European Rocket Launches British and Mexican Satellites

PARIS ? Europe?s Ariane 5 ECA heavy-lift rocket on Dec. 19 successfully launched telecommunications satellites for use by the British and Mexican governments in the rocket?s seventh and final campaign for 2012.

It was the 53rd consecutive success for Ariane 5, which has now gone 10 years without a failure.

The operators of the two satellites ? the British Skynet 5D and the Mexsat Bicentenario ? reported that both were sending signals and healthy in geostationary transfer orbit after separating from the Ariane 5 ECA upper stage.

The launch enabled the Evry, France-based Arianespace launch consortium to meet its goal of conducting 10 flights in 2012 ? seven Ariane 5s, two Europeanized Soyuz vehicles and the inaugural flight of Europe?s Vega small-satellite launcher ? from Europe?s Guiana Space Center spaceport on the northeast coast of South America.

Arianespace and European government officials hope that spreading the fixed spaceport costs over three vehicles in the coming years, coupled with upgrades expected for both Ariane 5 and Vega, will enable Arianespace to eke out a profit with a diminishing amount of annual government operating-cost support payments. [Photos: Amazing Night Launch of Ariane 5]

Ariane 5 ECA?s inability to generate a steady profit despite its decade of success and the fact that its direct competitors in the global commercial market have struggled in the past couple of years speaks volumes about the market?s business model, European government and industry officials say.

The Dec. 19 launch carried satellites ordered by commercial companies acting on behalf of government customers.

The Skynet 5D, built by Astrium Satellites under a contract with sister company Astrium Services, will be tested in orbit at 25 degrees east before moving to its operating slot at 53 degrees east in geostationary orbit.

The 4,800-kilogram Skynet 5D is the fourth, and likely the last, Skynet 5 satellite ordered under a 20-year partnership between the British Defence Ministry and Astrium Services. The contract runs to 2022, after which the ownership of the Skynet satellites will transfer to the British government, which will then likely organize a fresh competition for satellite services.

Astrium Services provides Skynet bandwidth to NATO and individual NATO governments in addition to its guaranteed service to British defense forces.

Riding in the lower position on the Ariane 5 ECA rocket was the Mexsat Bicentenario satellite, which will be used by the Mexican government to provide fixed telecommunications and Internet services to Mexican communications that are not attached to the country?s communications grid.

The 3,000-kilogram Mexsat, carrying eight Ku- and eight C-band transponders, was built by Orbital Sciences Corp. of Dulles, Va., under contract to Boeing Space and Intelligence Systems of El Segundo, Calif.

The Mexican government in 2010 selected Boeing to provide the three-satellite Mexsat system under a $1 billion contract that includes two large Boeing-built mobile communications satellites, set for launch in 2013 and 2014, and the smaller Bicentenario spacecraft.

The U.S. Export-Import Bank provided $922 million in loans to support the financing of the three satellites? construction by the two U.S. manufacturers.

Gerardo Ruiz Esparza, Mexico?s secretary of communications and transport, which manages the Mexsat program, said the total Mexsat budget is around $1.6 billion. He said after the launch that the Mexican government is committed to delivering Internet access to all its citizens, and that Mexsat is central to that effort.

This story was provided by?Space News, dedicated to covering all aspects of the space industry.

Copyright 2012 SPACE.com, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/european-rocket-launches-british-mexican-satellites-161512749.html

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Deal reached to reopen NM peanut butter plant

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) ? A troubled New Mexico peanut butter plant that had its licensed yanked after being linked to a widespread salmonella outbreak reached a deal Friday to resume some operations the day after Christmas under the watchful eye of federal regulators.

A consent decree filed in federal court says Sunland Inc., the nation's largest organic peanut butter producer, can reopen if it hires an independent expert to develop a sanitation plan, which then must be approved by the Food and Drug Administration.

Conditions at the plant prompted the FDA in November to for the first time use new authority to revoke the company's operating certificate without a court hearing. The action came after the plant was linked to a salmonella outbreak that sickened 42 people in 20 states this fall.

Friday's filing reinstates Sunland's food facility registration. But the company cannot process or distribute food from its peanut butter or peanut mill plants in Portales until it has complied with the consent decree's requirements and receives written authorization from the FDA.

