USC quarterback Matt Barkley, a Heisman Trophy candidate, and the Trojans invade Rice-Eccles Stadium on Thursday.
Tom Smart, Deseret News
SALT LAKE CITY ? Although Utah head football coach Kyle Whittingham usually deflects questions about games that are not next on the schedule, he made an exception at Pac-12 Media Day in July.
Whittingham acknowledged that Thursday's game against USC was going to be a huge event with the "whole nine yards," including national-television coverage and the possibility that the Trojans could be ranked No. 1.
"It could be one of the biggest home games ever to take place at Rice-Eccles Stadium," Whittingham said. "If you look at the season as a whole and you point to games that will probably be critical in determining who wins championships, and so forth, we're sure that's going to be one of them."
USC and Utah were projected to finish 1-2 in the Pac-12 South's preseason media poll, adding even more intrigue to the Trojans' first game in Salt Lake City in 95 years.
Such a script, however, hasn't materialized over the first four games of the season. Neither team is undefeated and both came up short in their conference openers ? USC lost to Stanford (21-14) and Utah fell to Arizona State (37-7). Two weeks before the latter, the Utes dropped a 27-20 overtime decision at Utah State.
"It takes some of the luster off the game, I guess you could say, from a national perspective," Whittingham said. "But for us it's a huge game, as is every week from this point forward."
With the regular season one-third complete, Whittingham anticipates a battle each game the rest of the way.
"Every week's a challenge ? every single week," he said while adding that competition in the Pac-12 is non-stop with no intermission.
Utah's season-ending stretch of eight straight weeks of conference play without a break begins with league favorite USC. Whittingham said the Trojans are probably the most talented team in the league ? not the ideal opponent for the Utes after their poor showing at ASU.
"They've got talent throughout the roster and so we've got to respond," Whittingham noted. "We'll find out what we're made of this week and what kind of resiliency we have."
California state Sen. Ted Lieu, D-Torrance, sponsored the bill to ban a controversial form of psychotherapy aimed at making gay youth straight.
By James Eng, NBC News
Updated at 12:34 p.m. ET: California has become the first state in the nation to ban therapy that tries to turn gay teens straight.
Gov. Jerry Brown announced Sunday that he has signed Senate Bill 1172, which prohibits children under age 18 from undergoing ?sexual orientation change efforts.?? The law, which goes into effect Jan. 1, prohibits state-licensed therapists from engaging in these practices with minors.?
"Governor Brown today reaffirmed what medical and mental health organizations have made clear: Efforts to change minors' sexual orientation are not therapy, they are the relics of prejudice and abuse that have inflicted untold harm on young lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Californians," Clarissa Filgioun, board president of Equality California, said in a press release.
Kate Kendell, executive director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights, added: ?Governor Brown has sent a powerful message of affirmation and support to LGBT youth and their families. This law will ensure that state-licensed therapists can no longer abuse their power to harm LGBT youth and propagate the dangerous and deadly lie that sexual orientation is an illness or disorder that can be ?cured.??
The bill was sponsored by Sen. Ted Lieu, D-Torrance, who said bogus and unethical practices by mental-health providers to try to change a young person?s sexual orientation have resulted in irreparable psychological and emotional harm to patients.
"I am deeply honored Governor Brown signed SB 1172. The bill is necessary because children were being psychologically abused by reparative therapists who would try to change the child?s sexual orientation. An entire house of medicine has rejected gay conversion therapy. Not only does it not work but it is harmful. Patients who go through this have gone through guilt and shame, and some have?committed?suicide," Lieu told NBS News in a telephone?interview?on Sunday.
Watch the most-viewed videos on NBCNews.com
Lieu called "gay cure" therapy "quackery" and said parents were never informed of its potentially dangerous aftereffects.
Supporters of the bill included several lesbian and gay-rights groups and mental health associations.
Among those who testified in support of the bill was?Ryan Kendall, who said he underwent sexual orientation change therapy. He described?his experience earlier this summer to the Assembly Business, Professions and Consumer Protection Committee:
?As a young teen, the anti-gay practice of so-called conversion therapy destroyed my life and tore apart my family. In order to stop the therapy that misled my parents into believing that I could somehow be made straight, I was forced to run away from home, surrender myself to the local department of human services, and legally separate myself from my family. At the age of 16, I had lost everything. My family and my faith had rejected me, and the damaging messages of conversion therapy, coupled with this rejection, drove me to the brink of suicide.?
The National Association for Research & Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH), a group of therapists who believe sexual orientation can be changed, opposed the bill. It said Lieu?s claims of widespread harms to minors are not backed up by scientific research.
In a statement, NARTH said plans to seek a temporary injunction against the law.
Meanwhile, other states have inquired about the legislation.?In New Jersey, Assemblyman Tim Eustace, an openly gay Democrat, said he plans to introduce legislation to outlaw conversion therapy for minors in his state.
Previous story: California moves closer to banning 'gay cure' therapy for teens
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In a perfect world everyone would find their Prince (or Princess) Charming, true love would never fade, and everyone would live ?Happily Ever After?. But, we all know that life isn?t a fairytale and that sometimes, even the most enviable relationships can run out of gas.
With the divorce rate as high as it is in this country it?s hard to imagine why people even bother getting married nowadays in the first place. But, we do and if it doesn?t go the way we planned, we need someone we can trust for an escape plan.
Our perception of divorce is usually messy and time consuming where couples speak through lawyers and left to pay astronomical fees. But what if I told you that it didn?t have to be like that? Mediation is another option for couples who are ready to throw in the towel without engaging in a lengthy legal battle. It takes a fraction of the time and money that it would to go the litigation route and allows for a less stressful, more cooperative dissolution of a marriage.
Mediation is a confidential, highly effective way to ensure that the decisions met will work for both parties which means they are more likely to stick! For example in 80% of mediated divorces, parents complied with their child support agreements whereas only 40% complied after litigated divorces.? There is the opportunity for joint decision making which means that there is no third party telling you how things will be. The mediator will provide insight and legal information but they are there to help communicate between both parties; at the end of the day the decisions are made by the couple.
When children are involved in divorce it can get especially ugly, with parents using the child as a pawn to gain custody. Sometimes they are even forced to stand up and choose which parent they want to live with. With a mediated divorce, the child?s best interests are kept in mind and interim decisions can be made so it does not become a battle for your children and their affection.
