Vinyl's return? Audio files printed onto playable record

17 hrs.

In a bid to test the limits of 3-D printing technology, an audio tinkerer created a technique to convert digital audio files into a record that works on a?turntable. The sound quality is scratchy, but should improve with advances in the printing technology.

The 3-D printed record was created by Amanda Ghassaei, a tech editor at the project-sharing website Instructables.com.?

The technique "works by importing raw audio data, performing some calculations to generate the geometry of a record, and eventually exporting this geometry straight to a 3-D printable format," she explained in an article for Instructables.com.?

She used a resin printer called Object Connex500, which has some of the highest resolution for 3-D printing. Like other 3-D printers, it creates an object layer by layer. You can listen to a few tracks from the record here, including Nirvana?s "Smells like Teen Spirit."

Even though the sound quality is an order of magnitude lower than a vinyl record, Ghassaei notes that we?re able to hear the song because evolution has?fine-tuned our brains to filter out noise and focus on the important pieces of information.

For more information on the project, check out Ghassaei?s website and her article on Instructables.com.?

????Via Discovery News?and?Gizmag?

John Roach is a contributing writer for NBC News Digital. To learn more about him, check out his website. For more of our Future of Technology series, watch the featured video below.

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/futureoftech/digital-audio-files-converted-3-d-printed-record-1B7818051

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Andrew Redleaf and Whitebox Advisors, LLC: Holdings in Adanac ...


MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA ? (Marketwire) ? 01/03/13 ? Since the date of its most recent report filed pursuant to the early warning reporting requirements of Canadian securities laws, certain limited partnerships managed by Whitebox Advisors, LLC (the ?Whitebox LPs?) have sold an aggregate of 510,861 common shares (the ?Common Shares?) of Adanac Molybdenum Corporation (the ?Issuer?).

The Whitebox LPs are managed by Whitebox Advisors, LLC, such that, for purposes of applicable Canadian securities laws, Andrew Redleaf and Whitebox Advisors, LLC (together, the ?Whitebox Filers?) may be considered to have control or direction over the Common Shares sold by the Whitebox LPs. As a result, after completion of the foregoing sales, for purposes of applicable Canadian securities laws, the Whitebox Filers may be considered to have control or direction over 3,761,228 Common Shares of the Issuer which constitute approximately 14.77% of the outstanding Common Shares, calculated in accordance with applicable Canadian securities laws, representing a net decrease of 2.01% of its previously reported holdings. For purposes of Canadian securities laws, each of the Whitebox LPs may be presumed to be acting jointly or in concert with Mr. Redleaf, Whitebox Advisors LLC and the other Whitebox LPs.

The Common Shares were sold in the ordinary course of business of the Whitebox LPs. The Whitebox Filers expect to evaluate on an ongoing basis the Issuer-s financial condition, business, operations and prospects, the market price of the securities of the Issuer, conditions in the securities markets generally, general economic conditions and industry conditions and other factors. Depending on such review, the Whitebox Filers may make purchases or may sell or transfer Common Shares or other securities of the Issuer over which they may be considered to have control or direction from time to time in public or private transactions and/or may enter into privately negotiated derivative transactions with institutional counterparties to hedge the market risk of some or all of their positions in the Common Shares or other securities. In addition, the Whitebox Filers may cause any of the Whitebox LPs to distribute in kind to their respective partners or shareholders, as the case may be, Common Shares or other securities. Any such transactions may be effected at any time or from time to time subject to applicable law. Other than as described above, none of the Whitebox Filers has any plan or proposal relating to or that would result in: (a) an extraordinary corporate transaction, such as a merger, reorganization or liquidation, involving the Issuer or any of its subsidiaries; (b) a sale or transfer of a material amount of assets of the Issuer or any of its subsidiaries; (c) any material change in the present capitalization or dividend policy of the Issuer; (d) any other material change in the Issuer-s business or corporate structure; (e) any changes in the Issuer-s charter, by-laws or instruments corresponding thereto or other actions which may impede the acquisition of control of the Issuer by any person; (f) a class of securities of the Issuer being delisted; (g) a class of equity securities of the Issuer becoming eligible for termination of registration; or (h) any action similar to those enumerated above.

