Workington Comets hammered at Somerset

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Last updated at 08:24, Monday, 15 September 2014

SOMERSET 64 COMETS 28: Workington Comets endured a miserable evening of speedway after being drubbed 64-28 away at Somerset last night.

Comets registered just a single race win all night as league leaders Somerset Rebels ran out comfortable victors.

Every single Rebels rider rode superbly, particularly guest Nicolai Klindt (13 points) and Nick Morris (14 points).

In contrast, not one Comets rider got into double figures, with both Josh Grajczonek and Ricky Wells top-scoring for Workington with eight points.

The match was a cagey affair to begin with and after the first two heats the scores were level at 6-6 following successive 3-3 scores.

But it was the Rebels who grabbed the first advantage courtesy of a 5-1 in heat three. Klindt sprung into the lead from the tapes and team-mate Charles Wright went past Comets pair Mason Campton and Wells on the outside of the opening turn.

Comets went further behind in heat five due to another excellent 5-1 for the Rebels to extend their lead to 19-11.

It was again the combo of Klindt followed by Wright who secured the points for Somerset. Comets No 1 Grajczonek battled throughout the race to try to pass Wright but to no avail.

Rebels opened up a 10-point gap in the following heat. Comets looked odds on for a 5-1 at the start of the race, but Somersets Olly Allen bypassed Joe Jacobs and then Rene Bach to move into first, while Paul Starke passed Jacobs to clinch third. That 4-2 result made it 23-13 overall to Rebels.

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Workington Comets hammered at Somerset

Workington Comets ride into the play-offs

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Last updated at 11:32, Monday, 15 September 2014

Workington Comets battled their way into the Premier League play-offs after overcoming a stubborn Sheffield Tigers in a scintillating double-header on Saturday.

Tony Jackson: It was too close for comfort

Comets narrowly won the first match of the evening 50-43 to claim three points and then Sheffield fought their way back into the second match to claim a 45-45 draw, which gave Workington just the one league point.

However, four points from the two matches at Derwent Park was enough to lift Comets above Newcastle into the sixth and final play-off position after the North East club failed to pick up any points in a 48-41 loss away to high-flying Edinburgh Monarchs on Saturday.

Workington were made to sweat for their play-off place by a determined Sheffield side. They were 40-20 up after heat 10 in the first match, but Tigers battled back to reduce the gap to just seven points going into the final heat.

A 3-3 in heat 15 meant Comets only just secured a maximum three league points.

Similarly, Comets were eight points ahead after heat 12 in the second match, but Tigers rallied to clinch a draw and take two away points back to Sheffield.

Team manager Tony Jackson said: It was a bit too close for comfort. At the end of the day people dont remember how you get to the play-offs, they just remember you were in it. We have raced two meetings less than everyone and still made the play-offs.

We have got through a lot of matches in such a short space of time. Eight matches in eight days. It has been tough.

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Workington Comets ride into the play-offs

NASA OIG Report: NASA's Efforts to Identify Near-Earth Objects and Mitigate Hazards

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Scientists classify comets and asteroids that pass within 28 million miles of Earth's orbit as near-Earth objects (NEOs). Asteroids that collide and break into smaller fragments are the source of most NEOs, and the resulting fragments bombard the Earth at the rate of more than 100 tons a day. Although the vast majority of NEOs that enter Earth's atmosphere disintegrate before reaching the surface, those larger than 100 meters

(328 feet) may survive the descent and cause destruction in and around their impact sites.

Furthermore, even smaller objects that disintegrate before reaching Earth's surface can cause significant damage. For example, in February 2013 an 18-meter (59 foot) meteor exploded 14.5 miles above the city of Chelyabinsk, Russia, with the force of 30 atomic bombs, blowing out windows, destroying buildings, injuring more than 1,000 people, and raining down fragments along its trajectory (see Figure 1). Recent research suggests that Chelyabinsk-type events occur every 30 to 40 years, with a greater likelihood of impact in the ocean than over populated areas, while impacts from objects greater than a mile in diameter are predicted only once every several hundred thousand years.

