be ugly, the ads are working, according to two ad effectiveness firms, and research commissioned by Microsoft, which finds the ads are tarnishing Google's image in the eyes of viewers and putting Microsoft products -- including underdogs such as Bing -- into the consideration set." AdAge
>>>> Scroogled my ass InfoWorld

>> NOT CHEAP ENOUGH: Apple and China, by John Gruber: "When the iPhone 5C came out last month and was not 'low cost', many took it as a sign that Apple was somehow ignoring China. I would say it's just the opposite: they're skating to where the puck is heading, not where it is, and positioning their products to thrive as China's upper class grows. From Apple's perspective, there's no such thing as an 'emerging market'. There are certainly cultural differences between consumers in different countries, but the bottom line is that there are people who can afford iPhones and iPads, and people who can't. The class of people who can afford Apple products is growing faster in China than it is anywhere else." Daring Fireball
>>>> Apple said to be trimming iPhone 5C production while increasing 5S orders The Verge
>>>> As iPhone 5C fades, Firefox OS and Android square off in emerging markets ReadWrite

>> STAT DU JOUR: Top 10 most pirated movies of the week, by Jerry Brito, Eli Dourado, Matt Sherman: "Do people turn to piracy when the movies they want to watch are not available legally? Over the past 3 weeks, 53% of the most-pirated movies have been available legally in some digital form. Over the same period, only 20% have been available for rental or streaming. In addition, 0% have been available on a legal streaming service." Mercatus Center/GWU
>>>> Can digital rentals block piracy? New site gathers the data Ars Technica

>> ESCAPE VELOCITY: Greenwald exits Guardian for new Omidyar media venture, by Mark Hosenball: "Glenn Greenwald, who has made headlines around the world with his reporting on U.S. electronic surveillance programs, is leaving the Guardian newspaper to join a new media venture funded by eBay founder Pierre Omidya.... Greenwald, who is based in Brazil and was among the first to report information provided by one-time U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) contractor Edward Snowden.... Omidyar, who is chairman of the board at eBay Inc but is not involved in day-to-day operations at the company." Reuters

>> BUMPING ALONG: Earnings and revenue down -- Yahoo delivers on expected lackluster third quarter AllThingsD
>>>> Alibaba earnings more than double on surging e-commerce "Yahoo, which owns about 24 percent of [Alibaba], said yesterday that the maximum number of shares it's required to sell in an Alibaba IPO fell to 208 million from 261.5 million." BloombergBusinessweek

>> DEPARTURE LOUNGE: Steve Ballmer is right, and I was wrong, by Joe Wilcox: "For all Microsoft's CEO might have done wrong, he was right about something dismissed by many -- and I among them: Google. Ballmer started treating the search and information company as a competitive threat about a decade ago. Google as Microsoft competitor seemed simply nuts in 2003. How could search threaten Windows, particularly when anyone could type a new web address to change providers? Ballmer was obsessed, chasing every Google maneuver, often to a fault. Execution could have been better, but his perception was right." Beta News

>> NEOMONEY: Chinese Internet giant Baidu now accepts Bitcoin, by Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai: "Baidu, also known as the 'Google of China,' is now accepting Bitcoin payments for Jiasule, its anti-DDoS (distributed denial of service) and firewall security product.... For Bitcoin, this partnership comes at a crucial time. After the feds busted the online drug bazaar Silk Road and seized all its Bitcoins -- roughly 5% of the total in circulations -- some speculated that it was the end of the virtual currency. But after dropping dramatically, Bitcoin's price has recovered, reaching a five-month high." Mashable

>> LIBERTY & JUSTICE: A court order is an insider attack, by Ed Felten: "Commentators on the Lavabit case, including the judge himself, have criticized Lavabit for designing its system in a way that resisted court-ordered access to user data. They ask: If court orders are legitimate, why should we allow engineers to design services that protect users against court-ordered access? The answer is simple but subtle: There are good reasons to protect against insider attacks, and a court order is an insider attack." Freedom to Tinker

>> SHOT: HTC rumored to be making the Amazon phone TechHive

>> CHASER: HTC gives up on budget phones "Jeff Gordon, HTC's marketing boss, told CNET UK that the company isn't going to suddenly shift its strategy to become a budget smartphone maker. 'Competing against Huawei, ZTE, and eventually Amazon, for low end, razor-thin margins is a fool's game.'" CNet Asia

