River dolphins use lower pitch sonar signals than marine dolphins, whales

Friday, April 5, 2013

Freshwater dolphins use echolocation signals that are quieter, more low-pitched and more frequent than those used by their marine counterparts, according to research published March 27 in the open access journal PLOS ONE by Frants Havmand Jensen from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and colleagues.

All toothed whales use bio-sonar signals to navigate and find prey, but the echolocation signals of marine animals are better understood than those used by endangered river dolphins. In this study, the authors recorded the signals of two endangered freshwater dolphin species within the Sundarban mangrove forest, and found that they produced signals that were much quieter than signals produced by marine dolphins.

"Freshwater dolphins live in complex environments where circuitous river systems restrict how far away prey might be found using echolocation, especially when compared to marine dolphins echolocating in the open ocean " says Jensen.

In addition, the Ganges river dolphin produced sounds nearly an octave lower than signals of similar-sized marine dolphins. Lower-pitched sounds are likely to be less effective for echolocation, but this species has evolved unique bony crests in their foreheads that may help them focus their low-frequent biosonar signals more efficiently.

The study offers a valuable tool to help conservation biologists in their efforts to prevent a decline of these endangered species. Small acoustic recorders are being increasingly used for supplementing visual surveys, and the study describes how differences in the biosonar signals may be used to discriminate between species, estimate population sizes and identify areas crucial to the two freshwater dolphins.

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Public Library of Science: http://www.plos.org

Thanks to Public Library of Science for this article.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/127597/River_dolphins_use_lower_pitch_sonar_signals_than_marine_dolphins__whales

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Panasonic's Lumix GF6 leaks early with a 16MP sensor, tilting touchscreen and NFC for ?449

After passing by Taiwan's WiFi certification tests, Panasonic's latest interchangeable lens camera has broken cover over at TechRadar. The leak has given us the first glimpse at the Lumix GF6's full spec list, which include the same 16-megapixel sensor as the GX1, a new Venus engine to assist with imaging performance, an electrostatic touchscreen and (in a first for ILCs) built-in NFC . Better still, the team had some time to play with the camera, which has shown itself almost precisely 12 months after the last GF iteration. The camera apparently tries to straddle the gap between compact point-and-shoots and the more technical world of mirrorless and DSLR shooters with a new mode dial on top and a more responsive touchscreen. In addition to NFC, there's even built-in WiFi to aid image sharing -- although we can only share the original article through the magic of Google cache -- take a peek at the source below. No word on a specific release date in the leak, although the UK's £449 price tag (which includes a new 14-42mm kit lens) should translate to around $680 on the other side of the Atlantic.

[Image credit: TechRadar]

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Source: TechRadar (Google Cache)

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/04/05/panasonic-lumix-gf6-leak/

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Secretary of State Kerry to visit Turkey: official

ANKARA (Reuters) - Secretary of State John Kerry is expected to visit Turkey this week as part of a trip to Western Europe and Asia to consult allies on issues including Syria's civil war, a Turkish official told Reuters on Wednesday.

Washington regards Turkey, which shares a 900 km (560-mile) border with Syria, as a pivotal player in backing the Syrian opposition and planning for an era after Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

"Mr Kerry will visit Turkey. The date is not clear yet but possibly it will take place either on Friday or on Saturday," said the official, who declined to be named. The U.S. State Department was not immediately available to comment.

A month ago, on his first visit to Turkey since taking office, Kerry criticized Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan for a comment likening Zionism to crimes against humanity, a spat that cast a shadow over talks between the NATO allies.

U.S. President Barack Obama brokered a tentative reconciliation between Turkey and Israel during a trip to Israel a few weeks later. Israel bowed to a long-standing demand by Ankara, once a close strategic partner, to formally apologize for the killing of nine Turkish citizens in a 2010 naval raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla.

The rapprochement between the two U.S. allies could help regional coordination to contain spillover from the Syrian civil war and ease Israel's diplomatic isolation in the Middle East as it faces challenges posed by Iran's nuclear program.

