A seminar on international artist, rights and music management has been held at the Ghana-India Kofi Annan Center of Excellence in ICT in Accra. The seminar was a collaborative effort between the Musicians Union of Ghana, MUSIGA and the British Council of Ghana.
The seminar had two major speakers in the persons of Stuart Worthington and Keith Harris. Seated with them on the High table were lawyer Mike Ocquaye and DJ Amess, a radio presenter and Artist Manager.
The seminar focused mainly on giving an overview, updating and helping participants to understand today?s music industry, general artist management where skills, roles and responsibilities of artists and managers were discussed. The various existing and new ways of making revenue in the music business as well as teamwork and 3rd?party relationships were also discussed.
Stuart Worthington, a provider of management consultancy, small business information, advice and guidance, professional training & development services for a range of clients and strategic partners and who has worked in most sectors of the cultural & creative / arts & entertainment / media industries spoke about a number of issues affecting musicians, managers and the entire complex situation of handling and sharing monies amongst the various players in the industry.
He entreated that all involved in the business of music should endeavor to gain knowledge and understanding of how money flows so the managers, artists and other stakeholders will know about the financial situations and their entitlement.
There were various issues concerning music sharing, copyright issues and talent management. Keith Harris, Director of Performer Affairs at PPL commented that on the issue of royalty payments, the only way Ghanaian artists can claim their royalties from other countries is when we have good enough systems in place to claim the royalties of artists of other countries.
He also spoke about artists creating good enough images of them and limiting their accessibility to their audience once they hit a certain level. There was a question on when an artist needs a manager to which Keith responded that in a situation where an artist is doing all the work, the very moment the business side of managing the talent begins to interfere with the creativity, someone has to be brought in to handle certain things and this person has to be a manager.
The issues that were disseminated at the seminar were infused with personal and professional experiences of the various speakers. At a point, Lawyer Mike Ocquaye entreated musicians to be serious about registering their music.
FILE - In this May 17, 2012 file photo, Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y. gestures during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington. Big business and major labor unions appeared ready Friday, March 29, 2013 to end a fight over a new low-skilled worker program that had threatened to upend negotiations on a sweeping immigration bill in the Senate providing a pathway to citizenship for 11 million immigrants already in the U.S. Schumer, who's been brokering talks between the AFL-CIO and the Chamber of Commerce, said in a statement that negotiators are "very close, closer than we have ever been, and we are very optimistic." He said there were still a few issues remaining. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)
FILE - In this May 17, 2012 file photo, Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y. gestures during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington. Big business and major labor unions appeared ready Friday, March 29, 2013 to end a fight over a new low-skilled worker program that had threatened to upend negotiations on a sweeping immigration bill in the Senate providing a pathway to citizenship for 11 million immigrants already in the U.S. Schumer, who's been brokering talks between the AFL-CIO and the Chamber of Commerce, said in a statement that negotiators are "very close, closer than we have ever been, and we are very optimistic." He said there were still a few issues remaining. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)
Several southwest Michigan pastors along with immigrant families and members of the general public take part in a pray-in for immigration reform event outside of Representative Fred Upton's office in downtown Kalamazoo on Friday, March 29, 2013. (AP Photo/Kalamazoo Gazette-MLive Media Group, Matt Gade ) ALL LOCAL TV OUT; LOCAL TV INTERNET OUT
Several southwest Michigan pastors along with immigrant families and members of the general public take part in a pray-in for immigration reform event outside of Representative Fred Upton's office in downtown Kalamazoo on Friday, March 29, 2013. (AP Photo/Kalamazoo Gazette-MLive Media Group, Matt Gade ) ALL LOCAL TV OUT; LOCAL TV INTERNET OUT
WASHINGTON (AP) ? Big business and labor have struck a deal on a new low-skilled worker program, removing the biggest hurdle to completion of sweeping immigration legislation allowing 11 million illegal immigrants eventual U.S. citizenship, a person with knowledge of the talks said Saturday.
The agreement was reached in a phone call late Friday night with AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, U.S. Chamber of Commerce head Tom Donohue, and Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York, who's been mediating the dispute.
The person, who spoke on condition of anonymity ahead of a formal announcement, said the deal resolves disagreements over wages for the new workers and which industries would be included. Those disputes had led talks to break down a week ago, throwing into doubt whether Schumer and seven other senators crafting a comprehensive bipartisan immigration bill would be able to complete their work as planned.
The deal must still be signed off on by the other senators working with Schumer, including Republican Sens. John McCain of Arizona and Marco Rubio of Florida, but that's expected to happen. With the agreement in place, the senators are expected to unveil their legislation the week of April 8. Their measure would secure the border, crack down on employers, improve legal immigration and create a 13-year pathway to citizenship for the millions of illegal immigrants already here.
It's a major second-term priority of President Barack Obama's and would usher in the most dramatic changes to the nation's faltering immigration system in more than two decades.
The AFL-CIO and the Chamber, longtime antagonists over temporary worker programs, had been fighting over wages for tens of thousands of low-skilled workers who would be brought in under the new program to fill jobs in construction, hotels and resorts, nursing homes and restaurants, and other industries.
Under the agreement, a new "W'' visa program would go into effect beginning April 1, 2015, according to another official involved with the talks who also spoke on condition of anonymity ahead of a formal announcement.
In year one of the program, 20,000 workers would be allowed in; in year two, 35,000; in year three, 55,000; and in year four, 75,000. Ultimately the program would be capped at 200,000 workers a year, but the number of visas would fluctuate, depending on unemployment rates, job openings, employer demand and data collected by a new federal bureau pushed by the labor movement as an objective monitor of the market.
A "safety valve" would allow employers to exceed the cap if they can show need and pay premium wages, but any additional workers brought in would be subtracted from the following year's cap, the official said.