Andrew Redleaf is the managing director and controlling shareholder of Whitebox Advisors LLC, which is the managing director of the general partners of each of the Whitebox LPs that directly own the Common Shares. As a result of the foregoing relationships, the Whitebox Filers may be considered to exercise control or direction over the Common Shares that are the subject of this release. However, the Whitebox Filers disclaim any beneficial ownership over the Common Shares held by the Whitebox LPs, except to the extent of their pecuniary interest, if any, therein.

The Whitebox LPs that hold the Common Shares that are the subject of this release are the Whitebox Multi-Strategy Partners, L.P., Whitebox Concentrated Convertible Arbitrage Partners, L.P. Whitebox Credit Arbitrage Partners, L.P. and Whitebox Special Opportunities Fund Series B Partners, L.P.

The filing of this release is not an admission that any entity named in this release owns or controls any securities described in this release or is a joint actor with another named entity.

A copy of the early warning report to be filed by Mr. Redleaf and Whitebox Advisors, LLC in connection with the transactions referred to in this press release may be obtained from Mark Strefling, Chief Legal Officer of Whitebox Advisors, LLC at (612) 253-6018.

Contacts:
The address of the Whitebox Filers is:
3033 Excelsior Boulevard, Suite 300
Minneapolis, MN 55416-4675

Short URL: http://www.88finance.com/?p=216599

Source: http://www.88finance.com/andrew-redleaf-and-whitebox-advisors-llc-holdings-in-adanac-molybdenum-corporation-216599.html

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2012 was worst year for whooping cough since 1955

The nation just suffered its worst year for whooping cough in nearly six decades, according to preliminary government figures.

Whooping cough ebbs and flows in multi-year cycles, and experts say 2012 appears to have reached a peak with 41,880 cases. Another factor: A vaccine used since the 90s doesn't last as long as the old one.

The vaccine problem may continue to cause higher than normal case counts in the future, said Dr. Tom Clark of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"I think the numbers are going to trend up," he said. The agency provided the latest figures on Friday.

Last year, cases were up in 48 states and outbreaks were particularly bad in Colorado, Minnesota, Washington state, Wisconsin and Vermont.

The good news: Despite the high number of illnesses, deaths didn't increase. Eighteen people died, including 15 infants younger than 1.

Officials aren't sure why there weren't more deaths, but think that the attention paid to bad outbreaks across the nation resulted in infected children getting diagnosed faster and treated with antibiotics.

Also, a push last year to vaccinate pregnant women ? a measure designed to pass immunity to infants ? may have had some small measure of success, Clark said.

The final tally will be higher but unlikely to surpass the nearly 63,000 illnesses in 1955, he said.

Whooping cough is a highly contagious disease that can strike people of any age but is most dangerous to children. Its name comes from the sound children make as they gasp for breath.

It used to be a common threat, with hundreds of thousands of cases annually. Cases gradually dropped after a vaccine was introduced in the 1940s.

For about 25 years, fewer than 5,000 cases were reported annually in the U.S. But case counts started to climb again in the 1990s although not every year. Numbers jumped to more than 27,000 in 2010, the year California saw an especially bad epidemic.

Experts looking for an explanation have increasingly looked at a new vaccine introduced in the 1990s, and concluded its protection is not as long-lasting as was previously thought.

Children are routinely vaccinated with five doses beginning at 2 months, and a booster shot is recommended at around 11 or 12. Health officials are considering recommending another booster shot, strengthening the vaccine or devising a brand new one.