Don?t you think you should honor the union you shared with your partner by parting in a mutually respectful manner? Sometimes things simply don?t work, but that doesn?t mean you have to stop your lives for the next year and a half to get a divorce. Call my office today for more information. Let me help you move on sooner.
Lions sweep Tri-Valley League season series against Regents for first time with 208-212 win.
Before they even boarded their school van Thursday, the members of the Oaks Christian girls' golf team were already planning for their moment on stage today when they would be recognized at a school assembly.
It was another indication that a young Lions' lineup is growing more accustomed to being in the spotlight.
Despite having no seniors competing against Tri-Valley League rival La Reina, Oaks Christian managed to sweep the season series against the Regents for the first time in program history, relying on sophomore Brigitte Dunne shooting even par 35 to produce a 208-212 win at Camarillo Springs Golf Course.
"For us to put up a 208 and (212 at Rustic Canyon on Sept. 11) against them in that kind of pressure cooker is incredible," Lions coach Tim Meinert said. "It's been a long journey to get to this point, but I'm really proud of them. It was a ridiculously well-fought match against a really tough opponent."
Before the teams shook hands, Meinert addressed La Reina seniors JoJo Sottile and Carly Stalnaker, who had led the Regents (5-3, 4-2) to three league crowns during their careers as part of La Reina's run of 13 titles in 14 seasons.
It was a classy gesture recognizing how high La Reina had set the bar the past decade and how much the Regents had forced Oaks Christian (10-0, 6-0) to improve in order to position itself to secure the championship outright after finishing in a three-way tie for the title in 2009.
"It's
about our hard work and how it's finally paid off," said Dunne, who overcame back-to-back bogeys to open her round by sinking a 15-foot eagle putt on No. 4.
"We wanted to come out here and have no regrets and work together as a team. To be able to (sweep them) first, it feels awesome.
"As soon as I made that eagle, it was like a fresh start. It definitely gave me that extra push."
Divya Manthena and Sottile both shot 39s to give La Reina a two-stroke lead over Dunne and freshman Jesse Haraden (45) in the first group.
But Christiana Ritchie (40) and Kasia Rudnicki (43) shifted the momentum in Oaks Christian's favor in the second group against Stalnaker (42) and Alex Cerise (46), including a clutch birdie putt from Ritchie on the eighth hole that contributed to the Lions' three-stroke advantage entering the final group.
Although Emme Anderson got up and down on the ninth to finish with a 46 for La Reina, it wasn't enough to close the gap on Lions' freshman Tori Roeske (45) and rally the Regents to another thrilling victory like their 215-217 triumph last season at Camarillo Springs that also came down to the last group.
"As we walked back on the 10th fairway, all of us looked at one another and said we were sorry," Sottile said. "I think we could all go back over our rounds and find four strokes somewhere. We definitely improved since the last time we played them, but so did they."
ScienceDaily (Sep. 28, 2012) ? Diving into a pool from a few feet up allows you to enter the water smoothly and painlessly, but jumping from a bridge can lead to a fatal impact. The water is the same in each case, so why is the effect of hitting its surface so different?
This seemingly basic question is at the heart of complex research by a team in MIT's Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering (NSE) that studied how materials react to stresses, including impacts. The findings could ultimately help explain phenomena as varied as the breakdown of concrete under sudden stress and the effects of corrosion on various metal surfaces.
Using a combination of computer modeling and experimental tests, the researchers studied one specific type of stress -- in a defect called a screw dislocation -- in one kind of material, an iron crystal lattice. But the underlying explanation, the researchers say, may have broad implications for many kinds of stresses in many different materials.
The research, carried out by doctoral student Yue Fan, associate professor Bilge Yildiz, and professor emeritus Sidney Yip, is being published this week in the journal Physical Review Letters.
Essentially, the team analyzed how the strength of a material can increase quite abruptly as the rate of strain applied to the material increases. This transition in the rate at which a material cracks or bends, called a flow-stress upturn, has been observed experimentally for many years, but its underlying mechanism has never been fully explained, the researchers say.
"The formulation is not specific to this particular defect," Yildiz explains. Rather, she and her colleagues have figured out what they believe is a set of general principles. "We have proven that it works in this system," she says.
"There are implications that go beyond dislocations, beyond even crystals," Yip adds. But before extending the work -- something the team is working on now -- the researchers had to prove the principle by applying it to a specific case, in this case the screw dislocation in iron. While other researchers have analyzed behaviors associated with particular kinds of defects in specific materials, with these new general principles, "all of a sudden we have an explanation for their data that does not require such specific assumptions," Yip says.
Flow-stress upturn "is an important phenomenon in materials," Fan says, explaining how they bend and crack in a process called plastic deformation. "It's common in all metals," he says, as well as in many other materials.
But the way that deformation varies, depending on the forces being applied, Fan says, is similar to the way the surface of water in a pool can part gently when a diver hits the surface at a certain rate of speed, but doesn't have time to part and behaves like a solid when the impact is too rapid, as in a jump from a great height.
The key is something called "strain localization," Yip says -- that is, the way an impact or other stress is confined to a small initial location, and how rapidly the applied forces can then spread beyond that point. To understand that fully, he says, the team had to analyze how the atoms and molecules move to produce this behavior.
The team found that, in addition to the rate at which the strain is applied, the effect depends critically -- and in a highly predictable way -- on the temperature of the material. "People think they're independent," Fan says, but it turns out the effects of strain rate and temperature are strongly related.
The effects are quite dramatic, Yildiz says: The rate of change taking place within the material can suddenly change by orders of magnitude, transforming a slow erosion into a sudden catastrophic fracture. The analysis could potentially help predict the breakdown of structures as varied as concrete buildings, metal pressure vessels in powerplants, and the structural components of airplane bodies, but further work will be needed to show how these basic principles can be applied to these different materials.
"I don't want to say it's going to be the exact same phenomenon" in such different cases, Yildiz says, but the underlying principles of coupled environmental factors "could explain significant differences" in the way these materials behave under stress.
"We believe this behavior is universal" among different materials, Yip says, "but we haven't proven that yet. It's the beginning of a long journey."