The workers could move from employer to employer and would be able to petition for permanent residency and ultimately seek U.S. citizenship. Neither is possible for temporary workers now.
The new program would fill needs employers say they have that are not currently met by U.S. immigration programs. Most industries don't have a good way to hire a steady supply of foreign workers because there's one temporary visa program for low-wage nonagricultural workers but it's capped at 66,000 visas per year and is only supposed to be used for seasonal or temporary jobs.
The AFL-CIO and the Chamber have long been at odds over temporary worker programs, which business has sought in a quest for a cheaper workforce but labor has opposed because of concerns over working conditions and the effect on jobs and wages for U.S. workers. The issue helped sink the last major attempt at immigration overhaul in 2007, which the AFL-CIO opposed partly because of temporary worker provisions, and the flare-up earlier this month sparked concerns that the same thing would happen this time around. Agreement between the two traditional foes is one of many indications that immigration reform has its best chance in decades in Congress this year.
After apparent miscommunications earlier this month between the AFL-CIO and the Chamber on the wage issue, the deal resolves it in a way both sides are comfortable with, officials said.
Workers would earn actual wages paid to American workers or the prevailing wages for the industry they're working in, whichever is higher. The Labor Department would determine prevailing wage based on customary rates in specific localities, so that it would vary from city to city.
There also had been disagreement on how to handle the construction industry, which unions argue is different from other industries in the new program because it can be more seasonal in nature and includes a number of higher-skilled trades. The official said the resolution will cap at 15,000 a year the number of visas that can be sought by the construction industry.
Separately, the new immigration bill also is expected to offer many more visas for high-tech workers, new visas for agriculture workers, and provisions allowing some agriculture workers already in the U.S. a speedier path to citizenship than that provided to other illegal immigrants, in an effort to create a stable agricultural workforce.
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Follow Erica Werner on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ericawerner
PHOENIX (Reuters) - The U.S. military on Saturday identified the elite Navy SEAL who died in a parachute training accident in southern Arizona that also injured another SEAL.
Navy officials said Special Warfare Operator Chief Brett Shadle, 31, of Elizabethville, Pennsylvania, was killed in the free-fall training accident near Pinal Airpark, northeast of Tucson, on Thursday.
Shadle was assigned to an East Coast-based Naval Special Warfare unit, the Navy said in a statement. The second SEAL, who has not been identified, remains hospitalized in stable condition.
The office of Arizona Governor Jan Brewer said Shadle was a highly decorated member of SEAL Team 6 and had served in Iraq and Afghanistan. Members of SEAL Team 6 carried out the raid that killed al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in May 2011.
The cause of the accident is under investigation. Brewer said in a statement that Shadle died after colliding with another SEAL in midair. She ordered flags at all state buildings be flown at half-staff on Saturday.
SEAL is an acronym for sea, air, land.
(Reporting by Tim Gaynor, Editing by Alex Dobuzinskis and Eric Beech)
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) ? North Korean leader Kim Jong Un warned Friday that his rocket forces were ready "to settle accounts with the U.S.," unleashing a new round of bellicose rhetoric after U.S. nuclear-capable B-2 bombers dropped dummy munitions in joint military drills with South Korea.
Kim's warning, and the litany of threats that have preceded it, don't indicate an imminent war. In fact, they're most likely meant to coerce South Korea into softening its policies, win direct talks and aid from Washington, and strengthen the young leader's credentials and image at home.
But the threats from North Korea and rising animosity from the rivals that have followed U.N. sanctions over Pyongyang's Feb. 12 nuclear test do raise worries of a misjudgment leading to a clash.
Kim "convened an urgent operation meeting" of senior generals just after midnight, signed a rocket preparation plan and ordered his forces on standby to strike the U.S. mainland, South Korea, Guam and Hawaii, state media reported.
Kim said "the time has come to settle accounts with the U.S. imperialists in view of the prevailing situation," according to a report by the North's official Korean Central News Agency.
Later Friday at the main square in Pyongyang, tens of thousands of North Koreans turned out for a 90-minute mass rally in support of Kim's call to arms. Men and women, many of them in olive drab uniforms, stood in arrow-straight lines, fists raised as they chanted, "Death to the U.S. imperialists." Placards in the plaza bore harsh words for South Korea as well, including, "Let's rip the puppet traitors to death!"
Small North Korean warships, including patrol boats, conducted maritime drills off both coasts of North Korea near the border with South Korea on Thursday, South Korean Defense Ministry spokesman Kim Min-seok said in a briefing Friday. He didn't provide more details.
The spokesman said that South Korea's military was mindful of the possibility that North Korean drills could lead to an actual provocation. He also said that the South Korean and U.S. militaries are watching closely for any signs of missile launch preparations in North Korea. He didn't elaborate.
North Korea, which says it considers the U.S.-South Korean military drills preparations for invasion, has pumped out a string of threats in state media. In the most dramatic case, Pyongyang made the highly improbable vow to nuke the United States.
On Friday, state media released a photo of Kim and his senior generals huddled in front of a map showing routes for envisioned strikes against cities on both American coasts. The map bore the title "U.S. Mainland Strike Plan."
Portions of the photo appeared to be manipulated, though an intriguing detail ? a bandage on Kim's left arm ? appeared to be real.
North Korean army officers punch the air as they chant slogans during a rally at Kim Il Sung Square in downtown Pyongyang, North Korea, Friday, March 29, 2013. Tens of thousands of North Koreans ... more? North Korean army officers punch the air as they chant slogans during a rally at Kim Il Sung Square in downtown Pyongyang, North Korea, Friday, March 29, 2013. Tens of thousands of North Koreans turned out for the mass rally at the main square in Pyongyang in support of their leader Kim Jong Un's call to arms. (AP Photo/Jon Chol Jin) less? ?