>> Irish budget proposes an end to Apple tax shelter The Street

>> 5 new and improved tools for Exchange and Office 365 InfoWorld

>> Oracle VM VirtualBox 4.3 now available Oracle

>> Is a $100 3D printer too good to be true? Smithsonian Mag

>> Meet SecureDrop, a new lock box for whistleblowers Time

>> iOS 7 is jailbroken evasi0n

>> Oracle releases 127 security fixes, 51 for Java alone Sophos Naked Security

>> Dave Morin laid off 20 percent of Path employees today ValleyWag

>> Alcatel-Lucent challenges Cisco, Brocade unified access. 'Extends relationship with Aruba for BYOD management.' NetworkWorld

>> Google Fiber changes server ban language in TOS DSLReports

>> New effort to fully audit TrueCrypt raises $16,000+ in a few short weeks Ars Technica

>> Nginx raises $ 10M in Series B round Nginx

>> Booming Vox Media, the people behind The Verge and SB Nation, raises another huge round, $34M AllThingsD

>> TWEET O' THE DAY: "America Held Hostage, Day 16." @jacobwe

FEED ME, SEYMOUR: Comments? Questions? Tips? Shoot mail to Trent or Woody. Follow @gegax or @woodyleonhard.

Pass it on. Tweet us!

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Source: http://www.infoworld.com/t/technology-business/square-please-email-money-hadoop-2-arrives-twitter-dials-users-revenue-losses-intels-low-cost-fall-line?source=rss_business_intelligence
Category: Namaste   Nick Pasquale   Galaxy Note 3   Sean Sasser   Prince William Last Name  

These Cans Come With Their Own Built-In DAC

Audio Technica makes a wide range of high-end headphones that plenty of audiophiles keep plugged into a standalone digital-to-analog converter. Perhaps that’s why one of their new sets of cans comes with a DAC built into the ear cup.

The Audio Technica ATH-D900USB uses the same 53mm drivers and components as the analog, open-back ATH-D900. But what makes it special is the 24-bit DAC built into the left ear cup. Powered by Burr-Brown amplifiers and taking a Mini USB input, the ATH-D900USB is the first pair of cans with a built-in 24-bit DAC included in the actual headset. Most of the time, these headphones will be playing music through USB, so the built-in DAC can do the usual digital-to-analog dance as well as normalize volume. But if you wanted to use these cans as a traditional pair of analog headphones, it does accept a 3.5mm jack.

Not much else is known about the ATH-D900USB at the moment, including how they sound. But they should be available for purchase in late 2014 for ¥37,800, or about $385.

Images via Audio Technica

Source: http://feeds.wired.com/c/35185/f/661370/s/327b572c/sc/4/l/0L0Swired0N0Cgadgetlab0C20A130C10A0Cbuilt0Ein0Edac0Eheadphones0C/story01.htm
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Stocks rise sharply on optimism for a debt deal

NEW YORK (AP) — The stock market surged in late morning trading as Washington closed in on a deal to avoid a default by the U.S. government.

The Dow Jones industrial average spiked 200 points, or 1.3 percent, to 15,370 in midday trading shortly after news that Senate leaders reached an agreement to avert a default. Rates on short-term U.S. government debt also fell as investors became less nervous.

The bill must still pass the House of Representatives as well as the Senate. The deal would also reopen the government, which has been partially shut for 16 days.

The Standard & Poor's 500 index gained 21 points, or 1.3 percent, to 1,719, just six points from its all-time high of 1,725 set Sept. 18.

The Nasdaq composite rose 43 points, or 1.2 percent, to 3,834.

Unless the debt limit is raised, the U.S. will hit a Thursday deadline after which it can no longer borrow money to pay its bills, increasing the chance of a default on government debt. That possibility has unnerved markets all month.

"The lawmakers know it's in our best interest for this to be settled," said JJ Kinahan, chief derivatives strategists for TD Ameritrade. "There's a belief that they'll take it as far as they can and ultimately, at the last minute, settle it."

Yields on Treasury bills fell sharply as hopes built for compromise ahead of the Thursday deadline to raise the U.S. debt ceiling. The yield on the one-month T-bill dropped to 0.26 percent from 0.40 percent earlier Wednesday morning, an extraordinarily large move. The decline means that investors consider the bill to be less risky.

The yield on the 10-year bond edged down to 2.72 percent from 2.74 percent Tuesday. Yields on longer-term U.S. government debt haven't moved as much as those on short-term debt because investors generally believe the government will work out a longer-term solution for paying its debts on time even as partisan gridlock in Washington holds up a short-term solution.

