Regular readers will know that the FCC is a bit of a virtual whistle-blower, alerting tech-hungry Americans to when new goodies might soon be landing on their shores. Other times it coughs up the odd thing we weren't even waiting for. Today's offering appears to be a 3G tablet from NEC. There's little in the way of specification, or even pictures, but we do know it's sporting GSM and HSPA radios along with the standard WiFi. The device measures 222.6 mm across, which strongly points to a display somewhere in the 7-inch region. The KMP7R4D1-1A model number isn't ringing any bells right now, but we do remember a few Japanese models that bear a passing resemblance not that long ago.
Ibrahim al-Asiri is al Qaeda's top bomb maker. He's also the operative behind the failed underwear bomb plot in 2009, and he's got some devious, evil genius-level plans for bombs that find their way onto airplanes without being detected. More »
Anyone that bought Nintendo's 3D portable early on may have laid their hands on an endangered species. The original Aqua Blue model will cease production soon, according to Nintendo Japan's official site. In a full list of the 3DS's ever-increasing color options, the original has been tagged (above, top left), stating that it'll no longer be made, although there's no official date for the literal end of the line. Its turquoise coat didn't cost all that much, right?
PC users of a certain age will be all too familiar with defragging and disk checking, normally as a last-ditch attempt to reinvigorate a flagging or faulty system. Fast-forward to 2012, and Microsoft is reassessing the role of the whole NTFS health model for the modern world (well, Windows 8 at least). It turns out that these days actual corruptions are rare, but people still like to run chkdsk just in case -- or out of habit. In the old approach, health check was either happy or unhappy, and the machine was taken offline for as long as was needed to fix. Even with optimization and improvements in later versions, the galloping sizes of hard drives has swallowed up much of the benefit. In the redesigned model there are four states: healthy, spot verification needed, scan needed and spot fix needed. In any of these states, the system remains online, with the user deciding when to restart if a fix is needed. The reboot process should also be much quicker, with the spot fix already targeted. Advanced users can go a stage further and invoke the spot fix while still online for sections of the disk not in use. The proof, of course, is in the pudding, but anything that involves less death-staring at a disk check is a good thing in our book. Hit the source for a blow-by-blow breakdown.
Hollie Cavanagh "just kind of knew." That's what she told reporters not long after hearing her name announced as the latest American Idol elimination. That was the feeling she had when she woke up.
So, once the premonition became a reality, how did Hollie feel?
Honestly, if you'd asked me a couple of weeks ago I would've been upset and in tears, but you can't really complain when you are at the top four," she said. "There were so many people previously in the competition that would have died to have been in this spot, so I am proud of myself at this point."
That's certainly the right attitude to take, but try telling it to Joshua Ledet! He was more of a mess than Cavanagh after the results were unveiled.
"I don't know why the boy was crying, I'll get to see him in like two days!" Hollie laughed.
Cavanagh added that she truly has "no idea" who among the final three will win, but she does have nothing but nice things to say about the judges.
"They said how proud they were of me and how far I had come. Now I'm just looking to the future and see what the future brings. I don't want to look down as I have no regrets - I saw myself grow through the whole process and I'm proud of myself. I don't take anything back."
SPARTANBURG, S.C. (AP) ? For the second time in a year, a motorist has been ticketed in South Carolina for displaying a replica of testicles on a vehicle.
A Spartanburg County sheriff's deputy stopped a truck Sunday evening after noticing the "anatomically correct" display on the rear bumper. The incident report says the driver removed the display after being stopped but he was arrested for driving without a license. He was also given a warning ticket for having an obscene display.
Last July, a Berkeley County woman was ticketed for having a similar display on the back of her truck.
That case is to go to trial in municipal court in the town of Bonneau. That trial has been delayed three times and no new trial date has been set.
