Is Germany's debt crisis immunity fading away?

What?s to become of Europe? As Spain?s straits become newly dire and the whole euro zone convulses over its debt crisis, the common prayer is that Germany will rise up, reject outside help and protect the European household.

But Germany?s looking not so mighty itself: Industrial production in the once-indomitable economy is down. In April alone, it dropped by a stomach-churning 2.2 percent. "The German economy's immunity against the euro zone sovereign debt crisis is clearly fading away," Carsten Brzeski, an economist at ING in Brussels, warned recently.

Germany seems to have missed the memo that kicked off the digital economy decades ago. While economies from North America to Asia have--when manufacturing digital devices from cars to phones--embraced the principles of open platforms and beta-testing, Germany has stuck with its commitment to protectionism, nationalism and craftsmanship.

Surprise: It turns out that what worked in the heyday of Black Forest cuckoo clocks doesn?t suit our era.

Recent case in point: the German Arri Alexa camera. The Munich-based company Arri, which was founded in 1917, is the world?s largest manufacturer of professional movie cameras. From their first American use in the 1940s?for the 1947 Bogart-Bacall picture ?Dark Passage??Arri?s cameras fast became the industry standard for big-budget films from Hollywood to Bollywood to French art houses.

But then came digital. And Arri faltered. Rather than embrace what Wired calls ?the good-enough revolution??which posits that consumers in the digital age will ?sacrifice lots of quality for a cheap, convenient device??Arri dug in to old-world perfectionism. Instead of just spinning out a bunch of B-grade digital-video cameras tricked out with happy gimmickry until the fundamental technology improved, Arri grew nostalgic for its semi-monopoly over film, tinkered miserably, and lost market share.

At the same time, a fleet-footed California company called Red Digital, founded in 1999, pulled together the best digital camera it could in 2007. Red Digital had filmmaker Peter Jackson ostentatiously promote it and teased the public with groovy-looking digital video cameras before they were perfect?or even available.

Filmmakers with limited budgets?all filmmakers, then?took notice of Red Digital. Louis CK?s FX show ?Louie? is shot on a Red One. Red Digital cameras were used to shoot ?The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.? ?Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides,? ?Margin Call,? ?Our Idiot Brother,? ?The Muppets? and Steven Soderbergh?s ?Haywire? are all Red Digital films. Cool, visible projects like these are a supreme vote of confidence for a young company.

As Red Digital claimed auteur hearts and minds, and as the European economy slipped into a landslide, Arri was hard at work refining digital video so it would meet its high standards.

Aiming for greatness or nothing: Maybe not the best use of time. Especially as digital manufacturing (consider the Flip camera) was all about being good enough.

At last, two years ago, the Arri Alexa was sprung on the world. Touted as Arri's first major foray into digital cinematography, it was quickly endorsed by Roger Deakins, the exacting cinematographer for people like the Coen brothers and Sam Mendes. "This camera has brought us to a point where digital is simply better,? Deakins said after trying it in 2010.

Nothing wrong with that. Someone has to be the cr?me de la cr?me. It looked like Arri was back on top, and would once again be the go-to camera for marquee filmfolk.

But Red Digital attracted loyalists while Arri dithered, and it now has a better camera that rivals the Arri Alexa. And copy-masters Canon, Sony and especially Panasonic quickly reproduced Arri?s labor-intensive engineering, and made cheaper, friendlier cameras. These Japanese cameras are being used to make big Hollywood films (?The Darkest Hour,? ?Act of Valor,? ?Ted?). The dominion of the German Arri seems to be on the wane.

Sound familiar? It?s worth reiterating. Digitization demands evolution?among individuals, in industries, in cultures and in economies. I know Europe?s got a lot on its mind right now, but maybe someone can pass this on to Angela Merkel at the next Davos.

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Sequencing the Unborn

Thats begging the question

Stop right there. No it's not. I'll let you ask your question anyway, but it's going to be a strawman argument.

your argument would be akin to "why not let the parents decide if they want to abandon their newborn".