Fitch Ratings said late Tuesday that it may downgrade the government's AAA bond rating. The agency said it sees a higher risk for default because of the uncertainty over whether Congress will raise the debt limit. Fitch said it will make a final decision by the end of March at the latest, depending on how long any agreement to raise the debt ceiling lasts.

Unlike previous government-induced sell-offs in recent years, stock investors have stayed largely calm throughout the latest twists in the current fiscal saga in Washington. Even before Wednesday's news, the S&P 500 and the Dow were up for the month.

In the summer of 2011, the index plunged 17 percent between early July and early August as lawmakers argued over raising the debt limit and Standard & Poor's cut the U.S. credit rating from 'AAA,' its highest ranking.

Stocks also slumped in the last two weeks of 2012 as investors fretted that the U.S. would go over the "fiscal cliff" as lawmakers argued over a series of automatic government spending cuts.

"Investors have become, unfortunately, accustomed to some of the dysfunction," said Eric Wiegand, a senior portfolio manager at U.S. Bank. "It's become more the norm than the exception."

Instead, investors are focusing on Federal Reserve's decision to maintain its economic stimulus program, steady growth in earnings at U.S. companies and the prospect of better global economic growth.

Among stocks making big moves:

— Mattel gained $1.75, or 2.2 percent, to $43.30, after the company's third-quarter net income rose 16 percent thanks to high demand for dolls like Monster High, Barbie and American Girl. The results were better than Wall Street analysts had forecast.

— Bank of America rose 22 cents, or 1.5 percent, to $14.46 after the second-largest U.S. bank reported that it earned $2.5 billion in the July-September period, up from $340 million a year earlier. On a per-share basis, earnings were 20 cents, beating the 19 cents expected by financial analysts.

— Stanley Black & Decker plunged $12.60, or 14.1 percent, to $76.68 after the company lowered its profit forecast for the year, citing slower growth in emerging markets and a hit from the U.S. government shutdown.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/stocks-rise-sharply-optimism-debt-deal-141657054--finance.html
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The Song About Chinese Food We Never Needed

Do you remember the cringe-worthy song "Friday" by Rebecca Black? Who are we kidding -- it's impossible to forget! We can't say, "It's Friday" without humming "gotta get down on Friday."

Source: http://www.ivillage.com/video-alison-gold-does-chinese-food-what-rebecca-black-did-friday/1-a-549708?dst=iv%3AiVillage%3Avideo-alison-gold-does-chinese-food-what-rebecca-black-did-friday-549708
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Virb Website Builder Jettisons From Media Temple As It's Bought By GoDaddy

GoDaddy acquired Media Temple today. As part of the deal, the easy website building service Virb that was bought by Media Temple in 2012 is being spun out and sold back to its founder Brad Smith, and early investors and Media Temple’s co-founders Demian Sellfors and John Carey. Smith told Virb users there should be no disruption to service, describing the deal as “You = Win!”

Smith writes, “First things first: What does this event mean for Virb, YOU, and your website? Well, this changes absolutely nothing, while also changing absolutely everything.” So what was Virb?

The $10 a month website builder launched in 2007. It lets people choose a theme and snap on special functionality like a media gallery, ecommerce store, contact info form, event listings, audio, Tumblr embed, or a blank canvas to create with. Virb handles hosting, there’s no limit on content or pages, and it comes with SEO tools and customer support. Virb doesn’t offer email or domain registration, though.

Soon Virb could do even more, though. Smith writes “Our newfound (re)independence means we’ll have the freedom to be nimble and move quickly to advance our product” Smith explained to Virb’s users in an email and blog post.” Virb’s into radical transparency, so you can see its roadmap right on the site. Some features that might get completed quicker without the Media Temple red tape include automated slideshows, theme CSS editing, and a Dribble gallery integration.

These could all be a boon to the community of artists and designers that host their portfolios on Virb. There’s plenty of competition in the space including Wix, Moonfruit, Weebly, and OtherPeoplesPixels. Virb won’t have Media Temple’s help so it will need to find ways to differentiate. At least the artsy types on Virb don’t have to worry about GoDaddy’s fratty culture harshing their vibe.

Looking for a place to park your portfolio, your band, your website? Build an elegantly simple website with Virb. You provide the content, we’ll help with the rest — for only $10/month. Virb is a (mt) ventures company.