Ting Zhu, a professor of physics at Georgia Institute of Technology, says the MIT team's work provides "a new perspective for a longstanding puzzle on the so-called upturn behavior of flow stress. The work represents a new paradigm that synergistically integrates the theoretical modeling with atomistic calculations, thereby enabling a parameter-free explanation of the puzzle." Zhu, who was not connected with this research, adds that, "Their approach should be generally applicable to a wide range of the flow-stress problems for both crystalline and glassy solids."
The work was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy's Consortium for Advanced Simulation of Light Water Reactors and its Division of Materials Sciences and Engineering.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The original article was written by MIT News Office.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Journal Reference:
Yue Fan, Yuri N. Osetsky, Sidney Yip, and Bilge Yildiz. Onset Mechanism of Strain-Rate-Induced Flow Stress Upturn. Physical Review Letters, 2012; 109: 135503 DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.109.135503
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.
Google Play's 25-cent promotional sale has gone into day four with a handful of new apps and games that are just about as good as free. Topping the list are:
Check out our list of Android apps from the first three days below! Many of them have had their prices knocked back up to normal, but maybe you'll luck out. Oh, and be sure to leave a comment if you find any others that are on sale.
BRIDGEPORT, Conn. ? Republican Senate candidate Linda McMahon won?t be attending any of the three fundraisers in her state on Sunday featuring Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan.
?I?m not, only because I have scheduling conflicts,? McMahon told National Journal when asked whether she?ll be on hand for any of those events with Ryan.
McMahon, running in a state where President Obama is popular, insisted she is not trying to avoid being tied too closely to the House Budget Committee chairman, or to Mitt Romney, the Republican nominee. But she also said that she is an ?independent thinker,? unafraid to differ with her party?s leaders.
Meanwhile, a campaign spokesman for Andrew Roraback, another Connecticut Republican locked in a hotly contested race ? this one for an open congressional seat ? could not immediately say Thursday night whether Roraback will attend any of those fundraisers.
On the stump in western and central Connecticut, Roraback has been aggressively trying to distance himself from the House GOP?s controversial budgets formulated under Ryan, R-Wis., including their strategies to transform Medicare into a voucher program and cut billions of dollars from social programs. Roraback tells voters he would not have voted for any of the Ryan budgets.
Ryan?s appearances Sunday in West Hartford, Darien and Greenwich are yet another reflection of Connecticut?s role as one of the main ATMs for fundraising, for both parties.
But the appearances come as the top of the GOP ticket also appears to loom as a potential major drag for down-ticket Connecticut Republicans like McMahon and Roraback. Polls in the state show Obama with commanding leads over Romney. One such poll this week by Public Policy Polling showed Obama with a 13-point lead, 54 percent to 41 percent. The poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.
McMahon?s Senate opponent, Democratic Rep. Chris Murphy, and Roraback?s Democratic foe, Elizabeth Esty, were both preparing to pounce on Ryan?s visit to their state.
Already, they were scheduled to join Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., and state Party Chairwoman Nancy DiNardo in a telephone conference call on Friday. The aim, according to an announcement, was to highlight ?the troubling statements and policies put forth? by Ryan, McMahon and the GOP ?that would undermine the Social Security safety net and end Medicare as we know it by turning it into a voucher program.?
On Thursday, Murphy jumped on news that McMahon had told a public forum sponsored by the tea party in April that she believed in "sunset provisions" and periodic reviews for major programs like Social Security. He told listeners during an appearance at a senior center that that meant she wants to phase out Social Security.
In the later interview Thursday with National Journal, McMahon denied that was her meaning. She said that what she intended to convey was only that the Social Security program should be periodically reviewed, to determine what must be done to keep it adequately funded, but not with an eye toward letting the program expire.
?What I really meant by that is we just have to have checkpoints in it, so that we are reviewing policy that is so heavily economic, and what we need to keep funding,? she said. She said the notion that she wants Congress to phase out the program is ?absolutely not? what she meant by the use of the word ?sunset.?
As for her not attending any of the fundraisers on Sunday featuring Ryan, McMahon said she is not trying to distance herself from her party?s national ticket. But she then suddenly offered, ?You know, I?m an independent thinker. I do differ from my party on some issues.?
She noted that, ?on the issue of pro-choice or pro-life, I?m pro-choice.? She also said ?there will be votes where I won?t be voting with my party.?
Asked directly whether she was worried about whether the top of the ticket could be hurting her own chances in November, she said only: ?I can tell you I?m running my campaign in Connecticut. And I?m really focused and centered on the people in Connecticut.?
Commence your six-year premature free agency speculation, Philly Pholks. Mike Trout grew up in Phillies country and, according to his dad in this CSNPhilly.com interview, Trout still roots for them:
Trout?s father recalled a story from a few years back when in the middle of the night, Jeff heard Mike scream from his room.
?Dad,?we?got Roy Halladay!? Mike yelled. To which his Dad responded: ?the Angels got Halladay??
?No, the Phillies did!? Mike replied. ?Son, you?re a member of the Angels. What?s with this?we?!?
That was in December 2009, six months after Trout was drafted by the Angels and had already played in Rookie and Low-A ball for the club.
Still, it was almost three years ago. We should test this to see if he?s still Phaithful. Quick: someone tell him that Ryan Howard?s contract sucks and see if he gets all whiny about it.
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Daniel Russell knows how to find the answers to questions you can't get to with a simple Google query. In his weekly Search Research column, Russell issues a search challenge, then follows up later in the week with his solution?using whatever search technology and methodology fits the bill. This week's challenge: why are the East Coast and West Coast so different?
So many great answers from readers! I'm impressed. This is a legitimately hard question (about which you could write many PhD theses), but people figured it out pretty quickly.
The short answer to: Why?
Because plate tectonics (specifically, the nearby edge of the Pacific plate) force the western coast to be steep without much chance to accumulate the sediments needed to make barrier and fringing islands. By contrast the East Coast has a long, gently sloping grad from coastline to the next plate edge, giving sediment an easy place to accumulate. See the following map (linked from the Wikipedia article on plate tectonics):
Note that the Pacific plater butts up against California, while the North American plate extends way out into the Atlantic. That's a huge difference, and vastly changes the nature of the coastlines as well.
As several readers pointed out, this really is a big topic, and by giving a quick answer like this, we're obscuring many fascinating details. But this isn't a geology blog?it's a blog about search and how to find it effectively. Which is why reading the details of how people searched is so interesting.