Called it! That's a strawman. We're not talking about a newborn, we're talking about an embryo. Everyone agrees that a newborn has rights, there is no consensus as to whether an embryo does. Furthermore, a newborn is not an obligate dependent on one specific person, newborns can be dropped off at any safe baby haven or given up for adoption. There's no similar alternative for pregnant women.

My point here is that this is a totally separate issue from abandoning a newborn.

Answering your point, no, I don't think letting the parents decide whether abortion is right or not for them is only ethical if we assume life does not begin at conception. In most countries, most ethical decisions are left up to the individual. There's no law that says I can't cheat on my wife, it's up to me to decide if I think that's ethical or want to do that. Lacking a law against adultery is not an unethical situation, it simply leaves the responsibility up to the individual.

Legalizing abortion doesn't endorse abortion, it only leaves the ethical question up to the people who deserve to make the choice: the parents.

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NIH supporting Arizona State University research to help in fight against kidney disease

Public release date: 8-Jun-2012
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Joe Kullman
joe.kullman@asu.edu
480-965-8122
Arizona State University

Research led by an Arizona State University biomedical engineer and physicist to find more effective ways of detecting the onset of kidney disease is getting support from the National Institutes of Health.

The NIH has awarded $400,000 to Kevin Bennett, an assistant professor of the School of Biological and Health Systems Engineering, one of ASU's Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering.

The grant will support his team's research focusing on a common form of kidney disease called nephritis.

"A significant portion of the diabetic population and others will develop kidney disease. The earlier we can detect it, the more likely it is that we can effectively treat it," Bennett says.

The current method of identifying kidney disease is to perform a biopsy, which can be painful for patients and prone to errors. Bennett is working on a method using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technology that involves magnetic particles.

His team has engineered magnetic nanoparticles that stick to the glomerulus, a part of the kidney that is attached to the nephron. The nephron is a part of the kidney that regulates the level of water and soluble substances in the blood.

By doing an MRI scan on a kidney onto which magnetic nanoparticles have been bound, it creates a visible distortion in the image that enables researchers to extract information about the nephron.

The distortions in such images enable nephrons to be accurately located, their size can be determined and changes in their behavior can be revealed. "If we can detect changes in nephron function early, patients can be treated earlier and with better results," Bennett says.

Another application of the research is in examination of the relationship between the number of nephrons and the risk of cardiovascular and kidney diseases in humans, which is currently done by taking sections of body tissue.

Researchers are also looking at how nanoparticle uptake in the kidneys is affected by diabetes and the strain nanoparticle uptake puts on the kidneys.

"We are doing this with noninvasive imaging. We are developing ways to detect all of this without having to do biopsies or collect body tissue," Bennett explains.

Bennett's team includes: professor Teresa Wu, an industrial engineer and an associate professor in the School of Computing, Informatics, and Decision Systems Engineering in the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering; Min Zhang, a doctoral student working under Wu; professor John Bertam, head of Anatomy and Developmental Biology at Monash University in Australia; and Scott Beeman, a biomedical engineering doctoral student working in Bennett's laboratory.

Beeman has taken a lead role in the kidney research project and recently presented a progress report at a meeting of the International Society for Magnetic Resonance Medicine in Melbourne, Australia.

"It's rare that a Ph.D. student can push a whole field of research forward, but that's what Scott has done," Bennett says.

The team is already in the preclinical stage of research. "We are moving the technique to clinical trials, and we have already developed better nanoparticles and more sensitive ways to detect them."

The next step will be working with human donor kidneys.

###

The research is being performed at the Center for Preclinical Imaging, established through a collaboration between the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering and the Barrow Neurological Institute at St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center in Phoenix.

MEDIA CONTACT:

Joe Kullman, joe.kullman@asu.edu
Media Relations Officer
(480) 965-8122 direct line
(480) 773-1364 mobile

Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering
Arizona State University

Tempe, Arizona USA http://engineering.asu.edu/

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Public release date: 8-Jun-2012
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Joe Kullman
joe.kullman@asu.edu
480-965-8122
Arizona State University

Research led by an Arizona State University biomedical engineer and physicist to find more effective ways of detecting the onset of kidney disease is getting support from the National Institutes of Health.

