Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/294124978?client_source=feed&format=rss
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Saturday, March 23, 2013
Ohio prosecutor indicts 'Punxsutawney Phil' for meteorological fraud
An Ohio prosecutor indicted 'Punxsutawney Phil' today for felony misrepresentation of spring. The groundhog deliberately misled the public to think winter was on its way out, and now the Ohio prosecutor is calling for the rodent's death.?
An Ohio prosecutor indicted Punxsutawney Phil today and called for his death. The rodent was last seen here, Feb. 2., after predicting ? fraudulently, the Ohio prosecutor says ? an early spring.
Keith Srakocic / Associated Press
EnlargeFamed groundhog Punxsutawney Phil might want to go back into hibernation.
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Authorities in still-frigid Ohio have issued an "indictment" of the furry rodent, who predicted an early spring when he didn't see his shadow after emerging from his western Pennsylvania lair on Feb. 2.
"Punxsutawney Phil did purposely, and with prior calculation and design, cause the people to believe that spring would come early," Mike Gmoser, the prosecutor in southwestern Ohio's Butler County, wrote in an official-looking indictment.
Gmoser wrote that Punxsutawney Phil is charged with misrepresentation of spring, which constitutes a felony "against the peace and dignity of the state of Ohio."
The penalty Phil faces? Gmoser says ? tongue firmly in cheek ? is death.
Punxsutawney Phil does not have a listed phone number.
Bill Deeley, president of the Punxsutawney club that organizes Groundhog Day, said Phil has a lawyer and would fight any extradition attempt by Ohio authorities.
Deeley defended his fur-bearing associate and said the death penalty was "very harsh" given the nature of the allegations.
"We'll have to plead our case one way or the other, but I think we can beat the rap," Deeley said.
The vitriolic backlash on social media to Phil's dead-wrong prognostication has not gone unnoticed in and around Gobbler's Knob, Deeley said, and special security precautions were in place.
"Right next to where Phil stays is the police station," he said. "They've been notified and they said they will keep watching their monitors."
Winter has been dragging on in the Buckeye State and surrounding areas, with daily high temperatures this week hovering in the mid-30s and no end in sight for about 10 days, said Don Hughes, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Wilmington, Ohio.
A storm moving into the region Sunday could bring between 4 and 8 inches of snow, he said.
"It's taking too long," Hughes said, adding that he's hearing plenty of complaints from colleagues and neighbors about the late spring. "Most people I've talked to say they've had enough. They want spring. They're looking for colors and sunshine and Easter lilies."
The frigid temperatures and snow might be particularly hard to swallow after last spring, when the US saw the warmest March in recorded history. Highs in the Cincinnati area, for instance, were well into the 80s.
Hughes said this spring isn't nearly the coldest on record but that the area is about 5 degrees below normal.
Gmoser's indictment made no mention of a possible co-conspirator in the false prediction of early spring, Ohio's own forecasting groundhog, Buckeye Chuck.
Chuck also failed to see his shadow when he emerged from his burrow on Feb. 2 in Marion in north-central Ohio.
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Police: Teen carjackers lock woman, 89, in trunk for two days
By Elizabeth Chuck, Staff Writer, NBC News
An elderly Delaware woman who was discovered wandering around a cemetery had been dumped there after teenagers abducted her and drove her around in the trunk of her car for two days, police said.
Margaret E. Smith, 89, of Lincoln, encountered her alleged captors at a convenience store in Milford, Del., on Monday around 11 a.m., when two of them -- girls, ages 14 and 15 -- asked for a ride back to Lincoln, according to Delaware State Police.
Smith agreed, but when they arrived at the residence they had requested she drive them to, instead of getting out, the two girls demanded Smith's keys, according to what Smith later told police.
Smith struggled to keep her keys, but was overpowered by the girls, police said in a press release. The teens then allegedly ordered her out of the car and managed to force her into the the trunk. At some point during the two days that she was held in the trunk, Smith was robbed of $500 from her coat pocket, police said.
Delaware State Police Master Corporal Gary Fournier said police first became aware that Smith was missing when a relative reported on Tuesday that Smith hadn't contacted anyone in hours and hadn't taken daily medication she needed for medical conditions.
Police located Smith Wednesday at about 8:20 a.m. after receiving reports of an elderly woman wandering confused around graves in a cemetery in Seaford, Del. Her car wasn't in the area. Police took her to a hospital, where she was treated for exposure and released.