→ Learn more

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/pH0u_S6b9iA/
Category: nhl   nfl scores   Miley Cyrus Vmas 2013  

Ash (Aska): Film Review

The Bottom Line

Straightforward account of life after global news teams lost interest

Venue

Reykjavik International Film Festival, Icelandic Panorama

Director

Herbert Sveinbjornsson

REYKJAVIK — Following three agricultural families through the aftermath of 2010's devastating volcanic eruptions in Iceland, Herbert Sveinbjornsson's Ash offers long-term coverage of what for Americans was a news-cycle blip most significant for its effect on global air traffic. The in-depth doc lacks a broad appeal that could justify Stateside theatrical bookings, but festivals, particularly those with an environmental slant, should take notice.

After a vivid account of what it's like to live near a volcano as it erupts, the film moves on to cleanup. We get to know three farming families whose situations are quite different: One who has worked their land for generations, one for whom farming is a new calling, and one working unrelated jobs in the city as they try to get a sheep-raising enterprise on its feet.

All have staggering clean-up jobs on their hands. One counts up 400 tons of ash they've trucked off just from around their property's houses, before moving on to the fields. More devastating is mud, which can destroy the soil beneath it. Then there's the "tourist eruption": the cigarettes and beer cans left by around 25,000 city folk and journalists who come out to watch the show.

The families cope with these and other difficulties (like a foreign-currency farm loan that turned onerous after the economic crisis) in different ways. One makes lemonade from lemons, capitalizing on tourists' curiosity by building a volcano study center that happens to be a marketing boon for local produce. When 2011 offers yet another eruption, one must marvel at anyone willing to keep living off such volatile land.

Director-Editor: Herbert Sveinbjornsson

Screenwriters: Hildur Margretadottir, Herbert Sveinbjornsson

Producers: Heather Millard, Herbert Sveinbjornsson

Directors of photography: Hildur Margretadottir, Herbert Sveinbjornsson

Music: Ulfur Eldjarn

No rating, 111 minutes

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/thr/reviews/film/~3/2GPITtHYVd8/ash-aska-film-review-648468
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Quantum conductors benefit from growth on smooth foundations

Public release date: 14-Oct-2013
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Contact: Jason Socrates Bardi
jbardi@aip.org
240-535-4954
American Institute of Physics

Article in 'AIP Advances' describes new topological insulator materials developed in China and US that may speed future semiconductor chips

WASHINGTON D.C. Oct. 11, 2013 -- Imagine if the "information superhighway" had HOV lanes so that data could be stored, processed and disseminated many times faster than possible with today's electronics. Researchers in the United States and China have teamed to develop such a speedway for future devices, an exotic type of electrical conductor called a topological insulator (TI). In a new paper in the journal AIP Advances, the international collaborators report that they grew two types of TI materials inside an ultra-high vacuum chamber on both smooth and rough surfaces and then evaluated their abilities to transport electrons.

A TI harnesses not only the charge of electrons, but also their spin and magnetic properties. The interior of this unusual structure is an insulator, something that blocks the flow of current, while the surface acts as a highly efficient conductor of electricity. So efficient, in fact, that the electrons never deviate from their path.

"This makes the TI promising for applications such as future high-speed, dissispationless [does not involve energy dissipation] computers where massive quantities of information would be carried by electrons in quantum channels," said physicist and corresponding author Jian Wang at Peking University's International Center for Quantum Materials. "Avoiding the scattering of electrons that occurs in today's computers would keep high-speed devices from experiencing chip overheating, destruction of the data stream, and a slowdown of operational speed."

In their study, the researchers grew two types of TI materials, bismuth telluride (Bi2Te3) and antimony telluride (Sb2Te3), one atomic layer at a time on both vicinal (rough) and non-vicinal (smooth) forms of a substrate material commonly used by the semiconductor industry, gallium arsenide (GaAs).

"Higher quality, better-electron-conducting TI films were grown on the smoother surface substrate and that was unexpected," says Timothy Morgan, co-author and nanotechnologist at the Arkansas Institute for Nanoscale Material Sciences and Engineering. "Typically, rough spots would provide anchor points for film growth kind of like putting the first pieces of a tile floor up against a wall so that the rest fall in alignment. This new finding tells us we need to do more investigations of the growth mechanisms involved."

Now that the researchers have shown that they can grow high-quality TI materials on industry standard substrates, they say the next step is to put them to work. "We will try to design and fabricate some fundamental devices using TI materials to see how well they perform tasks such as electronic switching and photodetection," says Zhaoquan Zeng, lead author an and postdoctoral researcher at Ohio State University's Electrical and Computer Engineering Department.

