FILE - In this Nov. 22, 2011, file photo, Republican presidential candidate and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich speaks during the Republican presidential debate in Washington. Newt Gingrich landed editorial endorsement of NH Union Leader Sunday Nov. 27, 2011, 45 days before GOP primary. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)
FILE - In this Nov. 22, 2011, file photo, Republican presidential candidate and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich speaks during the Republican presidential debate in Washington. Newt Gingrich landed editorial endorsement of NH Union Leader Sunday Nov. 27, 2011, 45 days before GOP primary. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) ? The New Hampshire Union Leader endorsed former House Speaker Newt Gingrich in Sunday editions, signaling that rival Mitt Romney isn't the universal favorite and that the state's largest newspaper could reset the contest there with six weeks to go before voters cast their ballots.
"We are in critical need of the innovative, forward-looking strategy and positive leadership that Gingrich has shown he is capable of providing," the newspaper wrote in an editorial that was as much a promotion of Gingrich as a discreet rebuke of Romney.
"We don't back candidates based on popularity polls or big-shot backers. We look for conservatives of courage and conviction who are independent-minded, grounded in their core beliefs about this nation and its people, and best equipped for the job," the newspaper continued.
Romney enjoys a solid leads in New Hampshire polls and remains at the front of the pack nationally. A poll released last week showed him with 42 percent support among likely Republican primary voters in New Hampshire. Gingrich followed with 15 percent in the WMUR-University of New Hampshire Granite State poll.
Rep. Ron Paul of Texas posted 12 percent support and former Utah Gov. John Huntsman found 8 percent support in that respected survey.
Those numbers could shift based on the backing of The Union Leader, a newspaper with a conservative editorial page that proudly works to influence elections in the politically savvy state, from school boards to the White House.
"We don't have to agree with them on every issue," the newspaper wrote in an editorial that ran across the width of the front page. "We would rather back someone with whom we may sometimes disagree than one who tells us what he thinks we want to hear."
While Romney enjoys solid support in national polls, a sizeable pack of Republicans have shifted all year from candidate to candidate in search of an alternative to the former Massachusetts governor. That led to the rise ? and fall ? of potential candidates such as Huntsman, Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota and Texas Gov. Rick Perry.
Yet with six weeks until New Hampshire voters cast their ballots, The Union Leader's move could shuffle the race there and give Gingrich another boost. In recent weeks, he has seen a surge in some polls as Republicans start to ask themselves: which candidate is best positioned to take on President Barack Obama?
As the public started tuning in, Gingrich kept posting solid debate performances and he found his stride on a national stage, the former Georgia lawmaker began rebuilding his campaign. In New Hampshire, he brought on respected tea party leader Andrew Hemingway to lead his efforts and his team has been contacting almost 1,000 voters each day.
Hemingway's team of eight paid staffers in New Hampshire has been adding more than 100 volunteers each day, campaign officials said. Gingrich's team already has lined up leaders in the major cities and has started identifying representatives in each ward in the state.
Gingrich also has opened three offices in New Hampshire ? in Manchester, the state's biggest city; in Dover in the eastern part of the state; and in the North Country's Littleton ? and plans two more.
Gingrich hasn't yet begun television advertising and fastidiously refused to go negative on his opponents.
Yet The Union Leader's backing could give him a nudge in New Hampshire and provide a steady stream of criticism.
Four years earlier, the newspaper threw its support to Sen. John McCain's bid and used Page One opinion columns and editorials to boost him ? and criticize Romney. In the time since, Romney has worked to court Union Leader Publisher Joe McQuaid, who often publishes columns on the newspaper's front page under his signature.
"The Union Leader's style is we don't just endorse once," McQuaid told The Washington Post in 1999. "We endorse every damn day. We started endorsing Reagan in 1975 and never stopped."
Romney and his wife, Ann, had dinner with the McQuaids at the Bedford Village Inn near Manchester, hoping to reset the relationship earlier this year. Yet it didn't prove enough and McQuaid's newspaper seemed not to appreciate the outreach.
"Newt Gingrich is by no means the perfect candidate," the editorial said. "But Republican primary voters too often make the mistake of preferring an unattainable ideal to the best candidate who is actually running."
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Stars: Amy Adams, Jason Segel and Chris Cooper
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Oil has been discovered beneath the Muppet Theater and oilman Tex Richman (Chris Cooper) plans to raze the Muppet Theater to drill. New Muppet Walter, the world's biggest Muppet fan, his brother[19] Gary (Jason Segel) and Gary's girlfriend[19] Mary (Amy Adams) learn about Tex Richman's plan, and try to stop him by staging The Greatest Muppet Telethon Ever, raising $10 million needed to save the theater. In order to stage The Greatest Muppet Telethon Ever, Walter, Mary, and Gary must help Kermit the Frog reunite the Muppets, who have all gone their separate ways. Fozzie Bear now performs with a Reno casino tribute band called the Moopets, Miss Piggy is a plus-size fashion editor at Vogue Paris, Animal is in a clinic for anger management, and Gonzo is a powerful plumbing magnate.
