Warning: graphic, brilliant content | Art | Surf Coast Times & Bellarine ...

Jan Juc?s Calum Preston, Anglesea?s Sarah Gross, graphic design course co-coordinator Jose Rodriguez and Torquay?s Sam Way.

The artistic skills of students from the Surf Coast were on show at an exhibition at the Gordon Institute of TAFE.

Real Graphic Brilliance closed at the Gordon Gallery on Friday, and the 25 graduating students have been praised for the professionalism of their work. Sarah Gross, of Anglesea, said the first few days of the exhibition were particularly popular.

?We had about 100 people in on opening night (November 7), and that weekend was Open House Geelong, so another 200 people came through.?

The exhibition, which is the culmination of the course, was a visual smorgasbord of design. Ms Gross said Real Graphic Brilliance featured many designs commissioned by community organisations and community run programs.

?One of the people in our course designed the Run Geelong logo, which has gone everywhere; and another designed the logo for Medimime?s production. A lot of people were astonished that we?re just students, and we hadn?t graduated yet.?

Many students received commendations for their work, and Ms Gross was presented with the Graphic Design Excellence Award. She said her portfolio included illustrations, photography, apparel design and corporate design.

?I?m hoping to keep studying graphic design, but if the right job came along I?d jump at it. Some people are still studying, some are going into illustration, some have the skill set to go straight into the workforce, but as a whole we?re very positive about the future.?

Source: http://www.surfcoasttimes.com.au/entertainment/art/2012/11/23/warning-graphic-brilliant-content/

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?Difficult? to believe arrests of MPs ?not politically ... - Minivan News

The circumstances behind the arrests of Jumhoree Party (JP) MP Abdulla Jabir and Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) MP Hamid Abdul Ghafoor for their alleged possession of alcohol have been labelled ?very worrying? by delegates from the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU).

Findings compiled by the three-person delegation raised further concerns over the failure to punish police officers who used excessive force on MPs earlier in the year.

At a press conference held today (November 22), the delegation revealed their findings following a three-day mission to the Maldives over alleged human rights abuses of MPs.

The delegation consisted of Philippine Senator Francis Pangilinan from IPU?s Committee on Human Rights of Parliamentarians, South African Parliamentary expert Peter Lilienfeld and Head of the Human Rights programme, Rogier Huizenga.

Pangilinan said that the circumstances surrounding the arrests of Jabir and Ghafoor earlier this month were ?very worrying? and that the delegation found it ?difficult? to believe it was not politically-motivated.

Both Jabir and Ghafoor ? along with eight others ? were arrested on the island of Hodaidhoo in Haa Dhaal Atoll for the alleged possession of alcohol and drugs.

The arrests were made days prior to a vote on whether or not a no confidence motion against President Mohamed Waheed could be voted with a secret ballot.

Following Jabir?s subsequent release by the Kulhudhuffushi Magistrate Court, the State has asked the High Court for an order to re-arrest Jabir.

State Prosecutor Hana Waheed requested High Court cancel the Kulhudhuffushi Court ruling, which stated that that there were no grounds to arrest Jabir.

Section 202.D of Parliament?s rules of procedure states that MPs cannot be arrested while there is a no-confidence motion before parliament to impeach the president or remove a cabinet minister, judge or member of an independent commission from his or her post.

However according to Hana, Article 202 of Parliament Standing Orders is against the constitution, and she requested the court to cancel the article and issue an order to arrest Jabir.

At a press conference this morning, Pangilinan?from the IPU delegation said: ?The circumstances of the arrest are very worrying. An impressive team of unidentified police and an army of officers allegedly carried out the arrests, reportedly without a warrant and ill-treated the MPs.

?We are well aware that the?consumption?of alcohol and drugs is forbidden in the Maldives, but we find it difficult to believe in light of the circumstances and timing of the arrests that the parliamentarians were not targeted for political reasons.?

The delegation further expressed their concern over the failure to punish the police officers who used ?excessive force? against MPs earlier this year.

In March, the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) parliamentary group?submitted cases alleging police brutality against the former ruling party?s MPs to the IPU?s human rights committee at the 126th Assembly held at Kampala, Uganda.

The cases targeted police brutality against MDP MPs on February 7 and 8, in particular on the latter date during a heavy-handed police crackdown on an MDP protest march that left scores injured and hospitalised, including former MDP parliamentary group leader and Hulhu-Henveiru MP ?Reeko? Moosa Manik and Maafanu South MP Ibrahim Rasheed ?Bonda?.