"This consent decree prohibits Sunland from selling processed foods to consumers until it fully complies with the law," Stuart F. Delery, principal deputy assistant attorney general for the Justice Department's Civil Division said in a statement. "As this case demonstrates, the Department of Justice and FDA will work together to protect the health and safety of Americans by making sure that those who produce and sell the food we eat follow the law."

Sunland said the agreement came after it "provided additional information to FDA to demonstrate that recommended actions have been taken and required corrective actions are being implemented."

Sunland spokeswoman Katalin Coburn said that after the decree was filed, the FDA gave the plant permission to reopen its peanut processing facility while it works on the plan for reopening the peanut butter plant. She said work will resume the day after Christmas.

The Sunland plant was shuttered and hundreds of its products recalled in September and October after the salmonella outbreak was linked to Trader Joe's Valencia peanut butter manufactured at Sunland.

The recall and plant shuttering came as the region was finishing a bumper harvest of the prized Valencia peanuts grown almost exclusively in the region. Because of their sweet flavor, they are favored for organic and natural peanut butter products because they require few additives.

Sunland produces products for a number of national grocery and retail chains, and New Mexico Peanut Growers Association President Wayne Baker says the industry generates about $60 million in the region each year.

The FDA took the unusual step in November of revoking the facilities registration just as the plant was hoping to reopen its processing plant to begin work on the millions of pounds of Valencia peanuts piled up in barns after this year's harvest.

The action was denounced as unfair and unnecessarily heavy-handed by many in the conservative farm town of Portales, where Sunland is the largest private employer. At the end of November, the plant had laid off about 30 percent of its 150 workers.

The FDA said inspectors found samples of salmonella in 28 different locations in the plant, in 13 nut butter samples and in one sample of raw peanuts. Inspectors found improper handling of the products, unclean equipment and uncovered trailers of peanuts outside the facility that were exposed to rain and birds. Inspectors also said employees lacked access to hand-washing sinks, and dirty hands had direct contact with ready-to-package peanuts.

The FDA said it inspected the plant at least four times over the past five years, each time finding violations. Michael Taylor, the FDA's deputy commissioner for foods, said the agency's inspections after the outbreak found even worse problems than what had been seen there before.

Plant officials have said they were never notified of past violations.

__

Associated Press writer Mary Clare Jalonick in Washington contributed to this report.

___

Follow Jeri Clausing on Twitter at http://twitter.com/.!/jericlausing

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/deal-reached-reopen-nm-peanut-butter-plant-214723148--finance.html

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Registry Cleaner: How It Could Speed Up Computer | www ...

Registry Easy has helped me save lots of money and time. Over the months I noticed that my computer was groaning and simply just chugging along. I spent a fortune on getting it serviced and also tried my hand at servicing it myself. I sincerely thought that I had done all that could be done and was on the verge of dumping my computer. For some reason I decided to head online and check out some forums and reviews.

I gained a lot of information and was amazed at what I understood from my research online. Installing and removing software had left its mark in the registry, even though I had performed a clean uninstall. The registry database has tons of entries which make it a time consuming process for the processor to fnd entries. Wading through these entries is placing a huge burden on my system. I am starting to wonder if I could get this fixed soon? Is there a way I can address these issues immediately? I was tempted to download a free version from a software site, only to realize in the nick of time that this FREE software came bundled with spyware. A friend and a quick Google search pointed towards FixCleaner, RegGenie and RegistryFix as potential solutions to my problem. Since I did not find a problem with Registry Easy, I decided to purchase it.

Today technology has changed by leaps and bounds. You no longer require to have a degree to be able to address these issues. Just a few quick clicks on a few buttons and the software walks you through the fixes instantly. This software has transformed my computer into a spanking new machine. The good news is that you can try the software for free even before you purchase it. It is best to perform a research before you purchase any software. It would be sad if you ended up installing some virus or other malware.

Before you splurge on either a new computer or download some registry cleaning software which might potentially harm your computer, I strongly urge you to take a quick look at the Software Product Reviews at ReviewMOZ. I am confident that one of these products will definitely answer all your questions. What better way to review a product than to hear it firsthand from the cusotomers at ReviewMoz.org.

Check out www.reviewmoz.com if you want the pros and cons.

Source: http://www.sponsordirectory.com/registry-cleaner-how-it-could-speed-up-computer/

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On-demand synaptic electronics: Circuits that learn and forget

Dec. 20, 2012 ? Researchers in Japan and the US propose a nanoionic device with a range of neuromorphic and electrical multifunctions that may allow the fabrication of on-demand configurable circuits, analog memories and digital-neural fused networks in one device architecture.