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The march of the mini PCs continues, this time with a pumped-up little number from CompuLab. We've already reported on the Fit-PC3, which forgoes the Atom and Tegra 2 of previous models in favor of AMD's APUs, but it's only now that full pricing has been divulged. You're looking at $328 for the cheapest barebones nettop, which includes the fan-less case, motherboard and a 1GHz single-core processor with integrated Radeon HD 6290 graphics. Sure, some rivals might be cheaper, but the Fit-PC3 has above-average connectivity, including USB 3.0 and eSATA ports, HDMI, DisplayPort and digital audio out, as well as gigabit Ethernet and mini-serial. If you want a more powerful APU, or if you're too busy to go rummaging for your screwdriver, then there are plenty of dual-core and pre-built options up to $700 at the source link. Be advised though, only the pilot batch is currently available and end-users are being advised to wait a little longer.
APIA, Samoa - Two days after winning for the first time in its history, American Samoa's national soccer team stretched its unbeaten run to two games.
After Tuesday's 2-1 win over Tonga, the team earned a 1-1 draw with the Cook Islands on Thursday. Another win against rival Samoa on Saturday will put the U.S. protectorate into the second round of World Cup qualifying in the Oceania region.
American Samoa coach Thomas Rongen, a former Ajax player and veteran MLS coach, says "we made it very hard for ourselves again but we got the result we needed to make the game against Samoa, who I consider the best team here, a meaningful contest."
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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Speed's death casts pall
The death of Wales manager Scott Speed cast a shadow over the English Premier League games on Sunday.
Data on skin cancer are very important to understand how the disease is one of the worst beings around the world and is responsible for more cases of cancer. Exposure to ultraviolet (UV) radiation in excess can lead to severe type of cancer and is also responsible for more than 90% of cases of non-melanoma types of the disease. The severity of the disease is so high that almost killed one person every day of illness and treatment is complicated if a person reaches advanced stages.
This is one of the most common forms of cancer and is responsible for more than 50% of cases of cancer in general. Although the number of cases detected in areas of Asia, Africa and Latin America are low compared to developed regions like North America and Europe, the number of deaths related to the disease is high in those regions. The white race is more vulnerable to disease than other breeds. The possibilities of burns to become cancerous infection are quite high and especially young children are at high risk if subjected to appropriate treatment for burns in children.
This type of cancer, also known as skin cancer is two different types such as melanoma and nonmelanoma. Squamous cell carcinoma and basal cell carcinoma are two different types of non-melanoma skin cancer. Type of melanoma skin cancer rarely occurs, but is a severe form of the disease is more deadly than non-melanoma types. In addition, skin cancer melanoma spreads at a faster rate than non-melanoma skin types and is highly damaging to the skin cells and tissues.
Facts about skin cancer show that it is very common in people who have a history of medical illness. Further data on skin cancer also indicate that the type of cancer, melanoma is responsible for nearly 75% of deaths from skin cancer. In addition, the survival rate and life expectancy is much lower for the type of melanoma than non-melanoma tumors. Change in skin color, skin ulcers, skin lesions or infections that do not heal with medication and the presence of normal moles are in excess of some important symptoms of the disease. Data on skin cancer can tell if the causes are related to symptoms adequately.
Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a common condition associated with obesity and heart disease long thought to undermine health and longevity. But a new study by Johns Hopkins researchers suggests the condition does not affect survival.
A report on the study was published online last week in BMJ, the British medical journal.
"Physicians have considered fatty liver disease a really worrisome risk factor for cardiovascular disease," says study leader Mariana Lazo, M.D., Ph.D., a postdoctoral fellow at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine's Welch Center for Prevention, Epidemiology, and Clinical Research. "Our data analysis shows this doesn't appear to be the case. We were surprised to say the least because we expected to learn by how much non-alcoholic fatty liver disease increased the risk of death and instead found the answer was not at all."
Using health information collected from 11,371 Americans between 1994 and 1998 and followed for up to 18 years as part of the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES III), the researchers checked liver enzyme levels and ultrasound tests for evidence of NAFLD, and ultimately looked at death rates associated with NAFLD. The participants ranged in age from 20 to 74 during the data collection years. Because the ultrasounds were originally taken to assess gallbladder health, Lazo and colleagues from Johns Hopkins looked at each recording to determine the presence of fat in each person's liver. People whose livers are 5 percent fat or more are considered to have NAFLD.
The Johns Hopkins team found no increase in mortality among those with NAFLD, which was identified in approximately 20 percent of the NHANES participants. At the end of the follow-up period, mortality from all causes was 22 percent, or 1,836 individuals. Cardiovascular disease was the cause of death for 716 participants, cancer for 480 and liver disease for 44.
Although the researchers found no increase in deaths, Lazo says further study is needed to determine whether more advanced NAFLD has serious long-term consequences for the liver, a vital organ that turns what we eat and drink into nutrients and filters harmful substances from the blood.