The NIH has awarded $400,000 to Kevin Bennett, an assistant professor of the School of Biological and Health Systems Engineering, one of ASU's Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering.

The grant will support his team's research focusing on a common form of kidney disease called nephritis.

"A significant portion of the diabetic population and others will develop kidney disease. The earlier we can detect it, the more likely it is that we can effectively treat it," Bennett says.

The current method of identifying kidney disease is to perform a biopsy, which can be painful for patients and prone to errors. Bennett is working on a method using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technology that involves magnetic particles.

His team has engineered magnetic nanoparticles that stick to the glomerulus, a part of the kidney that is attached to the nephron. The nephron is a part of the kidney that regulates the level of water and soluble substances in the blood.

By doing an MRI scan on a kidney onto which magnetic nanoparticles have been bound, it creates a visible distortion in the image that enables researchers to extract information about the nephron.

The distortions in such images enable nephrons to be accurately located, their size can be determined and changes in their behavior can be revealed. "If we can detect changes in nephron function early, patients can be treated earlier and with better results," Bennett says.

Another application of the research is in examination of the relationship between the number of nephrons and the risk of cardiovascular and kidney diseases in humans, which is currently done by taking sections of body tissue.

Researchers are also looking at how nanoparticle uptake in the kidneys is affected by diabetes and the strain nanoparticle uptake puts on the kidneys.

"We are doing this with noninvasive imaging. We are developing ways to detect all of this without having to do biopsies or collect body tissue," Bennett explains.

Bennett's team includes: professor Teresa Wu, an industrial engineer and an associate professor in the School of Computing, Informatics, and Decision Systems Engineering in the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering; Min Zhang, a doctoral student working under Wu; professor John Bertam, head of Anatomy and Developmental Biology at Monash University in Australia; and Scott Beeman, a biomedical engineering doctoral student working in Bennett's laboratory.

Beeman has taken a lead role in the kidney research project and recently presented a progress report at a meeting of the International Society for Magnetic Resonance Medicine in Melbourne, Australia.

"It's rare that a Ph.D. student can push a whole field of research forward, but that's what Scott has done," Bennett says.

The team is already in the preclinical stage of research. "We are moving the technique to clinical trials, and we have already developed better nanoparticles and more sensitive ways to detect them."

The next step will be working with human donor kidneys.

###

The research is being performed at the Center for Preclinical Imaging, established through a collaboration between the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering and the Barrow Neurological Institute at St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center in Phoenix.

MEDIA CONTACT:

Joe Kullman, joe.kullman@asu.edu
Media Relations Officer
(480) 965-8122 direct line
(480) 773-1364 mobile

Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering
Arizona State University

Tempe, Arizona USA http://engineering.asu.edu/

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

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Photovoltaic cells tap underwater solar energy

ScienceDaily (June 7, 2012) ? Scientists at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, Electronics Science and Technology Division, dive into underwater photovoltaic research to develop high bandgap solar cells capable of producing sufficient power to operate electronic sensor systems at depths of 9 meters.

Underwater autonomous systems and sensor platforms are severely limited by the lack of long endurance power sources. To date, these systems must rely on on-shore power, batteries or solar power supplied by an above water platform. Attempts to use photovoltaics have had limited success, primarily due to the lack of penetrating sunlight and the use of solar cells optimized more towards the unimpeded terrestrial solar spectrum.

"The use of autonomous systems to provide situational awareness and long-term environment monitoring underwater is increasing," said Phillip Jenkins, head, NRL Imagers and Detectors Section. "Although water absorbs sunlight, the technical challenge is to develop a solar cell that can efficiently convert these underwater photons to electricity."

Even though the absolute intensity of solar radiation is lower underwater, the spectral content is narrow and thus lends itself to high conversion efficiency if the solar cell is well matched to the wavelength range. Previous attempts to operate solar cells underwater have focused on crystalline silicon solar cells and more recently, amorphous silicon cells.

High-quality gallium indium phosphide (GaInP) cells are well suited for underwater operation. GaInP cells have high quantum efficiency in wavelengths between 400 and 700 nanometers (visible light) and intrinsically low dark current, which is critical for high efficiency in lowlight conditions.

