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Public release date: 30-Nov-2012
Share ] Contact: John Carberry
johncarberry@cornell.edu
607-255-5353
Cornell University
ITHACA, N.Y. Cassava, a rough and ready root crop that has long been the foundation of food security in Africa is finally getting the respect it deserves. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Department for International Development of the United Kingdom (DFID) are investing $25.2 million to improve the staple crop's productivity and build human and technical capacity for plant breeding in sub-Saharan Africa.
The five-year project is hosted by Cornell University with five partner institutions: the National Crops Resources Research Institute (NaCRRI) in Uganda, National Root Crops Research Institute (NRCRI) in Nigeria, International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) in Nigeria, Boyce Thompson Institute (BTI) for Plant Research in New York, and U.S. Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, in California.
"Partners on the Next Generation Cassava Breeding project will use a state-of-the-art plant breeding approach known as genomic selection to improve cassava productivity for the 21st century," said Ronnie Coffman, Cornell professor of plant breeding and genetics, director of International Programs, and the principal investigator on the multi-partner grant.
Cassava breeding is typically a lengthy process; it takes almost a decade to multiply and release a new variety. Genomic selection can shorten breeding cycles, provide more accurate evaluation at the seedling stage, and give plant breeders the ability to evaluate a much larger number of clones without the need to plant them in the target environment. Using genomic selection, new releases of cassava could be ready in as little as six years.
"Increased support for strengthening the research capacity in Africa and harnessing novel technologies are critical to improving overall agricultural productivity and food security for poor people," said Yona Baguma, project coordinator for NaCRRI who aims to unlock the potential of cassava in Africa and mobilize a whole new generation of cassava growers.
"Next Generation Cassava provides a great opportunity for us to harness the power of modern science for faster delivery of best-bet cassava varieties for smallholder farmers," said Chiedozie Egesi, assistant director at NRCRI and head of cassava breeding, who works to biofortify cassava with essential micronutrients and make it more nutritious.
"Next Generation Cassava will give breeders in Africa access to the most advanced plant breeding technologies to deliver improved varieties to farmers more rapidly," said Peter Kulakow, cassava breeder and geneticist with IITA, one of the project's three Africa-based partner institutes. "This project will ensure that cassava genetic research is on a par with other top food crops such as wheat, rice, maize and potato."
Africa's small farmers produce more than half of the world's cassava, or about 86 million tons from over 10 million hectares. The tough woody plant is predicted to be one of the few crops that will benefit from climate change. It requires few inputs and can withstand drought, marginal soils and long-term underground storage. A cash crop as well as a subsistence crop, the storage roots of this perennial woody shrub are processed, consumed freshly boiled or raw, and eaten by people as well as animals as a low-cost source of carbohydrates. No other continent depends on cassava to feed as many people as does Africa, where 500 million people consume it daily.
The cassava team at Cornell also includes scientific leader Jean-Luc Jannink, research geneticist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture and adjunct professor in the department of plant breeding and genetics, and Tim Setter, chair of the department of crop and soil science. Martha Hamblin (senior research associate and science coordinator), Hale Tufan (senior extension associate and project manager), and Charlotte Archarya (who will manage the Genotyping by Sequencing pipeline for the project) round out the Cornell team.
The partners will share cassava data, expertise, and information on a publicly available website (www.cassavabase.org) being developed by Lukas Mueller of BTI.
In addition to using the latest genomic information from cassava sequencing to improve productivity and yield, project partners will incorporate cassava germplasm diversity from South America into African breeding programs, train the next generation of plant breeders, and improve infrastructure at African institutions. They will also hold awareness-building workshops for farmers, scholars, researchers and policy makers.
###
For more information see www.nextgencassava.org
[ | E-mail | Share ] ?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Public release date: 30-Nov-2012 Share ] Contact: John Carberry
johncarberry@cornell.edu
607-255-5353
Cornell University
ITHACA, N.Y. Cassava, a rough and ready root crop that has long been the foundation of food security in Africa is finally getting the respect it deserves. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Department for International Development of the United Kingdom (DFID) are investing $25.2 million to improve the staple crop's productivity and build human and technical capacity for plant breeding in sub-Saharan Africa.
The five-year project is hosted by Cornell University with five partner institutions: the National Crops Resources Research Institute (NaCRRI) in Uganda, National Root Crops Research Institute (NRCRI) in Nigeria, International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) in Nigeria, Boyce Thompson Institute (BTI) for Plant Research in New York, and U.S. Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, in California.
"Partners on the Next Generation Cassava Breeding project will use a state-of-the-art plant breeding approach known as genomic selection to improve cassava productivity for the 21st century," said Ronnie Coffman, Cornell professor of plant breeding and genetics, director of International Programs, and the principal investigator on the multi-partner grant.
Cassava breeding is typically a lengthy process; it takes almost a decade to multiply and release a new variety. Genomic selection can shorten breeding cycles, provide more accurate evaluation at the seedling stage, and give plant breeders the ability to evaluate a much larger number of clones without the need to plant them in the target environment. Using genomic selection, new releases of cassava could be ready in as little as six years.
"Increased support for strengthening the research capacity in Africa and harnessing novel technologies are critical to improving overall agricultural productivity and food security for poor people," said Yona Baguma, project coordinator for NaCRRI who aims to unlock the potential of cassava in Africa and mobilize a whole new generation of cassava growers.
"Next Generation Cassava provides a great opportunity for us to harness the power of modern science for faster delivery of best-bet cassava varieties for smallholder farmers," said Chiedozie Egesi, assistant director at NRCRI and head of cassava breeding, who works to biofortify cassava with essential micronutrients and make it more nutritious.
