Modified bacteria turn waste into fat for fuel

Public release date: 28-Feb-2013
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Contact: David Ruth
david@rice.edu
713-348-6327
Rice University

Rice University process is part of USDA project to develop energy from biomass

HOUSTON (Feb. 28, 2013) "Green" chemistry developed at Rice University is at the center of a new government effort to turn plant waste into fatty acids, and then into fuel.

The Rice lab of bioengineer Ka-Yiu San is part of a recently announced $25 million United States Department of Agriculture project to develop a new generation of renewable energy and bio-based products from switchgrass and forestry residues and from a new hybrid of sorghum being developed at Texas A&M University.

Patent-pending fermentation processes created by San and his colleagues use genetically modified E. coli bacteria to produce fatty acids from hydrolysates. The sugary, carbon-rich hydrolysate is extracted from cellulose, the tough, inedible part of plants that is usually thrown away. San said his lab already gets an 80-to-90 percent yield of fatty acids from model sugars and hopes to improve that over the next few years.

"Adding another 1 or 2 percent doesn't seem like much," said San, based at Rice's BioScience Research Collaborative. "But when you're talking about making several million tons per year, it's huge."

The target products are synthetic diesel and lubricants, according to Ceramatec Inc., a Utah-based company that proposed the project and would produce hydrocarbons from fatty acids that could then be processed by petroleum refineries.

There are two ways to make fuel (from biomass)," said Mukund Karanjikar, innovation manager at Technology Holding LLC, which is administering the project. "You either make alcohols, or you make petroleum-like fuels that can go into current infrastructure. Our program is for infrastructure-compatible transportation fuels.

"There aren't many ways to go from sugars to a diesel-like compound," he said. "The best way is to make fatty acids from the sugars microbially, as many labs have tried to do. But the Rice University process is definitely the winner."

Postdoctoral researchers Xiujun Zhang and Mai Li have been nudging their bacteria toward efficient production of fatty acids for four years, San said. Zhang is responsible for the development of enzymes in E. coli that promote the efficient formation of free fatty acids, while Li, now at GlycosBio, worked to build microbial host strains for high-yield production.

"They have been instrumental to this project," he said. "In four years, with two postdocs, we beat everybody, even groups with dozens of members."

San said the researchers screened hundreds of strains of E. coli and genetically combined the best qualities to reach a high yield. "Other scientists thought we couldn't come close to a maximum yield," San recalled. "They said E. coli only needs to build enough lipid (fat) for its membrane and would stop."

That, as it turned out, was not true. "In fact, one of the strains we developed is very interesting: Instead of excreting the fatty acid, it wants to keep it inside. So more than 70 percent of the weight of these cells is fatty acid. These are obese E. coli," San said.

Since the project began, the researchers have increased their production 100-fold, San said. "We started with a titer of 0.4 grams per liter, and we were excited when we first produced 1 gram. Now we're up to 14 grams per liter and looking at ways to fine-tune the process. But at this point, the bug will not change that much."

Still, it will take time to scale up. "We have to be sure the bug is perfected and robust enough for industry," San said. "Strains that behave well in the lab may not do as well in an industrial setting." He said the development path will involve testing by independent labs to make sure the process is repeatable, and then initial scaling by a pilot plant in two or three years.

"I think this is a very rich area," San said. "When we started this project four years ago, nobody had paid attention to fatty acids. But I knew this would be a good model system with endless variations that could lead to real products."

###

The E. coli strains were developed in a project funded by the National Science Foundation's Engineering Research Center for Renewable Chemicals. San is Rice's E.D. Butcher Professor of Bioengineering and a professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering.

This news release can be found online at http://news.rice.edu/2013/02/28/modified-bacteria-turn-waste-into-fat-for-fuel/

Follow Rice News and Media Relations via Twitter @RiceUNews

Related Materials:

Ka-Yiu San Group: http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~ksan/

USDA announcement: http://tinyurl.com/bl3yn9n

The Center for Biorenewable Chemicals: http://www.cbirc.iastate.edu

Images for download:

http://news.rice.edu/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/0305_BIOMASS-1-web.jpg

http://news.rice.edu/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/0305_BIOMASS-2-web.jpg

Rice University bioengineer Ka-Yiu San holds a beaker of fatty acid produced by genetically modified E. coli from biomass. San's lab is part of a Department of Agriculture product to turn plant waste into fuels and lubricants. (Credit: Jeff Fitlow/Rice University)

http://news.rice.edu/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/0305_BIOMASS-3-web.jpg

http://news.rice.edu/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/0305_BIOMASS-4-web.jpg

Feeding a plant waste-derived "sugar sauce" to genetically modified E. coli bacteria produces fatty acids in a project under development at Rice University. The carbon-rich acids can then be turned into fuel. Rice is part of a project funded by the Department of Agriculture to scale up the production of fuel and other petroleum-like products from biomass. (Credit: Jeff Fitlow/Rice University)

David Ruth
713-348-6327
david@rice.edu

Mike Williams
713-348-6728
mikewilliams@rice.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: 28-Feb-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: David Ruth
david@rice.edu
713-348-6327
Rice University

Rice University process is part of USDA project to develop energy from biomass

HOUSTON (Feb. 28, 2013) "Green" chemistry developed at Rice University is at the center of a new government effort to turn plant waste into fatty acids, and then into fuel.

The Rice lab of bioengineer Ka-Yiu San is part of a recently announced $25 million United States Department of Agriculture project to develop a new generation of renewable energy and bio-based products from switchgrass and forestry residues and from a new hybrid of sorghum being developed at Texas A&M University.

Patent-pending fermentation processes created by San and his colleagues use genetically modified E. coli bacteria to produce fatty acids from hydrolysates. The sugary, carbon-rich hydrolysate is extracted from cellulose, the tough, inedible part of plants that is usually thrown away. San said his lab already gets an 80-to-90 percent yield of fatty acids from model sugars and hopes to improve that over the next few years.

