Thursday, March 28, 2013

Robotic ants provide path to real ant brains

Robots built to mimic ants suggest that real ants waste little, if any, mental energy deciding which way to go when they reach an uneven fork in the road, according to a new study. Instead, the ants just take the easiest route as dictated by geometry.

"The shape of their network relieves some of the cognitive load for the ants; they don't need to think about it," Simon Garnier, a biologist at the New Jersey Institute of Technology, told NBC News. "The shape of their networks has constrained their movement in a way that is more efficient for them."

The findings have implications for understanding ant biology as well as how humans design transportation networks for the flow of people, information and goods.

Garnier and colleagues have spent several years pursuing questions about the movement of ants around the environment ? how they establish complicated networks that efficiently link their nests with food, for example.

The scientific literature well documents that ants use chemical markers called pheromones to line their trails. Less clear is what goes on inside an ant's brain when it reaches an uneven fork in a built network. Does it spend a lot of time measuring angles and weighing options? Or does it just go with the flow?

The question gave the researchers a good excuse to put to work some ant-like robots they'd been building.

"We programmed our robots so that they would not actively measure the angle of the (fork in the road), they would just move and carry on," Garnier explained. And they were programmed to carry on, so to speak, in the same general direction.

Real ants carry on in this manner, which is called "exploratory behavior," in order to prevent them from running in circles around their nests, establishing a well-traveled, pheromone-laced path that leads nowhere.

The robots, called Alice, laid their own version of pheromones in the form of light, thanks to a system of cameras and projectors coordinated to illuminate the wake of each robot's path. In addition, each robot is equipped with two light sensors that mimic ant antennae so that they can follow established trails.

The experiment showed the robots, like ants, rather quickly find and establish the quickest route through a maze from point A to point B with the aid of the pheromone-like light trails, and that they can do so without weighing options when they reach a fork on the road.

Instead, ants appear programmed, like the robots, to take the easiest path ? the one with the lowest deviation from straight ahead ? without thinking about it. The combination of pheromones and networks with asymmetrical forks, the research suggests, allows ants to navigate efficiently without mentally taxing decision-making.

We humans do a similar thing when walking down a crowded street, noted Garnier. "You're just going to go wherever there is an open space, but you're not going to take into account all of the individuals one by one and everything that is around you," he said.

For people, this automated decision-making allows the brain to focus on other issues, such as the road not taken, as did the poet Robert Frost when he penned the famous lines, "Two roads diverged in a wood, and I, / I took the one less traveled by, / And that has made all the difference."

The findings are reported online Thursday in the journal PLoS Computational Biology.

John Roach is a contributing writer for NBC News. To learn more about him, visit his website.

Source: http://feeds.nbcnews.com/c/35002/f/653377/s/2a1c63b9/l/0L0Snbcnews0N0Ctechnology0Cfutureoftech0Crobotic0Eants0Eprovide0Epath0Ereal0Eant0Ebrains0E1C9132388/story01.htm

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Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Sochi organisers store snow, just in case

By Gennady Fyodorov

SOCHI, Russia (Reuters) - While Moscow digs itself out of a huge snow storm that hit the Russian capital in the last few days, organizers of the Winter Olympics are worried a lack of white powder could become a problem next February.

Unseasonably warm temperatures this winter in Sochi have forced local organizers to store some 450,000 cubic meters of snow in the nearby Caucasus Mountains that surround this sub-tropical Black Sea resort.

"We've prepared seven separate areas for snow storage high up in the mountains," Sergei Bachin, general director of Roza Khutor, a ski resort in Krasnaya Polyana that will host Alpine skiing, snowboarding and freestyle Olympic competition, told Reuters.

"I want to assure all the competitors that there won't be any shortage of snow next February even if we encounter even warmer temperatures next year," he said.

"We're storing such huge amounts of snow just in case."

The snow will be covered with a "special thermo seal", to protect it from melting during the summer, Bachin said.

"We expect that about 140,000 (cubic meters) will melt away but we'll still have more than 300,000 cubic meters of snow available for next year," he predicted, saying the storage will cost his company an extra $11 million.

Nevertheless, Sochi 2014 chief Dmitry Chernyshenko has stated on several occasions that the weather has become a bigger problem for the organizers, who are frantically trying to finish all the construction projects on time, than security or the infrastructure.

Bachin, however, assured that Krasnaya Polyana, once a sleepy mountain village, about 70 kilometers from central Sochi, would be ready to host all the outdoor Olympic events next February rain or shine.

"Of the 76 Olympic test events scheduled in Krasnaya Polyana this winter a great majority had been completed and only a handful have been called off because of bad weather," he said.