"Next Generation Cassava will give breeders in Africa access to the most advanced plant breeding technologies to deliver improved varieties to farmers more rapidly," said Peter Kulakow, cassava breeder and geneticist with IITA, one of the project's three Africa-based partner institutes. "This project will ensure that cassava genetic research is on a par with other top food crops such as wheat, rice, maize and potato."
Africa's small farmers produce more than half of the world's cassava, or about 86 million tons from over 10 million hectares. The tough woody plant is predicted to be one of the few crops that will benefit from climate change. It requires few inputs and can withstand drought, marginal soils and long-term underground storage. A cash crop as well as a subsistence crop, the storage roots of this perennial woody shrub are processed, consumed freshly boiled or raw, and eaten by people as well as animals as a low-cost source of carbohydrates. No other continent depends on cassava to feed as many people as does Africa, where 500 million people consume it daily.
The cassava team at Cornell also includes scientific leader Jean-Luc Jannink, research geneticist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture and adjunct professor in the department of plant breeding and genetics, and Tim Setter, chair of the department of crop and soil science. Martha Hamblin (senior research associate and science coordinator), Hale Tufan (senior extension associate and project manager), and Charlotte Archarya (who will manage the Genotyping by Sequencing pipeline for the project) round out the Cornell team.
The partners will share cassava data, expertise, and information on a publicly available website (www.cassavabase.org) being developed by Lukas Mueller of BTI.
In addition to using the latest genomic information from cassava sequencing to improve productivity and yield, project partners will incorporate cassava germplasm diversity from South America into African breeding programs, train the next generation of plant breeders, and improve infrastructure at African institutions. They will also hold awareness-building workshops for farmers, scholars, researchers and policy makers.
###
For more information see www.nextgencassava.org
[ | E-mail | Share ] ?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-11/cu-cr113012.php
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Credit solution particularly suitable for business use of a current account credit must still be accompanied by certain precautions.
To meet the needs of corporate liquidity, credit, current account itself as a valuable cash management. It is a highly flexible commercial credit and easy to use. Like the cash reserves for individuals, repayment terms are sometimes obscure; here are some tips to effectively manage the current account credit.
A flexible financing solution but costly
Quickly repay an advance on current account
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Source: http://financeseek.net/pay-your-current-account-credit-practical-tips.html
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UFC/Strikeforce women's bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey appeared on Jim Rome's show on Wednesday. What does the champion use as her training secret? Does she have high-level training methods not available to amateur athletes and workout warriors?
Nope. She likes to have as much sex as possible before fights. Though Mick advised Rocky that women weaken the legs, Rousey believes it has the opposite effect on women.
"For girls it raises your testosterone, so I try to have as much sex as possible before I fight actually. Not with like everybody, I don't put out like a Craigslist ads or anything, but if I got a steady I'm going to be like, 'Yo, fight time's coming up,'" Rousey said.
She is not the first athlete to claim sex has benefits on the field of play. Elias Figueroa, a Chilean soccer player, said his coach advised him to have sex before important games. Argentinian soccer players were advised they could have sex during the World Cup, as long as it was with a regular partner and not accompanied by champagne.
There is little medical evidence that says sex has an effect, positive or negative, on an athletic performance.
"It certainly doesn't fatigue you in any particular way. So if we actually test your strength or your endurance the day after you've had sex, there's no effect," said Ian Shrier, a sport-medicine physician at the Jewish General Hospital at McGill University.
But if there is an exception, it's in combat sports like MMA. Maria Cristina Rodriguez Gutierrez, the director of sports medicine at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, told CNN that sex can reduce aggression.
"For combat athletes like fighters or boxers, having sex before an important fight can reduce the aggressiveness and make them passive," although effects vary from person to person.
It clearly works for Rousey, who has steamrolled every opponent she has faced on her way to the championship and a 6-0 record. She's won every fight with a first-round submission, and she recently was named the first woman in the UFC. Though her opponent and the date for her first UFC fight are currently unknown, UFC president Dana White said her bout will be a main event on a pay-per-view.
Rousey is also a two-time Olympian, and she won a bronze medal for judo in 2008. It was a fight before the Beijing Olympics that made her think she could be successful in the cage.
"Yes. I got in a fight with a couple of guys at the end of 2007 in a movie theater. It was four couples so four guys and one girl tried to get into it. And I had two friends with me. But I was only really handling two guys by myself. They sued me for assault because it didn't really go too well for them. I guess if you lose a fight in Santa Monica the next option is to sue. Everyone in the theater was cheering for me. I was thinking I might have a future in this. It was before the whole MMA thing."
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NEW YORK (Reuters) - A young model was either insane, or a calculating, quick-thinking murderer who feigned mental illness when he killed and castrated his lover, a prominent Portuguese journalist, in their New York hotel room last year, a jury heard on Wednesday. No one disputes that Renato Seabra, 22, killed Carlos Castro, 65, in January 2011. Seabra pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to a charge of second degree murder, and his trial reached closing arguments at Manhattan criminal court. ...
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/house-prices-steady-november-nationwide-070345078--business.html
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Debt Management Credit Counseling Corp?http://www.dmcconline.org, a nonprofit credit counseling organization (DMCC), announced that its financial literacy program is being provided this semester to students at Monarch High School in Coconut Creek, FL. Covering several topics from how to create a budget to using credit cards wisely, this program will give Monarch students valuable skills that will help them make smart financial decisions. DMCC is also providing a free seminar to Monarch parents, students and community residents on various financial topics, including budgeting, debt management plans, understanding credit reports and credit scoring.
