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Friday, July 19, 2013

Soft Robotics -- preview issue of groundbreaking journal on engineered soft devices that interact with living systems

Public release date: 18-Jul-2013
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Contact: Vicki Cohn
vcohn@liebertpub.com
914-740-2100 x2156
Mary Ann Liebert, Inc./Genetic Engineering News

New Rochelle, NY, July 18, 2013Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers (http://www.liebertpub.com) has introduced a preview issue of Soft Robotics (SoRo), a new peer-reviewed journal dedicated to the science and engineering of soft materials in mobile machines. The scope and contents of the Journal capture the innovative research on robotic technology that is enabling robots to interact safely with living systems and to function in complex natural or human-built environments. Soft Robotics will be available online with Open Access options and in print. The articles in the preview issue are available free on the Soft Robotics website (http://www.liebertpub.com/soro)

The insightful Roundtable Discussion included in the preview issue, "At the Crossroads: Interdisciplinary Paths to Soft Robots," brings together experts in the many diverse fields needed for the successful development, integration, and application of this complex technology. The panelists discuss the challenges, opportunities, state-of-the-field, and future promise of soft robotics.

Participants in the Roundtable, who also contributed review articles to the preview issue, included Randy Ewoldt, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign ("Extremely Soft: Design with Rheologically-Complex Fluids"), Mirko Kova?, Imperial College London, UK ("The Bioinspiration Design Paradigm: A Perspective for Soft Robotics"), Hod Lipson, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY ("Challenges and Opportunities for Design, Simulation, and Fabrication of Robots"), Nanshu Lu, University of Texas at Austin ("Flexible and Stretchable Electronics Paving the Way for Soft Robotics"), Mohsen Shahinpoor, University of Maine, Orono ("A Review of Ionic Polymeric Soft Actuators and Sensors"), and Carmel Majidi, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA ("Soft RoboticsA Perspective: Current Trends and Prospects for the Future").

The preview issue also includes the original research article "A Hybrid Combining Hard and Soft Robots" by A.A. Stokes et al., University of Edinburgh.

"The next frontier in robotics is to make machines that can assist us in everyday activities, at home, in the office, in hospitals, and even in natural environments," says Editor-in-Chief Barry A. Trimmer, PhD, Henry Bromfield Pearson Professor of Natural Sciences and Director, Neuromechanics and Biomimetic Devices Laboratory, Tufts University, Medford, MA. "Soft Robotics provides a forum, for the first time, for scientists and engineers across diverse fields to work together to build the next generation of interactive robots. This journal provides biologists, engineers, materials specialists, and computer scientists a common meeting place, and we are very excited about this new forum."

###

About the Journal

Soft Robotics (SoRo), a new peer-reviewed journal published quarterly online with Open Access options and in print, combines advances in biomedical engineering, biomechanics, mathematical modeling, biopolymer chemistry, computer science, and tissue engineering to present new approaches to the creation of robotic technology and devices that can undergo dramatic changes in shape and size in order to adapt to various environments. Led by Editor-in-Chief Barry A. Trimmer, PhD and a distinguished team of Associate Editors, the Journal provides the latest research and developments on topics such as soft material creation, characterization, and modeling; flexible and degradable electronics; soft actuators and sensors; control and simulation of highly deformable structures; biomechanics and control of soft animals and tissues; biohybrid devices and living machines; and design and fabrication of conformable machines. Complete information is available on the SoRo website (http://www.liebertpub.com/soro).

About the Publisher

Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers is a privately held, fully integrated media company known for establishing authoritative peer-reviewed journals in many promising areas of science and biomedical research, including 3D Printing and Additive Manufacturing (launching 2014) and Telemedicine and e-Health. Its biotechnology trade magazine, Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News (GEN), was the first in its field and is today the industry's most widely read publication worldwide. A complete list of the firm's 80 journals, books, and newsmagazines is available on the Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers website (http://www.liebertpub.com).

Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. 140 Huguenot St., New Rochelle, NY 10801-5215
Phone: (914) 740-2100 (800) M-LIEBERT Fax: (914) 740-2101 http://www.liebertpub.com

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

Soft Robotics -- preview issue of groundbreaking journal on engineered soft devices that interact with living systems Public release date: 18-Jul-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Vicki Cohn
vcohn@liebertpub.com
914-740-2100 x2156
Mary Ann Liebert, Inc./Genetic Engineering News

New Rochelle, NY, July 18, 2013Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers (http://www.liebertpub.com) has introduced a preview issue of Soft Robotics (SoRo), a new peer-reviewed journal dedicated to the science and engineering of soft materials in mobile machines. The scope and contents of the Journal capture the innovative research on robotic technology that is enabling robots to interact safely with living systems and to function in complex natural or human-built environments. Soft Robotics will be available online with Open Access options and in print. The articles in the preview issue are available free on the Soft Robotics website (http://www.liebertpub.com/soro)

The insightful Roundtable Discussion included in the preview issue, "At the Crossroads: Interdisciplinary Paths to Soft Robots," brings together experts in the many diverse fields needed for the successful development, integration, and application of this complex technology. The panelists discuss the challenges, opportunities, state-of-the-field, and future promise of soft robotics.

Participants in the Roundtable, who also contributed review articles to the preview issue, included Randy Ewoldt, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign ("Extremely Soft: Design with Rheologically-Complex Fluids"), Mirko Kova?, Imperial College London, UK ("The Bioinspiration Design Paradigm: A Perspective for Soft Robotics"), Hod Lipson, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY ("Challenges and Opportunities for Design, Simulation, and Fabrication of Robots"), Nanshu Lu, University of Texas at Austin ("Flexible and Stretchable Electronics Paving the Way for Soft Robotics"), Mohsen Shahinpoor, University of Maine, Orono ("A Review of Ionic Polymeric Soft Actuators and Sensors"), and Carmel Majidi, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA ("Soft RoboticsA Perspective: Current Trends and Prospects for the Future").

The preview issue also includes the original research article "A Hybrid Combining Hard and Soft Robots" by A.A. Stokes et al., University of Edinburgh.

"The next frontier in robotics is to make machines that can assist us in everyday activities, at home, in the office, in hospitals, and even in natural environments," says Editor-in-Chief Barry A. Trimmer, PhD, Henry Bromfield Pearson Professor of Natural Sciences and Director, Neuromechanics and Biomimetic Devices Laboratory, Tufts University, Medford, MA. "Soft Robotics provides a forum, for the first time, for scientists and engineers across diverse fields to work together to build the next generation of interactive robots. This journal provides biologists, engineers, materials specialists, and computer scientists a common meeting place, and we are very excited about this new forum."

###

About the Journal

Soft Robotics (SoRo), a new peer-reviewed journal published quarterly online with Open Access options and in print, combines advances in biomedical engineering, biomechanics, mathematical modeling, biopolymer chemistry, computer science, and tissue engineering to present new approaches to the creation of robotic technology and devices that can undergo dramatic changes in shape and size in order to adapt to various environments. Led by Editor-in-Chief Barry A. Trimmer, PhD and a distinguished team of Associate Editors, the Journal provides the latest research and developments on topics such as soft material creation, characterization, and modeling; flexible and degradable electronics; soft actuators and sensors; control and simulation of highly deformable structures; biomechanics and control of soft animals and tissues; biohybrid devices and living machines; and design and fabrication of conformable machines. Complete information is available on the SoRo website (http://www.liebertpub.com/soro).

About the Publisher

Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers is a privately held, fully integrated media company known for establishing authoritative peer-reviewed journals in many promising areas of science and biomedical research, including 3D Printing and Additive Manufacturing (launching 2014) and Telemedicine and e-Health. Its biotechnology trade magazine, Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News (GEN), was the first in its field and is today the industry's most widely read publication worldwide. A complete list of the firm's 80 journals, books, and newsmagazines is available on the Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers website (http://www.liebertpub.com).

Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. 140 Huguenot St., New Rochelle, NY 10801-5215
Phone: (914) 740-2100 (800) M-LIEBERT Fax: (914) 740-2101 http://www.liebertpub.com

[ | 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.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-07/mali-sr071813.php
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Monday, July 1, 2013

Obamas 'deeply humbled' by visit to S. Africa prison where Nelson Mandela was jailed

President Obama and his family on Sunday toured the South African prison that held Nelson Mandela, with the president writing in a visitors log that they were ?deeply humbled? by the experience.