___

Online:

Whooping cough: http://www.cdc.gov/features/pertussis/

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/2012-worst-whooping-cough-since-1955-180224192.html

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Back to school: the right medicine for Sandy Hook ... - TODAY Health

Timothy A. Clary / AFP - Getty Images

A Sandy Hook Elementry student flashes a sign as children leave on a school bus in Newtown, Connecticut January 3, 2013. Counselors say getting back to a routine is the best medicine for the surviving students.

By Maggie Fox, NBC News

Getting Sandy Hook?s children back to school on Thursday is one of the most important steps for healing their trauma, as well as getting their parents and the community back on track, mental health experts say. But the whole community will be immersed in mental health support for the foreseeable future.

More than 400 students from the school started back after their winter holiday, their first time back in class since Adam Lanza shot and killed 20 first-graders, six staffers,, his mother and himself with a semi-automatic rifle Dec. 14.

With??their school building in Newtown still closed for a criminal investigation, an unused middle school in nearby Monroe was painted and refurbished for them. The kids rode yellow school buses to the new school, and that?s important therapy, says Katy Smith, who heads the trauma response team at The Center of Hope, a nonprofit family support center in nearby Greenwich, Ct. that?s helped in ?ounseling affected families in Newtown.

?I think it?s huge,? Smith said in a telephone interview. ?We always tell people that trying to get back to a normal routine is so important.?

Thalia Anderen, a counselor at Center of Hope, says getting back to routines helps both parents and kids. ?The longer they wait, the harder it will be to get back,? Anderen said.

They?ll have been prepared for heavy security at the new school. Assuring parents and children alike that the new school will be safe is a key part of the mental health support they need, Smith and Anderen said. Police officers, therapy dogs and counselors were at the new school in Monroe on Thursday, but there were some other extras, too. Parents were allowed to stay in the building for the day.

?You have to make sure that the kids think everything will be fine,? Andersen said.

Nearby streets were decorated with balloons and welcome signs.

?Most of the kids were excited,? said Monroe, Conn., Police Lt. Keith White. ?We don?t want them to think this is a police state. We want them to know this is a school and a school first,? he added. ?Most of the buses were full ... most of the classes were full.?

But having security as well as a little fun should help, the counselors said. ?There definitely are going to be kids that are going to be scared and they are going to to be anxious,? Andersen said. ?As a parent dropping their kid off at school, you just assume that they are going to be safe.? The shootings, she said, shook parents ?to the core."

Counseling the families who were directly affected, as well as their neighbors in southern Connecticut, will be a long-term project, says Smith, who worked in Newtown last month. ?Local health providers have a brand new team just to deal with Sandy Hook. They will have a permanent team there that is working with them,? she said. Children will do better in group therapy sessions, Smith said. Many of the counselors will be using the ?Dougy model? pioneered by the Portland, Ore.-based Dougy Center.

Some of the Dougy Center?s guidelines include listening to children, following routines, setting limits on behavior and using clear language such as saying someone died instead of ?passed away." ?Do not suggest that the student has grieved long enough,? the center advises on its website. ?Do not indicate that the student should get over it and move on.?

The Greenwich-based facility held sessions for families not directly affected by the shootings, also, and Smith said she was surprised at how many people turned up. ?People were just desperate to talk,? she said. As for Newtown residents, they?re advising folks to keep an eye on one another.

?We just want to make sure people don?t isolate themselves,? Smith said. ?People who are unsupported have a greater risk for post-traumatic stress disorder.?

While the Sandy Hook killings were an extraordinary catastrophe, Smith says most of the children are likely to recover. ?A lot of people are traumatized every day. The majority of them recover,? she said. ?There are a small percentage that don?t recover. That is why we are coming in.?

Skilled counselors know the signs of someone who isn?t healing, and can intervene to get those people the help they need. ?With good support, good family, love, people usually recover from trauma,? Smith said.

Families were allowed to visit the Monroe school last month to see where the children would be. ?If you didn?t know that this incident had happened a week earlier you would not have known,? Anderen said. The children were happy to see their friends and classmates, she said. That?s a good sign. ?It is going to change them but the hope is they are going to be stronger,? Anderen said.