?The delegation is deeply concerned that the police officers who used excessive force against the members of parliament earlier this year have not yet been punished, and that Members of Parliament appear to remain subject to intimidation.

?The delegation points out that in several of the cases in the use of excessive police force, there is clear video evidence available which should have enabled the authorities to take effective and swift action. The delegation therefore calls on authorities to do everything possible to expedite their efforts to a successful conclusion,? Pangilinan said.

Findings from the mission also revealed a lack of trust in the government from the general public and called for parliament to rectify this perception.

?The parliament does not help itself when it is perceived by the public as largely helping itself rather than the ordinary citizens,? Pangilinan added.

The delegation stressed that the issues raised were an internal matter, and that the IPU could only monitor and communicate with the necessary authorities in the hope that a resolution will come ?sooner or later?.

?The outside world is not going to resolve these issues. Instead Maldivians sitting down, ultimately talking to each other to solve the issues of controversy is the only way,? said Peter Lilienfeld.

The murder of Progressive Party of the Maldives (PPM) MP Dr Afrasheem was also mentioned, noting that the delegates were happy to hear the authorities are close to completing the investigation, and that justice can ?soon be recognised?.

The three-day mission saw the delegates meet with all relevant judicial executive and parliamentary authorities including the Police Commission, the Minister of Home Affairs and the President.

According to Pangilinan, the findings from the mission will be compiled into a report within one month, before being submitted to the IPU committee where it will be reviewed in January.

?We have informed the offices concerned with our findings that should there be any developments between now and January, that we would welcome any information on such developments so we can incorporate it when we meet in January and tackle the Maldives case,? Pangilinan added.

Source: http://minivannews.com/politics/difficult-to-believe-arrests-of-mps-not-politically-motivated-ipu-47757

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Boehner comments show tough road ahead for "fiscal cliff" talks (reuters)

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Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/265673091?client_source=feed&format=rss

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When conservation goes genomics: Finding needles in a haystack

Thursday, November 22, 2012

Studying the genetic variability of endangered species is becoming increasingly necessary for species conservation and monitoring. But, endangered species are difficult to observe and sample, and typically harbour very limited genetic diversity. Until now, the process of finding genetic markers was time consuming and quite expensive. These obstacles make the collection of genetic data from endangered animals a difficult task to fulfill. A research team led by Loun?s Chikhi, group leader at the Instituto Gulbenkian de Ci?ncia (IGC) and CNRS researcher, has now contributed to change the odds when looking for diversity. Taking advantage of cutting edge DNA sequencing methodology and the collaborations with the Sabah Wildlife Department in Malaysia, Rachel O'Neill's laboratory and a private company, they were able to identify the genetic markers for the Bornean elephant, an endangered species, using blood from very few animals. The results showed that Bornean elephants have very low genetic variability that can impact on their survival to a threatened habitat, but that variable genetic markers can still be identified. The study now published in the journal PLOS ONE*, besides contributing to the conservation of the Bornean elephant, opens new avenues for the conservation of other endangered species.

The Bornean elephant is a unique subspecies of the Asian elephant, with a quite distinct morphology and behavior. They are generally smaller than other elephants, with straight tusks and a long tail. Currently, there are around 2000 individuals, located only in the North of Borneo. It remains unknown how this population of elephants evolved to become so different and why its distribution is so restricted.

Despite being one of the highest priority populations for Asian elephant conservation, until now there were limited genetic tools available to study its genetic variability and none that had been specifically designed for this species. Now, in the work conducted by Reeta Sharma, a Post-Doctoral fellow in Loun?s Chikhi's group, for the first time DNA sequences that characterize the genome of the Bornean elephants, called genetic markers, were identified. The research team used two different DNA sequencing technologies that are fast and increasingly cheaper. This kind of technology has been used for common laboratory species such as mice and fruit-flies, but they are only now starting to be used on endangered and "non-model" species.

Until now, in order to determine whether the species still harboured sufficient genetic diversity it was necessary to look through huge regions of the genome, using classical genetics methodologies, or use markers developed for other species, with varying levels of success. This approach can become unsustainable for the endangered species, whose numbers have gone bellow a certain size for long time. The only study that previously had tried to analyse Bornean elephants, using genetic markers developed for other Asian elephants had found nearly no genetic diversity. The work now developed demonstrates that if the methodology can be applied to the Bornean elephant, it should be possible to find the needles we need, and not get stuck with the hay, i.e., to find variable genetic markers in many other species.