Mr. Obama, first lady Michelle Obama, daughters Malia and Sasha, and the Obamas? niece Leslie Robinson arrived on Robben Island after a five-minute helicopter flight from Capetown on Marine One. They were accompanied by a press helicopter and a contingent of Secret Service agents.

They got a tour of the prison, where Mr. Mandela spent 27 years as a political prisoner, from 83-year-old former inmate Ahmed Kathrada. They also saw the small cell that once was occupied by Mr. Mandela, the anti-apartheid icon.

The president and first lady paused at the prison?s log book, and Mr. Obama wrote the following entry:

?On behalf of our family we?re deeply humbled to stand where men of such courage faced down injustice and refused to yield. The world is grateful for the heroes of Robben Island, who remind us that no shackles or cells can match the strength of the human spirit. Barack Obama and Michelle Obama, 30 June 2013.?

Mr. Mandela, 94, is in critical condition with a lung infection in a South African hospital. Mr. Obama didn?t visit the former South African president on this trip, saying he didn?t want to intrude on the family?s crisis.

At a quarry where prisoners labored, Mr. Obama told his daughters about the history of the nonviolence movement in South Africa.

?One thing you guys might not be aware of us that the idea of political nonviolence first took root here in South Africa because Mahatma Gandhi was a lawyer here in South Africa,? he told the girls. ?Here is where he did his first political [activism]. When he went back to India, the principles ultimately led to Indian independence, and what Gandhi did inspired Martin Luther King.?

Source: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/jun/30/obamas-deeply-humbled-visit-prison-where-nelson-ma/?utm_source=RSS_Feed&utm_medium=RSS

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Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Parents who sued Apple over in-app purchases can now claim compensation

Apple's dedicated "in-app purchases litigation administrator" has had a busy few days. According to CNET, he or she has been emailing some important news to the 23 million parents who've been involved in a long-running class action lawsuit over in-app purchases racked up by their kids. The email says that individual claims for compensation can now be sent to Cupertino as per the terms of the original settlement back in February. Disputed transactions under $30 will qualify for a nominal $5 iTunes voucher, while bigger bills may be fully refunded in cash -- but only for strings of purchases made within 45 days of each other, back when there were no repeat password requests or disclaimers to get in a seven-year-old's way. There's a deadline of January 13th, 2014 for at least some types of claim, by which point Apple's litigation administrator may well find themselves diverted to another urgent case.

Filed under: Cellphones, Tablets, Mobile, Apple

Comments

Source: CNET

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/06/24/apple-in-app-purchases-update/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget

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San Onofre closure generates mixed feelings

The picturesque beach city of San Clemente has hummed along for decades just up the highway from the ominous concrete domes of the San Onofre nuclear plant.

To residents, there were always reminders of their neighbor's presence ? the quarterly emergency siren tests and the potassium iodide tablets that local agencies kept on hand to distribute to residents in the 10-mile emergency planning zone around the plant.

But for the most part, the 63,000 residents of this city on the southern edge of Orange County ? known for its proximity to legendary surf spots and the rolling coastal hills of Camp Pendleton Marine base ? went about their daily lives for years with little thought of the nuclear generating station four miles down Interstate 5.

The tide began to shift in 2011, however, when a tsunami inundated Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, leading to equipment failures and meltdowns at three reactors and raising new concerns about the safety of Southern California's own coastal nuclear plant. A year later, a tube in one of San Onofre's newly installed steam generators leaked a small amount of radioactive steam, setting off a chain of events that led to Edison's announcement this month that the facility will be retired for good.

Residents in San Clemente greeted the news with a mix of feelings ? relief; sadness that the jobs of hundreds of utility workers who lived, shopped, and ate and drank in town will be lost; and worry about replacing the plant's energy and about the nuclear waste that will remain at the site.

"Every year, I have to sign a waiver so if something happened or leaked while the kids are in school, we give the school permission to give them iodine tablets," said Alicia Lopez, a mother of three who waits tables at the OC Tavern, a restaurant and sports bar in San Clemente that is popular with San Onofre workers.

"That's crazy," Lopez said. "I had to ask my pediatrician if I should do it. I'll be glad when we don't have to deal with that."

But Lopez's relief was tempered with regret at the thought that many of her longtime customers will lose their jobs as the plant is mothballed.

Over the next year, the plant's workforce will be cut from 1,500 to about 400 ? who will be charged with securing the plant during the potentially decades-long decommissioning process.