"Adding another 1 or 2 percent doesn't seem like much," said San, based at Rice's BioScience Research Collaborative. "But when you're talking about making several million tons per year, it's huge."

The target products are synthetic diesel and lubricants, according to Ceramatec Inc., a Utah-based company that proposed the project and would produce hydrocarbons from fatty acids that could then be processed by petroleum refineries.

There are two ways to make fuel (from biomass)," said Mukund Karanjikar, innovation manager at Technology Holding LLC, which is administering the project. "You either make alcohols, or you make petroleum-like fuels that can go into current infrastructure. Our program is for infrastructure-compatible transportation fuels.

"There aren't many ways to go from sugars to a diesel-like compound," he said. "The best way is to make fatty acids from the sugars microbially, as many labs have tried to do. But the Rice University process is definitely the winner."

Postdoctoral researchers Xiujun Zhang and Mai Li have been nudging their bacteria toward efficient production of fatty acids for four years, San said. Zhang is responsible for the development of enzymes in E. coli that promote the efficient formation of free fatty acids, while Li, now at GlycosBio, worked to build microbial host strains for high-yield production.

"They have been instrumental to this project," he said. "In four years, with two postdocs, we beat everybody, even groups with dozens of members."

San said the researchers screened hundreds of strains of E. coli and genetically combined the best qualities to reach a high yield. "Other scientists thought we couldn't come close to a maximum yield," San recalled. "They said E. coli only needs to build enough lipid (fat) for its membrane and would stop."

That, as it turned out, was not true. "In fact, one of the strains we developed is very interesting: Instead of excreting the fatty acid, it wants to keep it inside. So more than 70 percent of the weight of these cells is fatty acid. These are obese E. coli," San said.

Since the project began, the researchers have increased their production 100-fold, San said. "We started with a titer of 0.4 grams per liter, and we were excited when we first produced 1 gram. Now we're up to 14 grams per liter and looking at ways to fine-tune the process. But at this point, the bug will not change that much."

Still, it will take time to scale up. "We have to be sure the bug is perfected and robust enough for industry," San said. "Strains that behave well in the lab may not do as well in an industrial setting." He said the development path will involve testing by independent labs to make sure the process is repeatable, and then initial scaling by a pilot plant in two or three years.

"I think this is a very rich area," San said. "When we started this project four years ago, nobody had paid attention to fatty acids. But I knew this would be a good model system with endless variations that could lead to real products."

###

The E. coli strains were developed in a project funded by the National Science Foundation's Engineering Research Center for Renewable Chemicals. San is Rice's E.D. Butcher Professor of Bioengineering and a professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering.

This news release can be found online at http://news.rice.edu/2013/02/28/modified-bacteria-turn-waste-into-fat-for-fuel/

Follow Rice News and Media Relations via Twitter @RiceUNews

Related Materials:

Ka-Yiu San Group: http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~ksan/

USDA announcement: http://tinyurl.com/bl3yn9n

The Center for Biorenewable Chemicals: http://www.cbirc.iastate.edu

Images for download:

http://news.rice.edu/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/0305_BIOMASS-1-web.jpg

http://news.rice.edu/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/0305_BIOMASS-2-web.jpg

Rice University bioengineer Ka-Yiu San holds a beaker of fatty acid produced by genetically modified E. coli from biomass. San's lab is part of a Department of Agriculture product to turn plant waste into fuels and lubricants. (Credit: Jeff Fitlow/Rice University)

http://news.rice.edu/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/0305_BIOMASS-3-web.jpg

http://news.rice.edu/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/0305_BIOMASS-4-web.jpg

Feeding a plant waste-derived "sugar sauce" to genetically modified E. coli bacteria produces fatty acids in a project under development at Rice University. The carbon-rich acids can then be turned into fuel. Rice is part of a project funded by the Department of Agriculture to scale up the production of fuel and other petroleum-like products from biomass. (Credit: Jeff Fitlow/Rice University)

David Ruth
713-348-6327
david@rice.edu

Mike Williams
713-348-6728
mikewilliams@rice.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.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-02/ru-mbt022813.php

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Of competitions and consequences ? The Society for News Design ...

&nbsp

February 28th, 2013

By Josh Crutchmer

I have a confession. I don?t believe everything I read from the media.

Does that make me a bad member of the media?

Here?s why I ask: I?m hearing from fellow journalists that SND has an infographics-and-illustration crisis on its hand, and the journalist in me can?t kick the skeptical habit that easily.

Full disclosure: I think the series from Dr. Mario Garcia is balanced, well-researched and written fairly. I am very glad the Best of News Design has generated some serious discussion this year. That?s exactly what it should be doing.

PART 1 of Dr. Garcia?s series explores whether it?s tougher today to win in the SND infographic category.

PART 2 talks about potential solutions to improve the infographics competition.

PART 3 looks at a winning and losing entry from this year?s competition.

My issue ? and admittedly I don?t think anyone can be closer to the issue right now, as I was a judge at SND34, the competition coordinator for SND33, and I am a member of the competition committee responsible for the structure of the competition ? is that I can?t make the immediate leap from ?SND did not give out many graphics and illustration awards? to ?SND has a major problem on its hands.?

The best I can offer is to examine the issue from all sides, and what follows is my best effort.

Let?s oversimplify the issue for the purpose of this discussion, and say this: The issue at hand is that SND34 judges awarded so few graphics and illustration entries that there is cause for concern over the viability and integrity of the competition. We know this based on public and private reaction to the announced results.

That?s our issue. Let?s take a look at all of the possibilities that arise in its wake.

Possibility No. 1: All of the above is absolutely true.