"I think we've passed the test as the last major event of the season was held this weekend in nearby Laura complex."

Usually, Krasnaya Polyana has the opposite problem - too much snow and the risk of avalanches, Bachin said.

"This was a very odd winter. Even locals don't remember when was the last time they had such warm days in the mountains. It's highly unlikely we'll see the same kind of weather next year," he added.

(Editing by Alison Wildey)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/sochi-organisers-store-snow-just-case-142104613--oly.html

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C. African Republic president flees to Cameroon

Foto del 2 de enero del 2013 de un soldado de Chad que apoya al presidente de la Rep?blica Centroafricana Francois Bozize, cerca de Damara, a unos 70 kil?metros (44 millas) al norte de la capital, Bangui, (Foto AP/Ben Curtis)

Foto del 2 de enero del 2013 de un soldado de Chad que apoya al presidente de la Rep?blica Centroafricana Francois Bozize, cerca de Damara, a unos 70 kil?metros (44 millas) al norte de la capital, Bangui, (Foto AP/Ben Curtis)

In this photo taken on Friday March 22, 2013 and provided on Monday March 25, 2013 by the French Army Communications Audio visual office, French soldiers arrive at Bangui airport, Central Africa Republic. Rebels overthrew Central African Republic's president of a decade on Sunday, seizing the presidential palace and declaring that the desperately poor country has "opened a new page in its history." The country's president fled the capital, while extra French troops moved to secure the airport, officials said. (AP Photo/Elise Foucaud, ECPAD)

In this photo taken on Friday March 22, 2013 and provided on Monday March 25, 2013 by the French Army Communications Audio visual office, French soldiers arrive at Bangui airport, Central Africa Republic. Rebels overthrew Central African Republic's president of a decade on Sunday, seizing the presidential palace and declaring that the desperately poor country has "opened a new page in its history." The country's president fled the capital, while extra French troops moved to secure the airport, officials said. (AP Photo/Elises Foucaud, ECPAD)

(AP) ? The president of Central African Republic fled to neighboring Cameroon on Monday, as the rebels who overthrew him began squabbling who would now lead the impoverished nation long wracked by rebellions.

South Africa said 13 of its soldiers were killed in a fight against the Seleka rebels over the weekend as up to 3,000 fighters attacked its troops while advancing through the capital, Bangui. It was one of South Africa's heaviest losses in combat in nearly two decades and prompted criticism about why the country's forces had intervened in such a volatile conflict.

One of the Seleka rebel leaders, Michel Djotodia, said Monday he considers himself to be the new head of state.

But another rebel leader told reporters his group does not recognize Djotodia as president, and says they will challenge his attempt to install himself at the helm. The move raises the specter of continuing unrest, amid reports of chaotic and violent looting in the capital, Bangui.

The United States is "deeply concerned about a serious deterioration in the security situation" in Central African Republic, said U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said in a statement Sunday.

"We urgently call on the Seleka leadership which has taken control of Bangui to establish law and order in the city and to restore basic services of electricity and water," the statement said.

The government of Cameroon confirmed Monday that Bozize is seeking "temporary" refuge there before leaving for another unspecified country.

The ousted president managed to get out of Central African Republic amid fierce fighting over the weekend.

South African forces who were there to aid Bozize's troops suffered casualties when they "fought a high-tempo battle for nine hours defending the South African military base, until the bandits raised a white flag and asked for a cease-fire," South African President Jacob Zuma said. "Our soldiers inflicted heavy casualties among the attacking bandit forces."

Gen. Solly Shoke, South Africa's military chief, said 3,000 rebels took part in fighting. He said the assailants were armed with mortars and heavy machine guns.

Following Bozize's ouster, divisions are already emerging over will lead the country.

In Paris, Nelson N'Jaadder, the president of the Revolution for Democracy, one of the rebel groups belonging to the Seleka rebel coalition which invaded the capital, said that his fighters do not recognize Michel Djotodia, who earlier claimed he was head of state of Central African Republic.

N'Jaadder said there was never a consensus around appointing Djotodia as their overall leader.

"We do not recognize him as president," N'Jaadder told The Associated Press by telephone from Paris. "We had agreed that we would push to Bangui in order to arrest Bozize and that we would then announce an 18-month transition, a transition that would be as fast as possible ? and not one that would last three years," he said.

"For your information, I have enough soldiers loyal to me to attack Djotodia. I am planning to take the Wednesday flight to Bangui."

N'Jaadder said that rebels had been pillaging people's homes in Bangui, including the homes of French expatriates. He said that on Monday, he had received a phone call from France's ambassador to Bangui and had presented his apology, explaining that those doing the pillaging were mostly Djotodia's men. "We came to liberate the people, not to steal from them. This is shameful. Unacceptable," he said.