Lighthouse Point, FL (PRWEB) November 28, 2012
Debt Management Credit Counseling Corphttp://www.dmcconline.org, a nonprofit credit counseling organization (DMCC), announced today that its proprietary financial literacy program, Debt Money & Credit Concepts, is being provided this fall semester to students at Monarch High School in Coconut Creek, Florida. Under the direction of Monarch?s marketing teacher and DECA Advisor, Greg Kennedy, students in Mr. Kennedy?s classes are being required to take this course as part of DECA?s efforts to raise financial awareness in their school. By taking the DMCC financial literacy course, students will learn how to create a budget, use a credit card wisely, balance their bank account and develop a solid savings fund, among other things.
DMCC has been providing its financial literacy program to students in high schools and colleges throughout South Florida for over 10 years at no charge. At Monarch, DMCC introduced the program to the students in their classroom and helped the students register for the online course. At the end of the semester, DMCC will present certificates to all the students who successfully complete the course. ?Our financial literacy program provides the information students need to be better prepared for the financial decisions that lie ahead? said Jessica Francese, Education Coordinator for DMCC. ?We have presented seminars at Monarch High for many years and are very pleased that over 150 students are participating in the program this semester.?
In connection with the Monarch High School DECA club?s financial awareness efforts, DMCC will present a free seminar to students, parents and community residents in the Media Center at Monarch High School on Wednesday, November 27th, at 6:00pm. Topics will include budgeting,?debt management plans, understanding credit reports and credit scoring. The presentation is open to the public. Anyone interested in attending, or obtaining more information about DMCC?s?financial literacy program, should contact Jessica Francese at 954-418-1466 or by email to jessica(at)dmcconline(dot)org. Educators in South Florida high schools and colleges are encouraged to take advantage of this free service.
About Debt Management Credit Counseling Corp.
DMCC is a 501c(3) nonprofit organization committed to educating consumers on financial issues and providing personal assistance to consumers overextended with debt. Education is provided free of charge to consumers via seminars, workshops, a proprietary financial literacy program, and a vast array of online and printed materials. Free personal counseling is provided to consumers to identify the best options for the repayment of their debt. DMCC is a HUD Approved Housing Counseling Agency, is approved by the U.S. Trustee to provide bankruptcy counseling and education, and has an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau.
?
Ref: ?http://www.prweb.com/releases/nonprofit/credit_counseling/prweb10177834.htm
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In this Nov. 18, 2012 photo, Detroit Lions defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh (90) watches from the bench during the fourth quarter of an NFL football game against the Green Bay Packers at Ford Field in Detroit. Suh was issued a traffic citation by a police officer who said he saw Suh driving fast and passing cars from the right lane of a suburban Detroit roadway. The Lathrup Village officer gave Suh a ticket on Nov. 15, 2012 for driving without due care and caution. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)
In this Nov. 18, 2012 photo, Detroit Lions defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh (90) watches from the bench during the fourth quarter of an NFL football game against the Green Bay Packers at Ford Field in Detroit. Suh was issued a traffic citation by a police officer who said he saw Suh driving fast and passing cars from the right lane of a suburban Detroit roadway. The Lathrup Village officer gave Suh a ticket on Nov. 15, 2012 for driving without due care and caution. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)
Houston Texans quarterback Matt Schaub (8) picks himself up after a hit by Detroit Lions defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh during the first quarter of an NFL football game at Ford Field in Detroit, Thursday, Nov. 22, 2012. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)
Detroit Lions defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh (90) stares at Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers (12) in the third quarter of their NFL football game in Detroit, Sunday, Nov. 18, 2012. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)
ALLEN PARK, Mich. (AP) ? Detroit Lions defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh was fined $30,000 by the NFL on Wednesday, but says he didn't kick Houston Texans quarterback Matt Schaub on purpose.
That's why Suh insisted he doesn't need to apologize to Schaub.
Suh spoke to reporters Wednesday for the first time since his left cleat connected with Schaub's groin area in Detroit's loss to Houston last Thursday.
Suh dodged another suspension from the league, which has fined him instead for his latest questionable move on the field.
His reputation, though, has taken another hit.
The NFL suspended Suh for two games last season after he stomped on Green Bay's Evan Dietrich-Smith in a Thanksgiving game. Suh said he was sorry to Dietrich-Smith.
___
Online: http://pro32.ap.org/poll and http://twitter.com/AP_
___
Follow Larry Lage on Twitter: http://twitter.com/larrylage
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BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The Greek government and financial markets were cheered on Tuesday by an agreement between euro zone finance ministers and the International Monetary Fund to reduce Greece's debt, paving the way for the release of urgently needed aid loans.
The deal, clinched at the third attempt after weeks of wrangling, removes the biggest risk of a sovereign default in the euro zone for now, ensuring the near-bankrupt country will stay afloat at least until after a 2013 German general election.
"Tomorrow, a new day starts for all Greeks," Prime Minister Antonis Samaras told reporters at 3 a.m. in Athens after staying up to follow the tense Brussels negotiations.
After 12 hours of talks, international lenders agreed on a package of measures to reduce Greek debt by more than 40 billion euros, projected to cut it to 124 percent of gross domestic product by 2020.
In an additional new promise, ministers committed to taking further steps to lower Greece's debt to "significantly below 110 percent" in 2022.
That was a veiled acknowledgement that some write-off of loans may be necessary in 2016, the point when Greece is forecast to reach a primary budget surplus, although Germany and its northern allies continue to reject such a step publicly.
Analyst Alex White of JP Morgan called it "another moment of ?creative ambiguity' to match the June (EU) Summit deal on legacy bank assets; i.e. a statement from which all sides can take a degree of comfort".
The euro strengthened, European shares climbed to near a three-week high and safe haven German bonds fell on Tuesday, after the agreement to reduce Greek debt and release loans to keep the economy afloat.