Experts believe the country is years away from developing nuclear-tipped missiles that could strike the United States. Many say they've also seen no evidence that Pyongyang has long-range missiles that can hit the U.S. mainland.
Still, there are fears of a localized conflict, such as a naval skirmish in disputed Yellow Sea waters. Such naval clashes have happened three times since 1999. There's also the danger that such a clash could escalate. Seoul has vowed to hit back hard the next time it is attacked.
North Korea's threats are also worrisome because of its arsenal of short- and mid-range missiles that can hit targets in South Korea and Japan. Seoul is only a short drive from the heavily armed border separating the Koreas.
"The North can fire 500,000 rounds of artillery on Seoul in the first hour of a conflict," analysts Victor Cha and David Kang wrote recently for Foreign Policy magazine. They also note that North Korea has a history of testing new South Korean leaders; President Park Geun-hye took office late last month. "Since 1992, the North has welcomed these five new leaders by disturbing the peace," they wrote.
U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel told reporters Thursday that the decision to send B-2 bombers to join the military drills was part of normal exercises and not intended to provoke North Korea. Hagel acknowledged, however, that North Korea's belligerent tones and actions in recent weeks have ratcheted up the danger in the region, "and we have to understand that reality."
U.S. Forces Korea said the B-2 stealth bombers flew from a U.S. air base in Missouri and dropped dummy munitions on an uninhabited South Korean island range on Thursday before returning home. The Pentagon said this was the first time a B-2 had dropped dummy munitions over South Korea, and later added that it was unclear whether there had ever been any B-2 flights there at all.
The statement follows an earlier U.S. announcement that nuclear-capable B-52 bombers participated in the joint military drills.
Pyongyang uses the U.S. nuclear arsenal as a justification for its own push for nuclear weapons. It claims that U.S. nuclear firepower is a threat to its existence and provocation.
The two Missouri-based stealth bombers used in the South Korean drills probably weren't nuclear-armed, but experts say they're the aircraft that would likely be sent if Washington ever decides it does want to drop nuclear bombs on North Korea. The United States doesn't forward-deploy nuclear weapons in South Korea, Okinawa, Guam or Hawaii.
"The B-2 can reach targets from North Korea to Iran directly from Missouri, which is what the United States did in the early stages of operations against Yugoslavia, Afghanistan and Iraq," analyst Jeffrey Lewis wrote in a post on ArmsControlWonk.com earlier this month.
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AP writers Jon Chol Jin in Pyongyang, North Korea, Sam Kim in Seoul and Eric Talmadge in Tokyo contributed to this report.
Here's a fun little cooking trick for you to try: scramble eggs inside its shell so that you can make scrambled hard boiled eggs. Meaning the entire egg will be perfectly golden all around. Delicious! More »
Last week, during his Ryan Seacrest-hosted special on The CW, Justin Timberlake said that music is the "most special" hat of the many hats he wears as an entertainer. Now, we can't psychoanalyze JT?as much as everyone may have wanted to during his year-long courtship of the world's attention. But, to be sure, music has given this man a lot: Timberlake's pop-star status has allowed him to pursue the very side projects that have transformed into his main career focus, as modern mega-celebrities are want to do with their "brand maintenance" these days. ...
Department of Justice documents obtained by the ACLU reveal that the department has not been ?forthright? with California judges?about its use of a controversial and sophisticated cellphone tracking device, according to the ACLU.
Federal investigators, according to the ACLU?s analysis of Justice Department emails, have ?routinely? used a portable technology called a ?stingray,? which?masquerades as a cellphone tower by emitting a powerful signal. The goal is to trick nearby cellphones into connecting to the stingray, which can then gather data transmitted by the phones.
The device target the cellphones of intended suspects, but it can also?capture?the cellphone data of nearby innocent people for up to?several?kilometers.
The emails ?obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request?filed?by the ACLU of Northern California and?the San Francisco Bay Guardian ? came to light as part of a larger investigation into the methods used by the Justice Department to track down a suspect in an electronic tax fraud scheme.
The Justice Department sought a court order mandating that Verizon hand over location data for the phone of the suspect, Daniel Rigmaiden. While the Justice Department?s request mentioned that it would use a mobile location tracking device, it did not specify that a stingray would be used.
Rigmaiden, who was indicted?in 2008,?has since argued that he should have access to details about the investigative methods used to track him down. A federal magistrate judge has been sympathetic to that position.
The Justice Department has also argued that in-field use of the device was an innocent mistake by agents ?using a relatively new technology,? but the emails obtained by the ACLU demonstrate that the government?s undeclared in-field use of the stingray was not isolated to the Rigmaiden case.
For example, an email chain dated May 2011 showed that federal investigators were still using the technology in the field, although their court applications for surveillance failed to ?make that explicit.?
The federal government has argued, however, that tools like the stingray can be used without a search warrant because they do not capture the content of communications made with cellphones. Instead, they capture only limited data, such as the phone numbers dialed.
Federal officials also contend that they delete the tracking data collected during stingray surveillance?operations.
The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) also obtained documents from the FBI in February 2013 that revealed the technology not only targeted Rigmaiden, but also innocent cellphones within the vicinity of the signal.
If you've frequently been sifting through the Chrome Web Store for content, you've probably been stymied once or twice by search results that didn't initially show the content type you were looking for. At least some of us shouldn't face that problem following a quiet update from Google. Searches now show the top hits for apps, extensions and themes on one page, and a click of a category header is all that's needed for more detail. Just fire up Chrome (or a Chromebook) to see the remade results page.