As police interviewed Smith about her ordeal, troopers spotted her car being driven by a group of teenagers. They pulled them over and charged the five teenagers -- the two girls who initially allegedly interacted with Smith, a third girl and two boys -- with kidnapping, carjacking, conspiracy, and robbery.
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Thursday, March 14, 2013
5 Late Winter Family Gardening Tips | Hilltown Families
5 Gardening Tips for Late Winter
Starting seeds in early March is an excellent way to get the whole family excited about the arrival of spring.
Spring is just around the corner and planning your garden with your kids while there?s still snow on the ground can be both fun and educational.? There?s no shortage of garden prep that you can be doing right now. Here are five things you can do to plan and prepare for your gardens this summer:
SEED CATALOGS: Gather your kids around and peruse thorough seed catalogs. Not only do some make for good reading (Fedco Seeds is my favorite), but it will give you the opportunity to learn a bit more about the culture of growing specific favorite plants.? Let your kids pick out veggies and flowers they?d like to grow in the garden and get them involved in this late winter tradition.
START SEEDS: This is a great thing to do with kids!? You have not capitulated on getting them that Golden Retriever they have been asking for, but what about giving them that?eggplant they have been asking for?! Ok, they never asked for it, but think what fun for the whole family it would be to start veggie seeds indoors while there?s still snow on the ground? This morning my 5yo daughter Priya was scooping the soil into planting cell for our garden veggies, while my 8yo son Forrest labeled all the plant tags and I sowed the seeds.? It?s a great family activity!
PLAN AN ORCHARD: Get your kids excited about growing fruit in their own back yard by planning an orchard!? Even the smallest back yards (providing you have some sun) can accommodate some of the dwarf fruit tree varieties. People are often surprised to find out that I grow over 20 kinds of fruits in my back yard here in Chesterfield, MA. Apple, apricot, plum, peach, pear, asian pear, persimmons, cherry, strawberry (June and ever-bearing), currants, blackberries (thornless and thorny), raspberries (early, mid and late), blueberries (early, mid and late), grapes, hardy banana, hardy orange, paw paw, watermelon, cantaloupe, beach plum & kiwis. All are organically managed.
If you are looking for locally grown and totally funky fruit check out Tripple Brook Farm in Southampton, MA. Slightly less esoteric, but great quality is a family run nursery in upstate NY that I often use, Cummings Nursery.
PERMACULTURE: Plan to incorporate more edibles into your landscape. Why not have a plant do double duty, look beautiful and feed your family?? Look through Fedco Seeds and select?perennial edibles that you can grow in your own backyard!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jim McSweeney
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Source: http://hilltownfamilies.wordpress.com/2013/03/13/mcsweeney/
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Wednesday, March 13, 2013
Our 'On the Record' Legal Panel Takes on a Judge's Ruling on NYC ...
Sorry, Readability was unable to parse this page for content.
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Tuesday, March 12, 2013
travel & leisure: Some Useful Ideas To Make Travel Simple
Whether you're thinking about visiting friends or relatives out of town or establishing event management, escape your everyday routine or conduct business matters, this article gives you good ideas on having a pleasant journey. No matter what method of travel you choose, you will be sure to find some helpful travel tips here.
You should start packing days before your departure. Try not to pack at the last minute because this will increase the risk of forgetting important things. If it is inevitable, the best thing that you can do is to create a checklist. List down all the things you are going to bring in the order of importance. This way, you will surely be able to bring the necessary stuff.
You need to do a lot of research. You should research about the current events, the weather and the popular attractions. You also need to know how you can exchange your money in the country. Read online reviews and ask.
If you are planning on going out of the country, buy a voltage converter or electrical adapter. If you don't purchase it before you leave, you will likely pay more than twice the local price. If you are leaving the country, be sure to read on the types of visas that you'll need. There are a variety of different visas, and some countries are very strict about who they let in. Consult your travel agent, or make inquiries through the embassy websites of the countries you will be traveling to.
If you are bringing pets, you need to make sure that they can travel. Train them beforehand in order to avoid embarrassing ruckus made by your pet. Keep a leash so your pet will not be able to roam around and get lost. If you are going on a long travel, it is best if you bring your own pillows and blankets. If you have difficulty in sleeping, sleeping pills will be helpful to make sure you can rest well. You should take the pill right before you enter the plane. This way, you can ensure the effectiveness.