The DNA analysis done resulted from blood samples collected only from seven Bornean elephants from the Lok Kawi Wildlife Park (Sabah, Malaysia) and from Chendra, the star elephant of Oregon zoo (Portland, USA). But, the research team is confident that these DNA sequencing methods can be used to type genetically other biological samples, such as hair or faeces, easier to obtain from wild animals, even though blood or tissue samples are still necessary to identify the markers during the first steps.

Reeta Sharma, first author of this work, says: 'The methodology applied to identify the genetic markers for the Bornean elephant can be used in the future for studies on the genetic variability of other species or populations facing the risk of extinction.'

The Bornean elephants live in an environment where natural habitats disappear quickly, due to oil palm plantations and populations get isolated from each other. Having access to variable genetic markers will be crucial to identify populations that are isolated and genetically depauperate, and monitor them in the future.

The origin of these elephants in Borneo raises controversy that has been long discussed. The only study done on the basis of genetic data concluded that they had been present in Borneo for more than 300,000 years. This theory does not satisfy all researchers as there is lack of elephant fossils in Borneo to support it. Another theory is that the sultan of Java sent Javan elephants as a gift to the sultan of Sulu, who would have introduced them to Borneo.Lounes Chikhi suggests: 'The new genetic markers that we found may also allow us to unravel the mystery of the origin of these elephants in Borneo, and perhaps reconstruct part of their demographic history. This is very exciting '.

###

* Sharma R, Goossens B, Kun-Rodrigues C, Teixeira T, Othman N, Boone JQ, Jue NK, Obergfell C, O'Neill RJ and Chikhi L (2012) Two Different High Throughput Sequencing Approaches Identify Thousands of De Novo Genomic Markers for the Genetically Depleted Bornean Elephant. PLoS ONE 7(11): e49533. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0049533

Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciencia: http://www.igc.gulbenkian.pt

Thanks to Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciencia for this article.

This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.

This press release has been viewed 55 time(s).

Source: http://www.labspaces.net/125438/When_conservation_goes_genomics__Finding_needles_in_a_haystack

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Paws for Pets: Raj | WTVR.com ? Richmond News & Weather from ...

Posted on: 5:39 pm, November 12, 2012, by Amanda Meadows, updated on: 09:02am, November 13, 2012

RICHMOND, Va (WTVR) ? Meet Raj a 6 month old grey and black tabby boy. Full of pep and ready to play. Raj also enjoys snuggling and being a lap cat.

If you?re interested in Raj you can call the Richmond Animal League at 379-0046.

Source: http://wtvr.com/2012/11/12/paws-for-pets-raj/

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BBC trust head calls for radical overhaul

AAA??Nov. 11, 2012?11:37 AM ET
BBC trust head calls for radical overhaul
By CASSANDRA VINOGRADBy CASSANDRA VINOGRAD, Associated Press??

The BBC Director General, George Entwistle, left, stands with the Chairman of the BBC Trust, Lord Chris Patten, as he announces his resignation as Director General outside New Broadcasting House in central London, after recent news program problems, Saturday Nov. 10, 2012. The BBC's director general had said earlier Saturday that it should not have aired a report that wrongly implicated a politician in a child sex-abuse scandal, admitting that the program further damaged trust in a broadcaster already reeling from the fallout over its decision not to air similar allegations against one of its star hosts. George Entwistle's comments followed an embarrassing retreat for the BBC, which apologized Friday for its Nov. 2 "Newsnight" TV show on alleged sex abuse in Wales in the 1970s and 1980s. During the program, victim Steve Messham claimed he had been abused by a senior Conservative Party figure. The BBC didn't name the alleged abuser, but online rumors focused on Alistair McAlpine, a Conservative Party member of the House of Lords. On Friday, he issued a fierce denial and threatened to sue. (AP Photo/ Max Nash)

The BBC Director General, George Entwistle, left, stands with the Chairman of the BBC Trust, Lord Chris Patten, as he announces his resignation as Director General outside New Broadcasting House in central London, after recent news program problems, Saturday Nov. 10, 2012. The BBC's director general had said earlier Saturday that it should not have aired a report that wrongly implicated a politician in a child sex-abuse scandal, admitting that the program further damaged trust in a broadcaster already reeling from the fallout over its decision not to air similar allegations against one of its star hosts. George Entwistle's comments followed an embarrassing retreat for the BBC, which apologized Friday for its Nov. 2 "Newsnight" TV show on alleged sex abuse in Wales in the 1970s and 1980s. During the program, victim Steve Messham claimed he had been abused by a senior Conservative Party figure. The BBC didn't name the alleged abuser, but online rumors focused on Alistair McAlpine, a Conservative Party member of the House of Lords. On Friday, he issued a fierce denial and threatened to sue. (AP Photo/ Max Nash)