?

Related stories:

Source: http://todayhealth.today.com/_news/2013/01/03/16330207-back-to-school-the-right-medicine-for-sandy-hook-experts-say

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The Art and Science of Success in Business: Strategic Planning

Many business books and articles present case studies about successful companies and endeavor to find common themes we can learn from. Unfortunately, good luck and forces outside the control of the business leaders can play a bigger role in these success stories than the authors care to admit. Also, success can be a very fleeting thing, and many authors have been embarrassed by their reference companies going from ?great to bankrupt? in the space of a few short years.

A study by?Booz and Co.?took the opposite tack and studied ?losing companies? to see if there was anything we could learn from their mistakes. Here is our take on their findings:

It's all about Strategic Planning!

Poor strategic decision making and failing to properly recognize the risks associated with chosen courses of action (or inaction) are the issues most responsible for destroying shareholder value.

Making matters worse, the sources of strategic risk have greatly increased. The rate of technology change is accelerating which is bringing forth new products / services and even completely new business models at a faster rate. This means you need to be hyper vigilant and learn how to adapt faster.

And it?s not just your competitors and disruptive new entrants you need to worry about. Your suppliers are changing their behaviors; your customers are changing their behaviors, even society as a whole is changing. Add to that changes in the political and regulatory environment and you have a rapidly shifting strategic landscape that needs to be anticipated and navigated.

Major causes of strategic blunders that destroy shareholder value:

  • Being caught flat footed when a competitor introduces a superior product
  • Being caught flat-footed by a major industry shift (e.g. digitization, technology change, changes in the political and regulatory environment)
  • Introducing new products / services that fail to gain traction and soak up valuable resources
  • Unsuccessfully entering new markets
  • Failed mergers and acquisitions
  • Major changes in the cost of inputs
  • Supply chain disruptions
  • Customer service failures
  • Fraud, accounting problems, ethics violations, and other failures to comply with laws
  • External shocks (e.g. natural disasters / website attacks) which we may not be able to control, but we should make contingency plans for

SWOT Analysis.

It seems the "losing companies" did a poor job of understanding their Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats

In particular, the leaders of losing companies did not properly take into account the difficulties and risks associated with their chosen courses of action (and yes, even maintaining a ?business as usual? formula is a strategic choice that has its own risks)

Here's how to perform an effective SWOT analysis.

Don't be a loser.

To prevent your company from joining the list of losing companies, business leaders need to do a better job of assessing their strategic environment. The rate of change will continue to accelerate, which increases the level of uncertainty in strategic decision making ? and both the upside and downside of these risks should be factored in to your decisions.

Events cannot be accurately predicted, but they can be anticipated. Ideally, look for strategically resilient options that will give you the agility to roll with the punches.

At RESULTS.com we recommend to all our clients that strategic planning should be done very thoroughly once per year, and then reviewed and updated quarterly to ensure your?One Page Strategic Plan?remains relevant in light of the changing environment.

(from results.com)

Source: http://artscibiz.blogspot.com/2013/01/strategic-planning.html

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Tornado generator may create the energy of a coal-fired power plant

16 hrs.

PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel?s foundation recently invested $300,000 in a start-up company that aims to harness energy from tornadoes. A single twister-generator machine could produce as much energy as a coal-fired power plant without the downside of greenhouse gas emissions.

The Atmospheric Vortex Engine is the brainchild of Louis Michaud, a Canadian engineer who first started talking about the concept in the early 2000s. He?s successfully proven it works with 13-foot diameter version.?

The investment money from Thiel ?will allow us to carry out well documented development experiments in an academic environment,? Michaud told NBC News in an email. ?Such results are required to get financial and power industry support to move to the next stage.?

He is working with Lambton College in Ontario on a 26-foot-wide-by-20-foot-tall outdoor prototype that will produce twisters up to 1.6-feet wide and 164-feet tall.?