"The political will to reward the Greek austerity and reform measures has already been there for a while. Now, this political will has finally been supplemented by financial support," economist Carsten Brzeski of ING said.
PARLIAMENTARY APPROVAL
To reduce the debt pile, ministers agreed to cut the interest rate on official loans, extend the maturity of Greece's loans from the EFSF bailout fund by 15 years to 30 years, and grant a 10-year interest repayment deferral on those loans.
German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said Athens had to come close to achieving a primary surplus, where state income covers its expenditure, excluding the huge debt repayments.
"When Greece has achieved, or is about to achieve, a primary surplus and fulfilled all of its conditions, we will, if need be, consider further measures for the reduction of the total debt," Schaeuble said.
Eurogroup Chairman Jean-Claude Juncker said ministers would formally approve the release of a major aid installment needed to recapitalize Greece's teetering banks and enable the government to pay wages, pensions and suppliers on December 13 - after those national parliaments that need to approve the package do so.
The German and Dutch lower houses of parliament and the Grand Committee of the Finnish parliament have to endorse the deal. Losing no time, Schaeuble said he had asked German lawmakers to vote on the package this week.
Greece will receive 43.7 billion euros in four installments once it fulfils all conditions. The 34.4 billion euro December payment will comprise 23.8 billion for banks and 10.6 billion in budget assistance.
The IMF's share, less than a third of the total, will be paid out only once a buy-back of Greek debt has occurred in the coming weeks, but IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde said the Fund had no intention of pulling out of the program.
Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann welcomed the deal but said Greece still had a long way to go to get its finances and economy into shape. Vice Chancellor Michael Spindelegger told reporters the important thing had been keeping the IMF on board.
"It had threatened to go in a direction that the IMF would exit Greek financing. This was averted and this is decisive for us Europeans," he said.
The debt buy-back was the part of the package on which the least detail was disclosed, to try to avoid giving hedge funds an opportunity to push up prices. Officials have previously talked of a 10 billion euro program to buy debt back from private investors at about 35 cents in the euro.
The ministers promised to hand back 11 billion euros in profits accruing to their national central banks from European Central Bank purchases of discounted Greek government bonds in the secondary market.
BETTER FUTURE
The deal substantially reduces the risk of a Greek exit from the single currency area, unless political turmoil were to bring down Samaras's pro-bailout coalition and pass power to radical leftists or rightists.
The biggest opposition party, the hard left SYRIZA, which now leads Samaras's center-right New Democracy in opinion polls, dismissed the deal and said it fell short of what was needed to make Greece's debt affordable.
Greece, where the euro zone's debt crisis erupted in late 2009, is proportionately the currency area's most heavily indebted country, despite a big cut this year in the value of privately-held debt. Its economy has shrunk by nearly 25 percent in five years.
Negotiations had been stalled over how Greece's debt, forecast to peak at 190-200 percent of GDP in the coming two years, could be cut to a more bearable 120 percent by 2020.
The agreed figure fell slightly short of that goal, and the IMF insisted that euro zone ministers should make a firm commitment to further steps to reduce the debt if Athens faithfully implements its budget and reform program.
The main question remains whether Greek debt can become affordable without euro zone governments having to write off some of the loans they have made to Athens.
Germany and its northern European allies have hitherto rejected any idea of forgiving official loans to Athens, but European Union officials believe that line may soften after next September's German general election.
Schaeuble told reporters that it was legally impossible for Germany and other countries to forgive debt while simultaneously giving new loan guarantees. That did not explicitly preclude debt relief at a later stage, once Greece completes its adjustment program and no longer needs new loans.
But senior conservative German lawmaker Gerda Hasselfeldt said there was no legal possibility for a debt "haircut" for Greece in the future either.
At Germany's insistence, earmarked revenue and aid payments will go into a strengthened "segregated account" to ensure that Greece services its debts.
A source familiar with IMF thinking said a loan write-off once Greece has fulfilled its program would be the simplest way to make its debt viable, but other methods such as forgoing interest payments, or lending at below market rates and extending maturities could all help.
German central bank governor Jens Weidmann has suggested that Greece could "earn" a reduction in debt it owes to euro zone governments in a few years if it diligently implements all the agreed reforms. The European Commission backs that view.
The ministers agreed to reduce interest on already extended bilateral loans in stages from the current 150 basis points above financing costs to 50 bps.
(Additional reporting by Annika Breidhardt, Robin Emmott and John O'Donnell in Brussels, Andreas Rinke and Noah Barkin in Berlin, Michael Shields in Vienna; Writing by Paul Taylor; editing by David Stamp)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/euro-zone-imf-secure-deal-cutting-greek-debt-115610160--finance.html
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Since your room will need certain size of carpet, it is highly recommended to do the measure on the room first before you start to ask about the carpet pricing and any related stuff on it. This is important because it will determine the potential spending that you may have. It will be a real help for the flooring shop to assist you on calculating the potential spending.
If you take your time and visiting the right flooring shop, it is always possible to Get $100 off your next purchase! Of course, there will be requirement and condition that you should know. By getting the information as early as possible, your chance to enjoy the financial benefit on the carpet purchase will be better. You will not be disappointed simply because of the offer already ended at the time you arrive in the flooring shop.
Source: http://www.hss-vuksr.com/stuff-on-your-carpet-as-flooring-option.html
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Just treated yourself to a new Samsung Galaxy S III or a Note II but wondering how the plastic body will stand up to the rigors of daily life? The manufacturer's showing off a smorgasbord of tests its smartphones go through in the labs while being prepped for prime time. These experiments are engineered to see how sample and prototype devices fare when subjected to use and abuse -- including having their buttons mashed thousands of times, being twisted, splashed with water, and tossed in a churning pot of killer corn to gauge scratch resistance. One test even plonks a fake, denim-clad posterior onto unsuspecting phones, attempting to bend them out of shape. Sammy's hardly going to smash things in its own marketing, but you may still glean some sadistic pleasure from the video after the break -- and understanding Korean is optional.