NAFLD, which some researchers have called the nation's next epidemic, is characterized by the liver's inability to break down fats and fatty build up in the organ. Found in roughly one in three Americans, it is most prevalent in those who are obese, and those with diabetes and cardiovascular disease. The spectrum of disease ranges from simple fat build-up to inflammation to the scarring and poor liver function that characterize cirrhosis. Chronic liver disease has long been associated with long-term alcohol consumption, but as the name suggests, NAFLD is found in those who are not heavy drinkers.
"We don't yet know why mortality is not affected or whether there might be some actual protective effect of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease," she says, "but it looks like the liver's ability to accumulate fat may somehow shield the body from the detrimental effects of other health problems such as obesity and diabetes," she says.
There is no treatment for NAFLD, other than lifestyle changes, including weight loss, and only a liver biopsy can determine how serious NAFLD is. Lazo says she hopes new methods are developed that more easily identify more advanced stages of NAFLD, which may not be harmless.
Still, she says, her research suggests that with respect to long-term survival of people with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, "it may not matter if you have the disease or not."
###
Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions: http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org
Thanks to Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions for this article.
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(Reuters) ? The Kansas City Chiefs picked up former Denver quarterback Kyle Orton on Wednesday as they try to salvage their playoff hopes following the loss of starter Matt Cassel.
Orton was cut on Tuesday after the Broncos handed the reins over to fan favorite Tim Tebow, and the 29-year-old was quickly snapped up by the AFC West rival Chiefs, who announced the move on their website (kcchiefs.com).
Kansas City (4-6) lost Cassel to a season-ending hand injury on November 13 and were forced to use inexperienced backup Tyler Palko in a 34-3 loss to the New England Patriots on Monday.
Orton started the first five games of the season for the Broncos but was just 1-4 before being benched. He joined the Broncos from Chicago in 2009 and threw for more than 3,000 yards and 20 touchdowns in each of his first two seasons.
The Chiefs have lost three in a row and are two games behind division leaders Oakland.
(Writing by Jahmal Corner in Los Angeles; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
RABAT (Reuters) ? Moroccans voted in a parliamentary election on Friday that could yield their most representative government ever after King Mohammed ceded some powers to prevent any tumultuous spillover of Arab Spring uprisings.
The election will be a litmus test of the ability of Arab monarchies to craft gradual reforms that would placate popular yearning for greater democracy without violence-ridden revolts of the sort seen in Tunisia, Libya, Egypt and Syria this year.
Some 13.6 million Moroccans registered to vote in Friday's election, the North African country's ninth since it gained independence from France in 1956.
"I will vote, maybe later before the polling station closes," said shoe shiner Mohamed as he crouched waiting for customers on a busy Rabat boulevard.
"Last night a friend explained to me what elections are all about with all the troubles in Arab countries: I have to vote so that we can end the misery we live in. That's all we have for now: Patience and vote," he said.
In contrast to previous elections when the result was evident in advance, the latest vote was a closely-run contest between a moderate Islamist opposition party and a new coalition of liberals with close ties to the royal palace.
Under constitutional reforms backed by King Mohammed earlier this year, the new government that will emerge from the election will have unprecedented powers, though the king retains the final say on matters of defense, security and religion.
CONCERN ABOUT VIABILITY OF NEXT GOV'T
Whichever bloc emerges with the most seats in parliament, they are unlikely to be able to form a government on their own. That will force them to seek an alliance, and possibly even a "grand coalition" between the Islamists and the liberal bloc.
That worries economists, who want to see a cohesive government able to narrow the budget deficit, reduce the 30-percent-plus youth unemployment rate and address the needs of the 8.5 million Moroccans below the poverty line.
The king will choose the next prime minister from the party that wins the biggest share of the vote. It is already clear Abbas Al Fassi, who holds the job now, will be replaced because his Istiqlal party is widely unpopular.
The shift toward greater democracy could falter if polling day is marred by the kind of vote-buying common in the past, and if signs crop up afterwards that palace officials are trying to meddle in the new government.
The Moroccan monarch has said he wants elections that are "free, fair and competitive." But there are already signs the murky electoral practices of the past are still in play.
Since succeeding his father to the throne in 1999, King Mohammed has won international praise for improving human rights, although the reform drive of his earlier years in power has lost momentum in the last few years.
When demonstrations, inspired by the Arab Spring, flared earlier this year, King Mohammed responded by reinvigorating the reform process and offering constitutional amendments that took much of the momentum out of the protest movement.
But there remains a vocal minority who say his reforms are not enough. Thousands of people joined protests in several cities last weekend to back calls for a boycott of the election.
The bigger concern for the palace is not the boycott but that apathy among ordinary Moroccans will produce a low turnout, taking the shine off what is being portrayed as a showcase for budding democracy.
(Additional reporting by Zakia Abdennebi; Editing by Mark Heinrich)
MOSCOW?? Russia's president threatened on Wednesday to deploy missiles to target the U.S. missile shield in Europe if Washington fails to assuage Moscow's concerns about its plans, a harsh warning that reflected deep cracks in U.S.-Russian ties despite President Barack Obama's efforts to "reset" relations with the Kremlin.