In 1992, NASA began conducting scientific workshops and research into the identification, characterization, and tracking of NEOs, as well as into potential mitigation strategies. NASA reported NEOs with a diameter greater than 1 kilometer (0.62 miles) posed the greatest hazard to Earth and predicted a comprehensive survey could identify most NEOs of this size within a decade.1In 1994, the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology requested NASA identify and catalogue within 10 years the orbital characteristics of all comets and asteroids greater than 1 kilometer in diameter and in an orbit around the Sun that crosses the orbit of the Earth.2Four years later, NASA established a NEO Program Office to coordinate these efforts.3In addition, the NASA Authorization Act of 2005 required the Agency to implement a "program to detect, track, catalogue, and characterize the physical characteristics of near-Earth objects equal to or greater than 140 meters in diameter" and established a goal of cataloging 90 percent of these objects by 2020.4However, even with a ten-fold increase in the NEO Program budget in the past 5 years - from $4 million in fiscal year (FY) 2009 to $40 million in FY 2014 - NASA estimates that it has identified only about 10 percent of all asteroids 140 meters and larger. Moreover, given its current pace and resources, the Agency has stated that it will not meet the goal of identifying 90 percent of such objects by 2020.

We initiated this review to examine NASA's NEO Program and assess the Agency's progress toward meeting statutory and other Program goals. Specifically, we reviewed NASA's allocation and use of resources and plans for the future of the Program. Details of the review's scope and methodology are in Appendix A.

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NASA OIG Report: NASA's Efforts to Identify Near-Earth Objects and Mitigate Hazards

5 overlooked world treasures

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Pingyao, China

Chavin de Huantar, Peru

Catalhoyuk, Turkey

Hampi, India

Banteay Chhmar, Cambodia

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

(CNN) -- What a veteran traveler you are.

You've already hiked up to Machu Picchu and climbed up and down the thousands of stairs of the Great Wall of China. We bet you've also stood awestruck before the Hagia Sofia and the Taj Majal.

You're a regular Tony Wheeler, who co-founded Lonely Planet travel company more than 40 years ago. Like you, he's visited most of the world's major wonders of the world and almost everything else worth seeing.

Wheeler and fellow world explorer Vince Michael, head of the Global Heritage Fund, are always looking for hidden places to discover. By all means, they say, visit Angkor Wat and the Hagia Sophia. Go there and check them off your bucket list.

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5 overlooked world treasures

Global And China Stem Cell Industry Size 2014 Market Analysis, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2017: MarketResearchReports …

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Albany, NY (PRWEB) September 15, 2014

Stem cells are undifferentiated biological cells that can differentiate into specialized cells and can divide (through mitosis) to produce more stem cells. Stem cell therapy can be applied to treatment of cardiovascular diseases, leukemia (a kind of hematological system disease), nervous system diseases, damage or lesion of liver, kidney and other parenchymal organs, etc..

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Currently, cord blood bank is the fastest-growing and relatively mature market amid stem cell upstream sectors and even the whole industry chain. In 2005, there were 23 cord blood banks worldwide and in 2013 the figure exceeded 480. Global cord blood stem cell (CBSC) storage companies can be roughly divided into two categories: the ones running in a globalized business model, such as Cryo-Cell International and Esperite (formerly known as Cryo-Save Group), and the others giving priority to regional operation e.g. Zhongyuan Union Stem Cell Bioengineering (VCANBIO), Golden Meditech and LifeCell International. However, the companies mainly engaged in cord blood bank business are currently small in scale, only a few with more than 500,000 clients.

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The stem cell technology and product research-oriented midstream sector is in its infancy, mostly concentrated in few countries like Europe, America and South Korea. At present, most companies in the industry chain are basically in the red for years running due to huge R&D costs. Nevertheless, attracted by the tremendous market potential in the area of stem cell therapy and enjoying the great encouragement from government policies (e.g. capital subsidy) and the capital support of significant cooperative partners, very few companies have dropped out.

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Up to now, altogether 9 sorts of stem cell products have been approved worldwide, 3 of which are in the category of stem cell drugs developed by S. Korean companies, such as MEDIPOSTs adult stem cell drug CARTISTEM for osteoarthritis treatment and the stem cell product Prochymal (MEDIPOST obtained the product via acquiring the Therapeutics business of Osiris Therapeutics) direct at treating children suffering acute graft-versus-host disease (GVHD).

In the meantime, traditional pharmaceutical giants like Novartis are setting about quickly accessing the field through mergers and acquisitions. On Aug. 19, 2014, Novartis reached an acquisition agreement with Gamida Cell (a corporate dedicated to stem cell technology R&D and its application in stem cell transplantation for leukemia patients), which specified that Novartis spend USD35 million in acquiring 15% equity in the latter and win the option to take over the remaining equity in two years with USD165 million; in Sep. 2013, Novartis also entered a cooperation with Regenerex to jointly develop the hematopoietic stem cell platform FCRx of the latter.