The latest MTV original movie takes on a topic many of us are far too familiar with. In "Ladies Man: A MADE Movie," Toby wants to become a "stud" and convince all of the girls that he's friends with to see him in a different light (i.e. not as their gay best friend). To do [...]
HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) ? Zimbabwe's High Court on Wednesday freed on bail four senior officials from Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's party accused of illegally collecting information on high level corruption.
Their arrests and detention are widely seen by critics of President Robert Mugabe as political intimidation ahead of crucial elections scheduled around July.
The four were arrested at offices of Tsvangirai's communications unit on March 17. They were denied bail by a Harare magistrate on March 20 on grounds they "impersonated police officers and posed a serious threat to national security." They were ordered to reappear in the same court on April 3.
Police allege the officials, Thabani Mpofu and Felix Matsinde, both former state prosecutors, and Mehluli Tshuma and Warship Dumba on Tsvangirai's staff possessed police files on corruption cases.
High court judge Chinembiri Bhunu on Wednesday ordered the four to post $500 bail each. He said they should not have been denied bail because they were well-known public figures unlikely to abscond from justice.
In ordering them held in custody, the magistrate "grossly misdirected" her ruling, said the judge.
"The magistrate's conduct betrayed the country's guiding principles on the application of the law and failed to follow laid down procedures of the presumption of innocence of the accused," Bhunu said.
He also said such a ruling is a "serious infringement of rights should the persons turn out to be innocent."
Defense attorney Chris Mhike praised Bhunu's ruling.
"We are encouraged as lawyers to see that there are still moments in the administration of justice when the law is applied as it should be," Mhike said.
Prominent Zimbabwe human rights lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa, also arrested by police while trying to represent the four officials, was released on bail Monday after spending eight nights in jail.
Mtetwa and the four officials deny any wrongdoing.
On her release, also on $500 bail, Mtetwa described the arrests as being orchestrated by police and judicial officials loyal to President Robert Mugabe.
"There will be many more arrests to follow as we near elections," Mtetwa said.
This year, police have mounted a series of raids on rights and pro-democracy groups searching for alleged subversive materials and have removed documents and equipment from their offices.
Mugabe and Tsvangirai met for their weekly consultation on Monday where the clampdown was discussed, said Luke Tamborinyoka, Tsvangirai's spokesman.
They are to schedule a meeting with police Commissioner-General Augustine Chihuri and "agreed that the behavior of the police was tainting the image of the country and it was creating the impression that the country is not ready for a peaceful poll," Tamborinyoka said.
NEW YORK (AP) ? Surveys show most Americans would rather die at home than in a hospital. Now, a new government study suggests more and more people getting their wish.
The researchers studied the deaths of patients admitted to a sampling of hospitals. They determined that hospital deaths accounted for 29 percent of U.S. deaths in 2010, down from more than 32 percent in 2000.
Meanwhile, other reports indicate deaths in the home grew from 23 percent to 27 percent over the decade. Deaths in nursing homes held steady at around 21 percent.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released the figures Wednesday. CDC officials said the growing availability of hospice care may be one factor for fewer hospital deaths.
26 March 2013Last updated at 21:02 ETBy Steven McKenzieBBC Scotland Highlands and Islands reporter
Archaeologists are trying to piece together clues to the identity of a shipwreck in the north-west Highlands.
Three cannons and part of a wooden hull lie on the seabed near Drumbeg in Sutherland.
Archaeologists believe it could be the remains of a Dutch vessel that got into difficulty between 1650 and 1750.
The site was given emergency protected status on 18 March this year, but the Scottish government has proposed giving it a more permanent designation.
Local scallop divers have known of the wreck site in Eddrachilis Bay since the 1990s, but only recently have archaeologists been able to make a proper assessment of it.
Continue reading the main story
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The wreck gives us a unique window into our history?
End QuotePhilip RobertsonHistoric Scotland
Archaeologists from WA Coastal and Marine examined the wreck last year on behalf of Historic Scotland.
It was confirmed to be of national historical importance and is now one of seven Scottish shipwreck sites proposed for the government's new Historic Marine Protected Area status.
WA Coastal and Marine used a diver-based imaging technique to create 3D models of the site and the three cannons.
The models are being used in the effort to better understand the wreck's story.
Archaeologists said that the accuracy of the models allowed for the measuring and analysing of the remains on dry land.
They have already been able to establish more accurate measurements of the cannons. This has helped to match them to other cannons which in turn could reveal important details about the ship and its crew.
A historical record of the shipwreck has still to be found.
Most powerful
However, the cannons and a number of artefacts recovered from the site, including cannonballs and a piece of decorated tile, provide some clues to the vessel and its crew.
Charles Trollope, an independent cannon specialist, has identified the cannons as being of a type cast in Sweden for use by the Dutch.
The weapons could have been used by the Drumbeg ship's crew to ward off privateers, privately-owned armed vessels commissioned by a state to attack an enemy's shipping.
Today, the cannons are heavily encrusted and colonised by small red seaweeds.
Also recovered from the wreck was a broken Delft tile decorated with an image of a three-masted ship flying the Dutch flag. Delft is a blue and white pottery made in the Netherlands.
French sailors
One theory is that the vessel was owned by the Dutch East India Company, also known as VOS.
Founded in 1602, it was the world's biggest and most powerful trading company until it collapsed in financial ruin in 1799.
Its vessels regularly sailed around the north of Scotland because of the favourable winds and also to avoid the English Channel, particularly at times of war and tensions in Europe.
The wrecking of VOS vessels in Shetland was recorded by the Dutch company, and centuries later the shipwrecks were located by divers.
One reported loss in Scotland outside the Shetland Islands, and which has still to be found, was the Trompetteer. It was seized and then burned by French sailors off the Scottish coast in 1692.
Some or all of the crew of the Drumbeg ship may have survived their ordeal, archaeologists have suggested.
