University of Calgary-made instrument now in space

CALGARY, ALBERTA--(Marketwired - Sept. 30, 2013) - A new satellite that was successfully launched into its proper orbit today prominently features technology developed by the University of Calgary. The university is also responsible for gathering the incoming data, which will help researchers better understand space storms and their effects on space-based technologies.

CASSIOPE, the CAscade SmallSat and IOnospheric Polar Explorer led by MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd (MDA) of Richmond, British Columbia, was successfully launched by Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) on its Falcon 9 launch vehicle?from Vandenberg Air Force Base, CA today at 9 a.m. PDT and communication with the satellite has been established.

The satellite carries the first scientific satellite payload led by a Canadian university.

"This is both exciting and a huge relief to see CASSIOPE launched after over nine years of preparation and development," says Greg Enno, technical manager for the project which is associated to the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Calgary. "The team has been waiting for this moment for a long time and is eager to get to dig into the data."

CASSIOPE is a multi-purpose mission to conduct space environment research and advanced telecommunications technology demonstration. The mission also represents the first deployment of Canada's Smallsat bus platform developed by Magellan Aerospace of Winnipeg, Manitoba.

Scientists, led by the University of Calgary, will use the satellite to collect new data and details on space storms in the upper atmosphere and their potentially devastating impacts on radio communications, GPS navigation and other space-based technologies. Storms of solar particles and intense sub-storms of ionizing radiation can interfere with high-frequency radio communications, disrupt electrical power grids and distort Global Positioning Systems that help guide aircraft.

"By flying our instruments into the eye of the space storms so to speak, we will be able to make measurements at rather unprecedented resolution, and get a much sharper and much more in-depth picture of their effects on the upper atmosphere," explains Andrew Yau, professor of physics and astronomy, mission scientist and project leader. "The long-term goal of the research is to advance our capability to forecast space weather and mitigate its impact on daily life and on society, the way we are forecasting terrestrial weather today."

Of the eight science instruments that collectively form the scientific payload, e-POP, the University of Calgary's instruments include an ion detector, an electron detector and a fast-auroral imager for capturing images of the aurora borealis (known as the Northern Lights in the North Hemisphere).This innovative e-POP scientific payload forms a key element of the Canadian Space Agency's science program and involves contributions from 10 Canadian universities and research organizations.

Using a tracking antenna located at the Rothney Astrophysical Observatory (RAO) near Priddis south of Calgary, researchers will capture data sent by the eight e-POP instruments flying overhead at more than 25,000 km/h.

The information will be sent to a data-processing centre in the Science B building on campus, and also uploaded to a University of Alberta space science data portal for Canadian and international researchers' use.

"Students both at the University of Calgary and other universities will have an excellent opportunity for hands-on experience in the spacecraft operation and data collection during the mission, as well as opportunity to participate in ground-breaking research projects," adds Yau.

CASSIOPE also carries a second payload called Cascade-CX. Developed by MDA, the payload will provide a 'proof of concept' design for a high volume store-and-forward data communications operational concept. Like a courier in the sky, Cascade's operational concept is to pick up very large digital data files and deliver them to almost any destination in the world.

The CASSIOPE Smallsat bus platform measures 1.8 metre by 1.4 metre and weighs 481 kilograms - small compared with larger commercial communications satellites. It will fly in a slightly elliptical orbit that goes back and forth, over the equator, from the north to the south Polar Regions.

"It's a small satellite, but there will be times you'll be able to see it with a telescope," especially under dark skies away from urban light pollution, Yau says.

Scientists hope to collect data from the e-POP instruments for at least two years, although most of CASSIOPE is designed to last about five years before its orbit decays and the satellite re-enters Earth's atmosphere and burns.

MDA is a global communications and information company providing operational solutions to commercial and government organizations worldwide. MDA led the Canadian industrial team that included Magellan Aerospace of Winnipeg Manitoba, COM DEV International of Cambridge, Ontario and the University of Calgary, Alberta in the development of the CASSIOPE mission. The CASSIOPE mission was developed with the support of the Canadian Space Agency and Technology Partnerships Canada.