The filtered spectrum of the sun underwater is biased toward the blue/green portion of the spectrum and thus higher bandgap cells such as GaInP perform much better than conventional silicon cells, states Jenkins.

Preliminary results at a maximum depth of 9.1 meters reveal output to be 7 watts per square meter of solar cells, sufficient to demonstrate there is useful solar power to be harvested at depths commonly found in nearshore littoral zones.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Naval Research Laboratory.

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

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

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

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Three types of fetal cells can migrate into maternal organs during pregnancy: Some mothers literally carry pieces of their children in their bodies

ScienceDaily (June 6, 2012) ? A pregnant woman's blood stream contains not only her own cells, but a small number of her child's, as well, and some of them remain in her internal organs long after the baby is born. Understanding the origin and identity of these cells is vital to understanding their potential effects on a mother's long-term health. For example, fetal cells have been found at tumor sites in mothers, but it is unknown whether the cells are helping to destroy the tumor or to speed its growth.

Three types of fetal cells have now been identified in the lungs of late-term pregnant mice by a team led by Dr. Diana Bianchi of Tufts Medical Center. The research, published 6 June 2012 in Biology of Reproduction's Papers-in-Press, used publicly available databases to extract important genetic information from as few as 80 fetal cells. A combination of two different analytical techniques to characterize the rare fetal cells revealed a mixed population of trophoblasts (placental cells that provide nutrients to the fetus), mesenchymal stem cells (cells that later develop into fat, cartilage, or bone cells), and immune system cells.

Researchers suspect that fetal cells in a mother's blood stream help her immune system tolerate and not attack the fetus. The detection of trophoblasts and immune cells in the maternal lung should aid future studies on this subject, as well as research into pregnancy-related complications like preeclampsia. The presence of fetal mesenchymal stem cells corresponds with previous studies that reported fetal and placental cells differentiating to repair injured maternal organs in both mice and humans.

Using this team's techniques of gene expression analysis, researchers should now be better able to identify the types of cells present in maternal organs and in doing so determine their potential short- and long-term effects on a mother's internal systems.

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Society for the Study of Reproduction.

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

---

Journal Reference:

1. Comprehensive analysis of genes expressed by rare microchimeric fetal cells in maternal lung. Pritchard S, Wick HC, Slonim DK, Johnson KL, Bianchi DW. Biol Reprod, 2012 DOI: 10.1095/biolreprod.112.101147

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.

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Debra Winger coming to Broadway in David Mamet play

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Disney to stop some junk-food ads on kids' TV

LOS ANGELES - Walt Disney Co, owner of the ABC broadcast network and a suite of cable channels, will stop accepting some junk-food ads on TV programs, radio shows and websites aimed at children, according to sources with knowledge of the plan.

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Disney Chief Executive Bob Iger and first lady Michelle Obama plan to make an announcement on Tuesday in Washington, the sources said.

The United States faces an obesity epidemic. Nearly one-third of U.S. children are overweight or obese, and a 2006 Institute of Medicine report said junk food marketing contributed to childhood obesity.

The Disney move follows New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg's announcement last week of a plan to ban sugary drinks larger than 16 ounces (about half a liter) in most restaurants, theaters, delis and vending carts throughout the city.

The ban, also aimed at fighting obesity, would affect drinks equivalent to what McDonald's Corp calls small and has incensed food and beverage makers, many of which have agreed to voluntary nutritional measures.

Disney plans to cut advertising during children's programming on its networks such as ABC and Disney XD or its kid-focused websites for foods that fail to meet minimum nutrition requirements, the sources said.

A Disney spokeswoman declined to comment on Tuesday's announcement.

The media and entertainment conglomerate introduced voluntary guidelines in 2006 that prohibited licensing of Mickey Mouse and other Disney characters for foods that fail to meet minimum nutrition the requirements.

The guidelines set limits on the amount of calories, fat and added sugar for main and side dishes and snacks.

Last year, top U.S. food and drink makers including Kraft Foods, Coca-Cola and Kellogg Co agreed to voluntary nutrition criteria for products advertised to children.

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