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Questions for Jim – How Do You See Science and Spirituality Coming Together? – Video

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Questions for Jim - How Do You See Science and Spirituality Coming Together?
Jim Self, a leader in the field of spiritual development, founder of Mastering Alchemy, international speaker and author, answers questions about the Shift in Consciousness that we are experiencing...

By: MasteringAlchemy

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Questions for Jim - How Do You See Science and Spirituality Coming Together? - Video

Spirituality and calm dominate her canvas

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Neha Das, Sep 16, 2014, DHNS

Art exhibition

My mother is the religious one and I have inherited the same traits from her. I have always been inspired by our cultural upbringing. Whether one lives in metros, villages or anywhere in the universe, one is in constant touch with God. My paintings connect us to the greatest gods of Indian culture. From roadside hawkers to offices of multinational companies, we are all connected to God, says Tina Chandroji, who is showcasing her colourful canvas in a show titled Cityscapes at Visual Arts Gallery, India Habitat Centre.

Mumbai-based Chandroji believes that God is omnipresent and a part of every aspect of our lives and this is the thought behind her new artworks. Born in a Gujarati joint family of jewellers, Chandroji recalls that it was her childhood passion to be an artist that took her to JJ School of Art in 2001.

Dr Alka Pande, the curator of the show, said, In her paintings, the figures Jesus, Ram-Sita, and Buddha occupy the central space within the frame of modern day dcor. The USP of her paintings is the coming together of religion and other commercial goods on one canvas. Born in the metropolitan state of Mumbai, she has witnessed the togetherness of cultures, both urban and rural.

Chandrojis detailed works create an impact and also has a strong realistic feel to them. Her works titled Antiques, for instance, is a delight to the eye. Chandeliers and clocks, furniture and gramophone, artefacts and cabinets are so neatly arranged that every single element comes together to resemble a real shop. Or consider the work titled Vegetable Stall. Multi-coloured vegetables bunched together in artistic heaps, a transistor, photographs, hanging lamps, blue plastic bags hung on the wall - there is a photographic quality to each of her works.

As an Indian, you would have always seen shops like these, said Chandroji. These are sights that I have grown up seeing and these are present all over India. If you observe, you will see that every shop in India has a picture of God, another tradition, which is so unique to our culture, she added.

Its common knowledge that bakeries are usually run by Christians or Parsis, grocery shops by West Indians, vegetable and fruits by North Indian and perfumes by Muslims and each of these places have a special place for their Gods, said Chandroji. Other than holding art exhibitions, the artist was also the Assistant Art Director for the first season of Kaun Banega Crorepati and went on to become the Art Director for Salman Khan starrer Lucky- No Time For Love.

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Spirituality and calm dominate her canvas

Metrobank art and design winners tackle human hope amid adversity

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By John Ernest Jos |Philippine Daily Inquirer

STORM Surge, by Natalio Gelisanga Alob Jr., Grand Prize in Sculpture

Artworks tackling social iniquity, spirituality, and hope and humanity amid adversity dominated the 30th Metrobank Art and Design Excellence (MADE) competition.

The Grand Prize in Oil On Canvas was shared by Wilbert Custodios Ang Paraiso Nagsisiksikan at Pinatong-patong and Sergo Bumatay IIIs The Extraordinary Manifestation of Something Undeniably Possible.

Custodios work is a stark landscape of poor mens shanties huddled together, a commentary on the artists main concern about poverty and homelessness.

Abustan comes from Kalibo, Aklan, and took up Fine Arts from Feati University.

Bumatays work tackles the the supernatural and life after death.

Bumatay said he tackled the issues after his father was given a second lease on life.

Bumatay is a Fine Arts graduate of University of Santo Tomas.

Special citation was given to Ronson Culibrina for La Laguna Estigia Interviente: Human Starvation, a critique on consumerism.

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Metrobank art and design winners tackle human hope amid adversity

Space goals can lift down-to-earth ones

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Originally published September 14, 2014 at 8:04 PM | Page modified September 15, 2014 at 12:04 AM

Sometimes the news makes me want to get off the planet for a while, to go where, well, where each day is about new frontiers rather than old problems. I cant afford a lift on one of Virgin Galactics space-tourism flights, but I can hook my imagination to real space exploration, like a 12th Man.

Thursday, I read about Boeing and SpaceX competing for more than $3 billion in federal funding to fly astronauts into orbit. Other companies are trying to build space taxis too, but one or both of those two are expected to be chosen when NASA announces its preference this month.