If that?s true, then it has to be ? TRUE: The results jeopardize the competition and call its integrity into question. But keep in mind, for that to be true, the graphics and illustration judges have to be wrong in their professional opinion. Let?s take a look at exactly who would have to be wrong, at a minimum. Friends, your SND34 visuals team judges:

Michael Whitley, AME, Los Angeles Times: For almost a decade, the Times? visual work has been led SND in awards, and has similarly been lauded by such competitions as Pictures of the Year International, Malofeij and the Best of Sports Design, among others. He?s a competition committee member and former coordinator.

Alex Fong, deputy design director, Bay Area News Group: He?s a member of Digital First Media?s print redesign team and has worked as a part of one of the most respected visual teams of the last 15 years.

Rob Schneider, SND president, Dallas Morning News presentation director: Because of what I?m about to say, it should be enough that he?s the elected leader of SND. His work, particularly in information layering, has consistently helped set the bar for excellence in print design since 2003.

Vanessa Wyse, creative director, The Grid: You may know her from the publication she oversees winning back-to-back World?s Best honors, or from the standing-room only session on creativity she presented at SND Cleveland.

Saulo Santana, art director, Bild am Sonntag: His previous work was at Correio Braziliense. His paper won World?s Best this year.

All of those judges assign, coordinate and edit graphics as part of their jobs, and the work they have been a part of is evidence they do those jobs very well.

The conflict judges were Christobal Edwards and Paul Wallen. The coordinator was Melissa Angle. Three of the most respected individuals in the Society today, whose volunteerism and attention to SND?s best interests could by itself fill a large book.

IF THIS YEAR?S JUDGING WAS NEGLIGENTLY FLAWED, THEN IT MUST BE TRUE THAT THOSE PEOPLE MADE IT SO.

And friends, enemies, and casual colleagues, that is one hell of an indictment to pin on those individuals.

But you can?t separate it. If you honestly, really do not respect the SND results in those two categories, it is a representation of their collective opinions that you do not respect. When I see terms like ?self-flagellation? thrown out, directed at a list of individuals whose track record and character indicate the exact polar opposite of self-flagellators, the first two words that spring to my little southern mind are not kind ones.

Possibility No. 2: None of the above is absolutely true.

Statistically, the percentage of graphics winners versus graphics entries has changed very little over the years. But it hasn?t been that long ago that SND was giving 30-40 awards in categories that had 800-900 entries. Now we?re hovering around 15-20 in categories that have 400-500. Math says that nothing?s wrong there.

Now is when I acknowledge that, yes, it does look rather jarring to pick up an SND book and see 17 graphics winners when you?re used to seeing 34. To onlookers, that inherently has to raise red flags.

But the larger point is, there?s a side to this discussion that says there?s not a great statistical difference this year, and would we really want there to be one?

Possibility No. 3: Entries that did not win could have been better.

One of the things that makes winning an award of excellence an honor is that it?s, um, really really hard to win awards of excellence. Others can break out the numbers, but my experience is that graphics and illustrations are awarded at about the same percentage that features entries are awarded, which is just under three percent, annually.

The reason for that is, there?s often a lot of truly great work entered in the competition. Winning requires rising above truly great work. It takes refining details and editing beyond greatness. Here are some things that separate ?great? from ?excellent? at SND:

? Use of the space. Was your entry a full-page graphic with a quarter-page of information?

? Originality. Were you the first to do something or did you expound on an idea that had been done before? Even if you did it better, it?s not a guarantee that it?s so much better that it deserves the same honor.

? Stopping a judge. Did you have a clear lead visual or a clean concept, or maybe a well-written headline? If you want a ?yes? vote, you have to stop a judge who will look at thousands of entries and make that judge want to consider yours. (A great test would be to look at your work while you have a headache. Does looking at it make your headache worse or does it make you want to fight through it and pore over it anyway?)

All of the above are just a handful of the reasons a chip can fall into a ?yes? or ?no? cup.

If you?re really really angry about your SND result, I would implore you to ask yourself, ?What could we have done to make that better?? and then ?Why didn?t we do it?? If there?s really no answer, then you absolutely have a valid point of contention.

At the heart of all competitions is this, and it?s a cold hard fact: They exist to set the bar.

Did your work set the bar this year? If it didn?t, are you willing to double down on your efforts next year? Those are personal questions. Greatness can?t be lectured.

By that same standard, this is important too: If you believe your work is already great, setting the bar and cannot be better, and you?re looking to SND to validate it, you?re looking at SND completely wrong. It?s OK to be comfortable in your knowledge of how good your work is. Competitions don?t exist to validate. They?re there to collectively set a bar. You have every right to differ in your opinion.

Possibility No. 4: The statement?s not true, but SND exists to evolve, and it should.?

We learn things every year. Speaking strictly as a competition committee member, I fully understand how this looks to a great many people. Moreover, I understand that the consequences of looking a certain way can affect whether someone continues to enter the competition. I would never look at it as ?taking a ball and going home.? If the competition isn?t viable, people don?t participate, and viability is influenced by perception.

There can be no ambiguity if this is true, and neither can this: The stated concerns have been heard clearly and emphatically. Every part of the print competition will be scrutinized this year, nothing more so than graphics and illustrations. The competition committee will look at category breakdowns, whether it?s fair to have certain graphics judged against other types. Or whether news illustrations should be on the table next to sports illustrations.

And we?re not going to look at it with the purpose of doubling or tripling the number of winners. We are going to look at it from the perspective of fairness. Everybody who enters the competition has the right to expect that their work will be treated fairly, and there is nothing the competition committee values above that.

If you?re angry about this year, I just hope you?ll treat next year the way we do as journalists. Be skeptical, but thorough. Examine the changes and decide for yourself if it?s taken a step forward. If you do that and feel otherwise, at least you did that. That?s vastly different from stonewalling SND out of anger.

