Most banks are notoriously bad at online, and especially mobile, experiences. Some don't have mobile apps at all, and those that do exist typically aren't that good. That's why the folks at Portland, Ore.-based startup Simple think they can make banking better, with new ways of keeping track of your money.Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/7e91pSP7nIs/
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Households have cut back on vehicle fuel over the past decade, but not on household gas, according to an analysis by the Office for National Statistics.
The figures were released to coincide with next week?s Climate Week, the UK?s biggest climate change campaign.
But the statistics offer little cheer to a government trying to persuade its citizens to burn less fuel.
The recession and high fuel prices are demonstrably changing behaviour more than concerns about the environment.
On motoring, the increased efficiency of new cars to meet EU targets has helped to cut carbon emissions.
The Office for National Statistics says changes to road tax pegged to CO2 have also influenced consumers? decisions on the use of fuel and greener, more efficient cars.
But it is the downturn that has really kept people out of their cars ? we are buying 18% less fuel than 10 years ago.
In aviation: there?s a similar picture. The slump has deterred people from flying. But the figures suggest that people still want to fly more - and flying over the 10 years is up 13% overall.
In the home, even the economic climate has not affected our wish to keep on the central heating rather than don another sweater.
Thanks partly to colder winters, gas consumption actually went by 7%, despite the soaring price of gas.
The figures suggest that use of fuel in cars and planes will bounce back with the economy.
That is bad news for a government that it struggling to build more power stations too.
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-21635261#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa
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Mar. 1, 2013 ? When a crystal is hit by an intense ultrashort light pulse, its atomic structure is set in motion. A team of scientists from the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics (MPQ), the Technischen Universit?t M?nchen (TUM), the Fritz-Haber Institute in Berlin (FHI) and the Universit?t Kassel can now observe how the configuration of electrons and atoms in titanium dioxide, a semiconductor, changes under the impact of an ultraviolet laser pulse, confirming that even subtle changes in the electron distribution caused by the excitation can have a considerable impact on the whole crystal structure.
Knowledge regarding the interaction between light and solid matter on an atomic scale is still comparable to a map with many blank spots. A number of phenomena are still waiting to be observed or understood. A new, up to date unknown aspect of the interplay between light and matter has now been examined by a team of scientists at the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics (MPQ), the Technischen Universit?t M?nchen (TUM), the Fritz-Haber Institute in Berlin (FHI) and the Universit?t Kassel using intensive ultraviolet laser pulses with only a few femtoseconds duration (one femtosecond is a millionth of a billionth of a second).
The physicists illuminated a titanium dioxide crystal (consisting of titanium and oxygen atoms) with an intense ultraviolet laser pulse of less than five femtoseconds duration. The laser pulse excites the valence electrons in the crystal and generates a small number of hot electrons with a temperature of several thousand Kelvin. Valence electrons are electrons that are only weakly bound to the atoms in a crystal that interact strongly with each other and therefore form the bond between the atoms in a crystal. The continuous interplay between the positions of the atomic cores and the valence electrons determines the material characteristics such as electric conductivity, optical properties or the crystal lattice structure.
Following the first, intense laser pulse, the changes in the reflectivity of the crystal on the femtosecond timescale were observed by a second, weak light pulse. This measurement provides the scientists with information on the changes in the crystal induced by the first laser pulse: the intense ultraviolet laser pulse did not only heat up the valence electrons but also changed the electron distribution within the lattice. The electron density was reduced around the oxygen atoms and increased around the titanium atoms. This redistribution of the electrons causes a shift of the equilibrium position of the oxygen atoms relative to the titanium atoms, which leads to an oscillatory motion of the oxygen atoms around the new equilibrium position. In an intuitive picture the oxygen atoms in the crystal potential surface can be compared to a ball in a bowl. In the ground state, the ball is at rest at the center of the bowl. The excitation of the electrons corresponds to a sudden shift of the bowl, and the ball oscillates around its new minimum position.