Agricultural bacteria: Blowing in the windPublic release date: 9-May-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Teri Barr tbarr@sciencesocieties.org 608-268-3976 American Society of Agronomy
It was all too evident during the Dust Bowl what a disastrous impact wind can have on dry, unprotected topsoil. Now a new study has uncovered a less obvious, but still troubling, effect of wind: Not only can it carry away soil particles, but also the beneficial microbes that help build soil, detoxify contaminants, and recycle nutrients.
Using a powerful DNA sequencing technique, called pyrosequencing, a team led by USDA-ARS scientists Terrence Gardner and Veronica Acosta-Martnez analyzed the bacterial diversity in three Michigan agricultural soils, and in two eroded sediments generated from these soils during a wind tunnel experiment: coarse particles and fine dust. Not only were the microbial assemblages on the coarse particles distinct from those on the dust, report the scientists in the current issue of the Journal of Environmental Quality, but the two types of eroded sediments were each enriched in certain groups of microbes compared with the parent soil, as well.
The findings suggest that specific bacteria inhabit specific locations in soiland thus different groups and species can be carried away depending on the kinds of particles that erode. "It's important to know which microbes are being lost from soil," says Acosta-Martnez, a soil microbiologist and biochemist at the USDA-ARS Cropping Systems Laboratory in Lubbock, TX, "because different microbes have different roles in soil processes."
For example, the Proteobacteriaa diverse group critical to carbon and nitrogen cyclingwere more associated in the study with eroded, coarse particles (those larger than 106 microns in size) than with the fine dust. Similarly, the dust housed its own community, in this case Bacteroidetes and other bacteria that are known to tolerate extreme dryness, gamma radiation, and other harsh conditions that may develop on dust particles as they float through the air, says Gardner, a postdoctoral researcher who is also affiliated with Alabama A&M University.
What this means is that wind erosion can both reduce the overall microbial diversity in farm fields, as well as deplete topsoil of specific groups of essential bacteria, say the researchers. At the same time, certain important groups, such as Actinobacteria that promote soil aggregation, remained in the parent soil despite the erosive conditions generated in the wind tunnel. And while fine dust can travel extremely long distances, coarse particles rarely move more than 20 feet, suggesting that theyand their associated microbesshould be fairly easy to retain with cover cropping and other soil conservation measures, Acosta-Martnez notes.
Helping farmers and land managers adopt practices that better conserve soil is one of the main goals of the USDA-ARS team's work, which also includes Ted Zobeck, Scott Van Pelt, Matt Baddock, and Francisco Caldern. In the Southern High Plains region, for example, intense cultivation of soil combined with a semi-arid climate can result in serious wind erosion problems. In fact, last summer's drought brought Dust Bowl-like conditions to the area, says Acosta-Martnez.
But "wind erosion is a national problem," she adds, with significant erosion occurring even in places where the growing season is humid and wet. Organic histosol soils in Michigan and many other parts of the country, for instance, are very susceptible to wind erosion when dry, especially since they're usually intensively farmed and often left bare in winter. Cover cropping or crop rotations not only help keep these soils in place, but can also build soil organic matter, which in turn promotes soil aggregation, water penetration, and general soil health.
It can take years, however, for farmers who've adopted new management practices to detect noticeable changes in levels of soil organic matter and other traditional soil quality measures. This is why Acosta-Martinez and Gardner have been analyzing soils with pyrosequencing, a method that yields a fingerprint of an entire microbial community, and well as identifies specific groups and species of bacteria based on their unique DNA sequences.
In this study, these microbial signatures told the researchers what's potentially being lost from soil during wind erosion events. But the fingerprints can be early indicators of positive outcomes, too.
"The microbial component is one of the most sensitive signatures of changes in the soil," says Acosta-Martnez, because of microbes' involvement in soil processes, such as carbon accumulation and biogeochemical cycling. "So, we're looking for any shifts in these signatures that could lead us to think that there are benefits to the soil with alternative management."
###
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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.