A couple of observations.
1. You need to follow the search deeply enough to get a "real" answer. Several people (including people I chatted with) found that the East accumulated sediment, but couldn't say why. The intriguing thing about what they said was that they could make up (that is, rationalize) a story very quickly. But they didn't have any data to backup what they were saying. Word to the wise: When you don't have data, you usually know it. That's when you slip over the slippery slope edge into BS. It's easy to do and we all practice it all the time. But as researchers, we need to be aware of when this happens, and be able to stop ourselves and realize that this is the time for more research.
2. Starting this search was hard. Many people had difficulty getting started with searches that worked. Once they starting including barrier islands and terms like formation or East coast or West coast with barrier island formation they started getting results. When I was doing my searching, I added the context term geology in my searches to limit the number of off-topic results and focus more on scholarly articles.
3. Follow the people chain. I did find several articles that helped me in my search. By starting with [ west coast vs east coast barrier islands ] I found an article comparing the two by Molly Samuels (an environmental reporter). Reading the comments on that article lead me to start thinking about plate tectonics because of a comment left by Brian Romans, a geologist who writes about island formation in his blog, ClasticDetritus.
All this story is by way of pointing out that following the comments in a blog is often a great way to find experts. But be sure to check their bona fides. There are lots of random people commenting authoritatively on blog streams as well. If you can't prove that they actually know something about a topic (usually because of a history of good writing on that topic), then quickly file under "don't know" and move onto people whose comments you can trust.
4. Sometimes search requires... well, searching. Many people reported having to hunt around a bit for a way to phrase their search query to get something useful. This was true for me as well. Sometimes you get lucky and your first query gets you into a space that resolves the question. For something like this, it might take a few probes to find a valuable set of results. Get in, check out the results, if you don't see what you like, move on. But learn as you go?notice the terms used, the publications, and the people involved. Usually that is enough to point you in the direction you need to go.
And...for people who asked me about the black/white map that started this whole question?it was the wonderful map made by the people at Raven Maps. I have no affiliation with them other then being a fan. Here's the link to the map that started the question. You have to see the map in person to get the full effect... but the right hand side of this map is VERY different than the left hand side. Hence my question.
Answer: Why are the coasts SO different? | SearchReSearch
Daniel M. Russell studies the way people search and research?an anthropologist of search, if you will. You can read more from Russell on his SearchReSearch blog, and stay tuned for his weekly challenges (and answers) here on Lifehacker.
Instagram and Google Chrome have finally received updates for compatibility with iOS 6 and the iPhone 5?s larger 4-inch screen. When we say finally, it?s funny as the iPhone 5 has only been out for less than a week but it seems like if your app is not updated on the day of launch then it?s already late to the party.
Instagram, which has over 80 million users worldwide is updated to version 3.1.0 and includes iPhone 5 support, iOS 6 support, improved password recovery procedures and a redesigned registration flow.
Google Chrome?s update is equally as simple; it again includes support for iPhone 5 and iOS 6 as well as a few stability and security improvements.
There are still many apps that need to be updated for iOS 6 and the iPhone 5?s 4-inch screen but at least as every day goes by we can tick more and more off that wanted list. Which apps are you waiting for to be updated for iOS 6 and the iPhone 5?
About The Artist: I was born in France in 1957, graduated from the Ecole Nationale Sup?rieure des Arts D?coratifs (Paris) in 1982, I am pursuing a career as a graphic designer and illustrator for over 20 years.
Passionate automotive and fine mechanics, I decided to pursue my career as ?Automotive Artist.?
I?m working on command and I practice extremely reasonable prices. My paintings and prints are available on my site.
Oscillating microscopic beads could be key to biolab on a chipPublic release date: 25-Sep-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Caroline McCall cmccall5@mit.edu Massachusetts Institute of Technology
MIT team finds way to manipulate and measure magnetic particles without contact, potentially enabling multiple medical tests on a tiny device
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- If you throw a ball underwater, you'll find that the smaller it is, the faster it moves: A larger cross-section greatly increases the water's resistance. Now, a team of MIT researchers has figured out a way to use this basic principle, on a microscopic scale, to carry out biomedical tests that could eventually lead to fast, compact and versatile medical-testing devices.
The results, based on work by graduate student Elizabeth Rapoport and assistant professor Geoffrey Beach, of MIT's Department of Materials Science and Engineering (DMSE), are described in a paper published in the journal Lab on a Chip. MIT graduate student Daniel Montana '11 also contributed to the research as an undergraduate.
The balls used here are microscopic magnetic beads that can be "decorated" with biomolecules such as antibodies that cause them to bind to specific proteins or cells; such beads are widely used in biomedical research. The key to this new work was finding a way to capture individual beads and set them oscillating by applying a variable magnetic field. The rate of their oscillation can then be measured to assess the size of the beads.
When these beads are placed in a biological sample, biomolecules attach to their surfaces, making the beads larger a change that can then be detected through the biomolecules effect on the beads' oscillation. This would provide a way to detect exactly how much of a target biomolecule is present in a sample, and provide a way to give a virtually instantaneous electronic readout of that information.
This new technique, for the first time, allows these beads each about one micrometer, or millionth of a meter, in diameter to be used for precise measurements of tiny quantities of materials. This could, for example, lead to tests for disease agents that would need just a tiny droplet of blood and could deliver results instantly, instead of requiring laboratory analysis.
In a paper published earlier this year in the journal Applied Physics Letters, the same MIT researchers described their development of a technique for creating magnetic tracks on a microchip surface, and rapidly transporting beads along those tracks. (The technology required is similar to that used to read and write magnetic data on a computer's hard disk.) An operational device using this new approach would consist of a small reservoir above the tracks, where the liquid containing the magnetic beads and the biological sample would be placed.
Rather than pumping the fluid and the particles through channels, as in today's microfluidic devices, the particles would be controlled entirely through changes in applied magnetic fields. By controlling the directions of magnetic fields in closely spaced adjacent regions, the researchers create tiny areas with extremely strong magnetic fields, called magnetic domain walls, whose position can be shifted along the track. "We can use the magnetic domain walls to capture and transport the beads along the tracks," Beach says.