Continue reading Beaten, twisted, sprayed and sat on: how Samsung stress tests its phones (video)
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Samsung
Source: YouTube
Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/5rHHCHsj9iw/
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KIEV (Reuters) - Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich on Tuesday signed a law enabling constitutional change via referendums instead of via parliament, in a move the opposition criticized as aimed at ensuring his own re-election in 2015.
Yanukovich's Regions party, which approved the new law this month, looks set to secure a slim majority in the 450-seat parliament in the wake of elections on October 28, a handful of results of which have yet to be finalized.
The party's support fell compared with 2007, however, putting Yanukovich's chances of re-election in 2015 in doubt.
To boost those chances, opposition leaders say Yanukovich may use the new law to amend the constitution - via a referendum and not via parliament - to scrap presidential elections and let parliament pick the head of state via a simple majority vote.
Some analysts said he may even use the law to push through policies that his party, backed by influential local industrialists, would not support.
"The president could only do this (change the way he is elected) in dire circumstances," said Mykhailo Pohrebinsky, an analyst at the Kiev Centre of Policy Research.
"This law provides a way to push through decisions which are not supported by the elite but supported by the population. One issue that can be realistically put up for referendum is the question of (joining the Russia-led) Customs Union."
Russia has long urged Ukraine to join Belarus and Kazakhstan in its post-Soviet trade bloc but Kiev, which is instead seeking a free trade agreement with the European Union, has repeatedly refused.
The new law says a referendum must be held if signatures are gathered from at least 3 million people from different regions of the country and then called by the president or parliament.
It is unclear whether the public would approve a motion to give parliament the right to pick the president, however.
Prior to the new law, amendments to the constitution had to be approved via a two-thirds majority in the house, which Yanukovich's Regions party is unlikely to win.
The opposition has said it will challenge the new law in the constitutional court.
Yanukovich quickly consolidated power after becoming president in 2010, installing loyal allies in key positions and successfully challenging an earlier constitutional reform in order to lessen his dependence on parliament.
His re-election chances have been hurt as Ukraine's economy, which had been growing since early 2010, shrank 1.3 percent in year-on-year terms in the third quarter of this year as steel exports fell.
In a move condemned by the West, a local court last year sentenced his main opponent, former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko, to seven years in prison on charges of abuse of office.
(Reporting by Olzhas Auyezov; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ukraine-leader-signs-law-change-constitution-via-referendum-143336276.html
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'I'm still an animal, but I've also learned a lot along the way,' singer tells MTV News of her transformation on new album.
By Jocelyn Vena
Ke$ha
Photo: Al Pereira
Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1697763/kesha-warrior-wild-party-animal-transformation.jhtml
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From Techcrunch:
It?s been a big year for BitTorrent, said Matt Mason, the company?s executive director of marketing. Mason and his team have been working with big names like DJ Shadow and Tim Ferriss to figure out how to turn file sharing into a source of revenue.
?We don?t want to dictate what the business model is, because we don?t know what it is,? Mason said. ?There?s not a business model for content in the digital world. There?s a new business model for every piece of content you release.?
The emphasis is very much on artist partnerships, not deals with record labels or movie studios. Since most people associate BitTorrent with illegal file sharing, I assumed the big entertainment companies want nothing to do with it, but Mason said that?s not entirely true. (He also pointed out that BitTorrent drove 124 million legal music downloads in the first six months of the year, accounting for nearly one-third of the total 405 million music downloads on BitTorrent that were tracked by Musicmetric.) The bigger problem, he said, is that the entertainment industry?s terms are too onerous: ?The deals just don?t make sense.?
So BitTorrent works with artists on one-off experiments. For example, it collaborated with DJ Shadow and his digital marketing agency Fame House to create a bundle with exclusive content around his release Hidden Transmissions From The MPC Era (1992-1996), and it ran ads for free software alongside those bundles. Mason said the company wasn?t happy with the download interface, so it limited the ads to a few geographies, but even so, the campaign saw 18.5 million impressions, with 4 million people agreeing to check out the free software ? an impressive conversion rate of around 21.5 percent.
Continue reading the rest of the story on Techcrunch
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Every silver lining has a cloud, and the Corvair?s is a deadly thunderhead. We?ve reveled in our love for the Corvair on these pages repeatedly, (here, here, and here), and shown how the 1960 Corvair sparked a global design revolution. But for all of our silver-tongued love sonnets for the most unique and refreshing car to escape Fortress Detroit in decades, we?ve so far avoided its very controversial shadow side. No longer; get out your umbrellas, for a hard rain?s gonna? fall.
The most fundamental question has to do with the decision to make the Corvair a rear-engined car, as all of its issues ultimately stem from that. According to the oft-repeated story, in 1955 Chevrolet Chief Engineer Ed Cole asked Maurice Olley, the division?s Director of Research, to analyze the various engine-drive train variations for a small car, including conventional front engine-rear wheel drive, FWD, and rear engine variations. A number of small European cars were tested and examined, and the rear-engine configuration as used by VW and the smallest Renaults and Fiats was determined to be the most advantageous for a number of reasons.
Those were its light steering (power assist not necessary), a flat floor, a relatively quiet and comfortable ride, and excellent traction. It?s important to keep in mind that at this stage, the Corvair was envisioned as a more compact and cheaper alternative to the full-sized Chevrolet, not the sporty car that it eventually evolved to be.
Specifically, the Corvair project was to take up where the 1947 Chevrolet Cadet had failed: to be a profitable compact car. And the way that ?compact? was defined then was for the car to be shorter and lighter, but still be able to accommodate six. That presented inherent challenges in packaging the drive train.