We could feed, house and educate quite a few people with that money, but spending on space isnt why we dont do more of those things. Sometimes we fail to do more because we dont believe in solutions (the government will just waste money), sometimes because we dont feel connected (theres us and them). Its every man for himself, you know.

The U.S. is a little short of unifying goals right now and maybe spaceflight could be that again for a moment, like it was during its early days, something inspiring that emphasizes possibilities. And maybe that feeling could spill over into other areas of life.

At the least, I believe reaching beyond our collective grasp has its own rewards, just as it does for individuals. When I speak with people who have some affinity for space travel, they often talk about having been inspired by the space program or by the sciences in general to reach for the stars themselves.

I thought about Suzanne Dodd, who grew up in Gig Harbor. She became an engineer and was put in charge of the Voyager 1 and 2 four years ago. At the time, she told me, Space and space exploration is one of the few topics thats inspirational.

NASA has had lots of success with robot craft, but its the ships with humans aboard that get most people on board. Astrophysicist and TV star Neil deGrasse Tyson said on one of his visits to Seattle that it is people and firsts that get attention. Tyson is to speak Monday evening at The Paramount Theatre in Seattle.

When the shuttle program ended and the government began looking to private companies for a ride into orbit, a lot of space fans were disappointed, but I dont think they should have been.

Though venturing into space is never routine, the shuttle missions were not pushing the edge toward the end. Some people had their sights on a mission to Mars or a new moon program that would establish a base there, or a visit to an asteroid. All those dreams were slowed down by budgeting decisions, but they are still alive.

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Boston Red Sox's 2014 Minor League Awards

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The 2014 season is over for nearly all of the Boston Red Sox's minor league affiliates, and by and large, what a successful season it was.

Both the Triple-A Pawtucket Red Sox and the rookie ball Gulf Coast League Red Sox won their league's respective championships, while Double-A Portland saw a deep playoff run of its own. Add in some talented young players showing off their skills at Salem, Greenville and Lowell, and fans of Boston's farm system had plenty to watch this season.

With nearly everyMiLB season now in the books, it's the perfect time to dole out awards to Boston's most talented prospects. In this deep of a farm system, the competition was certainly stiff, but by pointing out the best and the brightest in Boston's farm system, we can highlight players who should make an impact in 2015 and beyond.

To qualify for these awards, players must have started the season with prospect eligibility (fewer than 130 MLB at-bats or 50 MLB innings pitched).

MVP: Mookie Betts, OF/2B

While not all of their young talent has acclimated well to the majors, the Red Sox have been blessed with several outstanding performances from individual prospects this season. Yet, despite the fierce competition he faced for this award, no prospect has been more valuable to Boston in 2014 than Betts.

The numbers Betts put up this season as a 21-year-old are truly staggering. He hit .355/.433/.551 in 253 PA in Portland, representing his first taste of professional baseball above the High-A level. He then hit .335/.417/.503 in 211 PA in Pawtucket, learning a new position in the outfield along the way.

And in the majors, Betts has hit .291/.367/.455 in 151 PA, cementing himself as Boston's leadoff hitter, showing defensive versatility and flashing a unique blend of power and speed. In a season that was supposed to serve as Xander Bogaerts' coming-out party, Betts has stolen the show instead.

If we assume that Dustin Pedroia, Yoenis Cespedes and Rusney Castillo will start everyday for the Red Sox in 2015, Betts could have a difficult time breaking into the lineup this season, even with his impressive contributions this year.

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Boston Red Sox's 2014 Minor League Awards

Nanotechnology aids in cooling electrons without external sources

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A team of researchers has discovered a way to cool electrons to -228 C without external means and at room temperature, an advancement that could enable electronic devices to function with very little energy. The process involves passing electrons through a quantum well to cool them and keep them from heating.

The team details its research in "Energy-filtered cold electron transport at room temperature," which is published in Nature Communications on Wednesday, Sept. 10.

"We are the first to effectively cool electrons at room temperature. Researchers have done electron cooling before, but only when the entire device is immersed into an extremely cold cooling bath," said Seong Jin Koh, an associate professor at UT Arlington in the Materials Science and Engineering Department, who has led the research.

"Obtaining cold electrons at room temperature has enormous technical benefits. For example, the requirement of using liquid helium or liquid nitrogen for cooling electrons in various electron systems can be lifted."

Electrons are thermally excited even at room temperature, which is a natural phenomenon. If that electron excitation could be suppressed, then the temperature of those electrons could be effectively lowered without external cooling, Koh said.