In the researchers' most recent paper, Rapoport explains, they have now shown that once a bead is captured, a magnetic field can be used to shake it back and forth. Then, the researchers measure how fast the bead moves as they change the frequency of the oscillation. "The resonant frequency is a function of the bead size," she says and could be used to reveal whether the bead has grown in size through attachment to a target biomolecule.
Besides being potentially quicker and requiring a far smaller biological sample to produce a result, such a device would be more flexible than existing chip-based biomedical tests, the researchers say. While most such devices are specifically designed to detect one particular kind of protein or disease agent, this new device could be used for a wide variety of different tests, simply by inserting a fresh batch of fluid containing beads coated with the appropriate reactant. After the test, the material could be flushed out, and the same chip used for a completely different test by inserting a different type of magnetic beads. "You'd just use it, wash it off, and use it again," Rapoport says.
There are dozens of types of magnetic beads commercially available now, which can be coated to react with many different biological materials, Beach explains, so such a test device could have enormous flexibility.
The MIT team has not yet used the system to detect biological molecules. Rather, they used magnetic beads of different sizes to demonstrate that their system is capable of detecting size differences corresponding to those between particles that are bound to biological molecules and those that are not. Having succeeded in this proof of concept, the researchers' next step will be to repeat the experiment using biological samples.
"We now have all the elements required to make a sensing device," Beach says. The next step is to combine the pieces in an operational device and demonstrate its performance.
###
The research was partly funded by MIT's Deshpande Center for Technological Innovation, and the test devices were made at the MIT NanoStructures Laboratory.
Written by David Chandler, MIT News Office
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Oscillating microscopic beads could be key to biolab on a chipPublic release date: 25-Sep-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Caroline McCall cmccall5@mit.edu Massachusetts Institute of Technology
MIT team finds way to manipulate and measure magnetic particles without contact, potentially enabling multiple medical tests on a tiny device
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- If you throw a ball underwater, you'll find that the smaller it is, the faster it moves: A larger cross-section greatly increases the water's resistance. Now, a team of MIT researchers has figured out a way to use this basic principle, on a microscopic scale, to carry out biomedical tests that could eventually lead to fast, compact and versatile medical-testing devices.
The results, based on work by graduate student Elizabeth Rapoport and assistant professor Geoffrey Beach, of MIT's Department of Materials Science and Engineering (DMSE), are described in a paper published in the journal Lab on a Chip. MIT graduate student Daniel Montana '11 also contributed to the research as an undergraduate.
The balls used here are microscopic magnetic beads that can be "decorated" with biomolecules such as antibodies that cause them to bind to specific proteins or cells; such beads are widely used in biomedical research. The key to this new work was finding a way to capture individual beads and set them oscillating by applying a variable magnetic field. The rate of their oscillation can then be measured to assess the size of the beads.
When these beads are placed in a biological sample, biomolecules attach to their surfaces, making the beads larger a change that can then be detected through the biomolecules effect on the beads' oscillation. This would provide a way to detect exactly how much of a target biomolecule is present in a sample, and provide a way to give a virtually instantaneous electronic readout of that information.
This new technique, for the first time, allows these beads each about one micrometer, or millionth of a meter, in diameter to be used for precise measurements of tiny quantities of materials. This could, for example, lead to tests for disease agents that would need just a tiny droplet of blood and could deliver results instantly, instead of requiring laboratory analysis.
In a paper published earlier this year in the journal Applied Physics Letters, the same MIT researchers described their development of a technique for creating magnetic tracks on a microchip surface, and rapidly transporting beads along those tracks. (The technology required is similar to that used to read and write magnetic data on a computer's hard disk.) An operational device using this new approach would consist of a small reservoir above the tracks, where the liquid containing the magnetic beads and the biological sample would be placed.
Rather than pumping the fluid and the particles through channels, as in today's microfluidic devices, the particles would be controlled entirely through changes in applied magnetic fields. By controlling the directions of magnetic fields in closely spaced adjacent regions, the researchers create tiny areas with extremely strong magnetic fields, called magnetic domain walls, whose position can be shifted along the track. "We can use the magnetic domain walls to capture and transport the beads along the tracks," Beach says.
In the researchers' most recent paper, Rapoport explains, they have now shown that once a bead is captured, a magnetic field can be used to shake it back and forth. Then, the researchers measure how fast the bead moves as they change the frequency of the oscillation. "The resonant frequency is a function of the bead size," she says and could be used to reveal whether the bead has grown in size through attachment to a target biomolecule.
Besides being potentially quicker and requiring a far smaller biological sample to produce a result, such a device would be more flexible than existing chip-based biomedical tests, the researchers say. While most such devices are specifically designed to detect one particular kind of protein or disease agent, this new device could be used for a wide variety of different tests, simply by inserting a fresh batch of fluid containing beads coated with the appropriate reactant. After the test, the material could be flushed out, and the same chip used for a completely different test by inserting a different type of magnetic beads. "You'd just use it, wash it off, and use it again," Rapoport says.
There are dozens of types of magnetic beads commercially available now, which can be coated to react with many different biological materials, Beach explains, so such a test device could have enormous flexibility.
The MIT team has not yet used the system to detect biological molecules. Rather, they used magnetic beads of different sizes to demonstrate that their system is capable of detecting size differences corresponding to those between particles that are bound to biological molecules and those that are not. Having succeeded in this proof of concept, the researchers' next step will be to repeat the experiment using biological samples.
"We now have all the elements required to make a sensing device," Beach says. The next step is to combine the pieces in an operational device and demonstrate its performance.
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The research was partly funded by MIT's Deshpande Center for Technological Innovation, and the test devices were made at the MIT NanoStructures Laboratory.