The Seleka rebel coalition is made up of several rebel groups, which last December began their rapid sweep into the Central African Republic, a nation of 4.5 million located at the heart of the continent.

The rebels pushed all the way to a town just outside Damara, 75 kilometers (47 miles) from the capital, before entering into talks with the government. In January, they signed a peace deal in Libreville, the capital of the neighboring nation of Gabon, agreeing to allow Bozize to carry out the last three years of his term, in return for a number of concessions.

Last week, they declared the peace deal void, saying Bozize had failed to free their prisoners and had refused to send back the South African troops that were guarding him, two of the points of the accord.

In just three days, they swept past Damara, marking the "red line" set up by a regional force to divide rebel-held territory from the area under government control, and advanced all the way to a checkpoint, PK12, just outside the capital.

The speed of the rebel advance, and the fact that they succeeded in pushing past the South African troops stationed in Bangui suggests they are well-armed, and likely benefiting from the support of neighboring nations. There has been speculation that either Chad or Sudan or Gabon had provided the rebels with arms and logistical support. Djotodia rejected that claim.

"If we picked up arms, it's not because we were pushed by this or that person," he told RFI. "It's poverty, simply put, that pushed us to pick up arms ? that's all."

The coup is expected to affect the hunt for Joseph Kony, said the commander of African troops tracking the the fugitive warlord. Bozize was a strong supporter of African efforts to dismantle Kony's Lord's Resistance Army and allowed the creation of two anti-Kony military bases in his country.

Ugandan Brig. Dick Olum, speaking from his South Sudanese military base in Nzara, said Monday he is concerned by past rebel statements that all foreign troops must leave the country. Some 3,350 African troops are currently deployed against the LRA in South Sudan and Central African Republic.

The U.S. also has anti-Kony military advisers in CAR. The U.S. Africa Command did not have any immediate comment Monday.

___

Callimachi contributed to this report from Dakar, Senegal. Associated Press writers Krista Larson in Dakar, Christopher Torchia in Johannesburg and Rodney Muhumuza in Kampala, Uganda also contributed to this report.

___

Rukmini Callimachi can be reached at www.twitter.com/rcallimachi

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-03-25-Central%20African%20Republic-Rebels/id-b159378d172342ddaa33beed833c9c75

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Moon and asteroids share history, NASA scientists find

Mar. 25, 2013 ? NASA and international researchers have discovered that Earth's moon has more in common than previously thought with large asteroids roaming our solar system.

Scientists from NASA's Lunar Science Institute (NLSI) in Moffett Field, Calif., discovered that the same population of high-speed projectiles that impacted our lunar neighbor four billion years ago, also hit the giant asteroid Vesta and perhaps other large asteroids.

The research unveils an unexpected link between Vesta and the moon, and provides new means for studying the early bombardment history of terrestrial planets. The findings are published in the March issue of Nature Geoscience.

"It's always intriguing when interdisciplinary research changes the way we understand the history of our solar system," said Yvonne Pendleton, NLSI director. "Although the moon is located far from Vesta, which is in the main asteroid belt between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, they seem to share some of the same bombardment history."

The findings support the theory that the repositioning of gas giant planets like Jupiter and Saturn from their original orbits to their current location destabilized portions of the asteroid belt and triggered a solar system-wide bombardment of asteroids billions of years ago, called the lunar cataclysm.

The research provides new constraints on the start and duration of the lunar cataclysm, and demonstrates that the cataclysm was an event that affected not only the inner solar system planets, but the asteroid belt as well.

The moon rocks brought back by NASA Apollo astronauts have long been used to study the bombardment history of the moon. Now the ages derived from meteorite samples have been used to study the collisional history of main belt asteroids. In particular, howardite and eucrite meteorites, which are common species found on Earth, have been used to study asteroid Vesta, their parent body. With the aid of computer simulations, researchers determined that meteorites from Vesta recorded high-speed impacts which are now long gone.

Researchers have linked these two datasets and found that the same population of projectiles responsible for making craters and basins on the moon were also hitting Vesta at very high velocities, enough to leave behind a number of telltale, impact-related ages.

The team's interpretation of the howardites and eucrites was augmented by recent close-in observations of Vesta's surface by NASA's Dawn spacecraft. In addition, the team used the latest dynamical models of early main belt evolution to discover the likely source of these high velocity impactors. The team determined that the population of projectiles that hit Vesta had orbits that also enabled some objects to strike the moon at high speeds.

