The Crazy World that is ? College Football?s Offseason

The finals scores have been tallied, the standings have been finalized, but college football?isn?t?done making headlines. This is nothing new for anyone who has followed the sport for any significant amount of time. For every Heisman highlight that spread like wildfire through media outlets, there is an equally buzz-worthy story waiting outside the lines to overshadow it. Fictional girlfriends, model girlfriends, recruiting shenanigans, and fickle coaches are just a few of the intriguing topics that will circulate over the next few months. Welcome to the crazy world of college football?s offseason.

Manti Te?o sees your traditional Heisman Trophy campaign and raises you the story of his imaginary girlfriend?s death. Although it is purely speculation at this point, Te?o?s tale of his girlfriend passing away mid-season is looking more suspicious by the day. Joe Theisman, no doubt, stands in awe of the monumental shamelessness this potential Heisman campaign tactic would require. According to Yahoo Sports writer, Tom Coyne, Te?o has even mentioned the non-existent girlfriend twice since informing Notre Dame that she had falsified her illness and subsequent passing. The hammering Notre Dame took at the hands of Alabama in their recent matchup is nothing compared to the damage this story can do to the program if proven true. Te?o is presumably innocent until proven guilty, but there needs to be some tying-up of loose ends soon or this story will spin completely out of control. ?

Meanwhile, SEC quarterbacks, Johnny Manziel(Texas A&M) and A.J. McCarron(Alabama) were taking a different approach to the ?girlfriend publicity? angle. Manziel?s girlfriend was revealed to be a part-time model and McCarron?s relationship with the current Miss Alabama (and ironically an Auburn graduate) was highlighted heavily leading up to the BCS National Championship game. I only mention this here because McCarron and Manziel?s relationships respectively, continue to garner news coverage (even with Manti Te?o pulling out all the stops in his exploits). This just in: the top 100 incoming college freshmen quarterback prospects have expressed interest in playing in the SEC. Nick Saban has offered all of them and has promised to make room. What a nice guy.?

One man feverishly preaching the benefits of being an SEC quarterback (and specifically one in Alabama) is long-time sportscaster Brent Musburger. He made these comments regarding A.J. McCarron?s girlfriend during Alabama?s matchup with Notre Dame in the BCS National Championship game which drew some criticism. ESPN quickly apologized on behalf of the comments made by Musburger, and in my opinion, it was too quickly. I can?t help but think that ESPN was being a little too proactive due to their alleged history of sexual abuse. This was a classic case of oversensitivity and a perfect example of the clumsy fashion in which ESPN handles many stories.

And finally, in college football news not relating in any way to a mid-afternoon soap opera, Chip Kelly has decided to indeed make the jump to the NFL. He made this decision after initially appearing to have decided to remain at Oregon for at least another season. I am really interested to see how he plans to adapt his offense to the NFL. Could this be the beginning of a new era of NFL football? I don?t think so, but I do believe Kelly has the potential to leave a positive mark on the game by adding a previously non-existant element. Just what that addition is and if he is able to succeed in the NFL at all remain to be seen, but one can?t help but like his chances with Michael Vick taking snaps.

It also raises the question as to what will become of the Oregon Ducks program. While Kelly fell just shy of putting his Ducks over the top once and for all, it is clear that he brought the program into the overall group of elite national programs during his time there. His presence and offensive scheme were so heavily tied into the identity of the program that it will be interested to see what direction the program takes from this point. It does not in any significant way benefit my Auburn Tigers, but I certainly would enjoy seeing the Ducks being able to remain relevant nationally. Their uniforms and style of play have a certain degree of universal appeal (if for nothing else, sheer curiosity) and the college football landscape would be a little too bland without those Oregon Ducks from the other side of the country that never wear anything twice.?

Looking back, who knew girlfriends and significant-others would play such a pivotal role in the 2012 season? Little did we know that last summer, Bobby Petrino was simply laying the groundwork for what was to come. It just goes to show that you never can quite tell what awaits in the near future. We all impatiently anticipate the arrival of the Fall season and those cool Saturday afternoons spent tailgating, but it?s the journey to that point that makes its arrival that much more special.?

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Tags: A.J. McCarron, Auburn, Auburn blogs, Auburn Football, Auburn Football blogs, Auburn Tiger Football, auburn Tigers, Auburn Tigers Football, Auburn University, bobby petrino, Brent Musburger, Chip Kelly, Derrick Roberts, Johnny Manziel, Katherine Webb, Manti Te'o, Oregon Ducks, Oregon Ducks Football, Track 'em Tigers, Track'emTigers, trackem tigers, track?em tigers.com

Source: http://trackemtigers.com/?p=11443&utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-crazy-world-that-is-college-footballs-offseason

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Nanowires fuel breakthrough for solar energy

Jan. 18, 2013 ? In the latest issue of Science, researchers from Lund University in Sweden have shown how nanowires could pave the way for more efficient and cheaper solar cells.