Written by David Chandler, MIT News Office
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Self hypnosis, exactly what the term suggests? It isactually the process in which you practice hypnosis uponyour own self for the achievement of goals that will leadyou to the betterment of yourself. It is a verycontroversial topic since opinion about it varies from manto man. As an art rapidly changing into science, it hasopened up huge possibilities of self betterment ofindividuals. You only require patience and practice on aregular basis to put it to your use. Even though responsesto the therapy vary it is emerging as a fast developingscience that will and has helped many to overcome variousshortcomings in their personality, living habits and variousother such fields.As mentioned earlier, practices self-hypnosis because theywanted to improve the quality of their lives. It can bebecause they wanted to lose some weight, or maybe to improvethe recall rate of their memory or getting rid of some badhabits like smoking. Through self-hypnosis, a person can beself-empowered. And with this self empowerment, comesmotivation which helps to drive an individual towards his orher goals. In essence, it seeks to bring positive energyinto one?s life and ultimately improving the quality of lifeWhy is self hypnosis such a powerful and effective method?The answer lies in the acting of the sub-conscious. Itevades the conscious and directly targets the sub-consciouswhich then enables you to destroy any negative feelings andinstall positive energy that will help you in achieving newheights in life. Incorporation of self hypnosis in your lifewill lead you to the achievement of your goals much fasterthan you could have even imagined. To pick up hypnotherapy as a skill is a very simple andeasy task. Any individual can go to a professional fortraining to learn about hypnotherapy. One can also choose tolearn this skill by self-study. However, it is definitelyeasier and faster to learn with professional guidance thenthrough self-study. There is also another way, which one canget professional guidance, which is by reading books,watching DVDs or CDs tutorials.To enchcane the training, youare strongly recommended to attend seminars to get somepractical experiences. Whichever mode of study you chose;just remember that you have to be proactive in order thatthe therapy works effectively.Research shows that only a mere 10% of our subconscious andmind power has been put up to efficient use till date. Usageat this rate has led to such big changes possible, no oneknows the limit, we do not know how or what can be achievedif the full 100% can be put to use. No one knows whattremendous things can be achieved, so are you ready to makethe impossible possible?What Can Hypnosis Do For You? Visit the Self Hypnosis Site. And Grab Our Excellent Free Mp3! Weight Loss Hypnosis Archives!
You must know the feeling. You've had a lovely smartphone for a few months, when suddenly the cracks start to appear. Small issues here and there develop into much larger day-to-day problems.
It happened to me with my last smartphone: the Samsung Galaxy S. It seemed like a great piece of kit at first, but then the software crashes started to become unbearable, the poor battery life began to grate, and the app loading times stretched further and further into the distance.
I was wary, then, when I replaced my original Galaxy S with the souped-up Galaxy S III. I'd read great things - that it was potentially an iPhone beater - and while my Galaxy S had irritated me at times, I still liked the device overall. I just wanted more of the same but with all the aforementioned issues ironed out.
My Galaxy S III landed on my doorstep on May 29th, and the first impressions were positive. This quad-core smartphone appeared to solve all the problems commonly cited with both the Galaxy S and the S II, while offering an enormous screen and lots of novel features.
Of course, first impressions aren't everything when it comes to smartphones. Here's how I feel about the device four months on.
No slowdown
First off, I'm happy - no, ecstatic - to report that my Galaxy S III is as zippy and responsive now as the day I first booted up the blighter.
That huge 4.8-inch screen hasn't lost any of its 'wow' factor, and it's easily the number one thing people remark on whenever I take the phone out of my pocket.
The battery life is also simply remarkable. You can get a good day's worth of juice out of the Galaxy S III even if you're constantly using it, which is a vast improvement on previous Galaxy S models. But, that's only the start.
Switch on 'Power Saving' mode from the top menu, and suddenly you're getting three, sometimes even four, days of power without having to charge.
The best thing about this mode is that you might as well leave it on all the time - Power Saving limits the maximum CPU power that the phone can use, but there aren't really any apps or games on the market that require that much power yet.
No doubt in, say, a year's time, I'll be flicking it off and on as games get beefier and beefier, but as of now Power Saving is the way forward.
So, my main two smartphone hardware / software bugbears have been quelled, and it's now safe to say that the Galaxy S III is definitely a top-notch phone.
And yet...
While my original worries have been pushed aside, the majority of the new stuff that the Galaxy S III offers isn't so hot.
Most of the motion controls, for example, aren't much cop. Tilt to Zoom is awkward, while things like Pan to Browse Images and Shake to Update are simply features that you just wouldn't remember to use.
Direct Call is the one that Samsung has been pushing big time, mind. By just putting your phone up to your ear, you can call someone who has just texted you. In truth, it's a bit annoying. It doesn't work if you move the phone too quickly to your ear, and having to move the phone slowly upwards like a robot is a little weird.
Palm Swipe is another one that I sometimes try to use, albeit without much success. Swiping the screen with your palm allows you to take screenshots. Half the time, though, you accidentally press something on-screen during the swipe. The other half of the time, it just doesn't work at all.
And what about S Voice and S-Beam? Well, S Voice (a.k.a. 'Samsung Siri') is fun for a day. After that, you realize just how slowly it searches for things, and that it's far quicker to use a regular Google search.
S Beam, on the other hand, is instantly forgettable - I've used it, perhaps, three or four times. Even if you have a friend who has a phone with S Beam functionality, he'd have to be seated nearby at all times to make it worthwhile.
Plus, we're now so used to sending information via other methods (SMS, MMS, email, IM), that we are hard-pressed to remember S Beam exists.
Ready to bounce
What the Galaxy S III really needs is Android 4.1 (a.k.a. Jelly Bean) and Google Now. When I found out that my brand spanking new phone wasn't getting the latest Android update straight away, I was pretty irate.
Now that we're finally getting it next month (October), I'm looking forward to seeing whether I use more of the smartphone's extra functions as a result.
I will plead with Samsung now: please allow notifications to be shown on the lock screen in a future update (like in iOS). You know, so I can see them at a glance without unlocking the phone.
Despite not being overly impressed by all of the Galaxy S III's futuristic(ish) features and software innovations, I am incredibly happy that I plumped for this smartphone.
It looks great, it runs absolutely everything smoothly, and I've now started turning to my phone rather than my tablet for everyday tasks like surfing the web and checking my emails. Mainly because that 4-8 inch screen is just so big and comfortable to read from.
Usually I cringe at the type of 'attack' ads that Samsung ran this week, in which the South Korean giant compares the Galaxy S III to Apple's iPhone 5 (see below). But, this is the first time I've watched one and actually thought, "hey, it has a point."
At a party recently someone asked me whether I was "one of those" people who dispensed advice that I didn't take myself. I laughed. Two points: First, as I'm not an authorised financial advisor I don't dispense advice. Second: as a financial journalist, I'm entitled, just like everyone else is, to my opinions. My role, as I see it, is more as a messenger or perhaps a purveyor of information.? My answer to this person's question was, in short, that I try to practise what I preach.