To view the footage of the satellite launch, visit: www.spacex.com

To meet some of the University's CASSIOPE mission team members, visit: https://vimeo.com/74478943

Media Availability

• Andrew Yau, Project lead (On Main Campus)
  • Available on request on Sunday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. (MDT)

• Greg Enno, Technical Lead (At Rothney Astrophysical Observatory)
  • Available on request on Sunday from 7:30 a.m. to 16:30 p.m. (MDT)

About the University of Calgary

The University of Calgary is a leading Canadian university located in the nation's most enterprising city. The university has a clear strategic direction to become one of Canada's top five research universities by 2016, where research and innovative teaching go hand in hand, and where we fully engage the communities we both serve and lead. This strategy is called Eyes High, inspired by the university's Gaelic motto, which translates as 'I will lift up my eyes.'?

For more information, visit ucalgary.ca.?Stay up to date with University of Calgary news headlines on Twitter @UCalgary and in our media centre at ucalgary.ca/news/media.?

Source: http://www.istockanalyst.com/article/viewarticle/articleid/6586860

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Eurozone inflation falls to lowest since Feb 2010

LONDON (AP) ? Inflation across the 17 countries that use the euro fell further below target in September, official figures showed Monday, news that could encourage the European Central Bank to cut interest rates again if the recovery across the eurozone stalls.

Eurostat, the EU's statistics office, said consumer prices were up 1.1 percent in the year to September, down from the 1.3 percent rate recorded the previous month. September's rate was also the lowest since February 2010 and below expectations ? the consensus in the markets was for a more modest decline to 1.2 percent.

The statistics agency said energy and food prices drove the fall in September. However, the core rate ? which excludes food, alcohol and tobacco ? also fell, to 1 percent from 1.1 percent, further proof that underlying price pressures are benign.

"This is welcome news for eurozone consumers as it helps their purchasing power and it also means that the ECB can at the very least maintain its extremely accommodative policy for an extended period and actually has ample scope to take further stimulative action if it feels the need," said Howard Archer, chief European economist at IHS Global Insight.

Though the inflation figures will likely be discussed this week when the ECB holds its monthly meeting, they are unlikely to prompt any immediate action.

The ECB is tasked with setting monetary policy to keep inflation at just below 2 percent, but few economists think the central bank's governing council will reduce its benchmark rate further from the record low of 0.5 percent amid signs that the economy is recovering.

In the second quarter of 2013, the eurozone economy grew by a quarterly rate of 0.3 percent, largely on the back of Germany, Europe's biggest economy. That followed six straight quarterly declines, the region's longest recession since the euro currency was launched in 1999.

However, recent economic indicators have suggested that the recovery is proving more broad-based ? even Greece is expected to start growing soon.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/eurozone-inflation-falls-lowest-since-feb-2010-100453399--finance.html

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How would you change Lenovo's IdeaTab S2109?

In stark contrast to its PC lineup, Lenovo's tablet offerings are often the wrong side of exciting. The IdeaTab S2109, for instance, arrived with little fanfare or enthusiasm, and little to make it stand out from the rest of the mid-range 10-inch tablet crowd. Unfortunately, the day-to-day experience was similarly underwhelming, thanks to its middling chip, short battery life and dodgy design decisions. So, instead, let's close our eyes and imagine what we'd have done if Lenovo had asked us to craft its next tablet. What would you do? Tell us in the comments below.

Filed under: Tablets, Lenovo

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/oF0v8NQ9IgI/

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RAISE IT! Your Pirates are now one win away from bringing playoff baseball back...

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Metal detectors finds woman?s wedding ring she lost digging cabbages 40 YEARS AGO

A woman has been reunited with the wedding ring she lost digging cabbages after it was found by a metal detector ? 40 YEARS later.

Green-fingered Brenda Caunter, 62, was tending vegetables in her allotment in 1972 when the golden band slipped off her finger.

Brenda and her husband Dave, 69, desperately scoured the muddy plot for days but eventually gave up and bought a replacement.

Brenda Caunter her husband Dave and the wedding ring which was found four decades after it was lost

They thought nothing more of it until this week when Dave strolled past the same area ? now fields ? and spotted a neighbour with a metal detector.

The amateur treasure hunter was looking for medieval coins but Dave left a description of the long-lost jewellery and roughly where it was lost.

He was then left stunned when the neighbour rang him days later to say he?d found the nine carat ring.

Incredibly it was still in near-perfect condition despite being buried beneath the soil for 41 years.

Dave said: ?Back then the ring cost me a fortune. When Brenda told me she?d lost it we went back up there with our own metal detectors.

?But they were not nearly as good as they are now and we didn?t find it. Eventually we had to buy a replacement.

?I was going out in the village and saw him up in the field and when I saw his wife I asked her ?what?s he up to in the field with that metal detector? Tell him if he finds a ring, it belongs to Brenda?.

