Forecast is for more snow in polar regions, less for the rest of us

Monday, February 25, 2013

A new climate model predicts an increase in snowfall for the Earth's polar regions and highest altitudes, but an overall drop in snowfall for the globe, as carbon dioxide levels rise over the next century.

The decline in snowfall could spell trouble for regions such as the western United States that rely on snowmelt as a source of fresh water.

The projections are the result of a new climate model developed at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL) and analyzed by scientists at GFDL and Princeton University. The study was published in the Journal of Climate.

The model indicates that the majority of the planet would experience less snowfall as a result of warming due to a doubling of atmospheric carbon dioxide. Observations show that atmospheric carbon dioxide has already increased by 40 percent from values in the mid-19th century, and, given projected trends, could exceed twice those values later this century. In North America, the greatest reductions in snowfall will occur along the northeast coast, in the mountainous west, and in the Pacific Northwest. Coastal regions from Virginia to Maine, as well as coastal Oregon and Washington, will get less than half the amount of snow currently received.

In very cold regions of the globe, however, snowfall will rise because as air warms it can hold more moisture, leading to increased precipitation in the form of snow. The researchers found that regions in and around the Arctic and Antarctica will get more snow than they now receive.

The highest mountain peaks in the northwestern Himalayas, the Andes and the Yukon region will also receive greater amounts of snowfall after carbon dioxide doubles. This finding clashes with other models which predicted declines in snowfall for these high-altitude regions. However, the new model's prediction is consistent with current snowfall observations in these regions.

The model is an improvement over previous models in that it utilizes greater detail about the world's topography ? the mountains, valleys and other features. This new "high-resolution" model is analogous to having a high-definition model of the planet's climate instead of a blurred picture.

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Princeton University: http://www.princeton.edu

Thanks to Princeton University for this article.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/126989/Forecast_is_for_more_snow_in_polar_regions__less_for_the_rest_of_us

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Mississippi bigots freak out over local paper?s coverage of 1st gay wedding in county (Americablog)

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Prenatal DHA reduces early preterm birth and low birth weight

Feb. 25, 2013 ? University of Kansas researchers have found that the infants of mothers who were given 600 milligrams of the omega-3 fatty acid DHA during pregnancy weighed more at birth and were less likely to be very low birth weight and born before 34 weeks gestation than infants of mothers who were given a placebo. This result greatly strengthens the case for using the dietary supplement during pregnancy.

The results are from the first five years of a 10-year, double-blind randomized controlled trial to be published in the April issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition and online Feb. 20. A follow-up of this sample of infants is ongoing to determine whether prenatal DHA nutritional supplementation will benefit children's intelligence and school readiness.

"A reduction in early preterm and very low birth weight delivery could have clear clinical and public health significance," said Susan Carlson, A.J. Rice Professor of Dietetics and Nutrition at the University of Kansas Medical Center, who directed the study with John Colombo, University of Kansas professor of psychology and director of the Life Span Institute.

"We believe that supplementing U.S. women with DHA could safely increase mean birth weight and gestational age to numbers that are closer to other developed countries such as Norway and Australia," she said.

DHA (docosahexaenoic acid) occurs naturally in cell membranes with the highest levels in brain cells, but levels can be increased by diet or supplements. An infant obtains DHA from his or her mother in utero and postnatally from human milk, but the amount received depends upon the mother's DHA status.

"U.S. women typically consume less DHA than women in most of the developed world," said Carlson.

During the first five years of the study, children of women enrolled in the study received multiple developmental assessments at regular intervals throughout infancy and at 18 months of age. In the next phase of the study, the children will receive twice-yearly assessments until they are six years of age. The researchers will measure developmental milestones that occur in later childhood and are linked to lifelong health and welfare.

Previous research has established the effects of postnatal feeding of DHA on infant cognitive and intellectual development, but DHA is accumulated most rapidly in the fetal brain during pregnancy, said Colombo. "That's why we are so interested in the effects of DHA taken prenatally, because we will really be able to see how this nutrient affects development over the long term."

The study is funded by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Kansas, Life Span Institute.

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Journal Reference:

1. S. E. Carlson, J. Colombo, B. J. Gajewski, K. M. Gustafson, D. Mundy, J. Yeast, M. K. Georgieff, L. A. Markley, E. H. Kerling, D. J. Shaddy. DHA supplementation and pregnancy outcomes. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 2013; DOI: 10.3945/ajcn.112.050021

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/health_medicine/nutrition/~3/fBjXBFUmRW8/130225131537.htm

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Net providers begin warning of illegal downloads

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Internet users who are illegally sharing music, movies or television shows are going to start to receive warning notices from the nation's five major Internet service providers.