As evidence of that, I spent a manic weekend shifting six blocks down the street, a move that I have calculated will save me $5,000 a year in rent. The move itself cost $100 thanks to two benevolent souls who helped me out; $80 for a truck and $20 for kebabs. Diesel was another $10, which one of my helpers kindly picked up.
To satisfy your voyeuristic urges, Wall St Journal money correspondence Heidi N. Moore, in the following Q&A with thebillfold.com, reveals her common sense values and habits and discusses the aching dissimilarities between the worlds of corporate and personal finance.
I particularly enjoyed the last question when she was asked whether her job has given her any special insights.
LS: Has covering Wall Street influenced how you manage your own money? ? HM: I generally keep work and myself separate. The money I write about is like Monopoly money?we?re talking about billions and trillions of dollars. But it?s good to know how a company?s balance sheet works, and that?s applicable. Really high finance has very little to do with personal finance. The things that companies do, we would all get arrested if we tried. So it?s not tremendously useful. But this isn?t the kind of thing where more knowledge will solve all your problems. We all know that to lose weight you need to exercise and eat less, but you have to get to a point where you apply that. I don?t think everyone just wakes up one day and figures it out. You have to relearn it everyday.
The idea of living within your means is something that our society has been missing for decades and decades.?It should be a comfort to young and middle-aged people that people die never figuring this stuff out. It?s hard. But to know you need to figure things out is an awesome place to start, and that?s a form of wisdom that it takes people years to get to. I think it?s valuable to hit bottom. It teaches you that it really sucks to be in that position?it?s like aversion therapy.
2) Baby bumps
Children are a major set back to one's finances. Fortunately they enrich your life in other ways. As I've written many times before, the best way to cope with the financial pains is to prepare for them.
Here's a first person, on how one couple was affected by having a family and modifications they have made to adjust for it.
3) A man is not a financial plan
Geradline Sealey, writing for Time Money, outlines four financial barriers that hold women back from taking their financial affairs to a higher level beyond the domestic. In brief, they are: 1) Lack of confidence 2) Worrying too much about stuff that doesn't matter 3) Contracting the Cinderella syndrome; expecting a fairy godmother or a prince to solve their financial problems and 4) Focussing too much on goals instead of the numbers.
4) Mitt's punitive tax burden
Not that we need it but more proof the system is broke: Forbes Money reports on U.S. presidential candidate Mitt Romney's effective 14% tax rate. He and his wife paid US$1.9 million in federal tax on gross income of US$13.7 million. Apparently their tax bill would have been even smaller had they fully claimed all charitable donations. How long before the revolution begins I wonder?
5) Rich listers
So you can keep abreast with who comprises the 1%, here's the latest list? of the top 400 wealthiest individuals in the U.S as published by Forbes. What's interesting (or maybe disturbing is a better adjective) is that when Forbes started this list making exercise back in 1982, the admission to the elite club was based on net worth of US$75 million or more.Over the three decades, it's risen to US$1.1 billion, a 10-fold increase. The combined net worth of America's 400 richest individuals is now US$1.7 trillion up from US$1.5 trillion one year ago. The average net worth of these mega richsters is US$4.2 billion. Insane.
To read other Take Fives by Amanda Morrall?click here.?You can also follow Amanda on Twitter @amandamorrall
When is it smart refinancing your mortgage loan? A simple yes or no to answer whether your mortgage loan must be refinanced is not possible. Picture your real estate investing venture for a second. Whenever you come across a deal, do you make a simple yes or no final choice about buying an investment property without careful consideration? I sure hope you don't for the sake of your financial well-being.
The question should it be the better choice to refinance depends on a variety of scenarios as with all other real estate deals. And like with any real estate investing opportunity, some of these refinance scenarios are deal breakers. Some deals are absolute no-brainers while some other deals involve a ?maybe but only if? answer.
Let us look into a few of these situations and I will give you my suggestions about how to deal with the predicament of whether or not refinancing your loan is a good idea or the opposite. Let?s look at debt for starters. In case you follow traditional advice, refinance to a lower rate after which pay off debts? For me, this is a deal breaker. Do not do it. You are better off making use of other people?s money to clear out debt (i.e. your month to month earnings from tenants in your own rental properties.)
Up next, to help cover rehab or remodel costs, should you refinance a loan? Even though I am against for it on this particular scenario, I wouldn't refer to this one a deal breaker. In today?s market, you should have no problem purchasing real estate properties well beneath market value. This is the reason your final offer price needs to include these repair costs.
If this is your own private residence, you intend on staying in the home for many more years, and you want to raise your quality of life; then mortgage refinancing gets a small nudge towards a yes. However, it is still a very small nudge closer to yes. And naturally, you still must take into account all the numbers and expenditures before continue with the refinance.
Finally, would it seem sensible to refinance a loan if your purpose is to reinvest in more cash flow properties? This is the one situation where I'd say yes to remortgage the loan. However, this scenario only is smart in certain situations so yes, there is a catch. Also, you should do your homework just like any real estate investment deal.
The investment should pay you greater than the cost of the refinance. So make sure your costing is correct. Will this remortgage not cost you money and rather make you money? If that answer is a yes, then my answer is also a yes.
You must steer clear of getting caught up in all the hoopla about low refinance rates. It will not seem sensible to refinance your mortgages nine out of ten times. And the one occasion it does seem sensible, you should be using that extra income to acquire more cash flowing investments.
BENGHAZI, Libya (Reuters) - The two main Islamist militias in Derna, a city in eastern Libya known as an Islamist stronghold, withdrew from their five bases on Saturday and announced they were disbanding, residents said, a day after a militia was driven out of Benghazi.
The Abu Slim and Ansar al-Sharia militias' announcements were apparently motivated by events in Benghazi, where Ansar al-Sharia, a group linked with last week's deadly attack on the U.S. consulate, withdrew from all its bases in the city late on Friday amid mass demonstrations in support of the government.
Those demonstrations in Libya's second city, also in the east, erupted into violence when the crowd turned against another group that had sworn support for the government.
"The militia in Derna saw what happened last night and they decided: we will not kill our brothers. So they disbanded," Siraj Shennib, a 29-year-old linguistics professor who had been part of protests against the militia, said by telephone.
"They said they no longer exist as militias in Derna. They will go home and leave security to the interior ministry and army."