"Our findings are the first to show that it really is possible to use nanowires to manufacture solar cells," says Magnus Borgstr?m, a researcher in semiconductor physics and the principal author.

Research on solar cell nanowires is on the rise globally. Until now the unattained dream figure was ten per cent efficiency -- but now Dr Borgstr?m and his colleagues are able to report an efficiency of 13.8 per cent.

The nanowires are made of the semiconductor material indium phosphide and work like antennae that absorb sunlight and generate power. The nanowires are assembled on surfaces of one square millimetre that each house four million nanowires. A nanowire solar cell can produce an effect per active surface unit several times greater than today's silicon cells.

Nanowire solar cells have not yet made it beyond the laboratory, but the plan is that the technology could be used in large solar power plants in sunny regions such as the south-western USA, southern Spain and Africa.

The Lund researchers have now managed to identify the ideal diameter of the nanowires and how to synthesise them.

"The right size is essential for the nanowires to absorb as many photons as possible. If they are just a few tenths of a nanometre too small their function is significantly impaired," explains Magnus Borgstr?m.

The silicon solar cells that are used to supply electricity for domestic use are relatively cheap, but inefficient because they are only able to utilise a limited part of the effect of the sunlight. The reason is that one single material can only absorb part of the spectrum of the light.

Research carried out alongside that on nanowire technology therefore aims to combine different types of semiconductor material to make efficient use of a broader part of the solar spectrum. The disadvantage of this is that they become extremely expensive and can therefore only be used in niche contexts, such as on satellites and military planes.

However, this is not the case with nanowires. Because of their small dimensions, the same sort of material combinations can be created with much less effort, which offers higher efficiency at a low cost. The process is also less complicated. In the Science article, the researchers have shown that the nanowires can generate power at the same level as a thin film of the same material, even if they only cover around 10 per cent of the surface rather than 100 per cent.

The research has been carried out as part of an EU-funded project, AMON-RA, coordinated by Knut Deppert, Professor of Physics at Lund University.

"As the coordinator of the project, I am very proud of such a great result -- it has well exceeded our expectations. We will of course continue the research on nanowire solar cells and hope to achieve an even higher level of efficiency than the 13.8 per cent that we have now reported," says Knut Deppert.

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Lund University.

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

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Journal Reference:

1. J. Wallentin, N. Anttu, D. Asoli, M. Huffman, I. Aberg, M. H. Magnusson, G. Siefer, P. Fuss-Kailuweit, F. Dimroth, B. Witzigmann, H. Q. Xu, L. Samuelson, K. Deppert, M. T. Borgstrom. InP Nanowire Array Solar Cells Achieving 13.8% Efficiency by Exceeding the Ray Optics Limit. Science, 2013; DOI: 10.1126/science.1230969

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

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_environment/~3/npiKsAS9weA/130118064735.htm

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Weekend in politics: Inauguration, inauguration, inauguration, and more

It?s inauguration weekend in Washington.

President Barack Obama, along with first lady Michelle Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and second lady Jill Biden, participate in the National Day of Service on Saturday ahead of Monday's public inaugural ceremonies. There also will be a Service Summit on the National Mall on Saturday that includes speeches by Chelsea Clinton, Eva Longoria and Biden's son Beau Biden. And the day will be capped off with a Children's Concert for military families and schoolchildren. Performers will include Alicia Keys, ?Glee? cast members, John Legend, Katy Perry, Smokey Robinson, Stevie Wonder and Usher.

President Obama's second term officially begins at noon Sunday. He will be sworn in at the White House and Vice President Biden at his residence at the Naval Observatory earlier in the day. Obama and Biden will then attend an inaugural reception.

But Monday is the big day when the public inauguration is held on the west front of the U.S. Capitol. The Monday celebration will be attended by hundreds of thousands, but is not expected to match the estimated 2 million who gathered on the National Mall in 2009 for Obama?s first inauguration.

[Inauguration 2013: A celebration scaled down, but still grand]

On the non-inauguration front, the U.S. Conference of Mayors Winter Meeting wraps up Saturday. Friday speakers include Attorney General Eric Holder, and Saturday speakers include Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel. Biden is scheduled to meet with Malloy on Friday.

And then there is this: Sunday will mark the third time Obama has taken the oath of office. He had to re-do his oath in 2009 when Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts accidentally mixed up the words in the public ceremony.