In their experiment, the scientists also observed a suprising effect: after the excitation with the laser pulse, the electrons cool down to room temperature within about 20 femtoseconds, while the crystal is only heated slightly on these timescales. The cooling of the electrons led to an additional significant change in the valence electron distribution. In consequence, the equilibrium position of the lattice was shifted even further from the initial position of the ground state. Such a dependence of the crystal structure on the electron temperature has long been predicted theoretically. Now it could be observed experimentally for the first time. The results show that even subtle changes in the electron distribuition can have a significant impact on the equilibrium state of a crystal. The understanding of such phenomena can be helpful in the design of new materials.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics. The original article was written by Thorsten Naeser.
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Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/matter_energy/physics/~3/FYNvm5HLh0U/130301051617.htm
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In this Feb. 22, 2013 photo, Meredith Havens, who recently moved to Texas from Alaska, looks at Volkswagens at a dealership in Richardson, Texas. Industry analysts expect February's sales to be up about 7 percent from a year earlier as pent-up demand and cheap financing kept the U.S. auto sales recovery powering along. Volkswagen reported its best February since 1973. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
In this Feb. 22, 2013 photo, Meredith Havens, who recently moved to Texas from Alaska, looks at Volkswagens at a dealership in Richardson, Texas. Industry analysts expect February's sales to be up about 7 percent from a year earlier as pent-up demand and cheap financing kept the U.S. auto sales recovery powering along. Volkswagen reported its best February since 1973. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
In this Thursday, Feb. 28, 2013 photo, Jordan Kenyon works on the assembly line during a media tour before an investment and jobs announcement event at the Chrysler transmission plant in Kokomo, Ind. Chrysler says its sales for February 2013 rose 4 percent from a year ago for the company's best February since 2008. (AP Photo/AJ Mast)
DETROIT (AP) ? Americans want new cars and trucks, and they're not letting higher gas prices or political dysfunction stand in their way.
New car and truck sales were up 4 percent in February as rising home construction and cheap financing kept the U.S. auto recovery on track. While the pace of growth is slowing, industry analysts expect more gains in the coming months, saying there's little that could derail demand for new cars.
Car buyers have already shrugged off higher Social Security taxes, which cut their take-home pay starting in January. Gas prices ? which rose 36 cents to $3.78 per gallon in February ? didn't change their habits, either. And they ignored the debate over automatic spending cuts that were due to take effect Friday.
"Quite frankly, we think most of America is getting a little tired of hearing about some of the dysfunction," said Kurt McNeil, General Motors Co.'s U.S. sales chief. "We think the fundamentals are strong and that's what's important, and that's what's driving the economy."
February sales hit an annualized rate of 15.4 million cars and trucks. That's still short of the recent peak of close to 17 million in 2005, but it's quite healthy compared with the anemic 10.4 million recorded during the recession in 2009.
The industry isn't likely to see the double-digit monthly gains it saw last year, when Japanese automakers came roaring back after the 2011 earthquake in Japan. Instead, auto companies are settling in for a period of slower but sustained growth.
"All of the automakers are in good, strong positions, so it's harder to get those share gains," said Lacey Plache, chief economist with the auto buying site Edmunds.com.
Jeff Schuster, senior vice president of forecasting for LMC Automotive, a Detroit forecasting firm, raised his full-year sales forecast Friday from 15.1 million to 15.2 million. He said U.S. spending cuts could impact auto sales toward the end of the year, but he doesn't expect that to happen.
"Beyond that or some other external shock, I think it's full-speed ahead," Schuster said.
Truck sales boomed in February as more new homes were built. McNeil said GM's pickup sales to small businesses were up 40 percent from a year ago, which is a strong signal of confidence in the underlying economy.
"This is probably the beginning of the strong comeback of trucks that we're going to see for the rest of year," said Jesse Toprak, a senior industry analyst with the car buying site TrueCar.com.