Dmitry Medvedev said he still hopes for a deal with the U.S. on missile defense, but he strongly accused Washington and its NATO allies of ignoring Russia's worries. He said that Russia will have to take military countermeasures if the U.S. continues to build the shield without legal guarantees that it will not be aimed against Russia.
The U.S. has repeatedly assured Russia that its proposed missile defense system wouldn't be directed against Russia's nuclear forces, and it did that again Wednesday.
"I do think it's worth reiterating that the European missile defense system that we've been working very hard on with our allies and with Russia over the last few years is not aimed at Russia," said Capt. John Kirby, a Pentagon spokesman. "It is ... designed to help deter and defeat the ballistic missile threat to Europe and to our allies from Iran."
White House spokesman Tommy Vietor said the U.S. will continue to seek Russia's cooperation, but that the U.S. missile defense plan in Europe "is going well and we see no basis for threats to withdraw from it."
But Medvedev said Moscow will not be satisfied by simple declarations and wants a binding agreement. He said, "When we propose to put in on paper in the form of precise and clear legal obligations, we hear a strong refusal."
Medvedev warned that Russia will station missiles in its westernmost Kaliningrad region and other areas, if the U.S. continues its plans without offering firm and specific pledges that the shield isn't directed at its nuclear forces. He didn't say whether the missiles would carry conventional or nuclear warheads.
In Brussels, NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said he was "very disappointed" with Russia's threat to deploy missiles near alliance nations, adding that "would be reminiscent of the past and ... inconsistent with the strategic relations NATO and Russia have agreed they seek."
"Cooperation, not confrontation, is the way ahead," Rasmussen said in a statement.
The U.S. missile defense dispute has long tarnished ties between Moscow and Washington. The Obama administration has repeatedly said the shield is needed to fend off a potential threat from Iran, but Russia fears that it could erode the deterrent potential of its nuclear forces.
"If our partners tackle the issue of taking our legitimate security interests into account in an honest and responsible way, I'm sure we will be able to come to an agreement," Medvedev said. "But if they propose that we 'cooperate,' or, to say it honestly, work against our own interests, we won't be able to reach common ground."
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Moscow has agreed to consider a proposal NATO made last fall to cooperate on the missile shield, but the talks have been deadlocked over how the system should be operated. Russia has insisted that it should be run jointly, which NATO has rejected.
Medvedev also warned that Moscow may opt out of the New START arms control deal with the United States and halt other arms control talks, if the U.S. proceeds with the missile shield without meeting Russia's demand. The Americans had hoped that the START treaty would stimulate progress in further ambitious arms control efforts, but such talks have stalled because of tension over the missile plan.
While the New START doesn't prevent the U.S. from building new missile defense systems, Russia has said it could withdraw from the treaty if it feels threatened by such a system in future.
Medvedev reaffirmed that warning Wednesday, saying that Russia may opt out of the treaty because of an "inalienable link between strategic offensive and defensive weapons."
The New START has been a key achievement of Obama's policy of improving relations with Moscow, which had suffered badly under the George W. Bush administration.
"It's impossible to do a reset using old software, it's necessary to develop a new one," Medvedev's envoy to NATO, Dmitry Rogozin, said at a news conference.
The U.S. plan calls for placing land- and sea-based radars and interceptors in European locations, including Romania and Poland, over the next decade and upgrading them over time.
Medvedev said that Russia will carefully watch the development of the U.S. shield and take countermeasures if Washington continues to ignore Russia's concerns. He warned that Moscow would deploy short-range Iskander missiles in Kaliningrad, a Baltic Sea region bordering Poland, and place weapons in other areas in Russia's west and south to target U.S. missile defense sites. Medvedev said Russia would put a new early warning radar in Kaliningrad.
He said that as part of its response Russia would also equip its intercontinental nuclear missiles with systems that would allow them to penetrate prospective missile defenses and would develop ways to knock down the missile shield's control and information facilities.
Igor Korotchenko, a Moscow-based military expert, was quoted by the state RIA Novosti news agency as saying that the latter would mean targeting missile defense radars and command structures with missiles and bombers. "That will make the entire system useless," he said.
Medvedev and other Russian leaders have made similar threats in the past, and the latest statement appears to be aimed at the domestic audience ahead of Dec. 4 parliamentary elections.
Medvedev, who is set to step down to allow Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to reclaim the presidency in March's election, leads the ruling United Russia party list in the parliamentary vote. A stern warning to the U.S. and NATO issued by Medvedev seems to be directed at rallying nationalist votes in the polls.
Rogozin, Russia's NATO envoy, said the Kremlin won't follow the example of Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev and take unwritten promises from the West.
"The current political leadership can't act like Gorbachev, and it wants written obligations secured by ratification documents," Rogozin said.
Medvedev's statement was intended to encourage the U.S. and NATO to take Russia seriously at the missile defense talks, Rogozin said. He added that the Russian negotiators were annoyed by the U.S. "openly lying" about its missile defense plans.