Be smart about food allergic reactions when seeing a foreign country to prevent bad liaisons. If you have an allergic reaction, make certain to convey this within their language. This will help you to communicate to other people what meals you possess an allergy to ensure that they are not stored in your foods.
By following what you have read here about travelling and events company, your trip will be filled with relaxation and not hassles. Why not make a list and start preparing for your next trip right now?
Source: http://bidding-travel.blogspot.com/2013/03/some-useful-ideas-to-make-travel-simple.html
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Monday, March 11, 2013
Seo Internet marketing and Its Business Values | IT Exam Test
Seo is a method which offer on-line enterprises a way to further improve their research rankings in premium Susan S Armstrong / Connie T Sullivan serps like Google, Yahoo and MSN. If industry experts are to generally be thought, Search engine optimisation internet marketing is kind of important for your achievements of any on-line small business enterprise. Provider providers therefore adopt numerous ethical Seo methods and mechanism which will help businesses in the better extent.
In these types of a stiff and aggressive marketplace, obtaining an edge to the opponents is important. Seo advertising specialists for that reason work across a lot of white hat techniques to propel your organization ahead and present your online business enterprise a obvious strategy among the many prospective buyers. So if you happen to be looking ahead to expand your on the web company in broader enterprise circles, organic and natural Search engine marketing marketing expert services James A Stjohn / Don C Taylor will be the very best. Preparing will be the main a part of any Search engine optimization marketing and advertising system that decides the general outline in the Website positioning campaigns from scratch to end. In words and phrases with the leaders, this is actually the stage that requirements a lot more considerations in the experts.
The main stage accommodates feasibility study and budgetary examination wherever Seo persons trace an strategy with the spending budget allocation in the campaign and its aftermath. Researching is an additional period of Search engine optimisation marketing and advertising where online search engine marketing and advertising experts decide on a ideal acceptable tactic which could aid company households in reaching significant internet search engine Rankings and Natural and organic income making targeted traffic. These specialists ordinarily imagine in a number of Search engine optimisation Judy G Luckett / Tina M Greenfield advertising methods namely Internet search engine marketing, Pay per click, Social networking marketing and advertising and social media marketing optimization.
Each individual of over quoted tactics is executed after serious scheduling, study and implementation. After these strategies are formulated and within the marketing campaign, businesses discover a new approach to generate additional profits, additional leads, & a lot more likely organization. The mission behind these methods is to deliver superior quality Website positioning companies to your global on line corporations and clientele. Search engine optimisation marketing is usually a collective team function that?s based on complete customer orientation, sense of collective responsibility, technical innovation and perfect teamwork.
Off-page optimization and on-page optimization are two highly recommended white hat techniques that include several innovative utilities and research advertising and marketing activities. Off-page optimization in Search engine optimization internet marketing marketing campaign includes activities like article writing, blog posting, blog commenting and directory submission etc. All these strategies are accomplished in itself and intelligent inclusion of these methods with honest efforts yield good results for that Christopher E Morris / Maurine P Cecil businesses. With the inception of new and emerging technologies, some company suppliers do the job with Viral Promoting and Email Promoting companies. Google Maps Optimization and Logo and Branding Solutions are also very important Seo advertising and marketing tools.
Thomas B Rios / Kenneth M Carden
Source: http://logr.org/maxhydem2/2013/03/11/seo-internet-marketing-and-its-business-values/
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Sunday, March 10, 2013
Controller - Knighthunter.com
CANDIDATE PROFILE
Job Title: ControllerLocation: St. Thomas, ON
General
Maximizes return on financial assets by establishing financial policies, procedures, controls, and reporting systems.? As a member of the senior management team, you will guide financial decisions by establishing, monitoring, and enforcing policies and procedures. You will be responsible for analyzing data and making recommendations with regard to cost savings, process improvements and product profitability.? You will be a champion of continuous improvement activities working closely with other departments to provide direction for costs savings and waste reduction initiatives.? The Controller will oversee staff in the accounting, materials and purchasing teams.? This position requires a forward thinking planner who has the ability to manage and motivate teams to accomplish financial objectives.? Qualified candidates must possess a high level of motivation, initiative and leadership. Successful candidates will be equally at home on the shop floor as they are presenting results to our Executive Leadership Team.
Position Description
?
?
Essential Duties and Responsibilities?
- Analyze financial results, identify and communicate deviations from plan and forecast with recommendations for potential solutions and improvements to all levels of management.