The twister is created by injecting warm, humid air tangentially into a circular area. This causes the warm air to spin as it rises, forming a small, anchored tornado-like vortex, he explained. The heat source can be solar energy or waste heat. For the prototype, he will use propane burners or steam.

If the energy industry bites on the concept, Michaud envisions a full-sized, 328-foot diameter engine that would generate 200 megawatts ? the equivalent of a large, coal-fired power plant. It would cost about $200 million to build and produce electricity a rate of 3 cents per kilowatt hour.

The vortex generated could have a diameter of 100 feet at the base and extend up to 6.2 miles. About?20 turbines around the base station would generate electricity.

John Roach is a contributing writer for NBC News Digital. To learn more about him, check out his website. For more of our Future of Technology series, watch the featured video below.

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/futureoftech/tornado-generator-may-create-energy-coal-fired-power-plant-1B7812870

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Cholesterol medicine affects energy production in muscles

Jan. 3, 2013 ? Up to 75 per cent of patients who take statins to treat elevated cholesterol levels may suffer from muscle pain. Scientists at the Center for Healthy Aging at the University of Copenhagen have now identified a possible mechanism underlying this unfortunate side effect.

The results have just been published in the Journal of American College of Cardiology.

Statin is a class of drugs which are used to treat high levels of blood cholesterol by way of inhibiting the liver's ability to produce cholesterol. Statins are the most potent drugs on the market for lowering low-density cholesterol (LDL). At present 600,000 Danes with elevated cholesterol levels take statins daily. 30-40 per cent of the older Danish population (ages 65+) are currently undergoing treatment.

"A well-known side effect of statin therapy is muscle pain. Up to 75 per cent of the physically active patients undergoing treatment for high cholesterol experience pain. This may keep people away from either taking their medicine or from taking exercise -- both of which are bad choices," says Professor Flemming Dela from the Center for Healthy Aging at the University of Copenhagen. He continues:

"We have now shown that statin treatment affects the energy production in muscles. We are working on the assumption that this can be the direct cause of muscle weakness and pain in the patients."

Scientists also showed that the patients examined who were being treated with statins had low levels of the key protein Q10. Q10 depletion and ensuing lower energy production in the muscles could be the biological cause of the muscle pain that is a problem for many patients.

Side effects of statin therapy

About 40 per cent of the patients being treated with statins in Denmark are in so-called 'mono therapy' and thus are prescribed only this one drug. Presumably these are people who 'only' have high cholesterol and no other risk factors that could influence heart health:

"The effect of statins is marginal for these patients -- in a previous published Cochrane analysis only 0.5% reduction in all-cause mortality was detected, indicating that for every 200 patients taking statins daily for five years, one death would be prevented. This patient group is obviously interesting in light of the side effects of statin therapy," comments Professor Flemming Dela.

The media influence patients

"The new study is the basis for a large planned research project, where we will focus broadly on patients undergoing statin treatment. We will look at statin consumption from a medical point of view, and will also investigate the media's influence on patients' acceptance or rejection of statins as a treatment option. Many contradictory views find their way into the public forum, and it can be difficult for patients to distinguish between fact and fiction," continues Professor Flemming Dela.

Scientists will also be looking at how home-monitoring of cholesterol levels influences patients -- for example, does it make patients feel more or less secure when they take responsibility for their own health in this manner? The Center for Healthy Aging is currently seeking funding for the research project.

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Copenhagen.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.