We exist to set the bar. That?s all we tried to do in three frigid February days. And nothing and nobody whose eyes fall upon this sentence deserved less.

Josh Crutchmer is the news design director at the Minneapolis Star Tribune.

This post was tagged: snd34

Source: http://www.snd.org/2013/02/of-competitions-and-consequences/

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Christian Slater Announces Engagement To Brittany Lopez (VIDEO)

Christian Slater Announces Engagement To Brittany Lopez (VIDEO)

Christian Slater announced he is set to get married again to his longtime girlfriend Brittany Lopez during his appearance on “Late Night With Jimmy Fallon” on Wednesday. The actor confirmed the news and Christian described how he met his fiance in Florida in a very interesting way. Slater explained to Jimmy Fallon, “I went down ...

Christian Slater Announces Engagement To Brittany Lopez (VIDEO) Stupid Celebrities Gossip Stupid Celebrities Gossip News

Source: http://stupidcelebrities.net/2013/02/christian-slater-announces-engagement-to-brittany-lopez-video/

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Zoe Saldana Geeks Out About 'Star Trek Into Darkness' And 'Avatar 2'

On the red carpet at the Oscars, MTV News' Josh Horowitz couldn't help but totally geek out with Zoe Saldana about her two sci-fi franchises, J.J. Abrams' "Star Trek" and James Cameron's "Avatar," both of which are expecting sequels in the near to relatively near future. But first thing's first, "Star Trek Into Darkness." What's [...]

Source: http://moviesblog.mtv.com/2013/02/27/zoe-saldana-star-trek-avatar-2/

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Parental Guidance: Jack the Giant Slayer, The Last Exorcism Part II, and The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2

News ? Columns ? Parental Guidance ? Parental Guidance: Jack the Giant Slayer, The Last Exorcism Part II, and The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2

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We give you what you need to know about the family-friendliness of this week's new releases.

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Hump Day Special

Hump Day Special

Kesha’s Vagina is in Tip Top Shape?[The Frisky] Harry Styles Attacked During London Concert?[HollyWire] JWoww Lends Support to No H8 Campaign?[Right Celebrity] Selena Gomez’s New Album Coming Soon?[The Celebrity Cafe] Justin Bieber Makes a Questionable Fashion Choice?[The Blemish] Beyonce Poses in the Shower Fully Clothed?[The Huffington Post] Bobby Brown Sentenced to Jail?[Anything Hollywood] Meet God’s ...

Hump Day Special Stupid Celebrities Gossip Stupid Celebrities Gossip News

Source: http://stupidcelebrities.net/2013/02/hump-day-special-8/

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Rick Springfield returning to 'General Hospital'

Chris Pizzello / AP

Rick Springfield's Dr. Drake is returning to "GH"!

By Drusilla Moorhouse, TODAY contributor

For fans of Rick Springfield, this is just what the doctor ordered: The "Jessie's Girl" singer is returning to "General Hospital," reprising his role as Dr. Noah Drake.

Even better, reports People, he'll be joined by his son, Liam Springthorpe. (Springfield was born Richard Springthorpe.) The young actor-musician, who will play an undercover cop, isn't expecting to share scenes with his famous father.

Springfield debuted on the ABC soap opera in 1981 -- the same year "Jessie's Girl" topped the charts and earned him a Grammy award for best male rock vocal performance. Since we last saw Noah Drake in March 2012, Springfield says the good doctor has been "going to Doctors Without Borders and going around the world helping people."

"He lost his wife and became a drunk and regretted all these terrible, sinful ways and then cleaned his act up when he almost died from the alcohol," Springfield told People about the troubled neurosurgeon.

Noah Drake returns to Port Charles in April 2013.

"General Hospital" airs at 1 p.m. PT / 2 p.m. ET weekdays on ABC.

Will you be watching him with those eyes? Tell us on our Facebook page!

Related content:

More in The Clicker:

Source: http://theclicker.today.com/_news/2013/02/26/17104543-rick-springfield-returning-to-general-hospital-along-with-his-son?lite

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'Spider Sense' suit trades sight for touch

Devin Coldewey , NBC News ? ? ? 7 hrs.

A student project has resulted in a suit that mimics Spider-Man's famous "spider sense," allowing the wearer to sense obstacles and other people without the benefit of sight. It still has a ways to go, though, so using it to fight crime is not advised.

Victor Mateevisti at the University of Illinois, Chicago decided to investigate whether something like an enhanced sense of one's environment can be created with off-the-shelf sensors and hardware. The answer is: Not quite yet, but we're getting there.

The suit consists of ultrasonic rangefinders placed at various attitudes that feed into a central processor. That processor sends signals to small mechanical arms that put pressure on the body in the general region of the object detected.

The approach is similar to that of the Tacit, a hand-worn "sonar for the blind" that translates distance into pressure, but the SpiderSense suit detects its environment in several directions at once.

So, for example, if a person were to approach someone wearing this suit from behind, the sensor would detect that person when they came in range and pressure would be applied to the user's back. If they came from the left, pressure would be applied on the left.

Experiments with a blindfolded test subject had mixed results. In some situations, such as a simple hallway or open area with pedestrians coming and going, the test subject could accurately detect the direction and distance of obstacles (and even hit them with cardboard throwing stars made for that purpose).

On the other hand, navigating the aisles of the library proved impractical: the narrow corridors and openings didn't produce intelligible information.

Mateevitsi told New Scientist that the goal isn't necessarily a whole suit. A limited version of the system could be used by a bicyclist to be better aware of traffic behind him, for instance.

The results and methodology of the project can be viewed in Mateevitsi's paper (PDF); The findings will also be presented next week at the Augmented Human conference in Stuttgart, Germany.

Devin Coldewey is a contributing writer for NBC News Digital. His personal website is coldewey.cc.