?Then I had a phone call telling me that he had found a ring. I couldn?t believe it after all these years.?

Dave had saved up to buy the love token for Brenda before the pair tied the knot in September 1969.

She had only been wearing it for three years when she lost it while uprooting veg near their home on the outskirts of Mawnan Smith, Cornwall.

But the treasure hunter managed to find the ring in almost exactly the same spot where Brenda had dropped it.

The couple took the ring to a local jewellers to have a small crack repaired but it?s now as good as new and back on Brenda?s finger.

She said: ?I was working in the field when I took my gloves off, and that?s probably when it came off.

?When we got the phone call to say it had been found I didn?t know what to say.?

The finder of the ring, who wishes to remain anonymous, said: ?It was in absolutely perfect condition, despite the number of years it had been there.

?I?m interested in history and I have often found medieval coins which are absolutely fascinating. That?s why I was up there.?

Category: News

Source: http://swns.com/news/metal-detectors-finds-womans-wedding-ring-lost-digging-cabbages-40-years-39662/

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Women's Health Groups Sue Texas Over Its Abortion New Law

Women's health clinics have sued the state of Texas over its new abortion law, which they say will close more than a third of abortion providers in the state. Here, advocates for and against the bill are seen outside the Texas Capitol in Austin in July.

Eric Gay/AP

Women's health clinics have sued the state of Texas over its new abortion law, which they say will close more than a third of abortion providers in the state. Here, advocates for and against the bill are seen outside the Texas Capitol in Austin in July.

Eric Gay/AP

More than a dozen women's health care clinics have filed a lawsuit against the state of Texas, seeking to revoke parts of a controversial health law that puts new restrictions on clinics that provide abortions.

The law, House Bill 2, was signed by Gov. Rick Perry this summer after a contentious process that included a filibuster by state Sen. Wendy Davis that helped to delay the bill, and special sessions that eventually brought its passage.

The lawsuit seeks injunctions against parts of the Texas law, which is scheduled to take effect on Oct. 29. It was filed on behalf of the clinics in question by the national offices of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America and the Center for Reproductive Rights, along with the American Civil Liberties Union.

From Austin, Ryan Poppe of NPR member station KSTX reports:

"Abortion rights groups are taking aim at the law's requirement that all doctors have admitting hospital privileges and that they follow decade-old FDA guidelines for a drug requiring multiple in-person visits.

" 'The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the Texas Medical Association and the Texas Hospital Association all agree that the provisions of this bill will put women's health in danger,' Planned Parenthood's executive director, Cecile Richards, said.

"Attorneys allege the law will close 13 out of 36 health clinics that perform abortions in Texas, leaving large areas of the state without access to abortions which they say violates the 14th amendment."

The lawsuit, Planned Parenthood v. Abbott, names state Attorney General Gregory Abbott, along with officials in counties where the clinics operate.

"This law is part of a coordinated national strategy to shut down women's health centers and outlaw abortion all across the country," says ACLU executive director Anthony D. Romero. "In Texas and across the nation, people are standing up to tell politicians to stop interfering in a woman's private decisions."

Source: http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/09/28/227134854/womens-health-groups-sue-texas-over-its-abortion-new-law?ft=1&f=1091

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Kenya says 'at war' with al Shabaab, faces security questions

By Matthew Mpoke Bigg and James Macharia

NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenya is "at war" with Islamist militants who attacked a Nairobi shopping mall, the government said on Saturday as it faced questions about whether it had received advance intelligence warnings of the deadly strike.

A week after the raid on the Westgate shopping centre that killed 67 civilians and police and was claimed by the Somali militant group al Shabaab, the government has been trying to reassure Kenyans that it can protect them from further attacks.

Three Kenyan newspapers reported on Saturday that a year ago the country's National Intelligence Service (NIS) had warned of the presence of suspected al Shabaab militants in Nairobi and that they were planning to carry out "suicide attacks" on the Westgate mall and on a church in the city.

In front-page stories, the Nation, Standard and Star newspapers questioned whether the Kenyan government and military may have failed to act on this and more recent warnings this year by local and foreign intelligence services.

"It is not a 'yes' or 'no' answer," Mutea Iringo, principal secretary in the Ministry of Interior, told Reuters.

"Every day, we get intelligence and action is taken as per that intelligence and many attacks averted. But the fact that you get the intelligence does not mean something cannot happen," the senior official added.

"What we are saying is that we are at war, and that every day some young Kenyan is being radicalized by al Shabaab to kill Kenyans," Iringo said, calling on citizens across the east African nation to be alert and cooperate with authorities.