Synaptic devices that mimic the learning and memory processes in living organisms are attracting avid interest as an alternative to standard computing elements that may help extend Moore's law beyond current physical limits.

However so far artificial synaptic systems have been hampered by complex fabrication requirements and limitations in the learning and memory functions they mimic. Now Rui Yang, Kazuya Terabe and colleagues at the National Institute for Materials Science in Japan and the University of California, Los Angeles, in the US have developed two-, three-terminal WO3-x-based nanoionic devices capable of a broad range of neuromorphic and electrical functions.

In its initial pristine condition the system has very high resistance values. Sweeping both negative and positive voltages across the system decreases this resistance nonlinearly, but it soon returns to its original state indicating a volatile state. Applying either positive or negative pulses at the top electrode introduces a soft-breakdown, after which sweeping both negative and positive voltages leads to non-volatile states that exhibit bipolar resistance and rectification for longer periods of time.

The researchers draw similarities between the device properties -- volatile and non-volatile states and the current fading process following positive voltage pulses -- with models for neural behaviour -- that is, short- and long-term memory and forgetting processes. They explain the behaviour as the result of oxygen ions migrating within the device in response to the voltage sweeps. Accumulation of the oxygen ions at the electrode leads to Schottky-like potential barriers and the resulting changes in resistance and rectifying characteristics. The stable bipolar switching behaviour at the Pt/WO3-x interface is attributed to the formation of the electric conductive filament and oxygen absorbability of the Pt electrode.

As the researchers conclude, "These capabilities open a new avenue for circuits, analog memories, and artificially fused digital neural networks using on-demand programming by input pulse polarity, magnitude, and repetition history."

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by International Center for Materials Nanoarchitectonics (MANA), via ResearchSEA.

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. Rui Yang, Kazuya Terabe, Guangqiang Liu, Tohru Tsuruoka, Tsuyoshi Hasegawa, James K. Gimzewski, Masakazu Aono. On-Demand Nanodevice with Electrical and Neuromorphic Multifunction Realized by Local Ion Migration. ACS Nano, 2012; 6 (11): 9515 DOI: 10.1021/nn302510e

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/most_popular/~3/LkxkRQGtx0U/121220161427.htm

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British police arrest second man in "plebs" inquiry

LONDON (Reuters) - British police investigating claims an officer fabricated evidence that led to a minister resigning said on Thursday they had arrested a second man over the reporting of a row outside Prime Minister David Cameron's Downing Street residence.

London's police force said the 23-year-old suspect was held at his home on Wednesday evening on suspicion of "intentionally encouraging or assisting the commission of an indictable offence".

The arrested man was not named and is not a police officer or a member of police staff. He was released early on Thursday after questioning.

Andrew Mitchell quit as the "Chief Whip" in charge of discipline in Cameron's parliamentary Conservative party in October following weeks of negative headlines.

He had been accused of angrily calling officers "plebs" when they refused to let him cycle through the main gates at Downing Street.

Mitchell had denied using the class-laden insult but was contradicted by a police log of the incident leaked to a newspaper.

The snobbish term was damaging for Mitchell and the Conservatives because it played into opposition claims that the government is elitist and out of touch with ordinary Britons squeezed by economic austerity.

But doubts have grown over the police account since Channel 4 News reported that a policeman posed as a member of the public and falsely claimed to have heard Mitchell use the pejorative term, in an email sent to a Conservative lawmaker.

Cameron and London's Metropolitan Police have both stressed the seriousness of the allegation, which threatens to undermine relations between police and politicians at a time when the government is cutting force budgets.

CCTV footage of the incident aired by the programme also showed that the street outside the gates was almost empty, even though the email and the police log said several people had been "shocked" by Mitchell's outburst.

A policeman working in the London force's Diplomatic Protection Group was arrested on Saturday on suspicion of misconduct. He was not on duty at the time of the Downing Street altercation.

(Reporting by Peter Griffiths and Tim Castle)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/british-police-arrest-second-man-plebs-inquiry-122725477.html

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Egyptian prosecutor suddenly retracts resignation

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's chief public prosecutor, forced to quit this week after opposition protests, retracted his resignation on Thursday, setting the stage for more turmoil as the nation votes in a referendum on its political future.