Agricultural bacteria: Blowing in the windPublic release date: 9-May-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Teri Barr tbarr@sciencesocieties.org 608-268-3976 American Society of Agronomy
It was all too evident during the Dust Bowl what a disastrous impact wind can have on dry, unprotected topsoil. Now a new study has uncovered a less obvious, but still troubling, effect of wind: Not only can it carry away soil particles, but also the beneficial microbes that help build soil, detoxify contaminants, and recycle nutrients.
Using a powerful DNA sequencing technique, called pyrosequencing, a team led by USDA-ARS scientists Terrence Gardner and Veronica Acosta-Martnez analyzed the bacterial diversity in three Michigan agricultural soils, and in two eroded sediments generated from these soils during a wind tunnel experiment: coarse particles and fine dust. Not only were the microbial assemblages on the coarse particles distinct from those on the dust, report the scientists in the current issue of the Journal of Environmental Quality, but the two types of eroded sediments were each enriched in certain groups of microbes compared with the parent soil, as well.
The findings suggest that specific bacteria inhabit specific locations in soiland thus different groups and species can be carried away depending on the kinds of particles that erode. "It's important to know which microbes are being lost from soil," says Acosta-Martnez, a soil microbiologist and biochemist at the USDA-ARS Cropping Systems Laboratory in Lubbock, TX, "because different microbes have different roles in soil processes."
For example, the Proteobacteriaa diverse group critical to carbon and nitrogen cyclingwere more associated in the study with eroded, coarse particles (those larger than 106 microns in size) than with the fine dust. Similarly, the dust housed its own community, in this case Bacteroidetes and other bacteria that are known to tolerate extreme dryness, gamma radiation, and other harsh conditions that may develop on dust particles as they float through the air, says Gardner, a postdoctoral researcher who is also affiliated with Alabama A&M University.
What this means is that wind erosion can both reduce the overall microbial diversity in farm fields, as well as deplete topsoil of specific groups of essential bacteria, say the researchers. At the same time, certain important groups, such as Actinobacteria that promote soil aggregation, remained in the parent soil despite the erosive conditions generated in the wind tunnel. And while fine dust can travel extremely long distances, coarse particles rarely move more than 20 feet, suggesting that theyand their associated microbesshould be fairly easy to retain with cover cropping and other soil conservation measures, Acosta-Martnez notes.
Helping farmers and land managers adopt practices that better conserve soil is one of the main goals of the USDA-ARS team's work, which also includes Ted Zobeck, Scott Van Pelt, Matt Baddock, and Francisco Caldern. In the Southern High Plains region, for example, intense cultivation of soil combined with a semi-arid climate can result in serious wind erosion problems. In fact, last summer's drought brought Dust Bowl-like conditions to the area, says Acosta-Martnez.
But "wind erosion is a national problem," she adds, with significant erosion occurring even in places where the growing season is humid and wet. Organic histosol soils in Michigan and many other parts of the country, for instance, are very susceptible to wind erosion when dry, especially since they're usually intensively farmed and often left bare in winter. Cover cropping or crop rotations not only help keep these soils in place, but can also build soil organic matter, which in turn promotes soil aggregation, water penetration, and general soil health.
It can take years, however, for farmers who've adopted new management practices to detect noticeable changes in levels of soil organic matter and other traditional soil quality measures. This is why Acosta-Martinez and Gardner have been analyzing soils with pyrosequencing, a method that yields a fingerprint of an entire microbial community, and well as identifies specific groups and species of bacteria based on their unique DNA sequences.
In this study, these microbial signatures told the researchers what's potentially being lost from soil during wind erosion events. But the fingerprints can be early indicators of positive outcomes, too.
"The microbial component is one of the most sensitive signatures of changes in the soil," says Acosta-Martnez, because of microbes' involvement in soil processes, such as carbon accumulation and biogeochemical cycling. "So, we're looking for any shifts in these signatures that could lead us to think that there are benefits to the soil with alternative management."
###
[ | 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.
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Public release date: 9-May-2012
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