There is possible evidence of foreign sailors setting up home in the north-west Highlands after their ships foundered off the Scottish coast.
The First Statistical Account of Scotland published between 1791 and 1799 records how the climate of the area was pleasant enough for "natives of the East and West Indies" to live there.
Philip Robertson, a Historic Scotland marine archaeologist, said the origins of the Drumbeg crew was still unknown.
But he added: "The wreck gives us a unique window into our history and, interestingly, the trading activity off the Scottish coastline and across the world."
'Fantastic results'
Dr Jonathan Benjamin, of WA Coastal and Marine and the University of Edinburgh, said Scotland was a maritime nation with a rich seafaring history.
He added: "However, there are only a handful of underwater archaeological sites around Scotland's coasts that are over 200 years old.
"The wooden shipwreck at Drumbeg has remained on the seabed for three to four hundred years before it was discovered by a local diver and reported to Historic Scotland.
"This is an exciting and significant discovery. This site demonstrates the value of collaboration between archaeologists, local community members and divers to enhance our knowledge of underwater cultural heritage in Scotland."
John McCarthy, also of WA Coastal and Marine, added: "We have conducted a lot of research on new methods of underwater digital survey and the survey at Drumbeg gave us the perfect opportunity to apply this new technology to an entire wreck site for the first time, and with fantastic results."
An earthquake with a magnitude of at least 6.1 shook Taiwan on Wednesday, official agencies said, but there were no immediate reports of casualties or damage.
The U.S. Geological Survey registered the quake with a magnitude of 6.3. The epicenter of the quake was near central Taiwan at a depth of about 9 miles, said Taiwan's Central Weather Bureau, which uses the Richter scale.
Earthquakes occur frequently in Taiwan, which lies on a seismically active stretch of the Pacific basin. In September 1999, a 7.6 quake killed more than 2,400 people and destroyed or damaged 50,000 buildings.
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Pluto and its moon Charon act like a double-planet system with wreath of other, smaller moons. NASA's New Horizons mission could help explain how those moons got there.
By Pete Spotts,?Staff writer / March 25, 2013
This photo by the Hubble Space Telescope shows the five moons in their orbits around Pluto.
Hubble Space Telescope/NASA/AP
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New research by two astronomers has the potential to make the current NASA mission to Pluto and beyond more than just a first close-up glimpse of the distant, demoted planet. It could help scientists understand how planets form around other stars.
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The reason: While Pluto's companion, Charon, is widely considered a moon, its orbital relationship to Pluto is identical to that of stars in a binary-star system. Indeed, some astronomers hold that Charon is not a moon, but part of a binary dwarf-planet system, with Pluto as the senior partner.
With at least four other small moons orbiting beyond Charon, the Pluto system could be a unique laboratory for scientists.
"Not only could we try to understand the outer part of the solar system, we could actually have an idea of how planets form around binary stars and actually test it real life," says Scott Kenyon, a researcher at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Mass., who performed the analysis along with University of Utah's Benjamin Bromley.
Charon is thought to have formed from a collision between Pluto and another object, Dr. Kenyon explains. To try to determine how the smaller outer moons might have formed thereafter, the researchers used computer simulations. Did the outer moons form from the debris of the collision? Or did they take shape long afterward from the primordial disk of dust, rock, and ice that Pluto-Charon captured from its general neighborhood?
The simulations suggest that both scenarios are possible, but that each would yield moons with different compositions. NASA's New Horizons mission could help prove if either scenario is right. New Horizons is now half way to Pluto and is expected to reach the dwarf planet in 2015.
The results of the calculations by Kenyon and Dr. Bromley have been submitted for publication and have been posted on an astrophysics website in hopes that the New Horizons science team can work in observations that would test these competing ideas into the mission's science plan during the Pluto flyby.
Over the years, the known size of the Pluto system has expanded. Pluto itself was discovered in 1930 by astronomer Clyde Tombaugh. It took another 48 years to pick out Charon. In 2005, astronomers discovered Nix and Hydra. And between July 2011 and July 2012, researchers detected another two moons ? P4 and P5. (A recent nonbinding poll to name the two moons suggested Vulcan and Cerberus.)
Assuming a giant impact formed Charon, the raw material for the other moons could have come from debris that formed a disk outside Charon's orbit.
For moons to form in this way, there would have needed to be enough debris, and it would have needed to be orbiting Pluto and Charon at a distance relatively undisturbed by their gravity ? so clumping could occur. "If you can't get material out past the orbit of P5 [the closest known moon to Pluto and Charon], then you're doomed," Kenyon says, because gravity from Pluto-Charon would sweep the material into those two objects.
But simulations of the impact scenario suggested that material did pass the orbit of P5 and that this scenario was the most efficient means of producing moons, Kenyon says. The collision yields more than enough debris to make moons with the masses astronomers think the system's moons have. Moreover, in the simulations, the innermost moon tends to settle into an orbit at a distance comparable to P5.?
But the approach that focuses on the primordial disk of dust and ice can also form moons, simulations found. At some point after the giant collision, the Pluto-Charon system could have drawn in a ring of dust and ice from material in the vicinity ? material that was part of the solar system's original inventory of dust, gas, and ice.
"You just gradually accumulate stuff over millions and millions of years, and that coagulates into the satellites," Kenyon says.
But simulations found that the masses of the moons formed in this scenario are at the lowest end of the range of mass estimates astronomers have calculated for the moons in the Pluto-Charon system. And those less-massive moons would appear in orbits much farther from Pluto-Charon than the existing moons.
Either way, if both scenarios start out with the same amount of mass in the debris disks, the same number of satellites will form, but their composition will be different.