"We won't allow them to treat us like fools," he said. "Nuclear deterrent forces aren't a joke."
____
Associated Press writers Nataliya Vasilyeva in Moscow, Pauline Jelinek and Julie Pace in Washington, and Slobodan Lekic in Brussels contributed to this report.
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
PRESCOTT, Ariz. ? Self-help author James Arthur Ray faced more than a judge at his sentencing last week for a sweat lodge ceremony that left three people dead. Members of the American Indian community sat through almost the entire trial in silent protest of Ray's use of a sacred tradition.
Ray is serving two years in prison after a lengthy trial that ended in a trio of negligent homicide convictions and that made little mention of Native culture and traditions. He has vowed not to hold another sweat lodge ceremony.
But whether Ray learned not to misappropriate cultures remains to be seen, said Ivan Lewis of the Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation.
"He desecrated our ceremony, he abused it," Lewis said Wednesday. "He used it in any way that he could just to get his money. He was told before not to do that, and he's paying for it now."
Sweat lodges are commonly used by American Indian tribes to cleanse the body and prepare for hunts, ceremonies and other events. They typically hold no more than a dozen people, compared with more than 50 people inside the one Ray led near Sedona in October 2009.
The ceremony involves stones heated up outside the lodge, brought inside and placed in a pit. The door is closed, and water is poured on the stones, producing heat aimed at releasing toxins in the body. In traditional ceremonies, the person who pours the water is said to have an innate sense about the conditions of others inside the sweat lodge, many times recognizing problems before they physically are presented.
Day after day, Lewis and his companion, Cheryl Joaquin, slipped into a central Arizona courtroom to listen to trial testimony. Prosecutors hardly mentioned a sweat lodge, instead referring to Ray's event as a "heat endurance challenge." Most of the participants had never been in one before.
The families of the victims ? Kirby Brown, 38, of Westtown, N.Y., James Shore, 40, of Milwaukee, and Liz Neuman, 49, of Prior Lake, Minn. ? asked Lewis and Joaquin to keep in mind their loved ones when they could not be in court. The couple wore bracelets bearing Brown's name, given to them by her parents. On the day Ray was sentenced, Joaquin's children handed a single red rose to the victims' families to promote healing.
Brown's mother, Virginia, expressed sorrow "that their sacred traditions were defiled in this event."
"We have experienced hundreds of years of generational transgressions against our way of life and the value of human life for the purpose of power and greed," Joaquin, of the Gila River Indian Community, wrote as Ray was being sentenced. "Today we pray and envision a time of unity for all mankind, with a humble understanding of love, peace and harmony."
Lewis was among a group who sued Ray following the ceremony, alleging that Ray violated the Indian Arts and Crafts Act by running the sweat lodge. A federal judge dismissed the civil complaint, saying the act applies to goods, not services.
Bill Bielecki, an attorney representing the Black Hills Sioux Nation Treaty Council on South Dakota's Pine Ridge reservation, said the trial would encourage non-Natives to focus on safety when running sweat lodge ceremonies.
"They're going to look at the facts," said Bielecki, who also was party to the lawsuit, "You don't use a large sweat lodge, you make sure people can leave and you don't coerce the occupants into staying beyond their limits or capabilities. If you do that, then you avoid gross negligence."
Ray touted his sweat lodge ceremony as "hellacious hot" and said he learned from a Native American shaman. He told participants shortly before they entered the structure that he would incorporate teachings from different cultures and religions, according to an audio recording played by prosecutors. Ray said a friend once told him: "no one has been in a sweat lodge until they've been in your lodge."
He charged more than $9,000 to participants of his five-day "Spiritual Warrior" event that culminated with the sweat lodge.
Three people died and 18 others were hospitalized, yet others emerged with no problems. The deaths and illnesses sparked outrage among American Indians, who drew distinctions between what Ray did and what would be considered a traditional American Indian sweat lodge.
Jonathan Ellerby, author of "Return to The Sacred: Ancient Pathways to Spiritual Awakening," said the trouble Ray encountered suggests a breakdown in either training, facilitation or the unskilled blending of materials and practices.
"Sweat lodges and fasting are ancient traditions that promote health and healing when done well," said Ellerby, a non-Native who also has run the ceremonies. "The trouble is that anything that can help, if misused or poorly delivered can hurt, even kill. This raises a lot of questions (about) qualifications, cultural appropriation and intent."
Arizona lawmaker Albert Hale introduced a bill shortly after the ceremony to sanction the use of American Indian ceremonies off tribal land for profit and without permission. But he pulled it after others raised concerns about government regulation of religious practices.
Hale, former president of the Navajo Nation, said Wednesday that the lessons from Ray's trial don't apply only to Ray.
"The lesson should also be to the people who want to participate," he said. "They have to take care and make certain the person advertising himself to be an expert in the area is indeed an expert."
Ray's supporters testified during the sentencing phase that his qualifications to lead physical activities mattered little to them because they trusted him to keep them safe.