Daniel Dominguez, business manager for Utility Workers Union of America Local 246, said the employees were disappointed but will now focus on keeping the facility safely shut down:

"We're all professionals," he said. "It's unfortunate the plant was shut down, but it is what it is."

A plant employee, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly, said many workers hadn't expected a decision on the plant's fate until later in the year and were caught off guard. The plant's workforce has already been cut by about 700 in the last year.

"We just went through a very painful reduction in force," he said. "Some people just barely made it through, and they celebrated."

The employee said he expected that many of his colleagues would leave Southern California to find jobs elsewhere with comparable pay. With San Onofre gone, the two nearest nuclear plants are Diablo Canyon near San Luis Obispo and Palo Verde in Arizona.

San Clemente officials said about 400 of the plant's employees live in the city. On top of that, contractors stay for months at a time during the plant's regular refueling outages and other projects ? including the steam generator replacement that ultimately led to the plant's permanent closure.

Eric Moser, general manager at the Best Western Casablanca Inn in San Clemente, said San Onofre contractors made up about 3% to 4% of the hotel's overall business; but during the winter months when the plant generally scheduled its refueling outages, they could account for 30% or more.

Some suggested that the plant's closure could boost property values. Median home prices in San Clemente are about half that of nearby Laguna Beach, according to real estate firm DataQuick, and lower too than in neighboring Dana Point, which also is within San Onofre's emergency planning zone but a few miles farther from the plant.

"We have disclosures we have to give to people. Sometimes it's an issue, sometimes it's not," said Debbie Ferrari, who owns a local real estate business and has lived in San Clemente since 1981. She said it is difficult to determine whether the plant has been a factor in real estate decisions.

"We might have more people willing to come here now that it's closed, and willing to pay a higher price."

San Onofre's first reactor began operating in 1968, and Units 2 and 3 followed in the early 1980s. Unit 1 was shut down in 1992 rather than undergo expensive upgrades. The other two units were expected to continue generating power at least until 2022, when the plant's license expired. But the leak and unusual wear on hundreds of other tubes led to a complex regulatory process that had dragged on for 16 months while the plant sat idle. With no end in sight, Edison threw in the towel.

There have always been those who viewed the plant with suspicion.

In 1970, residents argued that an expanded plant would be in danger of sabotage because then-President Nixon's home ? the so-called Western White House ? was about 11/2 miles away. A decade later, about 15,000 people attended a festival in Laguna Niguel, calling for San Onofre to be shut down and replaced with renewable energy.

San Clemente City Councilwoman Lori Donchak said community concerns about the plant surged after the Fukushima disaster. The council sent letters to federal officials asking them to find a permanent off-site storage place for spent fuel before relicensing the plant. But city officials stayed out of the more recent debate over restarting the plant.

"I felt like we should let the experts decide how to operate this thing and how to do the restart," said Mayor Bob Baker, who characterized the activists opposed to the plant as a "very vocal minority."

Activists celebrated the plant's closure but expressed lingering concerns about the waste that will be left behind, perhaps indefinitely.

"We'll probably never do anything more important in our lives," said Gary Headrick, co-founder of the group San Clemente Green, who along with his wife has devoted his life since 2009 to shutting down the plant.

Gene Stone, 66, a local activist who launched an effort to outfit residents with portable Geiger counters so they could post real-time radiation readings online, called the permanent closing of the plant a "good step" for safety, but said: "The bad news is the easy part is over. We need to work to make sure it's decommissioned properly. There's no way in the world that we will allow this to be a nuclear waste dump."

abby.sewell@latimes.com

anh.do@latimes.com

Source: http://feeds.latimes.com/~r/latimes/news/science/~3/sVIWPjyWmKM/la-me-adv-nuclear-neighbors-20130624-1,0,189723.story

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Informant or not, Whitey Bulger still making FBI look bad

The trial of James 'Whitey' Bulger is now focusing on FBI evidence claiming that Bulger was an informant ? a claim he refutes. The court proceedings are showing an ugly side of the FBI.

By Mark Trumbull,?Staff writer / June 24, 2013

A vehicle with bullet holes and broken glass was shown to jurors earlier this month hearing the racketeering and murder trial of accused Boston mob boss James 'Whitey' Bulger.