###

The article, " Molecular beam epitaxial growth of Bi2Te3 and Sb2Te3 topological insulators on GaAs (111) substrates: a potential route to fabricate topological insulator p-n junction" by Zhaoquan Zeng, Timothy A. Morgan, Dongsheng Fan, Chen Li, Yusuke Hirono, Xian Hu, Yanfei Zhao, Joon Sue Lee, Jian Wang, Zhiming M. Wang, Shuiqing Yu, Michael E. Hawkridge, Mourad Benamara, and Gregory J. Salamo appears in the journal AIP Advances. See: http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4815972

Authors of this paper are affiliated with the University of Arkansas, Peking University, The Pennsylvania State University, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China and the Chinese Academy of Science.

ABOUT THE JOURNAL

AIP Advances is a fully open access, online-only, community-led journal. It covers all areas of applied physical science. With its advanced web 2.0 functionality, the journal puts relevant content and discussion tools in the hands of the community to shape the direction of the physical sciences. See: http://aipadvances.aip.org

---

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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Public release date: 14-Oct-2013
[


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| Share

]

Contact: Jason Socrates Bardi
jbardi@aip.org
240-535-4954
American Institute of Physics

Article in 'AIP Advances' describes new topological insulator materials developed in China and US that may speed future semiconductor chips

WASHINGTON D.C. Oct. 11, 2013 -- Imagine if the "information superhighway" had HOV lanes so that data could be stored, processed and disseminated many times faster than possible with today's electronics. Researchers in the United States and China have teamed to develop such a speedway for future devices, an exotic type of electrical conductor called a topological insulator (TI). In a new paper in the journal AIP Advances, the international collaborators report that they grew two types of TI materials inside an ultra-high vacuum chamber on both smooth and rough surfaces and then evaluated their abilities to transport electrons.

A TI harnesses not only the charge of electrons, but also their spin and magnetic properties. The interior of this unusual structure is an insulator, something that blocks the flow of current, while the surface acts as a highly efficient conductor of electricity. So efficient, in fact, that the electrons never deviate from their path.

"This makes the TI promising for applications such as future high-speed, dissispationless [does not involve energy dissipation] computers where massive quantities of information would be carried by electrons in quantum channels," said physicist and corresponding author Jian Wang at Peking University's International Center for Quantum Materials. "Avoiding the scattering of electrons that occurs in today's computers would keep high-speed devices from experiencing chip overheating, destruction of the data stream, and a slowdown of operational speed."

In their study, the researchers grew two types of TI materials, bismuth telluride (Bi2Te3) and antimony telluride (Sb2Te3), one atomic layer at a time on both vicinal (rough) and non-vicinal (smooth) forms of a substrate material commonly used by the semiconductor industry, gallium arsenide (GaAs).

"Higher quality, better-electron-conducting TI films were grown on the smoother surface substrate and that was unexpected," says Timothy Morgan, co-author and nanotechnologist at the Arkansas Institute for Nanoscale Material Sciences and Engineering. "Typically, rough spots would provide anchor points for film growth kind of like putting the first pieces of a tile floor up against a wall so that the rest fall in alignment. This new finding tells us we need to do more investigations of the growth mechanisms involved."

Now that the researchers have shown that they can grow high-quality TI materials on industry standard substrates, they say the next step is to put them to work. "We will try to design and fabricate some fundamental devices using TI materials to see how well they perform tasks such as electronic switching and photodetection," says Zhaoquan Zeng, lead author an and postdoctoral researcher at Ohio State University's Electrical and Computer Engineering Department.

###

The article, " Molecular beam epitaxial growth of Bi2Te3 and Sb2Te3 topological insulators on GaAs (111) substrates: a potential route to fabricate topological insulator p-n junction" by Zhaoquan Zeng, Timothy A. Morgan, Dongsheng Fan, Chen Li, Yusuke Hirono, Xian Hu, Yanfei Zhao, Joon Sue Lee, Jian Wang, Zhiming M. Wang, Shuiqing Yu, Michael E. Hawkridge, Mourad Benamara, and Gregory J. Salamo appears in the journal AIP Advances. See: http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4815972

Authors of this paper are affiliated with the University of Arkansas, Peking University, The Pennsylvania State University, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China and the Chinese Academy of Science.

ABOUT THE JOURNAL

AIP Advances is a fully open access, online-only, community-led journal. It covers all areas of applied physical science. With its advanced web 2.0 functionality, the journal puts relevant content and discussion tools in the hands of the community to shape the direction of the physical sciences. See: http://aipadvances.aip.org

---

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| Share

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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-10/aiop-qcb101413.php
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