To keep up that momentum, GM announced that it will offer free scheduled maintenance for two years or 24,000 miles on its full-size Chevrolet and GMC trucks. The offer runs through April.
GM's sales rose 7 percent to their highest February level since 2008. Chevrolet Silverado pickup sales jumped 29 percent, which helped make up for faltering sales of cars like the Chevrolet Malibu and Cruze.
Ford Motor Co.'s sales increased 9 percent. Ford reported a 15-percent gain for its F-Series pickups, which are the best-selling vehicles in the U.S. The company also posted record February totals for the Escape SUV and Fusion sedan. Fusion sales were up 28 percent and Escape sales rose 29 percent.
Ford said it plans to increase North American production by 9 percent in the second quarter compared with the same period in 2012.
Toyota's sales were up just over 4 percent, with strong sales of the RAV4 small SUV and Avalon large sedan. Tundra pickup sales also jumped 16 percent. Despite higher gas prices, sales of the Prius hybrid were down 13.5 percent.
Plache said buyers are getting used to paying nearly $4 per gallon at the pump. Gas prices have topped $3.90 per gallon in each of the past two years.
"People go right back to what they were buying before. They start buying big stuff again," she said. Sales of the Ford Explorer midsize SUV, for example, were up 59 percent and nearly outsold the Prius.
Honda's sales fell 2 percent. Sales of the new Accord jumped 35 percent, but that couldn't offset big declines for the CR-V crossover and Civic small car.
Automakers spent less on discounts and deals, which cut into their profits and brand image. Discounts in February averaged $2,392 per vehicle, down almost 4 percent from a year ago, TrueCar said.
But low interest rates offset that. The average four-year auto loan has a 2.5 percent interest rate, according to Bankrate.com. That's about half of what it was five or six years ago. On a $20,000 loan, that means a monthly payment of $438, down $23 from a 5 percent loan.
Geoff Pohanka, who runs 13 auto dealerships in the Virginia and Maryland suburbs around Washington, said he didn't see any ill effects from the budget debate last month ? even though he's in an area that could be hit hard by government employee furloughs.
"I haven't seen it yet," he said. "We feel pretty good about the spring."
Among other automakers reporting Friday:
? Chrysler Group's sales were up 4 percent over a year ago, a much slower pace than the 21 percent jump it saw in 2012. CEO Sergio Marchionne has warned that first-quarter sales would decline because the company stopped making the Jeep Liberty midsize SUV as it prepares to build a replacement model. The new Jeep Cherokee is expected to hit showrooms in the summer. In the meantime, the Dodge Avenger and Charger sedans were strong sellers.
? Nissan Motor Co.'s sales were down 7 percent. Sales of the new Pathfinder SUV more than doubled, and sales of the Leaf electric car rose 37 percent after the company dropped the price. But sales of other cars and SUVs were down.
? Volkswagen AG's sales were up 3 percent. Sales of the new Beetle nearly tripled.
? Hyundai Motor Co.'s sales were up 2 percent, led by a 64 percent increase for the new Santa Fe crossover.
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Smokey was of the breed of human that won World War Two.? He was tough and smart and ended up serving as a flier in every theater of the war.? His nickname came from the nose art he used on his B-17 which was the cartoon character in the comic strips of the day "Smokey Stover" a fireman.? Yunick's plane was called "Smokey and his Firemen."
He started as a bomber pilot and later was reassigned to clandestine operations.? These?often involved flying well behind enemy lines to drop supplies, deliver or pick up agents, or get shot down fliers out of bad situations before they could be captured.? These flights were heavily classified and he never got much recognition for what he did, nor did he care.? Like most soldiers, he just wanted to be alive at the end of the war.? During slow periods?in his flying adventures, he taught himself engineering, chemistry, and aerodynamics by getting free books through Army Air Corps library programs.