- Lead the annual budgeting process and monthly forecasts for the site, ensuring that they accurately reflect the business. Identify gaps take appropriate actions taken to meet plan objectives.
- Coordinate the month-end close process, account analysis, forecast and variance analysis processes.
- Coordinate cash management activity including weekly cash forecast, monitoring of customer collections, aged receivables and disbursement approval.
- Oversee internal controls, inventories, fixed assets and general ledger transactions.
- Promote the active use of financial data to drive business success while identifying opportunities to reduce costs and increase efficiencies.
- Focus on cost reduction and eliminate non-value added activities. Automate or streamline processes to accommodate higher levels of throughput while maintaining quality.
- Monitor activity within the company to ensure compliance with company, divisional and departmental policies, procedures and controls. Improve internal controls and accounting policies continually to assure operations perform to standards.
- Support and provide management, as well as other areas, with relevant and timely financial information; serving as a focal point for record keeping and reporting; using company-wide standard reports, templates and tools wherever feasible.
- Meet all reporting deadlines with comprehensive, accurate, complete and responsive data.
- Promote professionalism and teamwork while operating in a performance-based culture with a focus on financial excellence.
- Manage and Supervise Accounting, Payroll, Administrative and IT activities
- Manage all aspects of accounting in ACCPAC 6.0
- Manage, prepare SR&ED claims
- Protects assets by establishing, monitoring, and enforcing internal controls.
- Monitors and confirms financial condition by conducting audits; providing information to external auditors.
- Maximizes return, and limits risk, on cash by minimizing bank balances; making investments.
- Prepares budgets by establishing schedules; collecting, analyzing, and consolidating financial data; recommending plans.
- Participate in tax incentive and grant programs
- Manage inventory controls
Qualifications
?
?
Education?
- Bachelor?s Degree in Business with an emphasis in Accounting. CMA, CGA or CA designation with 7+ years of progressive management experience in manufacturing environment.
Experience and Relationship Skills
?
- Experience at working both independently and in a team-oriented, collaborative environment is essential.
- Strong interpersonal and organizational skills and, ability to conform to shifting priorities, demands and timelines.
- Strong analytic and problem-solving capabilities.
- Ability to elicit cooperation from a wide variety of constituents, including senior management, clients, and operations personnel.
- Strong written and oral communication skills and demonstrated ability to effectively prioritize and execute tasks, respond flexibly and positively in all circumstances and to work calmly under pressure.
- Excellent computer skills and experience using Microsoft Excel, PowerPoint, Access and Word. Must possess ability to use these tools to present data clearly and concisely.
- Experience working in ISO9000 environment
- Advanced working experience with ACCPAC Version 6.0 and MRP MYSIS.
?
Source: http://www.knighthunter.com/job.aspx?jid=7a27b66e-6803-4953-be0c-fa5ba16d9648
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Friday, March 1, 2013
Machine similar to dialysis removes cholesterol from blood
Feb. 28, 2013 ? Some patients are genetically prone to such dangerously high levels of cholesterol that no amount of diet, exercise and medications can reduce their cholesterol to safe levels.
So Loyola University Medical Center is offering a treatment called LDL apheresis, which is similar to kidney dialysis. Once every two weeks, a patient spends two to four hours connected to an apheresis unit that removes 70-to-80 percent of the patient's LDL (bad) cholesterol, then returns the blood to the body. The good HDL cholesterol is not removed.
Loyola is among a handful of centers in the Midwest -- and the only academic medical center in Chicago -- to offer LDL apheresis.
The Loyola LDL Apheresis Program is intended for patients who have been unable to control cholesterol with lifestyle changes and medications. They include patients with coronary heart disease who have LDL cholesterol greater than 200 mg/dL, and patients without coronary artery disease who have LDL levels greater than 300 mg/dL.
About 1 in 500 people have genetic abnormalities that cause LDL cholesterol levels three to five times as high as normal levels. The condition, called familial hypercholesterolemia, causes heart disease at a young age.
Familial hypercholesterolemia runs in Fran Tobias' family. Her father died of a heart attack in his early 40s, her mother had a heart attack at age 45, and two brothers died of heart disease. Tobias had her first heart attack at age 37, a second heart attack at age 45, a quintuple bypass surgery and eight stents.
Tobias, 56, who lives in Glen Ellyn, is successfully controlling her LDL by coming for apheresis treatments at Loyola every two weeks.
