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Thursday, March 29, 2012

Neonicotinoids

Save the bee species from extinction.


Assessment of the Environmental Exposure of Honeybees to Particulate Matter Containing Neonicotinoid Insecticides Coming from Corn Coated Seeds

Andrea Tapparo*, Daniele Marton, Chiara Giorio, Alessandro Zanella, Lidia Soldà, Matteo Marzaro, Linda Vivan, and Vincenzo Girolami
Dipartimento di Scienze Chimiche, Università degli Studi di Padova, via Marzolo 1, 35131, Padova, Italy
Dipartimento di Agronomia Animali Alimenti Risorse Naturali e Ambiente, Università degli Studi di Padova, Agripolis, viale dell’Università 16, 35020 Legnaro, Padova, Italy
Environ. Sci. Technol., 2012, 46 (5), pp 2592–2599
DOI: 10.1021/es2035152
Publication Date (Web): January 31, 2012
Copyright © 2012 American Chemical Society

Abstract

Abstract Image
Since seed coating with neonicotinoid insecticides was introduced in the late 1990s, European beekeepers have reported severe colony losses in the period of corn sowing (spring). As a consequence, seed-coating neonicotinoid insecticides that are used worldwide on corn crops have been blamed for honeybee decline. In view of the currently increasing crop production, and also of corn as a renewable energy source, the correct use of these insecticides within sustainable agriculture is a cause of concern. In this paper, a probable—but so far underestimated—route of environmental exposure of honeybees to and intoxication with neonicotinoid insecticides, namely, the atmospheric emission of particulate matter containing the insecticide by drilling machines, has been quantitatively studied. Using optimized analytical procedures, quantitative measurements of both the emitted particulate and the consequent direct contamination of single bees approaching the drilling machine during the foraging activity have been determined. Experimental results show that the environmental release of particles containing neonicotinoids can produce high exposure levels for bees, with lethal effects compatible with colony losses phenomena observed by beekeepers.

Another Report on Bee Colony Extiction

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

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Friday, March 23, 2012

Broadcast Power

Broadcast power is said to depend upon the development of ultrafast diodes.



J. Appl. Phys. 108, 084316 (2010); http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.3501051 (3 pages)

Graphene-based ultrafast diode

D. Dragoman1, M. Dragoman2, and R. Plana3
1Department of Physics, University of Bucharest, P.O. Box MG-11, 077125 Bucharest, Romania
2National Research and Development Institute in Microtechnology, Str. Erou Iancu Nicolae 32B, 077190 Bucharest, Romania
3LAAS CNRS, 7 Avenue du Colonel Roche, 31077 Toulouse Cedex 4, France
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(Received 27 July 2010; accepted 9 September 2010; published online 27 October 2010)                 
We present a graphene-based ballistic diode, which is able to rectify an incident signal due to an oblique gate positioned between the two terminals of the device. The operating point of the diode can be controlled by the applied gate voltage, whereas the current-voltage dependence of the device can be changed by varying the inclination angle of the gate. In particular, the ideality factor of the graphene-based diode can take values higher or lower than 1 by modifying this inclination angle. The rectifying properties of the graphene diode are thus tunable, in deep contrast with semiconductor-based diodes.
© 2010 American Institute of Physics

Article Outline

  1. INTRODUCTION
  2. SCHOTTKY-LIKE DIODE ON GRAPHENE
  3. CONCLUSION

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Food Ingredients

This is my personal list of substances to try to avoid.   You would think someone would have learned to at least try to keep heavy metals out of the food supply.

Food  ingredients to minimize:
·     Arsenic (linked to stomach cancer)
·     Cadmium (linked to breast cancer)
·      Lead (Brain damage)
·      Excessive levels of Phosphates (linked to lung cancer)

  • Artificial colors
  • Artificial sweeteners like aspartame and saccharin
  • Acesulfame-K (acesulfame potassium)
  • Ammonium chloride
  • Azodicarbonamide
  • Benzoates
  • BHA and BHT (butylated hydroxyanisole and butylated hydroxytoluene)
  • Brominated vegetable oil
  • Calcium saccharin
  • Calcium stearoyl-2-lactylate
  • Cyclamates
  • Dimethylpolysiloxane
  • Ethylene oxide
  • Ethoxyquin
  • High fructose corn syrup
  • Hydrogenated fats
  • Methyl silicon
  • Monosodium glutamate (MSG)
  • Nitrates/nitrites
  • Partially hydrogenated oil
  • Polydextrose
  • Potassium benzoate
  • Propylparaben
  • Sodium sulfite
  • Sulfites (sulfur dioxide)
  • TBHQ (tertiary butylhydroquinone)
  • Tetrasodium EDTA
  • Tuesday, March 20, 2012