If the satellites are formed from the collision debris, their composition will look much like Charon's. Charon is less dense than Pluto, consisting of a roughly 50-50 mix of ice (mostly water ice) and rock with a very icy surface. This allows it to reflect a relatively larger amount of sunlight from its surface than would a more mixed surface composition.
If the satellites formed via gradual accretion of primordial ice and rock well after a giant impact, Kenyon adds, the satellites would be darker and with a higher proportion of rock to ice.
In that way, they would look more like typical objects in the Kuiper Belt ? the broad expanse of rocky and icy objects left over from solar system's construction phase some 4.6 billion years ago. The belt's inner edge is about 2.8 billion miles from the sun, just beyond Neptune's orbit. The outer edge is thought to lie about 4.7 billion miles from the sun.
Pluto, which orbits the sun at an average distance of 3.7 billion miles, is the second largest known dwarf planet. The solar system's largest, most massive dwarf planet is Eris, which orbits the sun at an average distance of 6.3 billion miles.
Based on the simulations, New Horizons could find perhaps five to 10 more moons in the Pluto-Charon system, Kenyon says. They would be small, perhaps ranging from 1,000 feet to a mile or two across, and outside the orbit of Hydra. And there would be enough material for a tenuous disk of particles whose size are measured in inches.
New Horizons can begin its observations of the Pluto-Charon system about 70 days before its closest encounter and for some days after.
From Maggie Barron. You can reach her at maggie[AT]borderstan.com and follow her on Twitter @rookerysf.
Pick the moratorium you want to support. (Luis Gomez Photos)
Jeez, what do you have to do to get something banned around here? Bans and moratoria are falling on tough times. There?s the defeat of the large soda ban in New York City. Protests against the nudity ban in San Francisco (yes, public nudity was perfectly legal there until two months ago).
And now, closer to home, the proposed moratorium on U Street liquor licenses meets an icy reception at a recent neighborhood listening session.
People don?t like banning things. It seems so final. So severe. No nudity in public places ??not just ?let?s reduce the relative amount of nudity.? So harsh. Even a moratorium sounds draconian. Five years? Where will I be in five years? Will alcohol even be legal in five years? No one knows for sure.
That?s why I?ve come up with a list of proposed moratoriums that I think could actually pass with flying colors. Nothing too restrictive, just those things that we?ve had enough of. See what you think:
The following eight things, in three categories, shall be prohibited for a period of no less than five years from today.
Food and Drink
Beet and goat cheese salads: Yes, they are delicious. But there?s no other way to make beets taste good? And if there isn?t, can you serve us something else? It?s been on your menu for ten years?
The word ?artisanal.? After years of abuse, the privilege of using ?artisanal? to describe a food, craft or other noun shall be revoked until further notice. To be honest, the blanket use of the term (artisanal croutons, artisanal gelato) is kind of making us foodies sound like jerks.
Cocktails costing more than $10. A few places that make really nice cocktails have now made it acceptable for everyone to start charging $12+ for a drink. The other night I ordered what appeared to be a Greyhound except the bartender repeatedly slapped a single basil leaf between his palms and then delicately placed it on top. So I basically paid a $2 premium to have my basil spanked. No more!
Fashion
Wearing Uggs in public. Yes, I know they are warm. So are Snuggies and Russian ushankas, but no one wears those outside. This is DC, not Siberia. (And while we?re talking about comfortable clothing that should be severely curtailed, I second Dafna Steinberg?s piece on yoga pants).
Wearing bicycle helmets without buckling the chin strap. Nothing better conveys the message, ?I care about my safety, but in a weirdly ambivalent way,? than not buckling your helmet strap. I see these people way more often than I?d expect. Do they not realize this defeats the purpose of a helmet and yet still gives them helmet hair, so it?s really the worst of every possible option?
Social Media
The phrase ?retweets are not endorsements? on Twitter profiles. Is there anyone who says ?You know what? My retweets are endorsements! Every single one!? No. So let?s all agree to ditch the disclaimer. (P.S. we also know that you are tweeting your own views and not those of your employer? but disclaimers don?t actually mean you can?t get in trouble, FYI)
Facebook status updates that tell me how much you have recently exercised. All updates such as ?8.5 miler today ??feeling great!? shall be immediately banned until further notice.
Complaints about ?spoilers? because you haven?t watched a popular show yet. The entire internet does not have to be quiet until you catch up on your DVR. Sorry.
I really think I?m on to something here. Enforcement may be an issue, though?
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This post was written by:
maggie - who has written 17 posts on Borderstan.
Barron lived in Los Angeles, Providence, Prague, New York and London before making the jump to Borderstan in 2009. She?s interested in the way cities work ? or don?t ? and why. You can find her walking her dog around the neighborhood and spending way too much time shopping for and thinking about food. She?s on Twitter @maggiebarron; email her at maggie[AT]borderstan.com.
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Major advance in understanding risky but effective multiple sclerosis treatmentPublic release date: 26-Mar-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Anita Kar anita.kar@mcgill.ca 514-398-3376 McGill University
Powerful treatment improves patients' lives and provides new insight into mechanisms of the disease
A new study by Multiple Sclerosis researchers at three leading Canadian centres addresses why bone marrow transplantation (BMT) has positive results in patients with particularly aggressive forms of MS. The transplantation treatment, which is performed as part of a clinical trial and carries potentially serious risks, virtually stops all new relapsing activity as observed upon clinical examination and brain MRI scans. The study reveals how the immune system changes as a result of the transplantation. Specifically, a sub-set of T cells in the immune system known as Th17 cells, have a substantially diminished function following the treatment. The finding to be published in the upcoming issue of Annals of Neurology and currently in the early online version, provides important insight into how and why BMT treatment works as well as how relapses may develop in MS.