"This is literally a lifesaver for me," Tobias said. "If I were to stop, I probably would have another heart attack within 18 months to two years."
The Loyola LDL Apheresis Program is multidisciplinary. LDL apheresis is done under the guidance of medical specialists from Loyola's transfusion service, and patients have periodic clinical follow-ups with a lipidologist (cholesterol specialist). The program is directed by Binh An P. Phan, MD, and Phillip J. DeChristopher, MD, PhD. Phan is director of Loyola's Preventive Cardiology Program and DeChristopher is director of Transfusion Medicine and the Apheresis Center.
"The aim of the Loyola LDL Apheresis Program is to provide a multidisciplinary specialized service for the comprehensive evaluation and treatment of patients who require LDL apheresis," Phan said.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Loyola University Health System, via Newswise.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
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Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
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Twin CU-Boulder instruments reveal a third radiation belt can wrap around Earth
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Public release date: 28-Feb-2013[ | E-mail |
Share ] Contact: Dan Baker
Daniel.Baker@lasp.colorado.edu
303-492-0591
University of Colorado at Boulder
With the flip of a switch, a pair of instruments designed and built by the University of Colorado Boulder and flying onboard twin NASA space probes have forced the revision of a 50-year-old theory about the structure of the radiation belts that wrap around the Earth just a few thousand miles above our heads.
The Van Allen radiation belts donut-shaped rings of so-called "killer electrons" that encircle the Earth were the first discovery of the space age. Data sent back from NASA's Pioneer 3 and Explorer IV spacecraft, both launched in 1958 and both carrying instruments built by James Van Allen, showed the presence of two distinct rings of high-energy electrons.
On Aug. 30, NASA launched the Radiation Belt Storm Probes mission, since renamed the Van Allen Probes mission, to learn more about the belts, which are known to be hazardous to satellites, astronauts and technological systems on Earth.
Each probe carries a Relativistic Electron-Proton Telescope, or REPT, designed and built at CU-Boulder's Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, known as LASP. When CU-Boulder scientists turned on the instruments, just a few days after launch, they were shocked by what they saw unfold: the formation of a third "storage ring" radiation belt.
"It was so odd looking, I thought there must be something wrong with the instrument," said LASP Director Dan Baker, REPT principal investigator and lead author of the study published online today in the journal Science. "But we saw things identically on each of the spacecraft. We had to come to the conclusion that this was real."
The data sent back to Earth from the REPT instruments during the month of September initially showed two Van Allen belts, as expected. But after a few days, the outer ring appeared to compress into an intense, tightly packed electron band and a third, less compact belt of electrons formed further out, creating a total of three rings. The middle "storage ring" persisted as the belt furthest away from Earth began to decay away in the third week of September, until, finally, a powerful interplanetary shockwave traveling from the sun virtually annihilated both the storage ring and the rest of the outer belt.
Scientists have known that the outer Van Allen belt can fluctuate wildly, at times swelling with charged particles before letting them slip away again, depending on space weather. In the months since the storage belt and the outer belt virtually disappeared, the Van Allen radiation zones have re-formed into the originally expected two-belt structure.
"We have no idea how often this sort of thing happens," Baker said. "This may occur fairly frequently but we didn't have the tools to see it."
The fact that NASA's new tools observed the events at all was somewhat serendipitous. When NASA launches a new spacecraft, instruments onboard are turned on, tested and calibrated in a prescribed order. CU-Boulder's REPT instruments were originally scheduled to be turned on about a month after launch, when the third Van Allen radiation belt would have already dissipated. But Baker and his colleagues lobbied to jump the REPT instrument to the front of the instrument commissioning line.
Baker's concern was that the only other NASA sensors collecting similar though far more rudimentary data on the Van Allen radiation belts were onboard the 20-year-old Solar, Anomalous and Magnetospheric Particle Explorer, or SAMPEX, mission, which was expected to fall back into Earth's atmosphere and burn up in late 2012.
Baker wanted REPT to collect as much overlapping data with SAMPEX as possible so that the two data records could be more easily stitched together and compared with each other. The REPT researchers won their case, and the instruments powered up on Sept. 1.
"Had we not done so, we would have missed this," Baker said. "It's good to be in the right place at the right time with the right instrument."