"It appears that the asteroidal meteorites show signs of the asteroid belt losing a lot of mass four billion years ago, with the escaped mass beating up on both the surviving main belt asteroids and the moon at high speeds" says lead author Simone Marchi, who has a joint appointment between two of NASA's Lunar Science Institutes, one at the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colo., and another at the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston. "Our research not only supports the current theory, but it takes it to the next level of understanding."

The NLSI is headquartered at NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif. The Dawn mission to Vesta and Ceres is managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Dawn is a project of the directorate's Discovery Program, managed by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala.

To learn more about NLSI, visit: http://lunarscience.nasa.gov .

For more information about the Dawn mission, visit: www.nasa.gov/dawn .

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

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


Journal Reference:

  1. S. Marchi, W. F. Bottke, B. A. Cohen, K. W?nnemann, D. A. Kring, H. Y. McSween, M. C. De Sanctis, D. P. O?Brien, P. Schenk, C. A. Raymond, C. T. Russell. High-velocity collisions from the lunar cataclysm recorded in asteroidal meteorites. Nature Geoscience, 2013; DOI: 10.1038/ngeo1769

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.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/space_time/nasa/~3/tTc-NiRYgpQ/130325185237.htm

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Monday, March 25, 2013

Hyundai dips toe in high-end market

If the name Hyundai evokes an image of low-cost econoboxes, you may want to check out the Korean carmaker?s nearest showroom. Prepare to be surprised.

At next week?s New York Auto Show, Hyundai will spotlight the 2014 Equus, the mid-cycle update of its premium-luxury sedan. The sedan will compete with high-end makes, such as the Mercedes-Benz S-Class and BMW 7-Series.

Although you can buy a basic Hyundai Accent for $15,000, a fully-equipped Equus will nudge you over the $70,000 mark.

Don?t expect much of a discount at the dealer. The average Hyundai went out the door with givebacks around $1,420, according to data gathered by TrueCar.com, a lower figure than any other major manufacturer but Honda.

The good news for Hyundai is that it broke its all-time sales record last year, and did it again in January and February. The bad news is that it is losing market share because it can?t keep up with the pace of the U.S. automotive recovery.

?We just can?t build anymore,? Hyundai Motor America CEO John Krafcik said in San Diego, where he was presiding over the first media drive of the new 3-row 2014 Hyundai Santa Fe crossover-utility vehicle. ?We?re just out of production capacity.?

In recent months, Hyundai dealers have had to get by with about half the 60- to 65-days of inventory considered normal in the automotive business.

(?A tough problem to have,? smirks analyst Joe Phillippi of AutoTrends Consulting.)

This has allowed Hyundai to trim its incentives and allowed dealers to prey on a ?scarcity value? to fend off the bargain shoppers of Hyundai?s past. The average transaction price ? the actual figure the typical customer paid after working in discounts and options ? jumped by 5 percent, year-over-year, to $22,549 in February, according to TrueCar.

Phillippi and other analysts say they?re surprised by Hyundai?s success. It?s been just four months since the maker ? and its Korean sibling Kia -- acknowledged the two brands fudged test results and would have to restate the fuel economy numbers on 13 different models, some by six miles per gallon.

Since then, the Korean makers have settled a lawsuit and agreed to provide substantial reimbursement to the 900,000 owners affected.

Hyundai?s transition from a fire sale brand has required a shift in focus that began by targeting once-endemic quality problems and backing that up with an industry-leading, 10-year warranty program. The maker has steadily gained ground in a variety of third-party measures, notably the quality and customer service surveys by J.D. Power and Associates. The current version of the Equus outscored Lexus, the overall top brand in Power?s latest Customer Service Index.

That has Hyundai management confident they can continue to expand their presence in the luxury market. The maker will show off what it describes as a ?luxury sports coupe concept,? the HND-9, at the Seoul Motor Show next week. While the unusual ?butterfly doors? are likely a show gimmick, industry observers expect the HND-9 is a clear hint of new products to come.

That gets back to the question of where to build the cars. Hyundai has added a third shift at its Alabama factory Alabama and it has crossovers rolling out of the Kia plant in Georgia.

While Krafcik says there are ?no plans, yet,? for adding more capacity in the U.S., analysts like Phillippi stress that could change quickly. The Koreans appear to be using the moment as an opportunity to decide whether to expand, and few would be surprised if an announcement didn?t come sometime this year.

But Hyundai has learned from watching competitors? mistakes, especially when it comes to overstocking. The goal, Krafcik says, is to follow the strategy of the most successful luxury brands, and ?always be one car short of demand.?