"Our study examined why patients essentially stop having relapses and new brain lesions after the bone marrow transplant treatment, which involves ablative chemotherapy followed by stem cell transplantation using the patient's own cells," said Prof. Amit Bar-Or, the principle investigator of the study, who is a neurologist and MS researcher at The Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital -The Neuro, McGill University, and Director of The Neuro's Experimental Therapeutics Program. "We discovered differences between the immune responses of these patients before and after treatment, which point to a particular type of immune response as the potential perpetrator of relapses in MS."
"Although the immune system that re-emerges in these patients from their stem cells is generally intact, we identified a selectively diminished capacity of their Th17 immune responses following therapy - which could explain the lack of new MS disease activity. In untreated patients, these Th17 cells may be particularly important in breaching the blood-brain-barrier, which normally protects the central nervous system. This interaction of Th17 cells with the blood-brain barrier can facilitate subsequent invasion of other immune cells such as Th1 cells, which are thought to also contribute to brain cell injury.
Twenty-four patients participated in the overall clinical trial as part of the 'Canadian MS BMT' clinical trial, coordinated by Drs. Mark Freedman and Harry Atkins at the Ottawa General Hospital. The new discovery, made in a subset of patients participating in the clinical trial, was based on immunological studies carried out jointly in laboratories at The Neuro and the Universit de Montral. Results of this study not only show the clinical benefits of BMT treatment, but also open a unique window into the immunological mechanisms underlying relapses in MS. Th17 cells could be the immune cells associated with the initiation of new relapsing disease activity in this group of patients with aggressive MS. This finding deepens our understanding of MS and could guide the development of personalized medicine with a more favourable risk/benefit profile.
Among the patients treated in the Canadian MS BMT clinical trial, was Dr. Alexander Normandin, a family doctor, who was a third- year McGill medical student getting ready for his surgery exams when he first learned he had MS, "I was so engrossed in my studies that I didn't pay attention to the first sign but within a few days of waking up with a numb temple, my face felt frozen. I learned that I had a very aggressive form of MS and would probably be in a wheelchair within a year. It was a brutal blow. I became patient #19 of only 24 for this experimental treatment. My immune system was knocked out and then rebooted with my stem cells. Today, my MS has stabilized. I now have this disease under control and I take it one day at a time."
###
Both the clinical and biological studies were supported by the Research Foundation of the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada. Link to study: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ana.23784/abstract
Multiple Sclerosis
MS is a disorder of the brain and spinal cord that causes fatigue, disequilibrium, sensory problems and muscle paralysis. The cause of MS is unknown, but evidence suggests that it is an auto-immune disease that destroys myelin, a substance coating axons, the thin strands that carry signals between brain cells.
It usually strikes between the ages of 15 and 40 but can begin as early as age two. Women have twice the probability of developing MS than men. Canada has one of the world's highest national rates - about 1,100 new cases each year. Some 50,000 Canadians have MS. More than 1 in 5 lives in Quebec. The most common form of MS is relapsing-remitting, in which acute symptoms alternate with periods of remission. Primary progressive MS, the least common form, develops continually without remission. Secondary progressive MS begins as relapsing-remitting, then becomes steadily progressive.
The Neuro
The Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital The Neuro, is a unique academic medical centre dedicated to neuroscience. Founded in 1934 by the renowned Dr. Wilder Penfield, The Neuro is recognized internationally for integrating research, compassionate patient care and advanced training, all key to advances in science and medicine. The Neuro is a research and teaching institute of McGill University and forms the basis for the Neuroscience Mission of the McGill University Health Centre. Neuro researchers are world leaders in cellular and molecular neuroscience, brain imaging, cognitive neuroscience and the study and treatment of epilepsy, multiple sclerosis and neuromuscular disorders. For more information, visit theneuro.com.
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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.
Major advance in understanding risky but effective multiple sclerosis treatmentPublic release date: 26-Mar-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Anita Kar anita.kar@mcgill.ca 514-398-3376 McGill University
Powerful treatment improves patients' lives and provides new insight into mechanisms of the disease
A new study by Multiple Sclerosis researchers at three leading Canadian centres addresses why bone marrow transplantation (BMT) has positive results in patients with particularly aggressive forms of MS. The transplantation treatment, which is performed as part of a clinical trial and carries potentially serious risks, virtually stops all new relapsing activity as observed upon clinical examination and brain MRI scans. The study reveals how the immune system changes as a result of the transplantation. Specifically, a sub-set of T cells in the immune system known as Th17 cells, have a substantially diminished function following the treatment. The finding to be published in the upcoming issue of Annals of Neurology and currently in the early online version, provides important insight into how and why BMT treatment works as well as how relapses may develop in MS.
"Our study examined why patients essentially stop having relapses and new brain lesions after the bone marrow transplant treatment, which involves ablative chemotherapy followed by stem cell transplantation using the patient's own cells," said Prof. Amit Bar-Or, the principle investigator of the study, who is a neurologist and MS researcher at The Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital -The Neuro, McGill University, and Director of The Neuro's Experimental Therapeutics Program. "We discovered differences between the immune responses of these patients before and after treatment, which point to a particular type of immune response as the potential perpetrator of relapses in MS."
"Although the immune system that re-emerges in these patients from their stem cells is generally intact, we identified a selectively diminished capacity of their Th17 immune responses following therapy - which could explain the lack of new MS disease activity. In untreated patients, these Th17 cells may be particularly important in breaching the blood-brain-barrier, which normally protects the central nervous system. This interaction of Th17 cells with the blood-brain barrier can facilitate subsequent invasion of other immune cells such as Th1 cells, which are thought to also contribute to brain cell injury.