The Copyright Alert System, organized by the recording and film industry, is being activated this week to target consumers who may be engaging in piracy using peer-to-peer software.

Under the new system, complaints will prompt an Internet service provider ? such as Verizon or AT&T ? to notify a customer whose Internet address has been detected sharing files illegally. A person will be given up to six opportunities to stop before the Internet provider will take more drastic steps, such as temporarily slowing their connection. Proponents say the focus is on educating consumers. They acknowledge it's unlikely to deter chronic violators.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/net-providers-begin-warning-illegal-downloads-231923384--finance.html

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Take my taxi to the moon

Susmita Mohanty, the founder of India?s first private space company, Earth2Orbit, wants India to claim bigger piece of the space-launch pie

How active is India's space programme?
The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), which was founded in 1969, launches rockets, builds and uses satellites extensively for earthly applications and has recently started planetary exploration. It tested its first astronaut capsule for atmospheric re-entry in 2007, and is planning to build a residential astronaut training facility. ISRO is also planning a lunar lander mission for 2014 and will launch a mission to Mars this year.

How does your company, Earth2Orbit, fit in with this programme?
We want to commercialise India's space capabilities, in particular the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle. It is one of the world's most reliable in its class. I want to make it the rocket of choice for international satellite-makers looking to get to low Earth or sun-synchronous orbits. India could build and launch up to six each year, but currently launches only two. We need to step up to full throttle. The same goes for satellites and ground equipment. Over the next decade or two, I think India should be aiming for at least a quarter of the multibillion-dollar global space market, if not more.

What do you think of the way spacecraft for carrying humans are currently designed?
The way the world aerospace industry is set up, it is closely linked to the defence sector ? they share the technology, the tooling and the cumbersome contractual processes. Unlike commercial automobile or consumer-product companies, where the end user is the primary design driver, aerospace companies tend to please government customers. As a result, we often end up with over-engineered, under-designed crew craft with an exorbitant price tag.

How can we improve on these designs?
I want us to push the boundaries of technology and design and build intelligent spaceships ? spaceships that think. Imagine if an international consortium of companies such as Apple, Samsung, Pininfarina, Space X and MIT Media Lab got together to design and build a spaceship! What would it look like? Could it think? Could it self-repair or self-clean? Would it challenge the crew?

The private sector is changing how we get into space. How has the X Prize contributed?
It created a tectonic shift in mindsets and showed how we can accelerate innovation in space exploration without having to spend taxpayer money. The first X Prize led to the first privately funded and designed spaceplane built by Burt Rutan. Then Richard Branson seized the opportunity: if all goes well, Virgin Galactic could fly more people to space in a year than the Russians or Americans have over the past 50 years!

What is next for space travel?
It barely takes 10 minutes to reach low Earth orbit. It probably takes longer for most urbanites to commute to work. I want to be able to "cab it" to low Earth orbit. I am dreaming of private astronaut taxis. The first generation will take paying passengers into orbit. The second generation will ferry us to the moon and Mars.

This article appeared in print under the headline "One minute with... Susmita Mohanty"

Profile

Susmita Mohanty is CEO of Earth2Orbit, which recently launched its first client satellite. She has worked at NASA and Boeing, and holds a PhD in aerospace architecture

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Palestinians call for probe of Israeli prisons

RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) ? Palestinians on Sunday called for an international investigation of Israel's treatment of Palestinian detainees after a 30-year-old prisoner died in custody and a hunger strike by four other inmates sparked a week of West Bank protests.

The death of Arafat Jaradat set off more clashes between Israeli troops and Palestinian stone-throwers in several areas of the West Bank on Sunday. In one incident, two Palestinians were wounded by army fire, including a 15-year-old boy who was shot in the chest, a Palestinian health official said.

Jaradat's death raised new questions about Israel's Shin Bet security service, which has been accused by rights groups of mistreating Palestinians during interrogation.

Palestinian officials and the detainee's family alleged Jaradat was mistreated by the Shin Bet, saying he was healthy at the time of his arrest last week.

Israeli officials said Jaradat died of an apparent heart attack and denied he was beaten or subjected to any treatment that could have led to his death.

Israel's main forensics institute performed an autopsy Sunday, with a Palestinian physician in attendance.

Issa Karake, an official in the Palestinian Authority, said the Palestinian doctor told him afterward there was no sign of a heart attack and that Jaradat was tortured. Karake said he was told that the detainee had suffered two broken ribs and bruises.