The newspaper reports emerged ahead of a meeting on Monday of the Kenyan parliament's defense and foreign relations committee which is expected to ask security chiefs how much warning they had of Saturday's assault.

In the mall attack that extended into a four-day siege, gunmen fired on shoppers and tossed grenades leaving a trail of victims and shocking Kenya and the world. Al Shabaab said it acted in revenge against Kenyan troops who have been fighting it in neighboring Somalia for two years.

Britain's government said on Saturday a sixth British national had been identified among those killed at the mall. French and Canadian nationals also died.

The Star quoted another NIS briefing in February warning of a gun and grenade attack in Kenya similar to a three-day killing spree by militants in the Indian city of Mumbai in 2008.

In an editorial, the Standard said the reports pointed to "obvious" security lapses. "It is becoming increasingly apparent that the country's top security organs may have received adequate briefing on imminent terror threats," it said.

"Why they did not act in time to save the needless deaths at Westgate is astonishing and dumbfounding," it added.

The possibility that al Shabaab, which has carried out previous smaller gun and grenade attacks in Kenya, may be planning further high-profile strikes presents a major security challenge for President Uhuru Kenyatta, elected in March.

But the incident has also rallied foreign support for him as he confronts charges of crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Court in The Hague. He denies charges of orchestrating violence following Kenya's disputed 2007 elections.

FORENSIC PROBE UNDER WAY

Five of the mall attackers were killed and Kenyan authorities say they are holding eight people over the raid, which confirmed Western and regional fears about al Shabaab's ability to strike beyond Somalia's borders.

It also dented Kenya's vital tourism industry, although the finance minister says it will not have a long-term impact.

Kenyan officials have not so far specified the identities or nationalities of the attackers, saying forensic investigation of the wrecked mall building and of the dead will take time.

This has produced a deluge of unconfirmed speculation that radicalized diaspora Somalis from the United States and Europe may have been involved in the al Shabaab operation.

U.S., Israeli and European forensic experts are helping Kenya in the investigation.

A week after the attack, the five-storey, beige-colored mall remained sealed off to the public. From outside, a spray of bullet holes was visible around one upstairs window.

A team of foreign officials wearing white protective clothing and yellow boots could be seen leaving the mall escorted by an armed man wearing a black flak jacket.

Kenyan and Western officials have said they cannot confirm speculation that Briton Samantha Lewthwaite, widow of one of the 2005 London suicide bombers, had a role in the mall attack. Some survivors said they saw an armed white woman.

Kenya requested a "red alert" wanted notice issued by Interpol for Lewthwaite, dubbed the "White Widow" by the British media, but said she was wanted in connection with a previous 2011 plot that was also linked by police to al Shabaab.

With the country's security services on high alert, some Kenyans said they were worried that the government may have failed to act on prior intelligence information.

"It sounds like laxity. If you get warnings ... you have got to listen to those warnings," said businessman Vipool Shah.

(Additional reporting by Pascal Fletcher in Nairobi and Estelle Shirbon in London; Writing by Pascal Fletcher; Editing by Andrew Heavens)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/kenya-says-war-al-shabaab-faces-security-questions-140402034--finance.html

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Defining 'Gravity': Sandra Bullock, Alfonso Cuar?n Talk Pull Behind Film's Title (Video)

In director Alfonso Cuar?n's new movie, actress Sandra Bullock stars as an astronaut who suddenly finds herself floating uncontrollably in space. So why title the film "Gravity," the clear opposite of what the majority of people think of when they imagine life off of the planet Earth?

SPACE.com partner collectSPACE.com posed that question to Cuar?n and Bullock in a recent interview, where the director and actress gave their impressions of the meaning behind "Gravity."

"Gravity is a major, major character in the film," explained Cuar?n. "More specifically, microgravity."

"In reality, when we see astronauts floating around in orbit of planet Earth, it's not that there is no gravity, it's what is called microgravity," he said. [Video: Watch Bullock, Cuar?n Define "Gravity"]

As defined by NASA, gravity is a force governing motion throughout the universe. It holds us to the ground, it keeps the moon in orbit around the Earth and the Earth in orbit around the sun.

"The condition of microgravity comes about whenever an object is in free fall," NASA describes on its website. "If you drop an apple on Earth, it falls at [the force of gravity]. If an astronaut on the space station drops an apple, it falls too. It just doesn't look like it's falling."