Twenty-four patients participated in the overall clinical trial as part of the 'Canadian MS BMT' clinical trial, coordinated by Drs. Mark Freedman and Harry Atkins at the Ottawa General Hospital. The new discovery, made in a subset of patients participating in the clinical trial, was based on immunological studies carried out jointly in laboratories at The Neuro and the Universit de Montral. Results of this study not only show the clinical benefits of BMT treatment, but also open a unique window into the immunological mechanisms underlying relapses in MS. Th17 cells could be the immune cells associated with the initiation of new relapsing disease activity in this group of patients with aggressive MS. This finding deepens our understanding of MS and could guide the development of personalized medicine with a more favourable risk/benefit profile.
Among the patients treated in the Canadian MS BMT clinical trial, was Dr. Alexander Normandin, a family doctor, who was a third- year McGill medical student getting ready for his surgery exams when he first learned he had MS, "I was so engrossed in my studies that I didn't pay attention to the first sign but within a few days of waking up with a numb temple, my face felt frozen. I learned that I had a very aggressive form of MS and would probably be in a wheelchair within a year. It was a brutal blow. I became patient #19 of only 24 for this experimental treatment. My immune system was knocked out and then rebooted with my stem cells. Today, my MS has stabilized. I now have this disease under control and I take it one day at a time."
###
Both the clinical and biological studies were supported by the Research Foundation of the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada. Link to study: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ana.23784/abstract
Multiple Sclerosis
MS is a disorder of the brain and spinal cord that causes fatigue, disequilibrium, sensory problems and muscle paralysis. The cause of MS is unknown, but evidence suggests that it is an auto-immune disease that destroys myelin, a substance coating axons, the thin strands that carry signals between brain cells.
It usually strikes between the ages of 15 and 40 but can begin as early as age two. Women have twice the probability of developing MS than men. Canada has one of the world's highest national rates - about 1,100 new cases each year. Some 50,000 Canadians have MS. More than 1 in 5 lives in Quebec. The most common form of MS is relapsing-remitting, in which acute symptoms alternate with periods of remission. Primary progressive MS, the least common form, develops continually without remission. Secondary progressive MS begins as relapsing-remitting, then becomes steadily progressive.
The Neuro
The Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital The Neuro, is a unique academic medical centre dedicated to neuroscience. Founded in 1934 by the renowned Dr. Wilder Penfield, The Neuro is recognized internationally for integrating research, compassionate patient care and advanced training, all key to advances in science and medicine. The Neuro is a research and teaching institute of McGill University and forms the basis for the Neuroscience Mission of the McGill University Health Centre. Neuro researchers are world leaders in cellular and molecular neuroscience, brain imaging, cognitive neuroscience and the study and treatment of epilepsy, multiple sclerosis and neuromuscular disorders. For more information, visit theneuro.com.
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?
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.
Mar. 24, 2013 ? Taking their inspiration from nature, scientists at the University of New South Wales have developed a new method for carrying out chemical reduction -- an industrial process used to produce fuels and chemicals that are vital for modern society.
Their catalyst-based approach has the big advantages that it uses cheap, replenishable reagents and it works well at room temperature and in air -- so much so, it can even be carried out safely in a teacup.
The research, by a team led by Associate Professor Stephen Colbran, of the UNSW School of Chemistry, has been published as the cover of the journal, Angewandte Chemie.
The catalyst they designed mimics the activity of naturally occurring enzymes that catalyse reduction, such as alcohol dehydrogenase in yeast, that helps produce alcohol from sugar.
"Industrial chemical reduction processes underpin human existence, but are unsustainable because they irreversibly consume reagents that are made at prohibitively high energy cost," Dr Colbran says.
"We believe our new biomimetic design may have wide applications in chemical reduction."
Chemical reduction involves the addition of electrons to a substance, and is the basis of making many fuels, including the sugars that plants produce during photosynthesis.
In industry, molecular hydrogen and reactive reagents such as sodium borohydride are used as reducing agents during the production of pharmaceuticals, agrichemicals and ammonia for fertiliser.
"Manufacture of these substances is energy costly, leads to the release of carbon dioxide and they are difficult to handle and store," Dr Colbran says. "So we decided to look at nature to see how nature does it."
The team combined a transition metal complex containing rhodium with a Hantzsch dihydropyridine -- an organic donor of a hydride ion similar to biological nicotinamides -- to produce the new bio-inspired catalyst. They tested it on a common process -- reduction of imines -- and were surprised to find it worked in ambient conditions with more than 90 per cent efficiency in most cases.
Dr Colbran even tested it out in a teacup. "I thought it would be a bit of fun. And it makes a serious point -- our catalyst system is very easy to use."
By coincidence, the research comes exactly a century after Alfred Werner won a Nobel Prize for Chemistry for his work on the structures of transition metal complexes. As well, his PhD supervisor, Arthur Hantzsch, discovered the way to synthesise dihydropyridines.
"It has only taken 100 years to combine the work of doctoral adviser and student into one molecule," Dr Colbran says.
A future aim is to try to convert the greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide, into the renewable fuel, methanol, much more efficiently.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of New South Wales.
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Journal Reference:
Alex McSkimming, Mohan M. Bhadbhade, Stephen B. Colbran. Cover Picture: Bio-Inspired Catalytic Imine Reduction by Rhodium Complexes with Tethered Hantzsch Pyridinium Groups: Evidence for Direct Hydride Transfer from Dihydropyridine to Metal-Activated Substrate (Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 12/2013). Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 2013; 52 (12): 3283 DOI: 10.1002/anie.201301157
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A seminar on international artist, rights and music management has been held at the Ghana-India Kofi Annan Center of Excellence in ICT in Accra. The seminar was a collaborative effort between the Musicians Union of Ghana, MUSIGA and the British Council of Ghana.
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Public release date: 26-Mar-2013
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