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/futureoftech/spider-sense-suit-trades-sight-touch-1C8543844

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Not all Baby Boomers looking to downsize | ILSTV.com

Who wants to trade in their single-family homes for downtown condos or terrace houses? It used to be those close to retirement but new research from Royal LePage Real Estate says this is no longer the case.

The poll by Leger Marketing found that of the 40.6 per cent of Baby Boomers (born between 1947 and 1966), who do have plans to move to another primary residence, almost half (43.5 percent) are looking to purchase another primary residence that is a similar size or larger than their current property. Of the total responses from Baby Boomers who intend to purchase their next primary residence, 66.8 percent said they will do so in the next five years.

?Baby Boomers are the wealthiest generation in Canadian history. They live in large homes with ample space for their many possessions. They love their garages and their yards. This study clearly indicates that contrary to popular belief, most Boomers do not intend to downsize anytime soon,? said?a statement from Phil Soper, CEO of Royal LePage Real Estate.

Male Baby Boomers, who are planning to move, are more keen on upsizing their residence than women, with 23.0 percent reporting that they plan on moving to a larger residence compared to 12.1 percent of women. Baby Boomers looking to purchase a condominium prefer less amenities and low maintenance fees (54.5 percent) over properties that have many amenities (39.1 percent). Seventy-eight per cent of Baby Boomers currently own their own homes.

Contributing to the desire of Baby Boomers to continue to invest in large, suburban homes is the reality of housing children well into adulthood. According to the survey, a quarter of Generation Y lives rent free because of arrangements with family or friends, but that number climbs to 33.4 percent in the Prairies, 29.7 percent in?Qu?bec and 27.2 percent in Ontario.

?The adult children of Baby Boomers aren?t going anywhere fast. Good jobs have proven more difficult for them to find, they?re extending their studies and they?re living at home. It is no wonder the concept of swapping a family-sized home for a small retreat has lost its luster,? said Soper.

Meanwhile, members of Generation Y (those born between 1980 and 1994), who plan to purchase their next residence, are most interested in single-family multi-storey homes (50.6 percent) and bungalows (19.0 percent). Only 15.7 percent of Generation Y said they plan to buy a condominium or an apartment. In comparison, 22.9 percent of Baby Boomers looking to purchase their next residence desire condominiums or apartments.

The survey found that more than half of Generation Y planning to purchase their next residence, intend to purchase in the suburbs (55.7 percent) compared to the downtown core of a city (21.7 percent). Forty-three per cent of current non-owners who plan to purchase in the next five years say it is because they are planning to start a family in the near future. Among this younger demographic planning to purchase their next residence, the safety of a neighbourhood and proximity to their work, family and friends are the most important attributes when selecting a new home. Keeping in mind that nearly half of Generation Y listed their near-term plans to have children of their own (42.0 per cent) as a motivating factor to purchase, the least important factors are proximity to the downtown city core and restaurants or entertainment.

?

Royal LePage Baby Boomer and Generation Y Survey? Survey Results for Respondents Who Plan To Purchase a New Primary Residence?
	Baby Boomers (1947-1966)	Generation Y (1980-1994)
When I move I plan to?
Upsize	17.6%	63.2%
Same Size	25.9%	20.9%
Downsize	54.0%	12.9%
I don?t know/ I prefer not to answer	0.7%	2.2%
What type of property are you interested in for your next primary residence?
Multi-family properties
Condominiums/Apartments	22.9%	15.8%
Single family homes
Townhouse	6.8%	7.3%
Bungalow	39.0%	19.0%
Single family multi-storey	18.8%	50.6%
Sub-total	64.5%	76.8%
Other
Recreational property	5.9%	1.7%
Other	3.0%	2.8%
I don?t know/I prefer not to answer	3.3%	2.9%
What features/amenities are most important to you in purchasing your next primary residence?
Safety of the neighbourhood/area	61.9%	63.2%
Includes a backyard or balcony	69.6%	66.3%
Style of the home	63.5%	60.9%
Garage or driveway	67.8%	57.7%
Square footage of the property	50.2%	49.9%
Green/energy efficient	27.2%	20.2%
Swimming pool	12.7%	8.9%
Proximity to work	16.7%	47.1%
Proximity to public transportation	29.0%	31.2%
Proximity to family and friends	23.3%	34.3%
Proximity to downtown/city core	26.3%	24.3%
Proximity to restaurants/entertainment	22.8%	19.8%
Proximity to schools or daycares	6.8%	29.9%
Includes a gym or fitness centre	7.0%	7.9%

You might also be interested in: Nearly one-quarter of BC homeowners rent out part of home?

Source: http://www.ilstv.com/not-all-baby-boomers-looking-to-downsize/

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The Good Ol' Fashioned Way to Calculate Exposure Time

Forget auto-exposure, or even light meters. Back in the day this booklet and some mental arithmetic was all that was required to achieve the perfect exposure when taking photographs. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/Wt85jKTsChg/the-good-ol-fashioned-way-to-calculate-exposure-time

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BP executive testifies at Gulf oil spill trial

Lamar McKay, former president of BP America and current chief executive of BP's Upstream unit, left, leaves Federal Court after testifying in New Orleans, Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2013. McKay, who was president of BP America at the time of the Deepwater Horizon disaster, became the first BP executive to testify at the federal trial intended to identify the causes of BP's Macondo well blowout and assign percentages of blame to the companies involved. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Lamar McKay, former president of BP America and current chief executive of BP's Upstream unit, left, leaves Federal Court after testifying in New Orleans, Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2013. McKay, who was president of BP America at the time of the Deepwater Horizon disaster, became the first BP executive to testify at the federal trial intended to identify the causes of BP's Macondo well blowout and assign percentages of blame to the companies involved. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Lamar McKay, former president of BP America and current chief executive of BP's Upstream unit, leaves Federal Court after testifying in New Orleans, Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2013. McKay, who was president of BP America at the time of the Deepwater Horizon disaster, became the first BP executive to testify at the federal trial intended to identify the causes of BP's Macondo well blowout and assign percentages of blame to the companies involved. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Lamar McKay, former president of BP America and current chief executive of BP's Upstream unit, leaves Federal Court after testifying in New Orleans, Monday, Feb. 25, 2013. McKay, who was president of BP America at the time of the Deepwater Horizon disaster, became the first BP executive to testify at the federal trial intended to identify the causes of BP's Macondo well blowout and assign percentages of blame to the companies involved. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