What's that gorgeous device doing in a pearly white on this side of the pond? T-Mobile will be offering a second color option for its flagship TouchWiz device, the Samsung Galaxy S II, "in the coming weeks." Though its exact launch date is uncertain, the two companies assured us that it would land in time for the holidays. We're just hoping they're not referring to Valentine's Day.
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NEW YORK (Reuters) ? Stocks tumbled about 2 percent and were on track for a sixth straight day of losses on Wednesday as frustration over the euro zone debt crisis coupled with weak Chinese factory data sank sentiment.
A weak German bond sale sparked fears the debt crisis was even beginning to threaten Berlin, with the leaders of France and Germany still at odds over a longer-term structural solution.
The poor demand for German government bonds showed that investors viewed investing in the euro zone as being too risky.
Debt problems plaguing Europe and the United States have pressured markets, knocking the S&P down more than 7 percent over the last six sessions. World stocks hit their lowest in six weeks on Wednesday.
"As the selling across German bunds deepens with investors questioning the safety of its debt, investors are slowly realizing that yields may lurch higher across the spectrum, creating yet another leg lower for sentiment. Such a negative feedback loop was hardly in the cards," said Andrew Wilkinson, chief economic strategist at Miller Tabak & Co in New York.
The Dow Jones industrial average (.DJI) slid 201.88 points, or 1.76 percent, at 11,291.84. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index (.SPX) dropped 21.86 points, or 1.84 percent, at 1,166.18. The Nasdaq Composite Index (.IXIC) took off 51.82 points, or 2.06 percent, at 2,469.46.
All 10 S&P sectors were negative, with financials among the biggest decliners over concerns about exposure to European debt. JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N) dropped 3 percent to $28.52 and Citigroup Inc (C.N) lost 3.6 percent to $23.60.
Economically sensitive stocks such as energy and commodity-related issues were also lower. The PHLX oil service sector index (.OSX) dropped 3.4 percent and the S&P materials sector (.GSPM) fell 2.3 percent. Schlumberger Ltd (SLB.N) was down 3.3 percent to $66.66 and DuPont and Co (DD.N) was off 2.6 percent to $44.24.
Volume was light ahead of the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday, when markets are closed.
One of the few bright spots, Deere & Co (DE.N) climbed 3 percent to $74.05 after quarterly earnings beat expectations and sales climbed 20 percent.
Adding to market worries, data showed Chinese manufacturing shrank the most in 32 months in November, intensifying concerns about a global economic slowdown. U.S. crude oil fell 1.8 percent on fears of reduced demand from China, the world's No. 2 economy.
U.S. data painted a mixed picture and showed little reason for optimism. New jobless claims rose last week and consumer spending barely increased in October, while another report showed new orders for a range of long-lasting manufactured goods rose.
(Reporting by Angela Moon; editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)
Contact: Lee Siegel lee.siegel@utah.edu 801-581-8993 University of Utah
Utah chemists: Water doesn't have to freeze until minus 55 Fahrenheit
SALT LAKE CITY -- We drink water, bathe in it and we are made mostly of water, yet the common substance poses major mysteries. Now, University of Utah chemists may have solved one enigma by showing how cold water can get before it absolutely must freeze: 55 degrees below zero Fahrenheit.
That's 87 degrees Fahrenheit colder than what most people consider the freezing point of water, namely, 32 F.
Supercooled liquid water must become ice at minus 55 F not just because of the extreme cold, but because the molecular structure of water changes physically to form tetrahedron shapes, with each water molecule loosely bonded to four others, according to the new study by chemists Valeria Molinero and Emily Moore.
The findings suggest this structural change from liquid to "intermediate ice" explains the mystery of "what determines the temperature at which water is going to freeze," says Molinero, an assistant professor at the University of Utah and senior author of the study, published in the Thursday, Nov. 24 issue of the journal Nature.
"This intermediate ice has a structure between the full structure of ice and the structure of the liquid," she adds. "We're solving a very old puzzle of what is going on in deeply supercooled water."
However, in the strange and wacky world of water, tiny amounts of liquid water theoretically still might be present even as temperatures plunge below minus 55 F and almost all the water has turned solid either into crystalline ice or amorphous water "glass," Molinero says. But any remaining liquid water can survive only an incredibly short time too short for the liquid's properties to be detected or measured.
How and at what temperature water must freeze has more than just "gee-whiz" appeal. Atmospheric scientists studying global warming want to know at what temperatures and rates water freezes and crystallizes into ice.
"You need that to predict how much water in the atmosphere is in the liquid state or crystal state," which relates to how much solar radiation is absorbed by atmospheric water and ice, Molinero says. "This is important for predictions of global climate."
A Strange Substance
Liquid water is a network of water molecules (each with two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom) held loosely together by what is called hydrogen bonding, which is somewhat like static cling. Molinero says that depending on its temperature and pressure, water ice has 16 different crystalline forms in which water molecules cling to each other with hydrogen bonds.