Also like many fighting men of the era, Smokey did not pass up?"recreation," in the form of drinking and woman chasing.? He had no preferences during the war with the nationality of either the booze or the women.? He?also was exposed to?a few?money making opportunities of the times by observing the corrupt military and civilian leadership in the many countries in which he served, particularly in the China-Burma-India Theater.?
When you look back at those who survived World War Two, there are two main types.? The guys who served their country and then quietly went home to a normal 9 to 5 life, and those who thrived?on "living on the edge"?with post war life far too dull.? Auto racing of the post-WWII era was filled with those who "couldn't slow down!"
Smokey states how Stock Car racing in the South began in a couple of paragraphs: "Start with a man who had a piece of land and a relative with a small bulldozer.? Next thing you know, you have a race track.? Next you throw in a con-man who envisions a series of?annual races he can live off of comfortably.? Then, to these few tracks and some organization, you add small garage owners, or young people associated with surface transportation, who like to build?noisy, fast cars."
"Lastly, you add some parts and capital from the local car dealer, parts store, tire shop, or gas station, bribe the local sports editor, wait a week, stir well, open the gates to fans on Sunday, milk a few bucks from 'em to get in plus sell 'em Hot Dogs, Cokes, and beer for double the price, and presto-Stock Car Racing!? Really a weird cross-section of Americans, that today would get into social trouble (as we were then.)"? This last was in relation to the standard off track fare of the average racer which was drinking and woman chasing, something that Stock Car racing had in common with all forms of motor sports of the day.
As you have probably already realized, Bill France Sr. was the "con-man who could live off a series of annual races."? At the time, France had promoted a few races using Daytona's beach and highway 1 to make an oval.? He ran a small gas station and garage in town and was a master bullshitter with the local politicians and motel owners.? But he saw that there was opportunity for a regional racing series based on production cars which needed little money to race.
Rather than being a race driver, Smokey became an owner-mechanic,?"the brains of the outfit" because he could build great engines and cars out of the Detroit?stuff being manufactured at the time.?? In reality, there was little new being made by American car manufacturers because they could sell?all the old technology they were using as fast as they could build it.? Smokey had seen better technology that was manufactured?in Europe?during the thirties than Detroit was building in the fifties!?
When France formed NASCAR with the help of a few track owners and other racing movers and shakers, the Modifieds were the main draw.? These were cut down pre-WWII coupes and sedans with big engines and drivers with big egos.? Some were various scofflaws who delivered Moonshine, or were in some other activity "on the margins of legality."? All liked to go fast, on the track, in the bar, and in the bedroom.? Smokey built and campaigned Modifieds for?Marshall Teague?and Glenn "Fireball" Roberts.
After getting established with the Modifieds at a growing number of Southern dirt tracks, France recognized that to get REAL attention, he'd have to move into "Late Models."? He formed rules for a strictly stock division and named it "Grand National" in typical?"understated" France style.? He battled other small organizations to get Darlington Speedway sanctioned by NASCAR, the first "Super Speedway" in the South.? It was also one of the very few paved tracks.
Darlington was to be the home of the Southern stock car people's "Indy 500."? It got immediate attention by a press which was far more interested in stick and ball sports.?? Owner Harold Brasington slipped and few dollars under the table with local sports writers to cover the race.? France's sights were higher.? He bribed a group of regional and one national sports reporter to cover it.?
The race was a huge success and got NASCAR it's first national attention.?? At the time, the AAA was THE racing sanction in the nation and merely laughed at "those hillbillies in stock cars."? By 1956, AAA was gone and USAC took over.? USAC was less inclined to overlook "those hillbillies" and promoted it's own Stock Car division, which it ran in addition to the Indy 500, Champ Cars, Sprint Cars, and Midgets nation wide.?? They really took notice that Stock Car racing was exploding nationally in popularity and that NASCAR was expanding into the North and Midwest.