Journal Reference:

  1. Steen Larsen, Nis Stride, Martin Hey-Mogensen, Christina N. Hansen, Lia E. Bang, Henning Bundgaard, Lars B. Nielsen, J?rn W. Helge, Flemming Dela. Simvastatin Effects on Skeletal Muscle. Journal of the American College of Cardiology, 2013; 61 (1): 44 DOI: 10.1016/j.jacc.2012.09.036

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

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.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/most_popular/~3/pfzPHcEXF7I/130103114211.htm

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How To Choose A Domain Name For Your Business! | Premium ...

www.thenetsolution.net How to Choose the Right Domain name for Your Business? Choosing the right domain name for your online business or online presence is a very important task. After successfully creating a profitable online business idea Your perfect domain name should be a domain that makes your business money! The name should be business related and it must be easy to remember. Just what exactly is the web surfing public putting in the search box when searching for your business. Think about it for a few minutes and write down your best guesses. Facts state that 93% of people do not search past page one. So you must be on page one! Rules to follow 1. 3-5 Words max for a domain name 2. Your Keywords must be relevant to your page. 3. Your website name should be as close to the exact keyword phrase that people are typing in as possible . 4. A local business must have the location of its business and the key words in the domain name! 5. If you cannot get .com? Buy .net, .org, .biz these are the next most valued and trusted web extensions. Myths: 1. People type your domain in the address bar by memory. (87% of people put keywords in the search box to a website) 2. Thinking up a good name is an great idea. (Research first is a best idea, if no one knows you exist, you could have the best site in the world, and what good would it be?) 3. .net, .org. .biz will not rank as high as .com. (This is not true they will rank just as high in the search engines! It is all about trust <b>?</b>
Source: How To Choose A Domain Name For Your Business! (Youtube).

Share and Enjoy

This entry was posted in Domain News and tagged domain name, domain names, domain parking, investor, marketplace on January 3, 2013 by Domain Names.

Source: http://www.premodomains.com/choose-domain-name-business/

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The Nerve-Growth Factor: A New Tool for Manipulating Neurons

This protein plays a key role in the formation of the nervous system. It has also been employed as an "Ariadne's thread" to explore mechanisms of nerve-cell growth and differentiation


HALO OF NERVE FIBERS radiates from a sympathetic-nerve ganglion that was removed from a chick embryo and then incubated for 12 hours in a semisolid medium containing the nerve-growth factor (NGF). The factor was originally isolated from a mouse tumor designated sarcoma 180 but has subsequently been found to be secreted in trace amounts by a variety of normal and neoplastic (cancer) cells. In 1953 one of the authors (Levi-Montalcini) and Hertha Meyer found that NGF could induce the outgrowth of nerve fibers from an isolated sympathetic ganglion in tissue culture. This discovery led ultimately to the isolation of NGF and determination of its chemical structure. Micrograph, which magnifies ganglion 135 diameters, was made by J. S. Chen at Laboratory of Cell Biology in Rome. Image: Scientific American, June 1979

Editor's Note: Neurobiologist Rita Levi-Montalcini, a Nobel laureate in physiology or medicine in 1986, died December 30 at the age of 103. We are making this article co-authored by her free online for the next 30 days. This story was originally published in June 1979 issue of?Scientific American.

The human nervous system is a vast network of several billion neurons, or nerve cells, endowed with the remarkable ability to receive, store and transmit information. In order to communicate with one another and with non-neuronal cells the neurons rely on the long extensions called axons, which are somewhat analogous to electrically conducting wires. Unlike wires, however, the axons are fluid-filled cylindrical structures that not only transmit electrical signals but also ferry nutrients and other essential substances to and from the cell body. Many basic questions remain to be answered about the mechanisms governing the formation of this intricate cellular network. How do the nerve cells differentiate into thousands of different types? How do their axons establish specific connections (synapses) with other neurons and non-neuronal cells? And what is the nature of the chemical messages neurons send and receive once the synaptic connections are made?

This article will describe some major characteristics and effects of a protein called the nerve-growth factor (NGF), which has made it possible to induce and analyze under highly favorable conditions some crucial steps in the differentiation of neurons, such as the growth and maturation of axons and the synthesis and release of neurotransmitters: the bearers of the chemical messages. The discovery of NGF has also promoted an intensive search for other specific growth factors, leading to the isolation and characterization of a number of proteins with the ability to enhance the growth of different cell lines.