Molinero says that "what makes water so strange is that the way liquid water behaves is completely different from other liquids. For example, ice floats on water while most solids sink into their liquid forms because they are denser than the liquids."
Water's density changes with temperature, and it is most dense at 39 F. That's why fish survive under ice covering a pond by swimming in the warmer, denser water at the bottom of the pond.
But the property of water that "is most fascinating is that you can cool it down well below 32 degrees Fahrenheit and it still remains a liquid," says Molinero.
Liquid water as cold as minus 40 F has been found in clouds. Scientists have done experiments showing liquid water can exist at least down to minus 42 F.
Why doesn't water necessarily freeze at 32 F like we were taught in school?
"If you have liquid water and you want to form ice, then you have to first form a small nucleus or seed of ice from the liquid. The liquid has to give birth to ice," says Molinero. "For rain, you have to make liquid from vapor. Here, you have to make crystal [ice] from liquid."
Yet in very pure water, "the only way you can form a nucleus is by spontaneously changing the structure of the liquid," she adds.
Molinero says key questions include, "under which conditions do the nuclei form and are large enough to grow?" and "what is the size of this critical nucleus?"
Computing What Cannot Be Measured
Molinero says that "when you cool down water, its structure becomes closer to the structure of ice, which is why the density goes down, and this should be reflected in an increased crystallization rate."
Supercooled water has been measured down to about minus 42 F, which is its "homogenous nucleation temperature" the lowest temperature at which the ice crystallization rate can be measured as water is freezing. Below this temperature, ice is crystallizing too fast for any property of the remaining liquid to be measured.
To get around the problem, Molinero and chemistry doctoral student Moore used computers at the University of Utah's Center for High Performance Computing. The behavior of supercooled water was simulated and also modeled using real data.
Computers provide "a microscopic view through simulation that experiments cannot yet provide," Molinero says.
Previous computer simulations and modeling were too slow and had to last long enough for the freezing process to occur. And it was necessary to simulate thousands of nucleation events to make valid conclusions.
Molinero and Moore devised a new computer model that is 200 times faster than its predecessors. The model simplified the number crunching by considering each three-atom water molecule to be a single particle similar to a silicon atom and capable of sticking together with hydrogen bonding.
Even so, it took thousands of hours of computer time to simulate the behavior of 32,768 water molecules (much smaller than a tiny drop of water) to determine how the heat capacity, density and compressibility of water changes as it is supercooled, and to simulate how fast ice crystallized within a batch of 4,000 water molecules.
The Birth of Ice
The computers helped Molinero and Moore determine how cold water can get before it reaches its theoretical maximum crystallization rate and must freeze. The answer: minus 55 F (or minus 48 degrees Celsius).
The computers also showed that as water approaches minus 55 F, there is a sharp increase in the proportion of water molecules attached to four others to form tetrahedrons.
"The water is transforming to something else, and this something else is very close to ice," says Molinero. She calls it intermediate ice.
If a microscopic droplet of water is cooled very fast, it forms what is called a glass low-density amorphous ice in which all the tetrahedrons of water molecules are not lined up to form perfect crystals. Instead, low-density ice is amorphous like window glass. The study found that as many as one-quarter of the molecules in the amorphous "water glass" are organized either as intermediate ice or as tiny ice crystals.
When water approaches minus 55 F, there is an unusual decrease in density and unusual increases in heat capacity (which goes up instead of down) and compressibility (water gets easier to compress as it gets colder, unlike most liquids). These unusual thermodynamics coincide with liquid water changing to the tetrahedral structure.
"The change in structure of water controls the rate at which ice forms," Molinero says. "We show both the thermodynamics of water and the crystallization rate are controlled by the change in structure of liquid water that approaches the structure of ice."
###
University of Utah Public Relations 201 Presidents Circle, Room 308
Salt Lake City, Utah 84112-9017
801-581-6773 fax: 801-585-3350
http://www.unews.utah.edu
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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.
Contact: Lee Siegel lee.siegel@utah.edu 801-581-8993 University of Utah
Utah chemists: Water doesn't have to freeze until minus 55 Fahrenheit
SALT LAKE CITY -- We drink water, bathe in it and we are made mostly of water, yet the common substance poses major mysteries. Now, University of Utah chemists may have solved one enigma by showing how cold water can get before it absolutely must freeze: 55 degrees below zero Fahrenheit.
That's 87 degrees Fahrenheit colder than what most people consider the freezing point of water, namely, 32 F.
Supercooled liquid water must become ice at minus 55 F not just because of the extreme cold, but because the molecular structure of water changes physically to form tetrahedron shapes, with each water molecule loosely bonded to four others, according to the new study by chemists Valeria Molinero and Emily Moore.
The findings suggest this structural change from liquid to "intermediate ice" explains the mystery of "what determines the temperature at which water is going to freeze," says Molinero, an assistant professor at the University of Utah and senior author of the study, published in the Thursday, Nov. 24 issue of the journal Nature.
"This intermediate ice has a structure between the full structure of ice and the structure of the liquid," she adds. "We're solving a very old puzzle of what is going on in deeply supercooled water."