    Opel's GaAs Poet Technology 100 GHz Clock Speed


    The Planar Optoelectronic Technology (POET) semiconductor platform was developed by OPEL Defense Integrated Systems (ODIS Inc) of Shelton, CT. It is a unique and patented Group III-V materials system that supports monolithic fabrication of ICs containing active and passive optical elements, together with high-performance analog and digital elements. An economical integration of many optical devices together with dense, high-speed analog and high-speed, low-power digital elements are possible in monolithic ICs.


    I got to see the IBM demonstration of how their tracking system works.  It can monitor the doctor to make sure he washes his hands for the minimum require amount of time before he touches a patient, the location of a patient, whether he falls, etc. It seems like a lawyer’s agenda to deal with civil law suits. The Goths in their legal system had a more direct way of dealing with the excessively litigious nature of their society. 


    Nasa Biocapsule Implants


    Siemen’s Implants



    IBM’s Implant

    Monday, March 19, 2012

    A little Gothic

    Some things just sound better in gothic.


    þata = This

    auk = for

    leik = flesh

    meinata = Mine

    bi = in

    sunjai = truth

    ist = is

    mats = food

    jah = and

    bloþ = blood

    draggk = drink

    Saturday, March 17, 2012

    My Swedish Lesson for Today



    My Translation: (Please comment if you actually speak Swedish and know how to translate it better. I am trying to learn.)
    Do not be afraid.
    I walk beside you.
    Come take my hand.
    I hold you near in my arms.
    Can you dare to believe.
    Lower your walls.
    I will give you peace.

    Because I love you just as you are.
    Oh, I want to give you everything I have.
    Oh, let me hold you when you are weak.
    For you mean everything to me.

    Do not be afraid.
    I walk beside you.

    Now I am yours
    And now I can breathe.
    Here I remain.
    For here will I shall stay.
    Look at us now.
    Life is ours.
    Do you see the future that we,
    That we will make.

     Because I love you just as you are,
    and I want to give you everything I have.
    Oh, let me hold you when you are weak
     for you mean everything to me.

    Yes, I will love you just as you are.
    Oh, How I want to give you everything I have.
     Let me carry you when hope fails.
    You mean everything to me.
    Do not be afraid.
    I stand beside you for you mean even more to me.
     

    Thursday, March 15, 2012

    Graphene p–n and p–n–p Junction Devices

    Here is another article I would like to read if I had the $32.00.

    Nature | Letter

    Designer Dirac fermions and topological phases in molecular graphene

    Journal name:
    Nature
    Volume:
    483,
    Pages:
    306–310
    Date published:
    (15 March 2012)
    DOI:
    doi:10.1038/nature10941
    Received
    Accepted
    Published online

    The observation of massless Dirac fermions in monolayer graphene has generated a new area of science and technology seeking to harness charge carriers that behave relativistically within solid-state materials1. Both massless and massive Dirac fermions have been studied and proposed in a growing class of Dirac materials that includes bilayer graphene, surface states of topological insulators and iron-based high-temperature superconductors. Because the accessibility of this physics is predicated on the synthesis of new materials, the quest for Dirac quasi-particles has expanded to artificial systems such as lattices comprising ultracold atoms2, 3, 4. Here we report the emergence of Dirac fermions in a fully tunable condensed-matter system—molecular graphene—assembled by atomic manipulation of carbon monoxide molecules over a conventional two-dimensional electron system at a copper surface5. Using low-temperature scanning tunnelling microscopy and spectroscopy, we embed the symmetries underlying the two-dimensional Dirac equation into electron lattices, and then visualize and shape the resulting ground states. These experiments show the existence within the system of linearly dispersing, massless quasi-particles accompanied by a density of states characteristic of graphene. We then tune the quantum tunnelling between lattice sites locally to adjust the phase accrual of propagating electrons. Spatial texturing of lattice distortions produces atomically sharp p–n and p–n–p junction devices with two-dimensional control of Dirac fermion density and the power to endow Dirac particles with mass6, 7, 8. Moreover, we apply scalar and vector potentials locally and globally to engender topologically distinct ground states and, ultimately, embedded gauge fields9, 10, 11, 12, wherein Dirac electrons react to ‘pseudo’ electric and magnetic fields present in their reference frame but absent from the laboratory frame. We demonstrate that Landau levels created by these gauge fields can be taken to the relativistic magnetic quantum limit, which has so far been inaccessible in natural graphene. Molecular graphene provides a versatile means of synthesizing exotic topological electronic phases in condensed matter using tailored nanostructures.