NEW ORLEANS (AP) ? A ranking BP executive testified Tuesday that the London-based oil giant and its contractors share the responsibility for preventing blowouts like the one that killed 11 workers and spawned the nation's worst offshore oil spill in 2010.

Lamar McKay, who was president of BP America at the time of the Deepwater Horizon disaster, became the first BP executive to testify at a federal trial intended to identify the causes of BP's Macondo well blowout and assign percentages of blame to the companies involved.

Rig owner Transocean and cement contractor Halliburton also are defendants at trial, which opened Monday.

A plaintiffs' attorney pressed McKay to agree with him that BP bore ultimate responsibility for the blowout, but McKay insisted that managing the hazards of deepwater drilling are a "team effort."

"I think that's a shared responsibility, to manage the safety and the risk," said McKay, now chief executive of BP's Upstream unit. "Sometimes contractors manage that risk. Sometimes we do. Most of the time it's a team effort."

McKay also defended BP's internal probe of the spill, which outlined a series of mistakes by rig workers and faulted decisions by other companies but didn't assign any blame to BP's upper-level management.

"I think it was a substantial investigation," McKay said. "I think we've learned what we can from the accident and we're trying to put those things into practice right now."

McKay, whose testimony will resume Wednesday, called the disaster a "tragic accident" resulting from a "risk that was identified."

It wasn't the first time McKay testified under oath about the spill. He appeared before Congress less than a month after the explosion.

U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier is hearing the case without a jury. Barring a settlement, Barbier will decide how much more money BP and other companies owe for their roles in the disaster.

McKay's testimony followed that of an expert witness for people and businesses suing the company. University of California-Berkeley engineering professor Robert Bea testified that BP PLC didn't implement a 2-year-old safety management program on the rig, which exploded on April 20, 2010.

"It's a classic failure of management and leadership in BP," said Bea, a former BP consultant who also investigated the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill and New Orleans levee breaches after Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

BP has said its "Operating Management System" was designed to drive a rigorous and systematic approach to safety and risk management. During cross-examination by a BP lawyer, Bea said the company made "significant efforts" to improve safety management as early as 2003.

However, the plaintiffs say BP only implemented its new safety plan at just one of the seven rigs the company owned or leased in the Gulf at the time of the disaster.

Bea said it was "tragic" and "egregious" that BP didn't apply its own safety program to the Deepwater Horizon before the Macondo well blowout. Transocean owned the rig; BP leased it.

BP lawyer Mike Brock said the company allows contractors like Transocean to take the primary responsibility for the safety of rig operations as long as the contractor's safety system is compatible with BP's ? an arrangement that Brock suggested is a standard industry practice.

In his May 2010 congressional testimony, McKay said BP's Operating Management System is "as good as anyone."

"I know of nothing that points me in a direction that we have deficiencies" in the system, McKay said.

As he questioned Bea, Brock recited a long list of steps that BP took to improve safety, citing them as evidence that the company wasn't "cutting corners" on safety.

A plaintiffs' lawyer showed Bea a transcript of a deposition of Tony Hayward, BP's CEO at the time of the disaster. Hayward was asked if the blowout could have been averted if BP had implemented the safety management program in the Gulf.

"There is possible potential," Hayward responded. "Undoubtedly."

Bea said BP's "culture of every dollar counts" was reflected in a May 2009 email sent by BP well team leader John Guide: "The DW Horizon embraced every dollar matters since I arrived 18 months ago," Guide wrote. "We have saved BP millions and no one had to tell us."

"Financially, BP had the resources to effectively put into place a process safety system that could have prevented the Macondo disaster," Bea testified.

BP has already pleaded guilty to manslaughter and other criminal charges and has racked up more than $24 billion in spill-related expenses, including cleanup costs, compensation for businesses and individuals, and $4 billion in criminal penalties.

Plaintiffs' attorney Robert Cunningham read portions of the plea agreement as he pressed McKay to say how much responsibility BP takes for the catastrophe. Cunningham noted that nothing in the document assigns blame to specific BP executives.

"That is not written in there. That's true," McKay said.

Two BP rig supervisors, however, have been indicted on manslaughter charges for the workers' deaths and are awaiting a separate trial.

"There were some misinterpretations and mistakes made" on the rig, McKay said.

One of the biggest questions facing Barbier is whether BP acted with gross negligence.

Under the Clean Water Act, a polluter can be forced to pay a minimum of $1,100 per barrel of spilled oil; the fines nearly quadruple to about $4,300 a barrel for companies found grossly negligent, meaning BP could be on the hook for nearly $18 billion.

___

Follow Kunzelman at https://twitter.com/Kunzelman75

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2013-02-26-Gulf%20Oil%20Spill-Trial/id-90308b2bacf24ccdac5979bc3fb3928a

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Sunday collection: sacred dying | Pilgrim's Moon

I woke up this morning thinking about death. As you do.

And then the first thing I saw on Facebook was this update from a friend about our age:

Two contemporaries facing the end of their lives. Much need for helpful reflection about how we prepare others and ourselves for this critical stage of our journey.