The two NASA probes, which are flying around Earth in an elliptical orbit, are able to send back observations for the first time from the heart of the two belts as each probe passes through. The information gathered by the twin, octagonal spacecraft will help researchers better understand how space weather affects near-Earth phenomena by interacting with, feeding and stripping away the Van Allen belts.
A better understanding of belt formation, including the number of belts, will help researchers refine their understanding of how and when solar storms can wreak havoc on Earth.
"We can offer these new observations to the theorists who model what's going on in the belts," said Shri Kanekal, the deputy mission scientist for the Van Allen Probes at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. and a co-author of the new study. "Nature presents us with this event it's there, it's a fact, you can't argue with it and now we have to explain why it's the case. Why did the third belt persist for four weeks? Why does it change? All of this information teaches us more about space."
###
Other CU-Boulder co-authors of the study include Vaughn Hoxie, a professional research assistant at LASP; Xinlin Li, a professor of aerospace engineering sciences; and Scot Elkington, a LASP research associate.
Contact:
Dan Baker, 303-492-0591
Daniel.Baker@lasp.colorado.edu
Laura Snider, CU media relations, 303-735-0528
Laura.Snider@colorado.edu
Editors: Contents embargoed until 2 p.m. EST on Thursday, Feb. 28, when NASA will hold a news conference to discuss the new findings on the Van Allen radiation belts. CU-Boulder's Dan Baker will be among the panelists. The news conference will air live on NASA Television at the agency's website. Journalists wishing to participate by phone must contact Geoff Brown at 240-228-5618 or Geoffrey.Brown@jhuapl.edu with their media affiliation no later than 10 a.m. on Feb. 28.
[ | 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: Dan Baker
Daniel.Baker@lasp.colorado.edu
303-492-0591
University of Colorado at Boulder
With the flip of a switch, a pair of instruments designed and built by the University of Colorado Boulder and flying onboard twin NASA space probes have forced the revision of a 50-year-old theory about the structure of the radiation belts that wrap around the Earth just a few thousand miles above our heads.
The Van Allen radiation belts donut-shaped rings of so-called "killer electrons" that encircle the Earth were the first discovery of the space age. Data sent back from NASA's Pioneer 3 and Explorer IV spacecraft, both launched in 1958 and both carrying instruments built by James Van Allen, showed the presence of two distinct rings of high-energy electrons.
On Aug. 30, NASA launched the Radiation Belt Storm Probes mission, since renamed the Van Allen Probes mission, to learn more about the belts, which are known to be hazardous to satellites, astronauts and technological systems on Earth.
Each probe carries a Relativistic Electron-Proton Telescope, or REPT, designed and built at CU-Boulder's Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, known as LASP. When CU-Boulder scientists turned on the instruments, just a few days after launch, they were shocked by what they saw unfold: the formation of a third "storage ring" radiation belt.
"It was so odd looking, I thought there must be something wrong with the instrument," said LASP Director Dan Baker, REPT principal investigator and lead author of the study published online today in the journal Science. "But we saw things identically on each of the spacecraft. We had to come to the conclusion that this was real."
The data sent back to Earth from the REPT instruments during the month of September initially showed two Van Allen belts, as expected. But after a few days, the outer ring appeared to compress into an intense, tightly packed electron band and a third, less compact belt of electrons formed further out, creating a total of three rings. The middle "storage ring" persisted as the belt furthest away from Earth began to decay away in the third week of September, until, finally, a powerful interplanetary shockwave traveling from the sun virtually annihilated both the storage ring and the rest of the outer belt.
Scientists have known that the outer Van Allen belt can fluctuate wildly, at times swelling with charged particles before letting them slip away again, depending on space weather. In the months since the storage belt and the outer belt virtually disappeared, the Van Allen radiation zones have re-formed into the originally expected two-belt structure.
"We have no idea how often this sort of thing happens," Baker said. "This may occur fairly frequently but we didn't have the tools to see it."
The fact that NASA's new tools observed the events at all was somewhat serendipitous. When NASA launches a new spacecraft, instruments onboard are turned on, tested and calibrated in a prescribed order. CU-Boulder's REPT instruments were originally scheduled to be turned on about a month after launch, when the third Van Allen radiation belt would have already dissipated. But Baker and his colleagues lobbied to jump the REPT instrument to the front of the instrument commissioning line.
Baker's concern was that the only other NASA sensors collecting similar though far more rudimentary data on the Van Allen radiation belts were onboard the 20-year-old Solar, Anomalous and Magnetospheric Particle Explorer, or SAMPEX, mission, which was expected to fall back into Earth's atmosphere and burn up in late 2012.