Across America,?at various?small speedways everywhere, the "door slammers" and "taxi cabs" as open wheel fans and racers derisively called stock cars, were becoming more and more popular.? It was a trend that NASCAR would take advantage of.? And Smokey would be there....Mr Stumpy
Source: http://stumpyscorner.blogspot.com/2013/03/smokey-and-nascars-early-years-part-one.html
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In experiments mimicking a natural environment, Duke University researchers have demonstrated that the silver nanoparticles used in many consumer products can have an adverse effect on plants and microorganisms.
Fifty days after scientists applied a single low dose of silver nanoparticles, the experimental environments produced about a third less biomass in some plants and microbes.
These preliminary findings are important, the researchers said, because little is known about the environmental effects of silver nanoparticles, which are found in textiles, clothing, children's toys and pacifiers, disinfectants and toothpaste.
"No one really knows what the effects of these particles are in the environment," said Benjamin Colman, a post-doctoral fellow in Duke's biology department and a member of the Center for the Environmental Implications of Nanotechnology (CEINT).
"We're trying to come up with the data that can be used to help regulators determine the risks to the environment from silver nanoparticle exposures," Colman said. CEINT's research is funded by the National Science Foundation and the Environmental Protection Agency
Previous studies have involved high concentrations of the nanoparticles in a laboratory setting, which the researchers point out, doesn't represent "real-world" conditions.
"Results from laboratory studies are difficult to extrapolate to ecosystems, where exposures likely will be at low concentrations and there is a diversity of organisms," Colman said.
Silver nanoparticles are used in consumer products because they can kill bacteria, inhibiting unwanted odors. They work through a variety of mechanisms, including generating free radicals of oxygen which can cause DNA damage to microbial membranes without harming human cells.
The main route by which these particles enter the environment is as a by-product of sewage treatment plants. The nanoparticles are too small to be filtered out, so they and other materials end up in the resulting wastewater treatment "sludge," which is then spread on the land surface as a fertilizer.
For their studies, the researchers created mesocosms, which are small, man-made structures containing different plants and microorganisms meant to represent the environment. They applied sludge with low doses of silver nanoparticles in some of the mesocosms, then compared plants and microorganisms from treated and untreated mesocosms after 50 days.
The study appeared online Feb. 27 in the journal PLOS One.
The researchers found that one of the plants studied, a common annual grass known as Microstegium vimeneum, had 32 percent less biomass in the mesocosms treated with the nanoparticles. Microbes were also affected by the nanoparticles, Colman said. One enzyme associated with helping microbes deal with external stresses was 52 percent less active, while another enzyme that helps regulate processes within the cell was 27 percent less active. The overall biomass of the microbes was also 35 percent lower, he said.
"Our field studies show adverse responses of plants and microorganisms following a single low dose of silver nanoparticles applied by a sewage biosolid," Colman said. "An estimated 60 percent of the average 5.6 million tons of biosolids produced each year is applied to the land for various reasons, and this practice represents an important and understudied route of exposure of natural ecosystems to engineered nanoparticles."
"Our results show that silver nanoparticles in the biosolids, added at concentrations that would be expected, caused ecosystem-level impacts," Colman said. "Specifically, the nanoparticles led to an increase in nitrous oxide fluxes, changes in microbial community composition, biomass, and extracellular enzyme activity, as well as species-specific effects on the above-ground vegetation."
The researchers plan to continue to study longer-term effects of silver nanoparticles and to examine another ubiquitous nanoparticle ? titanium dioxide.
###
Duke University: http://www.duke.edu
Thanks to Duke University for this article.
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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/127060/Silver_nanoparticles_may_adversely_affect_environment
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WASHINGTON (AP) -- The House on Thursday passed and sent to President Barack Obama a far-reaching extension of the Violence Against Women Act. The vote came after House Republican leaders, cognizant of divisions in their own ranks and the need to improve their faltering image among women voters, accepted a bill that cleared the Senate two weeks ago on a strong bipartisan vote.