Sources: Yahoo News? The Ticket, Yahoo News reporter Rachel Rose Hartman, Associated Press, Reuters.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/weekend-politics-inauguration-inauguration-inauguration-more-114724276--election.html

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Clinton: US security review in North Africa

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has asked her staff to review security for American diplomats, businesses and citizens in the entire Maghreb and North Africa region, in response to the hostage-taking in Algeria, State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said Thursday.

"That goes not only for official American security but also the message is being given to American citizens and American businesses," Nuland told reporters at the State Department.

After last year's deadly attack on the U.S. mission in Benghazi, Libya, President Barack Obama ordered a review of security at all U.S. diplomatic facilities. In addition, an independent review board recommended to Clinton security improvements that she has ordered to be implemented. This new review goes beyond diplomatic facilities.

Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, Nuland said, is known for kidnapping and hostage-taking and. "The concern is that groups operating in the region may be trying to do larger scale operations and we want to make sure that any of our citizens and companies operating in the region are reviewing their security practices in light of this."

Nuland said the State Department has warned U.S. citizens and businesses previously about such threats but, in light of the Algerian attack, the department is looking "at the posture of official American facilities to ensure that our warnings to American citizens are updated and that our advice to American business is updated. So all of our embassies and consulates in that entire neighborhood are undergoing that exercise again today."

The State Department's Overseas Security Council is in touch with U.S. businesses across the region, and has also posted messages on OSAC.gov that are being distributed to registered users, Nuland added.

The day of the attack, Wednesday, Secretary Clinton spoke with the Algerian prime minister. Nuland said the call was "about our willingness to be helpful, about what might be needed, about the desire to keep lines of communication open." She said she expected there will be more contact at that level some time Thursday.

"We obviously have open channels of communications in our counter-terrorist channels and diplomatic channels," she added.

The State Department, through its consular officials in Washington and personnel at the U.S. Embassy in Algeria are in touch with the families of the Americans who have been taken hostage. Officials say there may be as many as seven of them, although they have not given specific numbers.

Source: http://www.wmur.com/news/national/Clinton-US-security-review-in-North-Africa/-/9857926/18173056/-/ojhgsx/-/index.html?absolute=true

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Bill Cash asked the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and ...

Tuesday 15 January 2013

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William Cash (Stone, Conservative) To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what estimate he has made of the value of Germany's (a) most recent structural surplus in its trade with the UK and (b) structural surplus over each of the last five years.

Michael Fallon (Sevenoaks, Conservative) The balance of trade (goods and services) between the UK and Germany is publicly available in the Office for National Statistics (ONS) ?Pink Book 2012? publication.

More timely data for goods only is available via the time series tool on the ONS website at: http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/datasets-and-tables/data-selector.html?cdid=ENYW&dataset=mret&table-id=F2

and shows the UK balance of trade with Germany is -?5,846 million in Quarter 3 2012.

Source: http://www.europeanfoundation.org/my_weblog/2013/01/bill-cash-asked-the-secretary-of-state-for-business-innovation-and-skills-1.html

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Fusion helped by collision science

Monday, January 14, 2013

An international team of physicists has calculated the efficiency of a reaction involving an incoming electron kicking out an electron from the metal beryllium (Be) or its hydrogen compound molecules, in an article about to be published in EPJ D. The efficiency, which partly depends on the electron's incoming speed, is encapsulated in a quantity referred to as electron-impact ionisation cross sections (EICS). Electron-molecule interactions matter because they occur in a broad range of applications from the simplest like fluorescent lamps to the most complex, for example, in ionised matter found in plasmas such as latest generation screens, the outer space of the universe, and in fusion reactors.

In the future fusion reactor prototype ITER, currently being built in southern France, beryllium comes into the plasma because it is one of the constituent materials of the fusion chamber walls. The walls get eroded on contact with hot hydrogen plasma leading to the formation of beryllium in gaseous form and beryllium hydrides, BeH and BeH2, present in various forms of electric charge and state.

Given this intrusion of beryllium in the hydrogen plasma, fusion requires a knowledge of the EICS to predict and simulate its operations. The problem is that EICS are very difficult to calculate exactly. Instead, the authors relied on two approximation methods namely, the Deutsch?M?rk (DM) and the Binary-Encounter-Bethe (BEB) method. These methods, albeit not new, have never before been applied to beryllium and its derivatives.

To use these models, the authors first collected the necessary input data obtained from quantum chemical calculations of characteristics such as orbital energies, kinetic energies and orbital populations. To facilitate use of their EICS by the ITER team, the authors eventually converted the numerical cross sections into equations used in simulation codes.

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Springer: http://www.springer.com

Thanks to Springer for this article.

This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/126257/Fusion_helped_by_collision_science_

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Sack cartoon: Baseball Hall of Fame

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Source: http://www.startribune.com/opinion/186627961.html

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