(Reporting by Parisa Hafezi; Editing by Nick Tattersall and Pravin Char)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/secretary-state-kerry-visit-turkey-official-082530109.html

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After Being Acquired By Google, Shipping Service Bufferbox Is Preparing A Bay Area Launch

Bufferbox, the Y Combinator company based in Canada that aimed to fix all of the issues that we have with receiving packages, has started to tease out a San Francisco Bay Area launch. Google acquired the company for a rumored $17 million to $25 million back in November?with little or no discussion about the future plans for the product. It’s clear that this could be a huge part of Google’s recently announced ‘Shopping Express’ same-day delivery service. Want to pick something up from a Bufferbox instead of having it brought directly to you? No problem. Middle men are completely cut out. The service has been operating without interruption in the greater Toronto area, but this area of California would be more than just a test. We know that the current package delivery system here in the United States is broken, and the government-funded postal service is pulling back on things like…delivering on the weekend. Google is clearly getting into the space in a big way, and the tease on Bufferbox’s homepage, which probably picked up my browsing location, says it all: Right now, all you can do is give them your email address to “pre-register,” which gives Google a pretty good idea of the demand for the service. We’ve reached out to Google for more details, and will update if we do hear something more. This is definitely a space that we’re tracking closely, as another Y Combinator company doing something similar, Swapbox, recently launched in the Bay Area. Instead of shipping something to your address, it goes to your Bufferbox, so that you can pick it up whenever you like. Right now, when you have something shipped to you and miss the delivery person, you’re pretty much screwed and have to wait for them to come back, or worse, go pick up the item yourself at a factory. If your package does get delivered, it just sits on your doorstep, being gawked at by your neighbors. This is a bit similar to the notion of having a P.O. box, but it isn’t a box or address that is static. You can get deliveries to any of the locations that you want. Additionally, these things should be available in the open, so you can get your packages at any time of the day or night, rather than before the post office closes. As we know, testing things out in the

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/lfLG11uFv5s/

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"Jurassic Park" 3D re-release looks like a profit-saurus for Universal

By Todd Cunningham

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - Twenty years after its original release, Steven Spielberg's groundbreaking "Jurassic Park" returns to movie theaters Friday - in 3D.

Big, loud and scary, "Jurassic Park" was a box-office hit and a cultural phenomenon when it came out in June 1993; it made dinosaurs cooler than they'd ever been, for school kids and sci-fi fans. The computer-generated imagery used to create the velociraptors and a terrifying T-Rex awed moviegoers and changed - for better and worse - the way Hollywood made movies. And it was among the first truly global blockbusters, making the majority of its money overseas.

Universal won't change the way Hollywood does business with its Friday re-release, but the studio should turn a tidy profit - and heighten anticipation for the 3D Blu-ray, due on April 26, and "Jurassic Park. 4," which arrives next summer.

"Jurassic Park" will be on roughly 2,600 screens - about 300 of which will be Imax - enough so that it will be a factor in this weekend's box office chase. Analysts are projecting a three-day total in the mid-teen millions and then it will eventually take in around $40 million domestically.

That would work for Universal, which between the Stereo D conversion and marketing has probably spent about $30 million, and plans an international rollout as well.

Early internet buzz on the conversion - by the same outfit that did the 3D on "Titanic" - has been generally positive, though few seem wowed. The consensus seems to be that the dinos seem bigger and badder (at least for a while), there is a dearth of gratuitous in-your-face 3D shots and the film's taut tone and subtleties remain intact. In short, the 3D "Jurassic Park" isn't all that much different than the original - and that may be fine.

"It will be nostalgia more than 3D that draws people to this movie," Exhibitor Relations vice-president and senior analyst Jeff Bock told TheWrap. "It has been available on DVD for years, but it's the chance to relive the experience of being in the theaters, and the opportunity to share it with another generation - their kids - that will drive moviegoers to this one."

How many people are willing to pay for a 3D ticket to that blast of nostalgia remains to be seen.