The team used a nanoscale structure - which consists of a sequential array of a source electrode, a quantum well, a tunneling barrier, a quantum dot, another tunneling barrier, and a drain electrode - to suppress electron excitation and to make electrons cold.

Cold electrons promise a new type of transistor that can operate at extremely low-energy consumption. "Implementing our findings to fabricating energy-efficient transistors is currently under way," Koh added.

Khosrow Behbehani, dean of the UT Arlington College of Engineering, said this research is representative of the University's role in fostering innovations that benefit the society, such as creating energy-efficient green technologies for current and future generations.

"Dr. Koh and his research team are developing real-world solutions to a critical global challenge of utilizing the energy efficiently and developing energy-efficient electronic technology that will benefit us all every day," Behbehani said.

"We applaud Dr. Koh for the results of this research and look forward to future innovations he will lead."

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Nanotechnology aids in cooling electrons without external sources

Malvern Technology Delivers Malvern Reliability in Multi-disciplinary Lab at Queen Mary …

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Malvern, UK The cross-disciplinary capabilities of Malvern Instruments' technology are being fully exploited at Queen Mary University London. The Zetasizer Nano, NanoSight Nanoparticle Tracking Analysis (NTA) and Mastersizer 2000 systems are all employed within the university's multi-disciplinary lab. The instruments serve a wide variety of research groups working in areas as diverse as silica coating formulation through to tissue regeneration, demonstrating the value that Malvern's robust technology brings throughout the scientific arena.

"Our lab is part of The School of Engineering and Materials Science but the instruments are used by everyone from biologists through to physicists," said Dr Krystelle Mafina, Experimental Officer in Materials Characterization at Queen Mary University London. "Stability and particle size define material and biomaterial performance and the Zetasizer Nano is perfectly placed to deliver this information within our multi-user environment. The instrument is robust, easy to use and data acquisition is straightforward. It is as close to student proof' as it is possible to be!"

Capable of measuring particle size, zeta potential, molecular weight and protein mobility, the Zetasizer Nano from Malvern is the world's most widely used dynamic light scattering system. Recently, research groups at Queen Mary University London have been supplementing data from the Zetasizer with data from the NanoSight Nanoparticle Tracking Analysis (NTA) system to study the behaviour of their particles and molecules over time. NTA is a unique particle visualization technique that enables each particle within a solution to be analysed through direct observation and measurement of the diffusion event. The instantaneous, high level data delivered by NTA is being used both to validate results from Zetasizer Nano analysis and to deliver additional insight into particle behaviour.

"NTA is a relatively new addition to the lab but is already bringing value to several areas of research," commented Dr Mafina. "For example, the ability to visualize particles over time is allowing one research group developing self-assembling proteins to trace the changes in size of their molecules over time to better understand the dynamics of aggregation. The more we learn about the technique the greater application it is finding. Malvern Instruments' webinars, live chats and technical support are very useful in this area and continue to help our researchers push the boundaries of materials and biomaterials science."

Find out more about how Malvern's techniques combine to deliver comprehensive materials and biomaterials characterization at the Malvern website http://www.malvern.com

Malvern, Malvern Instruments, Mastersizer and Zetasizer are registered trademarks of Malvern Instruments Ltd

About Malvern Instruments Malvern provides the materials and biophysical characterization technology and expertise that enables scientists and engineers to understand and control the properties of dispersed systems. These systems range from proteins and polymers in solution, particle and nanoparticle suspensions and emulsions, through to sprays and aerosols, industrial bulk powders and high concentration slurries. Used at all stages of research, development and manufacturing, Malvern's materials characterization instruments provide critical information that helps accelerate research and product development, enhance and maintain product quality and optimize process efficiency.

Our products reflect Malvern's drive to exploit the latest technological innovations and our commitment to maximizing the potential of established techniques. They are used by both industry and academia, in sectors ranging from pharmaceuticals and biopharmaceuticals to bulk chemicals, cement, plastics and polymers, energy and the environment.

Malvern systems are used to measure particle size, particle shape, zeta potential, protein charge, molecular weight, mass, size and conformation, rheological properties and for chemical identification, advancing the understanding of dispersed systems across many different industries and applications.

Headquartered in Malvern, UK, Malvern Instruments has subsidiary organizations in all major European markets, North America, China, Japan and Korea, a joint venture in India, a global distributor network and applications laboratories around the world. http://www.malvern.com

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Malvern Technology Delivers Malvern Reliability in Multi-disciplinary Lab at Queen Mary ...