Shennib said anti-militia protesters had been maintaining a vigil against the groups in Derna for 10 days, and the protests became much larger after a car-jacking three days ago. Residents blame the militia for creating a climate of insecurity.
"The people started coming because it has reached the limit. They are saying: we've had enough," he said. "It was a very peaceful operation. We are happy and we appreciate the effort the militias have done to save people from conflict."
Libyan LANA news agency quoted commanders from both militias as saying they were disbanding and vacating their compounds.
Abu al-Shalali, 27, an Abu Slim fighter who trained as an electrical engineer, said there was a non-violent confrontation at one camp between protesters and fighters who did not initially want to leave but ultimately decided they could not use force against the crowd.
"We can't kill our brothers and our cousins," he said, adding that camp housed a jail with 50 prisoners, all of whom were freed. He said they were common criminals and that their release would probably cause a crime spree.
Derna, a coastal city overlooking the Mediterranean, is known across the region as a major recruitment centre for fighters who joined the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria.
Shennib said the city's reputation was an exaggeration.
"Yes, we have a group of people who are jihadis. But it's not very dangerous at all. It's a normal city. And no one would say that it's a base for al Qaeda. That's just talk," he said.
Ansar al-Sharia was driven out of Benghazi in a surge of anger against the armed groups that control large parts of Libya more than a year after the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi.
A spokesman for Ansar al-Sharia, which has been linked to the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi in which the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans were killed, said it had evacuated its Benghazi bases "to preserve security in the city".
In a dramatic sign of Libya's fragility, after sweeping through Ansar's bases the crowd went on to attack a pro-government militia, believing them to be Islamists, triggering an armed response in which at least 11 people were killed and more than 60 wounded.
The invasion of Ansar al-Sharia's compounds, which met little resistance, appeared to be part of a sweep of militia bases by police, troops and activists following a large demonstration against militia units in Benghazi on Friday.
Demonstrators in Benghazi pulled down militia flags and set a vehicle on fire inside what was once the base of Gaddafi's security forces. Hundreds of men waving swords and even a meat cleaver chanted "Libya, Libya", "No more al Qaeda!" and "The blood we shed for freedom shall not go in vain!"
"After what happened at the American consulate, the people of Benghazi had enough of the extremists," demonstrator Hassan Ahmed said. "This place is like the Bastille. This is where Gaddafi controlled Libya from, and then Ansar al-Sharia took it over. This is a turning point for the people of Benghazi."
PRESSURE ON OBAMA
Libya's government had promised Washington it would find the perpetrators of what appeared to be a well-planned attack on the U.S. consulate, which coincided with protests against an anti-Islam video and the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.
The attack and the outrage directed at the United States over the video across the Muslim world raised questions about President Barack Obama's handling of the so-called Arab Spring.
Although Ansar al-Sharia denies any role in the consulate attack, the latest events in the cradle of Libya's revolution appeared at least in part to vindicate Obama's faith in Libya's nascent democracy.
"It's a pretty clear sign from the Libyan people that they're not going to trade the tyranny of a dictator for the tyranny of the mob," said White House spokesman Josh Earnest.
Libyan political scientist Ahmad al-Atrash told Reuters: "People in Benghazi and all over Libya want to get these militias under control ... The overwhelming feeling is against any element that keeps the situation unstable."
The second half of Friday night's protest proved his point.
A crowd swelling into the thousands moved on to attack a separate Benghazi compound where the powerful pro-government Rafallah al-Sahati militia, safeguarding a big weapons store, opened fire on the assailants.
As looters later tried to leave the scene, vigilantes wielding clubs and machetes tried to prevent them driving off with heavy weapons. Hospital officials told Reuters they had a total of five dead and more than 60 wounded.
Police found six more dead bodies near the compound on Saturday morning, police officer Ahmed Ali Agouri said.
The six dead men were bodyguards of a colonel in the regular Libyan army who went missing on Friday, and the prospect that the killings and kidnapping may have been the work of a militia group suggested there could be more tension between the army and militia in coming days.
Nasser Abdelhaaq, a Rafallah al-Sahati commander, said the brigade had returned to their compound on Saturday morning.
He suggested the crowd had been deliberately manipulated to turn on Rafallah al-Sahati, an officially approved militia that also has Islamist leanings.
RELIANT ON MILITIAS
"Twenty-five percent of those who came were there as saboteurs," he said. "Some of them, we know who they are, they were working with Gaddafi's security brigades."
Libya's new rulers know that, while militias pose the biggest threat to their authority, the state's weak security forces rely on former rebel units, armed with heavy weapons, that fought in the uprising.
Like the rest of Libya, Benghazi is still prowled by dozens of armed groups operating openly, usually with the official permission of a government that is powerless to stop them.
Ansar al-Sharia's overt Benghazi presence was never huge. Its leaders proclaim democratic government to be incompatible with Islam, and the presence on the streets of pickup trucks bearing their Kalashnikov logo was an affront to the government's authority.
But a doctor in hospital where Ansar al-Sharia had been providing security for the past six weeks said the group had prevented anarchy.
"I don't know about their religion or ideology, but they solved problems," said Abdulmonin Salim. "I don't care if they come from another planet. I want a secure hospital."
The U.S. consulate attack seems to have provided a strong impetus for local authorities to rally support behind the weak government. Thousands marched in Friday's "Rescue Benghazi Day" in support of democracy and against Islamist militias.
U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens was well liked, and many Libyans condemned the attack on the consulate despite being angered by the anti-Islamic film made in California that triggered it.
(Additional reporting by Omar al-Mosmary, Mohammed Al-Tommy in Benghazi; Ali Shuaib and Marie-Louise Gumuchian in Tripoli; Writing by Marie-Louise Gumuchian; Editing by Kevin Liffey and Sophie Hares)
In a perfect world everyone would find their Prince (or Princess) Charming, true love would never fade, and everyone would live ?Happily Ever After?. But, we all know that life isn?t a fairytale and that sometimes, even the most enviable relationships can run out of gas.
Daniel Russell knows how to find the answers to questions you can't get to with a simple Google query. In his weekly Search Research column, Russell issues a search challenge, then follows up later in the week with his solution?using whatever search technology and methodology fits the bill. This week's challenge: why are the East Coast and West Coast so different? 
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