The peripheral nervous system of vertebrate animals includes three kinds of nerve cells: sensory neurons, which transmit impulses from sensory receptor structures to the brain; motor neurons, which innervate the striated, or skeletal, muscles, and autonomic neurons, which regulate the functional activity of the circulatory system, the organs, the glands and the smooth muscles (such as those of the intestine). Autonomic neurons are of two kinds: sympathetic and parasympathetic. The sensory neurons and some of the sympathetic neurons are situated in chains of ganglia flanking the length of the spinal cord. Because these neurons are uniquely accessible to experimental manipulation much of the research on the development of the nervous system at the cellular level has focused on how the nerve fibers projecting from the sensory and sympathetic ganglia make connections with their corresponding target organs.

In the first half of this century the new science of experimental embryology seemed to offer the best way to study the intimate bond that interlocks the growth of the peripheral neurons and their target organs. Ross G. Harrison of Yale University challenged the nervous system of the larva of amphibians to solve problems it would ordinarily never confront, such as providing nerves for limbs and organs grafted from other species. He wanted to see how sensory and sympathetic ganglia, sending out their nerve fibers to these peripheral "fields of innervation," would adjust to the different dimensions and configurations of the foreign organs.

Harrison's results demonstrated that the developing amphibian nervous system is remarkably flexible in adapting to such novel situations, even to the point of accelerating the growth of nerve fibers in a host species to keep pace with the faster-growing limb of a smaller donor species. He concluded that the embryonic nervous system is highly receptive to influences exerted by the peripheral field. Such influences are not species-specific, however, since they can be evoked by organs or rudimentary limbs that have been transplanted from one species to another.

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=0ddf0f0cf8db141a8b2ae09e244b48d1

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It's 'cash only' now for tourists at the Vatican

VATICAN CITY (AP) ? It's "cash only" now for tourists at the Vatican wanting to pay for museum tickets, souvenirs and other services after Italy's central bank decided to block electronic payments, including credit cards, at the tiny city-state.

Deutsche Bank Italia, which for some 15 years had provided the Vatican with electronic payment services, said Thursday that the Bank of Italy had pulled its authorization after Dec. 31.

The Corriere della Sera newspaper reported that the Italian central bank took the action because the Holy See has not yet fully complied with European Union safeguards against money laundering. That means Italian banks are not authorized to operate within the Vatican, which is in the process of improving its mechanisms to combat laundering.

The Vatican says it is scrambling to solve the problem for thousands of visitors who flock to its very popular Vatican Museums, which include highlights like the Sistine Chapel. The Holy See had no immediate comment on the Bank of Italy's reported reasons.

Tourists in the long lines Thursday that snaked around Vatican City walls were not happy about the inconvenience.

"It's certainly a disadvantage," said Giuseppe Amoruso, an Italian. "Credit cards provide a useful service, which needs to be accessible to everybody, everywhere."

"A lot of tourists don't have cash on them, so they have to get euros and don't know where to get them," said Fluger William Hunter, an American tourist.

The central bank said a routine inspection found that Deutsche Bank Italia hadn't sought authorization when it first started providing services at the Vatican. When it finally did, the Bank of Italy turned it down because the Vatican's banking norms, including measures to combat money laundering, didn't meet Italy's more stringent criteria of recent years, a central bank official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because there was no official statement on the case.

The Vatican has been striving to upgrade its measures to detect and discourage money laundering, hiring a Swiss expert just a few months ago. Last summer, the Holy See passed a key European financial transparency test but received failing grades for its financial watchdog agency and its bank, formally called the Institute for Religious Works.

The museums, with their entrance fees and popular souvenir shops, are a big money-maker for the Vatican. Other Vatican attractions, such as tours of the Vatican's ancient underground spaces, also charge admission.

___

Giulia Saudelli from Rome contributed.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/cash-only-now-tourists-vatican-152529088.html

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