Produced by Kathleen Kennedy and directed by a 47-year-old Spielberg, "Jurassic Park" was based on the novel by Michael Chrichton and adapted by David Koepp. It starred Sam Neill, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, Richard Attenborough, Ariana Richards, Joseph Mazzello, Martin Ferrero and Samuel L. Jackson, several of whom have been hitting the talk show circuit to hype the re-release.

The story is set on an island in the Pacific, where a billionaire philanthropist and a small team of genetic scientists have created an amusement park of cloned dinosaurs.

(Universal, of course, has cloned a couple of dinos themselves and created popular "Jurassic Park" rides for its theme parks.)

In terms of its theater count, Universal's rollout of "Jurassic Park" is in line with the recent re-releases of a couple of other blockbusters.

Last February, "Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace" was given a 3D re-release in 2,655 theaters. It opened with $22 million and went on to take in $43.4 million domestically. A couple of weeks later, on this weekend last year, the 3D version of James Cameron's "Titanic" was able to bring in $17.3 million from 2,674 theaters before grossing $58 million total in North America. The 3D "Titanic' was a huge hit in China, however, where it took in a record-breaking $58 million in its first week.

"Jurassic Park" was a bona fide blockbuster. It brought in more than $900 million worldwide and surpassed another Spielberg film, "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial," to become the highest-grossing film up to that time. Two sequels followed, "The Lost World" in 1997 and "Jurassic Park 3" in 2001. In all, the franchise has taken in more than $1.9 billion at the worldwide box office.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/jurassic-park-3d-release-looks-profit-saurus-universal-003120722.html

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Rebels capture military base in southern Syria

This image taken from video obtained from the Shaam News Network, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, shows damaged buildings due to heavy shelling in the Damascus suburb of Daraya, Syria, on Wednesday, April 3, 2013. (AP Photo/Shaam News Network via AP video)

This image taken from video obtained from the Shaam News Network, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, shows damaged buildings due to heavy shelling in the Damascus suburb of Daraya, Syria, on Wednesday, April 3, 2013. (AP Photo/Shaam News Network via AP video)

This image taken from video obtained from the Shaam News Network, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, shows a damaged building due to heavy shelling in the Damascus suburb of Daraya, Syria, on Wednesday, April 3, 2013. (AP Photo/Shaam News Network via AP video)

BEIRUT (AP) ? Syrian rebels captured a military base in the country's south on Wednesday after days of heavy fighting, activists said, in the latest advance by opposition fighters near the strategic border area with Jordan.

Opposition fighters battling President Bashar Assad's troops have been chipping away at the regime's hold on the southern part of the country in recent weeks with the help of an influx of foreign-funded weapons. Their aim is to secure a corridor from the Jordanian border to Damascus in preparation for an eventual assault on the capital.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the rebels seized the air defense base, home to the Syrian army's 49th battalion, on the outskirts of the city of Daraa, the birthplace of the country's uprising, on Wednesday after battling Assad's troops in the area for several days.

The capture follows a string of other rebel victories in the southern province of Daraa, a largely agricultural region predominantly populated by Sunnis. Last month, opposition fighters seized Dael, one of the province's bigger towns, and overran another air defense base in the region.

An amateur video posted online Wednesday showed what appeared to be rebels from the Suqour Houran, or Eagles of Houran brigade, driving an armored personnel carrier inside the base of the 49th battalion.

Another video, posted by the Fajr al-Islam brigade, showed the rebels walking around the base as the heavy thud of incoming artillery rounds fired by nearby regime forces is heard in the background. A destroyed rocket, army trucks and radars are seen on the ground inside the base.

The videos appeared consistent with AP reporting from the area.

The fighting has escalated across Syria in recent weeks, as the rebels and the Assad regime try to gain the upper hand in the 2-year-old conflict that the U.N. says has killed more than 70,000 people.