The Israeli health ministry, however, said no external signs of violence were found on the body, aside from those likely caused during efforts to resuscitate him. The statement said the broken ribs likely resulted from intense resuscitation. The initial results of the autopsy could not definitively conclude the cause of death.

Several thousand Palestinian prisoners held by Israel observed a one-day fast to protest Jaradat's death. Jaradat, a father of a 4-year-old daughter and 2-year-old son, worked as a gas station attendant and his wife, Dalal, is pregnant, relatives said.

The fate of prisoners is an emotional issue for Palestinians and Israelis.

Virtually every Palestinian family has seen a member imprisoned since Israel captured the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem in 1967, and the prisoners are generally seen as heroes resisting Israeli occupation. Many Israelis tend to view Palestinians involved in politically motivated violence as terrorists.

In the West Bank's largest city, Hebron, dozens of Palestinians threw stones at Israeli soldiers who fired tear gas and rubber-coated steel pellets. Stone-throwing protests also erupted near Jaradat's village of Saeer in the West Bank and near a West Bank checkpoint that is close to an Israeli prison.

In all, Israel holds close to 4,600 Palestinians on a range of charges, from throwing stones at Israelis to involvement in deadly shooting and bombing attacks. Of the detainees, 159 are being held without charges or trial in so-called administrative detention.

The Shin Bet said Jaradat was arrested last Monday, after residents of his village said he was involved in a rock-throwing attack that injured an Israeli. Jaradat admitted to the charge, as well as to another West Bank rock-throwing incident last year, the Shin Bet said.

The agency said that during interrogation, he was examined several times by a doctor who detected no health problems. On Saturday, he was in his cell and felt unwell after lunch, the agency said. "Rescue services and a doctor were alerted and treated him, they didn't succeed in saving his life," the statement said.

Jaradat's attorney, Kamil Sabbagh, said his client told an Israeli military judge during a hearing on Thursday that he was being forced to sit for long periods during interrogation. He also complained of back pain and seemed terrified to return to the Shin Bet lockup, but did not have any apparent signs of physical abuse, Sabbagh said.

After the court hearing, the judge ordered Jaradat to be examined by a prison doctor.

Karake, who handles Palestinian prisoner issues, said he holds Israel responsible for Jaradat's death, alleging ill-treatment and medical negligence. Karake called for an independent international investigation of Israel's treatment of Palestinian detainees.

The Israeli human rights group B'Tselem also demanded an investigation, including how Jaradat was questioned.

The agency routinely holds detainees in isolation for extended periods during interrogation, keeping them in cells that are lit around the clock and denying them access to lawyers, said Sarit Michaeli, a spokeswoman for the group.

She said that physical mistreatment of detainees had dropped sharply in recent years, but has not disappeared, according to affidavits by released prisoners. She also said detainees have filed some 700 complaints about mistreatment by Shin Bet agents during the past decade, but that none has led to a criminal investigation.

Jaradat's death comes at a time of daily Palestinian demonstrations in support of prisoners, especially four hunger strikers. The health of one of the hunger strikers has deteriorated.

In recent days, protests often turned into violent clashes with soldiers.

Defense officials said Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz convened top military officials Saturday night to discuss escalating tensions in the West Bank.

___

Associated Press writers Ian Deitch in Jerusalem and Nasser Shiyoukhi in Saeer, West Bank, contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/palestinians-call-probe-israeli-prisons-111912052.html

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New youth director brings diversity to Otterbein United Methodist Church in York Township

Cindy Strawbridge of York, second from left, prepares drinks with Sam Howard, 13, left, of Felton and Bradley Keech, 11, right, of Springettsbury Township. (DAILY RECORD/SUNDAY NEWS KATE PENN)

The Rev. Ken Loyer looked up on a recent Sunday to see his new youth director, Cindy Strawbridge, greeting an unfamiliar face in the rear of Otterbein United Methodist Church in York Township.

"I assumed it was someone she knew," Loyer said.

Turns out, the newcomer was a woman Strawbridge met the day before in her doctor's office. The two struck up a conversation, and Strawbridge invited her to church.

Loyer was not surprised to learn the real story. Strawbridge "blew us away" with her enthusiasm and commitment to Christ when she interviewed around the holidays, he said.

While many churches are losing members, Otterbein is growing both its traditional and contemporary services, Loyer said. So much so, the church elders

Cindy Strawbridge of York jokes with a diner during a recent Valentine s dinner and dance at the Otterbein United Methodist Church of Spry. (DAILY RECORD/SUNDAY NEWS KATE PENN)

opted to add a part-time youth director to the staff.

Strawbridge, 30, proved to be an outside-the-box candidate: an African-American woman who grew up in a New York City Pentecostal church. She moved to York after marrying Jonathan Strawbridge, an IT specialist at WellSpan Health.