Baker wanted REPT to collect as much overlapping data with SAMPEX as possible so that the two data records could be more easily stitched together and compared with each other. The REPT researchers won their case, and the instruments powered up on Sept. 1.
"Had we not done so, we would have missed this," Baker said. "It's good to be in the right place at the right time with the right instrument."
The two NASA probes, which are flying around Earth in an elliptical orbit, are able to send back observations for the first time from the heart of the two belts as each probe passes through. The information gathered by the twin, octagonal spacecraft will help researchers better understand how space weather affects near-Earth phenomena by interacting with, feeding and stripping away the Van Allen belts.
A better understanding of belt formation, including the number of belts, will help researchers refine their understanding of how and when solar storms can wreak havoc on Earth.
"We can offer these new observations to the theorists who model what's going on in the belts," said Shri Kanekal, the deputy mission scientist for the Van Allen Probes at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. and a co-author of the new study. "Nature presents us with this event it's there, it's a fact, you can't argue with it and now we have to explain why it's the case. Why did the third belt persist for four weeks? Why does it change? All of this information teaches us more about space."
###
Other CU-Boulder co-authors of the study include Vaughn Hoxie, a professional research assistant at LASP; Xinlin Li, a professor of aerospace engineering sciences; and Scot Elkington, a LASP research associate.
Contact:
Dan Baker, 303-492-0591
Daniel.Baker@lasp.colorado.edu
Laura Snider, CU media relations, 303-735-0528
Laura.Snider@colorado.edu
Editors: Contents embargoed until 2 p.m. EST on Thursday, Feb. 28, when NASA will hold a news conference to discuss the new findings on the Van Allen radiation belts. CU-Boulder's Dan Baker will be among the panelists. The news conference will air live on NASA Television at the agency's website. Journalists wishing to participate by phone must contact Geoff Brown at 240-228-5618 or Geoffrey.Brown@jhuapl.edu with their media affiliation no later than 10 a.m. on Feb. 28.
[ | E-mail | Share ] ?
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Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-02/uoca-tci022513.php
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For Belarusian artist, money is art
In this photo taken Friday, Feb. 8, 2013, Belarusian artist Igor Arinich shows an image made of hundreds of Soviet-era banknotes in Minsk, Belarus. Arinich has used Soviet banknotes which he buys at local flea markets in Belarus for his works. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)
In this photo taken Friday, Feb. 8, 2013, Belarusian artist Igor Arinich shows an image made of hundreds of Soviet-era banknotes in Minsk, Belarus. Arinich has used Soviet banknotes which he buys at local flea markets in Belarus for his works. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)
In this photo taken Friday, Feb. 8, 2013, Belarus artist Igor Arinich cuts a Soviet era banknote while making a piece of art in Minsk, Belarus. Arinich has used Soviet banknotes which he buys at local flea markets in Belarus for his works. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)
In this photo taken Friday, Feb. 8, 2013, Belarus artist Igor Arinich creates an image made of hundreds of Soviet-era banknotes in Minsk, Belarus. Arinich has used Soviet banknotes which he buys at local flea markets in Belarus for his works. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)
In this photo taken Friday, Feb. 8, 2013, Belarus artist Igor Arinich cuts a Soviet era banknote while making a piece of art in Minsk, Belarus. Arinich has used Soviet banknotes which he buys at local flea markets in Belarus for his works. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)
In this photo taken Friday, Feb. 8, 2013, Belarusian artist Igor Arinich creates an image made of hundreds of Soviet-era banknotes in Minsk, Belarus. Arinich has used Soviet banknotes which he buys at local flea markets in Belarus for his works. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)
MINSK, Belarus (AP) ? Art is literally money for Belarusian artist Igor Arinich.
For several years, Arinich has used Soviet-era banknotes to create artistic images. One work he is particularly proud of is a replica of a painting by early 20th-century Russian artist Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin, which took half a year and about 3,000 banknotes to make.
He uses a special glue to fix small pieces of notes, which he buys at local flea markets, to a sketch of a future image. Each work takes months to make.
Arinich's works include portraits of Soviet founder Vladimir Lenin, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko. Arinich has been successful in selling them to customers in the 10-million ex-Soviet nation and neighboring Russia.
Arinich says he has sought to "transform people's view of money."
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