US Attorney's Office/Reuters

Enlarge

Controversy surrounding the FBI took center stage in the trial of reputed gangster James ?Whitey? Bulger Monday, with lawyers sparring over the agency?s flawed use of criminals as informants.

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Prosecutors said Mr. Bulger spent years as an informant, and presented evidence suggesting he abused his secret role to help him get away with murder and other crimes.

Defense attorneys are putting a different spin on Bulger?s relationship with federal agents ? citing corruption within the FBI?s Boston office to raise questions about whether there?s credible evidence that Bulger was an informant.

Either way, the federal law enforcement agency doesn?t come out looking good.

Officially, this high-profile criminal case is about whether Bulger will be found guilty of racketeering charges that include 19 murders and other organized-crime activities. But unofficially, the trial is also serving as a venue for airing missteps and corruption within law enforcement ? most notably the FBI.

Some criminal-justice experts say the tale of Bulger as informant symbolizes an era when FBI personnel were desperate to make headway against the Mafia.

To the FBI at the time, Bulger and his main crime partner, Stephen Flemmi, were important informers against Italian-American organized crime in the region. The problem: They themselves were also big-time criminals, who appear to have gotten the best of the FBI relationship for years.

Some murder-victim family members say the FBI role, as revealed in this trial and others before it, is deeply troubling.

?Did anybody not get immunity?? It seems like nobody?s going to jail here,? said Tom Donahue, the son of a 1982 Boston murder victim, referring to the immunity that some former FBI officials have been granted in the case.

Talking to reporters outside court Monday, Mr. Donahue said his father was killed because one FBI informant (Bulger) was worried that another FBI informant (Brian Halloran) would incriminate him. Mr. Halloran was shot in a car outside a Boston restaurant. Donahue?s father was shot just because he was neighbors with Halloran and happened to be giving him a ride home at the time.

Halloran and Donahue represent two of Bulger?s alleged 19 murders in the trial, which started early this month.

One of the next witnesses for the prosecution will be John Morris, a former FBI supervisor in Boston.

But not all FBI personnel have, like Mr. Morris, been granted immunity from prosecution.

Notably, FBI Agent John Connolly is already in prison because of his role as an informant ?handler? who went astray. Mr. Connolly frequently interviewed Bulger and Mr. Flemmi, and drew up reports with information they provided about other criminals. But Connolly also accepted money from Bulger and Flemmi, and fed them information.

Connolly was convicted in 2002 for warning Bulger that an indictment was coming ? enabling Bulger to successfully flee Boston early in 1995. Then Connolly was convicted of second-degree murder in Florida in 2008, for telling Bulger?s group that one of its associates might become a cooperating witness ? a tip that resulted in a 1982 murder.

In Monday?s courtroom duel, the prosecution had the lead role ? spending all four hours of the court session walking through evidence based on Bulger?s FBI informant file with witness James Marra of the US Department of Justice.

But the defense scored a victory by getting Judge Denise Casper to sustain a key objection. In effect, the judge ruled that prosecutors can?t imply that the statements attributed by the FBI to Bulger were actually made by Bulger.

If the defense scored a technical victory on this point, however, that doesn?t mean it will ultimately win the war over whether Bulger?s legacy includes the ?informant? label.

Prosecuting attorney Fred Wyshak presented numerous documents attributing information to Bulger. The tips were often detailed, fingering specific people as alleged murderers, for example.

And although the FBI?s own reputation is sullied, the jury is unlikely to view Bulger as a something akin to an underworld saint.

Some of the nuggets attributed to Bulger appeared to aimed at keeping FBI investigators off his trail. Prior to the murder of drug dealer Halloran, for instance, the FBI reported tips from Bulger saying that Halloran?s life was at risk from other criminals.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/eutcqBgWyBk/Informant-or-not-Whitey-Bulger-still-making-FBI-look-bad

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20 Secret Passageways and Rooms Hiding in Plain Sight

History can be told in terms of secret passageways, hidden rooms, and obscure tunnels. Wars have been won and lost by them, coup d'?tats sprung, and entire countries altered thanks to a well-placed nook or crannie. There are also plenty of modern-day uses, as you'll see below?from drug smuggling tunnels in Tijuana to hidden doors that protect your most valuable wines. Check out 20 of the best, below.