"That's because they're all falling together: the apple, the astronaut and the station," the space agency explains.

In "Gravity," distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, gravity is more than a physical force.

"It was a fundamental character of the film," Cuar?n said.

As audiences will see when the film opens nationwide on Oct. 4, in "Gravity" Bullock's character, Dr. Ryan Stone, is a first-time astronaut who finds herself struggling against microgravity to regain a hold on her life, both literally and figuratively.

To that end, Bullock described gravity is "an adversary."

"I mean, the lack of gravity is the adversary, but it is also the metaphor in feeling so out of control in life," Bullock told collectSPACE.com. "Here, we are able to show it as a physical thing rather than the metaphor. The metaphor now becomes an actual adversary that your body does not know how to control."

During the making of the film, Bullock sought advice from NASA astronaut Cady Coleman, who at the time was on board the International Space Station, about moving while being weightless. Cuar?n said it was very important that they recreated the physical environment as accurately as possible to convey the story he wanted "Gravity" to tell.

"We were trying to be as scientifically and as physically accurate to the laws of microgravity and zero resistance ? another phenomena that happens when you don't have atmosphere and don't have gravity," said Cuar?n. "There is no resistance. So, if you throw a ball, the ball does not drop, it just keeps traveling until a different force changes [its] trajectory."

Whereas past films set in space relied on platforms, wire rigs, or, as in the 1995 "Apollo 13," a real reduced gravity environment achieved aboard an airplane flying parabolas, for "Gravity," Cuar?n and his team invented entirely new systems to generate the illusion of being weightless.

A set piece, dubbed the "Light Box," made up of large flat panels fitted with thousands of tiny LED lights, allowed Bullock and her co-star George Clooney to be illuminated while cameras, which were mounted on large, computer-controlled robot arms, circled around them. The end result, when combined with state-of-the-art CGI renderings, gave Cuar?n the ability to move the universe around the actors, giving the impression the characters were moving through space.

However, just as important as the visual effects were, the actors' ? and in particular, Bullock needed to convey the emotional experience of being thrown into space and the internal struggle she faced of righting herself to the world.

"The lack of gravity is the perfect way to describe not being able to ground yourself," Bullock observed. "Gravity being the thing that you're like, 'Okay, if we know we have our feet on the ground, we know we can at least stand up. We can at least take a step in the right direction and have our faculties back in an environment that makes sense to us.'"

Click through to collectSPACE.com for exclusive video of Sandra Bullock and director Alfonso Cuar?n discussing "Gravity."

Follow collectSPACE.com on Facebook?and on Twitter at @collectSPACE. Copyright 2013 collectSPACE.com. All rights reserved.

Copyright 2013 SPACE.com, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/defining-gravity-sandra-bullock-alfonso-cuar-n-talk-142230297.html

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A Blueprint for Building a Quantum Computer | October 2013 ...

By Rodney Van Meter, Clare Horsman
Communications of the ACM, Vol. 56 No. 10, Pages 84-93
10.1145/2494568
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Quantum computer architecture holds the key to building commercially viable systems.

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Source: http://cacm.acm.org/magazines/2013/10/168172-a-blueprint-for-building-a-quantum-computer

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'Marvel's Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.': 5 Burning Questions From The Pilot

Even as the show addressed a few lingering mysteries from 'Marvel's the Avengers,' fans left the pilot episode with twice as many new puzzlers.
By Brett White

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1714592/agents-of-shield-pilot-questions.jhtml

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Estel launches mPOS platform in Asia, Africa and Latin America

Estel Technologies, a provider of mobile financial services solutions for MNOs, banks and service providers in emerging markets, has launched its mPOS platform for card payments acceptance in Asia, Africa and Latin America.

Estel?s mPOS technology converts an Android smartphone into a card accepting POS terminal by combining it with a smart mobile application and an external card reader which is attached to the phone via its headphone jack.

The Estel mPOS platform is operated by acquiring banks, or payment service providers, and includes an mPOS merchant device (consisting of Android phone, Estel smart mobile application and approved card reader), and merchant portal, for registration, management and selfcare, with access to sales and transaction reports.

Estel mPOS platform is PCI compliant, supports both magnetic stripe and PIN pad card readers which are set to be EMV certified and it enables electronic signature capture.

Estel Technologies is focused on m-commerce technology offering m-commerce software platforms such as mPOS, mobile banking, mobile money, mobile payments, e-recharge, voucher management.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ThePaypersMobilePayments/~3/c6jv6g3b8_Y/752631-16

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