The solution then was Cadet Engineer Earl MacPherson?s use of his eponymous struts at both front and rear, combined with an independent rear suspension and the transmission under the front seat. A rather brilliant solution from a brilliant engineer, but this was not France or Germany where such an advanced car could be priced accordingly. The Cadet suffered from a recurring GM malady: technical overkill, given the cost structure of the US market. Wouldn?t a more conventional car seating perhaps merely five have been adequate?
The also-brilliant Ed Cole fell for similar trap, although in terms of construction costs, the Corvair probably was presumably profitable to build, despite the huge investment in unique facilities to build its engine. By trap, I mean the hubris of being convinced that he could find a low-cost solution to the problems that had long stood in the way of building a six-passenger rear-engine car.
The rear engine was the hot new thing in the early thirties, along with aerodynamics. Tatra epitomized and popularized both of those, and others quickly took them up too, at their peril. The first large V8 Tatra streamliner, the 77 (above) suffered from very severe handling problems, and was built in only limited numbers.
Its successor, the 87? (above) was shorter and lighter and had a smaller 3.0 L air cooled V8 in its tail, but its snap oversteer at the limit?thanks to its rear-weight bias and swing axles?was still deadly. So much so, that Hitler banned his top officers from driving it, after a number were killed in high speed accidents. It was dubbed ?The Czech Secret Weapon?.
Mercedes, that paragon of engineering prowess, also took up the rear engine, but more cautiously. Its 130H, 150H and 170H (above) were built alongside conventional models. They sold poorly, in part due to a smaller luggage area, noisy engine, and bad handling vices. The positive rear camber clearly visible in this picture is a tip-off to that.
Mercedes dropped the rear engine, but did adopt swing axles, and eventually made them work quite successfully thanks to the better weight distribution of front engines and constant improvements in their geometry. By the late fifties, Mercedes had tamed it almost completely, with its exclusive ?low-pivot? variation, but that was not suitable for a rear-engine car.
Of course it was the Volkswagen that popularized the rear engine, and the even-smaller Renault 4CV and Fiat 600 followed in its swing-axle tracks. But these were all small cars, with low power outputs. Even then, they were still susceptible to the dreaded effects of snap-oversteer and rear-wheel jacking. Needless to say, the early Porsche 356s were famous for their oversteer, but that was tamed to various degrees by initial negative camber, and in 1959, a revised rear end with softer torsion bars and a camber compensating spring.
When the rear end of a swing-axle car approaches or exceeds its limits, the centrifugal forces acting on the rear of the car causes the outside wheel to tuck it under the body, which results in the rear rising and drastically exacerbating the intrinsic oversteer of a rear-engined car. This picture shows a front-engined Triumph Spitfire; rear engined cars can respond even more violently because of the high percentage of weight in the back. It?s very easy to lose control, unless one can anticipate the event, or forestall it with deft counter-steering. But that isn?t always possible, even in the hands of experienced drivers.
Maurice Olley, who was charged by Ed Cole to evaluate the various configurations, had written about the intrinsic limitations of the rear-engine format. From Ralph Nader?s ?Unsafe At Any Speed?:
(Olley?s) field of specialization was automobile handling behavior. In 1953 Olley delivered a technical paper, ?European Postwar Cars,? containing a sharp critique of rear-engined automobiles with swing-axle suspension systems. He called such vehicles ?a poor bargain, at least in the form in which they are at present built,? adding that they could not handle safely in a wind even at moderate speeds, despite tire pressure differential between front and rear. Olley went further, depicting the forward fuel tank as ?a collision risk, as is the mass of the engine in the rear.? Unmistakably, he had notified colleagues of the hurdles which had to be overcome.
So why did Cole go for the rear engine anyway? Despite the rep engineers have for being objective, it seems quite likely he wasn?t in this particular case. Cole had been intrigued with both rear-engines for some time, having been involved with an experimental rear engined Cadillac that had dual rear wheels to help deal with its severe intrinsic challenges. He also was involved with the M41 Light Tank that used an air-cooled flat six. Undoubtedly, he was prejudiced to some degree, and convinced himself of the rear-engine?s assets.
Seeing that this was the mid-late fifties?and GM?there was another important factor: trendy good looks. Which meant a very low car, among other things.
In January 1960, (Corvair project head) Kai Hansen told a meeting of the Society of Automotive Engineers: ?Our first objective, once the decision was made to design a smaller, lighter ear, was to attain good styling proportions. Merely shortening the wheel base and front and rear overhang was not acceptable. To permit lower overall height and to accommodate six adult passengers, the floor hump for the drive shaft had to go. Eliminating the conventional drive shaft made it essential then that the car have either rear-engine, rear-drive or front-engine, front-drive. Before making a decision, all types of European cars were studied, including front-engine, front-drive designs. None measured up to our standards of road performance.?
?The result was a total height of 51.3 inches?extremely low for a six-passenger sedan?and lower than a current Porsche 911 Carrera. It?s quite clear that the rear engine configuration ultimately was selected for the sake of stylistic vanity, or in their words ?the most aesthetically pleasant? way to achieve the desired space. And once that? ill-advised decision was made, GM was not prepared to spend the money to make it work properly.
All of the European rear-engined sedans GM had evaluated were much smaller four-passenger cars, with very small and light four-cylinder engines. A four-cylinder was originally considered for the Corvair, but abandoned for a six because of its greater smoothness. A boxer four is intrinsically a balanced design, but is prone to some exhaust growl due to its firing order. But that can be mitigated by exhaust system tuning.