The BBC Director General, George Entwistle, announces his resignation from the BBC outside New Broadcasting House in central London, after recent news program problems, Saturday Nov. 10, 2012. The BBC's director general had said earlier Saturday that it should not have aired a report that wrongly implicated a politician in a child sex-abuse scandal, admitting that the program further damaged trust in a broadcaster already reeling from the fallout over its decision not to air similar allegations against one of its star hosts. George Entwistle's comments followed an embarrassing retreat for the BBC, which apologized Friday for its Nov. 2 "Newsnight" TV show on alleged sex abuse in Wales in the 1970s and 1980s. During the program, victim Steve Messham claimed he had been abused by a senior Conservative Party figure. The BBC didn't name the alleged abuser, but online rumors focused on Alistair McAlpine, a Conservative Party member of the House of Lords. On Friday, he issued a fierce denial and threatened to sue. (AP Photo/ Max Nash)

FILE - A Tuesday, Oct. 23, 2012 photo from files showing BBC Director General, George Entwistle, leaving Portcullis House in London after giving evidence to the Parliament Select Committee. The BBC?s director general said Saturday that it should not have aired a report that wrongly implicated a politician in a child sex-abuse scandal, admitting that the program further damaged trust in a broadcaster already reeling from the fallout over its decision not to air similar allegations against one of its star hosts. George Entwistle?s comments followed an embarrassing retreat for the BBC, which apologized Friday for its Nov. 2 ?Newsnight? TV show on alleged sex abuse in Wales in the 1970s and 1980s. During the program, victim Steve Messham claimed he had been abused by a senior Conservative Party figure. The BBC didn?t name the alleged abuser, but online rumors focused on Alistair McAlpine, a Conservative Party member of the House of Lords. On Friday, he issued a fierce denial and threatened to sue. (AP Photo/Sang Tan, Flle)

FILE - A Tuesday Oct. 23, 2012 photo from files showing BBC Director General George Entwistle as he leaves Portcullis House in London after giving evidence to the Parliament Select Committee. In a statement made outside New Broadcasting House, central London, Saturday evening, George Entwistle said he was stepping down as BBC Director General. (AP Photo/Sang Tan, File)

The BBC Director General, George Entwistle, announces his resignation from the BBC outside New Broadcasting House in central London, after recent news program problems, Saturday Nov. 10, 2012. The BBC's director general had said earlier Saturday that it should not have aired a report that wrongly implicated a politician in a child sex-abuse scandal, admitting that the program further damaged trust in a broadcaster already reeling from the fallout over its decision not to air similar allegations against one of its star hosts. George Entwistle's comments followed an embarrassing retreat for the BBC, which apologized Friday for its Nov. 2 "Newsnight" TV show on alleged sex abuse in Wales in the 1970s and 1980s. During the program, victim Steve Messham claimed he had been abused by a senior Conservative Party figure. The BBC didn't name the alleged abuser, but online rumors focused on Alistair McAlpine, a Conservative Party member of the House of Lords. On Friday, he issued a fierce denial and threatened to sue. (AP Photo/ Max Nash)

LONDON (AP) ? The head of the BBC's governing body said Sunday the broadcaster needs a radical overhaul following the resignation of its chief executive in the wake of a scandal over a botched report on child sex-abuse allegations.

Chris Patten vowed to restore confidence and trust in the BBC, which is reeling from the resignation of George Entwistle and the scandals prompting his ouster.

Entwistle resigned Saturday night amid a storm of controversy after a news program wrongly implicated a British politician in a child sex-abuse scandal, deepening a crisis sparked by revelations it decided not to air similar allegations against one of its own stars.

Patten told the BBC on Sunday he will not resign, saying he must ensure the publicly funded broadcaster "has a grip" and gets back on track.

"My job is to make sure that ... we restore confidence and trust in the BBC," he said, and called for a "thorough, radical structural overhaul."

The scandal comes at a sensitive time for Britain's media establishment, which is struggling to recover from an ongoing phone-hacking scandal that brought down the nation's best-selling Sunday newspaper, led to the arrests of dozens of journalists and prompted a judge-led inquiry into journalistic ethics and the ties between politics and the news media.

Kevin Marsh, a former senior editor of the BBC, said the resignation does little to re-establish public trust in the BBC, which is funded mainly by a tax on U.K. households that have televisions.

"The BBC asks the British public to pay its bills every year, and the only way it can do that is if the British public trusts the way it is spending its money," he said.