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Copyright ? 2009-2013, The Detroit Bureau

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Kyocera DuraPro (U.S. Cellular)


The Kyocera DuraPro is U.S. Cellular's toughest cell phone. It won't break if you drop it?even in the pool. It offers good sound quality for voice calls, a very loud speaker, and decent battery life. But a dated interface and few features means it's only an average phone otherwise, and at $149.99, it's a little pricey for what you get. The DuraPro is worth a look if you need something durable, but if you want any other features, you can do better.

Design, Call Quality, and Direct Connect
Like most of the rugged phones we've tested, the DuraPro is built like a brick. It measures 4 by 2.1 by 1.1 inches (HWD) when closed, and is covered in a grippy, scratch-resistant, rubberized casing. It fit into my hand comfortably when flipped open, but felt a little too chunky in my pocket. The headphone jack on the right and power port on the left are both covered with attached rubber stoppers. There's even a latch on the back cover to make sure it stays locked in place.

The DuraPro meets military specification 810G, so it's resistant to dust, extreme temperatures, humidity, low pressure, rain, salt fog, shock, solar radiation, and vibration, among other rough conditions. It will even survive in up to three feet of water for 30 minutes. To test it, I dropped the phone on several different surfaces?from the rubberized floor of the PCMag Labs to the concrete street outside?from a height of five feet. The phone managed to flip itself open a couple of times, but didn't sustain any damage. I then placed it in a pitcher of water for 30 minutes, where it was still able to receive calls and snap photos.

On the face of the phone there's a 1-inch, monochrome 96-by-64-pixel external display that shows the battery life, missed alerts, reception, and time. Inside, the 2-inch, 320-by-240-pixel LCD looks sharp, though the color scheme is bland and depressing. The default font size is rather small, but you can make it larger. The phone's keypad, on the other hand, is excellent; the keys are large, raised, and backlit. There's plenty of space between each key, which should make it possible to dial while wearing gloves.

The DuraPro is a dual-band EV-DO Rev. A (850/1900 MHz) device with no Wi-Fi.?In New York where I tested it, U.S. Cellular phones use Sprint's network. Reception is average and voice quality is quite good. The earpiece gets very loud, and voices sound clear, though a little thin. The speakerphone isn't deafening, but I was able to hear it loud and clear over the construction going on outside of the PCMag office. Calls made with the phone also sound natural, with good noise cancellation. Calls were fine through a?Jawbone Era?Bluetooth headset, and the Nuance-powered voice dialing worked without a problem. Battery life was solid at 8 hours and 22 minutes of talk time.

Interface and Apps
If you're looking for lots of apps and features, you're not going to find them here. The Kyocera DuraPro is a rather bare bones feature phone. As mentioned above, the key word to describe the user interface is drab. From the faded teal color on the home screen, to the black-and-white everywhere else, the DuraPro just looks shabby and dated.

The main menu features a grid with 12 icons. It links to all of your basic settings and functions, from activating Bluetooth, to call history, contacts, settings, and tools. It's dated, and requires many button presses to perform even the simplest tasks.

As far as apps go, you get the standards like an alarm, calculator, calendar, stopwatch, and world clock. You can also record voice memos. To browse the Web, there's an Access NetFront 4.1 browser for reading WAP pages; desktop HTML is out. The phone also comes with a voice-enabled GPS courtesy of Navteq's Your Navigator app.

Multimedia and Conclusions
You get 64MB of free internal memory, as well as a free microSD slot underneath the battery. My 32 and 64GB SanDisk cards worked fine, but you probably won't need anything that large, since media support is virtually nonexistent. The phone has a nonstandard 2.5mm headphone jack, but comes with a converter to connect a pair of 3.5mm earbuds. Either way, the phone wouldn't recognize any of my music files. I was able to play MPEG4 video files, at a tiny, blurry maximum resolution of 320-by-240-pixels.

The DuraPro's 3.2-megapixel camera has an LED flash, but no autofocus. It snaps photos quickly, in about half a second, but then takes a good 2 seconds to save them. Test photos look decent, with acceptable color and detail, though they're a little dark overall. The camera also records video, but it's terrible. Video files max out at a minuscule 176-by-144-pixels and play back at a stuttering 10 frames per second indoors and 15 frames per second outside.

Features aside, the Kyocera DuraPro is as rugged as phones come on U.S. Cellular. If you're looking for something very basic to make occasional voice calls, and you need durability, it'll work perfectly. But if you're more interesting in texting and other features, you're better off with a phone like the $40 Samsung Character. It's a lot less expensive, has a roomy slide-out QWERTY keyboard, and doubles as a decent music player. Just make sure not to drop it, keep it away from the pool, and you're good to go.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/Bpc_A4UQw2E/0,2817,2416958,00.asp

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