Prosecutor Talaat Ibrahim, appointed by President Mohamed Mursi when he assumed sweeping new powers last month, said he had changed his mind because his resignation on Monday had been offered under duress.

Ibrahim had quit after more than 1,000 members of his staff gathered at his office in Cairo to demand that he step down. Mursi's decision to appoint Ibrahim, instead of leaving the appointment to judicial authorities, threatened the independence of the judiciary, the angered prosecutors said.

Ibrahim described his removal from office as "mysterious and abnormal" and said it was now up to the justice minister to decide on his future, according to the state-run al-Ahram news website.

Several prosecutors immediately announced they were suspending work and would stage an open-ended protest outside Ibrahim's office.

Ibrahim's about-face came 48 hours before Egyptians vote in a referendum on a divisive new constitution championed by Mursi as a vital step in Egypt's transition to democracy almost two years after the fall of Hosni Mubarak.

The opposition, facing defeat over the constitution, urged voters to reject the Islamist-backed charter and pledged to fight on to amend it during elections expected next year.

OPPOSITION URGES 'NO' VOTE

The opposition, a coalition of liberals, leftists, Christians and secular Muslims, called for a "no" vote against a document it views as leaning too far towards Islamism.

The first day of voting on December 15 resulted in a 57 percent majority in favor of the constitution. The second stage on Saturday is expected to produce another "yes" vote as it covers regions seen as more conservative and likely to back Mursi.

The National Salvation Front, the main opposition coalition, said a "no" vote meant taking a stand against attempts by the Muslim Brotherhood, Mursi's political base, to dominate Egypt.

"For the sake of the future, the masses of our people should strongly and firmly say 'no' to injustice and 'no' to the Brotherhood's dominance," the Front said in a statement.

A senior Front member, Abdel Ghaffar Shokr, head of the Popular Socialist Coalition Party, said that if the constitution was approved, the opposition would go on fighting to change it.

"That's why we will participate in the legislative election because it is the only way to amend the constitution," he said.

The constitution must be in place before elections can be held. If it passes, the poll should be held within two months.

In an attempt to mobilize voters, the opposition said it planned to hold public meetings, distribute flyers and send cars equipped with loudspeakers through the streets.

A street protest against the constitution in Cairo this week attracted only a few hundred people, well down on the numbers drawn to previous such events.

ISLAMIST PROTEST

Islamist groups are planning a mass protest in Alexandria on Friday, a move likely to raise tensions a day before the vote.

The Muslim Brotherhood called for the rally after a violent confrontation between Islamists and the opposition in Egypt's second city last week that ended with a Muslim preacher besieged inside his mosque for 14 hours.

The run-up to the referendum has been marked by often violent protests in which at least eight people have died.

Mursi and his backers say the constitution is needed to advance Egypt's transition from decades of military-backed autocratic rule. Opponents say it is too Islamist and ignores the rights of women and of minorities, including 10 percent of Egyptians who are Christian.

Demonstrations erupted when Mursi awarded himself extraordinary powers on November 22 and then fast-tracked the constitution through a drafting assembly dominated by his Islamist allies and boycotted by many liberals.

The referendum is being held over two days because many of the judges needed to oversee polling stayed away in protest.

Judicial authorities on Thursday named the judges who will supervise polling stations on Saturday. The opposition cited a lack of judges at some polling stations in a list of alleged irregularities in the first round.

In order to pass, the constitution must be approved by more than 50 percent of those voting.

(Writing by Giles Elgood; Editing by Alistair Lyon)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/egypt-opposition-vows-fight-against-islamist-charter-120802768.html

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Liberty Medical plans to cut 250 jobs in Port St. Lucie

Liberty Medical in Port St. Lucie is slashing 250 jobs.

Bruce Harvey, the company's president and CEO, announced the layoffs to employees Tuesday.?

"The primary area we're concentrating on is commercial diabetes -- our home-care service product lines,
our insulin pump center of excellence and our pharmacy," Harvey said. "We're going to be exiting the medicare fee for service diabetes business after the first of the year."
?
Harvey said the employees will be laid off in 60 days and are being offered severance packages.

The company is also laying off 250 employees at its offices in Salem, Va.?

Source: http://www.wpbf.com/marketplace/jobs/Liberty-Medical-plans-to-cut-250-jobs-in-Port-St-Lucie/-/8790728/17840512/-/oguwesz/-/index.html?absolute=true

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