Entwistle took over as head of the BBC two months ago from Mark Thompson, who will become chief executive of The New York Times Co. on Monday. The broadcaster was emerging from a difficult period marked by budget cuts, job losses and mounting calls to justify its 3.5 billion pound ($5.6 billion) budget.

___

Associated Press writer Cassandra Vinograd can be reached at http://twitter.com/CassVinograd

Associated PressNews Topics: Business, General news, Government and politics, Newspapers, Broadcasting, Child abuse, News media, Media, Media industry, Media and entertainment, Industries, Crimes against children, Crime

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2012-11-11-Britain-Child%20Abuse/id-6f35c02cce364c3eabd6935920db971d

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Video: Nanocrystals and nickel catalyst substantially improve light-based hydrogen production

Video: Nanocrystals and nickel catalyst substantially improve light-based hydrogen production

Friday, November 9, 2012

Hydrogen is an attractive fuel source because it can easily be converted into electric energy and gives off no greenhouse emissions. A group of chemists at the University of Rochester is adding to its appeal by increasing the output and lowering the cost of current light-driven hydrogen-production systems.

The work, funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, was led by chemistry professors Richard Eisenberg, Todd Krauss, and Patrick Holland, and included graduate students Zhiji Han and Fen Qiu. Their paper will be published later this month (Nov. 23) in the journal Science.

The chemists say their work advances what is sometimes considered the "holy grail" of energy science?efficiently using sunlight to provide clean, carbon-free energy for vehicles and anything that requires electricity.

One disadvantage of current methods of hydrogen production has been the lack of durability, but the Rochester scientists were able to overcome that problem by incorporating nanocrystals. "Organic molecules are typically used to capture light in photocatalytic systems," said Krauss, who has been working in the field of nanocrystals for over 20 years. "The problem is they only last hours, or, if you're lucky, a day. These nanocrystals performed without any sign of deterioration for at least two weeks."

Richard Eisenberg, the Tracy H. Harris Professor of Chemistry, has spent two decades working on solar energy systems. During that time, his systems have typically generated 10,000 instances?called turnovers?of hydrogen atoms being formed without having to replace any components. With the nanocrystals, Eisenberg and his colleagues witnessed turnovers in excess of 600,000.

The researchers managed to overcome other disadvantages of traditional photocatalytic systems. "People have typically used catalysts made from platinum and other expensive metals," Holland said. "It would be much more sustainable if we used metals that were more easily found on the Earth, more affordable, and lower in toxicity. That would include metals, such as nickel."

Nanocrystals and nickel catalyst substantially improve light-based hydrogen production. Credit: Matthew Mann/University of Rochester

Holland said their work is still in the "basic research stage," making it impossible to provide cost comparisons with other energy production systems. But he points out that nickel currently sells for about $8 per pound, while the cost of platinum is $24,000 per pound.

While all three researchers say the commercial implementation of their work is years off, Holland points out that an efficient, low-cost system would have uses beyond energy. "Any industry that requires large amounts of hydrogen would benefit, including pharmaceuticals and fertilizers," said Holland.

The process developed by Holland, Eisenberg, and Krauss is similar to other photocatalytic systems; they needed a chromophore (the light-absorbing material), a catalyst to combine protons and electrons, and a solution, which in this case is water. Krauss, an expert in nanocrystals, provided cadmium selenide (CdSe) quantum dots (nanocrystals) as the chromophore. Holland, whose expertise lies in catalysis and nickel research, supplied a nickel catalyst (nickel nitrate). The nanocrystals were capped with DHLA (dihydrolipoic acid) to make them soluble, and ascorbic acid was added to the water as an electron donor.

Photons from a light source excite electrons in the nanocrystals and transfer them to the nickel catalyst. When two electrons are available, they combine on the catalyst with protons from water, to form a hydrogen molecule (H2).

This system was so robust that it kept producing hydrogen until the source of electrons was removed after two weeks. "Presumably, it could continue even longer, but we ran out of patience!" said Holland.

One of the next steps will be to look at the nature of the nanocrystal. "Some nanocrystals are like M&Ms ? they have a core with a shell around it," said Eisenberg. "Ours is just like the core. So we need to consider if they would they work better if they were enclosed in shells."

###

University of Rochester: http://www.rochester.edu

Thanks to University of Rochester for this article.

This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.

This press release has been viewed 55 time(s).

Source: http://www.labspaces.net/125191/Video__Nanocrystals_and_nickel_catalyst_substantially_improve_light_based_hydrogen_production

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