I hope you don?t mind my second Sunday Collection being on the topic of death and dying. It?s not a comfortable subject for everyone, but, as whoever it was said, death is the only thing certain about life, along with taxes.

Too soon?

The reason I woke up thinking about death was because of the shocking news that came my way on Friday of a former colleague?s death from cancer at the age of 27.

This was unusually young, but one of the normal markers of our lives as we grow older is that we begin to lose our friends, life partners and contemporary family. Sometimes it?s much too soon, sometimes death comes at the right time, even when it?s still difficult for those of us left behind.

And perhaps some of you reading this are yourselves in the process of loosening your hold on life.

And yet we still don?t seem to have enough by way of mechanisms to cope. Our society still prefers to have death take place neatly around the corner out of sight.

Practical preparations

There are some practicalities which makes it easier for loved ones to cope with our deaths, like making a Will and letting people know what funeral arrangements to make. These things are important and we know we should do them. (I haven?t, yet.)

For those in the UK, Amnesty is holding Make a Will Fortnight, which means you can make a Will free of charge or for a donation to Amnesty. So no more excuses.

Digital death

An added complication today for those of us who have rather large online footprints is what happens to all those blogs, Facebook and Twitter accounts, emails etc. Does your social media life live on after you do? Will Facebook friends be wishing you a happy birthday years after you?ve kicked the bucket? (Not such a bad thing, I guess.)

There?s a good article about this in New Scientist, and there are also services such as Legacy Locker which can help. For a fee. Or you could simply leave a document with usernames and passwords for all your online services. Keep it up to date though, and keep it safe.

But the practical considerations are not the main things I want to talk about today.

Sacred preparation

Medical care for the dying has come a long way in the last couple of decades, although there are still terrible experiences and people dying alone on trolleys in hospital corridors or collapsing in the street.

The Hospice movement has transformed the experience of those nearing the end of life for countless thousands of people, with excellent palliative care and, just as important, the acknowledgement that death is coming, no pretences.

Hospice and hospital chaplains of all faiths work with those nearing death.

Meanwhile new ways of accompanying the dying are appearing.

Music

One of the most beautiful, I think, is music.

A few years ago, as I sat by the bed of my 84 year old aunt on the last night of her life, I was moved suddenly to begin singing to her. She had been unresponsive and apparently unaware of my presence, but as I began to sing the Salve Regina (she was a lifelong Catholic, and lover of music of all kinds), she turned her bony face slowly in my direction, an expression crossing her face of a sort of peaceful yearning. I knew then that she was ready.

There are many a capella groups now who sing in hospices as part of a ministry to the dying. The Threshold Singers are based in Boston, the Harbour Singers in Maine, and the Hallowell Singers in Vermont/New Hampshire. (I doubt this is a phenomenon only of the Eastern Seaboard, but these are the groups I know of.)

Hallowell have this to say of the beginning of their ministry:

In March 2003, during the final week of Dinah Breunig?s life, a group of friends from church and community surrounded her bed to sing for and with her while she lay dying. ?On two different evenings, over 30 people came to help Dinah pass over on the wings of the songs she so loved in her life. ?It was during those evenings, our voices joined in harmony, our hearts ?open with grief and love, that Hallowell was born. We have been singing this way ever since, in groups anywhere from 4 to 35, quiet reverent songs over a person in their last hours, or songs of joy and spirit for someone in hospice care but still fully alive in their dying weeks.

Soul midwives

And Soul Midwives are non-medical people who accompany and support the dying. What do they do?

They keep a loving vigil.
They create and hold a sacred and healing space for the dying person
They recognise and support the individual needs of the departing soul to enable a tranquil death.
They use sound, touch, colour and smell and other gentle techniques to help alleviate pain and anxiety.
They support families and loved ones.

And there?s also the organisation from whose name I took the title of this post: the Sacred Dying Foundation. Here?s what they say about their ministry:

The Sacred Dying Philosophy is concerned with bringing spirituality, through presence and ritual, into the physical act of dying. Sacred Dying facilitates the creation of a setting where death is experienced with honor, respect, and sacredness. This can be as simple as being present with a loved member of your family and as complicated as transforming the vision of our entire society.

Afterlife or not?

Perhaps here would be an appropriate place to tackle the question of whether this life is all there is.

Does it matter? Well on some levels, profoundly, but on others perhaps not so much.

Do people who believe that death is the end approach it with more fear than those whose religious belief makes them feel sinful? Or more resignation. I?m not sure. (I?d love to hear what you think about this.)

But surely ritual and sacramental approaches to dying are the practices to which we should aspire, whatever our beliefs.

Personally, I don?t believe this life is the end, although I have no idea what might come next. Here?s what Gandalf told Pippin:

Being ready

Born like a dream
In this dream of a world
How easy in mind I am
I who will fade away
like the morning dew

Ikkyu Sojun

We?re all amateurs at dying. And we may not have the luxury of preparation. Some of us may prefer the idea of a quick and sudden end. Personally, I would prefer not to ?take a header? into death without some warning, but the choice is not mine.

We lie down at night, all of us, even the most healthy, not quite knowing if we will get up tomorrow. There?s a surrender in Sojun?s words above which would be wonderful to live by.

My final recommendation is a book called The Grace in Dying, by Kathleen Dowling Singh. Offering insights from spirituality, transpersonal psychology and her experience over many years accompanying the dying, this book is full of treasures.

So I leave you ? and I hope that in spite of all this talk of death and dying you have a wonderful week ? with the words of C.S. Lewis and The Last Battle:

It is as hard to explain how this sunlit land was different from the old Narnia as it would be to tell you how the fruits of that country taste. Perhaps you might get some idea of it if you think like this. You may have been in a room in which there was a window that looked out on a lovely bay of the sea or a green valley that wound away among mountains. And in the wall of that room opposite to the window there may have been a looking-glass. And as you turned away from the window you suddenly caught sight of that sea or that valley, all over again, in the looking-glass. And the sea in the mirror, or the valley in the mirror, were in one sense just the same as the real ones: yet at the same time they were somehow different ? deeper, more wonderful, more like places in a story ? in a story you have never heard but very much want to know.