By contrast, Otterbein is a Methodist church whose congregation is almost entirely white. But Loyer said the church had no preconceived notions about who they would hire.

"We did not limit ourselves to saying, 'This person has to be Methodist ... or this person has to be from a certain cultural background,'" he said.

Strawbridge started work at Otterbein about four weeks ago, and Loyer said he is noticing an increased energy among the congregation.

"Cindy has this gift for connecting with people and reaching out," he said. "She's exactly the kind of person who will help take our ministry to the next level."

Haley Adams, 11, only recently met Strawbridge, but is already forming bonds with her.

"She's very outgoing and enthusiastic. She talks in youth-friendly terms and she always has a positive attitude," said the fifth-grader at North Hopewell Winterstown Elementary School. "I play soccer, and she says she's going to come to some

Cindy Strawbridge of York, center, jokes with Denise and Tom Harlacker of Jacobus during a Valentine s dinner and dance at the Otterbein United Methodist Church of Spry. (DAILY RECORD/SUNDAY NEWS KATE PENN)

of my games."

Accepted Christ

Raised in Brooklyn, Strawbridge said she accepted Christ as her savior at 15. Throughout high school, she served in the youth ministry at Church of God of Prophecy.

She went on to earn her bachelor's degree in criminal justice from John Jay College in New York City and works with at-risk youth at the Abraxas Academy in Morgantown, Berks County.

The Strawbridges spent several years attending another York church, where Cindy was a youth leader. In September 2011, she was licensed as an evangelist under Bishop Benjamin Ravenel, jurisdictional prelate of the Church of God In Christ.

When she was looking for a church leadership opportunity, Strawbridge turned to www.youthministry.com

Sebrina Joynes, 16, of Red Lion, left, talks with Cindy Strawbridge, new youth director at Otterbein United Methodist Church of Spry. (DAILY RECORD/SUNDAY NEWS KATE PENN)

and uploaded her profile. At about the same time, Loyer signed up to scout candidates for the Otterbein position.

"It all looked very impressive," he said of her credentials. "Then I saw she was living in York. ... I was impressed by her passion, her interest and her vision."

Strawbridge was a little unsure what to expect from such a different church setting than she was used to.

"I was curious about how the congregation was going to receive me," she said. "But the one thing I'm excited about is we've gone into the church and everyone has embraced us."

Differences between the Methodist and Pentecostal faiths are few, Loyer said.

"It's the same God," Strawbridge added.

A different style

Strawbridge has noticed differences in the Methodist worship style. While the 11 a.m. contemporary worship is more upbeat, it is a far cry from the more theatrical Pentecostal way, she said.

"I've noticed a few 'Amens!'" she said. "One of the things I love about Pastor Ken is he's leading by example. It's nice to see a pastor who doesn't mind rolling up his sleeves and serving dinner."

One of Strawbridge's first initiatives was to set up the Songbird Cafe coffeehouse at Otterbein. The caf? will be open to the public from 7 to 10 p.m. every third Friday, starting March 15, for music, snacks, coffee, games and conversation.

Nicole Adams said she "hit it off" with Strawbridge the first time they met. Adams had been helping out with Otterbein's youth program.

"I totally trust her to take over what I was doing and things I was working on," Adams said. "I know she can do a much better job and has a lot more time to devote to it.

"She seems to have a lot of background with inner-city youth," she added. "I'm excited for her to combine our kids at Otterbein with some other kids that our kids might not come in contact with."

Background

Name: Cindy Strawbridge

Age: 30

Family: Married Jonathan Strawbridge in September

Education: associate's degree from Harrisburg Area Community

College in criminal justice; bachelor's degree in criminal justice from John Jay College

Career: Youth development specialist at the Abraxas Academy in Morgantown, Pa.; part-time youth director at Otterbein United Methodist Church of Spry

If you go

Otterbein United Methodist Church of Spry is planning several new events under new youth director Cindy Strawbridge. More details are available at www.otterbeinumcspry.com. Upcoming events include:

What: Serve the City

When: 4 to 7:30 p.m., Feb. 17

Where: meet at the church at 4 p.m., 50 School St., York Township

Cost: Free

What: AvalancheXpress

When: 5 to 9 p.m. Feb. 23

Where: Heritage Hills Golf Resort and Conference Center's AvalancheXpress, 2700 Mount Rose Ave., York Township

Cost: $12

Source: http://www.ydr.com/living/ci_22599789/new-youth-director-brings-diversity-otterbein-united-methodist?source=rss_emailed

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