The bill renews a 1994 law that has set the standard for how to protect women, and some men, from domestic abuse and prosecute abusers. Thursday's 286-138 vote came after House lawmakers rejected a more limited approach offered by Republicans.
It was the third time this year that House Speaker John Boehner has allowed Democrats and moderates in his own party prevail over the GOP's much larger conservative wing. As with a Jan. 1 vote to avoid the fiscal cliff and legislation to extend Superstorm Sandy aid, a majority of House Republicans voted against the final anti-violence bill.
Obama, in a statement, said "renewing this bill is an important step towards making sure no one in America is forced to live in fear" and said he would sign the bill "as soon as it hits my desk."
The law has been renewed twice before without controversy, but it lapsed in 2011 as it was caught up in the partisan battles that now divide Congress. Last year, the House refused to go along with a Senate-passed bill that would have made clear that lesbians, gays, immigrants and Native American women should have equal access to Violence Against Women Act programs.
It appeared the scenario would be repeated this year when the House introduced a bill that didn't mention the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community and watered down a Senate provision allowing tribal courts to prosecute non-Indians who attack their Indian partners on tribal lands.
House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., who has spent months working on the issue, defended the Republican plan: "Our goal in strengthening the Violence Against Women Act is simple. We want to help all women who are faced with violent, abusive and dangerous situations. ... We want them to know that those who commit these horrendous crimes will be punished."
But the House proposal encountered quick and strong opposition from women's groups, the White House, Democrats and some Republicans, and on Tuesday, the GOP leadership agreed to give the House a vote on the Senate bill. It passed immediately after the House rejected Cantor's bill, 257-166, with 60 Republicans voting against it.
The GOP decision to show the white flag came after the party's poor showing among women in last fall's election and Democratic success in framing the debate over the Violence Against Women Act as Republican policy hostile to women. President Barack Obama won 55 percent of the women's vote last November. Republican presidential candidates haven't won the women's vote since 1984, when Ronald Reagan held a 12-point lead over Walter Mondale among women.
The anti-violence bill should never have become partisan, said Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., a sponsor of the Senate bill. "That is why I applaud moderate Republican voices in the House who stood up to their leadership to demand a vote on the Senate bill."
The Senate passed its bill on a 78-22 vote with every Democrat, every woman senator and 23 of 45 Republicans supporting it.
A turning point in the debate came earlier this month, when 19 Republicans, led by Rep. Jon Runyan, R-N.J., wrote a letter to their leadership urging them to accept a bipartisan plan that would reach all victims of domestic violence. The letter, Runyan said, was a catalyst in showing the leadership "a willingness of people in the House to really compromise" and see that the Senate "has a pretty good bill."
Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla., a Native American, also wrote his Republican colleagues saying he was voting against the House alternative because "it falls short of giving tribes what they need to keep their women safe."
Indian women suffer incidents of domestic violence at rates more than double national averages, but Indian courts don't have jurisdiction over non-Indians, and federal prosecutors don't take up about half the violence cases on reservations because of lack of resources to pursue crimes on isolated Indian lands. The Senate bill would give Indian courts the ability to prosecute non-Indians for a limited set of crimes limited to domestic violence and violations of protecting orders. Opponents have said that raises constitutional issues.
The Violence Against Women Act is credited with helping reduce domestic violence incidents by two-thirds over the past two decades. The Senate bill would authorize some $659 million a year over five years to fund current programs that provide grants for transitional housing, legal assistance, law enforcement training and hotlines.
The Senate bill adds stalking to the list of crimes that make immigrants eligible for protection and authorizes programs dealing with sexual assault on college campuses and with efforts to reduce the backlog in rape kit analyses. It reauthorizes the Trafficking Victims Protection Act.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/congress-passes-bill-renewing-anti-181315864.html
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