Ed Cole?s initial plans and calculations were for the Corvair to use aluminum cylinders with a high-silicon alloy, similar to that later used in the Vega. Perhaps from a durability point of view, it was for the best that it was not feasible then, and individual finned cast iron cylinders were ultimately used. This contributed to the production Corvair engine weighing 78 lbs more than initial projections. Needles to say, in a rear engine car the greater the weight in the back, the greater the challenges and risks, due to the intrinsic influence of centrifugal force in a curve. Production Corvairs had up to 64% of their weight on the rear wheels, a problem only exacerbated when the spare was moved from the front trunk to the engine compartment in 1961. Complaints about trunk space trumped handling considerations.
Without going into all the technicalities of the specific choices made by the Chevrolet engineers, it is apparent that one over-riding criteria was predominant: cost control. David Rubly, a Corvair engineer, made the following comment at an SAE meeting in April 1960:
Another question that no doubt can be asked is why did we choose an independent rear suspension of this particular type? There are other swing-axle rear suspensions, of course, that permit transferring more of the roll couple to the front end. Our selection of this particular type of a swing-axle rear suspension is based on: (1) lower cost, (2) ease of assembly, (3) ease of service, and (4) simplicity of design. We also wished to take advantage of coil springs ?? in order to obtain a more pleasing ride ??
Having made their decision on the basic configuration, there were several ways available to mitigate the intrinsic tendencies of the Corvair?s suspension design. A front roll bar (estimated to cost $4) was originally intended to be used, for its (debatable) effect? in compensating to some degree.
More critically, a rear camber-compensating spring was not used, despite the adoption of one by Porsche, and a large aftermarket for that developed for VWs, Renaults and older Porsches. This device had come to be seen as the most critical element in taming the vices of rear-engined swing-axle suspensions.
Given the $19.95 retail price of the EMPI Camber Compensator, it probably would have cost Chevrolet some $15 or less in mass volumes. A whole industry grew around Corvair chassis improvements, as serious Corvair driver were all-too aware of its limitations:
By 1963, sports car racer and writer Denise McCluggage could begin an article on Corvair handling idiosyncrasies with words that assumed a knowing familiarity by her auto buff readers: ?Seen any Corvairs lately with the back end smashed in? Chances are they weren?t run into, but rather ran into something while going backwards. And not in reverse gear, either.?
Then Miss McCluggage went on to describe a phenomenon she termed a ?sashay through the boonies, back-end first.? ?The classic Corvair accident is a quick spin in a turn and swoosh! ? off the road backwards. Or, perhaps, if half- corrective measures are applied, the backward motion is arrested, the tires claw at the pavement and the car is sent darting across the road to the other side. In this case there might be some front end damage instead.?
And noted race driver and Corvair-tuner John Fitch had this to say: ?I didn?t want a race car,? he said: ?if I did, I?d buy something for that purpose. But I did want to feel more confident when behind the wheel that the car would go where I pointed it.?
Instead, Chevrolet jiggered with the tire pressure differential, arriving at a somewhat ludicrous 15 lbs front, 26 lbs rear recommendation. The benefits of the differential were known, as the lower front pressure increased understeer to counteract the oversteer. But there were several fatal flaws in these numbers, which were obviously arrived at in a desperate attempt to maintain the vaunted GM soft ride.
To start with, 15 lbs in the small 6.50 x 13? front tires reduced their load capacity precariously low, again considering the six-passenger seating and luggage capacity. But the more critical issue was the 24lbs in the rear, as they were also technically overloaded with just two passengers. And 24lbs was not enough to ensure that the tubeless tires would resist deflection to the point of popping off the rims under the extreme pressures in a critical handling situation; specifically an oversteer/jacking up incident.
Shortly after the 1960 Corvair was released, a number of tragic accidents occurred, and it was noted that the pavement often showed severe gouging. This was the result of the rear tire popping off the rim, which then contacted the pavement and had the effect of drastically escalating the incident into a severe or deadly accident.
Popular entertainer Ernie Kovacs was killed in his 1961 Corvair Lakewood wagon (which had an even more exaggerated rear-weight bias) when he lost control on a rainy evening in Los Angeles (picture at top of article). Note the right rear tire that is off the rim; it?s possible that happened from the curb, but it is typical of numerous similar incidents where the rear tire rolled off the rim during an emergency maneuver and caused the Corvair to be essentially uncontrollable.
Corvair engineers knew about this problem and considered raising the recommended rear tire pressures. Once again, however, they succumbed to the great imperative-a soft ride. Rubly recounts it plainly enough: ?The twenty-eight psi would reduce the rear-tire deflection enough but we did not feel that we should compromise ride and add harshness because under hot conditions tire pressures will increase three to four psi.?
Even if the recommended inflation numbers had been increased with a similar differential, say 19/28, there was still another huge obstacle: essentially no one in America was used to the concept of a differential tire pressure. When I was a gasoline station attendant in 1968-1970, we inflated all tires to 24-26 lbs, unless told otherwise.? Which we never were, except the occasional sports car fanatic who knew and cared about such things.
Chevrolet made no effort to educate its dealers and the public on the importance of these differential tire inflation recommendations. As well, there was no reference to ?oversteer? and how to identify it and compensate for it by counter-steering in the Corvair Owner?s Manual or elsewhere. This was an innately counter-intuitive thing to do for Americans that had grown up with understeering cars, and were repeatedly told in Driver?s Ed to ?steer into the skid?, not against it.
The question of undersized tires has been a recurring one (and one we?ve covered here). VW, Porsche and Renault used 15? tires on their rear-engine cars. And interestingly enough, the 1961-1963 Pontiac Tempest, which used a modified version of the Corvair?s swing axle rear suspension (but with a front engine), bucked the trend and was the only GM car during that era to use 15? tires exclusively. That looked rather odd at the time, but undoubtedly was a conscious decision at Pontiac based on the belief that larger diameter tires would mitigate the swing axle?s tendencies.