The rebels control vast portions of northern Syria that border Turkey. They've also captured areas in the east along the border with Iraq recently, but the strategic region between the southern outskirts of Damascus and Jordan ? known as the Houran plains ? is seen as a crucial gateway to the capital.

Both sides consider Damascus, about 100 kilometers (60 miles) from the Jordanian border, the ultimate prize.

Rebels have established footholds in a number of Damascus suburbs but have only been able to push into limited areas in the southern and northeastern parts of the capital. They're only major foray into the capital took place last July was brought to a swift end by a punishing regime counteroffensive that swept rebels from the city.

Millions of Syrians have fled the conflict, seeking refuge in the neighboring countries of Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq and Turkey, raising fears that the civil war could spread across the region as the fighting occasionally spills over Syria's volatile borders.

In Lebanon, a Syrian jet fired a missile that slammed into a house on the outskirts of the Lebanese border town of Arsal, according to Lebanese state media. The National News Agency said the attack hit the edge of Arsal on the Lebanese side of the frontier, causing material damage, but no casualties.

Lebanon has been on edge since the uprising against Assad's rule began more than two years ago. Lebanese gunmen supporting opposing sides of the Syrian conflict have frequently clashed, raising concerns that fighting in the neighboring country could reignite Lebanon's explosive sectarian mix.

The revolt started with peaceful protests but turned into a bloody conflict after some Syrians took up arms to fight a brutal government crackdown on dissent. The fighting has taken increasingly sectarian overtones, with Sunni Muslims dominating the rebel ranks. The Assad regime is dominated by Alawites, an offshoot Shiite group to which the president and his family also belong to.

Arsal is a Sunni Muslim town that has backed opposition fighters in Syria, and arms smuggling across the border is widespread in the area.

Jordan and Turkey have backed the Syrian opposition, calling repeatedly on Assad to step down. In addition to tens of thousands of Syrian refugees, the two countries also shelter dozens of army defectors, including several high ranking officers.

In rare comments, Assad slammed Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan for his support of the opposition.

"Erdogan did not give any sincere statement since the crisis in Syria began," Assad said in an interview with Turkey's TV channel Ulusal Kanal. Excerpts from the interview were posted on Assad office's YouTube channel on Wednesday. Station officials said the full interview will be broadcast Friday.

Assad also spoke to spoke the channel's newspaper, Aydinlik. Both media outlets are affiliated with Turkey's Labor Party, which opposes Erdogan's policies.

Ulusal Kanal's website said the interview with Assad was conducted late Tuesday in one of the presidential places in Damascus.

Assad last spoke in January, vowing in a speech in Damascus to crush the rebels that he claims are part of a foreign plot against Syria.

In Beirut, a Russian plane carrying 36 tons of aid for Syrian refugees in Lebanon landed. The aid included generators, blankets, food and baby formula. The aid marks the first time Russia sent aid to Syrians fleeing violence in their homeland.

Moscow has been a staunch ally of Damascus since the beginning of the uprising, shielding the Assad regime from sanctions at the United Nations Security Council.

__

Associated Press writers Bassem Mroue and Zeina Karam in Beirut and Suzan Fraser in Ankara, Turkey, contributed to this report

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-04-03-Syria/id-1530824b8342473e8e36a23f6a074880

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Actual finance blog ? Stockton bankruptcy decision only the beginning

For the people of Stockton, a federal judge?s anticipated decision Monday on the city?s bankruptcy petition will affect their day-to-day lives for decades to come.

But the Chapter 9 bankruptcy case also is being closely watched nationally for the potential precedent-setting implications: whether federal bankruptcy law trumps the California law that says debts to the state pension fund must be honored.

After a three-day trial last week, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Klein is to decide whether Stockton becomes the most populous city in the nation to enter bankruptcy, despite the objection of creditors who argued the city failed to pursue all other avenues for straightening out its financial affairs.

If it receives bankruptcy protection, the city begins a months-long process of negotiations over debt repayment that some say could end up in the U.S. Supreme Court.