Farther up, and farther in?

Image credits?Alice Popkorn

Source: http://www.pilgrimsmoon.com/2013/02/24/sunday-collection-sacred-dying/

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iOS lock screen can be bypassed with some button mashing... again (video)

It seems that every time Apple introduces a new version of iOS, it creates some new method to get past the software's lock screen. A YouTube tutorial reveals the rather simple combination of button presses and fake emergency calls necessary to give you access to anyone's iDevice -- or more specifically to the iOS phone module, from where you can make calls, view and edit contacts, send email and perform any other linked function. You'll have to be quick-fingered, however, as you have to push the home button rapidly after getting into the iPhone's contact list. You can learn how to do it after the break, but until Cupertino issues an update, we'd suggest keeping your beloved fondlephone close by.

Filed under: Apple

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/02/14/ios-lock-screen-hack/

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Sports Writer Chris Singleton: Ever wondered how Vandebilt basketball player Lio...

Sorry, Readability was unable to parse this page for content.

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New technology for producing hydrogen

Feb. 13, 2013 ? The PhD thesis of Aingeru Remiro-Eguskiza, a chemical engineer of the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), deals with the quest for a process to produce hydrogen from bio-oil that has a lower impact on the environment than the process using current routes.

The gradual increase in the price of crude oil and the negative environmental consequences that its use entails are putting us on the threshold of a change of energy model that will need to be tackled over the coming decades. Faced with the obvious necessity of finding an energy alternative that will replace fossil fuels in the near future at least partially and in a gradual way, hydrogen is emerging as one of the alternatives.

Currently, hydrogen is obtained through various methods that require separating the hydrogen from other chemical elements like carbon (in fossil fuels) and oxygen (from water). The methods used for this purpose are not viable from an environmental or economic perspective, respectively, as far as the large-scale production of hydrogen is concerned.

The aim of this thesis was to contribute towards the laboratory scale development of a process for producing hydrogen from bio-oil by means of catalytic reforming using water vapour. Bio-oil is a heterogeneous mixture of wood-based oxygenated products, the catalytic transformation of which routinely entails problems of operability and deactivation of the catalyst. This is because when it is being heated, a fraction of the compounds that make up the bio-oil form a solid residue (the so-called pyrolytic lignin) which collects on the inlet pipes of the reactor and in the reactor itself. The bio-oil used for the research in the thesis was developed at an IK4-Ikerlan plant.

An in-house designed reaction unit

To solve the problems caused by the use of bio-oil, an in-house designed reaction unit was used and which comprises two stages: the thermal and the catalytic stages. In the thermal stage (in which the bio-oil is heated) the controlled deposition of the pyrolytic lignin takes place and this minimizes the operational problems and the deactivation of the catalyst. That way the compounds obtained in the thermal stage are more susceptible to being transformed.

In addition, a third stage has been incorporated into the process: the CO₂ capture intended to intensify the production of H2 increases its purity and cuts the associated contaminating emissions. The process involves using an adsorber in the reaction bed and which is designed to capture the CO₂. "When the CO₂ is eliminated from the reaction bed, we are encouraging the displacement of the reaction equilibriums and, as a result, a greater yield and a greater output of hydrogen are obtained," explains Remiro.

In this context, he stresses that improvement in the CO₂ capture in the reaction bed was verified when extremely pure hydrogen, close to 100%, was obtained and at a lower operating temperature with respect to the process minus the CO₂ capture.

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

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_technology/~3/pSvpPY2qvY4/130213082336.htm

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Eros International & Sony Entertainment to co-invest & co-produce Shashant Shah's BHAJATHE RAHO - News

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Eros International Media Ltd. (Eros International), a leading global company in the Indian film entertainment industry and Multi Screen Media Private Limited (Sony Entertainment), one of the largest Indian television networks will co-invest and co-produce Shashant Shah's BHAJATHE RAHO.

Eros and Sony Entertainment will jointly produce and distribute the film which is currently under production. Directed by Shashant Shah who has previously directed CHALO DILLI for Eros, BHAJATHE RAHO stars an ensemble cast of Tusshar Kapoor, Ranveer Shorey, Vinay Pathak, Ravi Kishan, Dolly Ahluwalia and others. A fun potboiler, it's a slice of life film looking at a mid-year release.

Commenting on the tie-up, Sunil Lulla, Managing Director, Eros International Media Ltd said, ''We are pleased to announce this strategic relationship between Eros and a global brand like Sony Entertainment. We are looking forward to the potential benefits that both entities will bring to the film with their combined strengths. By extending together our established networks to distribute BHAJATHE RAHO in India and international markets, we hope to give the film the best release platform.''

N.P Singh, Chief Operating Officer, Multi Screen Media Private Limited added, ''As a major Indian television network, we are very happy to enter into this agreement with a leading Indian studio like Eros to develop and release high quality original Indian content to fans of Indian cinema across the world.''

?

Source: http://www.glamsham.com/movies/scoops/13/feb/13-news-eros-international-sony-entertainment-shashant-shahs-bhajathe-raho-021309.asp

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How would you change Acer's Iconia Tab a700?

When we handed Acer's Iconia Tab to our tame tablet reviewer, they were bewildered by its 1,920 x 1,200 display. While it may have been easy to use, quick and lovely to look at, it was also a bit on the hefty side, with its meager battery not helping. So then, six months down the line, we're asking you to sound off about what you liked and loathed about this device, because we're fairly sure the Acers of this world are listening.

Filed under: Tablets, Acer

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/kNX7coYiFQo/

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