Pontiac had been on track to have its own version of the Corvair for 1961, dubbed Polaris (above, and which also looks to have substantially larger tires that the Corvair). The division had already spent some $1.3 million in adapting the Corvair, before John DeLorean pulled the plug. He was convinced by his top engineers, including Advanced Engineering Chief Albert Roller, who had come from Mercedes-Benz: ?(he) tested the car (Corvair) and pleaded with me not to use it at Pontiac?he said that Mercedes had tested similarly-designed rear-engine swing-axle cars and had found them too unsafe to build?.
DeLorean got approval to dump the Polaris project, and instead adapted the front engine Buick-Olds compact, but not without some creative engineering, including the swing axle rear suspension. And as it turned out, even the Tempest came in for criticism due to its turning nasty in extreme situations. It was a short-lived experiment.
DeLorean also alleges in his book ?On A Clear Day You Can See GM? that the problems with the Corvair?s handling were all-too well known inside GM. He says that Frank Winchell, then a Chevy engineer, flipped one of the first prototypes, and others followed. A huge internal fight ensued, with Ed Cole and his camp on one side, and a number of top engineers on the other, including Charles Chayne VP of Engineering, and Von D. Polhemus, GM Chassis Development head. Their efforts to keep the Corvair from production, or change its suspension was a lost cause, as ?Cole?s mind was made up?.
A number of GM executives were directly affected by the Corvair, including the death of the son of Cadillac General Manager Cal Werner, and the critically-injured son of Exec. VP Cy Osborne. Of course these represent just a small sampling of the accidents that the public was experiencing, and which soon led to a spate of lawsuits against GM, most of which were quickly settled.
Undoubtedly, driver negligence was involved in some of these cases, but there?s also no doubt that the Corvair?s unique response to sudden steering, brakes or other inputs created a situation the general public was unfamiliar with.And one that could be exacerbated by incorrect tire pressure.
In a partial response, for 1961 Chevrolet made available an optional RPO 696 sports suspension, which included stiffer springs and shocks, the previously-missing front anti-roll bar, a negative initial camber setting for the rear wheels, and rear-axle rebound straps to reduce tuck under, all for some $10 or so. My 1962 Monza four-speed had it, and it performed admirably enough under lots of spirited cornering. But then I also knew of the ultimate danger and respected the Corvair?s limits. Nevertheless, the camber-compensating spring was still not installed or available.
And the sports suspension had its limitations too, reducing rear wheel travel due to the negative camber and stiffer springs. This made it less than ideal for the kind of use a family sedan might typically get, with heavy loading and such. Chevrolet had put themselves between a rock and a hard place with the Corvair?s suspension design.
DeLorean says that after Bunkie Knudsen took over at Chevrolet in 1961, he was so concerned about the Corvair?s handling issues that he demanded that the camber-compenstor be made standard. The roughly $15 cost to make and install it was deemed too expensive by the ?Fourteenth Floor?, and he was turned down. Eventually he gave the top brass an ultimatum: either he would be allowed to improve the Corvair?s suspension, or he would very publicly resign from GM over it. They relented, and that led to the camber compensating spring in 1964, and the complete redesign of the rear suspension for 1965, which essentially eliminated the issues altogether.
Ralph Nader?s ?Unsafe At Any Speed? is commonly blamed for the Corvair?s demise, but that already happened years before its publication in 1965. By that time, the Corvair was already on artificial life support. Within two months of its introduction in the fall of 1959, Ed Cole realized that the Corvair was not really the right formula for what America was looking for in a compact sedan. The Falcon instantly outsold it two-to-one, and Cole ordered a crash program to develop the very pragmatic Chevy II.
From that point forward, the Corvair?s future was in its new role as a sporty coupe, and the bucket-seat Monza immediately became the best selling version after it was introduced in the spring of 1960. The Monza pioneered a whole new market segment that would be taken over by the Mustang in 1964.
Given how obviousness that was by mid-1960 makes it even odder that GM resisted the efforts to adopt wholesale the suspension improvements readily available. One thing is clear: Ed Cole did not set out to design a sporty car. The up-scale Monza coupe was shown as a show-car concept in January of 1960 to generate some interest in the coupe version due shortly (in 500 and 700 trim levels), but the public response to the Monza was so favorable, it was rushed into production.
The Monza inadvertently created and opened a huge market segment (we covered that here) which led to bucket seat versions of its competitors, as well as the Mustang. But a flat floor and seating for six was certainly not in the brief for a sporty coupe or convertible, as the Mustang proved convincingly. Unless you like your passenger to squeeze left.
The Monza may have pulled some of the Corvair?s fat out of the fire, but that doesn?t negate the fact that Ed Cole?s Corvair was a fatally flawed design for its intended role.? In fact it?s tempting (and fairly easy) to speculate that if Chevy?s 1960 compact had arrived in more conventional front-engine form, like the related B-O-P 1961 compacts, that it would have just as readily (and likely) spawned a sporty coupe variant with V8 power, one that would have largely usurped or dampened the Mustang?s huge success.
The Corvair was the product of GM?s repeated tendencies to go off in directions that were an engineer?s dream, but were either flawed from the initial concept, or diminished by the bean counters. In the case of the Corvair, it was both. But for us lovers of the Corvair, like the lovers of the 1966 Toronado, the Vega, and other GM Deadly Sins, it was a huge boon. Suspension mods are easy to effect, and Corvairs are now safely in the hands of those that understand and respect its limitations (and tire pressures). But that was not the case in 1960 or so, and too many paid the price, unnecessarily so.
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