    Saturday, March 10, 2012

    Ära Till Ditt Namn


    I wish they would sing this song again at surfers church.


    techno version:

    Ära till Ditt namn
    Matt Redman
    Originalets titel: Blessed be the name
    Svensk text Robert Eriksson
    © 2002 Thankyou Music/ Copycare Scandinavia AB

    Ära till Ditt namn
    Då Du ger av ditt överflöd
    Då Din frid kommer över mig
    Ära till Ditt namn.
    Ära till Ditt namn

    På de vägar jag ej förstår
    Genom öken och ödemark
    Ära till Ditt namn
    All välsignelse Du ger mig
    Tackar jag Dig för
    Och när mörkret sakta faller
    Min röst Du hör

    Ära till Ditt namn Du min Gud
    Ära till Ditt namn
    Ära till Ditt namn Du min Gud
    Ära till Ditt heliga namn
    Ära till Ditt namn

    Då solens strålar värmer mig
    Då livets glädje fyller mig
    Ära till Ditt namn
    Ära till Ditt namn

    På en väg märkt av lidande
    I försakelsens dunkla natt
    Ära till Ditt namn
    Du ger och tar igen
    Du ger och tar igen
    Mitt hjärta sjunger ut
    Ära till Ditt namn



    dichloroacetate (DCA)

    Friday, March 9, 2012

    Is North korea performing Nuclear Weapons Tests for Iran?

    Telltale Isotopes Hint at North Korea Weapons Test Science 10 February 2012: 643.DOI:10.1126/science.335.6069.643-a





    The paper, Radionuclide Evidence for Low-Yield Nuclear Testing in North Korea in April/May 2010, is authored by Lars-Erik De Geer, Research Director at the Swedish Defence Research Agency, Stockholm.



    This book is very interesting to me at least:

    Detect and Deter: Can Countries Verify the Nuclear Test Ban?

    By Ola Dahlman, Jenifer Mackby, Svein Mykkeltveit, Hein Haak

    Thursday, March 8, 2012

    Innovation Hubs

    Can you imagine two groups in the government ever cooperating with each other, much less working together? This video says some will be. This is the most positive sign I have seen that the government might improve.

    Video Games versus Training Systems

    The government has spent a fortune developing training systems.  Users however prefer video games and often do not use the training systems.  This is the only video I have seen that points out the difference between the two. Video games provide an entertainment environment and not a realistic or instructive training environment. The is another difference in that many training systems are intended to be integrated with real systems. It is fantastic that NASA supports education in this way.

    $89.00 a year to view NASA's Section L2 website. Is that fair?
    A picture of Orion vehicle test.


    Uncoated Heat Shield Tiles

    Tuesday, March 6, 2012

    IEEE Global Humanitarian Technology Conference

    Gain visibility to your humanitarian organization by participating in the IEEE Global Humanitarian Technology Conference 2012.                 http://www.ieeeghtc.org/
     
    IEEE Global Humanitarian Technology Conference Theme Song
    "Change the World"

    Melody, lyrics: Helene Fung
    Arrangement, Instrumentation: Malcolm Mah
    Recording, Mixing: Malcolm Mah
    Vocals: Helene Fung, Keegan Monteiro

    We were born connected to the land
    Through the land, we're all connected to each other
    Hand in hand, we can make this world a better place
    Improving people's lives
    Our lives have been changed by technology
    Tomorrow, the future will be brighter
    Hand in hand, so many people will benefit
    A new day has dawned for us
    We have a duty (Put our minds together)
    To help each other (We can travel all the way)
    Through technology (and with liberty),
    we can solve problems
    We have a duty (Let our hearts beat as one)
    Since we're born to care for each other
    Together, we can change the world
    Together, we can change the world