However, in the strange and wacky world of water, tiny amounts of liquid water theoretically still might be present even as temperatures plunge below minus 55 F and almost all the water has turned solid either into crystalline ice or amorphous water "glass," Molinero says. But any remaining liquid water can survive only an incredibly short time too short for the liquid's properties to be detected or measured.
How and at what temperature water must freeze has more than just "gee-whiz" appeal. Atmospheric scientists studying global warming want to know at what temperatures and rates water freezes and crystallizes into ice.
"You need that to predict how much water in the atmosphere is in the liquid state or crystal state," which relates to how much solar radiation is absorbed by atmospheric water and ice, Molinero says. "This is important for predictions of global climate."
A Strange Substance
Liquid water is a network of water molecules (each with two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom) held loosely together by what is called hydrogen bonding, which is somewhat like static cling. Molinero says that depending on its temperature and pressure, water ice has 16 different crystalline forms in which water molecules cling to each other with hydrogen bonds.
Molinero says that "what makes water so strange is that the way liquid water behaves is completely different from other liquids. For example, ice floats on water while most solids sink into their liquid forms because they are denser than the liquids."
Water's density changes with temperature, and it is most dense at 39 F. That's why fish survive under ice covering a pond by swimming in the warmer, denser water at the bottom of the pond.
But the property of water that "is most fascinating is that you can cool it down well below 32 degrees Fahrenheit and it still remains a liquid," says Molinero.
Liquid water as cold as minus 40 F has been found in clouds. Scientists have done experiments showing liquid water can exist at least down to minus 42 F.
Why doesn't water necessarily freeze at 32 F like we were taught in school?
"If you have liquid water and you want to form ice, then you have to first form a small nucleus or seed of ice from the liquid. The liquid has to give birth to ice," says Molinero. "For rain, you have to make liquid from vapor. Here, you have to make crystal [ice] from liquid."
Yet in very pure water, "the only way you can form a nucleus is by spontaneously changing the structure of the liquid," she adds.
Molinero says key questions include, "under which conditions do the nuclei form and are large enough to grow?" and "what is the size of this critical nucleus?"
Computing What Cannot Be Measured
Molinero says that "when you cool down water, its structure becomes closer to the structure of ice, which is why the density goes down, and this should be reflected in an increased crystallization rate."
Supercooled water has been measured down to about minus 42 F, which is its "homogenous nucleation temperature" the lowest temperature at which the ice crystallization rate can be measured as water is freezing. Below this temperature, ice is crystallizing too fast for any property of the remaining liquid to be measured.
To get around the problem, Molinero and chemistry doctoral student Moore used computers at the University of Utah's Center for High Performance Computing. The behavior of supercooled water was simulated and also modeled using real data.
Computers provide "a microscopic view through simulation that experiments cannot yet provide," Molinero says.
Previous computer simulations and modeling were too slow and had to last long enough for the freezing process to occur. And it was necessary to simulate thousands of nucleation events to make valid conclusions.
Molinero and Moore devised a new computer model that is 200 times faster than its predecessors. The model simplified the number crunching by considering each three-atom water molecule to be a single particle similar to a silicon atom and capable of sticking together with hydrogen bonding.
Even so, it took thousands of hours of computer time to simulate the behavior of 32,768 water molecules (much smaller than a tiny drop of water) to determine how the heat capacity, density and compressibility of water changes as it is supercooled, and to simulate how fast ice crystallized within a batch of 4,000 water molecules.
The Birth of Ice
The computers helped Molinero and Moore determine how cold water can get before it reaches its theoretical maximum crystallization rate and must freeze. The answer: minus 55 F (or minus 48 degrees Celsius).
The computers also showed that as water approaches minus 55 F, there is a sharp increase in the proportion of water molecules attached to four others to form tetrahedrons.
"The water is transforming to something else, and this something else is very close to ice," says Molinero. She calls it intermediate ice.
If a microscopic droplet of water is cooled very fast, it forms what is called a glass low-density amorphous ice in which all the tetrahedrons of water molecules are not lined up to form perfect crystals. Instead, low-density ice is amorphous like window glass. The study found that as many as one-quarter of the molecules in the amorphous "water glass" are organized either as intermediate ice or as tiny ice crystals.
When water approaches minus 55 F, there is an unusual decrease in density and unusual increases in heat capacity (which goes up instead of down) and compressibility (water gets easier to compress as it gets colder, unlike most liquids). These unusual thermodynamics coincide with liquid water changing to the tetrahedral structure.
"The change in structure of water controls the rate at which ice forms," Molinero says. "We show both the thermodynamics of water and the crystallization rate are controlled by the change in structure of liquid water that approaches the structure of ice."
###
University of Utah Public Relations 201 Presidents Circle, Room 308
Salt Lake City, Utah 84112-9017
801-581-6773 fax: 801-585-3350
http://www.unews.utah.edu
[ | E-mail | 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.
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Public release date: 23-Nov-2011
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