?This case is worthy because of the conflict between the U.S. Bankruptcy Code and the state statutes governing CalPERS and the importance of the issue being decided,? said attorney Karol Denniston, a municipal restructuring expert who monitored the trial.

The $900 million Stockton owes to the California Public Employees? Retirement System to cover pension promises is its biggest debt _as is the case with many struggling cities across California. So far Stockton has kept up with pension payments while it has reneged on other debts, maintaining that it needs a strong pension plan to retain its pared-down workforce.

The creditors who challenged Stockton?s bankruptcy petition are the bond insurers who guaranteed $165 million in loans the city secured in 2007 to pay its contributions to CalPERS. That debt got out of hand as property tax values plummeted during the recession, and money to pay the pension obligation fell short.

Attorneys for the creditors argued that it was unfair for them to be paid 17-cents on the dollar for the loans while the retirement fund negotiated in flush times remains untouched.

Legal observers expect the creditors aggressively to challenge Stockton?s repayment plan in the next phase of the process.

?That?s where it will be precedent-setting. Does bankruptcy code apply to CalPERS or not? If bankruptcy code trumps state law, then that?s huge and it has huge implications in terms of what happens next for other municipalities across California,? said Denniston.

The city of nearly 300,000 has become emblematic of both government excess and of the financial calamity that resulted when the nation?s housing bubble burst. Its salaries, benefits and borrowing were based on anticipated long-term developer fees and increasing property tax revenue. But those were lost in a flurry of foreclosures beginning in the mid-2000s and a loss of 70 percent of the city?s tax base.

By 2009 Stockton had accumulated nearly $1 billion in debt on civic improvements, money owed to pay pension contributions and the most generous health care benefit in the state _ coverage for life for all retirees plus a dependent, no matter how long they had worked for the city.

Since cities can?t be liquidated, Stockton has attempted to restructure some debt by renegotiating labor contracts and cutting the health benefit for retirees, but creditors argued that by ignoring bond debt they haven?t created a plan that shares the pain equitably, as required under bankruptcy code.

Attorney Guy Neal, who represents creditors, spent a good deal of his trial time showing that for years Stockton had granted bloated labor contracts and benefits, and then allowed employees to boost their retirement benefits further by cashing out vacation time and sick leave in their last year of employment, thus raising their benchmark annual salary for retirement benefit purposes.

He argued that employees who shared in the wealth during good times should have to equally share the pain now, including cuts to CalPERS.

?The city simply wants to wipe out its debt but hold onto the benefits that the proceeds of that debt provided,? Neal argued.

Stockton?s City Manager Bob Deis testified that CalPERS is a trustee for city employees, not a creditor.

Judge Klein indicated at several points during the trial that the CalPERS attorney monitoring the case would have his time to speak during the repayment phase of the trial, an indication that the pension obligation could be a part of discussions.

?I know that issue is downstream, if we wind up going downstream,? Klein said during closing arguments.

The state pension plan manages $255 billion in assets today but was underfunded by $87 billion in 2011, the last time calculations were made. CalPERS is in the process of setting new rates to close the liability, said spokeswoman Amy Norris, which could further strain cities in financial peril such as San Bernardino, San Jose Compton, Fairfield, Watsonville, Atwater and at least two dozen other cities.

?Just about everybody has an unfunded liability,? said Norris.

Attorneys watching the case expect that this first-ever Chapter 9 bankruptcy case questioning state pension obligations will be appealed to decide whether the 10th Amendment giving rights to states is more powerful than federal bankruptcy code. Even Klein, who was inclined at first to approve bankruptcy without a trial, said he was going forward with the hearing to create an appellate record.

?You might have the court not approve the plan because the bondholders keep raising objections until CalPERS is impaired in some way. That will be cutting edge. That?s where this case will get interesting,? said bankruptcy attorney Michael Sweet.

____

Reach Tracie Cone at www.twitter.com/TConeAP

Source

Source: http://finadviserweblog.com/stockton-bankruptcy-decision-only-the-beginning/

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